His Grace Is Sufficient

His Grace Is Sufficient

For several weeks now, there has been a Bible verse that God has continually brought to my attention. If not the entire verse, then at least the main theme of it has caught my attention at some point nearly every day for weeks. That verse is 2 Corinthians 12:9. “And He 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, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

His grace is sufficient has been the message I keep coming across day after day. When this happens, especially at the level this one has been occurring, I do what I always do. I seek to better understand what the Bible verse means and what He is saying to me. I started by researching what grace meant in this passage. I had a pretty good idea of what grace meant but I wanted to know specifically what grace meant in this verse written by the Apostle Paul.

I learned that in this case, grace was the favor in God… the kind of favor that means God freely extends Himself. It means that God extends Himself or reaches to, or to put it another way, inclining to be near. David Guzik said this about the grace that Paul mentions in this verse. “Grace is the power of God to fulfil what we lack.” What I understood from it is this. God’s grace is enough because God is enough and when He draws near, we have everything we need.

If God’s grace in this passage means that He draws nearer to me in my struggles, then that means He is there to provide the strength I need. When I am forced to fully depend on God, His power is displayed in my life. When I am weak, He is what I need because His strength is more than enough. Although it may sound strange, being forced to depend on Him makes me stronger. It is an opportunity to stretch my faith muscles, causing them to grow stronger.

As His children and followers of Christ, we have His favor and love upon us all the time. His presence lives within us in the form of the Holy Spirit. This grace is indeed more than sufficient when you stop and think about it. Honestly, the fact that He has saved me and called me His own is far more grace than I could ever deserve. If He never did another thing, that would be enough to love and praise Him for all eternity. But He has done so much more than that.

If you have never done so, I urge you to read through the book of Ephesians, paying close attention to all of the things you have been given through Christ Jesus. We truly do have all we need in Him. However, He knew there would be times we would need to be reminded that He is enough and that His presence with us is all we need to get through difficult times. He knew we would need to be reminded that He would provide the strength we need to make it through.

I have a confession to make, my friend. To be perfectly honest, there are several legitimate reasons that He may be giving me this verse at this moment in my life. He may just be reminding me of Truth that I need to hear so that I don’t lose hope or get discouraged with the struggles and worries I am facing. I hope that is the reason. But here comes my confession. A part of me has been a bit apprehensive that there may be another reason that He is giving it to me.

The truth is that a part of me fears that He may be giving me this verse to prepare me for some, as yet unknown, even harder, difficulty that is coming. I keep finding myself secretly wondering and asking myself two questions. Is He just encouraging me to lean into Him for the strength I currently need to keep pressing on? Or is He, in His kindness, trying to prepare me for something that lies ahead so that I will already know that He is with me and will provide the strength I need.

Am I the only one who thinks like this? My friend, I have been wrestling with this, so this is why I wanted a better understanding of the message I keep getting. What I am coming to understand is that it doesn’t matter why He has given me the verse. What matters is that He loves me enough that He has spoken this message to my heart and then in His kindness, has reinforced its message to me for weeks now. He wants me to know that His grace is enough.

Why I may need the verse isn’t as important as the fact that He has given me the verse. He has given me the verse, which is reminding me that His grace, His presence with me is enough. Enough for what? Whatever I need, dear heart. His grace is sufficient. Whatever “weakness” that I may be dealing with, whatever “weakness” that I may go through, I can look to Him for the strength I need. He will always be there with me, and His presence will carry me through.

I know this to be true because I can look back and clearly see how He has been working and how it was only Him that brought me this far. I can testify to the truth of this verse because He has given me the strength to do things I never dreamed possible. My weakness has been an opportunity for Him to shine through me. I assure you, my friend, anything good you see in me is only because of Him. Any good that I have done has been through Him and with His help.

He has been so good! I have nothing to boast of in my own strength; all that was ever good came from Him. I can only boast in Him (Gal. 6:14) for it has all been through Him. I have seen and known of His faithfulness. His grace truly is sufficient. He has brought me thus far and I know that He will always be by my side throughout the rest of my days. Like Samuel and the children of Israel, I can say, “Thus far the LORD has helped” me (1 Samuel 7:12).

As I said at the beginning of my story today, I have quite a few reasons to need this verse in my life. For quite some time now, I have had to look to Him for the strength to do all that I need to do each day. I am glad to report, He always provides. Not only does He provide the much-needed physical strength to keep pressing on, but He also gives me the emotional strength to keep going on. His grace has been sufficient, and I am grateful for the reminder that it always will be.

I saw something online this week that Brianna Barrett had written, and I had to quickly jot down these words. “Growing requires trusting.” My goal is to grow more like Christ and that means that I must choose to trust Him. I must choose to trust all things to Him. I must trust my present, past, and future to Him. I can choose trust knowing that His grace is going to be sufficient, no matter what the future holds. His grace will be sufficient, dear heart, no matter what.

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. Ephesians 3:16

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Katrina Douglas

9/6/2024