To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV)
The Lord’s grace proves more than sufficient to meet our needs, Amen? He gives us what we need when we need it. It all comes from His mighty Hand – it is through His power so that He alone is glorified. If He should withhold His Hand of grace we would soon be given over to the corruptions of our own stinking hearts and we would soon lose interest in all that is holy and pure and righteous. From the first to the last believers in Jesus stand indebted to God’s grace. He gives fully and completely – generous grace to keep us humble, prayerful, holy and zealous as well as grace to preserve us through this life until we at last to stand in heaven. And we are able to stand because He is faithful and able to cause us to stand. All for His glory and for our good.
Scripture tells us that our strength will match our days and He will send forth showers of blessings. Grace to comfort and console, to build up and bless. Indeed, God’s grace is brightly illustrated and magnified in our trials because through His power the Christian’s response is other worldly in its nature. We can know God will either work a deliverance or most assuredly support them in their troubles as He did Paul. The patience of the saints proves the power of God’s grace.
A daily portion of His grace is all His children need. A craving for more is superfluous and ungrateful. We will have enough for each day and we will never know want of it. We are to be content with His daily portion. We have no strength in and of ourselves to fight the good fight of faith. Yet, we can trust in His daily supply of grace which He bestows to every heir of mercy. Surely this is grounds for thankfulness from the saints.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)
I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 34:26 (NIV)