If there is one thing evident in life, we’ve all one time or another said, “That’s a thorn in my side.” In reality, life is accompanied by storms, trials, seasons, and those “thorns” that we seem to think may be the death of us. I’d like to challenge our minds today with the thought, “Don’t remove the Thorn.” During life’s journey, we encounter rough patches, and storms rage against our ever living soul, and we scream out “GOD GET ME OUT OF THIS, I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!” -Anyone ever been there? We feel forsaken, like our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, and the Lord is no where to be found. Yes, we’ve all encountered these moments in life, but the Lord has impressed in my Spirit, we often times pray (God use me, God make me who you want me to be, God create in me a clean heart, God I want to be acceptable in thy sight!) Well, I’d like to radiate this thought to you…Maybe that thorn in your flesh that you feel daily, and ask God to remove is the very thing God is using to keep you saved! Maybe that thorn, or never ending season is being used as a sifter to sift out all those impurities that the Lord cannot use, because we want God to use us, and make us who He wants to be, RIGHT?? Many times in our frail humanity, we want the finished product without the process: we want the GOLD without the FIRE, we want the DIAMONDS without the heat and pressure! 

Paul wrote one of the most intriguing chapters to the Corinthian Church about having a thorn in his flesh. Paul felt the thorn daily, and even went to the Lord three times asking Him to remove it. Scripture doesn’t say what exactly the thorn was, but he said “the messenger of satan was sent to buffet him.” We could spend countless hours searching exactly what the buffeting was all about, but I want us to see two main points here: First, the thorn was actually the very thing keeping PAUL saved. Paul by nature was a very prideful and arrogant man, a man of deep intelligence. He no doubt fought a haughty spirit, perhaps daily. Paul also devoted his life to the Lord, and for that he received so much revelation he was unable to utter it to man. He had so much knowledge from the heavenly realm, yet not able to speak it. For a prideful man, that would be hard to endure. Yet, Paul gives us insight to WHY the THORN was placed in his flesh: 

II Corinthians 12:7_(KJV) “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.”

The very thing Paul prayed to have removed was the very thing keeping him saved! THAT’S A REVELATION IN ITSELF!!!!! How many times have we prayed for the storm to end, or for the Lord to deliver me out of this situation??? Saint of God, that is perhaps the very thing keeping you saved, keeping you humbled, keeping you on your knees!!! GOD IN HIS INFINITE WISDOM KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED WHEN WE NEED IT! Our finite minds can’t comprehend His methods of putting us where he wants us, and keeping us there! When the storm is ravaging against the ship, our First instinct is to abandon ship: But, God wants us to be able to navigate through the Storm, and that can only come with the help of the Lord! Hence, my second point that Paul shows us: In Paul’s weakness, in his infirmities, he said that’s where God can do HIS WORK IN OUR LIFE…The Lord said, -no Paul, I’m not going to remove the Thorn, but My Grace is going to sustain you through your weakness! For when we are weak, then we are made strong Because His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses! Saint of God, don’t ask to have the thorn removed, -Whatever it is, to each his own….we have our own struggles, and our own thorns, but remember where to lean. That thorn you’re feeling in your flesh is perhaps the very thing keeping you saved. When the hedge of the Lord has been removed, and the enemy buffets us, or the trials feel unbearable, KNOW THIS, When His hedge is gone, HIS HAND IS STILL THERE TO SUSTAIN YOU. Just reach up and hold to His unchanging hand, because HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE TODAY! 

-Hold on, there is still a Heaven to gain and a hell to shun!

God Bless, JDS