2 Corinthians 12:9

A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. When God’s warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, “I know that I shall conquer; my own right arm and my conquering sword shall secure the victory for me,” defeat is not far away.

God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckons on victory this way has reckoned wrongly, for it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Those who go out to fight, boasting of their prowess, shall return with their bright banners trailed in the dust, and their armour stained with disgrace.

Those who serve God must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. What man does, unaided by divine strength, God can never acknowledge. The mere fruits of the earth He casts away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love.

God will empty out all that you have before He will put His own into you; He will first clean out your granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs.

God will have no strength used in His battles but the strength which He Himself imparts. Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give you victory. Your emptiness is only the preparation for your being filled, and your being cast down is only the preparation for your being lifted up.

“When I am weak then am I strong,
Grace is my shield and Christ my song.”