One of the biggest hindrances I have
ever seen is the interpretation of
Paul’s thorn in the flesh. It has been a
stumbling block to so many people for so
many years and has caused a lot of harm
and anguish in the body of Christ.
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
NIV
12 I must go on boasting. Although there
is nothing to be gained, I will go on to
visions and revelations from the Lord. 2
I know a man in Christ who fourteen
years ago was caught up to the third
heaven. Whether it was in the body or
out of the body I do not know—God knows.
3 And I know that this man—whether in
the body or apart from the body I do not
know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to
paradise and heard inexpressible things,
things that no one is permitted to tell.
5 I will boast about a man like that,
but I will not boast about myself,
except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I
should choose to boast, I would not be a
fool, because I would be speaking the
truth. But I refrain, so no one will
think more of me than is warranted by
what I do or say, 7 or because of these
surpassingly great revelations.
Therefore, in order to keep me from
becoming conceited, I was given a thorn
in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to
torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with
the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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. 10
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.
What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh? Some
say a sickness, others a disease in his
eyes. All speculation, and no scripture
to back it. Let’s go through verse 7 and
look at the meanings of the words in it.
Thorn - pointed piece of wood, a stake,
splinter.
Flesh - carnal, carnally minded,
fleshly, The flesh denotes mere human
nature, the earthy nature of man apart
from divine influence and therefore
prone to sin and opposed to God. Most
reference to the word Flesh in the Bible
are referring to the sinful nature of
men ( yes flesh can also mean your
physical body)
Buffet - To stick with a stick, the
fist, to maltreat, treat with violence
Messenger - angel, messenger, envoy, who
is sent.
Satan - adversary who opposes another in
purpose or act, circumvents men by his
wiles.
If you look at these definitions, you
see nothing about sickness in them. It
was all an outward action. Coming
against him physically and mentally. If
you turn to Chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians
you will see how Paul was buffeted.
Verses 23-30 He was beaten, stoned,
shipwreck, perils of water, perils of
robbers, perils in the city and so on.
Not once does he mention some awful
disease. In verse 30 he says. If I must
needs glory, I will glory of the things
which concern mine infirmities. (And
since sickness was not one of them, he
wasn’t talking about physical sickness.)
Numbers 33:55 New Living Translation
But if you fail to drive out the people
who live in the land, those who remain
will be like splinters in your eyes and
thorns in your sides. They will harass
you in the land where you live.
Ex. 23:33; Num. 33:55; Deut. 7:16;
Judges. 2:3 but they shall be a snare
and a trap for you, a whip on your sides
and thorns in your eyes, until you
perish from off this good ground that
the Lord your God has given you.
These scriptures talk about the people
of the land becoming pricks in your eyes
and thorns in your side. People aren’t
sickness!
Of course Satan sent a messenger to
buffet him. He was a powerful man of
God. He wrote most of the New Testament.
He had received revelations from God on
a high level and was going to write it
down for others to see. If you were his
adversary, wouldn’t you try to stop him?
He wanted to kill him, but it wasn’t God
that sent him. So then people say, but
he asked God to remove it and God said
NO! Did He???
No He said my Grace is sufficient for
you. Not to bear it, but overcome it.
How do I know that?
He said so himself in Romans 8:37 "We
are MORE than Conquerors!"
If you read in the rest of the chapter
he is talking about if anything can
separate us from the love of Christ....
Can tribulation, distress, persecution,
or famine, or nakedness or peril, or
sword???...No, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through him
that loved. He took God’s grace and put
it to use.
Grace means more than just God’s
unmerited favour. It means His
willingness to become involved on our
behalf! "For by Grace are you saved,
through Faith." God was not only in
favour of us getting saved, He sent His
son, to make it possible.
Grace - of the merciful kindness by
which God, exerting his holy influence
upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps,
strengthens, increases them in Christian
faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles
them to the exercise of the Christian
virtues
So when Paul said he gloried in his
infirmities, he meant that he knew that
the grace of God was going to help his
weaknesses and then he would be strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the POWER of Christ
may rest upon me.....for when I am weak,
then I am strong!"
Verse 7 clearly states that it was "the
messenger of SATAN, sent to buffet him."
Not God!
Years later Paul said this
2 Corinthians 4:17
New International Version
17 For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory
that far outweighs them all.
When we see Paul's life and what he went
through...it amazes me to see that he
considered them "momentary troubles".
I believe that he was able to come
through all that the devil brought
against him because he used the Word of
God to get through...because the Power
of Christ rested on him.
Even Jesus didn’t get rid of the devil.
When he was tempted in the wilderness,
it says he (satan) left him for a
season. If the son of God had to fight
the devil everyday, so do we. Demons
followed Him all through His earthly
ministry. When He died, they thought
they had finally won, but He triumphed
over them in it. So can we. When the
devil comes against you, don’t lay down
and die! Triumph over him in it! Show
him the word like Jesus did and he will
run like a scared rabbit!
Colossians 2
13When you were dead in your sins and in
the un-circumcision of your flesh, God
made you. He forgave us all our sins, 14
having cancelled the charge of our legal
indebtedness, which stood against us and
condemned us; he has taken it away,
nailing it to the cross. 15 And having
disarmed the powers and authorities, he
made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross.
Jesus was tempted in every way we are.
Satan probably tried to make him sick.
But he took no sickness because he knew
what Deuteronomy 28 said. "If you
hearken to the voice of the Lord your
God, none of these diseases will come
upon you."
If they try to, we don’t have to receive
them. Why would God want you sick
anyway? Can you effectively do His work
if you are sick? He is our loving
Heavenly father and wants only the best
for us.
In Galations 4:13-14 we see some verses
that people try to use to show that Paul
was sick.
"You know that through an infirmity of
the flesh, I preached the gospel unto
you at the first and my TEMPTATION,
which was in my flesh, you despised not.
nor rejected, by received me as an angel
of God."
I believe he was talking about his
sinful nature.
Romans 7:15-20
John 3:6
New International Version
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the
Spirit gives birth to spirit.
If you know anything about the Galatians
you will know that they were idol
worshippers. In Galatians 3 Paul got
carried away speaking to them and called
them "Foolish Galatians" And wondered if
they had an evil spell cast on them. He
learned some wisdom along the way and
was apologizing for his exuberance and
forcefulness at the first. But thanked
them for accepting him anyway. He wasn’t
talking about being sick and that they
had accepted him anyway. He was now
operating in the Spirit by the Holy
Spirit instead of reacting with his
sinful nature
I believe that Paul was a very
aggressive outspoken Man. By his
writings we see he didn't pull any
punches. I think he mellowed over the
years in his delivery of the Word
because he had grown in the spirit, by
the Holy Spirit.
The idea that God allows you to be sick,
or poor, or feeble minded or anything
contrary to the Word, is a lie from the
devil. He wants to keep you from
receiving God’s best. He will do it any
way that he can. If he can keep you
under, you will not do your best for
God.
God wants you well! Why do Christians
suffer, get sick and die? Lack of
knowledge or unwillingness to accept the
truth of the word, rather than man’s
"Experience". I know good Christians
that have died hanging onto a lie, that
God was trying to teach them something.
Well they never learned I guess, because
they are gone.
God is a good God and only blesses us
with good things...not evil.
James 1:16-17 Do not err, my beloved
brethren. Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, and cometh
down from the Father of lights, with
whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning.
Sickness is not a good and perfect gift.
Neither is poverty, insanity or any
other things that Satan would try to
bring against us.
General rule of thumb - If it is Good it
is God. If it is Bad it is the Devil!!!
We can't get under condemnation if we
are fighting a disease or illness, or
don’t have a job. We need to take the
truth you have read and heard and apply
it to our lives. Build your faith and
let God do the rest. Seek His face,
study everything you can get your hands
on about healing or prosperity or
whatever you need. Remember He is the
rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him...Hebrews 11:6
Go into the enemy’s camp and take back
what he stole from you.
Joel 2:25 God says He will restore back
to you all that the years of the
locusts, caterpillar, cankerworm and
palmerworm have eaten.
If satan has stolen your health, take it
back! He’s the biggest worm I know!
Don’t let the traditions of men, make
the word of God of no effect!
Matthew 15:7-9
You have nullified the word of God on
account of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites!
Isaiah prophesied correctly about you
when he said, 8 ‘This people honors me
with their lips, but their heart is far
from me, 9 and they worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commandments
of men
Mark 7:5-13
New International Version
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the
law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your
disciples live according to the
tradition of the elders instead of
eating their food with defiled hands?” 6
He replied, “Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you hypocrites; as it
is written: These people honor me with
their lips, but their hearts are far
from me.
7 They worship me in vain; their
teachings are merely human rules.’
8 You have let go of the commands of God
and are holding on to human traditions.”
9 And he continued, “You have a fine way
of setting aside the commands of God in
order to observe your own traditions! 13
Thus you nullify the word of God by your
tradition that you have handed down. And
you do many things like that.”
Jesus rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees
for holding to traditions, while people
were dying and in need. They were
worried about Him healing on the
Sabbath...and people not washing their
hands...
The Word of God is full of teaching that
God's will is healing and
wholeness...Both Old and New Testament.
So why would he put any sickness on any
of His children...He wouldn't! If we are
being attacked by any kind of
sickness...It is Not God. It is the
devil. God doesn't have any sickness so
he can't put on anyone.
I don’t want any tradition getting in
the way of my healing or anything else
God has for me. So forget what man has
said. Read what God says. Don’t let
other peoples "Experiences" keep you
from what God has for you.
Many wonderful Christians die everyday
from sickness and disease. Does if make
them any less of a Christian? No! Does
it mean they didn’t go to heaven? No!
But it does mean that they had a lack of
knowledge, and that they probably went
before their time.
Why do Christians suffer? Not God’s plan
and not God’s fault. You have a part to
play! God cannot do what you don't
believe Him for. He has given you a free
will! He will not impose on that will,
even if it means you stay sick or poor
or mentally tormented. He has done all
He is going to do. The sacrifice is
complete! We have a choice...Choose
wisely!
Old Testament Isaiah 53:5
New International Version
5 But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was
on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
New Testament 1 Peter 2:24
New International Version
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his
body on the cross, so that we might die
to sins and live for righteousness; “by
his wounds you have been healed.”
2 Corinthians 13:1b
“Every matter must be established by the
testimony of two or three witnesses.”
If it says it in His Word it is so!