A Great Awakening 
By Mike Rule

I am convinced that we are in the midst of a great awakening. I have seen the mist between this realm and true reality crack open, and have caught a dim glimpse of that TRUE reality. God is revealing Himself in powerful ways, and His people are responding.

But in order to be made safe for the revelations, He has given me a thorn -- a tormentor from Satan to buffet me. I have begged God to relieve me of this -- three times I have done so. But His answer has been NO. His grace is enough; His power is safe only in a weak vessel. Therefore I will boast in my weakness, for when I am weak I am strong.

It is easy to adapt a mindset of powerlessness. And it is true: I am powerless, but His power is evident in weakness. My trouble is in not exercising authority over the weakness and surrendering ALL to Him. When I walk according to the flesh, it kills me. I am miserable but also too ornery to surrender to Him. Hence, I create my own misery. Yet I also prove the very message that He has sent me to proclaim: Christ in you, the Hope of Glory. His life in me is the source of my misery, and He is why I continue to battle the flesh: He will NOT let me be free of the struggle. I am already free of sin, but there are times when I refuse to act according to that freedom and exercise the authority He has given me over sin. I KNOW better and have EXPERIENCED better, and as a result, I also fall into expecting better of myself. To the best of my knowledge I am honest with myself for where I am at, but it’s easy to become full of myself, and as a result, need realignment in the form of having the rug jerked from under my feet. God is faithful. I cannot WILL myself to change, but I CAN stand in the truth and in the authority He has given me OVER all flesh.

Verses for Reflection

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9 NASB)

I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. (Romans 12:3 MSG)

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5 NASB)

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:5-6 NASB)