It's been a few days since I spoke to you, I missed you!
“I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:14
Anthony told me that when he was out walking with Hamish he suddenly noticed that Hamish was walking on 3 legs, he was holding his paw up. Hamish had a thorn in his paw he wasn’t whimpering - he wasn’t going to let anything or anyone stop him in his walk. He was continuing on.
That was an amazing picture for me, such a simple one but one that I always need reminded of.
Maybe it was so literal that I couldn’t miss the point!
Today I am not talking about sin. (Although sin will distract and interrupt our us from our walk and we need to repent of it straight away.)
“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:7-9
When you get something stuck in your ‘paw’ – a physical, situational or another type of thorn, do you carry on or do you stop and moan about it?
Let it distract you so much that you stop?
Hamish didn’t go to Anthony to get the thorn out, he knew Anthony would deal with it, Hamish wasn’t going to let a thorn stop him in his walk!
God sees the thorn in your life, he knows about it. God wants us to bring it to Him in prayer but He doesn’t want our thorn to let us get distracted from the bigger picture: we are only here for a blink of an eye compared to eternity. God has a purpose for you while you are here, a ministry. He has also called you to be a witness to those around you. Are you letting your thorn interfere with it or help you?
God may heal you – take your thorn completely away. But God wants us to get this very important point – God’s grace is sufficient for us in all areas of our lives. Through our weakness that is when God loves to shine through; to remind us that it is only through His power we can do anything.
Sometimes what we are good at, it’s harder for us and for others around to see God clearly at work in us through it. It’s when we are frail and we allow God to work through us it’s easier for us as well as others in our lives to see that it is God at work in us. People close to us know us well, our strengths and weaknesses. So when God works in our weakness – everyone around us knows it isn’t us. Then God is given the glory and our faith is strengthened.
So that thorn we have, an illness, whatever it may be, instead of focusing on trying to pluck it out as soon as possible, we should ask God how He can be glorified through this. How we can get out of the way, to let Him work through us.
God may have allowed you to become ill so you could witness to your doctor or nurse, so that person could come to know God! When we allow God to work in us and view things in that way, then the blessings we get far outweigh the annoyance of that thorn.
It may be a thorn to you but remember it can be a flower to someone else, with a thorn there is usually a flower. Someone who is in your life may be blessed through your thorn, just as how we are saved and blessed through Jesus thorns – the shedding of His blood on the cross.
So don’t focus on the thorn but on the finishing line.
“I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:14
Anthony told me that when he was out walking with Hamish he suddenly noticed that Hamish was walking on 3 legs, he was holding his paw up. Hamish had a thorn in his paw he wasn’t whimpering - he wasn’t going to let anything or anyone stop him in his walk. He was continuing on.
That was an amazing picture for me, such a simple one but one that I always need reminded of.
Maybe it was so literal that I couldn’t miss the point!
Today I am not talking about sin. (Although sin will distract and interrupt our us from our walk and we need to repent of it straight away.)
“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:7-9
When you get something stuck in your ‘paw’ – a physical, situational or another type of thorn, do you carry on or do you stop and moan about it?
Let it distract you so much that you stop?
Hamish didn’t go to Anthony to get the thorn out, he knew Anthony would deal with it, Hamish wasn’t going to let a thorn stop him in his walk!
God sees the thorn in your life, he knows about it. God wants us to bring it to Him in prayer but He doesn’t want our thorn to let us get distracted from the bigger picture: we are only here for a blink of an eye compared to eternity. God has a purpose for you while you are here, a ministry. He has also called you to be a witness to those around you. Are you letting your thorn interfere with it or help you?
God may heal you – take your thorn completely away. But God wants us to get this very important point – God’s grace is sufficient for us in all areas of our lives. Through our weakness that is when God loves to shine through; to remind us that it is only through His power we can do anything.
Sometimes what we are good at, it’s harder for us and for others around to see God clearly at work in us through it. It’s when we are frail and we allow God to work through us it’s easier for us as well as others in our lives to see that it is God at work in us. People close to us know us well, our strengths and weaknesses. So when God works in our weakness – everyone around us knows it isn’t us. Then God is given the glory and our faith is strengthened.
So that thorn we have, an illness, whatever it may be, instead of focusing on trying to pluck it out as soon as possible, we should ask God how He can be glorified through this. How we can get out of the way, to let Him work through us.
God may have allowed you to become ill so you could witness to your doctor or nurse, so that person could come to know God! When we allow God to work in us and view things in that way, then the blessings we get far outweigh the annoyance of that thorn.
It may be a thorn to you but remember it can be a flower to someone else, with a thorn there is usually a flower. Someone who is in your life may be blessed through your thorn, just as how we are saved and blessed through Jesus thorns – the shedding of His blood on the cross.
So don’t focus on the thorn but on the finishing line.
Just to let you know Anthony took the thorn out as soon as he noticed it and Hamish ran alongside as if nothing had happened.
RSS Feed