BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Believers aren’t taught by sickness, they’re taught by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. (See 2 Timothy 3:16 and John 14:26.) God doesn’t get glory from sickness. He gets glory when His healing power manifests. The Bible says, when Jesus ministered on earth, “the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel” (Matthew 15:31). It’s not sickness but healing and miracles that bring glory to God. Don’t Get Stuck With the Thorn “But what about Paul’s thorn in the flesh?” someone might say. “Wasn’t that a sickness sent by God? Didn’t Paul say he had to keep it because it gave the Lord glory?” Absolutely not! Although you may have heard that preached, it’s yet another religious deception. According to the Bible, what Paul actually said about the situation was this: “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me” (2 Corinthians 12:7). That verse doesn’t say one thing about God sending Paul a thorn. It says the thorn was a messenger of Satan. The word messenger is used 188 times in the New Testament. It’s translated angel, 181 times. Seven times it’s translated messenger. Either way, it always refers to a personality or a being. It never refers to sickness or disease. So Paul wasn’t talking about sickness in this passage. He was talking about the demonic spirit that stirred up persecution against him. Everywhere Paul went to preach, that demonic spirit followed him. It provoked the Jewish leaders and made them so envious of Paul’s ministry they constantly harassed him and opposed him, sometimes in vicious ways. Because Paul didn’t have the natural strength to deal with their attacks, he wanted God to make the spirit behind them go away. So he sought the Lord three times that it might depart from him, and the Lord answered: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (verse 9). Many people have completely misunderstood those verses. They’ve been taught by religious tradition that God said, “No, Paul. You’ll just have to keep this thorn and put up with it by My grace. You’ll just have to glory in it.” But that’s not what the Scripture says at all! When God said to Paul, “My grace is enough for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness,” the word He used for strength was the Greek word dunamis, which refers to God’s supernatural, almighty, miracle-working power. He was telling Paul, “In any situation, no matter how impossible things may look, My divine favor will see you through. When you’re at your weakest, My power will be perfected on your behalf.” Paul understood this. That’s why he said in verses 9-10, “I rather glory in my infirmities (or weaknesses), that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” When the power of Christ rests upon you, you don’t have any problems! When His power goes to work on your behalf, and you’re strong in Him, the devil doesn’t stand a chance. You’re going to come out a winner every time. Paul proved this! He whipped the devil by the power of God again and again. In one city he preached in, Paul’s persecutors went so far as to stone him and drag him out of the city as dead. Talk about being weak! You can’t get any weaker than dead. “Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch” (Acts 14:20-21). Think of it! God’s power on Paul was so strong, he not only got back up after being stoned, but he traveled to another city and kept right on preaching. Then he returned to the city where he was stoned and ministered there again. 30 : BVOV

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