You’re exhausted in every way that matters. Physically drained from carrying burdens that won’t lighten. Emotionally depleted from circumstances that won’t improve.
Spiritually empty from fighting battles you keep losing. You’ve tried pushing through, tried being strong, tried mustering the courage and energy to keep going, but you have nothing left.
The weakness isn’t just tiredness. It’s the crushing feeling that you can’t do this anymore, that you’re failing at everything that matters, that you’re too broken to be fixed.
You look at other people who seem to have it together and wonder what’s wrong with you that you can’t seem to carry what they carry.
Corrie ten Boom, who survived Nazi concentration camps, once said,
“Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”
That’s the paradigm shift weakness requires. You’re not supposed to be strong enough in yourself. Your weakness isn’t a flaw to overcome through sheer willpower. It’s the prerequisite for experiencing God’s strength in ways you never could when you thought you had it all together.
These verses reveal that God’s power is made perfect in weakness, that His strength shows up most clearly when yours runs out, and that admitting you’re weak isn’t failure. It’s the doorway to supernatural strength you could never manufacture yourself.
Bible Verses For When You Feel Weak
1. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – My Power Is Made Perfect in Weakness
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.
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2. Isaiah 40:29-31 – He Gives Strength to the Weary
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
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3. Psalm 73:26 – God Is the Strength of My Heart
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
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4. Philippians 4:13 – I Can Do All This Through Him
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
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5. Isaiah 41:10 – I Will Strengthen You and Help You
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
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6. Psalm 46:1 – God Is Our Refuge and Strength
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
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7. Matthew 11:28-30 – Come to Me, All Who Are Weary
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
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8. Nehemiah 8:10 – The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
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9. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 – We Have This Treasure in Jars of Clay
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
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10. Psalm 18:32-33 – It Is God Who Arms Me With Strength
It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.
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11. Romans 8:26 – The Spirit Helps Us in Our Weakness
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
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12. Isaiah 35:3-4 – Strengthen the Feeble Hands
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
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13. Psalm 28:7 – The Lord Is My Strength and My Shield
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
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14. Zechariah 4:6 – Not by Might nor by Power
So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
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15. 2 Corinthians 13:4 – He Lives by God’s Power
For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.
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16. Psalm 27:1 – The Lord Is the Stronghold of My Life
The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
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17. Habakkuk 3:19 – The Sovereign Lord Is My Strength
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.
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18. Psalm 147:3 – He Heals the Brokenhearted
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
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19. 1 Peter 5:10 – God Will Restore You
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
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20. Joel 3:10 – Let the Weak Say, “I Am Strong”
Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”
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21. Ephesians 3:16 – Strengthened With Power Through His Spirit
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
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22. Psalm 119:28 – Strengthen Me According to Your Word
My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.
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23. Isaiah 12:2 – The Lord Is My Strength and My Defense
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.
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24. 2 Timothy 4:17 – The Lord Stood at My Side
But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.
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25. Psalm 84:5 – Blessed Are Those Whose Strength Is in You
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
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26. Colossians 1:11 – Being Strengthened With All Power
Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.
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27. Psalm 138:3 – You Answered Me; You Greatly Emboldened Me
When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me.
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28. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 – The Lord Will Strengthen You
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.
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29. Psalm 29:11 – The Lord Gives Strength to His People
The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.
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30. Isaiah 33:2 – Be Our Strength Every Morning
Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.
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31. Hebrews 4:16 – Grace to Help Us in Our Time of Need
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
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32. Psalm 68:35 – God Gives Power and Strength to His People
You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!
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33. 1 Chronicles 16:11 – Look to the Lord and His Strength
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
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34. Psalm 31:24 – Be Strong and Take Heart
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.
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35. Ephesians 6:10 – Be Strong in the Lord
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
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Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About When You Feel Weak
Weakness in Scripture isn’t the enemy. Self-sufficiency is. God’s power doesn’t flow through people who have it all together. It flows through people who are broken enough to admit they need Him. Paul’s thorn in the flesh, whatever it was, made him weak. God’s response wasn’t to remove it but to say “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
That’s counterintuitive. We spend our lives trying to be strong enough, capable enough, together enough. But God’s economy works differently. When you’re weak, you stop relying on yourself and start depending on Him. When you’re depleted, you stop performing and start receiving. When you’re empty, there’s finally room for Him to fill you with strength that isn’t yours.
The consistent pattern in Scripture is that God strengthens the weak, not the self-sufficient. He gives power to the faint, not those who think they have enough already. Your weakness isn’t disqualifying you from God’s help. It’s positioning you to receive it.
What matters isn’t mustering more strength through sheer willpower. It’s admitting you’re weak and asking for His strength instead. The moment you stop pretending you’ve got this is the moment His power can actually work through you.
Say This Prayer
Heavenly Father, I’m weak in every way that matters right now. Physically exhausted, emotionally depleted, spiritually empty. I’ve tried being strong enough on my own and I have nothing left. I need Your strength because mine has completely run out.
Help me to stop seeing my weakness as failure and start seeing it as the prerequisite for experiencing Your power. Teach me to boast in my weaknesses so that Your strength can rest on me. Give me the humility to admit I can’t do this alone instead of pretending I have it together.
Be my strength when I have none. Carry me when I can’t take another step. Fill me with power that isn’t mine. Help me to find rest in You instead of striving in my own effort. Renew my strength like the eagle so I can run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.
Thank You that Your power is made perfect in my weakness, that Your grace is sufficient, and that when I am weak, then I am strong in You.
In Jesus’ Empowering Name, Amen.