Weakness

Oh, Father...

Thank you for the ways I can see Your Spirit changing me from the inside out.

There are bad things I used to do that I don't do anymore, and I know it's only because of You. But at the same time, the stronger I become, the more I feel the evil one having to develop new strategies against me, the more I think it's me and my own strength that has him on the run.

I wonder what Paul's thorn in the flesh was. He pleaded with You to remove it, whatever it was, but You reassured him that Your grace was all he needed, and that his weakness was the perfect venue for Your strength to be shown.

Amen to that!

This makes me want to stand up and shout, "Don't make me strong! Keep me weak! But work through me in a powerful way, so powerfully that I know it can't possibly be me and my strength!"

Oh, Father...

I ask for two things at the same time, to have this cake and eat it, too.

I want to be so strong in You that "all the vain things that charm me most" will blow away like dead leaves. But I want to be so weak on my own that I have nothing in which to take pride.

I want the devil to see how much harder I am to get to, but to also destroy his temptation to view my bigger muscles as my own handiwork.

Can we swing that?