2 Corinthians 4:7 points to the fact that God created us to be vulnerable. We are jars of clay easily chipped and cracked. As humans, we are not infallible. However, we can turn our weaknesses into power when we encounter and merge our lives with the all-surpassing power of God. This brings glory to God.
We as humans are all jars of clay. But, there’s a light shining the glory of God inside of us; God put that treasure inside us, the fragile jars. The clay—the weakness and vulnerability—is not who we are and not what we should be focused on when we are believers and filled with the Spirit of God. Look where God wants you to look: His light, power, glory, and all-surpassing power inside of you! Don’t judge your life by the clay, but judge yourself by the light of God inside of you. You’re not helpless because you can shine!
The Warning Signs
We can sometimes get into troubled situations but don’t realize we are self-defeating when we put off an attitude of helplessness. These are warning signs that you are slipping into helplessness:
Always in “survival mode” and act “stuck.”
Believe in luck or fate, that everything is fixed in life and you don’t have the power to do anything about it (e.g. “My luck has run out” or “I’m an unlucky person”).
Allow fear to rule your life and always make decisions out of fear.
Ruled by your emotions and always reacting to something.
Spend money you don’t have to temporarily empower yourselves.
Talk too much.
If you don’t like what you’re growing, change what you’re sowing.
Steve Gray
Keys to Overcoming
Here are some key ways you can stop being helpless:
The power of prayer! As believers we have unlocked the unique access to call on our father God and activate his presence, glory, and power in our lives. We take action in our lives via prayer, and God responds to us. We are not helpless in the Kingdom of God. I am not helpless! You are not helpless!
Start making decisions based on faith rather than fear.
God acts, so you act. Be a person of action—don’t just react to life as it happens to you! Walk by the Spirit.
Trust God to get you where you need to go. You don’t need to manipulate situations. God will lift you up, so you don’t need to lift yourself up.
You are not helpless in this world because you can tap into the treasure of God, His power inside of you!
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Questions:
How will you remind yourself that God is your strength, and that you are not alone or helpless?
6:00You’ve got to look at what God wants you to look at.
6:23If you’re a Christian filled with the Spirit of God, then what it looks like when you go through hard times is not what it is. We are not helpless.
7:17Start tapping into that light of the glory of God inside of you, so you can become everything you need to become in spite of the jar of clay. The treasure inside the jar of clay is what makes you so unique and powerful.
9:40We act. God reacts. God responds to us. It’s an interactive Kingdom of God.
10:20If you don’t like what you’re growing, change what you’re sowing.
11:08Helpless people make decisions out of fear, while spiritual people make decisions out of faith.
12:58If God’s lifting you up, you don’t need to [lift yourself up].
17:18The way it looks on the outside is not what’s happening on the inside.
