How to be an apostle? (Part 1 - Apostleship)
I just finished with my mentorship through Spiritual Intelligence on how to interpret dreams. We went through an extensive 14-week challenge. We went into detail how the Word of God helps us to better understand that all dreams come from Him and how they are interpreted only by His Spirit. We discussed how to pray prior to interpreting dreams due to the biasness that we have as humans and how to shut off the brain so we aren't distracted by our own understanding so that the Lord may speak loudly and clearly to us.
Towards the end of the course, we were given a huge challenge and task to take 3-5 dreams of our own and any prophecies that were spoken over us and put them together in a dossier.
What is a dossier? Most of us know that it is something of presidential and they use it on a daily basis as their briefings mostly in the morning when they start their day. The definition of a dossier is a collection of information on the same subject that is detailed about a person or topic. Some say, it's similar to a thesis.
I couldn't wait to get into this project because it was going to tell me in great detail what God has said to me in my dreams and what I am to do for His Kingdom. So, I obediently took the time, I called upon 2-3 intercessors to pray for me during this time because it was going to a be special message from Him that Satan does not want me to know, so I'm going to battle with distractions and "oh shiny" stuff that I wouldn't usually care about. Example, a TV show. Caleb and I don't watch TV so it's interesting that suddenly it is a temptation during this dossier time.
After long hours and sometimes calling on God for an answer or clarification, I found out that He is calling me a pioneer and apostle! In April 2022 I heard the Lord say to me "You are a Pioneer." On November 29, 2022, I heard the Lord say, "You are to be an apostle." When the dossier came together, that all fell into place.
So, I took the actionable intelligence seriously and started my journey on what is an apostle. Here is part 1 of what I found.
In Philippians chapter 1 we learn about Paul, Christ's bondservant/slave in Christ. He was considering himself to be least of all the saints before God. His name in Latin means (Paulus) "a little bit" or "small amount". Let's discover where Paul described himself as such in 1 Corinthians 15:9, Ephesians 3:8, and 1 Timothy 1:15.
1 Corinthians 15:9 (NKJV)
"For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."
Two attributes we see in Paul is his humility and aware of his offenses.
The context of chapter 15 is Paul declaring to the Corinth church the gospel which he preaches to them (v1). He has seen the Lord when he became born again and because of such connection and reality, it caused him to further the truth with passion and compassion (v3,4,8). He spoke about God's grace and his humility being called.
"To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ..."
Attribute we see is acknowledging the grace of God.
The context of chapter 3 mentions Paul as a "prisoner of Christ Jesus for [the] Gentiles" (v1). Grace was given to him by Christ so that he may know the mystery (v3). And in verses 7 and 8, God not only appointed Paul a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles through grace but anointed him with power. This verified Paul's apostleship - an amazing thing, considering that Paul had so violently persecuted the church previously.
"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief of..."
Becoming faithful which is an ongoing walk with Christ, is another attribute.
Chapter 1 of Timothy describes Paul giving thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who enabled him, because He counted him faithful, putting him into the ministry as he describes his sin as a persecutor of the church, he gained mercy (v12,13). Grace is exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus (v14).
"However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering (patience)."
We find that highlighting God's mercy and forgiveness relating to our past, is not only an attribute but it is the Good News. Through Paul's life from a chief sinner to being saved and given the opportunity to be enabled by God to be a minister - should give us hope.
In closing, the beginning of becoming an apostle, we are to take on the attributes of humility, receiving the gift of grace, power, minister, becoming a prisoner/bondservant/slave of Christ, the gospel and it's power to transform lives, found faithful, love, patient and mercy.
Part 2 we will go into detail of what the Word says about these specific attributes. Until next time, Joyful Home Welcomes You!
Comments
Post a Comment