faithful servant

wow! i'm absolutely blown away by paul's faith. mind you, paul's name prior to knowing Christ was saul, the one who persecutes Christians before. because God has an amazing purpose, He showed mercy to saul and gave him a chance. God revealed Himself to saul through the blinding of His eyes and His voice coming out of the brightness of the sky. God then called him paul.

i finally finished 1st & 2nd timothy. the purpose of the book was to warn us about false teacher and instruct us on how to live faithfully for the Lord. it talks about God's grace and mercy to paul to fulfill God's eternal purpose through paul. i find this book very encouraging, for God really can use any ordinary person to bring about His amazing plans for each one of us. paul also encourages us to devote our time in studying the word of God, to preach and to teach others. it is important to keep watch of our lives aligning with our doctrine so that as we persevere we can save ourselves and others.

part of this book talks about how we must pray for one another, not to love money, but to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. paul faithfully trusted Christ's promises. he suffered persecution, but persevered in following God's direction. he did this not to praise himself, but for God's own purpose and grace. paul was in prisoned for preaching the word of God and even with that he was not ashamed, but yet stood firmly for what he believed. he knew that the Lord is with him and that God will save him from every evil attack and in due time God will bring Him home safely to His heavenly kingdom.

what an amazing faithfulness paul had for Christ. and the best part, God was there for Him throughout the whole journey. through paul's suffering, God knew what good can come out of it. See with us, we're no difference... God sees our potential. He gave each one of us unique gifts, talents that we sometimes neglect to see...

friends, if you think your life turned out not the way you had hoped for, i want you to know that there is beauty to it -- not what you had planned or expected, but beauty with peace and the knowledge that you, too, have weathered storms.

for me, as i look back, i do not doubt that God was there with me, through it all. i am grateful for God's care and guidance, then and now. i know that God is always with me, and i am looking forward to God's presence and guidance in changes that will come in the future.

you can rest assure that this is one of His promises to us: I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. -Isaiah 41:13
and so just as God was with paul in bad times and in good, we can walk into the future expecting God to be there as well.

be blessed!