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Saul was Knocked to the Ground! Forced Dismount from a Horse?

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EVER heard the saying “Get off your high horse!”? Where do you think that came from? … Do You Still Need Him?

“GET OFF that high horse” – Some believe there was a horse or donkey involved and yet there is no mention of such in the text. Saul was knocked to the ground, that’s for sure and yet such does not require riding a beast. The road from Jerusalem to Damascus covered over 135 miles (220 kilometers), so he would have wanted to ride a horse to get to Damascus faster, and yet there is no indication he was on a horse. It seems some early “Christian” art depicts Saul on a horse in his conversion account on the road to Damascus. We do know from the text, as we read it in a moment, that Saul definitely knocked to the ground at there appearance and hearing of the voice of the LORD. So, for the sake of example, let’s know he was knocked down and if you wish, one can imagine that Paul was riding a horse or donkey in his mission to stamp out Christianity. EVERY true disciple has the divine Person of the Holy Ghost living in them and so EVERY disciple is anointed! YES, every believer needs a fresh infilling and to be more anointed, but stop acting as if you are superior to other believers. You simply aren’t and fooling no one but yourself and the gullible you seek to look up to you as you rob glory from the One who bled to redeem sinners like us! It’s all about Jesus, not you! Dismount or you will be abased into the bowels of hell by Christ, the anointed One (Matthew 23:12). Drop the flesh-flattering title, cease drawing attention away from Christ, and just be Jesus’ disciple and servant – which we do not deserve to be!

LIKE SIMON THE SORCERER IN ACTS 8, THOSE WHO FLASH AND WIELD THEIR TITLES AND POSITIONS OVER YOU SEEK TO BRING YOU UNDER THEIR WITCHCRAFT SPELL SO THEY CAN EXERCISE CONTROL OVER YOUR LIFE WHICH IS SOMETHING GOD ALONE IS DUE. BY REASON OF CREATION, THE LORD OWNS ALL SOULS AND ALONE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO RULE OVER EACH HUMAN BEING (EZEKIEL 18:4; REVELATION 4:9-11, ETC.).

Of course you still and will always need the LORD and His saving mercy, and yet, do you realize this great need for Him?

Listen to the very one who was ousted from his proverbial high horse and blinded (knocked down) by the LORD for his arrogance and murderous rage against the Christ and His beloved people. Listen to what Saul of Tarsus, now Paul, had learned since being blessed to be brought low:

“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: ¹⁰Who delivered (past) us from so great a death, and doth deliver (present): in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us (future).” 2 Corinthians 1:10

Saul of Tarsus went from his self-elevated position on the high horse to being brought low in humility by the Savior. Let’s peek into this monumental event.

Acts 9

“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, ²And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. ³And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: ⁴And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? ⁵And 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. ⁶And 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. ⁷And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. ⁸And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. ⁹And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.”

Jesus abruptly interrupted Saul’s crusade to destroy His Gospel and His people. Saul of Tarsus was mercifully granted repentance unto everlasting life as participated with his own free will.

The whole of the world received the Gospel of Jesus Christ largely due to this man Saul/Paul. What would have happened if Saul of Tarsus has not been found by Christ and brought low in humility?

Saul was a Jew among Jews, extremely accomplished in his religion (Philippians 3:4-8). As he was humbled in repentance and regenerated, only then could God use Saul who was renamed Paul. The same is the case for you and I – As we are brought low in humility, and only according to the depth of that brokenness, can we be used of the LORD.

Are we truly saved? Do we not know that salvation is His gift and that we truly merit His wrath? (Romans 3:10-26; 5:17-19; 6:23) If so, just WHAT boasting have we? What iota of self-boast still remains in our hearts? Our only boasting should be exclusively in the saving mercy of Jesus Christ Himself!

“…that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. 7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” 1 Corinthians 4:6-7

Someone has wisely stated that:

“There’s not a saint without a past or a sinner without a future.” unknown

With the LORD, this statement is so true. Oh and this is no license to live ungodly after He finds and saves us! Never. Yet, somewhere in each life, our eyes must be placed upon the nail-scarred, risen Savior and LORD Himself and not mere men who are all faulty.

Paul said he did not preach himself but rather Christ.

“We preach Christ crucified.” 1 Corinthians 1:23

Showing people Jesus – preaching Jesus and Him crucified – is what Paul did and he also said that “no good thing” except Christ dwelled in Him (Romans 7:18). We must announce our own utter and perpetual need for Christ and God’s grace which is truly what being “poor in spirit” means (Matthew 5:3). Preaching Christ should include our own testimony of His saving grace in our own lives – both in the past, in the now/present, and future.

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” 2 Corinthians 3:5

“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9

He’s the only Savior and we are His servants – “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5)

ALL men need God – severely and perpetually!

NO mere man ever ceases the desperate need for the LORD and His saving mercy!

Some in Christ realize this and some don’t yet understand this, due to their spiritual immaturity.

Personally, as a soul saved by the mercy of Jesus Christ, I do not wish to act or pretend as if I live in some zone that is not penetrable or that there is the slightest goodness in and of myself. Remember how David let down his guard and found out that without Christ reigning presently, he was susceptible to the enemy and sin (2 Samuel 11). We must learn from this and that’s exactly why God has this in His blessed Word (Romans 15:4). The believer should remain in a posture of desperate need – hungering, thirsting, and in great need of God, every minute of the day. The things this man after God’s own heart (king David) cried out in Psalms is our example (Ps. 42:1-2; 57:7; 62:8; 63:8, etc.). Perhaps we need a real trust in God that makes us vulnerable to and dependent upon Him and not try to put up some pious, religious facade, a mere act, as if we have no more need of God’s saving mercy. Such a disposition is under girded with pride and arrogance which God hates (Proverbs 8:13). His saving grace in salvation is given to us in the past, present, and future and yet that grace of His salvation is contingent upon our current humility (2 Corinthians 1:10; James 4:6-10; 1 Peter 1:9, etc.).

Are we not instructed to be open and transparent?

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16

Perhaps there is a time when each of us would do well to readily and publicly admit what God already knows – that we all have “faults,” are nothing without Christ, and are desperately in need of His present and perpetual mercy and saving grace.

We must rid our minds of the falsehood that salvation is only something of our past. We must understand that God requires genuine faith and repentance both initially and ongoing (Hebrews 3:6, 12-14; 10:26-39).

There’s a great breakthrough in this honesty. We are not self-sufficient and by ourselves we are totally nothing, even when at our “best.” Grab this:

“LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am. 5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.” Psalms 39:4-5

What did the Bible just tell us that man is, even “at his BEST state”? – “altogether VANITY.” Any questions?

Saul was Knocked to the Ground!

The LORD knocked Saul of Tarsus “off his high horse” of pride and unwarranted religious arrogance. Does the LORD need to do the same to us?

Jesus said that “without me ye can do nothing” and so it’s time that we admit that we need God and stop hiding behind the farce that we have arrived (John 15:5).

THERE IS SO MUCH EXCUSE-MAKING IN MUCH OF WHAT PRETENDS TO BE CHRISTIANITY. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE FOR SIN, PERIOD. YET, IN ORDER TO BE DELIVERED, EDIFIED IN CHRIST, AND EMPOWERED BY HIS DIVINE GRACE TO OVERCOME, VICTORY BEGINS WITH HONESTY – BEING HONEST ABOUT WHO WE ARE AND WHO HE IS AND ANNOUNCING HOW DESPERATELY AND PRESENTLY WE NEED HIM.

JESUS SPEAKS OF THE “HONEST AND GOOD HEART” BEING THE ONLY TYPE HEART THAT GLORIFIES HIM (LUKE 8:15). CATCH THIS. MEMORIZE THIS TRUTH.

ANYone still holding a stone of condenmation in their fist? – “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:7) The quicker we own up to what God said about all men – that without Him we are ALL utterly corrupt, depraved, have grossly sinned against Him, and are desperately wicked – the quicker it is that we will be broken and humbled with contrite hearts before Him (Genesis 6:5, 12; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10-23, etc.). That’s exactly what pleases God (Psalms 34:18; 51:17; Isaiah 66:1-2, etc.).

JESUS WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO QUALIFIED TO CONDEMN THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY AND HE DIDN’T. IN LIGHT OF THIS SIMPLE FACT, JUST HOW ARROGANT AND BLINDED WE WOULD BE TO RENDER UNDUE, SINFUL CONDEMNATION TOWARDS ANOTHER PERSON IS OUR ATTITUDES OR WORDS! BE AWARE THAT GOD IS WATCHING AND HE SEES THE VERY THOUGHTS OF OUR HEART ATTITUDES.

Concerning those in our midst who render undue judgments on others who have fallen, one sister writes:

“That’s true. We do have a past, but thank God we been forgiven. BUT, some people won’t let you live it down!”

Can you sense her pain? Can you relate? Have you also been beat over the head with a sin you have long ago repented of?

Those people who wrongly condemn are controlled by their own sin and therefore the accuser of the brethren himself, Satan (Revelation 12:10). But look at how readily Jesus forgave vile sinners. Think about the mercy the unchanging Savior bestowed upon the thief on the cross in his last moments (Luke 23:41-43). Think about how uncondemning HE was to the woman at the well who previously had 5 husbands and was living with another man (John 4) … then, did God not use her to go into town and tell everyone she had just met the Jewish Messiah!!!! put that in your pharisee pipe and smoke it (as the saying goes)… how about how merciful JESUS was to the woman caught in the very act of adultery …. notice that the only people He condemned were those self-righteous devils who threw her at His beautiful feet (John 8)….when the smoke cleared, that women was forgiven, told to go and sin no more and those unrepentant religious devils were sent packing on their way to hell …. go figure … we don’t have a clue yet about how loving and merciful God is to those who turn to Him ….. memorizing these 2 verses from HIS Word changed my view of God (Ps 86:5, 15)…. also, the whole chapter of Lk 15 is all about the restoring grace of God! Somebody should shout Thank YOU JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that You Know You are Totally Washed, Forgiven, and Cleansed, Let’s Ask: Can God Use You?

“Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossiper, Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody, Moses stuttered, Zaccheus was short, Abraham was old,… and Lazarus was dead…. Now, what’s YOUR excuse? Can God use you or not? God doesn’t CALL the QUALIFIED, He QUALIFIES the CALLED.”

Paul wrote “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10

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Private prayer is essential to the disciple. Jesus reveals here that those who seek His face in prayer privately, will be used of Him publicly!

Are you at Christ’s feet? Do you live a life of prayer? Have you ever studied the life of Christ and beheld the many instances of His prayer life?

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35

“Solitary” simply means uninhabited.

If we want to assess our true spiritual state with God, we need only look to our prayer life or lack thereof. Show me a man’s prayer life, and I will show you who that man is! When God is truly first in a person’s life, all else will be demoted in importance!

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Revelation 2:4-5

Backsliding begins with neglect of our relationship, our prayer life, our life of prayer with our LORD and Savior.

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

I will either pray my way into glory, or I will not be there. Matthew 26:41

“Hebrews 10:22 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” This is how we are to come to God in prayer and fellowship. With a true, (honest) heart. That has been washed in the pure blood of Jesus! Confessing our sins so our conscience is clear. And we are cleansed from the filthiness of the flesh. Then we can come boldly before the throne of grace! Hebrews 4:16.” Karen Cochran

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I return to You now. Please forgive my sin of prayerlessness. Break me LORD. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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