A THORN IN THE FLESH

PROCLAMATION

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with The Lord to take it away from me.  But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’”  2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (NIV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words were written by the apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers in the church at Corinth.  Paul begins this chapter defending his apostleship by boasting about the vision he was favored with. (2 Corinthians 12:1-5)  Then he states that in order to prevent him from being filled with pride and vanity, he was given a physical ailment which grieved him.  Paul asked The Lord God to remove it but the answer to his prayer was ‘no’.  God told Paul that His grace was sufficient to help him endure it.

 

APPLICATION

The Lord God hears our prayers. (1 Peter 3:12)  Sometimes we do not get what we ask for because His answer to us is “no”.  That could be because He has something better planned for us, or because we asked for things which do not glorify God. (John 14:13)  There are times when He allows things to happen to us in order to get our attention.  We tend to pray really hard when times are bad.  We need to acknowledge Him all of the time and in all things, good and bad. (Proverbs 3:6)  We even need to see the silver lining in every storm cloud. (James 1:2)  Bad things which happen to us can work out for our good. (Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28)  In all things, we should give God glory.  His grace is sufficient for us.  His power can be revealed through our weakness.  Sometimes we need a thon in our flesh to cause us to focus on Him.

 

SOMETIMES WE NEED A THORN IN OUR FLESH TO KEEP US GROUNDED

Proclamation:

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with The Lord to take it away from me.  But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’”  2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers in the church at Corinth.  Paul begins this chapter defending his apostleship by boasting about the vision he was favored with. (2 Corinthians 12:1-5)  Then he states that in order to prevent him from being filled with pride and vanity, he was given a physical ailment which grieved him.  Paul asked The Lord God to remove it but the answer to his prayer was ‘no’.

Application:

The Lord God hears our prayers. (1 Peter 3:12)  Sometimes we do not get what we ask for because His answer to us is “no”.  Sometimes we ask for things which do not glorify God. (John 14:13)  There are times when He allows things to happen to us in order to get our attention.  We need to acknowledge Him in all things. (Proverbs 3:6)  We even need to see the silver lining in every storm cloud. (James 1:2)  Bad things which happen to us can work out for our good. (Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28)  In all things, we should give God glory.  His grace is sufficient for us.  His power can be revealed though our weakness.

LET GO OF "FRIENDS"

Proclamation:

“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants ... those you allow to remain will become … thorns in your sides.  They will give you trouble … And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.” Numbers 33:55-56 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of The Lord God which were spoken to and recorded by Moses.  God told Moses to speak to the Israelites as they were about to the Jordan and enter to promise land.  They were to drive out of the land all of the idol worshiping inhabitants, and destroy all of their carved images and their idols.  God said that if they didn’t do this, then those that remained would bring them trouble.  And then God said that He would treat them like He was going to treat their enemies.

Application:

Some people should only be in our life for a season.  They serve a purpose, usually to teach us a lesson.  However, they were not meant to stay in our lives.  We were not supposed to hold on to them and keep them in our lives.  If our “friends” are not believers in Christ, then what do they believe and who is influencing whom?  It is time to let those people go.  It's not good to hang on to people after God has said for us to move away from them.  Those that we let remain in our lives will cause us nothing but trouble.  If they are remnants of our life before we accepted Christ then they are a temptation to return to our previous sinful habits.  We changed when we became believers and we are now new creatures. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  All of the people that we used to hang out with will not want to come with us on our new walk.  Only birds of the same feather will flock together.  Only people who are in agreement will walk the same walk together. (Amos 3:3)  We can’t walk with The Lord and continue to hold hands with the devil.  Not everybody that was in our “old” life should be with us in our “new” life.  We need to let go of any “friend” who is pulling us away from God.  We do not want to incur the wrath of God because we wanted to keep walking with our evil doing non-believing friends.

Do Not Keep Unworthy "Friends"

"But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides.  They will give you trouble in the land where you will live."  Numbers 33:55 (NIV)  

Regarding the non-believers, "... if you do not drive out ... those you allow to remain will become ... thorns in your sides.  They will give you trouble ... where you will live."  These are the words of The Lord God spoken by Moses to the people of God telling them that they are not to mingle with and befriend certain non-believers in the land that they were moving into.  They were to drive them away and not associate with them.  For if they allowed them to remain in their midst, they would become thorns in their sides and cause them trouble.

Today we also need to be careful regarding those whom we choose to associate with and to befriend.  We are to spread The Word of God to everyone, but those who will not welcome us or listen to us as we share The Word of God, we are to leave them alone. (Matthew 10:14, Mark 6:11, and Luke 9:5)  How can two walk together unless they agree? (Amos 3:3)  This does not apply to one who is married to a non-believer, when only one of them accepted Christ. (1 Corinthians 7:13-14)  However, the friends we choose often exert a great influence upon us, and if we cannot turn them to Christ, we should not let them turn us away from Him. (Galatians 6:1, James 5:9, James 5:12, and 2 Peter 3:17)  When The Lord God says for us to leave some people alone and not to associate with them, we ought to let them go.  To keep them in our lives will just bring us pain and trouble.

Thank You Lord

"And we also thank God continually because, when you received The Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, The Word of God, which is at work in you who believe."  1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the believers in The Church at Thessaloniki.  He was thankful that they received the disciples, and that they heard The Word of God and they believed it.  Paul also said that they were witnesses that the disciples worked while among them so as not to be a burden on the people.  Then he urged them to live theirs lives in such a manner that would be pleasing to God, and to continue to imitate Christ-like behavior.

Today, we should also be thankful, and we should thank The Lord God continually.  We should thank Him for His Son, Jesus, The Christ, and we should thank Him because we have The Word of God within us.  During this thanksgiving holiday season, and every day throughout the remainder of this year and on into the future, we should give God thanks for blessing us.  We should also live our lives in a way which imitates Christ-like behavior. (1 Thessalonians 2:14)

God's Grace Is Sufficient For Us

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with The Lord to take it away from me.  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."  2 Corinthian 12:7-9 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul was given a thorn in his flesh, a physical ailment, or a disability, or a personal challenge, which was designed to torment and humble him.  He referred to it as a messenger from Satan, but God used it to keep him from becoming conceited, and to correct his focus.  Three times Paul asked God to remove it, but God told him "My grace is sufficient for you."  God's strength was demonstrated in Paul's weakness.

We each have something in our lives that keeps our feet on the ground and our eyes looking towards heaven.  Something that keeps reminding us that we are dependent upon God. We know that God can heal us, and keep us from all hurt, harm, and danger.  God can also use our afflictions and our situations to keep us on our knees in prayer.  That which makes us cry out unto The Lord can be our thorn in the flesh.  Whatever it is, His grace is sufficient to help us overcome and persevere through it.  In our weakness and limitations, God can demonstrate His strength and power.