Note 1 at 1 Tim. 1:12: Usually, thanksgiving in Paul's letters is directed to God the Father (2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Eph.1:3; 3:14; 5:20; Phil. 4:20; Col. 1:3,12; 3:17). Here, Paul is expressing his thankfulness to Jesus. This may be because of Paul's statement in Eph. 4:8-12 that Jesus is the one who gave the gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher to the church. Christ enabled (empowered) Paul and appointed him to his service.

Note 2 at 1 Tim. 1:12: Paul wasn't strong in himself, it was Christ Jesus that enabled him. Paul made this very clear in Galatians 2:20 and in many other passages (See note 14 at Gal. 2:20, p. 1063).

Note 3 at 1 Tim. 1:12: The little word "for" in this verse is used to denote "because of, as a result of, since" (see note 2 at Acts 2:38, p. 582). Paul is saying that the thing that enabled him to be a faithful minister is the faith that God put in him when He called him and placed him into the ministry.

The Lord "counted" Paul faithful. The word "counted", as used here, means "to believe or consider to be" (NAHD). The Lord believed and considered Paul to be faithful when He called Saul, not when Saul, later the Apostle Paul, had proven his faithfulness. In other words, the Lord believed in Paul before Paul believed in himself. That encouraged Paul to believe. If the Lord had faith in him, then he could have faith in the Lord's faith in him.

Those who the Lord calls are recipients of God placing faith in them, just like He did in Paul. He wouldn't have called you if He didn't believe you could get the job done. Of course, it's not us, but God's power working through us. The Lord believed that we would yield to that power and that He could work through us, otherwise, He wouldn't have called us.

Therefore, God's call conveys faith in those He is calling. If we will meditate on God's faith in us, it will inspire us to also believe that God's purposes and plans for us will come to pass.

Note 4 at 1 Tim. 1:12: It was the Lord who put Paul into the ministry. Paul didn't kick the doors open himself. Paul did minister immediately after his conversion, but his testimony wasn't well received (Acts 9:20-21). The Christians doubted that he was sincere and thought this was another ploy to entrap the followers of Christ (see note 2 at Acts 9:26; p. 626). The Jews hated him for switching sides and tried to kill him (Acts 9:23-25).

Therefore, Paul went into the deserts of Arabia for three years (Gal. 1:17-18) and then returned to his home town of Tarsus where he no doubt continued to grow in the Lord. Then a full fourteen years after his conversion, Barnabas came to Tarsus seeking him and brought him to Antioch and then Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1). Paul was recognized as a leader and began ministering. Shortly after this, the Holy Spirit pointed out Paul and Barnabas through prophecy and separated them to the ministry (Acts 13:1-3).

It truly was God who put Paul in the ministry. Any momentum that his notorious past gave him ran out long before the fourteen years passed. Paul was not putting out resumes. He was seeking the Lord and the Lord brought things to pass. That is not to say that Paul was passive. He was very active, but he was actively seeking the Lord, not ministry. This is a good example to follow.