⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.^{(A) 9} But he said to me, “My grace^(B) is sufficient for you, for my power^(C) is made perfect in weakness.^(D)”^(E) Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight^(F) in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,^(G) in persecutions,^(H) in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.^(I)

¹⁴ This is the confidence^(A) we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.^{(B) 15} And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know^(C) that we have what we asked of him.^(D)