Saul whom we all know as the apostle Paul was very high up in the the Jewish religion after the death of Jesus Christ. We find in the book of acts a recording of the first church that God established after Christ was resurrected from the dead. In that book we hear of Saul who is persecuting the church of God - Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. Acts 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
So we see that Saul was blindly going around persecuting Christians while believing he is doing Gods will. How often I have seen this done were people go around and use the name of God to do the work of the devil. They are blinded. Not having the truth in them. But praise God we can come to that truth through or Lord as you see later on Saul came to when Jesus came to him and revealed himself to Saul. Acts 9:3-6 And as he(Saul) jorneyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
How many of us have heard that still small voice from Jesus saying to us "why persecutest thou me"? If you have heard this voice from Jesus have you responded as Saul did and humbled yourself and ask the Lord "what wilt thou have me to do"? Can you Imagine all the souls that might not ever been saved if Saul just decided to keep going his own way instead of yielding to the voice of Jesus? I for one am glad that he yielded and as a result he later became the apostle Paul who died preaching the gospel of Jesus. Thank the Lord he yielded to that voice. One person yielding to the voice of God made a HUGE difference in the kingdom of God. WOW! Thanks Joy for your great example!
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Oh no, thank the good Lord for his faithfulness to reach out to us and thank the apostle Paul for making right when he realized he was mistaken. The thing about it, Paul didn't know he was wrong. He thought he was doing God's will to begin with. BUT when God showed him the deception, Paul turned away from his wrong doing. It is a hard thing to do, a humbling thing, to let go of one's own pride and ideas in order to truly follow what God has set forth. I was once like Paul...unknowingly on the wrong path. But the good thing about deception (the only hope) is that it's not our fault if were are misled. It IS our fault if God shows us the Truth (GOd's true will for our lives) and we don't turn from that deception. That is dangerous, dangerous territory. It's one thing to do something unkowingly, but to do it when you know...now it's deliberate. I never want to deliberately slap Jesus in the face or spit on the cross. The Bible says you cannot hang Jesus on the cross twice, He died ONCE...for all. If I continue to repent everyday for my sins....am I not hanging Jesus on the cross everyday? That's contraty to Truth. That was not God's will. His will is that we repent from our sins. Repent means to turn away...run in the other direction...as far as the east is from the west...that's how far he seperated us from our sins. If I am in the East, no matter how far I go...I will never reach West, because East means opposite of West..they can never meet. That's what Jesus did for me. If I say it's impossible to live a life free from sin, I limit God, the one I believe and say created the entire universe, myself included.....I believe He can do all that....but cannot free me from a lying tongue, from stealing, from cheating, from cursing. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that's just it. I cannot do it alone. I thank GOd for His perfect plan and that He extended the offer to reach even me, once just a poor, lost sinner...but now a Child of God, washed from every sinful stain.
Looong time...no comment. I believe it's because you are out there..making The Difference to someone. :)
Love and appreciate you!
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