Thought for the Day - Monday 15 March

(2 Corinthians 12:9) 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.  Nobody knows what Paul’s weakness was. We only know that he asked God three times to take it away and he was told ‘no’. So, he lived with it and used it to strengthen his ministry and display God’s Grace and Power to others. It could have been anything, we will probably never know but by still being able to teach Jesus’ message he was showing everyone that there was a stronger power behind him, God Himself, giving Paul the Grace he needed to carry on. We are all like Paul, we all have weaknesses that we would like to be rid of, and of course we all think that our weakness is worse than anyone else’s. However, we wouldn’t be able to cope with theirs any more than with our own. The common thread is God’s Grace. Without it we are absolutely floundering. One of my weaknesses seems to be lack of confidence (so I’m told), I only know that when I have a service to prepare and preach I’m convinced that people are going to fall asleep or wonder what on earth I’m talking about. That is one of the times when God is seriously overworked, His ears must be falling off listening to me. But that’s one of His happy times, when we are willing to go to Him with our fears and ask for His help. That shows Him that we trust Him! And it does work! When someone asks us for help we give it (I hope) whenever we can, that’s love for our neighbour, and we can be sure that if we are willing to help others in their weakness, God is infinitely more willing to help those who ask Him. We should remember though, when we ask God for help we need to also thank Him when He provides it. Also remember that the answer may not be what you expect  but it will be the right one. Prayer Gracious Father, help us to come to you with all our hopes and fears. You take delight in helping us when we ask. Our problem is that we don’t ask often enough. Too often we rely on ourselves, and the brain and mind You built into us. We forget that You gave us that brain, so you know the questions before we ask but we still must ask!  Give us encouragement to come to you in trust and faith. Amen.