Exposing Satan's Playbook The Perry Stone

“thorn in the flesh,” that harassed him on a continual basis (2 Cor. 12:7). Paul’s sufferings were often initiated by Jewish religious leaders who resented his conversion to Christ and sought to restrain his message by using persecution, arrest, and pressure to stop him. It was impossible for Paul to be suffering from some curse of disobeying the law when he wrote that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law” (Gal. 3:13). P RACTICAL R EASONS FOR D IFFICULTY Some believers will say, “I am in this mess because of being raised in such a dysfunctional family.” I remind them that most of the great families in the Bible had slight dysfunctions or dysfunctional members in them; yet they succeeded in doing the will of God! Noah spend one hundred years building an ark, rode out a global flood for one hundred fifty days, came out of the ark, planted a vineyard, and got drunk and laid around naked in his tent (Gen. 9). Lot was righteous enough to escape the burning destruction of Sodom, but later he lay drunk in a cave and unknowingly committed incest with his two daughters (Gen. 19:30–36). Abraham was a man of great obedience and the father of the faith, yet in fear he lied about Sarah being his wife (Gen. 12:11–13). Isaac was also fearful for his wife, and to protect himself he fibbed, saying Rebekah was his sister (Gen. 26:7). As a young man Jacob was willing to deceive his father in an attempt to steal his brother’s blessing and birthright (Gen.