 You know, a lot of times when we pray, the Lord doesn't answer our prayers and it becomes a little bit of a challenge for us. And so I wanted to turn the corner a little bit from looking at a psalm where we can praise and give thanks to God to what to do when God doesn't answer our prayers and look at the righteous attitude and the actions that we need to have when God does not answer our prayers. And so for this session I'd like you to turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, and we are going to look at what I think will give us some help as we pray and plead with the Lord and he seems like he doesn't answer our prayers. Last year I was actually on the telephone with my daughter and we were having a conversation about why the Lord doesn't answer our prayers. And specifically the context here was she had a friend who had a young daughter who was dying of cancer and she said, Mom, she said, you know, I've prayed, I've fasted and she said, I just don't understand it. And since then the little girl passed away but we were spending quite a bit of time on the phone discussing and theorizing why there are prayers that God doesn't answer. And you know, we pray, we fast, we plead for certain things and yet the doors of heaven seem very silent. And you know, maybe there are things that they're not necessarily selfish, like in this case it seemed like, you know, praying for the healing of a child, a young girl who was dying of cancer seemed like a selfless prayer or maybe the salvation of someone that you love. I know, I prayed often that my brother would come to faith in Christ and yet as I mentioned last night, four months ago he went into a, stepped into a Christless eternity, he went to hell and he's been there for four months and yet I prayed for my brother Carl many times and tried to share the gospel with him. In fact, my last conversation with him in the hospital was, as I left, I said, I'll pray for you. And he said, don't pray for me. Pray for that doctor that he had been screaming at when I walked in the room, but you know, you pray and the doors of heaven seem silent. I would say that throughout the 31 years that I've been a Christian, I've had many of my ongoing prayers unanswered and I've had to wrestle with the same questions that you've had to answer and ask. And that is this, Lord, why are you silent? Why is this prayer not answered? And of course, as we wrestle with this, we endeavor to answer the question ourselves, right? And we say, well, self, God is sovereign. He knows best. He's the potter, we're the clay, his timing is perfect and all the biblical answers that we can come up with. But as we come to this prayer, we're going to find ourselves considering one of the saints who lived over 2000 years ago and he struggled with the same thing that you and I do and his name is Paul. And we're going to learn quite a bit about his prayer and how he reacted to the answer, no, when he asked God for something. So let's look at 2 Corinthians 12 and let's consider his prayer as well as the Lord's answer. And by the way, Lady is often the Lord's answer to Paul is the same answer he has for you and me. So it would be good for us to glean much from this session. So let's look at this in 2 Corinthians 12, verses seven through 10, Paul says in least I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations. A thorn in the flesh was given to me a message of Satan to buffet me. At least I should be exalted above measure. Considering this thing, I be pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly I will glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Now you have an outline there before you. We're going to look at God's reason for Paul's unanswered prayer, his request in this prayer, God's response. And then Paul's resolve to his unanswered prayer with right actions and right attitudes. Now, before we get into this prayer, we need to just make a few comments. Second, Corinthians, if you have ever studied it as a prayer about Paul's suffering, he's trying to defend his apostolic ministry and the false teachers are after him. In fact, my husband has said he would never teach Second Corinthians until he had suffered enough. And he tried to teach it last year in about halfway through, he went and he said, I got to, I got to get out of something, get out of this and get into something else. But it is a book about his sufferings and there's a lot of emotion. There's very little doctrine in Second Corinthians, but a lot of his emotions, his, he's very transparent. He talks about his human weaknesses. He talks about his struggles. And so it's, it's a very interesting letter. If you've ever memorized it or studied it. And so he's been transparent throughout his whole letter about his, his, his troubles and his sufferings and the false teachers that are after him. And he continues his transparency in these few verses. And as he does, he mentions God's reason for not answering his prayer. He says in verse seven, least I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, least I should be exalted above measure. Now the first word there and begs us to go back and say, what's he talking about? Well, look at the beginning of verse 12 and you'll know what he's talking about. Chapter 12 verse one, notice what he says. It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knows such a one caught up in the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I can't tell. God knows he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to speak about such a one. Well, I glory yet of myself. I will not glory, but in my infirmities for though I want a glory, I won't be a fool for I will say the truth, but now I forbear less than any man should think of me above that which he sees me to be or that that he hears of me. Evidently, Paul had been caught up to heaven 14 years ago before he wrote this and he saw things that he says I can't even speak about. I saw visions. I saw revelations and the whole thing left him speechless. Now, ladies, he did want to talk about it. He says I wanted to talk about it, but I didn't want others to think about me more than they should think about me, quite different from those who claim to have visions and revelations in our day, right? They want everybody to know about what they've seen. So to keep from being tempted to boast about this revelation, he saw as he was caught up into the third heaven, God gave him a thorn in his flesh to humble him so he wouldn't be prideful and arrogant. Ladies, if you are prideful, if you are arrogant, God has a way of humbling us and many times it's through a thorn in our flesh to keep us humble. I like the Puritan prayer that says, fit me with the rod that is perfect to my back. Many times the Lord has a way of doing that. And so he says, at least to the intent that I wouldn't be exalted, I was given a thorn. Now, the words exalted above measure are mentioned two times in this verse. So I would say the temptation for Paul to be prideful was very great and he did not want to give in to that temptation. In fact, the word exalted means to be haughty or to raise oneself over. Ladies, spiritual pride is serious, very serious. And you know, it's been the downfall of many a man and woman. In fact, I would say that it's rarely a week or a month that doesn't go by that I do not hear of another person that I know, either publicly or in my realm of friends that is fallen morally, doctrinally because of stall started with pride. You know, I think I told you several years ago about a man that, you know, I was at a conference and I heard him talking at another table with some guys and he goes, you don't know me. You haven't read my books. You don't know who I am. Well, I travel with so you'd ever heard of me and I looked over at Debbie and we talked about it later. I'm like, oh my goodness. Well, a few years ago after that, I found, you know, he was publicly probably, many of you probably know him and he not only had one adulterous relationship, but many spiritual pride is the fall of many men and women. No wonder Paul says early in this letter, he says casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Ladies, when you have those thoughts of spiritual pride or any other kind of pride, you better bring that thought captive to the obedience of Christ and you better smash it and get rid of it because if you entertain that prideful thinking, it could be your demise as well. Ladies, Paul knew no one could retain the sin of pride and be used by God. He hates pride. God hates pride. It's one of the seven things he hates. He hates it and therefore he humbles us whenever we think we're above what we should be, he humbles us and sometimes it's by prayers that go unanswered. Now think about it. What if God decided to answer every one of the prayers you've ever prayed and give you everything you wanted? You know what you would be? You'd be like those spoiled little brats that I see at the airport that scream and yell and Debbie and I've seen many of them on the plane and the airport. You know, they get, the parent gives into everything they want. Who wants to be around that kind of a child? Well, some of us, I'm afraid, are those kind of adults, spoiled rotten. Well, as mentioned, the reason for Paul's pride was the abundance of revelations that were given to him. In fact, the word abundance means of throwing beyond others, more excellent in excess. I mean, this was, ladies, this was something. I don't know what happened up there when he was caught up into the third heaven, but it must have been. He said, I can't even, I can't even talk about this, what I saw. You know, that wasn't the only time God revealed himself. Think of the Damascus Road. I mean, that's pretty, that's pretty awesome too, right? But you know, if you and I had a revelation of heaven, we might be tempted to be prideful too. If God caught us up to the third heaven, we might think we were something special. But ladies were not and neither was Paul. Paul's just, has clay feet just like you and me. He's not anything special. Now, your temptation to be prideful might not be the same as Paul's, but we all have them right. Your temptation for pride might be spiritual. You might have spiritual pride, or maybe you have pride because you're financially independent, and so you have, you know, I'm successful and I have money and I don't have to worry about anything, or maybe your pride comes from your kids, or your grandkids, or something you've done, or some accomplishment, some reward, some recognition, or something like that. But ladies, we should never think of ourselves more than we ought to think ever, ever. God has a way of humbling us, and many times it is through unanswered prayer. So in order that he would not be subject to pride, he was given a thorn in the flesh, and ladies notice what Paul says here. It was given to him. It was a gift. It was not a dirty rotten deal. That's what some of us think when we're given a thorn in our flesh, like, Lord, seriously? But you know what? He knew it was the rod that fit perfect to his back to keep him humble. You know, Paul says this in Philippians 1.29, is given to you on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but to suffer for his sake. It's a gift. It's a gift. Even James mentions in his epistle, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Light, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. In the context there, when he's talking about those gifts that just keep on giving, you know what the gifts are? Trials. Trials. You know, we don't look at that as a gift, but it's a gift. It's a gift. Well, in order that he would not be subject to pride, he was given a thorn in the flesh. Now, we need to describe what is Paul's thorn? What does this mean, actually? Well, the word thorn, let's describe the word thorn, it actually means a sharp steak that was used for torture. So ladies, we're not talking about, you know, those little, when I think of a thorn, I think of going out in my backyard, I only have, I think, two rose bushes out there, a yellow one and a red one. But I think about going out to my backyard and, you know, wanting to cut some roses to bring into the house, and there's a little thorn there that, you know, it, if I ever get it in my finger, it's kind of irritating, right? But that's not what Paul's talking about here. That's not the Greek word he uses. He's talking about a sharp steak that's used for torture or for pain. I mean, as, as irritating as that little thorn can be in my finger, think of how I had a big old steak in my finger. We would do anything to get rid of it, right? That sounds awful. In fact, the Greek tense here is that it was constant. Never went away. Never went away. No wonder he praised three times. I think I'd pray more than three times. Now maybe you're saying, Susan, well, I think God is cruel that he didn't remove this. I mean, why didn't he remove this thorn from Paul's flesh? Well, there was a reason, and the reason was that so Paul would not be puffed up. Remember, God hates pride. It's an abomination to him. And so those who are tempted to be prideful, he humbles. So you might be saying, well, Susan, what was Paul's thorn in the flesh? Well, there are a lot of theories out there. I'm going to give you a few of them, but I'll tell you which one I think it is, that fits in the context. In fact, you have to look at the whole thing. So look at it carefully. What he says, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Now, to be fair, some believe that this is an eye disease that Paul had. Remember, when God spoke to him on the Damascus road and saved him, he was blinded. What? He was blinded for three days. So this left him with an eye disease. And the reason we know that is because he talks through the Church of Galatians. He said that they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to Paul. And he says at the end of the letter, see how large a letter I've written to you with my own hands. Most of the biblical writers had someone else that wrote as they spoke. But Paul wrote Galatians himself and he talks about how large it is. The letters are large. And so he did have an eye disease of some sort. We know that to be true. And we can't deny that. But and the messenger of Satan could have been like in the situation of Job when Satan was allowed to torment Job. Some have thought that. And it is interesting, he was blinded three days on the Damascus Road and he prays here three times and he was blinded for three days. But I think that's stretching it a little bit too far and I'll tell you why in just a minute. Some other people think this was a physical problem. I mean, I've heard all kinds of things. He had gout. It was his wife who was his thorn in the flesh. I know none of us are ever a thorn in a flesh. Do our husbands ever? You know, or some other temptation. I mean, seriously, the theories out there are pretty interesting. But the other possibility and what I think is what is his thorn in the flesh when you look at the whole context of Second Corinthians and what I'm going to tell you here in just a minute is the thorn in the flesh were the false teachers that were opposing him. This stake in his flesh, these false teachers were sent to humble him and they were messengers of Satan. You might say, well, why do you say that? Well, he writes about them. You don't have to turn there, but Second Corinthians 11, he says such, talking about false teachers, such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into an angel of light and no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great deal if his ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose angel be according to their works. I mean, think about it. Think carefully. Paul had founded the church. He was been there. He'd been there about two years. He prayed for them. He made a major investment in the church at Corinth. He loved them. And yet they attack him and they don't just attack him verbally, they attack him physically. They say his speech is contemptible. You know, he's not very good to look at either. In fact, one man said, he's both boring and ugly. If you're handsome, you can get away with being boring for a little while. If you're ugly, if you're ugly, you can get away with being interesting. But if you're both boring and ugly, you have a problem. And so, you know, they said his speech is contemptible. He's not much to look at. And he's kind of boring to listen to. And they lied about him. They said he wasn't an apostle. They said he was in the ministry for money, or he was in the ministry to get favors from women. I mean, the tax on this man were unbelievable. In fact, nobody defended Paul. He was horrible. And he went away with a broken heart. No wonder he says at the end of the letter, he says, the more I love you, the less I'm loved. And you know, I have found that to be true now for a pastor's wife for almost 42 years. The more we pour into certain people in our church, the more we love them, the less we are loved. That is a true fact. And I don't know why it is, but it is true. And so this is heartbreaking. Another interesting fact, why I think it's false teachers that were attacking him, is that the Greek rendering here, the thorn that was given to him was immediately after his revelation, that being caught up into the third heaven. So that does away with an eye disease, that does away with his wife, or any other thing. Because think about it, Paul sees this vision. He wants to tell you, probably did tell some people about it. The false teachers are going, not Paul, who do you think you are? In fact, the word here, when it says that they attacked him, the buffeting here, could actually be physical. They actually might have started punching him out, beating him up. No, you didn't have a vision. Who do you think you are? You're nobody special. And so it would be the verbal abuse as well as the physical. In fact, the Greek word is the same Greek word, Buffett, that's used in Matthew when the Sanhedrin's beat Jesus up in the face. You didn't see a vision. Who do you think you are? You know, it might be good, we don't know exactly what this thorn was. Maybe the spirit of God doesn't want us to know exactly what the thorn was. But he does want us to know that whatever the gracious gift-giving thorn in Paul's life is, or even in our life, there are reasons that God doesn't remove it. The first reason, if you're taking notes, according to the text, is in order to keep us humble. There are other reasons that we'll get to in just a minute. But the first reason God doesn't remove that thorn that's in your side right now is to keep you humble. So what does Paul do about this flesh, this thorn in his flesh? Well, he does what most of us would do. He prays for it to be removed, so we turn from God's reason for not answering Paul's prayer to Paul's request in prayer in verse eight. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. Concerning this thorn in my flesh, the stake in my side, I pleaded with the Lord. Interesting word, plead. It means I implored him, I begged him, please God. Please remove it. Ladies, when we think about prayer, there's all kinds of prayers we can pray. We can plead, we can petition, we can supplicate, we can give thanksgiving. But this particular prayer is pleading with God, please, I'm being plagued with this constant irritation. Please take it away. And Paul prays three times. Now that might not seem like very much to you, three times. But to the Jew, three was some sort of sacred number. In fact, according to the Jewish law, once something was done three times, it was a done deal. In fact, when you think about it, Daniel prayed what? Three times. How many times did Jesus pray in the Garden of Gethsemane? Three times. When he prayed, oh, my father, let this cup pass for me. It says he went a little further and prayed the second time. Oh, my father, if it possible, let this cup pass for me. And then he went a little further and prayed again the third time. Oh, my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass for me. Elijah prayed what? Three times that the child would be raised from the dead. Now, I could give you lots more examples in the Scripture if people have prayed three times. I'm not saying, and please don't take the wrong principal home in your prayers. This does not mean you only pray three times about something and that's it because we have so many examples in Scripture to be persistent in prayer. We're to persist in praying like that widow to the unjust judge. She kept praying and because of her persistence, he gave it to her. But the Lord is clear. There are reasons that he's not going to answer this prayer. So what is Paul's request? If you're taking notes, it's very simple. Remove this thorn. Remove it. Now, maybe you're wondering, Susan, why wouldn't a loving Lord remove this thorn from him? You know, I've asked myself that same question in my own life when I've had things. I'm like, Lord, I just don't understand why you don't remove this thing. I don't get it. Well, we're going to see why as we consider Paul, God's response in verse 9 along with more reasons for Paul's prayer to go unanswered. He said, My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. So ladies, the Lord responds with two amazing facts when we consider our unanswered prayer. Number one, his grace is sufficient. Number two, his strength is perfect in our weakness. And by the way, the Greek tense here when God says that to him, he says it once for all. And that's it, Paul. My grace is sufficient. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. That's it. The idea is the answer still stands once and for all. And that's it. Now, what does it mean that God's grace is sufficient? Well, his grace is the provision he provides for our needs. His grace is, we looked at that in the last lesson. It's unmerited favor, merciful kindness. Ladies, we cannot earn grace. It's a gift that comes with our salvation. But you know that same grace that saved you? That same grace is sufficient for your needs when you go through a difficulty in life. And God's grace will surround you in your time of need. I remember one of our elders' wives many years ago. Her son was in a car accident. The driver of the car and his, the passenger died. And her son was on the brink of life and death for several weeks. And she said, Susan, I, I want, I'll even long to go back there. I long to go back to that time when I didn't know if my son was gonna live or die. She said, because the grace of God around me surrounded me like no other time in my life. I don't often think, you know, as a pastor's wife, when I see people say, you know, I can't imagine going through what so and so is going through. I mean, how do they do that? And I say, well, you know what, the same grace that God is giving them? He will give to you if you have to go through something like that. But, you know, just like some of us borrow trouble, some of us borrow grace that we don't need yet, you know? So don't, you know, when it comes, he will give it to you. Someone once said, the will of God will never leave you where the grace of God cannot keep you. That's so true. And my friend, this grace is sufficient, which means it's suffice. It's enough. God's grace is all you need. Now, if the grace of God can save a wretch like me, it can certainly keep me during trials, right? Certainly can. Well, secondly, the Lord says, His strength is made perfect in Paul's weakness. Now, strength here is miraculous power. Now, maybe you're wondering, how can God's strength be made perfect in Paul's weakness? Well, the word perfect here means to complete or accomplish something. What Paul, what God is saying here to Paul is this, when we let him be our strength, in our weakness, in our trial, in our thorn, he accomplishes something or completes something in us, in our frailty, even though we're weak, even though we're feeble. In fact, I've noticed in my own life and my husband, I have talked about this often, the weaker I am, the stronger God is. Many times, I've gotten up to speak. My husband's gotten up to speak. Many times, very ill. And some of those, those are some of his best sermons. In fact, I think, you need to be sick more often. But I don't say that to him. He's actually doing really well right now, so we praise God for that. But the weaker we are, sometimes the stronger he is. It's like James, when he's talking about trials. My brother in town, old Joy, when you fall into various trials, why? Knowing this, the testing of your faith, produces something. Patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that you may be what? Perfect and complete. There's that thing again. Lacking nothing. I mean, what if we never had a trial? We would be the most pathetic Christians ever. Ladies, trials are sent to complete us, to accomplish something in us. Those thorns that you have right now, that God doesn't remove, they have a purpose. You know what the purpose is? Your sanctification. God's preparing you right now for heaven. Did you know that? He's preparing you for heaven. He's sanctifying you. In fact, the same unknown author who wrote what I just quoted, the will of God will never leave you where the grace of God cannot keep you added this. The will of God will never take you where the grace of God cannot keep you where the arms of God cannot support you, where the riches of God cannot supply your needs. He will do that. Well, what is the Lord's response? If you're taking notes, His grace is sufficient. His strength is perfect in Paul's weakness. And this also is the second reason for Paul praying, his prayer not being answered, that the attributes of God's grace, strength could be made manifest in his life. And this is a third reason for God not answering Paul's prayer, so that Paul would be made complete in Christ that he would grow in sanctification. So what are you going to do, Paul? God is not going to answer your prayer to have this irritant to remove from your side. He's going to give you something else, Paul. He's going to give you grace and he's going to give you strength. But maybe you're like Paul and maybe even Paul had this thought. You don't know that the text doesn't say, but I imagine Paul had to wrestle with the same thing you and I have to wrestle with and that is, you know what? I think, Lord, I'd rather have the thorn removed than to have your grace or to have your strength. But ladies, Paul is going to do what we all need to do when God says no to our prayers. We need to be resolved to certain actions and we need to be resolved to certain attitudes. So let's consider Paul's resolve to his unanswered prayer in verses nine and ten. Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast of my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Paul says this, I will most gladly, in other words, with great pleasure, I will start boasting instead of brooding. That's what we need to do. Boast instead of brood. And isn't it interesting, lady, that Paul chooses to boast in his infirmities and not in the revelation he saw when he was caught up to the third heaven? He wants to boast in his weaknesses, not in his revelation. Ladies, our boasting should be in the Lord, not in ourselves and not in all the things that we've done. So now, with great pleasure, he glories in his infirmities, which means his feebleness of mind, his body. Now, ladies, think about it. If the thorn was physical, like some believe, or if the thorn was false teachers, either one would cause his mind or his body to be weak, right? I don't know about you, but if you've ever been in any type of physical pain, most of you know my friend Emily who's going blind and just recently, I think she's had over 100 injections in her eyes and now she's got blisters on her eyes. And I mean, that's weakening and she has headaches now because of it. I mean, if you've ever had any physical problem, it weakens you. Three weeks ago, I had an abscess and I remember it was begging the Lord because I couldn't even eat, couldn't think and I said, Lord, please take this away. It was causing tremendous pain. So if you've ever had any physical problem, it is weakening to you. But also, if you've ever been attacked in any way, if you've ever been slandered, I told you last night about the lady a few weeks ago that was angry with me at one of my conferences and took me outside. I know she's going to beat me up, but she started to get physical and put her arms on my shoulders and started shaking me and she was angry and out of control. And I have to say, right then I just, I kind of just went weak in my knees and I looked to see if anyone's outside in case she did punch me out that at least they'd pick up my body and fly it back to Oklahoma. You know, when you're attacked physically, it weakens your body, right? It kind of just makes you weak in the knees. So either one would have been true. And Paul says, I boast in my infirmities, my feebleness, my feebleness of my mind and my body. Now, why would he boast with great pleasure? Why does he choose to take this action of boasting over brooding? Notice what he says. So the power of Christ may rest on me. You know what Paul wants? More than his pain lifted. He wants to witness the supernatural power of God resting on him. In fact, the word rest means to tent upon and it has the idea of covering somebody completely. It has the idea of being under the wings of the Almighty. You know, the scriptures are replete with this one verse that is really precious. Psalm 57.1, Be merciful to me, oh God. Be merciful to me for my soul trusts in you and in the shadow of your wings I will make my refuge until these calamities pass by. Ladies, Paul is safe under the supernatural shelter protection of God. In fact, you know, Peter writes to the group of persecuted Christians in 2 Peter who many of them were being burned at the stake. Many of them were being rolled up in the skins of wild animals and set to fire. Many of them were being torn apart from limb to limb. They were being persecuted for the sake of Christ. You know what he writes to them? Beloved, don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is sent to test you as though some strange thing happened to you but rejoice. In as much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory is revealed, you also may be joy with exceeding joy. And then he goes on to say if you reproach for the name of Christ, happy are you. Why? For the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. Like the shekinah glory. It rest upon you. Ladies that's what God is saying here to Paul. My strength, it will rest upon you. My power. Now ladies think about it. When you think that God's power and grace is going to be the solution to your unanswered prayer, then it's utterly amazing, isn't it? Who needs answered prayer when we have the grace of God which is sufficient? Who needs prayers answered when we have the strength of God which is sufficient? Who needs answered prayer when the power of God is tinting over us? Who needs it? So Paul resolves to make sure his actions are godly which is boasting in his trials but he also resolves to have attitudes that are godly. Let's close with verse 10 and discover his attitudes. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake for when I'm weak then I'm strong. Therefore because of what I just said Paul says I'm resolved to God's will regarding my prayer not being answered. Therefore I'm going to take pleasure. In fact the word take pleasure means I'm going to think well of them. I'm going to be pleased when I encounter trials, thorns. And notice he has a description of these infirmities which is feebleness of mind or body reproaches which are insults injuries which I that's why again I think it's false teachers and eye disease doesn't give you insults. Needs which are necessities of life food water shelter persecutions which are hostile treatments distresses calamities all these things. So why would Paul have this attitude of taking pleasure in all these things is he crazy? Why would he take pleasure in that? Do you know Paul is more concerned about the glory of God than his own physical comfort? Are you? In fact in other places he says I'm a fool for Christ's sake. I'm a fool. Secondly he takes pleasure in these things not only for Christ's sake because he says when he's weak then he's strong. And that's what God just promised Paul right? In your weakness I'll be your strength. Paul knows this is God's power. So what were God's reasons for not answering Paul's prayer? God's reasons for Paul's prayer not being answered was to keep him humble to manifest his attributes of grace and strength in Paul's life to grow Paul and being complete in Christ. What are some of the prayers you have prayed that have gone unanswered? Have you pondered long enough to assess why? Have you grown in humility through your unanswered prayer? How have you seen God's grace and strength manifest in your unanswered prayers? Are you growing in Christ's likeness through your unanswered prayer? What was Paul's request in his prayer to have his thorn removed? When God gives you a thorn in your flesh what do you pray? Lord remove it or do you pray for grace to go through it? Do you pray for endurance? You know there's nothing wrong at all to pray for it to remove. Jesus prayed three times that the cup would pass from him that he would not have to go through that thorn of suffering on the cross. But you know both Paul and Jesus resolved to do the Father's will for them knowing that was the best. Not what I want but what do you want? Are you resolved to do the Father's will no matter what? What was Paul's response to God's response to Paul's prayer? His grace was sufficient his power would be made perfect in his weakness. How have you found the grace of God to be sufficient for your current stake in your side? How has his strength been made perfect in your weakness? What was Paul's resolve to his unanswered prayer? The action of boasting in his thorn, his trials, the action of thinking well of them. Do you boast of your trial to yourself and to others? No ladies, I don't mean brag and glory in it but do you glory in what God is doing through your unanswered prayer? Do you glory to yourself to others? Tell them what God is doing. Have you developed a mindset like Paul of thinking well of your thorns that God gives you even if it's a constant pain? Even if it's someone in your life that constantly irritates you, blasphemes you, persecutes you? So what's on your unanswered prayer list? The healing of a child like my daughter was praying for. Prayer for a lost loved one, sale of a home, a better marriage, restoration of a relationship, repentance for a wayward child. Are you glad for these things knowing that God's strength is enough in your weakness? He will make you strong. Now, just to be clear before we close even though God may be saying no, now doesn't mean we don't persist in prayer. We keep on praying. Keep on praying for those things to be removed. Keep on praying for that lost loved one to be saved. Keep on praying for your enemies. Keep on praying for that sick family member or loved one. Ladies, if we look at our unanswered prayers as gifts from God, our thorns as gifts from God, then perhaps we could also receive the grace and strength that comes from him during those trials. You know what happens when we shake our fist at him, when we murmur and rebel, when he sends those thorns into our life, then his grace doesn't seem sufficient. His power seems powerless, but you know what? It's not him who's changed. It's you who's changed, not him. He never changes. So my friend, pray about your thorns, pray three times, or even more if you want. If God answers great, if he doesn't, it could be even greater because you'll get to witness his miraculous grace and strength manifested in your life in ways that you never deemed possible. Let's pray. Oh Father, I think of that song Thank you for this thorn. Fellowship of pain. But oh Father, how those things in our life when we look back, those things that seemed insurmountable, and we look back now and we say, wow, this is what God was doing. This is how he manifested his strength. This is how I was strong, even when I was so weak. And oh Lord, help us to get our mind out of the earth leasing into the heavenlies, to set our affection on things above, to be like Hannah who was more concerned for the glory of God than her own comfort. So Lord, I bet every woman in this room, I imagine every woman in this room has a thorn. It might seem like a stake in her sight. It might just be like a rosebush thorn. But I pray, Father, that as she comes to the throne of grace to speak boldly to you in her time of need, and I pray as the writer to the Hebrew says, she'll find grace and help in her time of need, even if you don't answer, that she will find that grace that is all sufficient and that power that is all miraculous, that she will be tinted covered by your sufficient power. Thank you for Paul. Thank you for his example to us. And may we follow in his steps as we pray in Christ's name. Amen.