My Grace Is Sufficient for You — sacred illustration
✶ Our Bible Moments No. 250 / 253

Strength & Courage

My Grace Is Sufficient for You

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

2 Corinthians 12:9 says: “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.’” Paul writes that this was the Lord’s answer after he pleaded three times for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away.

Lord, You told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” I have asked You to take this weakness away, and it is still here. So I bring it to You again. Let Your grace be enough for me today. Let Your power rest on me right where I am weakest, and when I am weak, be my strength. Amen.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says: “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.’” Paul writes that this was the Lord’s answer after he pleaded three times for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away.

The Scripture

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

— 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Prayer points from 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

  1. Name the weakness or thorn you are carrying.
  2. Tell God honestly how long you have been asking Him to take it away.
  3. Receive His answer: His grace is sufficient for you.
  4. Ask for the power of Christ to rest on you in that very place.
  5. Ask for grace to stop hiding your weakness from Him and from others.
  6. Thank Him that when you are weak, His strength is enough.

About this verse

In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul writes about visions and revelations from the Lord, and about what came with them. To keep him from becoming conceited, he says, he was given a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment him. He never says what the thorn was, and no one knows for sure. Three times he pleaded with the Lord to take it away. The answer was not the one he asked for: My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Paul does not say the thorn went away. Instead he says he will boast all the more gladly in his weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on him, and he delights in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ. He sums it up in one line: when I am weak, then I am strong. It is a prayer for anyone who has asked God to take something away and is still carrying it.

When to pray this prayer

More prayers for strength & courage

Did this help you pray today?

Stay a little longer with Scripture

Watch the Bible word for word, or rest with a painting of Jesus, piece by piece.

Bible Movies app iconBible MoviesWhole Bible chapters as films, word for word→ Bible Jigsaw app iconBible JigsawPaintings of Jesus to piece together, each with a verse→

No app? Watch a chapter here · Play a jigsaw here

More prayers for Strength & Courage → The whole prayer library

✶ · Our Bible Moments