The Holy Spirit And Gradual Healing Series

The Holy Spirit and Gradual Healing

The Holy Spirit Part 7

2 Corinthians 12:6-10

(From Steve Meenho Kang, Live by the Spirit (Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2022)

Currently we are going through the message series, “The Holy Spirit.”

During this series, we are examining the work of the Holy Spirit.

First week, we talked about the person of the Holy Spirit.

Second week, we talked about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Third week, we talked about the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Fourth week, we talked about the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Fifth week, we talked about the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Sixth week, we talked about the Holy Spirit and healing.

And today we will talk about the Holy Spirit and gradual healing.

Someone once said that “Healing is a matter of time.”

However, in our world of “instant” everything, this does not sound very encouraging.

Yet it is, more often than not, true.

As we talked about last week, we get sick from time to time.

When we get sick, we must let others know about it, get proper medical treatment, and pray to be healed in faith.

Then we must leave the result to God.

Sometimes God heals us immediate.

Other times God heals us gradually.

Some people falsely believe that it is God’s will for everyone to be healed immediately.

However, when they pray for healing but do not experience it, they get confused.

They even feel that they are abandoned by God.

Can God heal?

Yes!

Does God heal everyone all of the time?

The answer is… No!

We always want to experience immediate healing from the Holy Spirit.

However, sometime He heals us gradually or does not heal us until we go to heaven.

This is what happened to the Apostle Paul.

According to the passage that we read today, Paul had a serious illness.

He did not mention what it was.

He prayed for healing, but God decided not to heal him.

So, what did he do?

Did he get upset, resentful, or discouraged?

No!

Through him, we must learn these important lessons on gradual healing.

I. We must focus on His grace rather than our sufferings (vv. 6-9a).

During this time, there were, many false teachers in Corinth.

They were promoting themselves and not Jesus.

However, some people in the church were so impressed by their self-promotions and were swayed by them.

Therefore, Paul, even though he hated boasting, found it necessary to remind them of his own credentials.

And his resume was impressive.

In 2 Corinthians 12:1-5, he talked about his experience of being in heaven… in the presence of God.

He said this to prove his authority and point out the falsity of other self-promoting teachers.

He did not say this to give himself credit for the glory that he experienced.

He went on to let people know about his weakness.

Verses 6-7 say this.

6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

God blessed Paul in so many ways.

God even showed him heaven.

Therefore, to keep Paul from becoming prideful, God gave him a thorn in his flesh.

The word translated “thorn” means “a sharp stake used for torturing someone.”

Paul did not say what the “thorn” was.

It was a physical affliction of some kind that brought pain to Paul.

Some think that it was failing eyesight because of what he wrote in Galatians 6:11.

But we do not know for sure what it was.

What we do know is that God permitted Satan to torment Paul physically.

The word “torment” means “to beat with the fist.”

And the tense of the verb indicates that this pain was constant.

Verses 8-9a say this.

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,

What did Paul do when he got sick?

He prayed.

He prayed three times to God to remove the pain from him.

And what did God say?

“My grace is sufficient for you!”

In His grace, God gave the illness to Paul because it was good for him.

To keep him humble, God gave him a physical illness.

That was a sign of God’s grace to Paul.

What is grace?

Grace is God’s provision for our every need when we need it.

He does not give us what we deserve.