Hello again and welcome to the program. Today we're going to be looking in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 to 10. Have your Bible ready. We're going to talk about understanding life's difficult circumstances. In Revelation chapter 21 and verse 4, it says, God shall wipe away all tears. There'll be no more death, no more sorrow, nor crying. There'll be no more pain. That'll be a great time. But in the meantime, we face all of those things. We need to have an understanding of why this is. It all started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve decided to refuse God's way and do what they wanted to do. And we're going to have all these problems again. until we get to Revelation chapter 21, then they're all gone. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 7, we start there, it says, and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelation, there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, Paul said, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution, in strength, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong." Paul went through a lot of problems in his life, but he understood they served as a reminder of his need for God. God said, My grace is sufficient for thee. He said, My strength is made perfect in weakness. So Paul said, I would rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. The word strength here and the word power are actually the same word in the Greek. My strength is made perfect in weakness. I will rather glory in my infirmities that the strength of Christ may rest upon me." Now to understand what Paul is talking about here, in verse 7 he has the phrase exalted above measure twice in this little verse. He said, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that was given to me, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffen me, lest I should be exalted above measure." Now, to understand the context of what Paul is talking about, we need to look at the first six verses in this chapter. He said in verse 1, he had seen revelations of the Lord. He is talking to the Corinthians, and he said 14 years ago, he was caught up into heaven. In verse 4, he said that he was caught up into paradise. That's where God is. In verse number 2, he said he was caught up into the third heaven, and that's very important. The first heaven refers to the sky, including the atmosphere around us. The second heaven has to do with outer space. And the third heaven is the spiritual realm where God dwells. And so again in verse 7, twice he says, lest I should be exalted above measure, he was given this thorn in the flesh. So this information is here for us today. It's not just a story of what happened to Paul the Apostle 2,000 years ago. In 1 Corinthians 10 11 it says, Now all these things happen unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Paul did not say my strength is made perfect in weakness. What we have here is what God said. He said my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. When I face all the situations of life that I don't like, Can I handle them in my own strength, or will I take advantage of the fact that God says my strength can help you? That's why Paul said, when I am weak, then I am strong. When we go through the situations of life that we don't like, we can rely on our own or we can rely on God's strength. So how can this strength be mine? Isaiah 40, 31 says, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not think.