by Tim Green
was so blind. I was also guilty of sin.
My sin had made me blind. I had been blinded by the Law of Moses and by my zeal to keep the Law. Here I was, blinded in the natural, yet awakened deep down in my spirit. It only took one supernatural encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ to purge my conscience. I went from having a conscience that focused on sin to having a conscience that focused on righteousness. This righteousness could only be obtained by faith and by faith alone, a righteousness apart from keeping the Law of Moses.
It was this faith, the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that I became a messenger, a minister. I was to compel men everywhere to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, first the Jew and then the Gentiles. Cassius often asked me questions about that bright light that shone brighter than the midday sun. Deep in his heart he wanted to have an encounter with the Light as I did. I just smiled at him and said, "One day!" Over time Cassius became acquainted with my entire life's story.
I am Paul, called by the Grace of God to be an apostle. When God our Saviour revealed His Love and kindness to us, He saved us, not because of our own righteousness and the good things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins giving us a new life through the Holy Spirit.
Amen - so be it.
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Eyes Opened. #9
I was still in Damascus. It had been three days since my heavenly collision with the Messiah of Light. Jesus had given me clear instructions and a mandate from heaven, empowering me to be a servant of the Gospel of His Kingdom. I was to preach the message of the cross of Christ, the Messiah. I was to open spiritual eyes that were blind and enlighten men's understandings to the truth, that they should turn away from their darkness towards His marvellous light. I was to setting them free from the power of Satan and introduce them to the power of God. That they may freely receive the forgiveness of their sins. That they may be sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ and that they may have an eternal inheritance in Him.
I did many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. In Jerusalem, I shut up many of the saints in prison. I had received authority from the chief priests and carried their letters of delegation in my coat pockets. I gave my consent and voiced my opinions against the saints. They were put to death because of me. I had punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme against God. I was exceedingly maddened and obsessed against them and their doctrines, I persecuted them, even pursuing them to strange cities. I was unworthy to even be called an apostle, I was the chief of sinners. I was the waste and the filth of the world.
I had been praying and I saw a man in a vision by the name Ananias, who came in to visit me while I was still in Damascus. In the vision he put his hand on me and prayed for me that I might once again receive my sight. There was indeed a disciple in Damascus by that name. The Lord had spoken to him in a vision and had called him out by his name. "Ananias," called the God of heaven. "Here I am Lord!" acknowledged Ananias. He was curious as he had never received a vision of this nature from the Lord before. The Lord had instructed him to arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, where I was staying in the house of Judas. Ananias questioned God because he had heard the many things about me. News of how much evil I had done to all the saints at Jerusalem. How that I had been given authority from the chief priests to bind all those who called on Christ's name.
The Lord said to him, "Go your way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me. I have ordained that he bear my holy name before the Gentiles. He will stand before kings and before the children of Israel and proclaim my name to them. I will also show him how many great things he must suffer for my name's sake." So Ananias went on his way and entered into the house where I was. He laid his hands on me just as I had seen in the vision and proclaimed, "Brother Saul, the Lord God, even Jesus, that appeared unto you in the dusty road as you came here. He has sent me, that you might receive your sight back and that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately there fell, as it were scales from my eyes and I received my sight back at that very moment. I had finally come out of the dark and into the light. I realised that I had been wrong about upholding the Laws of Moses in my own strength. I had spent many years in deception, thinking it was the truth.
So I arose and got up on my feet. I went with Ananias and was baptised in water and received the out pouring of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. I was given food to eat which caused my physical strength to return. I had not eaten nor had anything to drink for three days. However it was the inner strength and power that I felt in my inner man that amazed me. I was strengthen with all might in my inner man by the Holy Spirits power. It was that same power that had raised Jesus Christ from the dead. That power was now living and active in me.
Something supernatural happened to me when I went through the waters of baptism. The water was a physical sign of my faith and my believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. This simple act of obedience changed my life. The waters were symbolic of a permanent reality. The reality was that the waters immersed me into a fixed position captured in both space and time. My old sinful man was suspended in time forever on the cross of Jesus Christ where He died. That old carnal man with it's evil lusts were buried and laid with Christ in the tomb. The old man with it's lustful affections was crucified with Christ and buried with Him through the waters of baptism. As I came up out of the waters I was resurrected with Christ out of the grave. I was now a new man.
The new man, the new me, the spiritual me was raised together with the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ, the Messiah was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, I was raised up together with Him. I was raised to now serve Him in newness of life. It was no longer I that lived, but the resurrected Christ now lived in me. I was a new creature, a new man altogether. Old things had passed away and all things had become new. I was water baptised into His painful death, into His burial and into His resurrection. The water had suspended me and trapped me in space and time. I was dead with Him. I was buried with Him, and I was raised to new life with Him. God forbid that I should boast or glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I was now crucified unto the world and the world was crucified unto me.
I spent a few days with the disciples, Christ's followers that were at Damascus. Straight away I began to preach Christ Jesus, the Messiah in the synagogues. I boldly proclaimed that He is the Son of God. All those who heard me were amazed and astounded at my transformation and conversion. They said, "Is not this he that destroyed them which called on Christ's name in Jerusalem. Has he not come here with the intent of taking saints back to the chief priests, bound and in chains?"
When Christ was revealed in me on that dusty Damascus road, I did not confer with flesh and blood. I didn't consult or counsel with any frail human being or communicate with anyone. Nor did I even go up to Jerusalem to those who were the apostles. But I went into Arabia, and preached there for three years, before returning again to Damascus. The King of Arabia had put a warrant out for my arrest, so I returned to Damascus. What had been bestowed upon me was from God, and God alone. I did not have to seek man's approval, when I had been given a divine mandate from the Messiah Himself? God gave this calling and ministry to me. Only He could revoke it, as the gifts and callings of God are without repentance.
I increased more and more in strength and spiritual stature. I confounded the Jews that lived and dwelt at Damascus with my teachings. I supernaturally began to receive divine insight and revelation from heaven above. The eyes of my understanding were enlightened to the holy Scriptures. I began to see Christ upon the pages of every ancient manuscript. The hidden mysteries and secrets of heaven were being made known t
o me. These mysteries and secrets had been hidden throughout the ages, but they were now being revealed unto me. Those Jews still followed the Law of Moses religiously, as I had done. They had not yet been awakened to Christ, the Messiah. I proved to them from their own Scriptures, that this man Jesus was the very Christ and our Messiah.
After a few days went by, the unbelieving Jews took counsel to kill me. They were as stubborn about the traditions of our forefathers as I once was. They were no longer prepared to listen to my teachings. They were entrenched in the old letter of the Law, blinded like I once was, before my heavenly encounter. The Jews watched the gates both day and night, looking for me to kill me. They wanted me dead. I became aware of their schemes and did every thing in my power to avoid them. The same murderous spirit that once drove me to kill the saints was now on them.
Late one night the "Disciples of the Way" took me and let me down by the wall in a huge basket. As I was being lowered down in the basket it occurred to me how a small baby was once rescued in a basket. My life was being
