Paul is among a class of his own when it comes to the New Testament. Here is a man that persecuted Christians. In Acts 22 he says of himself, "I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.". In this passage he is talking about the martyrdom on Stephen. Paul was what I would call passionate. By today's standards we would consider him an extremist. Think about what the FOX News would report on Paul in today's time. "Leader Arrested After Speaking Out Against Synagogue", "Centurion Almost Has Roman Citizen Flogged". It would be quite the scandal. Imagine this sound bite, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 21:13) We would all be sitting on our couches thinking this man was insane. How do you go from being a persecutor to a defender? Much less an Apostle?
Well the road to Damascus was a true journey into humility wasn't it? Bright light, Saul falls to the ground, his companions were speechless, they heard the sound but didn't see anyone. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Imagine Paul, he is literally on his way to Damascus to get more followers of the Way, to take back to Jerusalem as prisoners. Jesus blinds him, knocks him to the ground and then asks him 'why are you doing this to me?'. It's amazing how God can stop us dead in our tracks and change our course. So God blinds Paul, his companions hold his hand and lead him into Damascus. For three days he was blind. Three days is a long time. The Bible says he didn't eat or drink. Well no, I imagine not. He probably thought God was going to kill him. This is a man that knows the law, he knows sacrificial offerings, he knows of cleansing, he knows now that the Lord knows of the blood of his hands for the ones that he has persecuted. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Paul knew that - he is the one that penned the words.
Even Saul, a prosecutor of Jesus' own believers found grace that brings salvation. God allowed him to be filled with the Holy Spirit, he allowed him to become an Apostle and to pen a vast amount of the New Testament. Who better to tie to New to the Old than someone who had studied the Old extensively? God's divine plan sometimes astounds me. As I am sure it does everyone. The story remains the same throughout the Bible. God takes his followers, and makes them bigger, better, and different, but the foundation that they need to fulfill their destiny is already there, it doesn't need to be taught it only needs to be trained. The DNA is already there, within the seed, even before conception. It needs to be watered, pruned and secured to something plume, get lots of Sonlight and next thing you know...Destiny. God dusts us off, changes our names, tells us who he really intended us to be and TADA...we are able to say "No" to the things that we used to say yes to. He shows us his grace, his mercy, we wrap our hearts around our salvation, the price he paid for us as individuals and it's at that point that we are able to walk away from our former selves.
The only discipline that works, is self-discipline. No matter how many times we tell our children something, until they get it for themselves and are able to do it on their own, we are not discipling them. We are preaching at them, we are filling them full of nutrition, but they have to move and make their own effort in order to receive it. We have to discipline ourselves to walk away from the passions of the world and to turn all of that desire, all of that need of intimacy towards the Lord. He waits for us to get past ourselves and to turn to him, knowing that we can't do it on our own. We mess up, he takes us back, He did with David, he did with Peter, many of the greats of the Bible sinned on their road to righteousness, and always, if they would cry out to Him he would take them back.
Godly lives doesn't mean that we are perfect. It means that we are taking every step necessary to find God's hand in our lives. To cast away anything that doesn't line up with his word. Which includes our own thoughts about ourselves. We are worthy, we are so worthy that He sent His Son to die for us. He knew that the price would be high, but he knew that when He was done that there was no sin that couldn't be forgiven. He looked at our lives from the moment of conception to the moment we live in His glory in heaven and said, this is an abundant offering for all the sins you will ever commit. There is nothing that can't be covered in the blood.
As we walk in our destiny, as we begin to understand our salvation. As we come to the place of repentance to persecuting God with our lack of faith, He will remove the scales from our eyes and show us more glory and teach us more of His ways. Your inbox is always full, there is always new levels and new devils.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT), "So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."
More and more like him, it's a process not a procedure. With salvation there is not what the US Govt calls SOP, Standard Operating Procedure. We are all individuals, we are all created by God Himself. Every one of us is different with different giftings and different destinys. We all have a different road.
Lord, I know that there are so many out there struggling to accept your love. So many who think that because they are believers that they should walk under their own condemnation for their sin. Father, I just pray that you would break ties with the past in our lives. That we would keep the memories, that we could keep the lessons, but that Lord we would realize we don't live in Egypt any more. Father, on our road to the promise land we know that there is a place in the desert but Lord we chose you. We chose to continue across the Jordan instead of murmuring about what it is you are trying to do in our lives. We will look at this as a time of deliverance and not as a time of imprisonment. Father, we can smell the land of milk and honey and we know it is just beyond the horizon in our lives. Lord we consecrate ourselves and our thoughts and lay our agendas and our entitlements to pity at the alter of your righteousness. Father, there is nothing that can separate us from your love. Father we love you, we thank you. We honor your Son and your Spirit.
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