The Thorn in the Flesh

2 Corinthians 12:1-11

I have counseled many believers who claim that God has given them a thorn in the flesh. They speak of their chronic back pain or their various disabilities of body or mind as God’s way of keeping them humble. Through these testimonies, it appears that God is always switching sides; one minute fighting for us while the next minute, fighting against us. Rest assured your Father is better than that!

Paul states that he was given “a thorn in the flesh”, but does not tell us what that thorn is (2 Corinthians 12:7). While he never gives details about this thorn, he does however tell us more than is usually preached from this passage. He specifically describes his thorn in the flesh as being “the messenger of Satan to buffet me”. Messengers deliver messages which should be obvious. This takes away the possibility that Paul’s thorn was bodily weakness or repulsive appearance or poor vision as many commentators have claimed.

A messenger of Satan came against Paul “lest I should be exalted above measure”, which indicates that Paul viewed what the enemy was saying against him as a way to remain humble in spite of all of his previous revelations (verses 1-6). Paul does not blame the thorn on God, but gives God glory, seeing that God can teach us valuable lessons even when Satan is the one delivering the message.

After having sought God for deliverance from the stinging words of this messenger, Christ says to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God’s promise is that for every message that the enemy delivers to Paul to weaken him, God will offer an abundance of grace to counter it. The more that Paul is attacked; the more that God pours in His grace. This causes Paul to “gladly therefore…glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (verse 9).

Once Paul has seen how powerful that God’s grace is in his weakest hour, he welcomes the weak hour! He is so excited about persecutions and distresses that he says, “I am become a fool in glorying” (verse 11). In other words, “It is ridiculous how much grace and favor is coming my way whenever the enemy attacks. Because of this, I welcome the attacks and people think I’m crazy!”

Do you have a thorn in the flesh? It is quite possible, but let’s identify it correctly instead of slapping that label onto something that it is not. Your sicknesses and diseases have been paid for in the body of Jesus Christ (Matthew 8:17), so God CANNOT take sicknesses off of Jesus and put them onto you to teach you a lesson. He loves you more than you love your own children, and even in their worst moments, would you wish cancers and tumors onto them?

Perhaps there are attacks that continue to be leveled against you causing you to cling ever tighter to God’s grace. This may very well be a thorn in the flesh, sent by the enemy to torment you, but God is turning it into a beautiful opportunity to both teach and prosper. As soon as you see it for what it is, the door to taking pleasure in the moment is opened to you and you are ready to say, “when I am weak, then am I strong” (verse 10).

There is no need to ask for a thorn in the flesh, Satan will find you eventually. When it arrives, be prepared for God’s abundant grace to be even more evident in your life as the power of Christ rests upon you.

Roast With Fire

Exodus 12:8-10

When is the last time that you observed Communion? God gave the church this glorious ceremony as a way of remembering the perfect price that His Son paid for us at Calvary. Each time that you partake properly, you are showing forth the Lord’s death, while exercising your faith in His finished work. Miracles never come by our works, but they do come because of His finished work.

On the night before Israel was to come out of Egyptian bondage, God gave them instructions for what would come to be known as Passover. They were to kill a spotless lamb and mark their doors with its blood. Then they were to roast the lamb with fire and eat all of it. These two were the shadow of a future substance (Hebrews 10:1); the blood on the door being the shed blood of Jesus, applied to the heart of the believer and the roasted body being the body of Christ, judged at Calvary by the fire of heaven, broken for our wholeness.

It was crucial that the Israelites follow the instructions to the letter. Each step in this ceremony is a perfect type of the work that Jesus would accomplish at Calvary. The roasting by fire was symbolic of Jesus receiving into His own body, the judgment of heaven. He was made to be sin for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). They were told, “Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water” (Exodus 12:9) because we must always see Jesus as crucified and judged for us, not as a baby in a manger. Any reference to Jesus as deliverer that excludes the finished work of the cross is partaking of Jesus raw and soaked with water.

They were also told to eat “his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof” (verse 9). This meant that the Israelites were to consume everything, leaving nothing until the next day. The “purtenance” includes the kidneys, liver and intestines, meaning that God was serious about this lamb! Each part that they ate was a type of Jesus, with them taking His strength for their needs into their own bodies.

Psalms 105:37 says, “He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes”. It seems impossible that of nearly 3 million slaves, there would not be one person who was sick or feeble, but the text bears it out. How might this have been accomplished? It was the roasted lamb!

If their intestines were hurting, they ate the intestines of the lamb. If their head was wounded, they ate the head of the lamb. If their eyes were failing, they ate the unfailing eyes of the lamb. When Christ died on Calvary, His appearance was so marred that no one could look upon Him (Isaiah 52:14). The reason for this was that Jesus took upon Him all of our cancers and tumors and diseases while He hung on Calvary and died. Matthew said, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:17).

When you partake in communion, see your sickness and your disease in the body of Christ. He said to His disciples, “Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). Don’t wait for your local church to have communion again, partake on your own. Paul said, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup…” (1 Corinthians 11:26), so there is no such thing as too much!

The Thorn in the Flesh

2 Corinthians 12:1-11

I have counseled many believers who claim that God has given them a thorn in the flesh. They speak of their chronic back pain or their various disabilities of body or mind as God’s way of keeping them humble. Through these testimonies, it appears that God is always switching sides; one minute fighting for us while the next minute, fighting against us. Rest assured your Father is better than that!

Paul states that he was given “a thorn in the flesh”, but does not tell us what that thorn is (2 Corinthians 12:7). While he never gives details about this thorn, he does however tell us more than is usually preached from this passage. He specifically describes his thorn in the flesh as being “the messenger of Satan to buffet me”. Messengers deliver messages which should be obvious. This takes away the possibility that Paul’s thorn was bodily weakness or repulsive appearance or poor vision as many commentators have claimed.

A messenger of Satan came against Paul “lest I should be exalted above measure”, which indicates that Paul viewed what the enemy was saying against him as a way to remain humble in spite of all of his previous revelations (verses 1-6). Paul does not blame the thorn on God, but gives God glory, seeing that God can teach us valuable lessons even when Satan is the one delivering the message.

After having sought God for deliverance from the stinging words of this messenger, Christ says to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God’s promise is that for every message that the enemy delivers to Paul to weaken him, God will offer an abundance of grace to counter it. The more that Paul is attacked; the more that God pours in His grace. This causes Paul to “gladly therefore…glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (verse 9).

Once Paul has seen how powerful that God’s grace is in his weakest hour, he welcomes the weak hour! He is so excited about persecutions and distresses that he says, “I am become a fool in glorying” (verse 11). In other words, “It is ridiculous how much grace and favor is coming my way whenever the enemy attacks. Because of this, I welcome the attacks and people think I’m crazy!”

Do you have a thorn in the flesh? It is quite possible, but let’s identify it correctly instead of slapping that label onto something that it is not. Your sicknesses and diseases have been paid for in the body of Jesus Christ (Matthew 8:17), so God CANNOT take sicknesses off of Jesus and put them onto you to teach you a lesson. He loves you more than you love your own children, and even in their worst moments, would you wish cancers and tumors onto them?

Perhaps there are attacks that continue to be leveled against you causing you to cling ever tighter to God’s grace. This may very well be a thorn in the flesh, sent by the enemy to torment you, but God is turning it into a beautiful opportunity to both teach and prosper. As soon as you see it for what it is, the door to taking pleasure in the moment is opened to you and you are ready to say, “when I am weak, then am I strong” (verse 10).

There is no need to ask for a thorn in the flesh, Satan will find you eventually. When it arrives, be prepared for God’s abundant grace to be even more evident in your life as the power of Christ rests upon you.

Roast With Fire

Exodus 12:8-10

When is the last time that you observed Communion? God gave the church this glorious ceremony as a way of remembering the perfect price that His Son paid for us at Calvary. Each time that you partake properly, you are showing forth the Lord’s death, while exercising your faith in His finished work. Miracles never come by our works, but they do come because of His finished work.

On the night before Israel was to come out of Egyptian bondage, God gave them instructions for what would come to be known as Passover. They were to kill a spotless lamb and mark their doors with its blood. Then they were to roast the lamb with fire and eat all of it. These two were the shadow of a future substance (Hebrews 10:1); the blood on the door being the shed blood of Jesus, applied to the heart of the believer and the roasted body being the body of Christ, judged at Calvary by the fire of heaven, broken for our wholeness.

It was crucial that the Israelites follow the instructions to the letter. Each step in this ceremony is a perfect type of the work that Jesus would accomplish at Calvary. The roasting by fire was symbolic of Jesus receiving into His own body, the judgment of heaven. He was made to be sin for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). They were told, “Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water” (Exodus 12:9) because we must always see Jesus as crucified and judged for us, not as a baby in a manger. Any reference to Jesus as deliverer that excludes the finished work of the cross is partaking of Jesus raw and soaked with water.

They were also told to eat “his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof” (verse 9). This meant that the Israelites were to consume everything, leaving nothing until the next day. The “purtenance” includes the kidneys, liver and intestines, meaning that God was serious about this lamb! Each part that they ate was a type of Jesus, with them taking His strength for their needs into their own bodies.

Psalms 105:37 says, “He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes”. It seems impossible that of nearly 3 million slaves, there would not be one person who was sick or feeble, but the text bears it out. How might this have been accomplished? It was the roasted lamb!

If their intestines were hurting, they ate the intestines of the lamb. If their head was wounded, they ate the head of the lamb. If their eyes were failing, they ate the unfailing eyes of the lamb. When Christ died on Calvary, His appearance was so marred that no one could look upon Him (Isaiah 52:14). The reason for this was that Jesus took upon Him all of our cancers and tumors and diseases while He hung on Calvary and died. Matthew said, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:17).

When you partake in communion, see your sickness and your disease in the body of Christ. He said to His disciples, “Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). Don’t wait for your local church to have communion again, partake on your own. Paul said, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup…” (1 Corinthians 11:26), so there is no such thing as too much!