"Real saints embrace their 'thorn in the flesh'—Paul's suffering proves mature Christians accept sickness."
How it sounds in your head: You've heard it preached your whole life—Paul had his thorn, and God said 'My grace is sufficient.' If an apostle lived with affliction, who are you to expect healing? Maybe this IS your thorn.
"And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him."
-- Acts 28:8Religion: Misapplication of 2 Corinthians 12 that turns ONE apostle's unspecified thorn into universal theology that baptizes all sickness as God's sanctifying will.
Paul wrote most of the New Testament and lived with his thorn. Your pastor has preached this. It gives theological dignity to your suffering and makes you feel like you're in good company with a giant of faith.
Paul shipwrecked on Malta, bit by a viper (should have died, didn't), THEN healed Publius's father of fever and dysentery. After that, 'all the rest of the sick on the island came and were healed.' This was LATE in Paul's ministry, thorn intact, yet mass healings STILL flowed through him. His thorn didn't stop God's healing power.
I REFUSE the lie that Paul's thorn means I accept sickness. IT IS WRITTEN: the SAME Paul who had a thorn HEALED multitudes—'all the rest of the sick came and were healed.' His unidentified thorn doesn't override clear commands to heal the sick. I am a branch attached to the Vine—the same healing power that flowed through Paul's handkerchiefs flows through ME. IT IS WRITTEN: beloved, I pray you prosper and be in HEALTH—that's God's revealed WILL, not sickness. Grace IS sufficient—sufficient to HEAL, sufficient to RESTORE. The BARAK blessing covering me is the BETTER covenant—if Abraham's blessing protected him through famine, how much MORE does mine provide healing under grace? I don't embrace sickness as sanctification; I embrace the HEALER as my identity. IT IS WRITTEN: by His stripes I WAS healed—past tense, finished work, my covenant right NOW.
The Father isn't asking you to embrace a thorn while He withholds healing—that's religion's lie. He's running toward you like the Father in Luke 15, the same Father who worked 'unusual miracles' through Paul EVEN WITH his thorn. His grace isn't 'enough' to endure—it's ENOUGH TO HEAL. He's celebrating healing flowing through you, the same power that healed 'all the rest of the sick' on Malta, TODAY in your body.