Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 106

April 15;   2 Corinthians 12:9;   161/260(I);   ‘My Grace’

2 Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Paul teaches in verse 7 of this chapter, that the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, gave him tremendous revelation.  Through Paul, we learn who we are in Jesus Christ.  What we have because of the victory of the Lord Jesus was given to Paul.  The Gospels tell us what the Lord Jesus did and the Epistles (letters) teach us what we have because of what Jesus did.  Because of this, ‘a thorn in the flesh’ was given to Paul.  Verse 7 has been greatly misunderstood.  It has been taught that Paul was sick  All kinds of sicknesses and diseases have been suggested.  The Bible clearly teaches differently.  A ‘messenger of satan to buffet me’ was Paul’s problem.  Because of the great revelation given to Paul and his no quit attitude, a demon was assigned to Paul to stir up trouble against him wherever he went.  This was done to hinder the work of Paul in preaching the things taught him by the Holy Spirit.  If you read the Book of Acts, it is clearly seen the demonic efforst through people to hinder Paul’s ministry.  In verse 8 we read that Paul asked the Lord three times to remove this demonic hindrance from him.  Sometimes when the going gets tough, you temporarily forget the authority you have in Jesus.  In verse 9 the Lord tells Paul, ‘His grace is sufficient’ for Paul.  The Lord continues to remind Paul, though he is weak, as we all are in the natural, he has all the spiritual authority he needs to deal with the ‘messenger of satan.’  Paul now boasts in his limited natural ability, and glorifies the Lord for the incredible spiritual authority that he has been given.  Your natural ability is limited.  By Jesus spiritualy you are not.