“... the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses...” -- Romans 8:26

As we are enlighten to see our inadequacy to fulfill the the purpose and the high calling of God for our lives, we begin to see the full blessing that comes with accepting our inadequacies as we learn to turn to Him and rely on Him. Paul says, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God" (2 Cor 3:5). We realized that our inadequacies are opportunities for God to show forth His adequacy in our lives. If we are self-sufficient in all things, we may not seek the Lord's wisdom and guidance in certain areas of our lives. Thus, we miss out on the blessings of the Lord because we know that His ways and His wisdom are far greater and more effective than ours.

Realizing our inadequacies also forces us to live our lives and to serve the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit. Relying on the Spirit also alleviates us from drawing on our own natural strength which only results in being rejected by God, for Romans 8:8 makes it quite clear that nothing originating from our flesh, even our good flesh can please God or is accepted by Him. Though the context of the above verse, “... the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses...” (Rom 8:26), “ refers to the matter our prayer, it can be said to be applicable to other aspects of our lives as well. This is due to the fact that the Bible shows us that the very act of prayer is an admission on our part that we are weak, helpless, and inadequate; therefore, we come before the Lord in prayer to take Him as our Strength and as the answer to all our needs. In short, prayer is God's answer to our weakness and inadequacies. Thus, it is in prayer that “the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses.”

Realizing our inadequacies provides God the opportunity to demonstrate what great things He can do with so little of ourselves that we can offer Him. We are all quite familiar with the story of the boy who gave of the five loaves and two fishes, and how the Lord multiplied that to feed the five thousand men in John chapter 6. We know we are incapable - and that He is capable of all. Our insufficiency in ourselves to do the Lord's will causes us to cast all that we are upon Him in full reliance; thus, we afford the Lord the full potential to demonstrate His power and His work through us. The Lord chooses to work mightily through us after we cast ourselves in humble admission of our inability and in full submission to His will and His ways, because it allow Him to receive the full glory for His own work.

Lastly, our inadequacies enable us to walk in godliness and contentment. Nothing gives us greater contentment than experiencing Christ's sufficiency( which demonstrates godliness through our lives) and Christ as our contentment in the midst of our want and abasement(Phi 4:11-12). We also receive full contentment in seeing the God uses our availability, as we cast ourselves helplessly upon Him, to fulfill His eternal purpose and advance His kingdom, because this is the very purpose for which we are created!