Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

To truly understand the ways of God in his dealings with man, one must learn to think outside the box. Because God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. For this reason, we must be willing to work with him in every trial and through every difficulty in life. We must never lean unto our own understanding, but get his perspective on every situation in our lives.

In this portion of scripture the apostle had to learn something new in dealing with a particular problem he had. There is much debate about what it was the apostle Paul was dealing with, but the bottom line is Paul had much difficulty dealing with the situation. He called it a messenger from Satan, a thorn in the flesh, a weakness. The bible says that Paul prayed about this thing three different times, but the only answer he got was –

my grace is sufficient for you.

Look at Paul’s response:

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

He says:

1. I was glad to let it happen

2. I quit focusing on the handicap

3. I began appreciating the gift

4. I began to let Christ’s strength move in on my weakness

5. Now, I take limitations in stride and with good cheer

6. I just let Christ take over

And the outcome is wonderful. I’ve come to realize that the weaker I get the stronger I become. Because Christ’s power shows up bigtime in my weakness. At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. But from now on I am going to welcome it and let it happen. Because when I am weak – I am strong!

Wow…what a perspective!