The 19th century preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones stated that “The ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God.”The longer we walk with the Lord, the more His grace amazes us and rocks us from the bottom of the foundation of our beliefs. It is awesome, indescribable and incomprehensible, yet we can experience it. With the little knowledge and understanding that we have on earth, we are able to grasp it by the help of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NKJV) And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The demonic world will try to affect us in our weaknesses, but be assured the power of Christ rests upon us. The meaning of “rest” in the original rendering is to pitch a tent. God’s power will pitch a tent upon us. Therefore, when we are weak, we are strong. This spiritual truth subverts all worldly logic, for how can one who is weak be strong at the same time? But as attested by the apostle Paul to the believers in Corinth earlier, the so-called “weakness of God’ (Christ dying on the cross) is stronger that the strongest of man (1 Cor. 1:25). It points to the gracious power of God.
Our weaknesses are likened to the solar panels that are used for modern-day camping tent. The more weaknesses we have, the more panels there are on top of our tent.The psalmist says“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory…” (Psalm 84:11,NKJV) God shines like the sun, His shining gives grace and glory. Our weaknesses become the solar panels that absorb the grace of God to work deep in us and translate it into the power of God. In our pilgrimage, we dwell in “the power-tent of grace”. The more we are exposed to the grace of God, the stronger we become to stand against difficult situations in our lives.
In 2 Timothy 2:1 (NKJV), Paul told Timothy, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”The word “strong” means “be empowered or strengthened” (Gk: endunamoo). The usage of the endunamoo power of God can also be found in Ephesians 6:10 (NKJV) “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” and in Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
More than one month ago, I was down with high fever for three days. On the fourth day, I was admitted to the hospital. The high fever persisted another four days and the specialists struggled to find the cause even after all the necessary blood tests, ECG, CT scan, X-ray, etc. had been performed on me. I told my family members not to put me in the ICU in case anything happens to me, because I believed that everything would turn out well.
On my fourth day in the hospital, my oxygen level was dropping while my body temperature and blood pressure remained high. I had lesions from head to toe though the vesicles were not causing any pain or itch. That is the mercy of God indeed! The doctors had sleepless nights but were devoted in their quest to resolve my health situation. However, they were still clueless about my strange conditions. The eureka moment came when they finally detected the varicella zoster virus in my body through a serology test. By then, it turned out to be a disseminating virus and was slowly attacking my internal organs.
My irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and hypertension conditions were complicating the situation. Despite the doctors’ effort to treat me, the symptoms did not improve. I was vomiting for three days and could not consume any food. I was terribly weak and my family members around me were panicking. In my heart I was asking God what was really happening to me.
On the fifth night, two demons appeared before me and said, “We’re in control of you.” They threatened to buffet me. Being physically down and out, I could not even utter words, and I won’t go into details as well. While they were standing there, I saw the grace of God strengthen my inner man. He stood up, looked at them and commanded, “In the name of the Lord Jesus, to leave!” I had been under attack in the missions field but had never experienced anything similar. The grace of God came at my weakest point to make my inner man strong. He was empowered by the gracious power of God.
I thought this episode ended here. Not too long after that, the demons brought a gang to visit me. This time they came like hornets and hundreds of them surrounded me, shrieking and screaming at my direction. One of them looking like Beelzebul(‘lord of the flies’) stood right in front of me. I really thought it was my final battle in the valley of the shadow of death.
Remember, Psalm 27:3 (NKJV) says “Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear...” and Psalm 91:7 “A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.”I was wondering why the enemies did not come near me (they just surrounded me). Then, again I saw the grace of God take hold of my inner man. This time, He was even stronger. Though I was physically flat, my inner man was so strong, and to use a layman term, I feel I could punch every one of them down with the strength of God. I saw my Shepherd! Every word in Psalm 23 stood like a person in front of me as if conversing with me. The whole experience is inexpressible but simply astounding. Every one of us must decide that “The Lord is MY Shepherd”. He is not only our Shepherd by MY Shepherd! The Lord Jesus spreads a table before us in the presence of our enemies. He invites us to come to His table, anoints us and gives us the assurance that He is with us all the time. We should never doubt God or say any harsh things to Him when undergoing trials and tribulations. His goodness (grace) and mercy follow us every day of our lives.
When I felt the pain like knives plunging through my lungs (due to the liver being attacked and injured), I learnt that when the power of God comes and the grace of God takes hold of us, it lifts us above all our physical or emotional pain or suffering.
One night at about 1am or 2am, a nurse came to take the routine measurements of my temperature, blood pressure and oxygen level. All the readings were bad. Instead of pressing the emergency button, she stood at my bed and prayed for me. Then she saw that the readings were improving. The next morning, she asked me if I was a Christian (since my NRIC name is different) and told me sheepishly what transpired. I thanked her with much gratefulness and informed her that I’m actually serving the Lord, much to her surprise.
We should not neglect our inner man to our own peril. The Bible mentions that our outer man perishes but the inward man is renewed day by day by the grace of God (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 16:41 (NKJV) “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”The grace of God is more than able to empower and strengthen us when we pray. If we can at least read our Bible 20 minutes and pray for 10 minutes every day, our inner man will be fed. If over a period of time it extends, wonderful! But if it stays within the 30 minutes, that is fine too.
How do we appropriate the grace of God?
#1. John 1:14-16 Receive
We receive the grace of God because of what Christ has accomplished for us. Out of His fulness we have received grace upon grace! And our pilgrimage here on earth is from strength to strength, faith to faith, grace upon grace and glory to glory.
#2. Hebrews 4:14-16 Come
It’s the throne where Christ the great High Priest is. We boldly come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
#3. Acts 20:32 Commend
We hand over one another to the grace of God, to the word of His grace which is able to build us up and give us an inheritance among those who are saved. This is a practice in the early church, i.e. to commend or recommend one another to the grace of God. To commend or recommend means to surrender to the power of another. We surrender our children, our brothers and sisters even those who are against us to the power of the grace of God.
#4. 1 Peter 5:10, 1 Peter 3:18 Grow
We grow in the grace of God. We let our inner man and our hearts be strengthened by the grace of God.
Now I understand why the hymn writer says, “It is well with my soul.” By the grace of God, it is well with our soul. It is the gracious power of God.