Our focus word this year is: Stronger
We’re getting stronger because we know what God has for us.
Sometimes it’s easier for us to want God to get us out of situations. There are
two ways of relief:
- To be pulled out of the situation
- To be strengthened for it
This year our church, your family, your marriage, your relationships, your business is getting stronger.
In week 1, we discussed the value of vision.
The reason we may not meet new year’s resolutions is because our vision can get tainted or switched.
You never actually lose vision, you just trade vision. In other words, choosing to do other things after we see various things, for example, social media influencing our spending habits.
We decided that we’re going to value vision.
Last week we discussed winning in weakness.
Scripture – 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 NLT
“If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
This week, the title is “My Glitch is My Gift“
Think about some of the childhood gifts you’ve received in the past. There may have been phenomenal gifts and confusing, or unfavorable gifts.
There are really two types of gifts:
- Gifts we celebrate that are unnecessary
- Other gifts you would never celebrate, but actually most needed
As a child, there’s no maturity to decipher between wants and needs.
Today, are there gifts that God has given, things he’s placed in our lives that right now we’re not cheering for? Those may be the gifts we didn’t want, but needed.
It’s the very thing God is trying to use, but we haven’t identified the value it has because it doesn’t look like what you wanted or looked for.
Today, Charles will speak about our relationship with our weakness.
Weakness will always be relevant. There will always be areas we’re weak in.
Until we identify our weaknesses, we’re doing a disservice to ourselves.
God doesn’t share spotlight. When you’re “acting strong”, God won’t be strong for you.
As long as you are your provider, God cannot be your provider. If something else is your peace, he can’t be your peace.
You’re taking up the place of God.
How are we going to get stronger? We need to identify our weakness.
1. God Cannot Cover What You’re Covering
Very practically, if you want God to step into your weakness, you have to step away from it and give it to him.
We act like we have it all together, and choose to not focus on our weaknesses, and this prevents God from covering it.
We have to tell God that we’re weak in an area. “God, I’m weak in this area. I need you”. You have to admit that you have weakness.
Some of us have identified our weakness as “just the way I am”. This way of thinking has you so close to your weakness that you don’t recognize that it’s stealing everything from your life.
When you identify it, God has the opportunity to step in and be strong.
You can find yourself trying to fix things, and even trick yourself into believing it’s “your thorn”, something you’ll always be dealing with. The enemy twists the word.
With your weakness, you can look at a scripture out of context and think God is putting something in place to torment you or take from you. God is actually trying to teach you. He’s trying to push you to him, not to live with the weakness.
God wants to strengthen us in our weakness. Have you ever asked God “why?” — in terms of the particular weakness you’ve been given? You can go from “why?”, to just trying to wish it away.
Paul said he was given a thorn that he begged to be taken away 3 times. God told him that His grace was sufficient.
There’s speculation on what the thorn was. However, the why/purpose behind it was very clear. It was to keep Paul from becoming proud.
Sometimes it’s hard to theologically fathom that our weakness is from God, and not the devil.
In the following passage: “So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.” — “given” and “torment” stand out.
Your weakness can feel like it’s there just to torment you.
When looking at the message version of the scripture it says: “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.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 MSG
The gift of a handicap? One would not naturally perceive a handicap, or weakness, as a gift. Once he realized he had God’s grace, he was able to stop focusing on the handicap (thorn) and realized it was a gift.
What if maybe, Paul had a perspective we could borrow today?
How can marital issues be seen as a gift? What would happen if you saw it as a gift? What if it’s that gift you didn’t want, but you actually needed?
It’s comparable to bad breakups that you couldn’t tell were gifts until you look back on them, or even businesses shutting down. When you realized grace is all you needed, it became a gift.
The weakness/struggle/glitch that you have, that’s always been there, what if God’s grace could turn your glitch into your gift?
What if God was so good, that it wasn’t an accident, wasn’t happenstance, but what if he was trying to do something in your life so special, that he would use the very thing that tried to disqualify you, and your glitch is what made you great?
Your glitch may be what actually sets you apart. It may be the thing that saves everyone trying to cancel you, like the character Penelope in “Wreck it Ralph”.
It may be possible that the very thing people try to label you as, the thing you’re trying to get out of, is the glitch that God wants to use to make you great. However, as long as you’re doing life in your power, and without the grace of God, your glitch will always be a curse. You’ll always view it as a handicap, i.e. why you can’t do it, why you’ll never be, or never have, or will never be able to…
Paul called his glitch, his gift. It was the thing he didn’t want, but needed.
2. God’s Grace Turns Your Glitch Into Your Gift
What if the thorn that he gave you, wasn’t there to torment you?
God said to Charles, My grace is the flip factor. In other words, as long as you’re doing things in your power, the glitch is there to torment you. When you understand you have My grace, you flip it.
As long as you have his grace, you flip it. The torment, flip the syllables, becomes mentor. When you understand that you have God’s grace, the perspective on your weakness is not that it’s there to torment you. Instead, you realize that God’s grace allows your glitch to be your mentor.
The problem with where you are in your weakness, is that you’ve been asking, “why?”, to your weakness. What you should be asking is “what?”.
God, what are you trying to teach me through this weakness?
God, what are you trying to show me through this broken part of my marriage?
God, what are you trying to do with that area that I haven’t surrendered to you all the way?
What are you trying to do with my weakness?
God’s grace flips it, and you may recognize that it changes the areas we want to get out of, to the things that he uses.
It changes the perspective on your weakness as not the thing that we need to run from, but what if God is using that to make me who I am called to be?
It changes the things that other people would talk about for you to step up, and like Paul says, now that I have God’s grace, I’m proud to say that I have the weakness, because when I’m weak, He is strong.
God’s grace turns your glitch into your gift.
The only problem is, that you have a part to play. The only issue is that you have to be the one to surrender it to him. You have to allow God to use that weakness.
The people of Corinth were looking at Paul’s outward surface and badmouthing him.
Paul writes: I hear that I’m being painted as cringing and wishy-washy when I’m with you, but harsh and demanding when at a safe distance writing letters. Please don’t force me to take a hard line when I’m present with you. Don’t think that I’ll hesitate a single minute to stand up to those who say I’m an unprincipled opportunist. Then they’ll have to eat their words. 2 Corinthians 10:1-2 MSG
His poor communication was his glitch.
Another guy named Apollos [check spelling], was an amazing communicator. He was the best. Even so, the thing that was Paul’s glitch is what made him great.
If Paul could speak really well, how much do you think he would’ve written down? We’ve never read a scripture from Apollos, despite his beautiful communication.
The thing that everyone said was Paul’s issue, is what pushed him into his purpose.
That thing allowed him to walk into what God called him to be.
The thing that people have said has counted you out, the thing that has caused your marriage to fall, is going to be the thing that one day pushes you into your purpose.
That thing will make you into what God has called you to be.
My glitch, and your glitch, will become our gifts.
God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. He uses situations that seem broken, situations that seem like they can’t work out, and flips them on their heads.
When looking at Joseph, his brothers beat him up, he was thrown in a cave, and jailed. He still eventually becomes king. When his brothers show up, he says that they may have meant it for bad, and thought their actions would hurt him, but God meant it for his good.
There are things in your life that don’t feel like a gift right now. Relationship tension might not feel like a gift right now, the financial pressure might not, the lack of purpose doesn’t, and these things may not feel like God’s working them out. Nor does it feel like everything is going to come together.
Right now it looks dark, senseless, and hopeless, but without a shadow of a doubt, know that God is working behind the scenes and one day you’ll stand up in front of people and say, “I know you meant it for harm, I know you tried to come for my marriage, I know you tried to come for my purpose, but God meant it for good, and he used the very thing that tried to take me out, to set me up for what he called me to do!“
This is a moment to look at your weakness differently.
Maybe the thing you’re asking God to take away, the thing you may have spent 14 days journaling about, is needed in your life. If God gets you out, or takes it away, the end goal of making you stronger can be thwarted.
I wonder if your weakness is comparable to socks, deodorant, and underwear? Right now you might be asking God, “why would you give me that?”, “why would you give me that struggle? That weakness?”
You don’t know it, and you didn’t want it, but you needed it.
The tension in your marriage might not be wanted right now, and you might feel stuck, but there’ll be a time later in life where you can recognize that you needed it.
You can later say, “you know what, I needed that”.
Challenge: look at your weakness differently. Maybe God is trying to do something that’s bigger than anything you could ever think of.
3. God Never Wastes a Weakness (Glitch)
There may be an area in your life that feels like it’s tormenting you. A weakness that you feel like you can’t get through… one that you can’t see what God is trying to do.
That weakness is not by accident. You will have a different perspective on that thing that you struggle with. You’ll realize that God is not trying to torment you, but to mentor you. Maybe he’s trying to teach you something and show you that the area of your life that’s caused you issues… what if he’s using it to work on the issue that’s on the inside of you.
What if he’s using the pressure that you feel?
Galatians 6:9 – Don’t grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time, you’ll reap a harvest if you don’t lose heart.
There will be a different perspective on our glitch once we recognize that God’s grace is sufficient.
My grace is all you need. His grace is not an after thought, something that happens after the fact. His grace is always there. 2,000 years ago, his grace was enough on the cross, and it’s enough today.
His grace is all I need.
I have issues, I have weaknesses, but I also have grace.
God is making me and my family stronger.
He’s making my finances, my children, my church, my mind, and my emotions stronger.
He’s building something in me. He’s building something for legacy. He’s building something in my mind, thoughts, and heart.
We will prosper as our soul prospers. We will allow God to use our weakness.
I will make a decision to see my weakness as a gift from God and let God use it.
Full sermon video: https://youtu.be/QcTeLlU0gUY
