“BUT HE SAID TO ME!”

 2 Corinthians 12:7-10                     (ESV)

“7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

8 Three times I pleaded with the LORD about this, that it should leave me.

9 “BUT HE SAID TO ME”, "MY grace is sufficient for you, for MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS." Therefore I (Paul) will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me.

10 For the sake of CHRIST, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  

Growing up I was always known as “country strong”.  In the weight room at school I could barely hold my own, but doing things around the farm I seemed to do a better job.  Admitting that I was WEAK during the recovery from the brain hemorrhage was something that I was not accustomed to, no comfortable with.  Praise JESUS that my recovery didn’t take long, probably because I was “country strong” from my youth on the farm.  

The Apostle Paul was given a “thorn” in his flesh to prevent him from becoming conceited, from thinking too highly of himself.  In chapter twelve of 2 Corinthians began with Paul writing about being “caught up to the third Heaven”, something that I’m sure was an event to brag about, something he wanted to tell everyone about!  There are very few people in the BIBLE that have experienced Heaven then came back to earth to live for CHRIST!  Evidently Paul was being limited by the HOLY SPIRIT because not everyone will experience the “third Heaven” phenomenon, but not everyone was willing to go through “the suffering” that Paul was exposed to either!  

1 Corinthians 7:17 says “Only let each person lead the life that the LORD has assigned to him, and to which GOD has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.”  While it is true that Scripture is given to us by GOD to direct us down the path HE leads, we should ever be seeking HIS guidance, not just winging it the best we can.  WALKING BY FAITH is a constant growing process.  The closer we get to the LIGHT, the more we are expected to reflect HIS LOVE, MERCY and GRACE.  Paul walked very closely with the LORD, and he spent a lot of time imprisoned because of his FAITH!  He wasn’t locked up for doing wrong.  His mission was to carry JESUS wherever he was led.  

How do we KNOW when THE LORD is leading us down a path that might lead us into “prison”?  Convincing me that a Brain Hemorrhage would have been part of the future for me when I went to bed on July 08,  2007 would have seemed asinine.  It was made evident that I would be unable to recover “on my own”, so GOD removed my ability to assist for seventeen days, and HE handed everything like only HE can!  “BUT HE SAID TO ME” became easier to HEAR when the clutter of “this world” was removed from my life.  My prayer is that I will take the time to LISTEN FOR INSTRUCTION from ABOVE and not be mesmerized by “this world” and its busyness!  “BUT HE SAID TO ME” is the sweetest thing a person can hear!!!