A THORN IN THE FLESH – PART THREE
Prayer Failures
Saturday – February 17, 2018
2 Corinthians 12:6-10 (KJV)
6 For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Here we are back for part three of this multi-part series concerning “A Thorn in the Flesh” and subtitled “Prayer Failure”. You are likely well aware that I am in the process of laying a solid foundation upon which we can stand firm in our understanding of the passage above. It is my hope that with the leadership of the Holy Spirit (our main teacher) I have provided some clarity concerning the foundation of God’s will for mankind. I have talked about authority or dominion and how God gave ALL authority in the earth to man. For God to do anything in the earth independent of a man, either then or now would be illegal. God gives us His Blessing, empowerment, to backup our authority in a supernatural way when we come to the end of our natural abilities in our assignments. In case you have not noticed, God does not give assignments that we can accomplish without His help. From the Day of Sin and Death until the Day of Pentecost (Acts Two) only the Prophet, Priest, King, and others under special circumstances had the Anointing (Blessing). Even those who were anointed were still dead spiritually and did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Now, let’s fast forward to the One who would restore all things as prophesied on the Day of Sin and Death.
Genesis 3:14-15 (KJV)
14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
In this first prophesy concerning the coming Messiah let me help bring a little focus perhaps. In verse fifteen the word “it” should be “He” as in Jesus, and the reference to the Serpents head is talking about the reclaiming of Adam’s authority.
Isaiah 9:6-7 (KJV)
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Jesus was not a Son until He left Heaven for earth, just as Abraham obtained a son supernaturally so did Jehovah, the One we and Christ Jesus now call, Father. For a moment notice the phrase “the government shall be upon his shoulder” in the sixth verse above. Our Lord Christ Jesus is the Head of the Church and we are the body; the shoulders are in the body. The governance of the Kingdom of God and the whole earth rests with the sons of God with Jesus directing. The Church is called the ecclesia in Greek meaning the called-out ones. In ancient Greek government there were a group of people called or chosen from among the population that put into effect the will of those who ruled above them. Sound familiar? Now, let’s take a look at the restoration that Jesus brought to all men.
Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
I suspect that all of my readers are familiar with the preceding passage. This is part of Jesus’ instructions to His disciples’ moments before His ascension into Heaven. The word “power” in verse eighteen (the number of bondage, He just paid the price to bring man out of bondage) is authority, the equivalent of dominion. Jesus got mans’ authority back. Jesus as a man, a sinless man, the Lamb of God, was made sin on our behalf. He went into Hell suffering the penalty for our sin, defeating the works of the devil once and for all. There is something very important, critical to our understanding at this point which you already know from the prior two teachings. At the point that Jesus is uttering these words He is all man and all God. Just as Elohim delegated all authority to mankind in the beginning, Christ Jesus returned that authority to born again men. As God it is illegal for Him to exercise authority in the earth. As the Head of the Church He gives commands through the agency of the Holy Spirit to individuals and groups to do His will in the earth. Those individuals and groups then make a choice to obey or not.
Jesus never said to these disciples or anyone else at any time: “now boys I will be going throughout the earth doing this that and the other and when you hear of it come on over and see me move”. The understood subject in verse nineteen (number of faith) is “you”. The you then are us now. We are to go wherever the Holy Spirits leads us and we go with the restored authority of Adam. As we will see we go in the full power of the Blessing as well. From the Matthew text notice that the first obligation is to teach, the Word of God, the Kingdom of God, the good news. As you study the gospels you will notice that Jesus always taught before there were any healings. The people heard, they believed, and they were healed, if they did not believe they were not healed.
When the people being taught believe the good news they are baptized (immersed) into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is nothing in the context to suggest this is talking about water baptism. This is talking about full immersion into the ways of God, the Kingdom of God. As we come into the twentieth verse (the number of redemption) we see that we are to teach them to observe all that Jesus taught. This word “observe” is not talking about looking at it in the Bible but to do as Jesus did in the earth. The risen Christ ends with the assurance that He would be with us always but there was no indication that He was to do things for us then or now. I will end this teaching right here. Next Saturday we will plunge into the restoration of the Blessing, the supernatural power to get this job done. The will of God has not changed. To cement the will of God in our thinking, I suggest we review the first two chapters of Genesis and parts one and two of this teaching.
Until our next publication, I speak blessing into your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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