1 Timothy 1: A Shout Out To The Apostles and Prophets Of This Age

Don't be surprised if there is a great shaking in the Church in the months to follow. I cannot imagine the Lord leaving us in the state we are in. I love the Bride and will defend her to my dying breath but we must also judge ourselves in this matter: we are getting it wrong. There is nothing we can do to correct our situation except humble ourselves and allow the Spirit to bring in correct.

What is wrong?

Consider apostle Paul's words to Timothy, the revelation he had received about his place in the Kingdom:

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This saying is true, and it can be trusted. I was the worst sinner of all! But since I was worse than anyone else, God had mercy on me and let me be an example of the endless patience of Christ Jesus. He did this so that others would put their faith in Christ and have eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15-16)

Paul understood that he was a trophy of grace. Jesus was not interested in using Paul's intellect or great talents; he desired to use Paul as an example. Paul knew he was the worst of the worse. He had attacked the Church, the Bride. In doing so he had attacked Jesus. He was the cause of a great persecution which resulted in the death and jailing of believers. But Paul had come to understand that he was called to proclaim the gospel of grace, not because of his great intellect or skills but because of who he had been and what God had done.

There are not too many places that would accept Paul today because we have lost the importance of God's grace and anointing. We still judge by the flesh. There are not a lot of people that would accept an uneducated fisherman like Peter over their churches because he has no letters behind his name. What a foolish Church we have become, rejecting the anointed in favour of the educated. Even worse, we take the anointed and educate it out of them.

I consider my apostle a "Peter". He is extremely rough around the edges, educated in the Spirit and only a few course in man. He drives me crazy at times but he is almost always spot on because of the anointing of God. One thing about this man is for sure, the anointing cannot be denied. Yet he is rejected in the "acceptable"Christian circles because they look to his past, they look to his education, they look to the rough edges, and over-look the anointing and his authority as an apostle. Crazy. Stupid. To deny the blessings of the Lord because we can't look past the flesh. And there are many more like him,being denied their rightful place because of man-made standards.

There is a great shaking that is coming, to knock down what belongs to man, and to raise up what is of God. It will be a hard thing but a good thing. Do not mourn but rejoice that the Head is bringing correction to the Body so the glory of the Father will again be revealed to all who have a heart to see it. May the apostles and prophets take their strength in the Lord and be brave enough to take their place despite the plans of the enemy. And in the authority of Jesus we come against those plans and call to the apostles and prophets to rise up in the anointing Jesus has given them.

1 Timothy : None Of Me, All Of You

What are you praising Jesus for today? Do you actually have to think about the answer? Jesus told us that the person who is forgiven much loves much. The more you realize the significance of what Jesus has done for you, the more you understand what kind of enemy you were to God, the more you realize how much you were a stench to him, then the more your love will be for him. If you don't realize what you were and what he has saved you from, your love won't be so much.

This is the point apostle Paul is making to Timothy as he continues to write. First he tells Timothy that he is thankful. It is the only proper position from which to serve Jesus, a heart overflowing with thanksgiving:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord. (v. 12)

What's the first thing he is thankful for:

He has given me the strength for my work because he knew that he could trust me. (v. 12b)

Can we serve Jesus with our own resources, our own intelligence, our own determination, our own strength? Go ahead and try if you want and then you and I will sit down in a couple of months and see where you are. I will save you the time and tell you where you will be: You will be dead spiritually. We can't do anything for God with our own resources. We can only serve him when we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Without him we can do nothing; with him we can do anything. Paul knew this and thanked Jesus for the strength he gave him to serve him. But what is this thing about trust?

Paul writes that Jesus knew he could trust him. Sounds arrogant but Paul knew who he was in Jesus and he knew what he had been saved from and he knew that the love of Jesus would always compel him to move forward, to never go back, to never go back to what he had been:

I used to say terrible and insulting things about him, and I was cruel. But he had mercy on me because I didn’t know what I was doing, and I had not yet put my faith in him. Christ Jesus our Lord was very kind to me. He has greatly blessed my life with faith and love just like his own. (v. 13-14)

There is something here that Paul had that most of us miss today. Paul had nothing to offer Jesus and he knew it. Today we ask the Lord to use our talents, our riches, our fame, our intellect, as if needs them. Jesus doesn't want any of it. Do you understand that? You have nothing to offer Jesus except your love and your obedience. Look at Paul's words again:

Christ Jesus our Lord was very kind to me. He has greatly blessed my life with faith and love just like his own.

He had greatly blessed his life with faith and love, just like Jesus'. Jesus does not want you to use your faith. You can't manage to generate the faith he desires you to have. He just wants you to die to yourself so he can fill you with everything you need, like his supernatural faith, the faith that allows the power of God to flow so you can speak to the dead to rise and the mountains to leap.

We go on a lot about loving our neighbour, loving the lost, loving the Body but if you try it with your love, which is second rate at best, you will fail and you may actually kill someone. We need his love. We need Jesus to bless our life with love, just like his. This is why Paul was as thankful because he knew that Jesus was working through him. On his own he was a hateful man, a blasphemer and murderer, but empowered by Jesus, Paul had become the great apostle to the Gentiles, a lover of God, the carrier of the revelation of the Body, and champion of Grace.

Imagine what we could become if we would allow the Spirit to change our mind on this matter. Imagine if instead of trying to serve Jesus with our pitiful resources, we actually lived in Jesus and allowed him to manifest himself through us.

Oh Lord, break me; melt me; mold me; fill me. None of me. None of my emotions. None of my ideas. None of my desires. All of you. All of your power. All of your faith. All of your love. May we be obedient to the Father's will as you were, empowered by the Spirit to serve all of our days.