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Secondly, he reviewed what the Lord was to him and to those to whom he was writing.
That was as important for them as it is for you; for what you are is relative to what God is to you.
Thirdly, whenever Paul wrote to a church or to an individual, he reminded them of what they were. That too was important, for no deep underlying problem is as deadly as the unbelief a person has in his heart concerning himself.
You may not realize who you are, even when it is prophesied that you are called to be an apostle, or a prophet, or a pastor, or an elder, etc.
A number of doubts may say it is not so, or at best you accept that someday it might be so.
You will not believe God's word over you until you have that same image of your self that God has of you.
For example, from the moment a man marries, he is the spiritual head of his bride. Regardless of whether or not he takes that headship, God says he is the spiritual head.
If he has that image of himself in his mind, he will be that spiritual head. If he does not have that image, he will not.
When you have a correct image of yourself ( and of the Lord's relationship to you and of the ministries who surround you ), your faith becomes strong.
It will not be washed away by negative responses which challenge God's word concerning who you are and what you are to do.
Many young people still think of themselves in the light of what their parents have told them: "Get out of my house! You are no good! You will always be a failure!"
Parents often beat into a child what later becomes his subconscious conviction that he is no good. At any moment the will to fail may arise because he is convinced that he s a failure.
He may blank out during a school examination, even though he knows the material perfectly, because he has an inner compulsion to fail.
Let the Lord deal with the deep conditioned responses in your heart. When God gives you a word, meditate on it until the inner image you have of yourself is compatible with what He said.
Most of the motivations of your actions are based upon your imagination. You can have an image of a certain vocation, and you will fulfill it.
But if you have been given words about becoming a certain kind of servant of God, meditate upon them.
Never forget those words, for if you think upon them, you will find yourself more and more faithful and given to that image.
It is easier to respond to what you believe. Be a remembrancer of one another's ministry, so that the image is clear, not in your mind but, more important, in other person's thinking.
He must have that image, too. This is an essential part of faith.
Unbelief in Christians denies what God says about them. They would not think of opposing certain points of doctrine by calling them lies.
Yet many who have had deep dealings of the Lord which confirmed their places and callings are still overcome occasionally with deep self-condemnation, self-rejection, and withdrawal.
That happens when their secret image of themselves is tarnished. They must be rid of that and think of themselves as sons of God coming forth.
In Paul's epistle to the Roman believers, he told them who he was.
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures... Romans 1:1-2.
Paul was saying, in effect, "First of all, I am a bond-servant . I must do what God tells me to do, for I am His slave.
I am called to be an apostle, and I can be an apostle if I am His bond-slave. I am set apart for the gospel of God.
As His slave, my life is not my own. I am set apart to speak His word and to be His apostle. That is who I am."
Who are you?
Write yourself a letter in the same manner as Paul:
"I am a true believer, called to be a bond-servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, serving the Lord in the end time, set apart as a part of the remnant..."
When you finish the introduction, you will have stated your acceptance of what God says you are and what, by His grace, He makes you.
Next Paul said who the Lord is:
...concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through Whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake... Romans 1:3-5.
In other words, Paul was saying, "This is who I am, because this is what God is."
He pointed out God's grace. When you see it that way, it works. You see who you are as a result of what God is to you.
Paul continued,
...among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of god in Rome, called
That is a beautiful introduction, according to the pattern Paul followed in his epistles. He said what he was, what the Lord was, and what the church was.
I Corinthians 1:1 begins in this manner:
Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God...
Paul did not worry about the divisions in the Corinthian Church or wonder whether or not the people would accept the Word.
Some of the people were claiming to be of Peter, some of Apollos, but he did not worry whether they would listen to him or not.
He simply saw himself as what he was, and then he had no point to prove.
A man has a big point to prove when he is uncertain of himself; then he goes out of his way to establish his identity or to vindicate himself.
God's end-time disciples do not have any point to prove in their walk with God. They are not on the defensive, despite accusations about their ways of worshiping and walking.
They have the answers because they know who they are.
Many denominational churches in this hour are falling apart because they have no answers.
The people of God in this hour do not make any pretense or build themselves up as being super-religious.
They are not trying to be superior by using discipline or self improvement tactics.
All they are, by the grace of God, is God's end time remnant. His holy army.
They do not have to be anything but His mouthpiece to speak His word, and things will happen.
They can speak as Paul spoke:
Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus , saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 1:1-3
Paul identified his relationship to the Lord and the relationship of the Corinthians to the Lord as well. When such a bond is established, everything else works.
Do you know who God is?
Do you know and have you accepted who you are?
At times you may wake up in the morning feeling like nothing and thinking, " 'Nothing' is just crawling out of bed. Now 'nothing' is putting on his clothes.
Now 'nothing' is combing his hair. Here goes 'Nothing!' "
It might be an hour before you finally convince yourself that the Lord is with you and that it is going to be a good day.
From a human viewpoint, it is true that you are nothing. However you must view yourself from God's viewpoint.
He looks at you according to what He is doing and what He is producing in you. Everything changes according to the way God is relating to you.
Notice Paul's introduction in his epistle to Titus:
Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, Who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior...
Titus 1:1-3
Paul was saying that God cannot lie and that He called him and promised him salvation, long ages ago. God entrusted it to Paul and made him a trustee of the wealth in the knowledge of god's program.
What is a trustee?
Suppose one of your ancestors set aside a large inheritance which was to be administered through a trustee. This might involve money or property which would be administered through a trustee.
This might involve money or property which would be administered for your benefit.
The trustee would have a tremendous responsibility, because he might not own much personally, yet he might control and have access to large sums of money.
Think of yourself as Paul did. Consider yourself a bond-servant of the Lord and a trustee. God's provision is all in your hands if you think of it that way.
But you will feel poor if you think about what you are personally. Instead, think of what God has commissioned you to be and to do, and suddenly you become a trustee of God's estate and you cease to be poor.
Do not think of yourself as you are after the flesh ( Philippians 3:3 ) ; yet in everything we are enriched by Christ ( I Corinthians 1:5 ).
Paul told how he was entrusted with the proclamation of God's word. Paul called Titus his true child in a common faith, referring to his relationship with God ( Titus 1:4 ).
Paul knew what he was in relationship to God, and he knew what God was in relationship to Titus.
Because of that he knew the relationship he had with Titus, and therefore he said, "Titus, my true son."
God's true believers in this end time are a family because of their relationship to God and to one another.
They are a family of spiritual fathers and true children who sacrifice and glorify God because they do not relate to one another on a human basis, but only as they relate to the Lord.
They have an image of one another as the Body of Christ and as the army of the Lord because they are beginning to believe what god says about them.
Think how God can move through a people who believe completely, accepting all that He has spoken over them and trusting Him with all their hearts.
Do not belittle yourself.
Ask the Lord to help you to be a believer, deep within, and to have the image that He has of you.
He can erase past experiences that still haunt you and give you a bad image of yourself.
Do not let them plague your mind, constantly creating a false image.
Let the Holy Spirit show you what it means to be one of the sons of God, called to walk in this strategic age as instruments in the hand of the Almighty, called to be saints, called to be a mighty warring priesthood that shall bring down Babylon as they shall prophesy.
They shall not glory in human strength, but they shall glorify God for what He has made them to be in His presence.
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