5 Minute Lessons on the Kingdom of God
God's Grace Is My Strength
Read time: 3 minutes
Downloads
Audio Lesson
00:00
00:00
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
When I was in junior high, I was quite an athlete. I was better at basketball than most children my age. Then something happened that was to change my life. One day after school, my cousin and I were playing baseball. He was trying out a new bat, swinging it as hard as he could, when suddenly I felt something hit me on my forehead, just a little above my eyes. The earth began spinning around and around. We only had a country doctor in our town of about 300 people. And we only used him to set broken arms or legs, that sort of thing. And here I am knocked to the ground by a ball bat to the head!
My head immediately began to swell. Because of the great amount of swelling the country doctor took a long needle with a syringe and began pulling blood out of my head. At that point, my mother fainted on the floor of the doctor's office at the sight.
Sometime later, we got home from the doctor's office. I'm not sure how. There were no nurses to help, there was only the doctor's wife who assisted him in the office. My head had swollen and began to turn black and blue. I was never quite the same in some respects.
In high school my typing teacher said to me, "I have noticed that you type normal for a few words and then you slow down to a crawl and then speed up." I think I received some damage from the accident. All I know is, after that I had a very hard time in my studies in school and later in high school. I hate to admit this, but if it wasn't for a couple of girlfriends, I don't believe I could have graduated from high school.
Why am I sharing this story? Because I have found God's grace to be my strength in my absolute weakness of life (2 Corinthians 12:9). I have been known as a college professor and a scholar in Biblical studies. If people only knew! Jesus is not a crutch to me, He is a stretcher. I have produced multiple Bible study tools that have gone throughout the world, free of charge. God has always met my needs (Philippians 4:19). Why am I saying this? Because God delights in using not the strong and educated, but those who out of weakness rely upon His strength.
Dear friends, follow me as I follow Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). But if I don't follow Christ, please don't follow me!
My head immediately began to swell. Because of the great amount of swelling the country doctor took a long needle with a syringe and began pulling blood out of my head. At that point, my mother fainted on the floor of the doctor's office at the sight.
Sometime later, we got home from the doctor's office. I'm not sure how. There were no nurses to help, there was only the doctor's wife who assisted him in the office. My head had swollen and began to turn black and blue. I was never quite the same in some respects.
In high school my typing teacher said to me, "I have noticed that you type normal for a few words and then you slow down to a crawl and then speed up." I think I received some damage from the accident. All I know is, after that I had a very hard time in my studies in school and later in high school. I hate to admit this, but if it wasn't for a couple of girlfriends, I don't believe I could have graduated from high school.
Why am I sharing this story? Because I have found God's grace to be my strength in my absolute weakness of life (2 Corinthians 12:9). I have been known as a college professor and a scholar in Biblical studies. If people only knew! Jesus is not a crutch to me, He is a stretcher. I have produced multiple Bible study tools that have gone throughout the world, free of charge. God has always met my needs (Philippians 4:19). Why am I saying this? Because God delights in using not the strong and educated, but those who out of weakness rely upon His strength.
"26Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God." (1 Corinthians 1:26‑29 New Living Translation)
Dear friends, follow me as I follow Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). But if I don't follow Christ, please don't follow me!
Questions
-
What kind of person does God use?
Answer
We want to hear from you!
We would love to hear your feedback on these lessons and how you use them in your own study or in discipling others. If you have any thoughts, stories, testimonies, comments, or questions we would love to hear them!
Next Lesson:
The Day of the LORD Will Come like a Thief