Are you feeling run down?  Is it hard to get up?  Then try Pastor Michael’s miracle cure!  It’s all the power you need in one handy capsule.  And after just one dose you’ll feel brand new!

Okay… that’s not actually true.  There is no “miracle cure” that will enliven and uplift your life.  In fact, just the opposite is too often true.  Men and women searching for that rush of euphoria end up becoming slaves to whatever it is that has captivated them.  The cravings for drugs, alcohol, sex, money, power, etc. have a downward spiral that leads to destruction and leaves a crater where once a life used to be.

How do we do it then?  How do we find that power to live when life falls apart and our world is failing?  You’re not alone in the search.  The Apostle Paul had the same struggle.  Do you know what God told him?  It’s the same thing He will tell us – you need to be empowered by grace. Read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 and then follow along these next few moments as we explore this text.

First - you must see your present affliction.   How is a person afflicted? Often through trials and temptations, with the constant reminder of the failings of the past, will come the enemy of our souls.  There are some who think that Paul's "thorn" was his bad eyesight.  However, that doesn't agree with the reality that his "thorn" was a messenger of Satan.  What does Satan come to do?  He is the accuser of the brothers, the tempter, the one who comes to "steal, kill and destroy."  This "thorn," by my speculation, was the constant reminder of Paul's failings - his sins.  All are afflicted in a similar way and in the midst of it must be empowered by grace.

Second - there is always a plea for deliverance.  The afflictions in our lives cause us to cry out – to seek God’s rescue from pain.  Jesus did in the garden, Paul does here, and we all want to find deliverance.  God's answer, however, may not be deliverance from affliction, but deliverance through affliction.  And, ultimately, our cry must be "not my will, but Yours be done."

Third - you come in contact with the power of grace.  When you truly know the Grace of Christ and have received it in its abundance, the thorns inflicted upon you will become the points where God’s strength dominates.  Instead of finding destruction and despair you will see how much God has done for you, even as the enemy himself stands to accuse you.  His accusations will fail because the true Judge has already issued you a pardon through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Fourth - this leads to the promotion of humility.  In what do you boast? In this world people often boast over the arrogant successes of men.  But God has a higher place for us – and that is the place of humility.  When you are empowered by the grace of God you will have no room to boast except in the Lord Jesus Christ.  His ways become yours, His life is yours, and His power is your source for all that you are.  There is no room for self-boasting in a heart empowered by grace.

Fifth - this brings your pronouncement of faith.  It is a declaration of faith to say that you can delight in the sufferings that come as you walk with Christ Jesus.  From the inward turmoil to the outward attacks, all things must be seen through the eyes of faith.  You will take every experience and tie it together with your relationship to Christ, declaring with certainty that even your afflictions have been God's tools to shape you, until Christ's power, and His power alone, rests on you.