Do you feel inadequate?

Paul was a mighty man of prayer, so it was natural for him to make a plea three times. The answer comes, and it is very clear. Whether it was in a vision or some inner conviction of his mind, I do not know, but the answer was clear: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” If this verse expresses a principle that is true of life, and God knows it is true that His strength is made perfect in our weakness, what do you think He is busy accomplishing with us? Making us weak, isn't He? And what makes us feel weak? It is being under attack, feeling inadequate to handle the pressures and the problems that we have. If you feel weak, then it is not only the devil that makes you feel that way, but it is God, too. God makes us feel this weakness to keep us from adopting attitudes that could render us useless in the work of spreading His kingdom. Paul knew that the worst thing he could do became arrogant about his revelation. It was evidently more important to keep Paul humble than it was to make him comfortable, so God allowed the thorn to go on.

Do you have spiritual pride?

The most dangerous threat to any servant of Christ is spiritual pride. I confess to you that is the thing I fear most in my own ministry. So many nice things are said to me, so many people stroke my pride, and there are so many boosts to my ego that I fear I will begin to believe that some of these compliments represent remarkable abilities that I possess. I was at a conference in California once, and I was speaking with the director of the conference about another brother in the Lord about sending one of his organization's top speakers for a series of special meetings. This man drew himself up and said, “I am the top speaker of our group. I'm number 1.” It was not surprising to me, after learning that, to see this man's ministry begin to crumble and fall apart; soon he was removed from his leadership position by his own organization. I have seen a lot of people fall because they grew arrogant and boastful about what God was doing through them.

When is the devil being beaten?

This underscores the spiritual battle we are involved in. When is the devil being beaten? Not when we feel great and confident when it looks like wonderful things are happening when the ministry is going well. No, the devil is being defeated when we are feeling attacked and under the gun when we feel weak and helpless and do not know what to do when we are not sure how to respond when in our perplexities and sense of weakness we come before the Lord and plead with Him for strength to go on one more day and for grace to help us stand. That is when we are winning and when the kingdom of God is being spread more abundantly than ever before.