Beyond Our Strength

Beyond our strength

2 Cor 1:8” For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;

9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;

10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

Hey friend, this is no ‘pop-corn’ stuff but strong substance for those who are willing to go through the path of severe trials and trust God to bail them out. Say Amen.

1)For we do not want you to be unaware: Wow, this is awesome, this leader Paul was not going to shove all the problems that he went through under the rug and behave as though everything was super cool. No..no…he was going to tell them all, so that they understand believers are not exempt from sufferings, pain, afflictions, sickness and sometimes it would be unbearable. Just because we obeyed the Lord and moved our ministry and family to another State in the country, that did not mean we would have stress-free shifting or smooth sailing, in fact, we went through nightmare during our initial days.

There were severe riots in the city during that time and on a particular day, we had come to an absolute empty stage. Not a grain in the rice bag, no oil, no petrol, no milk and not a penny in the wallet. Nothing! Children were hungry and we tried to withdraw the minimum balance that too did not work out, remember we are now in a city where we had no friends or relatives. I humbled myself to call the opposite house hindu lady and explained about the banks being closed ( though we had nothing anyway) and asked if she could give us some money. She was at that time out on the roads hunting for an ATM and she said, “Bala, I actually wanted to ask you for some money because I have no money and now all the banks are closed, sorry.” I just sat in my chair staring at the walls. After half-hour, I received a call, when I picked up the phone, it was the same sweet, pleasant voice of that hindu lady, she said, “Bala, I just managed to spot an ATM, I have withdrawn some money, would Rs.2000/- be enough?” Ah, the voice was like fresh water gushing on a barren, broken land! With this experience, I am able to now preach confidently about faith.

2) Our afflictions enables us to comfort others: 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;

I am speaking right now to a brother or sister reading this sermon, we need to go through every path in our life, rough and tough, holding on to the Hand of our Creator, rather than try to skip and do a long jump or high jump. It doesn’t happen that way. The prison was designed by God for Joseph. People going through marital, financial and emotional problems wish them to vanish immediately. It can happen even to a church or ministry, when the spirit that once united a people has been broken by selfishness or petty concerns or may be there is barrenness in the ministry. But listen, we cannot immediately turn around the situation, we need to wait on God to deliver us from this dark period. There are some pastors who would close their church ministry if people don’t show up, if your calling for church ministry so from the Lord then you need to persevere no matter what. Do the Bible study if there are people there or not, I remember preaching to empty chairs and benches for many years…yes , you heard it right, not many months but many years. Was that easy? Not at all. Not enough, we had to run a school and hostel for the poor, Abide School, in the outskirts of the city where there was no water, we had no money and no staff either. We survived though and received Government recognition and also successfully completed ten years. Now, we have trained, wonderful teachers, funds to pay huge rent, and also manage the school successfully even during this COVID lockdown period. Every ministry is unique, so are you!

There are treasures hidden in the dark! God says, “I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. “(Isaiah 45:3)