the BASICS: Lesson 4-5: Empowering—The Spirit

Passages to Read: (ZEC 4:6, 2CO 12:7-10, 2CO 4:7-10)

In 538 BC, the people of Israel began to return to the promised land after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. As they set their focus on rebuilding the temple, re-establishing worship in Jerusalem, and fulfilling God's plan for the nation, the Lord reminded their leader Zerubbabel that there is only one source of power for spiritual life.

"Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord of hosts. (ZEC 4:6)

Growth in our ability to tap that power is always preceded by a deepened awareness of our own inadequacy. It is part of God's plan to show us just how weak we are on our own because not until we are overwhelmed by our weakness will we take hold of grace. And not until we learn to take hold of grace with every breath will we become a serious threat to the enemy.

And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with in suits, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2CO 12:7-10)

The entire book of 2 Corinthians is a defense of the ministry. It was written by Paul to defend not just himself, but every pastor-teacher who would ever teach the Word of God. Paul was under tremendous attack by the carnal, critical, judgmental Christians in Corinth, who were letting the things they did not find attractive about the apostle distract them from the message he carried. The theme running all the way through the book is that it is always the message—and never the man who delivers the message—that is the issue, that God has devised a way to use imperfect people as vehicles for a perfect message.

So important is this that Paul states it twice in 2CO 12:7 with the phrase "to keep me from exalting myself." God knew that when He poured the power of His Word through Paul there would be a very great danger that Paul would be tempted to magnify his importance. After all, Paul had a tendency toward self-righteousness which he had exploited to the full as an unbelieving Pharisee.

So God allowed what was apparently a high-ranking demon to be assigned to the apostle to inflict bodily pain and damage on him. He calls it "a thorn in the flesh," but identifies it as an aggelos, a word usually translated "angel" of Satan. The Greek word translated "buffet" means "to beat to a pulp."

Under this intense pressure, Paul asked the Lord three times to take it away, and finally the Lord explained to Paul why He would not: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Grace is sufficient. Grace—not human ability, not human talents, not human intellect. God's grace, plus our weakness, equals power in ministry.

Paul' s reaction to this news was to begin rejoicing because he had so many weaknesses. Once he oriented to the fact that grace works through weakness, he found that he always had something to celebrate. He wanted the Corinthians to understand that he agreed with their assessment that he was not perfect and that it was this very fact that made him eligible for grace and a fit carrier for God's message being able to celebrate our weaknesses is a key to contentment in the Christian life.

Paul wrote in Philippians 4 that he had learned the secret of being content. How do we do that? We have to learn to accept ourselves as we are—weaknesses, cracks, flaws, and all. God does. God takes us as we are. When we learn to be thankful for our weaknesses and our adversities and for the things we are not strong enough to control, then we never run out of reasons to give thanks and to celebrate grace.

When Paul talks about the power of Christ dwelling in him, he uses a word that means "to tabernacle." In doing so, he conjures up images of the rough tent the children of Israel carted around in the wilderness in which dwelt the Shekinah Glory. Just as the tabernacle housed the Shekinah Glory then, we—frail and ragged tents that we are—house the power of the God today.