PORTERVILLE POST | The Right News at the Right Time

| "Sufficient" Means "Enough" - 2
The Right Word^© - Oct 29, 2023
with Brother Scott : scott@portervillepost.com

What I shared with you in part one of this short series on the subject of God’s grace was an important first step in walking in the benefits of that grace. There is no question that you and I have been given His grace or we would not be able to consider ourselves ones born again from Heaven. To put a finer point on what you heard in part 1, you might want to consider grace this way:
There is every day grace that you and I are not even aware of and there is what we might consider as emergency grace or the favor and help of God’s grace needed when unexpected and serious things arise in our lives. Paul had a sort of serious thing come up that he described as a thorn in the flesh (a pointed thing or prickle, a bodily annoyance or disability)—that which was not expected, in some way a serious nuisance (like a splinter that you can’t get to), or a situation maybe even painful to endure.
As a man of faith and prayer, Paul asked three times for it to be removed but God politely said “No!”, and for good reason.
But the Lord did give Paul a revelation-truth that eased his consternation at the presence of such a thorn; essentially God said “What I do for you is give you the help needed to cope with the issue thereby enabling you to acknowledge and rely on My ability, day-by-day, to stay humble, and to stay focused on what I have called you to do, Paul.” I suggest you read that brief discussion and Paul’s response.

[Referenced: 2 Corinthians 12:7-9]
My strength: dynamis/doo’-nam-is—force; miraculous power, often a miracle itself, ability, abundance, might, wonderful work.
Perfect: teleioo/tel-i-o’-o—complete, accomplished, consummated (make a marriage or relationship complete)
Weakness: from strengthless-ness; feebleness, moral frailty, malady (infirmity, sickness, disease)

When we understand and then settle into the fact of what God said to Paul and says to us (that His grace is just the right amount for our everyday and hardship needs), we can relax a bit in the circumstances knowing that the purposes of God are at work. Our “weakness”, our inability to know what to do, our moral frailties, or our sudden or long-term infirmities are offset or counter-balanced by what God comes in and provides. We become able to cope with such things by His ability and wonderful workings in or through us—if we will do as Paul did—agree with God, put one foot in front of the other, and walk forward and through the issues.

[Referenced: 1 Corinthians 10:13]

God’s strength (His miraculous power) rarely comes with a sudden flash of the light of His glory! God’s force (His ability and abundance) just kind-of works itself into our thinking without the fanfare and trumpet blasts like it did on Mount Sinai at Exodus 19. When we turn to Him in the distresses of our physical or spiritual troubles, ask for His grace, and instead of fretting we worship Him as our God and all-knowing and loving Father, He is freed to step in and act.

[Referenced: Luke 11:9, John 4:23-24]

This strength of God to counter-balance our weaknesses is available to all of us. The New Testament is full of the use of God’s strength in the lives of His people. But let us not forget that it is God’s ability from His abundance and His wonderful workings that are measured out to you and to me when and as we need it. There are two different words that come into English as “power” or “strength”; one means miracle-working power and ability (God’s upon and through the believer) and the other word is from the Greek meaning authority, such as ours is in Christ against the evil spirits or certain circumstances. Often the authority-power we can and should walk in when applied results in God’s miracle-power being manifest.

Referenced: Matthew 6:13, Matthew 22:29, Acts 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:7-8]

Should we pray and ask God to heal or fix a situation or remove a hardship? Sure—and more than once is normal sometimes. But while we are waiting on God to answer prayer in the way we hope that He will, we are to stand by faith and receive grace to be steadfast and patient in our waiting. You’ve heard me and others say this: In our petitions to God, sometimes He says “Yes”, sometimes the answer is “No”, and sometimes the answer is “Yes, but not yet.”

[Referenced: Psalm 29:13-14, Psalm 46:10-11, Hebrews 10:35-39]

You will agree that we are not very good at all about waiting on God, being still, remaining patient with Him in our circumstances, or good at carefully listening for His voice of counsel. Those times of our infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses are the times of our greatest weaknesses when (if we will look to Him) He will say to us, “I am with you; follow Me closely through this, and let what you cannot do for yourself be provided by Me. I am the strength that you need for this present issue.”

[Referenced: Hebrews 4:16, Matthew 11:28 (heavy laden /overburdened, loaded up [like a ship or donkey), 1 Corinthians 10:13 (bear it / bear from underneath it, undergo the hardship, endure it).]
Infirmities: “weaknesses”—feebleness of body or mind, moral frailty, sickness or disease
Reproaches: insults, hurts, injuries, the overbearing-ness of others
Necessities: things that hold back, needed and necessary things
Persecutions: to follow-after, pressed-on, pursued (painfully harass, even injure)
Distresses: narrowness [Gr. stenos] of room, a calamity, anguish

[Referenced: Matthew 7:13-14, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (glory /boast of with joy, rejoice), pleasure /think well of; positive toward) in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.]

Lastly today, we move on to the phrase that the apostle uses in his list of those five types of the issues of our lives that come against us—Paul adds this: “for Christ’s sake”. I had to pause and consider that for a short time since (at first) it seemed to be coupled with the word “distresses—but I soon realized that the phrase is intended to mean that as true followers of Jesus we are to endure such issues in our lives that we face now “for Christ’s sake.” For me, those three words become nearly as important to my understanding as God saying, “My grace is sufficient for thee”. Let me explain:
Although I had a general idea of what the word “sake” means (for my sake: benefit, help, advantage) I had to check on its definition, which includes this understanding: “for the purpose of, in the interest of, in order to achieve or preserve”. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is instructing us in one of the finer points of what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. He is saying, “When you encounter reproaches, persecutions, necessities, distresses, infirmities, or whatever troubles of life come upon you—set it in your heart to yield the unavoidable weaknesses of your life over to the power of God to be your strength for-Christ’s-sake. Do this for the purposes of Christ in your life, in the interests of Christ through your life, in order to achieve the plans of Christ for you, or to preserve the integrity of your life in Christ before others.” We are to look to God for our help and strength for what He wants to do in us as a result of our troubles.

[Referenced: Romans 8:28, 35-37, Galatians 4:19-20, Philippians 3:7-16]

In part three we will conclude this series on the important subject of God’s grace for you and me being enough—being sufficient for each day and also through all our negative circumstances. In the next and last part we will examine Paul’s response and how to make it ours, too!

With ... The Right Word^© ... Brother Scott