Thorn in the Flesh
Isaiah 55:9 NKJV “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Many Christians want to use Paul’s thorn in the flesh as an excuse/justification to hang onto their sickness. When we read 2 Corinthians 12:7 it tells us plainly in the verse what Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ was.
2 Corinthians 12:7 NKJV “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.”
His thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan. His thorn was Jewish radicals that followed him around and stirred up trouble wherever he went to preach the Gospel.
Acts 14:19 NKJV “Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.”
Acts 17:13 NKJV “But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds.”
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NKJV “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
The word infirmities in verse 9 means weakness or without strength. It is from the Greek word ‘Astheneia.’ To bear troubles or trials; being restrained, lack of strength and capacity; frailty, imperfection, intellectual and moral, suffering, affliction, distress, calamity; this Greek word, astheneia, has nothing to do with physical sickness.
The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee. As a young man he had to memorize and recite the Torah or first 5 books of the Bible. He was very familiar with the phrase “thorn in my side or thorn in the flesh.” He was a student of the Old Testament.
Take a look at the next set of verses; the Bible is clear that a thorn in the side or a thorn in the flesh is always people.
Numbers 33:55 NKJV “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.”
Notice the thorn in the side is the inhabitants, people, that the Hebrews did not drive out.
Joshua 23:13 NKJV “know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.”
Again, the thorns are people, the nations, that the Hebrews failed to deal with as God had instructed.
Judges 2:3 NKJV “Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ”
And one more time for emphasis, the thorn in their side is people.
Christian, believer, you must stop using this verse: 2 Corinthians 12:7 NKJV “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.”
As an excuse to allow sickness to remain on your body. You have been given authority over every sickness, every dysfunction, every defect, anxiety, fear, mental health issue, depression, worry. Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Authority is useless unless you exercise it. Simple example follows.
A policeman is off duty. He just received his paycheck and is stopping at the bank on the way home. He gets out of his police car, leaving his gun belt in the car. He enters the bank and discovers that there is a bank robbery in progress. Let me ask you, is he going to shout: “this is the police, put down your weapons, you are all under arrest?” No! Why? The power to back up his statement is in the seat of his car!
Our power to exercise our authority in Christ is based on our righteousness. It is hard for the Word of God to work for you if you are in sin, going against the Word. We must always search our own hearts when sickness tries to get on us. Ask the Lord to show you anything that you might be doing that goes against His Word. Then repent, ask for forgiveness in Jesus Name! Next, speak to the problem, command it to get off you in the name of Jesus. Pray according to Mark 11:22-26.
Let’s take a look some other verses that believers want to use as an excuse to keep sickness.
Galatians 4:12-16 NKJV Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
He is reminding the Galatians that when he first preached to them that he had a physical infirmity. What was it? It appears to be an eye problem?
Paul went to the region of Galatia right after he had been stoned to death by the Jewish agitators (Thorn in the Flesh) that followed him around.
Acts 14:19-20 NKJV “Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.”
Notice, right after Paul was stoned to death and raised up by the disciples, he went to Derbe. Derbe was a city in the area of Galatia. He was black and blue and all swollen up by the stoning when he went to Galatia to preach. I’ll bet his eye was swollen shut.
When I practiced in Wyoming, I had a patient who let me hunt on his ranch. We hunted geese, ducks, rabbits, deer and antelope on his ranch. One day my son and I went out to his ranch to go hunting and when we pulled into his property he came out of the barn. His eye was black and blue and swollen to the size of a softball/grapefruit; it was swollen shut! He told me that he was trying to break the seal on a tractor tire so he could change it. He struck it with a maul hammer and it bounced back up and hit him right in the eye. I asked him if he had gone to the doctor (ophthalmologist), he told me no. I told him that he should go right away and get that fluid drained off or the pressure could damage his optic nerve and he could end up blind in that eye. He did, and he ended up being ok.
I’ll bet that Paul had an eye like that from being hit with a rock! His infirmity was from being stoned to death.
What does Jesus say about sickness?
Isaiah 53:4-5 Youngs Literal Translation: “Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains -- he hath carried them, And we -- we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace [is] on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us.”
Jesus died, shed His own Blood so that we are healed.
1 Peter 2:24 NKJV “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”
When Jesus walked on the earth, He healed EVERYONE who came to Him for healing by the cross of Christ. How could He, in the natural He hadn’t been to the Cross as yet? He was the Lamb Slain at the foundation of the world. When He came in person, He came to reveal that which was already accomplished.
Revelation 13:8 NKJV “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
Check out Matthew 8 below.
Matthew 8:16-17 NKJV “When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“He Himself took our infirmities
And bore our sicknesses.”
Jesus healed everyone because of His shed Blood on the cross. That power is still there today! But with all things in God, we must receive it by faith and exercise the authority that Jesus has given us.
We must command every unclean demon to get off us and come out of us. We command our bodies whole and well in Jesus name. We loose ourselves from satan and bind ourselves to the Word of God: “Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains -- he hath carried them, And we -- we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace [is] on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us.”
In Jesus mighty Name! Before we do that, we must look in our hearts. We must repent of all our sin.
After Solomon built the Temple to the Lord, he made a dedication prayer. Part of that prayer is below.
1 Kings 8:37-40 NKJV “When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; 38 whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple:
Notice: “when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple.” We must understand the plague of our hearts. Look in our hearts and find where we have sinned against the Lord. What in our lives have we put before Jesus? Jesus must have preeminence. We must repent of our sins and ask the Lord to forgive us in Jesus name. Then we will have authority to speak to our health issues. Then we will hear from heaven. God knows your heart; He knows your sin.
39 then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men), 40 that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
If we truly fear the Lord, we will obey His Word. We must make the choice to follow Jesus all the days of our lives.
If you need to repent and ask for forgiveness in the Great name of Jesus, do it! Forgive everyone who has ever harmed you
(Mark 11:25-26 NKJV “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”).
Forgive yourself for the hurt that you have caused others and the hurt that you have brought to the heart of God.
Please feel free to share this post, together we can edify the Body of Christ.
Pastor Glenn Harrison
Author: "Two Wheels for Heaven"
