James 1:2 – Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
2 Corinthians 12:7c-10 – I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Family and Friends I want to confess something. I have been allowing the enemy to rip me off. I have allowed him to steal some very great blessings. But, by the might of God through Jesus Christ my Lord, that ends now. Yes, it ends now! Praise God!
These last few years I have been given a thorn in my flesh. I have been largely either unemployed or underemployed. I have erred in allowing it to be a shame to me. Thinking I have had the victory because I did not doubt God’s ability to provide in whatever way He planned to provide, I thought I had the victory, the full victory. And I have had victory, to the praise of God! I thought I was doing well because I can honestly tell you I have never doubted that God is good, that He loves me, and that I have completely trusted in God to provide and protect us as He always has. I have not doubted God. I have had a supernatural and, to the natural mind what is inexplicable, peace through it all. I have not doubted God and that gives me joy and peace. Not that I am strong. No, not at all, but that I know I am weak so I don’t trust in myself but in God. I cannot protect or provide for myself. Any number of evil things could happen if I were my protector and provider. I cannot take my next breath by my own might and determination. It is not I that blesses me, but in all these things I am blessed by God. So I am not proud of me, no, not in any way! It is God who loves me that I give all credit to a faith in Him and knowledge of Him. Without God I am a pitiful, evil and weak person. In God, in and how His will determines, I stand strong. I resist and I war against evil, but it is not by my might or power but by the Spirit of God that all victories are given (Zechariah 4:6, Isaiah 41:10). In these things God has graciously given me peace and joy through this desert. He gives me shade during the day, springs of fresh water when I am thirsty and sustenance is brought to me and I need not even search. He lifts my heart and soul and brings me laughter and joy as He continuously and always blesses me. I am blessed because of Him. Yet, I have erred.
Yes, God gave me a thorn. We notice that the Apostle Paul did not say that God cursed him with the thorn, but that God gave him the thorn. God also gave me, and did not curse me, with this thorn of mine. He gave it to me because He loves me. He gave it to me to bless me. He gave it to me to give me a joy that cannot be stolen. God gave me the thorn that my joy would run over and fill me with laughter. I knew, but now understand more deeply, that not losing faith, and not doubting God through the trials is a blessing, but not the end. In the past I have even looked forward to the blessing and deepening of faith that God was surely going to bless me with through the fire. And He has. Today I state to you that I have, at times, allowed myself to think I did well by enduring, by standing strong. Like that was the fullness of it. The enemy would give me that thought as long as I did not follow the God given path to its end. At the end of path was freedom, joy, laughter and great fun, yes fun, walking with God. I am freed by the Son of God! (John 8:36) Free, from the burdens of enduring, or worrying, or merely standing strong. No, the Lord Jesus Christ has freed me to joyously and for no reason except for belonging to Him, love the life He has given me and all the circumstances in it. As Job said to his wife “…Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10) When our eyes are filled with God, when we know Him, we will trust Him. I trust God. Now the increasing depth of my trust is bearing fruit of joy. I am not afflicted by a thorn, I have been blessed with a thorn. I cherish my thorn and trust God. I cherish the thorn because it is from God. I am a very blessed man with more blessings than I can count. I am a very blessed God because I belong to Jesus my Savior and Lord. I am a blessed man with a thorn called unemployment because with the thorn comes not only the wound, but blessings that make the wound insignificant. Joy flows as God loves me and blesses me. I am a very blessed man! Joy and laughter have been added to enduring faith and peace. Oh Family and Friends, I am a very blessed man. Please, with me, have a laugh at our enemy. Praise God is always so good to me. Praise God!
What is your thorn? Don’t let the enemy rip you off. Know God. Trust God. And let His peace and joy, full of laughter, flow through you! Be saturated with Him and know and live in the joy, peace and laugher that our God gives! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”