IS HEALING FOR EVERYBODY? Pt. II

WELCOME TO PASTOR DR. CARLOTTA'S COUNSELING CENTER.

In part 1, I talk about the real source of our redemption from sickness is JESUS! And I spoke on Job's experience. Now I would like to address Paul's Thorn.

I much the same way as we had to read the passages in Job, we are going to have to approach our Study of Paul's thorn with our brains in gear and our religious filters turned off. Some members of the Body believe that sometimes when we pray, God'says, "no." They believe that this is God's means of humbling us.

They think that sickness is God's means of bringing us closer to himself. The erroneous thinking can be cleared up by reading II Corinthians 12:7-10. First, Paul gives us the reason for his "thorn in the flesh" being given to him, he had an abundance of revelations from God, and somebody was worried that he may become exalted above measures. Some people say that this means he might become prideful, but that is not what it says.

It says, "exalted above measure." Proverbs 3 tell us that if we exalt the Word, the Word will exalt us. Paul was busy getting revelation knowledge from the Word of God and he was by default, getting exalted. Who would want to stop that? Who will be controlled by further revelation of the Word? The devil. Paul then said he was given a "messenger of Satan" to buffet him.

Paul didn't say who gave it to him, but we should be able to figure that one out: God does not have any demons on His payroll, so He doesn't have any to send out to do His dirty work. Satan, however, has an army of them at his beck and call.

After Paul prayed three times, asking God to get this demon off his back, God spoke up and said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." God did not say , "No," or "wait," or even "maybe." He simply started talking about grace. That is odd unless we understand what it was that God called the Apostle Paul to reveal.

The word "grace" is found in the writing of Paul, nearly four to one over the rest of the writers of the New Testament. Grace was a revelation God had already given to Paul. Paul knew what it was, and what it was for. He knew grace was a power-force in the Spirit realm, and he knew how to use it, he was just whining!

Paul was begging God to do for him what he was well trained in how to do for himself. So God just told him to get off his duff and do something about it. The "weakness" referred to here has been thought to be a physical condition, but it is not found to be so through study of the scriptures.

Equaring Paul's thorn with sickness is simply not borne out in the scriptures. In verse 10 we see what Paul himself thinks of as his "thorn" as from the devil. "Weakness, reproach, persecution, necessity, distress."

There are three other places where Paul list some of the difficulties he endured for the sake of the gospel. Read I Corinthians 4:11-13. II Corinthians 6:4-5 and II Corinthians 11:23-26. Not once in these list of problems encountered while preaching the Gospel does Paul mention physical sickness.

Read Numbers 33:55 and Joshua 23:13. People are called a "thorn" and the children of Israel were told to drive them out or they would become a very bad problem. Paul suffered greatly at the hands of the Jews and some of the heathens.

The Jews stirred up trouble wherever he went and it was from this "thorn" that he sought to be believer, not from a physical sickness. According to scripture, and according to the covenant of God. God's grace will help us to deal with and keep a good attitude about persecution. It takes THE STRIPES OF JESUS to take away sickness.

If you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior simply say in an audible voice, in all sincerity from the depths of your heart, "Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me of my sins and accept me as Your child. I accept You as my personal Savior and I promise to follow the instructions of Your Word from this day on. If I fail because I am human, please help pick me up so I can try again! Thank you, Jesus, for saving me from all my sins. AMEN."