Guide Thorn of Grace: Devotionals to lift those in pain

Free download. Book file PDF easily for everyone and every device. You can download and read online Thorn of Grace: Devotionals to lift those in pain file PDF Book only if you are registered here. And also you can download or read online all Book PDF file that related with Thorn of Grace: Devotionals to lift those in pain book. Happy reading Thorn of Grace: Devotionals to lift those in pain Bookeveryone. Download file Free Book PDF Thorn of Grace: Devotionals to lift those in pain at Complete PDF Library. This Book have some digital formats such us :paperbook, ebook, kindle, epub, fb2 and another formats. Here is The CompletePDF Book Library. It's free to register here to get Book file PDF Thorn of Grace: Devotionals to lift those in pain Pocket Guide.
We can come boldly to the throne of grace anytime, day or night. It is prayer that changes things, situations, and people, not us—so take it to the Lord in prayer. M. Scriven says it well: Oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer. All you need to do is lift your voice to Him.
Table of contents

Suppose Paul to have been lifted up, he would have been of small use to the Gentile church afterwards. Had he been exalted above measure, he might have become a rival rather than a servant of Jesus. We might have heard of him as a right reverend father in God, rather than as the servant of Jesus Christ and his church. It would have been bad for ungodly sinners, too, for a proud Paul would never have gone from city to city to be persecuted tor preaching the gospel.

He who is exalted in himself will never exalt the Saviour, and he who does not exalt the Saviour will never win the souls of men. If God had not taken Paul in hand, the danger with which he was surrounded would have been fatal to him. Thus have I spoken upon the peril.

It is well put. O child of God, amongst all the goods of your house, you have not one single article that is a better token of divine love to you than your daily cross. You would fain be rid of it, but you would lose your choicest treasure if it were withdrawn. Blessed be God for the crucible and the furnace. At first, the apostle may not have seen his thorn to be a gift, but afterwards, when experience had taught him patience, he came to look at that sharp, pricking, festering torment, as a boon from his heavenly Father.

You, O tried one, will come to do the same one of these days. When the vessel first was launched upon the river, and was about to cross the sea, it felt itself light and airy, and ready to bound over the waves, so that it longed for a voyage across the Atlantic, that it might fly like a sea bird over the crest of the billows; but suddenly, to her sorrow, the gallant ship was stopped in her career, and moored close by a bank of sand and shingle, and men began to cast stones and earth into her.

What a hindrance to my speed! I thought I could fly just now like a sea bird: am I to be weighted till I am like a log? That ballast was a gift, a gift as much as if it had been bars of gold or ingots of silver. So your trials, your troubles, and your infirmities, are gifts to you, O believers, and you must regard them as such. A thorn is but a little thing, and indicates a painful but not a killing trial— not a huge, crushing, overwhelming affliction, but a common matter; none the less painful, however, because common and insignificant.

A thorn is a sharp thing, which pricks, pierces, irritates, lacerates, festers, and causes endless pain and inconvenience. Yet it is almost a secret thing, not very apparent to anyone but the sufferer. Paul had a secret grief somewhere, I know not where, but near his heart, continually wherever he might be, irritating him: perpetually vexing him and wounding him. Thorns are plentiful enough, and have been since Father Adam scattered the first handful of the seed.

A thorn — nothing to make a man remarkable, or give him the dignity of unusual sorrow. Some men boast about their great trials, and there is something in feeling that you are a man greatly afflicted; but a thorn could not give even this wretched satisfaction. It was not a sword in the bones, or a galling arrow in the loins, but only a thorn, about which little could be said.

Everyone knows, however, that a thorn is one of the most wretched intruders that can molest our foot or hand. Those pains which are despised because they are seldom fatal, arc frequently the source of the most intense anguish— toothache, headache, earache, what greater miseries are known to mortals? And so with a thorn. I suppose the evil had an intimate connection with his body. Richard Baxter, who suffered from a very painful disorder, which I need not mention, thought that the apostle was his fellow-sufferer.

One divine is of opinion that Paul endured the earache; and I generally find that each expositor has selected that particular thorn which had pierced his own bosom. Now, I believe that the apostle did not tell us what his peculiar affection was, that we may every one feel that he had sympathy with us — that we may every one believe that ours is no new grief.

He does not set it down to the Great Master Spirit, but to a mere messenger of the prince of darkness; it was not intended by God that Satan should, on this occasion, come forth against Paul, for such an encounter might not have humbled him. A combat with the arch-enemy might not, therefore, have humbled Paul — but to be beset by a mean, sneaking devil; not a great, grand fiend, but a mere lackey of hell; and to be troubled and tormented by so mean an adversary, this was galling and humiliating to the last degree, and therefore, all the better for the purpose for which it was sent, namely, to prevent his being lifted up.

Am I, who have built up the Church and seen the Lord, and been caught up into the third heaven— am I to do battle with this miserable, base, despicable propensity, which I thought I had done with these fourteen years ago? That is it. Not to fight with him with the sword; that is manly, soldierly work; but to buffet him as masters used to cuff their slaves, or as pedagogues box the ears of boys.

Paul seems to feel the degradation of being buffeted. Must I be smitten by these vain and wretched temptations, which even in my spiritual youth I was able to subdue? You see, brethren, that this preventative was well adapted to work out its design, for assuredly it would recall the apostle from ecstacies and excitements, and make him feel that he was in the body after all.

This made him feel he was a man, even as others. He had dreamed, perhaps, that he was growing very angelic, but now he feels intensely human. This made him feel only a man— that, though he was filled so full with God, still he was only a man, and could be filled as full with the devil, too, if deserted by grace.

This made him feel that he was a weak man, for he had to do battle with base temptations, temptations that seemed not worth fighting with; he had to be cuffed and buffeted in a small way, like the babes in grace.


  • Blood Bayou;
  • The Thorn in the Flesh.
  • Even More Dazzling Underwater Mosaics;
  • 24. JOHN 14:27;
  • In Pursuit of Boaz: Why is it taking so long for me to get married?.

This made him know that he was a man in danger, and needed to fly to God for refuge; for here he was, ready to be exalted above measure even by divine blessings, and ready to be provoked into sin by the mere buffetings of an evil spirit. The worst form of trial may, nevertheless, be our best present portion.

A Collection Of Poems To Stir The Heart Of The Believer To Prayer

I perceive, also, that the worst and deepest experience may only be the needful complement of the highest and the noblest; I mean it may be necessary that if we are lifted up we should be cast down. Learn, also, that we must never envy other saints.

Table of Contents

If we hear Paul speak of his visions, let us recollect his thorn in the flesh; if we meet with a brother who rejoices abundantly, and whom God owns and blesses, let us not conclude that his pathway is all smooth. His roses have their thorns, his bees their stings. As for ourselves, let us never wish to be without our daily cross.

What Is That "Thorn in the Flesh" and Why Would God Give One to Paul (and Us)?

The kite broke away from its string, and instead of mounting to the stars it descended into the mire. The river grew weary of its restraining banks, and longed to burst them, that it might rush on in the wild joy of freedom; down went the embankments, the river became a flood, and carried destruction and desolation wherever it rushed. Unrein the coursers of the sun, and, lo!

Let us never desire to be rid of those restraints which God has seen fit to lay upon us; they are more needful than we dream. Remember, how the vine, when bound to the stake which upheld it, judged itself a martyr, and longed to be free; but when it saw the wild vine at its feet, rotting in the damps and pining amidst the heats, and producing no fruit; it felt how needful were its bonds if its clusters were ever to ripen.

Be content, dear brother, to keep the thorn in the flesh, if it saves thee from being exalted above measure. First — It drove him to his knees. This thorn compelled Paul to cry unto God, and, having commenced to pray, he resorted to prayer again and again. Yes, we may be lax in prayer when all things flow with even current, but we multiply prayers when trials increase. In this way, Paul was kept from being proud. The revelations now seemed forgotten, for the thorn in the flesh was the more prominent thing of the two.

Now, he would not speak about visions, and could not; for, when his tongue was tempted to move upon that subject, the thorn began to prick his side again. A man does not want to tell pretty stories when his head is aching, or when sharp pains are goading him. Paul was not allowed to dazzle himself with the brightness which God had set before him; his thoughts were turned in another direction, yea, blessedly turned to the mercy-seat, where he could get no evil, but must derive much profit. God Will Strengthen d.

Remember, God works in and for eternity. One day, all your suffering will be gone. Our rock foundation is in the hope of heaven. Grace is greater than all our sin!

Devotions of the Heart: Book One - Lorna Hanishewski - Google Sách

I have cheated on my husband. I have abused my wife and children. I have stolen. I have cursed God. I have murdered. That is rather for Him to consider than for me. For the easiest positions, He must give grace; and in the most difficult, His grace is sufficient. So, if God places me in great perplexity, must He not give me much guidance? In positions of great difficulty, much grace? In circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength?

As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone. His resources are mine, for He is mine! Surrender Absolutely 2. Walk Accordingly a.

The Thorn in the Flesh

Walk in the light b. He will not leave you nor forsake you. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Grace To Grace - Hillsong Worship

When it seems all is lost, this is a great reminder that we should have courage. Do not be overcome by things surrounding but instead overcome with the goodness of His faithfulness! For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. What an awesome thought!