Using Your Weaknesses • Zechariah 4:6b (KJV) Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,

saith the Lord of hosts.

• Luke 6:6-10 (KJV) And it came to pass also on another sabbath,
that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man • That’s good news, because most of us are not extraordinary people.
whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees We don’t have bodies like the models. We don’t have extraordinary
watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they intellect. We’re just normal, ordinary, average people. God says
might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, “That’s okay, because I don’t choose to work through natural
and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and strength. I choose to work through natural weakness so that My
stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said power can shine through.”
Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath
days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? And • When we talk about weakness we’re not talking about sins or
looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch character flaws that you can change (like overeating, impatience,
forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as greed, laziness).
the other.
• Weakness is any limitation in my life that I inherited or cannot
• Every one of us has weaknesses. There are physical weaknesses, change. There are all kinds of limitations like that.
emotional weaknesses, relational weaknesses, financial o Physical defects you were born with
weaknesses, intellectual weaknesses. There are things your body o External circumstances you cannot control
can’t do. Some of us even have fashion weaknesses! We have all o Unexpected financial setbacks
different kinds of weakness. o Relationship pressures within your family
o Emotional tendencies you are predisposed toward
• The real issue is not, “Do I have weaknesses?” but “What am I going o Some talents are completely beyond your ability
to do with my weaknesses?” What we normally do is deny them,
defend them, excuse them, resent them and most of all hide them – • 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NCV) We have this treasure from God, but we
we don’t want anybody to see our weaknesses! Then God comes are like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows that the great
along and says, “You know what I want to do with your weaknesses? power is from God, not from us.
I want to USE them.” That doesn’t make sense to us; we think God
only wants to use our strengths. • The thing about clay pots is that they break easily, they are not
indestructible. But more than that, every clay pot has inherited
• Isaiah 55:8-9 (LB) This plan of mine is not what you would work design flaws, it is imperfect. We are just ordinary containers, but we
out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours! For just as the have a great God! Someone wrote a book entitled, “God Uses
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than Cracked Pots.” You’re the kind of person God wants to use!
yours, and my thoughts than yours.
HOW CAN I USE MY WEAKNESSES?
• God is smarter than you. The way you think He should work is often
the exact opposite of the way He really works in life. He says, “I don’t 1. ADMIT MY WEAKNESSES
want to work around your weaknesses. I don’t want to work in spite
of your weaknesses. I want to work through your weaknesses!” • The starting point is to stop pretending you’ve got it all together.
Because you don’t – nobody does! Stop hoping that your
• 1 Corinthians 1:27 (TEV) God purposely chose what the world weaknesses will go away if you just ignore them. Stop making
considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what excuses or blaming others for your weaknesses. You’ve tried all
the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful. that, and it hasn’t worked. Insanity is doing the same thing over
and over and expecting a different result! Just admit that you
• God purposely works through weak people. Why? Because it shows have weaknesses!
His power! God is not impressed with strength, we are!
 • Sometimes God has to bring something into our lives to get us to b) It prevents arrogance.
admit our weaknesses. That is called a crisis. A crisis is a
weakness identifier. When you go through a crisis it says, 2 Corinthians 12:7 (NIV) To keep me from becoming
“Here’s the fault in my life, the failure, the lack, the weak spot.” conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations,
Don’t wait for a crisis! It’s far less painful to identify your there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of
weaknesses and admit them up front than having to go through Satan, to torment me.
crisis after crisis for God to get you to admit, “I’m not God. I don’t
have it all together.” What is a thorn? It is a weakness or a limitation I cannot
change that causes me pain and apparently limits my
2. BE GRATEFUL FOR MY WEAKNESSES ministry. Thorns are given by God so they’re not sins. Some
thorns are temporary, some are removed gradually, and
• “You’ve got to be kidding! I want to come to church and take a some you have for a lifetime like Paul.
magic pill to get rid of all my weaknesses. I don’t want you to tell
me to be grateful for them – I want to be free from all of them.” What does a thorn do? It causes me enough pain that I
remain humble and dependent on God. If God is ever going
• 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (PHI) Three times I begged the Lord for it to use you in a great way, expect a thorn!
to leave me, but his reply has been, "My grace is enough for you:
for where there is weakness, my power is shown the more c) It causes me to value others.
completely.” Therefore, I have cheerfully made up my mind to be
proud of my weaknesses, because they mean a deeper One of the dangers of strength is that it breeds an
experience of the power of Christ. independent spirit. If I don’t have any weaknesses in my life,
I tend to think, “I don’t need anybody!” But God made us to
• 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (LB) Three different times I begged God value each other.
to make me well again. Each time he said, "No. But I am with
you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak One of the biggest lies in our society is that significance is
people." Now I am glad to boast about how weak I am; I am glad the same thing as prominence. We tend to think if you’re well
to be a living demonstration of Christ's power, instead of showing known then what you have to say is very important. But you
off my own power and abilities. can be a celebrity and be living a totally trivial life.

• Why in the world would anybody do that? Because there are Your nose may be a very prominent feature of your body.
many benefits; weaknesses are actually blessings in disguise! But it’s not very significant. You could lose your nose and
live the rest of your life It’s prominent; it’s not significant. On
a) It guarantees God’s help. the other hand, there are some organs that are not seen at
all, but you can’t live without them.
GOD: 2 Corinthians 12:9a (LB) But I am with you; that is
all you need. My power shows up best in weak people. 1 Corinthians 12:22 (LB) And some of the parts that seem
weakest and least important are really the most necessary.
PAUL: 2 Corinthians 12:10b (LB) For when I am weak,
then I am strong – the less I have, the more I depend on You make a strong rope, not by making one solid cord, but
him. by putting a lot of strands together. That’s the value of unity,
and the value of a church family.
If you’ve prayed repeatedly for God to take something away
and He hasn’t, it’s probably a weakness. He might be Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NLT) A person standing alone can be
saying, “Why in the world would I take it away? If you could attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and
solve all your problems and meet all your needs, how much conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is
would you depend on Me?” not easily broken.
 d) It gives me a ministry. GIDEON
When God wanted Gideon to become Israel’s deliverer from the Midianites,
He called him a “mighty man of valour.” Gideon was hiding from the enemy
God puts you on earth not just to live for yourself, but to help at the time, but God still used him!
other people. Your greatest ministry will flow out of your
weaknesses. Your greatest life message is going to come PETER
out of your deepest hurt. The very thing that caused you the Jesus called Peter a “rock” but he was anything but stable! He was impulsive
most grief and pain, God can use as a message to other and violent, and he even denied the Lord. But look at him on the Day of
people to encourage them. The thing you’re most Pentecost after God used his weakness to become strength!
embarrassed about, the thing you’re most ashamed of, the
thing you don’t want anybody else to know about – God JACOB
wants to use that to encourage other people. Jacob was a deceiver, a manipulator and a schemer. He made one mess
after another and then ran from it. He ran his entire life, until the night that he
wrestled with God. He said, “I’m not letting you go until you bless me!” And
Pain sensitizes us to the hurts of others. If you want to have God said, “Okay, I’ll bless you!” He touched Jacob at his greatest point of
a Christ-like ministry, that means sometimes other people strength – the thigh that helped him run! Forever after, he would walk with a
are going to be helped, encouraged and even healed by the limp. Why? So he couldn’t run from his weaknesses any more, and so he
wounds in your life. Jesus Christ received wounds in His would have a constant reminder to depend on God!
body and we all benefited from it!

2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT) He comforts us in all our troubles • God wants to take the greatest weakness in your life and turn it into
so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we a strength! (so stretch out your WITHERED hand!)
will be able to give them the same comfort God has given
us. • Hebrews 11:32-34 (NIV) And what more shall I say? I do not have
time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel
When you have walked a mile in someone else’s shoes, you and the prophets A whose weakness was turned to strength.
are uniquely equipped to help them through their problems!
GOD NEVER WASTES A HURT!
HIS STRENGTH IS PERFECT

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength

• Whenever you go out and share your strength, that always creates
But sometimes I wonder what He can do through me
competition. But whenever you share your weakness, that creates
No great success to show, no glory on my own
community. Vulnerability is the key to intimacy and fellowship.
Yet in my weakness He is there to let me know
• God always uses weak people. He turns weakness into strength.
His strength is perfect when our strength is gone
MOSES
He'll carry us when we can't carry on
Anger was Moses’ greatest weakness; he killed an Egyptian, broke the Raised in his power the weak become strong
tables of stone, and smote the rock twice. Yet only he and Jesus were called His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect
“meek” in the Bible, which means “anger under control.”
We can only know the power that He holds
DAVID When we truly see how deep our weakness goes
David lusted after another man’s wife, committed adultery with her, and then His strength in us begins when ours comes to an end
had the man killed. But later he was called “a man after God’s own heart” He hears our humble cry and proves again
when God turned that weakness into strength.

ABRAHAM
His strength is perfect when our strength is gone
Abraham is called the father of faith, but his greatest weakness was his lack He'll carry us when we can't carry on
of faith. One time, he had his wife pretend to be his sister because he Raised in his power the weak become strong
doubted that God could protect him from the enemy who wanted her. His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect