From His Heart

Larry Nobles: Today on From His Heart, Pastor Jeff Schreve explains why your continuous prayer about a wound in your life is seemingly not being answered.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: You have a thorn in your flesh, so to speak. You have something in your life that you don't want to be there, that the Lord has allowed to come in, something that you've prayed about and prayed about and prayed about and the answer is my grace is sufficient for you. I'm not taking this away. See, so much of the time we we push the thorn away and we say no, I don't want this. No, I don't want this. No, I don't want this.

Larry Nobles: Have you been wounded with an unwanted difficulty in your life? Have you prayed for God to take that thing away and he seems to not respond to your prayer? If that's the case for you, then you're in good company because that's exactly what happened to the Apostle Paul, who is arguably the greatest soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, where today he concludes this seven message series called Soldiers of the Cross with part two of the last lesson called The Wounds of a Good Soldier. In the message today, he'll reveal three lessons that we can learn from the wounds endured by the Apostle Paul and Paul's uplifting attitude about them.

Listen, if you missed any of these seven powerful lessons so far this month, you can listen again online anytime at fromhishart.org. Just click the listen link there too you can download a free MP3 of this broadcast as well as the sermon outlines from Pastor Jeff. In fact, this series, The Soldiers of the Cross, as well as the booklet, The Lord's Army, are our gifts of thanks to you for your support of any amount this month. So thank you for what you can do to help us. Just go to fromhishart.org to make your gift today. But first, open your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

Here now is Pastor Jeff to explain the purpose for the wounds of a good soldier.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Paul had a specific thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan that God gave to him. We don't know if this was a physical thing. We don't know if this was a spiritual thing. It may have been both a physical thing and a spiritual thing, but it was something that was unwanted and he wanted God to take it away. What do we learn from Paul's thorn in the flesh? Three lessons. Lesson number one, thorns are part of life. Weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties, that's a part of life. So trouble comes and thorns come simply because you're human.

Jesus said in the world you have tribulation, but be of good courage, I have overcome the world. But the thorns also come to those who are walking in disobedience to God. And so thorns come into your life and difficulties and distresses come into your life, calamities come into your life because you're outside of the will of God. But those don't describe Paul. Paul's not in disobedience to God. What Paul is talking about here is being right with God in the will of God, doing what God wants you to do and you have a thorn in the flesh.

So thorns come to those who are walking in obedience to God. We get the the wrong idea sometimes, you know, if if I'm going to be right with God, I'm going to walk with God, then I'm going to see the end of all my problems. Yeah, it's the front end. You'll see the front end of all your problems because all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. You're going to have difficulty in this life. Thorns are part of life. Lesson number two, people respond to thorns in different ways. Some people get bitter.

Those things happen to them, they get bitter. Some Christians get bitter and it wrecks and ruins their lives. Some people, secondly, they give up. I mean, it's kind of on the lines of bitter, but they they just they just quit. I mean, it's just like I can't do this anymore, I quit. Some people, it's not that they get bitter, it's not that they give up, but they unhappily endure what they're going through. I mean, they're just saying, all right, I hate this, but this is the way it is and so I'm just going to grip my teeth.

I'm just going to get through it. I'm just going to gut this out for the next 20 years till I can die and go to heaven. That is not Paul's situation. Paul says in verse nine, most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses. He's receiving those because the fourth category of persons, some people see the deeper meaning. Paul saw the deeper meaning. He saw that God was at work in his thorn in the flesh. You know, when Paul said he prayed three times, Paul knew how to pray. I mean, he is crying out to God.

He says, concerning this, I entreated the Lord. I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. God, take this away from me. I don't want this, Lord. I'm serving you and this is a hindrance to me. So God, take it away. And no doubt there were three times, three seasons where he's really praying this and the Lord gives him an answer to his prayer that changed everything for Paul. Lesson number three, God has a purpose in the thorns. God has a purpose in the thorns. He had a purpose for Paul. He has a purpose for you and for me in the difficulties of life.

God is a purposeful God. Now the Apostle Paul talks about as he's defending his apostleship, he tells about a time that he went to heaven. He talks about himself in third person. He says, I don't know if I had a vision of this or if I was caught up bodily or if I came out of my body to see all this and to go to heaven. I don't know. God knows, but I know that I was in paradise. I know that I was in the third heaven. You know, you have the atmospheric heavens and with the clouds and and the birds and and all that and then you have space where is the stellar heavens and then beyond space, the third heaven, that's where God is.

And he was caught up literally harpazo, which is the same word as raptured. He was taken up into heaven and he saw those things. And that happened 14 years ago. He is writing this in 57 AD. 14 years, so it would have been 43 AD. Paul became a Christian in 37 AD. And so six years after his salvation experience, he was caught up into heaven. And he hadn't talked about it yet. Can you imagine if you were caught up into heaven? I mean, you you would be your feet just hit back in the ground. You're like, call a publisher.

I I got to write a book. We're going to talk about this. Paul didn't. Why? Why did he not? Because that's an experience that is not something that you can really verify. It's something that happened to him. It's something that's definitely true. But he says in verse six, for if I do wish to boast, I shall not be foolish, for I shall be speaking the truth, but I refrain from this so that no one may credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me. I don't want it to be based on this experience the Lord gave me.

I want it to be what people see in me and hear from me. So he didn't talk about it. He didn't talk about it. And you know what's pretty awesome about Paul? See, I think Paul is the the greatest Christian who ever lived. I really do. Some can say, well, there were some other great Sure, there are other great Christians. I think Paul is the greatest example of a of a believer in Christ. And Paul had numerous experiences with the Lord Jesus where the Lord comes to him and talks to him. I mean, on the road to Damascus, who hasn't who has a testimony like that?

What's your testimony like? Well, I was going on the road to Damascus to arrest and abuse Christians and the Lord Jesus appeared to me on the road and spoke to me. That's pretty awesome. I'd be telling that everywhere, right? Well, and Paul did tell that that a lot. He told his testimony, but he had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. In order to be an apostle, you had to see the Lord, the risen Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul did. But then he had other encounters with Jesus where Jesus would come and speak to him when he was in Corinth the first time the Lord came and said, don't be afraid, Paul.

He said, I have many people in this city. Nobody is going to harm you. When he was uh getting ready to testify uh before the Jews and and the Lord came to him, don't be afraid, Paul. I'm going to be with you. He got ready. He was on the ship in Acts chapter 27 and he's on the ship to go to Rome and it seems like the ship is going to go down. The Lord appeared to him. Said, don't be afraid, Paul. I'm with you. So he had all these experiences with the Lord. I mean, he is some kind of Christian guy and yet he is being attacked and vilified and his character is being run through the mud.

And so he has to say, okay, Corinthians, let me tell you about an experience that I had with the Lord. You think I'm chop liver? You think that I'm like the lowest of Christians? This is what God did for me. And Paul says, why did I have to have the thorn in the flesh? He says it twice in verse seven, to keep me from exalting myself. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Why? To keep me from exalting myself because of the things that I've seen, the things that I've heard, how do you not let your heart fill up with pride?

And so the Lord gave him a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. God has a purpose in the thorns. He uses thorns to keep us humble. Why is that so important? Because there are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to him. And number one on the list is pride. And anytime you allow yourself to get proud, you will get opposed by God. Secondly, he uses thorns to keep us dependent on him to show us how weak we are, to show us how needy we are. So we don't ever get the idea and it fits in with pride.

See, because pride says, God, I got this. I don't I don't need you on this one. Uh God, you've given me a great voice and so I can sing. And so uh God, that's okay. You can take this one. I'll take I'll take this one. You just sit this one out. That's dangerous. And Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing. And so you need to abide in me. And if you abide in me, my power will flow through you. And so what does the thorn do? It keeps us dependent upon God. We're humble and we're dependent.

And then thirdly, God uses thorns to pour out his grace and display his power, to pour out his grace and display his power. So Paul is praying concerning this, verse eight. I entreated the Lord. I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me and he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is enough for you, Paul. My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. And the light came on for Paul. This is a vehicle that God is using to pour in his grace to me.

Wow. He says, most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I'm well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for my sake? No, for Christ's sake. Yeah, I'm not doing this isn't because I'm just human. This isn't because I'm outside of the will of God. This is for Christ's sake. That 's why these things are coming to me. He says, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Then God's power flows through me. The grace of God, my grace is sufficient for you.

I was listening to a testimony just in the last couple of weeks and the missionary was going through such a difficult time and 2 Corinthians chapter 12 came into our heart and into our mind and the Lord uh put into our mind that verse in verse nine, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is enough for you. You're going through such a hard time, but my grace is enough for you. It's all you need. And she said this, the Lord told me, Darlene, I didn't say my grace was sufficient. I didn't say my grace will be sufficient.

I said right now with what you're dealing with, my grace is sufficient for you. And I sit on the throne of grace and you can come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Oh the thorn that we don't want that comes to us when we understand this is God's vehicle to pour out his grace in my life cuz if I get proud, he can't use me. He's opposed to me. He'll line up against me. And if I'm not dependent upon him apart from him, I can do nothing.

And so this is what the way that he pours out his grace in my life. And this is the way that he pours out his power and displays his power through me because when I'm weak, then I depend upon him and then I'm strong. You have a thorn in your flesh, so to speak. You have something in your life that you don't want to be there, that the Lord has allowed to come in, something that you've prayed about and prayed about and prayed about and the answer is my grace is sufficient for you. I 'm not taking this away.

God never took this away from Paul because if God had taken it away from Paul, Paul would have been very subject to pride. And then God couldn't use him. And then Paul wouldn't have had power in his life. And so he needed this in his life, this messenger of Satan, whatever it was, probably a combination of physical and spiritual, but it was an attack from the enemy that God was controlling and God was using for good. See, so much of the time we we push the thorn away and we say no, I don't want this.

No, I don't want this. No, I don't want this. Madame Guyon was a French mystic, a Christian, lived in the 1600s. She wrote to a friend one day who was suffering and she wrote these words to her friend, ah, if you only knew what power there is in an accepted sorrow. When you quit fighting God and when you just receive from God and say, all right, Lord, I may not understand this, but I trust you and I know that your grace is sufficient for me. Annie Johnson Flint who spent years dealing with rheumatoid arthritis, tremendous suffering, tremendous pain, she wrote the words to this hymn.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when the labors increase. To added afflictions he addeth his mercy. To multiplied trials he multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our father's full giving is only begun. His love has no limits. His grace has no measure. His power has no boundary known unto man. For out of his infinite riches in Jesus he giveth and giveth and giveth again. You can never exhaust God's grace.

As one preacher said, can you imagine a little guppy in in in the the ocean and he's swimming around saying, I you know, I don't know. I may be eating up all the the kelp here. There there might not be enough. And and he said, you know, we laugh at that cuz we think, hey, little guppy, little fish in the sea, you can't you can't eat up all that this is this more and more and more. It's an inexhaustible amount for you. And God says, that's what I have for you. My grace is sufficient for you.

It's sufficient for your every need. I was thinking about Catherine Marshall. Catherine Marshall when she was 29 years old contracted tuberculosis. The year was 1943. She was basically an invalid for three years as she dealt with that disease. She said, I had been sick for so long with this lung infection and the doctors couldn't figure out what to do. And she said, I was praying and praying and praying and praying all the faith I could muster and it resulted in nothing. She said one afternoon, a pamphlet was put in my hands. It was the story of a missionary who had been an invalid for eight years.

And she prayed constantly that God would make her well so that she might do her work. And finally after eight years, she was just worn out. And she said to the Lord, all right, I give up. If you want me to be an invalid, that's your business. I want you even more than I want health. You decide, Lord. And within two weeks, the woman was out of bed and she was completely well. And Catherine Marshall said, I read that story and it made absolutely no sense to me, but I couldn't get away from it. And she said then one morning, sometime after that, she said it was September 14th.

How could I ever forget? She said, I came to the same point as that missionary, the point of abject acceptance. She said to the Lord, I'm tired of asking. She said, I'm beaten and I'm finished. She said, God, you decide what you want from me. And she said the tears just began to flow. I felt no faith as I understood faith and I expected nothing in response from God. And the result, it was as if I touched a button that opened windows in heaven as if some dynamo of heavenly power began flowing and flowing. And within a few hours, I had experienced the presence of the living Christ in a way that wiped away all doubt and revolutionized my life.

From that moment, my recovery began. Through this incident, God was trying to teach me something important about prayer. She said, gradually I saw that a demanding spirit with self-will as its rudder blocks prayer. I understood that the reason for this is that God absolutely refuses to violate our free will unless self-will is voluntarily given up. Even God cannot move to answer prayer. She said, what did Jesus pray in the Garden of Gethsemane? Abba, Father, Daddy, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And Catherine said, listen, don't get this confused.

She calls this the prayer of relinquishment. When you relinquish your will to the Lord's, she said, don't get this confused with resignation. She said, there's a big difference between acceptance of God's will and resignation. She said, there is no resignation in the prayer of relinquishment. Resignation says, this is my situation and I resign myself and settle down to it. Resignation lies down in the dust of a godless universe and readies itself for the worst. Acceptance, on the other hand, says, true, this is my situation at the moment. I look unblinkingly at the reality of it, but I'll also open up my hands to accept willingly whatever a loving father sends.

Thus acceptance never slams the door on hope. Yet even while at hopes, our relinquishment must be the real thing and this giving up of self is the hardest thing we human beings are ever called to do. But yours be done. And in the book Beyond Ourselves, she gives the prayer of relinquishment where you relinquish your will to the Lord's, where you receive what he has given and say, all right, Lord, if this is what you want me to have, I know that your grace is sufficient for me.

Larry Nobles: Are you willing to graciously accept whatever the providence of God places on you today? If you'll put these spiritual principles into practice, it'll completely change your outlook on spiritual wounds and suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ. Today you've been listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve and part two of the lesson called The Wounds of a Good Soldier. It's from Pastor Jeff Schreve's seven lesson series Soldiers of the Cross. Christians are called to be good soldiers in the Lord's Army, as we've learned today and throughout this month. It means that we need to endure the wounds so that we can deepen our testimony and our faithfulness and trust in our almighty God in Christ.

But sometimes that is easier said than done. What does it take to be an effective good soldier for Christ? In Pastor Jeff's seven lesson series Soldiers of the Cross that we've been in this month, he'll share a lot about being an influencer for the Lord, but by first putting on the full armor of God, being disciplined, courageous, mature in your offense against the devil, and continually on your knees in prayer so that you can understand the fight that we're in and finish the race that the Lord has given us. This timely series Soldiers of the Cross is our gift of thanks to you for your support this month of any amount.

And you can get the series on CDs, DVDs, USB flash drive, or digital download. And with your gift, we'll also send you the companion booklet The Lord's Army, both for your gift today to help From His Heart reach the world with these encouraging lessons for new soldiers who are in the battle and wondering how God is going to help them through it. Get prepared and get the Soldiers of the Cross series and the Lord's Army booklet today. Call 866-40 BIBLE, 866-40 BIBLE, or go online to fromhishart.org. God bless you for standing with us to share these timely encouragements each day right here on this station.

Well, thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles trusting that today's lesson was a blessing to you and that you will join us again tomorrow when Pastor Jeff begins another compelling series entitled Encountering the Real Jesus. That begins next time when we'll open God's word and share from his heart.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: From His Heart is the listener supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Schreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and he has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhishart.org.