Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, To Timothy, a true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. ~ 1 Tim 1:1-2
- In the previous post we saw how Paul described Timothy as his true son in the faith. And we were encouraged to win souls and nurture sons and daughters in the faith as well.
- We also read how Paul greeted his true son with blessings. I will encourage us to adopt this as our way of life. Speak blessings and life over your dear ones; let it be normal as greetings. Greet them with blessings!
- Finally, we shared on the first blessing: Grace! Let’s continue with the other two blessings.
2. Mercy:
- Dear friend, we need a lot of mercy because there are times the laws have to be set aside for our sake. Through the Lord’s mercies, we are not consumed!
- Things have to be overlooked; our weaknesses have to be ignored; justice must not be meted out; else we’d be doomed or consumed.
- That is mercy. There are times we need to be spared from the terrible things we actually deserve.
"For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." - James 12:13.
James 2:13b says, “mercy triumphs over or rejoices against judgment.” In other words, mercy is the only thing that can override judgment.
Receive the mercies of God, and may you be set free from the consequences of your errors, from death, from debts, from addictions, from mistakes, in Jesus’ name!
3. Peace:
Dear friends, one of the wonderful blessings you can ever have in this life is peace. Romans 14:17 says, “for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking [what one likes], but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
- Because without peace, you can’t even enjoy your meat and drink; food becomes tasteless.
- Do you know when you have a big problem, you can’t sleep? You can’t eat, and you lose appetite.
- Sometimes people lose weight and beauty just because of the problems they have.
But God blesses us with peace. The peace of God is not based on our circumstances; it is based on the presence of God. So you can be in the midst of bad circumstances but still be at peace. Jesus said:
- This means Peace is a gift. But why did Jesus say He is giving the diciples His peace?
- Because in the previous verse (v26), He had introduced to them the Holy Spirit.
- So the peace of God is based on the presence of the Holy Spirit!
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. ~ John 14:26
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. ~ John 14:27
- Do you remember that when they were travelling in the boat (Mark 4:38-41), the disciples were very worried they would die because of the horrible weather storm (the circumstance)?
- Yet Jesus was asleep on a pillow; perhaps dreaming… Same circumstances of a terrible storm, but Jesus was at peace. Why?
- Because Jesus’ peace wasn’t based on the weather but on the presence of the Holy Spirit! That’s why He could sleep in such a situation.
May the Lord bless us with His peace! Without it, we can’t enjoy our relationships and marriages; our homes and family; our successes and money, etc.
To conclude, one of the highest blessings we can ever have is grace, mercy, and peace. And this was Paul’s blessing to his spiritual son Timothy!
- We pray that God will bless each and every one reading this with these three invisible and intangible blessings! (Grace, mercy and peace!)
- In Numbers 6:24-26, God told Moses to bless Israel EVERY TIME with these blessings:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’
Whatever you may be going through, we pray for grace, mercy, and peace to you! Paul qualified the source of this grace, mercy, and peace. “Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord“
This suggest that you may have some of these by different sources. Paul says, the source of what I’m blessing you with is not a good job, nor a sugar daddy/mummy, nor good connections, nor money…
- The source is God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord! I love this so much!
- Beloved, it is very powerful when God is the source because only He gives good and perfect gifts (James 1:17).
- There are many good things in this life, but they are not perfect. If you want good and perfect gifts, then they come from above.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
- May God give you a good and perfect marriage, business, job, health, etc.! Some things can be good but not perfect.
- In that, they destroy your relationships; some destroy your faith; some jobs may be high-paying, but may pose serious health risks to you.
- Receive good and perfect gifts from above in Jesus’ name! Receive the blessings of the Lord which maketh rich and adds no sorrow! (Let that be your prayer today).
Hey, you're blessed and highly favoured and dearly loved!
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Disclaimer: this post contains portions of messages and text originally shared by Prophet Kakra Baiden (who is one of my mentors in the faith).