Paul's thorn and divine healing

My title deed

Faith is the demonstration of things not seen.
Hebrews 11, 1-40

However, it was our sufferings that he carried, it was our pains that he took on. And we, we considered him as punished, struck by God and humiliated. But he, he was wounded because of our transgressions, broken because of our faults: the punishment that gives us peace fell on him, and it is by his wounds that we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4-5

We have just read that faith is a "demonstration" of the things which are not seen. This word could also be translated as “title of ownership”.

If you have a title deed, it is proof that you are the owner of the thing in question. So, faith is the title deed to the things you don't see yet. If someone gives you title to a house you've never seen, you'd own the house before you even saw it, right? It is the same with faith.

Our title deed

Jesus accomplished everything on the Cross. It is by his stripes that we are healed. We have this title deed even if we don't see it. This is why Jesus often repeats: “He who believes has”.

Let's go back to the title deed of a house. Just because we're down or discouraged doesn't mean we lose any part of our title deed, does it? It wouldn't occur to us to question our title to our property because we haven't thought about our home enough or lived in it enough... And yet we can have this attitude with faith in divine healing. Jesus did everything on the cross for us to be healed, but we look to our own lives and our own efforts to see if we can deserve what we inherited 2,000 years ago.

I invite you to realize that we don't have to deserve, we just have to inherit. We have a title deed just waiting to be used to experience divine healing in our bodies.

Here is the lie we often hear:

"My disease is like the thorn for the apostle Paul!"

Paul's thorn and divine healing

And so that I would not be filled with pride because of these extraordinary revelations, I received a thorn in my body, an angel of Satan to strike me and prevent me from being proud. Three times I begged the Lord to take him away from me, and he said to me: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is fulfilled in weakness." Also, I will show myself much more willingly to be proud of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ rests on me. That is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in anguish for Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12, 7-10

A false truth that blocks the intervention of the Holy Spirit regarding divine healing is Paul's famous thorn. Some people believe that this thorn or thorn refers to a spirit of infirmity that made him sick. These same people therefore think that Paul prayed that God could heal him, but God refused, declaring that His grace was sufficient for him. Thus, we can hear certain speeches like:

"...In order for Christ to be glorified in me, I must keep my sickness."

"I am sick so that I learn patience."

"I have a disease... but His grace is enough for me"

"I must understand the lesson God desires to teach me before I am healed"

We finally find so-called biblical excuses for non-healing when Paul's thorn does not refer to sickness. I would like to invite you to stop believing in this false truth.

Let's see what the Word of God tells us about the thorn or thorn. Let the Word of God interpret the Word of God.

What the Bible Says About Thorns

This is what Moses said to the children of Israel before they entered the land of Canaan:

If you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land in your favor, those you leave there will be like thorns in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will be your adversaries in the country where you live.
Numbers 33, 55

Moses uses the thorn and the thorn as a symbolism to speak of people who will become adversaries to him. It does not refer to illness in any way. Let's see other biblical references:

Still concerning Canaan:

Know well that the Eternal your God will not continue to dispossess these people in your favor. Then they will become snares and snares for you, they will be whips by your side, and thorns in your eyes.
Joshua 23, 13

In David's last words:

But the rascals are all like thorns thrown away.
2 Samuel 23, 6

Ezekiel speaks of Israel's neighbors:

There will therefore no longer be, against the community of Israel, any painful thorn or wounding bramble: it will no longer have neighbors full of contempt for it...
Ezekiel 28, 24

What the thorn or thorn represents in the Bible

Thus, without exception in the Scriptures, the “thorns” or “thorns” refer to a clear symbolism: people who are against us and not a spirit of infirmity or sickness.

Paul specifically states what the nature of his “thorn” is. He says it is by the influence of an “angel of Satan.” Moreover in verse 10, he explains what this angel of Satan did through men who had contempt for him:

Wherefore I delight in weaknesses, in outrages, in calamities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12, 10

We must make a difference between the ordeal and the disease. The thorn of Paul was people influenced by an angel of Satan to insult him, to slander him, to persecute him... Paul prayed for his people who were against him and against the message of the Gospel that he announced, but God did not wish to remove his detractors. God announces to Paul that when he will feel weak in the face of the attacks of these people, He will manifest his power by signs, miracles and wonders.

Disease is there only to destroy. Even if in illness we can draw closer to God, do we need illness to draw closer to God? Of course not. Sickness will never be a thorn in our flesh. God will never tell us "My grace is sufficient for you" if we are sick, quite the contrary. Jesus does not use sickness, Jesus destroyed sickness on the cross through His death and resurrection.

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Paul's thorn and divine healing

Jeremy Pothin

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