Today we’re going way back to the best days … the days of the 80’s. The days of big hair, and neon leg warmers. And no doubt, the days of the best music ever. I’ll start the song, and I know you can sing it.



* The big hair band Poison.



Every rose has its thorn.Just like every night has it’s dawn.Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.Every rose has its thorn.Yeah it does.



But why? Why does every rose have its thorn? Have you ever thought about that? Why did God create beautiful, delicious smelling roses to have pesky thorns?



Thorns are there to protect the rose! This is the rose’s God-given protection from being eaten by all the predators attracted to its sweet fragrance. Because it is so sweet and so beautiful, it must be protected from danger, thus the thorns.



So yes indeed, every rose really does have its thorn. And these thorns are a good thing.



What is your thorn? What purpose does it serve?



Paul was God’s chosen messenger who wrote the majority of the New Testament Bible. He was anointed and gifted. He was created for a divine purpose and set apart to walk in his purpose as God had designed. Yet, all the while, Paul had a problem. A problem that just wouldn’t go away.



Do you know what this problem was called? A thorn.



2 Corinthians 12:7-9, “I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”



Paul struggled with a problem. We don’t know exactly what this problem was, perhaps a physical ailment, a mental challenge, or an internal battle, but whatever it was we know it tormented him. It was his torn. Nearly every translation of the bible refers to Paul’s problem as a thorn. Que the music, Poison, “every rose has its thorn …”



Why? Why does every rose have its thorn? Not to punish it, to protect it!



Paul’s thorn wasn’t a punishment, it was his protection! Verse 7 “So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”



The danger to Paul was in becoming proud. He has great revelations from God. What he heard and what he had to share was magnificent. Countless people gathered to listen to him. He was a mega influencer!



And that was dangerous. Pauls gifting and calling made him vulnerable to becoming conceited and self-empowered. God, in all of his wisdom, knew Paul was capable of great and mighty things, but he also knew the dangers of him becoming all puffed up in his own greatness. God knew Paul being conceited would hurt the purpose for which he was created. So, to protect him and all the goodness he had within, he was given a problem that continually humbled him.And although Paul genuinely wanted to be made well, and asked God 3 times, God said no. Not as a punishment, but as a protection. This torn protected Paul from the greater danger of being conceited. So, he was humbled.



Could the problem you’re dealing with right now be for the same purposes? Purposes of protection? This isn’t a punishment, this is to protect the potential God has placed within you.



What you have is precious. What you can do is powerful. But understand it is constantly under attack.



Why wouldn’t God just let you be wildly successful and m...