Religious tradition won’t tell you about things like that. But they happened in Paul’s life all the time. He was shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, bitten by a deadly snake and everything else you can imagine. But he was never defeated. He never let the devil deceive him into becoming a sick, weak man.
On the contrary, Paul lived to be an old man and traveled most of the known world. He wrote two-thirds of the New Testament and completed his ministry. When he and God finally decided it was time for him to leave this earth and go to heaven, he said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6-7).
Paul’s fight of faith was tougher than anything most of us will ever face. Yet he won it by resisting the devil every step of the way. He triumphed in every situation because he had learned the secret of walking in victory: “When I am weak, then am I strong…. I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me” (2 Corinthians 12:10; Philippians 4:13, "AMPC").
In the margin of my Bible, beside those verses, I wrote: "When human strength ends, the power of God excels." To me, this sums up Paul’s teaching about the thorn in the flesh. It’s not about submitting to the devil’s bondage. It’s about walking in freedom.
So don’t buy the devil’s lies. Turn the tables on him with the truth. When he starts putting symptoms of sickness on you, resist him and tell him what the Word says about your healing. When he sends you some kind of thorn in the flesh and tells you there’s no way out for you, rebuke him and say, “Yes, there is a way! Jesus said, ‘I am the Way,’ and He’ll make the way for me. His power excels where my human strength ends. I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me!” V
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BVOV : 31
