GOD’S SUFFICIENCY IN TIMES OF WEAKNESS

2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Romans 8:3; Phi.4:13; Isa.41:10,13-14; 43:2; 44:1-4; Exo.4:10-

12.
Man was created in the image and likeness of God. He was innocent and faultless
initially. But when he fell, Paul said that he fell short of many things. He fell and
became short of God’s glory (Rm.3:23). He became short in holiness, short in
innocency, short in authority and power, short in knowledge and wisdom. Sadly, that
was how man inherited weakness. It was not initially programmed into man.
Weakness can be: 1. The sin nature. 2. Spiritual vulnerability. 3. Moral frailty or a
struggle to meet acceptable standard. 4. Lack of understanding. 5. Absence of physical
and spiritual health.
God’s sufficiency deals with God’s abundant strength administered to cushion the
effect of our weakness. Sufficiency bring adequacy to our inadequacy. Sufficiency is
God’s providential supply: A divine enablement and our completeness in Christ
(Col.2:10)
1. DIFFERENT REASONS FOR BELIEVERS WEAKNESS
I. Weakness came when man fell (Rm.3:23).
II. Man has weakness because he is flesh and blood (Matt 26:41; Mk.14:38.
III. It helps to make man conscious of his need for God (Psalm 121:1).
IV. Weakness sets in when we trust in the arm of flesh (2 Chr.32:8; 1 Sam.2:9).
V. When we spun sources of grace like prayer and the ministry of the word
(Pro.1:8; James 5:13).
VI. When we fail to take all weapons of our warfare (Eph.6:13).
VII. It can be the result of the enemy’s attacks (2 Cor.12:7).

2. DIVINE RESOURCES FOR BELIEVERS WEAKNESS

2 Corinthians 12:9; Gen.6:8; Psalm 84:11; Luke 2:40; 1 Cor.15:10
God’s sufficiency pours out from His grace to veto our weaknesses. 1. Grace is God’s
riches at Christ’s expense. 2. Grace is an unmerited favour done by God to man. 3.
Grace is the ability supplied by God to do what we could not do through natural ability
or skill. Grace saves; grace heals; grace delivers; grace liberates; grace strengthens in
times of weakness and keeps the believer fit for heavenly home. “Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need”. Heb.4:16. Time of need here speaks of the time of weakness.
There are different levels of grace enough for whatever degree of weakness any
believer may be exposed to. This includes:
i.Saving grace (Eph.2:5; Titus 2:11). ii. Great grace (Acts 4:33). iii. Abundant grace
(Romans 5:17). iv. Strengthening grace (2 Tim.2:1). v. Sufficient grace (2 Cor.12:9). vi.
Manifold grace (1 Peter 4:10). vii. All grace (1 Peter 5:10; 2 Cor.9:8).

3. DELIGHTFUL RADIANCE DESPITE BELIEVERS WEAKNESS

2 Corinthians 12:10; 4:16-17; Heb.11:34; Isa.41:10
What the devil designs for our destruction, God knows how to turn it for our good,
because “…out of weakness (some) were made strong…”. Heb.11:34. When the Spirit
of Christ furnishes our lives with a very subtle kind of grace; when that grace filters
and surges through our whole being, it eliminates our weakness, thereby making us
delightfully radiant, despite our hitherto weakness. Such was the experience of the
following characters:
1. Paul: his weakness was an undisclosed bodily infirmity. God’s sufficient grace
vetoed that infirmity.
2. Moses: his weakness was a feeling of inadequacy and stammering tongue. God
said “I will be with thy mouth”. Exo.4:12
3. Gideon: his weakness was fear of the Medianites. God helped his weakness by
giving him a winning strategy and an opportunity to hear a reassuring dream
told by a Midianite (Judges 7:9-15).
4. Elijah: discouragement and the fear of Jezebel’s death threat was his weakness.
The supply of one portion of heavenly food nipped his matter on the bud.
5. Jeremiah: he said “Ah LORD God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child”.
Jer.1:6.
All this servants of God had one degree of weakness or the other but God’s sufficient
grace came through for them in their time of weakness. Our heavenly Father remains
the same and His sufficient grace flows through the agency of the Holy Spirit, as we
pray like Paul, to overpower our every weakness.