A Thorn In The Flesh

What was Paul's thorn in the flesh?  Now, there is much speculation about what Paul's thorn was and  I will not attempt to add to the many speculations on "what" Paul's thorn was but just deal with the fact that "in life" there will be thorns that irritate us. The more appropriate question for this posting is...What is your thorn in the flesh? Life has many thorns and can get real prickly and hurtful but through "Grace Alone" you can survive life!!!!

Just like you will find thorns in a beautiful rose bush you will find thorns in the beauty of doing life.  Thorns come and go. Your thorn may be a car that only starts when it feels like it, a pet that's not quite house broke, or the neighbors dog that keeps leaving undesirable deposits on the front lawn. Your boss might be a thorn,or the guy who sets in the pod over from you. It might be that your thorn is rejection. Maybe you were betrayed by someone you loved and rejection has a strong grip on your life. Maybe you just can't seem to get your resume' recognized and you feel rejected.  Your thorn may be alcohol, prescription drugs or unforgiveness. Good news, II Corinthians 10:3-4 says we do not fight against flesh and blood, and the weapons of our warfare (or doing life) are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. Don't fight the thorns, the more you fight the thorns in your flesh the more hurt and pain you create. Thorns are the people, circumstances, mind-sets, emotions and thoughts that we allow to destroy God's best plans for our life. God's best plan for your life is for it to be productive and peaceful!

Whatever the thorn is in your life today I want to share with you a familiar scripture that will be the scripture theme for the "Grace Alone" blog. We can think of  a lot of religious or spiritual exercises we can do in order to help us overcome our thorns but the real truth is, God's Grace is Sufficient!!!!

We find in II Corinthians 12:9 after Paul sought the Lord for relief from his thorn, the Lord said to Paul......"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness". Even our best effort is too weak to produce a lasting effect in our life, but the power of God's Grace is enough. God's grace was perfected through the power of Jesus on the cross. Without going into great detail I want to encourage you today that no matter what you are facing, no matter what thorn, trail, tribulation, or trouble that may surround you today, Faith in God's "Grace Alone" is sufficient.  Sufficient means adequate for the purpose, or enough to see you through.

Now, I declare to you that I am a long way off from understanding how God's Grace works but the beauty is we don't have to understand how it works, we just believe that it is enough!!

In my next blog I'll share 4 things we can do to turn Adversity to our Advantage.

Blessings,

Terry Baker