The Secret to God's Power? Admitting You're Weak.

Change has a way of exposing our weaknesses. Maybe you're considering a new job, getting married, stepping into leadership, or facing a future you didn't see coming. Whatever the change, there's a question nearly always lurking just beneath the surface: What if I don't have what it takes?

Even more than not having enough, nearly everyone is afraid of not being enough.

Our culture has two pretty terrible solutions to that problem. The first is to convince ourselves we're capable of anything. You can do it! You've got what it takes! The second is to fake it until we make it. Hide the weakness. Project confidence. Make sure nobody sees the cracks.

Neither approach comes from Jesus.

In fact, Jesus offers something radically different: The way to experience God's power is to embrace your weakness.

God's Calling Will Require More Than You Have

Anything worth doing—marriage, stepping into leadership, parenting, following God’s call—will require something of us. And sometimes, understanding what we're committing to can be downright intimidating.

In Joshua 1, God repeatedly tells Joshua to be strong and courageous as he prepares to lead God's people after Moses. Why would God keep saying that? Because Joshua was terrified.

God wasn't wasting his breath. He knew Joshua was stepping into something bigger than himself, something that would expose his uncertainty and weakness.

The same is true for us. When God calls us into something new, fear often shows up right alongside the opportunity.

Ephesians 4:1 urges us to live in a way worthy of the calling we've received. God often has to call us because part of us doesn't want to go. It’s too scary, too stressful, too challenging.

Early missionary and church-planter, Paul, had a radical encounter with Jesus that changed his life. He went from persecuting churches, looking to snuff out the faith, to its biggest evangelist. You could arguably say, after Jesus, he’s had one of the most impactful lives in all of history. Nearly ⅔ of the New Testament was written by him.

Paul described his role, his calling, in a very unlikely way. In Colossians 1:25, he writes:

“I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me.”

A steward isn't the owner, but the head servant. A steward is someone entrusted with what belongs to somebody else.

Acts 20:28 says the church belongs to God, purchased with his own blood. Jesus paid the price. He's the owner of the house.

Instead of climbing to the top, Jesus calls leaders to become servants. In Mark 9:35, he tells his disciples that anyone who wants to be first must become last and serve everyone. He eventually demonstrates that leadership by kneeling down and washing his disciples' feet.

Biblical leadership isn't about being the most impressive person in the room. It's about being faithful with what God has entrusted to you. That can be a pretty intimidating job description.

Whether you're leading a church, a family, a team, or simply trying to follow God into something new, the calling will eventually bring you face-to-face with a difficult truth: you don't have everything it takes.

Thankfully, that's not where the story ends.

Your Weakness Is Where God's Power Shows Up

As Paul traveled throughout the Roman world, sharing the good news of Jesus and helping establish churches that would change the world, you’d expect him to talk constantly about his strength. Yet that’s the exact opposite of how he operated. Paul constantly, and consistently, boasted about his weakness.

Why?

Because Jesus told him something that completely changed his understanding of power.

In a letter to a church he planted in the city of Corinth, Paul writes about his weaknesses, sharing that he pleaded with God to remove them. Instead, he got a powerful message from God:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." - 2 Corinthians 12:9

Jesus doesn't say his power becomes perfect when we finally get our act together. Not when we've memorized enough Bible verses, kicked every bad habit, or become the kind of person who seems to have life figured out.

His power is made perfect in weakness.

Paul's response was to gladly boast about his weaknesses so that Christ's power could rest on him. He even declared that when he was weak, that was when he was actually strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).

If that sounds backward, it’s because it is.

We spend so much of our lives trying to eliminate weakness. We assume that spiritual maturity means eventually becoming strong enough that we won't need as much help. Yet that's not how God's power works.

The equation is surprising, but true: my weakness + God’s grace = real power.

God doesn't need us to bring anything to the party. He already has 100% of the power. Instead, He’s asking us to recognize how desperately we need it.

That realization isn't defeat. It's the beginning of freedom.

Stop Hiding Your Weakness and Start Trusting God

“Lord, I can’t.”

Believe it or not, that’s a prayer that pleases God. Because admitting "I can't" creates room to hear God's response:

“I know, but I can.”

That's the difference between confidence in ourselves and confidence in God. It's also why vulnerability matters so much. We naturally want people to see us as capable, competent, and impressive. We avoid trying things we might fail at. We hide mistakes. We pretend we're doing better than we actually are. But our obsession with looking strong can keep us from growing.

Are you willing to be seen as unimpressive?

Are you willing to step into something new knowing you might be bad at it? To admit you need help? To tell the truth about where you're struggling instead of hiding behind a polished version of yourself?

That kind of honesty isn't weakness in the way our culture defines it. It's the kind of vulnerability that opens us to God's power.

And it isn't just for beginners. As we grow in faith, the temptation to hide our weaknesses can actually get stronger. We start thinking we should have everything figured out by now. But we never graduate from needing God.

The same dependence that brought us to Jesus in the first place is the dependence that allows us to keep growing.

The Most Powerful Prayer You Can Pray

At the center of Christianity is a moment that looked like the ultimate display of weakness: Jesus hanging on a cross.

To the people watching, it looked like defeat, humiliation, and failure. But what appeared to be weakness was actually the greatest victory in history.

As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:4, Jesus "was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power."

Through his death and resurrection, Jesus made a way for us to experience forgiveness, salvation, and new life. Not because we've earned it or because we're strong enough, but because He is.

God doesn't wait for us to become impressive before he moves in our lives. He invites us to come as we are, admit our need, and trust his strength. Which means the thing you've been afraid to admit might be exactly where your next breakthrough begins.

You don't have to pretend you're ready. You don't have to hide your struggles. You don't have to wait until you've got everything figured out.

You can start with one honest prayer:

"Lord, I can't, but I believe you can."

That's a prayer for the person who has never trusted Jesus before. And it's a prayer for the person who's been following him for decades.

Whatever God is calling you into, you don't need to manufacture enough strength to get there. All you need to do is trust the One who already has it.

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Full disclosure, this article was created by taking a live teaching that was crafted and delivered by a real human at Crossroads, and then asking an AI tool to summarize that teaching. It was then double-checked by a super nit-picky human editor to ensure the summary was accurate. We do not use AI to write articles for Crossroads that express original teaching, thoughts, or analyses, and we want to be certain our readers are made aware when we do use it in this way. You can watch the full teaching anytime here.

Weekend Follow-Up

The Weekend Follow-Up is a set of discussion prompts to help your group unpack the weekend. These questions are designed to help you move further and faster toward the full life you were made for. Check out this week’s questions here.