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Church bulletin:<\/p>\n
We have all felt the effect of a thorn in our shoes or socks. It doesn\u2019t matter how healthy we are, how comfortable we are in the rest of our clothing, how well life is going, it is the thorn which demands our attention. Until it is removed we can think about little else.<\/p>\n
The apostle Paul felt the sting of a thorn (2 Cor 12:7-10). He describes it as a messenger of Satan sent to afflict him lest he should entertain lofty thoughts of himself. We are not told what this thorn actually was, but clearly it brought a great deal of pain. Paul cried out to God multiple times for it to be removed but it wasn\u2019t going anywhere. He needed to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground and the thorn was the perfect tool to accomplish this. God responded \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness\u201d. In other words, \u201cPaul, the pain will stay but I will uphold you. You will discover My sufficiency in the midst of your weakness\u201d<\/p>\n
Whereas we are able to address many challenges in life, some will remain \u2013 or at least remain for a period of time. Thorns will appear in all shapes and sizes \u2013 thorny people, thorny tasks, thorny providences, thorny health issues, thorny constraints, etc. All else may be well, but such like thorns can consume us. The Word which came to Paul is the same Word which comes to us \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness\u201d God will bring thorns along so that we learn to lean upon Him for grace and strength. In doing so He particularly cultivates and nurtures us in the following ways:<\/p>\n
\u2022 We grow in prayer. Prayer becomes less about the thorn and more about us \u2013 our character; our response; our witness; our attitude, our lives before God.<\/p>\n
\u2022 We mature in patience. Another word for patience is long-suffering; it is the ability to press on and suffer long without yielding to bitterness, anger and self-pity.<\/p>\n
\u2022 We develop perseverance: The thorn doesn\u2019t overcome us, we overcome it. Though it stings it doesn\u2019t prevent us from being fruitful, faithful, joyful and content.<\/p>\n
In this fallen world thorns are a part of the curse and we will have to live with them as we walk with Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Church bulletin: We have all felt the effect of a thorn in our shoes or socks. It doesn\u2019t matter how healthy we are, how comfortable we are in the rest …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3462"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3465,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3462\/revisions\/3465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}