Imagine four steel rings. The first can support up to 80 kilograms, the second 60 kilograms, the third 40 and the fourth 20. Linked together what's the greatest weight the chain can support? Two-hundred kilograms? No! A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so the answer is 20!

It's the same with us. We're as vulnerable as our weakest areas. That's why we generally try to excuse or ignore them. But that's dangerous, because by relying on your own resources you start thinking you can handle everything alone. Paul spent the first half of his life serving

God according to his own best thinking - with disastrous results! Despite his great ability, he had to learn to rely on God.

Listen: "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me" ( 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV).
Hindrances, handicaps and hurdles are God's gifts to the self-sufficient! While He won't allow you to use your weaknesses as a crutch or a cop-out, He'll allow them to keep you dependent on Him.

So Paul writes: "I was given a handicap...to keep me in constant touch with my limitations" ( 2 Corinthians 12:7 TM).

God will keep you in touch with your limitations. Why? To embarrass you? No, to empower you so you can do His will, His way, in His strength! Every act of God in your life is designed to increase your dependence on Him.

Listen: "Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever, Amen" ( Matthew 6:13).
It's all about Him - not us!



midi: Without Him