Strength in Weakness: How God Uses Suffering to Bless Others

Summary

God blesses others through believers who rely on His strength rather than their own. Human weakness does not hinder God. It magnifies His grace. True Christianity reshapes values, priorities, and concern for the lost, often involving suffering and rejection. Paul and Barnabas modeled perseverance by focusing on God’s mission despite opposition. When believers value fruit over comfort and pride, God uses them powerfully to advance His kingdom.

Strength in Weakness

God can bless others through us by focusing on what He can do, not what we can’t. Our weakness does not limit God. It glorifies Him better than our strength does (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Comfort, Suffering, and True Christianity

We naturally seek comfort. We take aspirin for headaches and cold medicine for the sniffles. We use air conditioners when it is hot and heaters when it is cold.

But the unsettling truth is that we must suffer for God to use us. “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12 NIV). Unproductive Christianity is a form of “Christianity” without Christ. True Christianity changes how we live.

Faith That Transforms Values and Priorities

Living like those who do not know Christ while professing to follow Him makes no sense. True Christianity shapes our values, goals, and life direction.

Saving faith and the new birth bring concern for the well-being of those outside of Christ. That concern significantly changes how we use our time, energy, talents, and finances.

God blesses others through us by concentrating on His mission and the grace he gives to fulfill it. A bee continually flies toward the daylight in a bottle with its base against a window.

Meanwhile, the neck of the bottle is open. The bee only needs to turn around to find freedom. Same with us.

Turning Toward God’s Grace

God’s grace waits. We must turn around and receive it with an open hand of faith.

Paul and Barnabas: Persevering Through Rejection

Paul and Barnabas quickly forgot the people’s adverse reaction to their preaching the gospel. Persecutions in Antioch and Pisidia did not stop them. They moved on to Iconium, where some accepted and others rejected their message (Acts 14:1-2).

They continued to Lystra, preached the gospel, and healed a man crippled since birth (Acts 14:7-10). At first, people worshipped them as gods.

Opinion quickly turned against them. Their enemies stoned Paul and left him for dead. He miraculously recovered. The next day, they left Lystra to preach in Derbe (Acts 14:21).

Rejection did not derail Paul and Barnabas. In Acts 14:27, they talked about the fruit they had seen through preaching the gospel, not all they suffered to bear it.

Counting Fruit, Not Critics

God blessed others through them because they focused on the grace God gave to fulfill their mission despite opposition. They counted fruit, not their critics.

Humility, Mission, and God’s Blessing

Rejection is hard to handle. It is a splinter in our pride. God uses us when we are more concerned about saving the lost than saving our pride. See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians.  #freediscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources

God has empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship e-book. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 7,541 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 17,361 people. I invite you to explore and use it in your setting. 

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