Biblical Misunderstandings
Paul's 'Thorn in the Flesh'
When I first read and heard about Paul's 'thorn in the flesh' issue decades ago I was puzzled. Preachers and authors would declare that Paul suffered from some sort of physical ailment which was debilitating, even though the text is very clear as to what the 'thorn in the flesh' was.
Then, when they would come to "my grace is sufficient for you" one was left with the impression that that was God's way of giving Paul the ability to put up with the problem.
Really? Is that what God wants us to know from this passage? Read on to also find a parallel passage from Acts which seems to match the circumstance that Paul was talking about.
Figures of Speech
The Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) contain thousands of figures of speech.
A figure of speech is:
The arrangement and use of words outside of their literal, normal or expected usage;
A literary tool used to draw attention to a truth or meaning that Holy Spirit wants to convey;
The use of imagery to emphasise a point.
We use figures of speech every day, without even thinking about it. 'It's raining cats and dogs' is probably never literally true but conveys a meaning of intense rainfall. 'It's black as pitch' or 'pitch black' (where 'pitch' is an old word meaning tar) conveys the thought that it was extremely dark (but not sticky, where stickiness is another property of pitch/tar) with nothing visible.
According to E W Bullinger (The Companion Bible, App 6) the Greeks and Romans identified hundreds of types of figures of speech, and he indentified 181 different types used in Scripture. The earliest of these probably appear in Genesis 3 where God announces a change in status for the 'creature' that tempted Adam and Eve.
We know that the creature wasn't a snake from what God said to it/him in verses 14-15. "Upon your belly you shall go" is not literally a change for a snake, since they have never had legs, nor the ability to walk or slither upright. What was established in the six days of Creation was never changed by God. Instead, this shows that the tempter was now the lowest of all creatures in a spiritual sense.
"You shall eat dust" is also not literally true of snakes but once again conveys the sense that there will be no satisfaction or value in what the tempter does from now on, consuming, in a spiritual sense again, not 'the fruit of the land', but the very basic, most basic element from which humans were created and to which their bodies return atter death.
Not many Bibles these days (since late in the twentieth century, anyway) retain the figures of speech as they are used in the early manuscripts (ancient copies, since no 'original' manuscripts as such exist). Because early editions of The Amplified Bible (© Zondervan Publishing House) published before 1987 retain many of these I still use an early copy as my go-to reference, among others.
Otherwise, recent Bible translations tend to just interpret many of the figures of speech and if their interpretation is wrong or biased there is little or no way for the average reader to be sure of what meaning or nuance of meaning might be intended by Holy Spirit in certain passages.
Figures of speech are also used prolifically in both Old and New Testaments because the ancient manuscripts were written in 'uncial' script, which means all capital letters with no spaces between words, no sentences and no punctuation.
While capital and lower case letters appear on Roman (Latin) engravings it's only in the last few hundred years that bold, underlined and italic fonts have become popular for emphasis and to draw attention to different points. Hence, the many different figures of speech are used to draw the reader's or hearer's attention to certain things that can be shown in no other way.
The Passage in Question - 2 Corinthians 12:6-9
This is from The Amplified Bible,(pre 1987) with alternative words in brackets ( ) and words preceding or following an italic and removed for clarity. I choose from the alternative words according to what seems to be the root or most basic meaning of the original Greek word used. Since I am a useful but not a proficient Greek or Hebrew scholar I usually rely on the core meanings as shown using the Interlinear Scripture Analyser 3, an online, literal tool available for download and installation on Windows computers from here, to help make my choice from the alternatives given in the AMP.
"Should I desire to boast, I will not be a witless braggart, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I abstain so that no one may form a higher estimate of me than what he sees in me or hears from me. v6
"And to keep me from being puffed up by the exceeding greatness of these revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted. v7
"Three times I called upon the Lord about this that it might depart from me. v8
"But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you; for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will all the more gladly glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me!" v9
Paul Gives the Reason Why He was Under Attack
Since this was an action initiated and forced by the enemy, Paul must have done something wrong in the first place to allow or precipitate such enemy action. He actually says so in the first part of the verse, but I think many people don't make the connection.
"And to keep me from being puffed up by the exceeding greatness of these revelations..." is the key.
The enemy can only attack us for what we do wrong.
That is precisely stated in those verses from James 1:13-14 quoted below.
That is precisely shown in the book of Job, which shows 5 mistakes in verse 5 of chapter 1 that Job had made consistently over a period. It was because of those mistakes, not the supposed desire of God to demonstrate His sovereignty to Job, that gave the enemy the power to harm him. You can read more about Job and his serious mistakes here.
This is shown precisely in Zechariah 3, where Zechariah is shown a scene from the court of Heaven. Joshua the high priest, clothed in filthy garments (a figure of speech representing sin or misdeeds) appears before God the Father, as judge, in Heaven, accused by the adversary (the satan), and with the Angel of the Lord (always regarded as the Old Testament form of Jesus) appearing on behalf of Joshua as his defender.
Jesus also describes this principle in action (that sin or misdeeds or making mistakes opens the way for the enemy to attack us) when He later encountered the man He had earlier healed at the pool of Bethesda. "Stop sinning, or something worse might happen to you," He is recorded as saying, in John 5:14
So it would appear that Paul had already started to be a little puffed up by the exceeding greatness of the revelations that had been given to him for the enemy to be able to attack him.
Tempting and Testing
Jesus' younger brother makes it very clear that God is not connected with either tempting or testing when he states firmly in James 1:13-15.
"Let no one say when he is peirazo, I am peirazo from God, for God is incapable of being peirazo by evil, and He Himself peirazo(s) no one. v13
"But every person is peirazo when he is drawn away by his own evil desire." v14
"Then the evil desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully matured brings forth death." v15
Hmm, there's quite a lot in that, isn't there?
For the sake of definition, tempting/temptation (Greek verb peirazo, Greek noun peirasmos) can be described as the manipulation of our thoughts in such a way that the temptation, the suggestion or inclination to do something wrong, seems like a logical or reasonable thought or idea coming from our own intellect or wisdom. However, it is actually being applied from an external source Paul called "the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly realm" in Ephesians 6:12.
On the other hand, test/testing (same Greek verb peirazo, Greek noun peirasmos), is the manipulation of negative, harmful and destructive circumstances against us in such a way that they seem to be outside of our control. Once again, these circumstances are effected by "the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly realm" as a response to what we have done wrong. Things like sickness, pain, accident, loss, destruction, injury and death are examples of 'testing' as a result of mistakes that people make. In John 10:10 Jesus described the work of the enemy as "to kill, steal and destroy," which is just a generalised summary, not a specific one.
While verse 15 in James chapter 1 seems to suggest that death is the only result of sin, that verse is just showing the ultimate result. We have encountered hundreds of people with all sorts of sickness and pain, much of it serious, chronic and long term, which "mysteriously" vanished immediately once we led them in a simple apology before God and, 'in the spirit', before the person against whom they had offended.
Remarkably, Holy Spirit moves or leads us to ask one or two questions about mistakes they have made in the past, and once we deal with those mistakes the problem is lifted, mostly within a few seconds if not immediately! You can read more about this in the section Dealing with Problems, here, which includes many detailed descriptions of how these 'healings' took place in the power of God.
For a fuller explanation on the four seemingly interchangeable words, Tempt, Test, Try and Prove, click here. (Started but not completed - September 2024.)
"There Was Given to Me"
The first thing to know is that whatever was included with the "there was given to me" in verse 7 did not come from God, but from the adversary, often called Satan but also known as the devil, as the next phrase shows.
The next phrase in verse 7, "a messenger from Satan," shows that the origin of this problem was not God.
The fact that God 'allowed' this testing does not show intentionality on God's part, but rather demonstrates that God gives every human free choice. We get to make our own decisions, just like Adam and Eve, just like Abraham, Samson, and King David, and many other people whose mistakes are faithfully recorded in Scripture. When we make mistakes the enemy are able to attack us, but only within the limits that God sets. See Job 1 and 2.
However, as Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 10:13, God is faithful and will not let us be tempted or tested (it's the same Greek word, peirazo, which can be translated as tempt or test) beyond our ability, but with the testing, which God does not provide or send, God also provides a way out.
"A Thorn in the Flesh"
That sounds like a physical affliction, doesn't it?
Well, no, not if we understand figures of speech and have read the Old Testament.
Similar imagery appears in Numbers 33:55 where God is speaking with Moses about cleansing the Promised Land of its wicked inhabitants. (In light of the current - 2024 - ongoing attacks of Israel on the citizens of Palestine it would appear that they still think this system applies. It does not.)
“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.”
That's not to be taken literally. "Barbs in your eyes" suggests that when the Israelites see those whom they wrongly allowed to remain, they will be in great distress and extremely pained, emotionally or mentally.
Once again, "thorns in your sides" is not to be taken literally but suggests that these wrongful inhabitants will be a constant source of irritation to the Israelites, whether they turn to the right hand or to the left. And in my explanation 'to the right hand or to the left' is yet another figure of speech used in Scripture to describe and emphasise 'whichever way you turn'.
What about this verse in Joshua 23:13a, where an elderly Joshua is giving instructions to the leaders of Israel who will be following on from where he left off. If they turned back from God's plan then:
“...know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes,”
None of those possible events could literally or physically happen. The strong, physical analogy is used to highlight the extreme irritation, emotional pain and distress that will follow on from not following God. While leaving some of the original inhabitants might cause great physical distress, it could not result in the Israelites being physically whipped on their sides, or having thorns stuck in their eyes.
There's a similar reference in Judges 2:3.
While only one out of 46 Bible translations on biblehub.com translates 'thorn in the flesh' as "a painful physical ailment" I don't ever remember hearing a preacher expounding on this situation as anything but a physical condition, which is a real shame. They usually use other verses in Paul's writings to suggest that he had problems with his eyes, and sometimes other things.
However, the very next phrase shows something else entirely.
"A Messenger of Satan"
The Greek word used here is 'angelos' which means 'messenger'. Most of the time that 'angelos' appears in the New Testament, it refers to a supernatural 'messenger' from God, and so it gets translated as 'angel'. There are numerous such uses in Luke 1 and 2.
On just a few occasions 'angelos' is used in reference to humans and gets translated as 'messenger'. Two examples are when John, from prison, sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He really was the Messiah - I guess he was looking for or hoping for a way out of gaol. See Luke 7:24. On another occasion Jesus sent some of His disciples ahead to make ready for Him to go to Jerusalem. See Luke 9:51. In both of these cases they are described as 'messengers', because the Greek word used is 'angeloi', a plural form of 'angelos'.
As we have seen from usage in the Old Testament, the expression in the phrase just prior to "a messenger of satan," which is "a thorn in the flesh," is a figure of speech meaning 'a great irritation' or something similar. It is a physical reference to emphasise emotional pain.
Unlike those OT references, which placed two physical references together to emphasise the extent of the pain, the phrase 'a messenger of satan' is a spiritual reference. As such, it is not describing the emotional or physical condition, but the source or origin of the situation. In other words, the 'thorn in the flesh' is irritation or harassment, strong emotional pain from a situation, the origin of which is ultimately the adversary, the devil.
The 'angelos' involved, since this is a spiritual or supernatural reference because it involves the devil, could be either a demonic spirit or a human 'messenger' doing the work of the enemy, just as we have seen in those cases involving Godly 'angeloi'.
Pulling Two Expressions Apart to Tie Them Together
The critical point to understand is that 'angelos'' always refers to an animate object, a person either physical or supernatural in substance. That means that the 'thorn in the flesh', while it describes the effect of some harassment on Paul, is not in itself "a messenger from satan." However, it could be seen as the effect of a 'message' delivered by 'a messenger of satan'.
This is the first part that gets misunderstood. People confuse and make interchangeable the message and the messenger. They are two different things, although they could both be seen as irritants.
The second part that gets misunderstood or ignored is that, in the use of figures of speech, the figure is normally not an extension of the thing that is being emphasised: it doesn't use the same expressions.
We don't say, "It's raining a lot of rain," but "It's raining cats and dogs," to paint an untrue but graphic picture of how much rain there is. We don't say, "It's as black as total darkness," even though it is, but we use another word, pitch, that is totally unrelated to darkness to describe the blackness of the night and give a graphic picture of the absence of light.
What figure of speech do we use when we have a physical affliction? "I'm sick as a dog" is very common, because, to emphasise the point, the analogy (a dog) is far away from the reality (a human). And also dogs have a very expressive, 'hang-dog' (lowered head) look when they are not well.
And so, based on how the expression was used in Paul's day and for several thousand years before that, we can be quite certain that, in spite of any physical infirmity or sickness that Paul might have suffered from, when he used the figure of speech 'a thorn in the flesh' he was not talking about any sort of physical condition. That's also the way we understand the expression today.
Instead, Paul was talking about irritation, harassment, emotional or mental anguish, worry or concern - there was a serious problem that was bothering him, and the source of that problem was spiritual - he rightly blamed the enemy.
What was it that had severely bothered Paul?
Examining a Parallel Situation in Acts 16
I will forever be grateful to Rev Peter Wade, a Bible teacher from Adelaide, in South Australia, who taught several sessions in Bible College on figures of speech. During a break he gave me several instances of almost universal misunderstanding of Scripture, and Paul's 'thorn in the flesh' was one of those. He gave the first clues, and Holy Spirit has helped fill in the rest.
This is from the English Standard Version translation, published by www.crossway.org
"16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18 And this she kept doing for many days. " Acts 16:16-18a
Let's unpack what is here.
It's not unheard of for people in ministry walking and working the streets of a town or city to encounter someone under the influence of an ungodly spirit. The spirit is often alcohol or addiction or lust, or it could be a combative or mocking or disruptive spirit.
I have encountered on several occasions men who, while under the influence of alcohol or some other addiction, could precisely and powerfully expound The Way, but that is of limited, long-term value since the spirit that is driving the speaker is actually opposed to the things of God. Those watching or hearing are not inclined to believe someone who cannot, themselves, hold it together. The work of the speaker in these cases is to bring distraction.
In this case, a spirit of divination is the enemy's corruption of God's spirit of prophecy. While what the slave girl said was absolutely true, it was coming from the wrong source and would have been an ongoing hindrance and embarrassment to Paul and his associates, day after day.
For thousands of years 'a thorn in the flesh' has referred to a source of great irritation or harassment outside of the person who is suffering.
This incident from Acts 16 matches the examples given in the Old Testament in regard to the use of the expressions/figures of speech incorporating 'thorns', whether in the sides or in the eyes.
This incident also matches the older examples in that the expression involving 'thorns' represents a source of great irritation or harassment, as the young woman was to Paul and his companions.
Comparing 2 Corinthians 12 with Acts 16 - "there was given to me" versus "we were met by a slave girl"
Let's compare the elements of the verses in 2 Corinthians 12 with those in Acts 16.
"...there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of the adversary...(Young's Literal Translation) "...to harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted..." (Amplified Bible) 2 Corinthians 12:7b
"...we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination..." YLT "...and she kept following Paul and us, shouting loudly..." AMP Acts 16:16a,17a
(I am using more than one translation because each one gives a slightly different sense to each part of the sentence. By going to biblehub.com I could probably find a translation that uses the exact words that I want to convey the truth that I see.)
We would say in today's plain English, "Something happened to me that was very irritating." Even that is a little circumlocutionary ('beating around the bush') because it is in the passive voice. To put it in the active voice we would say, "She kept calling out loudly about us, which annoyed us no end."
Then Paul went on to say (in today's English again), "... and that annoying thing was actually a person who was under the influence of a demonic spirit..." That's how the Greek word 'angelos' is always used, approximately 180 times in the New Testament depending on who is counting - to represent a person, either physical or spiritual, who has a message. When applied to a human (just a handful of times) they are called a messenger. When applied to a spirit (over 170 times) they are called an angel. It is never used to describe an inanimate 'thing' like a sickness or disability. Because she was being manipulated by the enemy she became a 'messenger of the adversary."
The fact that the girl kept shouting while Paul was trying to minister would have been a great harassment, a 'thorn in his side'. The fact that she was speaking the truth was not important, because she was out of order, not functioning under the authority of Holy Spirit.
It wasn't 'the thorn in the flesh' that was the message or the messenger of satan, but the message delivered by the messenger that was 'the thorn in the flesh'.
Paul uses oxymoron at times - "...I will boast of my weakness..." (2 Corinthians 11:30a) while talking about himself, and so the expression "to keep me from being excessively exalted" (AMP) is just his way of saying, in today's English, "This wasn't a good look for me," or "This didn't make me look good in the eyes of the people."
Comparing 2 Corinthians 12 with Acts 16 - "Three times I called upon the Lord" versus "Then Paul, being worn out"
2 Corinthians 12: 8 is brief and to the point.
"Three times I called upon the Lord that it might depart from me" v8
Paul prayed about the problem. He asked God to fix it.
There's no evidence that Jesus ever prayed for anyone who needed ministry, nor for anyone during ministry. Instead, He demonstrated and taught that we have authority over every sort of infirmity, pain, disabilty, disease and situation, even, in fact, over every work and messenger of the enemy. He taught His disciples (and us) to speak to problems ("Say to this mountain" was how He put it) and said that the problem would be dealt with according to what we said. (You can read much more about Say to This Mountain here.)
Authority is the ability to speak to a situation and have our words be obeyed. At His resurrection, Jesus even extended the scope of our authority. (You can read more about authority and how it is meant to work for us, here.) Authority has been with us since Creation, but few people ever plumb its heights.
Paul had previously demonstrated the same healing techniques and authority that Jesus used, when he encountered a lame man who had never walked at Lystra (Acts 14:8-10). He simply shouted at him, "Stand on your feet," and the man leapt up and walked.
However, on this occasion (2 Corinthians 12) Paul chose to use prayer instead of authority.
We enjoy demonstrating the difference between prayer and authority at conferences. An assistant will stand on my interpreter's feet. My interpreter will look to me, as the team leader, and say, "Trevor, ask the assistant to get off my feet!" My response will be, "You already have everything you need to deal with that problem."
Then we start over again. This time, my interpreter simply looks at the person standing on his feet and says, "Get off my feet." It really is that simple.
Many people ask God to do what we have already been given authority to do ourselves.
Acts 16:18 shows clearly what was happening to the team leader.
"And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned..." English Standard Version. (esv.org). Other translations use words like 'exasperated' (ISA 3 - literal rendering), and 'worn out' (AMP).
Here is the messenger of the adversary harassing Paul and his team. She was a real irritation, a figurative 'thorn in his side'. I have no doubt that Paul asked God to do something about it. He had, in his mind, a good reason or two to do so.
It's natural for many people to ask God in prayer to help get them out of a jam;
He could easily guess what would happen if he acted publicly against the girl's handlers to set her free.
That built up his level of frustration. We should never minister out of frustration, irritation or annoyance.
There's one more thing that would have contributed to Paul's frustration and disinclination to use the best method to deal with the problem quickly. It's possible that he did not even see the correct method at first because there was another issue lurking beneath the surface.
At the end of the previous chapter we read:
"And there followed a sharp disagreement between them (Paul and Barnabas) so that they separated from each other." Acts 15:39
They had been joined together in ministry as an act of God (Acts 13:2) but now, through an act of anger and arrogance Paul was separating from his team-mate over a very minor issue. Ironically the centrepoint of that issue, the near relative of Barnabas, John Mark, was evidently allowed to rejoin Paul's team later on (see Colossians 4:10), but there is no evidence that Paul and Barnabas ever reconciled. That, then, became a 'thorn' that the enemy could use against Paul.
Comparing 2 Corinthians 12 with Acts 16 - "My grace is enough" versus "I charge you...to come out of her."
Grace is one of those words that has been distorted, misunderstood and misused in recent years.
What is worse is that, for many people, grace is the ability from God to put up with something that we can't seem to change. Not through prayer, anyway.
But is it?
Our word 'grace' comes from the Greek word 'charis' from which we get the English word 'charity'. It means a free gift from God that we don't deserve, that we haven't earned in any way, but which we have received. There are two, key grace verses:
"For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
"For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." (ESV) John 1:16
Then there is Ephesians 1:3 which, while it doesn't actually mention grace by name, still shows the same principle in God's kingdom: that we have received from God already.
"Blessing be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm." (AMP)
2 Peter 1:3a sums it up nicely:
"His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness." (ESV)
It has been done, it's ours, but a lot of people don't read their bank statements and so never realise the full measure of what has been already placed in their accounts.
Paul asked God three times to remove the thing that was bothering, no, harassing him. Prayer isn't always the solution, as God showed in the reply:
"My grace (what I have already given you - authority to handle this situation for yourself) is enough (Paul, you don't need any more from Me)." 2 Corinthians 12:9
So Paul went to work in Acts 16:18 to disempower the ungodly human messenger/angelos satana that had been bothering him for many days. He used his direct authority on the evil spirit that was behind the young woman's actions. "I command you to come out of her...And it came out that very hour." (ESV) Acts 16:18.
That was a fine example of the power of God at work, exercised by way of the authority that Paul (and each one of us, too) had been given.
Paul's weakness had shown up by way of a request for God to deal with what he himself successfully dealt with in the end, using his authority in the power of God.
Note that in Acts 16 the 'angelos satana' is a double pronged expression: by usage it refers to the human (slave girl) messenger who was functioning under the power of a demonic spirit, and by implication it also refers to the demonic angel/spirit operating through her, whose master was the adversary.
There is another, peaceful and unobtrusive way that Paul could have removed the spirit of divination.
Perhaps he did not realise that authority works just as well with a whisper as it does with a shout.
Perhaps he did not realise that the slave girl and her owners did not need to hear the command to the spirit to "come out of her." Just the spirit needed to receive that instruction.
Perhaps in his annoyance and frustration he had closed his ears to Holy Spirit, just as he did some time later when he set his mind to go to Jerusalem, against Holy Spirit's advice.
What I do know is that in certain circumstances deliverance can be achieved without even uttering a word. To see more on this, go to How Authority Works Remotely in the Spirit, here.
"My power is made perfect in weakness"
Paul's weakness was exposed as his prayer request to God to deal with an unpleasant situation when he had the where-with-all to solve the problem himself. Not in his own strength, not by applying his intellect nor his years of training as a Pharisee. If we look at the situation with the slave girl in Philippi he had no personal resources to deal with the problem.
In himself, in his own experience and personal power he was weak to deal with the problem, but with the authority of God he could tackle the enemy head on. By the grace of God, through what God had already given him, he had every resource he needed. While he was weak within himself he had used the small amount of faith needed to speak to the mountain so that, as Jesus promised, God could go to work on what was, after all, just a spiritual problem.
"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
Paul is not talking about grace as a gift to help him put up with a problem. He didn't say, "...so that the peace of Christ may rest upon me." He's talking about the power of Jesus to solve problems, to change situations.
How or where do we see "the power of Christ?"
In His miracles.
When Jesus encountered the ten lepers, did He say to them, "Guys, We have something special for you - We have grace for you to put up with your leprosy. It will still be there in all your weakness, but it won't bother you any longer because you will have the power of God to be stronger?"
Grace, what God has freely given us, changes things, so the ten lepers were healed.
Or take the case of Jairus' daughter. Did Jesus say to the parents, "This is a tragic situation, so We are going to give you more grace, the power of God, so that you can bear it?" No! He spoke to the little girl while she was still dead, and His Father brought her back to life. That's the power of Christ that Paul is talking about!
Did Paul write, "I can put up with all things in Christ, because He bears me up in my weakness?" Not really.
How or where do we see "the power of Christ?"
In His resurrection.
Something remarkable happened at the resurrection of Lazarus. While he was still bound hand and foot, with burial cloths wrapped around his head, God (through the ministry of angels) lifted him up, set him on his feet and pointed him in the right direction to exit the tomb under his own power.
Something even greater happened at the death and resurrection of Jesus.
At His death there was an earthquake, and "the tombs were opened". At His resurrection "many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep in death were raised,
"And coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people." Matthew 27:52-53 (AMP) That's amazing power. But there's more.
"So that you can know ...how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power in us who believe, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead." Ephesians 1:18-20 (AMP)
Is that remarkable? The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in those of us who believe. That's not power that accepts the existing situation - that's power to change situations!
When we are stuck, as Paul was with the slave girl, that's usually going to be because we are not looking at things from God's point of view. Paul grew frustrated, annoyed, exasperated, instead of looking for or choosing a Godly solution straight away. Those negative feelings only push us further away from a good solution.
To learn more about seeing things from God's point of view see The Keys of the Kingdom here.
"For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Only if we let the power of Christ Jesus stir us up into action. It's not enough to let the power of Jesus rest upon us - it will need to stir us up, we will need to understand and use it if we really want to see change.
There is no strength in weakness itself - the story of Samson demonstrates that precisely. When he had traded one-too-many confidences with his (banned and forbidden) Philistine lover, she who was to all extents and purposes his enemy, he became (actually, he remained) weak, totally.
He could not break the ropes with which he had been bound, because the Spirit of God did not come upon him as before, on every occasion when he had performed a feat of great strength. It had nothing to do with the cutting of his hair - he had already broken his Naziritic vow right at the beginning of his ministry (see Judges 14:8-9).
But later, in his weakness when he knew he could not do it by himself, he invited the power of God to come upon him. Just as it did for him, it will do also for us. He pulled down the centre beam holding up a massive building, and when we call on God, Their power will become apparent to do equally amazing feats (although these days they should be constructive, rather than destructive).
The power of God didn't help Samson put up with his weakness, it gave him almighty strength to rise above it!
More Grace
In reality, 'grace' covers what we have already received, and what God will do continually to ensure that we take hold of every possible blessing that is set before us.
Grace is also the act of God giving us every opportunity to use the grace that has been given to us. Hence God did not remove what Paul already could remove using his freely given authority, because it was Paul's right to appropriate and use the grace he had been given.
Or to put it another way:
Every time we use the 'grace' that God has already given us to bring change to a situation, there is a reward stored up for us in Heaven.
When we ask God to bypass the 'grace' we have received to move mountains, then we potentially miss out on seeing a change in that situation, and we potentially miss out on the eternal reward that was meant to be ours.
Doing it the Jesus Way
We have found/God showed us a simple way to bring healing and release for all sorts of issues. Specific steps will be added to this page in September and October, 2024.
In the mean time read about Jesus' ministry here.
Follow up with teaching on how to apply:
And deal with things like: