by Amy Carroll
2 Corinthians 12:9, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for
you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…'" (NIV)
Devotion:
I've been joking around about it for more than a year, but now I'm
thinking that I really might do it. I have been saying that I'm going
to start a journal for myself to read when I'm 70--you know, thoughts
from my younger self to my older self. Some of my current thoughts I'm
sure will be laughable to my 70-year-old self. My inexperience will
show, and my spiritual walk will seem immature.
My friend Ruth presented me with my best journal entry yet. Ruth's
closest friend, her husband Sam, died over a year ago in October. When
our families gathered for our annual Christmas get-together last year,
I asked Ruth how she was really doing without Sam. She told me that
she missed Sam terribly, of course. Then she followed with a quote
from her sister that had been widowed early in life. "Amy, I have
stood in front of my Sunday school class and taught the sufficiency of
God for 30 years. If I can't live that out now, what does it really
mean?"
God has been teaching me a lot about His complete sufficiency, and I
think it will be a key to growing in godliness until the end of my
life. Here are some areas in which He's teaching me.
1. The Sufficiency of His Word???For many years, I approached the
Bible with some fear. Surely this was a book that took an expert to
understand. I felt I needed an author or a scholar to tell me what
God's Word said and meant. He has been teaching me that with the help
of the Holy Spirit, I have everything I need in His Word. I'm now a
slow but determined student!
2. The Sufficiency of His Counsel???The prophecies of Jesus includes
this one from Isaiah 9:6, "…And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (NIV) Jesus then
taught us in the gospel of John about the Holy Spirit: John 14:26,
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I
have said to you" (NIV). I have Jesus and His indwelling Spirit to
counsel me about everything I need concerning life and godliness. He
is sufficient to give my life purpose and direction.
3. The Sufficiency of His Comfort???We live in a fallen world, and
sometimes I want to groan along with it. God's grace and power is
sufficient in our weak places, though. He even promises to use our
weakness, our suffering and our pain for our good. Many times He may
be calling us to join Him as instruments of comfort. Consider II
Corinthians 1:3-4, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who
comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any
trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (NIV).
These are just a few areas that God is showing me His sufficiency. I'm
sure you could add some of your own. I'm just praying that as I grow
into an older woman that I am continually growing into God's
sufficiency and out of my own. Someday I want to look at a younger
friend and answer her question with a quote from my friend Ruth, "I
have stood in front of my Sunday school class and taught the
sufficiency of God for 30 years…."
Dear Lord, so often I live in my own sufficiency. I want to learn
about Your sufficiency and how to live in it. Help Your name to be so
associated with my name that I would bring glory to You in everything
I do. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Application Steps:
Start a journal for your older self. Record the sayings and actions of
older and wiser people.
Begin living now the way you want to be when you are older. Curbing
our tongues is one way to show that we believe in God's sufficiency!
Reflections:
Who can I observe as role models for growing older and more like Jesus
every day?
What are some of the flaws that I want to eliminate and/or avoid as I
grow older? (Ask God for His sufficient power in this area.)
Power Verses:
Psalm 119: 111-112, "Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are
the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the
very end." (NIV)
Psalm 1:1-2, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of
the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of
mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he
meditates day and night." (NIV)
I Thessalonians 5: 23- 24, "May God himself, the God of peace,
sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body
be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who
calls you is faithful and he will do it." (NIV)
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