The thorn--Why God?

[Salt]

<BR><A name=postid1></A><SPAN id=postcolor><FONT color=#008080>And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. &nbsp;2cor 12;7<BR><BR>In the bible we see apostle Paul---asking the Lord to remove something that was causing Him problems....It was a thorn.<BR>2cor 12;8<BR><BR>in the greek....the thorn refers to a splinter. When i was a kid growing up; I would go off into dew berry patches and pay a high price for those berries. You see I had to go thru and into the thorns to get to them. My grand-ma and my mom always told me to stay out of that thorny patch.....But i wanted those berries and off i would go....and sure enough I would get a thorn in my flesh. <BR><BR>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;That thing sure did hurt. If I had done what I was told to do......I would not have gotten a thorn. I would run to my mom and she would put ointment on it and scold me.....then she would say again....Stay out of that dew berry patch. <BR>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Apostle Paul said,,,,A thorn was given to Him.....He did not ask for it. He had tremendouse insight into God's Kingdom and Paul said lest He be exalted above measure.....The thorn would be activated. He ask The Lord to take this thing away and the Lord said to Him....No. <BR><BR>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;How many times have we ask God for some thing and He said No. If I ask My mom could i go in that patch.....I knew she would say no. It was not because she did not want me to have those berries....It was also because that snakes hang out in those patches. The birds love those berries to and a wise old snake knows that; and waits in that patch for a bird to come along.<BR><BR>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; What was Paul's Thorn.....It was anything that Buffeted Him. God said to Him.....I am not going to take this thorn away. A thorn will keep us where you and i are supposed to be. Humble and meek. If we stay Humble before the Lord we Do not need a thorn to drive us back to the Lord.<BR><BR>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; A thorn will cause infection and a real sore spot. Paul said Him-self.....Lest I be exalted above measure. We do not always listen to the Lord. We do not always obey Him.<BR>The Lord said to me one day.....I do not always ask you to do certain things......cause you will not do them any way. What is a thorn for........It is for protection. <BR><BR>When i was a child....i talked like one and acted like one. Children do some things that are funny to parents....and when they are little they are easy to control....BUT; what about when they get older. When they do not listen to eveything a parent may say. A spanking does not do any good. <BR><BR>Correction with conviction and applied pressure in all the right places drives us back to God. As long as we are Humble,,,, we can recieve Grace to enable us to bear with anything and everything that comes our way.<BR><BR>Thorn also means to grow dark...it also means to limp....it also means to be sore....<BR><BR>For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, 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. 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. ---2cor---<BR><BR>We see above what The Apostle Paul considered a thorn in the flesh.....these things were causing Him problems. I mean He was trying to advance the Kingdom of heaven.....It would seem that God would want these things out of the way so Paul could make more progress.......But the truth is....These thorns caused Him to stay Humble and advance the Kingdom of God in The ability of God's grace.....Not in the ability to advance it in Apostle Paul's strength. <BR><BR>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Problems will do one thing in our heart.....Make us humble or make us harden. They can not do both at the same time. Paul was many times abused and mistreated. He said I will Glory in my weakness and God will pitch a tent over me,,,,when I am humble enough to receive His Grace. <BR><BR>And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. matthew 23;12<BR><BR>Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. 1st peter 5<BR><BR>As long as we are humble we can receive the ability to carry forth the work God has planned and destine in us. &nbsp;<BR><BR>Finding our seat in Christ is the place we are headed. That we become complete in Him is vital and importent to Him and function in His Love keeps the thorns out of the flesh.<BR><BR>We get a thorn because we been some where we do not belong.<BR><BR>We get a thorn because we do some thing that God did not say to do. It is the advancement of His kingdom according to His way of Building not ours. <BR><BR>The Father will not ever leave us or forsake us....but the leaness we get in our soul from disobeying Him hurts.<BR><BR>But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them [shall be] pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Num 33;55<BR><BR>The way of the slothful [man is] as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous [is] made plain. Pro 15;19<BR><BR>Thorns [and] snares [are] in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. Pro 22;5<BR><BR>It is a very sobering thought when we find out that mosts of our problems in our life came from us not doing what God said to do. If we have a lot of faith,,,We have a lot of work.<BR>It is the doers of the word and the hearers of the word that are moving forward. <BR><BR>A true Father will not allow us to get away with anything. At each level of maturity is a different level of Discipline. The Almighty God is a True Father. <BR><BR>At each level of Glory we come into.....that level also has Milk and meat. Groweth and developement of charactor comes from being in His Glory. In Him and Him alone is completeness and wholeness. Thorns do not make us complete or whole. Only Jesus Christ Does that by His Spirit. In Him and Him alone is Fullness of Joy. He is the Spirit and where His Spirit is there is liberty. <BR><BR>Father longs for us to be fruitful and overflowing with His nature. Sometimes we do not listen and go off the way we think we should go. Then a thorn pops up and we can not get that thing out of our lives. Why? <BR><BR>We are disobeying the Father. We become hearers only. We have not yet become a doer. The Father takes us one step at a time and one lesson at a time. He wants us to have our inheritence. He wants us to experience Him in a deeper more fuller way. It is not our ability that builds His Kingdom. It is our faith to access this grace and move forward to a more complete understanding and of insight into Him. We want to be able to articulate a pure speech. We desire to know more about Him....But often we want to go about it our own way. That is a person who builds on sand. The Father desires us to know Him. He does not want our work to fail. He desires for us to reach our mission......He desires us to not lack. When we operate in any other form....We know it......we do not need for anybody to tell us.<BR><BR>If we push hard to birth a movement,,,,and God has said to quit pushing and we do not......A thorn pops up.<BR><BR>A thorn will come before a fall. Father God does not want us to fall away from Him. Circumstances and things can be in-acted By the Human will and has a motivation that has a lot of sparks.....but the Fire that he is looking for in our Life is the reflection of His Son and that reflection only comes from Being in His Prescence....it is not from being in place that has a lot of programs. Jesus has made everything ready. He has completed the work.....all we have to do is enter in. Entering in comes by Grace to aceppt the wind of changes. Things that are tender and pliable are able to be moved. We need to be oaks when it comes to having our roots growing in Him....We also need to be children all the time to enter in the Kingdom that is here and is now.<BR>It is not the Father's pleasure to allow thorns in our life. His pleasure is that we come......Just Come to Him. We may not even know what to say.....but that is alright....He does.<BR><BR>This longing that we have to be further Clothed is a longing that can be satisfied right now. We do not have to have things in our life to keep us able to be Humble. Remember it is our Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. If that is what he delights in....then i will also delight in being a recipent of that Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lack is not a provision from God....It is a curse from the developement of sin.....Sin is a deadly virus that can be transmitted one person at a time.....<BR><BR>If we hold fast to Our Father God.....He is able to do exceedingly above and beyond anything we could ask of Him. If we confess our unbeleif to Him......He will wash us and cleanse us from all unrightouseness. He is our very life and we must drink deeply from Him in these last days. We must make time to Get before Him and calibrate our spirit to recieve from Him the Fullness of His Joy. In His Love He called us out to Himself and drew us out.......and set us apart in his love....<BR><BR>Thorns are for those of us who will not listen to Father .....<BR><BR>A person who has faith is a person who has peace....<BR><BR>That peace is not bordered on what they can do for God. But it is what God has done in them that makes them peaceful. Self inventory of the heart is a inventory that we must learn to bring to Him everything.....If we take care of our time to be before Him as The ----Pearl of Great price----then we will always have the Father's Provison and there will be no need of a thorn.....The need to be before the Father has more importence now....<BR></FONT></SPAN><A name=entry1></A>

 

[Lbiagm]

very true salt.

 

[carmen]

Great thoughts salt. Have you had a look at the thorns in the old testament. its a interesting study.

 

[Salt]

I have done some studying on the thorns in the old testament....I really enjoy looking into the hebrew and greek....a lot of what i write is something that God talks to me about and then i go to the word to look further into what he said to me,,,,i would be real interested to hear what you have learned--

 

[DeputyDan]

Have you ever heard of paragraphs?

 

[carmen]

It really interested me how God told his people that the thorn in the flesh
in the old testament was other people from Egypt that would be used
to come against the people from Israel who had enter the promise land.
And how this thorn would be with them until they died.
Would be interesting to know in depth the hebrew root words of thorn,
and simular words to fully understand the depth of what God is saying.
Haven't study it in the hebrew yet. So if you do do a study sometime would
be interested to hear of what you found.

 

[Salt]

it is very exciting to look into the hebrew and greek text....One day as i was reading my bible the Holy Spirit said to me....what you are reading and what you think it is saying is for more deeper than english tounge can tell---That was when i went on a quest to began to really look into the greek and hebrew tounge....I am doing a study on the lake of fire and hell right now and have written some on the subject.....I really do not just take off and pick a subject....when the Holy Spirit begans to teach me about things...that is when i go to the word to study in depht of what the Holy Spirit is saying to me,,,,So what you see written so far is things that God taught me ---along with the hebrew and greek and several translations....I do enjoy teaching and prophesying to brothers and sisters in the Lord...but also--I take great care in making sure my studies are accurate....as I will be responsible before the Lord for My sharing with you all.....I also look forward to learning what God has taught my brothers and sisters---God Bless