Devotionals

What's Your Thorn?

by Robert [Bob] Schaetzle Sr. 
04/15/19
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                               What’s Your Thorn?
                    By Robert Schaetzle

The Apostle Paul proclaimed something he boasted about.
“And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9RSV

If we’re truly ‘intellectually honest’ with ourselves, we all have some kind of ‘thorn’ that keeps us dependent to leaning upon God’s grace and strength more than ‘self.’

Identifying our thorn usually isn’t too difficult. Maybe it’s an unwanted fear caused by anxiousness over something that doesn’t exist?

Whatever this thorn might be we want to recognize as did Paul, it’s to keep us from being too elated. We might not want this obstacle caused by the ‘power of darkness.’ Sometimes the power of the ‘Prince of the Air’ throws lies at us attempting to keep us from recognizing; ‘Greater is He that is in us!’

We may be caused to keep asking our Lord for his way of escape, maybe even more than three times. But we rest in God’s authority that supersedes all our fears. God asks us to be anxious over nothing. To find our ‘worthiness’ in knowing Christ Jesus. {cf: Philippians 3:8}  

We too, can boast of our weaknesses, recognizing; our promise of hope in the ‘power of Christ’ is far greater than all our thorns.

Robert serves in a ‘Sharing and Caring Ministry’ in Sunnyvale, CA