Opposition: Weak Flesh

⁷ To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:7-10

When the opposition Life Principle was revealed to me, I didn’t know what was going on with my knee.  I had made some progress with my right hip and was ready to work on building up muscle again.  Yet, with the increasing pain in the knee and the Dr. declaration that surgery may be the only option, I was felt defeated. 

I resisted it, yet it hung over me like a dark cloud.  Perhaps this is why it was so darn easy to stick my hand into the cookie jar.  Fortunately I am being trained not to keep looking at the problem, but to see God in the problem.  He reminded me of two friends that deal with extreme pain on a daily basis, yet they keep on, keepin’ on.  Although at times they ‘feel’ discouraged, they never allow that to paralyze them into inaction.  They reach out for God, for encouragement. 

Part of the dark cloud was my desire to go out and serve God – this included mission’s work.  I already agreed to postpone going on a trip because I knew I could not take climbing a mountain to the village. 

If God called me to this mission field, He will enable me. 

²⁰ May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, ²¹ equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21

God knows my hurt knee, hurt hip, back, ect.  He knows.  And if He knows, He will not call me to do anything that He will not enable me to do beforehand.  Perhaps it is just my own desire to go on this mission trip.  Perhaps not.  What I do know is that God will equip me for the work He has for me.  And if my flesh is full of pain, then the work will take that pain as part of the plan.  In this I can trust.

Life Principle:  My body may fail and hurt, yet it is perfect for all the work in which God calls me to.