Inner Strength Part 5
May 9, 2026
Inner Strength Part 5
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness..." These words, recorded by Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, were spoken by Jesus in Paul’s prayer for his affliction to be healed.
This scripture highlights another type of spiritual strength… the strength given to us when we cannot discover strength within ourselves. It is the strength we receive from God that turns our weaknesses and afflictions into Divine strength. And by design, that strength’s origin is external to us. In these cases, God asks us to trust and rely on God rather than our own spiritual resources. There is a method in this design: to demonstrate God’s strength in those who have surrendered their weakness to God.
“…my strength is made perfect in your weakness” was God’s response to Paul’s persistent pleas for the removal of a limitation that plagued him all his days… Paul referred to it as his thorn in the flesh. But regardless of the persistence of Paul’s prayers, God did not grant the removal of the weakness; instead, it remained so that Paul would rely on God to cope with this particular weakness.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9, the Greek verb translated as "made perfect" is teleitai (τελεῖται), which comes from the root word teleō (τελέω). It means to bring to an end, complete, fulfill, accomplish, or make whole, signifying that God's strength is fully realized and displayed through human limitation. So, if we apply this translation to this passage, we can look at what Jesus said to Paul this way:
“My freely given gift of strength is enough for you, because my strength is brought to its complete expression by its taking the place of your weakness.”
Paul plainly writes that the thorn was to "keep me from becoming conceited" due to the greatness of the divine revelations he received (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). But God must have many other reasons for us to rely on his strength, besides preventing our becoming conceited. God may want us to trust more, to lean on God in our most vulnerable areas, or to exercise our being tethered to the Divine. Also, God may want to have a closer relationship with us, to realize more fully that our wholeness is totally dependent on God’s wholeness or even for us to become conscious that God’s approach to our weaknesses is far superior to our own. The greatest is possibly to watch how God uses the thorn in our side to let others know that God works through our weakness and thereby demonstrates more fully God’s love, power, and grace.
Spiritual practice and self-inquiry: What weakness do you have that you would be willing to turn over to God completely?
Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to rely on you to carry me through when my thorns and my afflictions make me weak. I pray for the power of relinquishment. Amen
