There is a prevailing sort of success-driven mantra we often hear that says you can do absolutely anything you want. Just put your mind to it. And while that may be true for many things we could attempt, it seems that it has little to no bearing on many Christians who have tried their hardest, even for years, to accomplish something worthwhile. Has buying into the “I can do anything…” mindset left you frustrated and feeling a little defeated? Well, have you considered the source of your strengths?

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You might be able to accomplish just about anything you put YOUR mind to, but even if you reach that goal, you will not find fulfillment if you are not accomplishing that which God has put HIS mind to for you. Always remember that we are still ‘servants’ of the Lord and He still has specific purposes for each of us. And If we focus too much on our perceived strengths, we will rarely feel the need to lean and depend upon the God who is the absolute source of all of our power.

But there is another important aspect to all of this. It is that you might be failing to recognize the value of some of your weaknesses. And sure, such words would rarely be heard in a secular motivational speaking event. But we as Christians understand that man’s ways of seeing things are often not God’s ways. And though from time to time we need a friendly reminder, we know that when we are weak, God is strong.

Take, for example, the apostle Paul.  There is probably no greater world-impacting Christian you or I can think of.  In his day, facing the dangers he met with everywhere he went, the apostle Paul proved to be probably the mightiest man of God who ever lived since the birth of the church.  But here is where Paul’s strength lay; Paul was weak (2 Cor. 12:9)!  Of course he had strengths, but it was his weakness that helped define His ministry.  How do I know?  Well, Paul himself said that all of his achievements, all of his social status and all of his education, he counted as dung.  So what else did he really have left but his weaknesses?

And it was even when he was either left for dead or asleep that Paul was taken by God into the third heaven where he heard things that were unlawful to repeat (2 Cor. 12:2-4).  And after such an awesome revelation, he had to be humbled by God, so there was permitted “a messenger of Satan”, an insurmountable obstacle, a weakness that was sent to harass him in order to keep him humble—to keep him weak in “Paul” but strong in the Lord (v. 7)!

You see, God has created us—weaknesses and all.  And He allows us to have some of our weaknesses, such as areas of our lives that we just cannot seem to improve in or overcome on our own, so that like the apostle Paul, who sought God over and over again to remove his own thorn in the flesh, when we turn to Him, God infuses our lives, our weaknesses with His omnipotent power.  Then we learn to say like the apostle Paul learned: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).

What has been the greatest power God has displayed in your life up until now?  I’ll tell you, it was when He saved you and made you completely righteous in His sight!  And how did you have to come to Him for that to happen?  You had to come humbly by faith without works, because not only were you weak, but you were absolutely impotent to save yourself, right?  If God did such a powerful thing for you when you were His enemy, how much more will He do for you (and through you) now that you are His child?

Be like a child before a heavenly Father and consider the source of your strength, and remember also that the Lord Jesus Christ said that “Without Me, you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5).