by Charleen Burghardt
“Are you ready?” I asked my friend Rhonda as she waited for her cue to take the podium in a room full of eager listeners. In a few moments, all eyes would turn on her. Her response surprised me. “I am never ready, but God is.” Rhonda learned God’s strength in weakness.
The group in the room responded to her clear, powerful, and confident message with smiles and nods. Rhonda’s words inspired and touched those in the group, including me.
I frequently pondered Rhonda’s words, “I am never ready, but God is.” Although she had prepared, she knew that the influence did not depend on her eloquence or command of English but on the Holy Spirit. She relied on God, not on her own ability.
I wondered if we could approach other opportunities the way Rhonda approached speaking. Could we rely on God more and less on ourselves?
God’s Strength in Weakness
How often do we think it is up to us, focusing on our competencies or our inadequacies? Either way, the focus is on us. Rhonda’s focus was not on what she lacked but on what God could do through her weakness.
We can adopt a “try harder” mentality, which is actually self-engineering. Where is our dependence on the Holy Spirit in a “try harder” mentality?
The Problem with a “Try Harder” Mentality
The fruit of the Spirit is not the “fruit of trying,” or the “fruit of striving,” or the “fruit of working harder.” The fruit of the Spirit is the result of God’s supernatural work in us as we yield to God (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit enables, fills, guides, and empowers us.
I know we want to do a good job, but are we relying on ourselves?
God uses imperfect, broken people to accomplish his will and to share the story of Christ. I don’t have to be good enough for God to use me. God is the one who works through us to bring about his purpose.
The Holy Spirit Does What We Cannot
In her book Divine Detour, author Lori Ann Wood tells of developing serious and life-threatening heart failure. Her illness limited her physical ability to do tasks and be involved in her community. The book offers vignettes of how God sustained, taught, and enabled her. God showed up in her illness. God showed up in her inability. She says, “I realized that my weakness, my inadequacy, is the ultimate qualification for serving God . . . Be weak and wait. Be powerless and see . . . He is waiting for me to be weak.”
Weakness Is Not a Disqualification
In addition, being weak qualifies us for serving. God’s strength is more than enough for every challenge. All God desires is our availability, faithfulness, and teachability.
God spoke to Paul when he asked God to remove a weakness or some “thorn in the flesh.”
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
Often, our thinking is backward. It is not about us being strong; it is about God being strong in us. God’s strength in our weakness.
God’s Power Made Perfect in Weakness
When we acknowledge that the power and the strength come from above, this mindset is counterintuitive and definitely not the American way of being independent and determined.
A Different Way of Thinking About Strength
Rhonda took herself out of the equation. We can do the same “because when I’m weak, then I’m strong.”
There are times when it is okay to be weak.
I remind myself of the verse: “God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes” (Philippians 2:13). God empowers us to want to obey and to fulfill our divine mission.
“I am never ready, but God is.”
Practical Steps for Depending on God
- Admit our weakness, tell God your shortcomings.
- Acknowledge that the power and strength come from God.
- Ask God to show up in your weakness.
- Access the power of the Holy Spirit in you by yielding to God.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you.
A Prayer for God’s Strength:
Almighty God, you know our human weaknesses and our brokenness. Overcome our limitations, disabilities, and faults by your grace. We yield to you for empowerment.
Amen.
Friend, I hope this article encouraged you. I would love to hear your comments.
Please Share
Grace Offers Hope,
Leave a Reply