Your thorn in the flesh...

[angels4u]

getmorestrength.org/daily

My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9

A small, older, hunched-over lady greeted us with a glowing smile at the doorway of our little son Matthew’s Sunday school room. She was one of the most effective Sunday school teachers at our church, and Matt loved her. I’ll never forget the time she told me, “Pastor, God made me small and bent over so that I can be right down here where the children are! If I weren’t like this, I couldn’t relate to them so well.” I was blown away by her perspective on her plight in life—her “thorn in the flesh.”

A thorn in the flesh is any affliction in our lives that, if we aren’t careful, can defeat us with a good dose of self-pity and embitter us toward God. But the important thing to know about our thorns is that Satan desires to use them to defeat us, while God is determined to use them for our good and His glory.

The apostle Paul is probably the most famous example of someone who was stuck with a thorn in the flesh. Paul knew right where the thorn had come from. He referred to it as a messenger of Satan. And though Paul never tells us what his thorn was, I think it’s clear that it was a serious problem to Paul. He said: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me” (2 Corinthians 12:8). God didn’t answer his prayer with a miraculous healing, but rather assured Paul that, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

It’s important to know that when God permits a thorn to remain, He gives us grace to accept it and sometimes even the grace to understand the purpose for which the thorn is intended. Paul came to realize that God permitted his affliction “to keep me from becoming conceited” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Paul was a gifted person and could have easily become proud in his abilities and accomplishments. That proud spirit would have been a disaster to his usefulness for God. So God took what Satan had intended to defeat Paul and turned it into a smashing victory by enabling him to stay appropriately humble and therefore useful.

Getting a grip on why God permits our afflictions, weaknesses, or disabilities to remain has a powerful effect on our attitudes. Instead of shaking his fist at God and grumbling about his thorn, Paul realized that God’s power was being made perfect in his weakness. That insight produced an upbeat spirit of delight and satisfaction. As Paul said, “for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

We normally don’t think of being strong in weakness, but that’s just how God works. He knows that if we think we are strong in and of ourselves, then we will become proud and self-sufficient. And when we feel that way, we are in reality very weak and unable to accomplish much of anything except for thinking how cool and capable we are. God has a better plan. When He needs to accomplish really great things through us, He sometimes needs to get our twisted view of ourselves out of the way. So He takes Satan’s intrusions into our lives and beats Satan at his own game! You may see it as a thorn, but God sees it as a triumph!

You don’t have to be Paul to start seeing what God is doing through your thorn. Rejoice that He cares enough to keep you from getting in the way of the great things that He wants to do through your life!

YOUR JOURNEY…

Read Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:3-9. What do these passages have in common?

What thorn is sticking in your side right now? How could God use it to glorify Himself?

Have you given in to your thorn to the point where it has made you bitter and defeated? How can you reclaim that ground for Christ’s glory?

Thorns are a mark of suffering. It is no coincidence that Jesus wore a crown of thorns before He was crucified. What does Christ’s suffering mean to you?

 

 

 

[Raven]

Paul's original name was Saul. It is basically the same spelling except for the first letters.

In regards to the Otiot, the ancient Hebrew alphabet, the pictograph symbol for (S) is a thorn, where (P) is a mouth.

Paul's thorn is his old nature.

He most probably suffered a lot of guilt, remorse and shame for persecuting a lot of Christians before his conversion.

[angels4u]

4 hours ago, Raven said:

Paul's original name was Saul. It is basically the same spelling except for the first letters.

In regards to the Otiot, the ancient Hebrew alphabet, the pictograph symbol for (S) is a thorn, where (P) is a mouth.

Paul's thorn is his old nature.

He most probably suffered a lot of guilt, remorse and shame for persecuting a lot of Christians before his conversion.

I don't think anybody knows for sure what his thorn in the flesh was,many people think that most likely he had eyes problems..

https://www.gotquestions.org/Paul-thorn-flesh.html

 

Quote

A thorn in the flesh is any affliction in our lives that, if we aren’t careful, can defeat us with a good dose of self-pity and embitter us toward God. But the important thing to know about our thorns is that Satan desires to use them to defeat us, while God is determined to use them for our good and His glory

Amen ? 

[simplejeff]

We know simply what Yahweh has revealed in His Word:   the thorn = messenger of hasatan.

There are other aspects also known, when revealed by Yahweh, in Scripture,  without adding to and without taking away from Scripture.

 

4 hours ago, Raven said:

He most probably suffered a lot of guilt, remorse and shame for persecuting a lot of Christians before his conversion.

 

No.   In Isaiah it is written "HE HAS BORNE all of our guilt and shame"  (wonderful lesson titled "communion" by Melissa Scott reveals this and much more from the original language) ...

and Paul knew the supreme unimaginable immense without measure JOY OF EXPERIENTIAL SALVATION IN JESUS ,

not only Paul,

but all ekklesia in the assemblies immersed in Jesus' Name were CONTINUALLY FULL OF PEACE< JOY< AND RIGHTEOUSNESS<

not sometimes, not some days, but DAILY;

not laying around in depression,  scullduggery ,  or 'moody' even... but REJOICING IN THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF JESUS walking and living IN UNION WITH JESUS DAILY....  WONDERFULLY......  UNheard of in most places on earth then, and same today......

[OneLight]

23 minutes ago, simplejeff said:

We know simply what Yahweh has revealed in His Word:   the thorn = messenger of hasatan.

There are other aspects also known, when revealed by Yahweh, in Scripture,  without adding to and without taking away from Scripture.

 

 

No.   In Isaiah it is written "HE HAS BORNE all of our guilt and shame"  (wonderful lesson titled "communion" by Melissa Scott reveals this and much more from the original language) ...

and Paul knew the supreme unimaginable immense without measure JOY OF EXPERIENTIAL SALVATION IN JESUS ,

not only Paul,

but all ekklesia in the assemblies immersed in Jesus' Name were CONTINUALLY FULL OF PEACE< JOY< AND RIGHTEOUSNESS<

not sometimes, not some days, but DAILY;

not laying around in depression,  scullduggery ,  or 'moody' even... but REJOICING IN THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF JESUS walking and living IN UNION WITH JESUS DAILY....  WONDERFULLY......  UNheard of in most places on earth then, and same today......

I would say that many people still are haunted from their past, which is Satan buffering us.  I know that I still have nightmares of my past and it is not because Jesus did not bare them on the cross, but Satan also was around the days I have been alive and he knows my past.  Because he knows my past, he is all too willing to remind me in hopes that I become discouraged and weak in faith.  To say this is not the case is denying reality and trying to live totally spiritually, which can lead to Gnosticism.  I would not give Satan more power than he has, but I would also not ignore the power that he has.

[angels4u]

14 minutes ago, OneLight said:

I would say that many people still are haunted from their past, which is Satan buffering us.  I know that I still have nightmares of my past and it is not because Jesus did not bare them on the cross, but Satan also was around the days I have been alive and he knows my past.  Because he knows my past, he is all too willing to remind me in hopes that I become discouraged and weak in faith.  To say this is not the case is denying reality and trying to live totally spiritually, which can lead to Gnosticism.  I would not give Satan more power than he has, but I would also not ignore the power that he has.

So very true, we all have things of the past we're not proud of, we know we are forgiven from all our sins but now and then the enemy will remind us of those things

The key is to remember who we are in Christ , Amen?

[7trumpets]

There is both a negative and positive view of thorns.

Jdg 2:1  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

Jdg 2:2  And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

Jdg 2:3  Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

Jdg 2:4  And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

Jdg 2:5  And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD.

From Smiths bible dictionary

Bochim (the weepers). A place on the west of Jordan, above Gilgal; so named from the weeping of Israel. Jdg_2:1; Jdg_2:6.

[john1]

On ‎10‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 10:45 PM, angels4u said:

A thorn in the flesh is any affliction in our lives that, if we aren’t careful, can defeat us with a good dose of self-pity and embitter us toward God.

I got a mental disability when I was 18, when I was 21 I was locked in a state hospital for two years, I read the bible through once during that time, when I got out I tried working fulltime, but when I couldn't work any more I almost ended up homeless.

After that I started studying the bible on and off, for about 12 years, and after meeting some bad pastors, who lied and didn't even know it or wanted money to answer my questions, then after that I started studying the bible to see if I could make any sense of it, I just kept studying it, now I've read it well over 100 times, have a mp3 player now and listen to it 2 to 4 hours a day.

I'm not saying all pastors are bad, I know there's some good ones, I just can't bring myself to go to church though, I don't know  if it's my childhood experience, my illness that's not going away, but is well managed be meds.

So since I'm on disability I study the bible, play hymns on the harmonica on the street, and talk to a some people I know, I've always been a  loner, but I enjoy studying and playing hymns.

[Justin Adams]

17 minutes ago, john1 said:

So since I'm on disability I study the bible, play hymns on the harmonica on the street, and talk to a some people I know, I've always been a  loner, but I enjoy studying and playing hymns.

Well done. Keep on keeping on. Never quit. 

[HAZARD]

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:48 AM, angels4u said:

 I don't think anybody knows for sure what his thorn in the flesh was,many people think that most likely he had eyes problems..

https://www.gotquestions.org/Paul-thorn-flesh.html

 

Amen ? 

 

Pauls thorn in the flesh.

2 Cor. 12:7, And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Pauls thorn in the flesh was the "messenger, and angel of Satan>"This angel followed Paul and buffeted him when he was tempted to become exalted. Paul lists in 11:23-27 some of the things that this angel caused him to go through to keep him humble. There is not one disease in the whole list.

2 Cor. 11:  23, Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

    24, Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

    25, Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

    26, In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

    27, In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.