Throughout all of scripture the power of God shines though the weakness of His people. We see this in the preaching of the Gospel, in Gideon, one such as David who numbered the people, and many others in scripture. Power ALWAYS belongs to God and weakness ALWAYS belongs to man. And it is through weakness that God ALWAYS accomplishes and fulfills His will and good pleasure that the glory is ALWAYS the Lords! God accomplishes mighty things in our weakness!

The history here has the apostle Paul who has a thorn in the flesh. We do not know exactly what this thorn was, and being withheld we can see ourselves reflected in this Word of God here. We must keep in mind a few things in regards to these "thorns."

*They are God given.

*Satan uses these weakness' to continually buffet us.

*God deals with His children in His grace at ALL TIMES! Prosperity is NOT grace as we look at the world and those around us.

We struggle as Paul did with particular "thorns" that continually "hold us back." Monkey wrenches the Lord throws into our lives. And we feel like we could do "mighty things" if only the Lord took them away from us! These things however.....are GIFTS of the Lord to us even though Satan hits us with the "that's your God that gives you this" talk. And how does the Lord give us the grace to deal with these things? "My grace is always sufficient" and we pray "Thy will be done." The Lord hears and knows and always answers our prayers (although it may not be in the way we want Him to.) The Lord listens, but also remember He knows what is good for us (as Paul) and sometimes makes our "thorns" stay for our own good...giving us sufficient grace to bear them. It all fits into the Lord's grace that He gives to us for His own glory!

It is the purpose of God to have us struggle in prayer. To see our weakness. And to rest upon Him. His grace is ALWAYS there in time of need. Grace is NOT "on tap" and given only when needed, but always gives us grace sufficient in time of need! God gives it to us in times of necessity and we don't "tap it." He gives calm serenity and an ability to endure through these painful situations. The greater the pressure from the top the greater His hand from the bottom!

Want to see God's power? We have to be weak! We learn it is ALWAYS the power of the Almighty God and His power is perfected in our weakness!!! God brings to purpose His good pleasure in and through our weakness and brings it to the end for His glory! We have thorns and weakness'....you do and yes I do too. But remember....His grace is ALWAYS sufficient and we glory in our infirmities that HIS GLORY may be in and through us as He accomplishes His purpose throughout all of history.