My power is made perfect in weakness.
Lord, I am only human and I am limited and weak.
My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. I want to do what is right, but I can't. I intend to live wisely, yet I don't.
Please help me and be near. Troubles are near, and I have no strength.
Help me to walk in Your ways. Teach me to do what is right. Strengthen my hands to do good and help me stay away from evil.
Make me a better person—not for my pride, but for You. Make me more like Your Son.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
We resist admitting weakness. The world tells us to try harder, do better, be more disciplined. We want to believe that with enough effort, we can become who we want to be. But Scripture reveals a different path—acknowledging our weakness so that God's strength can be perfected in us.
David cried out in desperation. In Psalm 22, he wrote: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from my salvation?” These words, raw and honest, acknowledge what we often try to hide—that we feel abandoned, that we struggle, that our strength fails us.
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.”
Paul understood this struggle. In Romans 7, he confessed the gap between what he wanted and what he did: “For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.” Even the apostles wrestled with weakness. Even they needed help.
Paul had a thorn in his flesh—something that tormented him, something he begged God to remove. But God's answer was not removal. It was sufficiency: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
“When I am weak, then I am strong.” — 2 Corinthians 12:10
This is not a prayer of despair. It is a prayer of dependency. Like Peter, who failed and was restored, we bring our honest desperation to the One who helps us become who He created us to be.
You need this prayer. When the gap between who you want to be and who you are feels impossibly wide, when your best efforts fall short, when you feel like you can't take another step—this prayer reminds you that weakness is not the problem. It's the very place where God's power is perfected.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.”
“For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from my salvation, from the words of my groaning? My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest... But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.”
Break free from spiritual bondage
Ask God for divine wisdom
Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things
Oh, how I love Your law!
The prayer Jesus taught His disciples