- In last week's roundof Q and A with Gordon,

we talked about the thorn in the flesh,

the Scripture that says that.

And today we are continuingthat conversation.

So yes, the Scripture where Paul says,

"I have a thorn in myflesh, a messenger--"

- A messenger sent from Satan.

"And I asked threetimes and the Lord said,

"My grace is sufficient for you."

- There you go.

- And let me add to that,the reason the messenger

of Satan was sent to him.

He said because of theabundance of revelation

and he's talking about, "Iknow a man who was caught up

"in the third heaven and was shown things

"that are not lawful for him to say."

So he's obviously talking about himself.

So it's the abundanceof revelation that led

to the messenger of Satan that led to

"my grace is sufficient for you."

- Yes, but still, many peoplewill read that Scripture

and they say, "Oh okay,well I have this going on

"and the Lord hasn't healed me from this,

"so this must be my thorn in my flesh."

Is that an accurate wayto look at this Scripture?

Is that true?

Does the Lord put thorns in our flesh?

- I think there's sometimespeople sent around us

that are sent to kind of refine us.

And, you know, I actuallydeveloped a joke.

Well, obviously you'rehere to perfect my love,

you know, that when peoplecome at you and you go,

"Okay, well all right, you'rehere to perfect my love."

And it's a good way to look at that.

So not that people aremessengers from Satan,

but I think looking atmessenger of Satan as some

kind of physical malady isnot doing the proper deference

to what Paul is sayingin the original Greek.

It really is in the original Greek.

It's a messenger sent from Satan.

So does that mean it's a physical malady?

I think not.

I think there was somekind of tormenting thought

or tormenting thought processthat he couldn't get rid of.

And so this thing is speakingto him, it's a messenger.

So it's speaking somethingnegative into his life.

You look at the firstrevelation that Paul had,

where Jesus says to him,"It's hard for you to kick

"against the goad."

The goad is a pointed stick.

So at the end of a stick there's a point.

It's used to drive cattleand the cattle will kick

at it to try to kick that goad away.

But the idea is to drive youin a particular direction.

For Jesus to say that to Paulmeans that Jesus was trying

to drive Paul to a particular conclusion.

And it was in all thepersecution that he saw

and persecution he participatedin and where he violently

dragged men and women from theirhomes and put them in jail.

And he thought he was doing God a favor.

In all of that, those peoplecontinued to love on him.

He consented to the death of Stephen.

I think a lot of that had todo with the negative thoughts

from those experiences and goingback to them and, you know,

was it a voice of condemnation?

So the same man saying, "Nowthere is no condemnation

"for those who are in Christ Jesus."

You know, every day is a new day.

Behold, all things are made new.

I was an injurious man,but I did it in ignorance

and God has redeemed me from all of that.

So what exactly is the message?

We don't know.

What exactly is the messenger from Satan?

We don't know.

It's a curious phrase,

but I wouldn't use itas some kind of excuse

of why you're not healed.

- There we go.

- So if you get into that,you're changing the theology

to fit your circumstance,which I encourage people,

please don't do that.

Please don't start saying,"Well this is God's will for me,

"that I suffer and die."

That's not God's will for you.

That's not good news.

Why would you blame Godfor any of the diseases

that are there?

Those are the result of sin, yes.

There's clear Biblical authority for that.

But there's also clearBiblical authority that you

have the right, as a child ofGod, to pray that God's will

would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In heaven, there's nobody sick.

So we see God's will.

So pray that, believethat, get rid of all doubt.

Don't make excuses for your doubt.

Declare and decree thepromises of God over your life.