Fact of the matter is, He can even recruit a former enemy and persecutor of His people to do a job that He has been wanting His people to do all along, but they simply won't.

By the time Paul came around, most of the Early Church Christians (and that was even before they were called Christians), were ministering almost exclusively to fellow Jews, and mostly right there in the good old Promised Land…

Some of them were contending that they would have to observe the old Jewish rituals, like the circumcision, and certainly the food regulations for Jews, and since it had been ingrained into them not to mingle with gentiles, pagans or heathen, their Lord's commandment to "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (since non-Jews sometimes didn't amount to much more than "creatures" in some of their minds), didn't come quite as easy to most of them as their Founder would have liked.

But Paul was the first to really get the point. Perhaps because he knew the Scriptures so well, he also knew the impact that the coming and death of Jesus had, and he was the first to grasp that Jesus' coming symbolized the total break with the old law and covenant, so he was the most serious about implementing what it meant, namely making God's children out of all nations and races, and no longer just reserving that right for Jews.

It's questionable whether the Christianization of the world would have even successfully taken place the way it did without Paul, and he was certainly a key figure in that process.

As the New Testament writings show, he didn't always have the full approval or trust or support from his brethren, but sometimes had to take a stance against them or their opinion based on his knowledge of the Scriptures alone. He knew what was right and did it, no matter what anyone said.

He certainly must have found comfort in the Scriptures, too, knowing only too well the story of old king Saul (his namesake) who had unjustifiably persecuted young David for nearly all his life, and yet how David remained loyal to him, even to death, and always respected him as the rightful and anointed king and authority over Israel. Paul might have been justified to just start his own "church" or "group," where he wouldn't have had to put up with people insisting on preserving old Jewish rituals, as it might be the common fad and fashion nowadays, but he remained loyal to the Jerusalem church and only laid a foundation for others to build on after he was gone, without seeking credit or honor for himself.

Paul should definitely be a reminder to all of us, that God doesn't cling to any orthodox and treadmill ways, but He's a revolutionary God Who constantly uses new methods, new ways, new styles, and a kind of people we may have never seen before. God's modus operandi could definitely be labeled "apart from the norm," so we shouldn't be too surprised and shocked when He comes up with new voices and methods that strike us as totally unorthodox and "never seen before."

God is an advocate of change, and He uses people like Paul in order to bring those changes about.

(Heavenly Input on Paul:)

… Paul

Do like Paul & glory in your weakness! (2.Co.12:9,10)

You never know which Saul, no matter how hard he has been kicking against the prick, might turn into a Paul, because of My miraculous intervention in answer to prayer.

There are those out there who are desperate & starving for what you've got to give. So, why try to stuff it down the throats of those who already know it all & are rejecting it? It's senseless! It's the same mistake Paul made in going back to Jerusalem to preach to the Jews for the hundredth time. They had heard it many times & rejected it. They were weary of the truth. And yet, because Paul wanted to be recognized by them and impress them, he lost his freedom & his life in the end.

Don't let those you wish to impress kill you spiritually.

So what if I use those who have been used by the Devil in some way before? Wasn't Saul, who later became Paul, a persecutor of My children, & thus heavily used by the Enemy? And yet, because of his great sin, there was also a great repentance, and I used him more effectively for My cause in the end than any of the other disciples... Don't be like those who try to put Me in a box or try to dictate who I'm supposed to use or not, who I am supposed to save and who not... It's just self-righteousness. Rather glorify Me for every miracle I do in the lives of others, especially in the lives of those who went astray, to bring them back to Me & My service, often to be used more mightily by Me than ever before!

Just because (some people) had been recruited by the Enemy's folks & used by them in certain instances, doesn't necessarily mean that they're unconditionally doomed to hell.

Look at Paul! He persecuted My early followers & was personally responsible for the death of some of My saints. But I forgave him & opened up his eyes. And in a way, I still do that with a lot of people, sometimes during their life-times, and sometimes when their lives are over. Paul had been duped & been used by the Enemy and his people, too, because he hadn't been given an opportunity to see the truth yet.

Strangely enough, people who have been formerly used by the Enemy, can sometimes accomplish more for Me than those who have been "in My way" faithfully over many years. Some accredit Paul with being the major factor in Christianity gaining any significance at all in history, and it's true: I've had to resort to some drastic measures & recruit him, because I saw that My own disciples were not doing it. They weren't getting the point. They still clung to the old Jewish customs & traditions & rituals, and to the Jewish people, even though I had shown them by My own sample that I also came to save the Greeks, the Romans, the Samaritans and all the Gentiles.

Only after Peter & some of the others saw Paul's success with the Gentiles, they also, reluctantly at first, started to witness & preach to the Gentiles & not only the Jews, and that's why you're here today.

Remember what infuriated Nero in (the film) "Peter & Paul" the most? That some were saying that Paul was the most important man in the World. Not the great ruler of the Roman Empire, but a little Jewish preacher from the edge of the World...

It's still the same: not the big rock stars or movie stars or pompous politicians are really the important people, but My little pivots, on which the axis & the wheels of history are really turning. There were many great & pompous men in Nero's day, but who remembers them? But the Peters & Pauls are now recognized as the real stars, & thus will it also be in the future. The Britney Spears' & Michael Jacksons & George Bushs are going to be obscure & unheard of then, but everyone will know about My Family.

So often, folks get impatient & their urge to get something done in the flesh so they can pat themselves on their backs drives them into a spur of feverish activity in which they sometimes get so involved that they don't even notice My voice anymore, or that the Spirit and anointing has departed from them & descended on someone else... maybe someone they didn't really like or trust, maybe even a former enemy, like Paul...

Paul and My other apostles were not always swimming in wealth, although there were times of bounty through the forsake-alls of new disciples, and everyone had all they needed because of having all things common (Acts 2:44, 45). Why do you think Paul was the lonely pioneer to go out & preach the gospel to the heathen while the rest of the church was enjoying all that fruitful fellowship in Jerusalem?

Nobody wanted to leave all that voluntarily. It took an oddball like Paul, who often felt rejected by the rest of the church, criticized, and had nothing to go on except Me and the fact that his ministry did bear fruit in the long run. Talk about a man with a vision: Paul had it, and he did what he could, although at times he hardly could see any good come out of it, and he also had his time of going back to making tents...

Paul worked for years, feeling rejected by the church in Jerusalem, and by My original disciples. But in the end, they all followed in his footsteps & continued his work.

Sure, he felt discouraged at times, too! But he just kept doing what he had to do. "Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel!"

Paul didn't have a lot of physical sample or training to rely on. (Yet) he accomplished more for Me than the other 11 who had walked with Me and had seen Me in the flesh! He relied on the Spirit!

Some conversions I even have to see to Myself, because none of My children would ever have the faith to approach certain people with the Salvation message, like Paul for instance! I had to see to his conversion Myself, basically! Nobody would have given him a chance! You've got to give more people a chance, and more than one chance, too! Don't immediately put them in your "well, I tried, but they didn't want to" drawer to leave them there permanently...

If you seek Me in everything, if you make an effort to see Me and glorify Me in everything, then everything is sanctified! That's why Paul was able to eat with the former pagans he had won to Me! Their customs were totally different from the religious Jewish customs he had been brought up in. But because he had been a victim of extreme religious self-righteousness & narrow-mindedness, he saw the liberty, the freedom, the liberation from the law that I had brought! It took Paul to drive home that point to the church, & some still haven't got it!

Paul saw that the church was to become something bigger than just a bunch of Jews having found the Savior & received the Holy Spirit.

Those who don't realize that the royal heritage I'm speaking about is a spiritual one are actually lagging far behind those pioneers like Paul, who did what My church was supposed to be doing, way before the rest of them got the point. What determines how much of an old bottle you are is how much you cling to the flesh. How much do you allow any sort of physical advantage to minister to your pride? The more you realize that "the flesh profiteth nothing" (Jn.6:63) and that the Spirit is all that matters, the more of a new bottle you can become. But first you've got to allow Me to shatter your old bottle attitudes, mindsets & carnal dogmas you cling to, that which you "know" & think you're so sure of.

If you feel like you're not "officially sanctioned," don't worry about it. Remember folks like Paul, who weren't either, for the longest time... He should be a source of hope, courage and inspiration to you.

Rejoice and glory in your afflictions, trials and adversities, as Paul and Peter taught. They had gotten the clue. They saw - over years and decades of experience - how My machinery works, and how evil is always merely used in the life of My saints to turn into something good.

Paul became such an outstanding fighter for Me (because) he had been fighting on the other side before, and knew the Devil's tactics inside out. He knew what the pitfalls were he had to look out for, and there was no more compromise for him.

Paul saw the greater Law beyond, which the short-sighted, who only look into the temporal realm can't see: My greater law of grace.

Paul openly rebuked Peter for his hypocrisy when he first "played along" and ate with the converted gentiles and then refrained and distanced himself again when the other brethren from Jerusalem arrived.

But Paul didn't hold that against him forever, nor stayed bitter about the older brethren's attitude, but he adhered to My principle of forgiveness and lived a sample of it in cooperating with the brethren to his best abilities. It's certainly not so that he established his own cult, but an essential part of My church, and a flock that he did not intend to keep for himself.

Even though there may have been substantial differences between his views and the Jerusalem church's, (along with the initial understandable reservations they held against him for having been their persecutor, formerly), he never allowed those to interfere with his vision to establish My church, and not some group of his own. He was loyal nevertheless. He was a man of unity.

His modus operandi may have been a different one, and in some ways may have looked "independent," but by the end result you can tell that it wasn't an effort of his own to rake in honor and glory for himself, but he really, sincerely just wanted to do My work according to the best of his abilities; he just did what he knew he had to do, not for himself, but for My sake, and when he was gone, the brethren kept building on the foundation he had left them.

Just as back in Paul's day, there are those who want to preserve the status quo, thinking that all things will continue as they were. Only those who are really in tune with Me know that that's not the way it's going to be in the long run, and they must help prepare others and help them to adapt to the winds of change.

The conservative forces resist those voices of change just as much as they would resist the winds of change, except that they're powerless against the winds. They think if they can silence the heralds of change, they might keep the change from happening, but that's not how it works, because the more they try to silence My voices, the harder I will have the winds blow to prove them right.

Knowing how people in leadership positions can be, you can figure that some of the old, established leaders, were also becoming a little jealous of Paul, and rather than giving his new ways leeway and the official okay, initially they clung to their old ways, until I took those conservative forces out of the way.

It wasn't always easy for Paul to deal with that, but his loyalty was very much comparable to that of David in respect to Saul, and just like Paul's sample is a comfort to you, so was David's example to him. Paul's loyalty to the Early Church resembled David's loyalty to Saul, and it became clear that Paul wasn't seeking his own glory or his own good in what he was doing, but that he was seeking the greater good of the Kingdom, just as David, centuries earlier, would have given his own life for Saul and the good of the kingdom, rather than seeking his own advantage.

Paul didn't want to be like Saul anymore, and so he focused on David instead, and was going to learn from the righteous, becoming the persecuted, instead of the persecutor.