When I read the epistles written by Paul, he does not boast about himself.
Nor, does he ever want his readers to think, through his own strength is the
reason for his success in ministry. I believe Paul took this approach with
ministry, so that no one would ever think of him as a self-made person. He
was called to take the Gospel to the Gentiles and always wanted them to
know it through Jesus Christ, that he is able to be successful. This view of
ministry did not begin with Paul, but he perpetuated it. It began with Jesus
because He always made it known, He was doing the will of the Father.
Jesus is our example of how to move forward in ministry, because we want
all we come in contact with to understand this one thing. The ministry we
do is not about us, nor did it begin in us, and we are able to do it through
the strength of the Lord. We have to make it a point to be transparent with
people, and let them know if it had not been for the Lord, we would not
have made it this far.

The thorn in his flesh was an attack from the enemy. It causes him to truly
rely on the Lord, in order to move forward in ministry. There were times
Paul felt overwhelmed, because of the thorn in his flesh. This moved him to
turn it over to the Lord. He prayed on three different occasions asking the
Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh. The thorn in his flesh at times would
weaken him, and he felt being in this condition would cause his ministry to
be ineffective. Paul wanted to do as much as possible to glorify the Lord in
his life, because he knew all He had done for him. After praying three times the Lord finally gave him an answer to his prayer, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” When he received this revelation from the Lord, he realized something about himself. The thorn never stopped him from providing ministry, it
caused him to rely on the power of the Lord. There were times he felt too
weak to move forward, but when he called on the Lord-something
happened! The grace of the Lord stepped in, and he felt the power of the
Lord moving him forward to do ministry. After receiving this revelation, Paul said, “for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” Lord, thank You for your grace! Continue to walk in your blessings.