A DAMASCUS ROAD EXPERIENCE

August 1, 2013

A DAMASCUS ROAD EXPERIENCE

I came up out of the water Raise my hands up to the Father Gave it all to Him that day Felt a new wind kiss my face Walked away, eyes wide open Could finally see where I was goin’ It didn’t matter where I been I’m not the same man I was then. I got off track, I made mistakes Back slid my way into that place where souls get lost Lines get crossed And the pain won’t go away………….., now here I stand There I was, I’ve changed.  I even started to forgive myself Yes, I’m changed, Thank God. (Rascal Flatts)

looking over our lives there has been a radical change that has taken place if you are a Child of God, and it is by the grace of God that we came out of it with eyes wide open. And with most of us having no physical signs that we had been in a war zone. And as we look back over our life, so many circumstances, situations, lives lost of those we have loved or been acquainted with.

But why us, why do we live to tell our stories, why was more grace and more time extended to us, in spite of us, and not our homie’s who in the day we called Ray Ray, Dog, Chicken, Blue, and Big Lip Johnny. Hey we were all right there in the mix together, the fight’s house parties and all the fun gathering’s at our favorite spot, 740 Perk Dr.

Hey they traveled the same road of destruction that we traveled, why us? But maybe like Paul. God gave us that Damascus Road experience because our God saw something in us. Or maybe our parents made sure we went to Sabbath , or Sunday school, or maybe we didn’t have a choice when our nights ended they made that decision. Or maybe our God just saw in us A star that would shine anywhere, or at anytime that He wanted us to.

And yes like Paul, thank God for that Road. Paul had been a Pharisee. He considered himself the most zealous, rigorous and careful of all Pharisees. But God choose and used Paul. because He knew Paul was capable of remaining a faithful servant that would ENDURE no matter what situation he might find himself in, even if that meant his life ending at the guillotine.

Paul tells us in Phil. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.“Acts 9:15 says The Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. When you read Paul’s letters, you realize God knew, because He is God that Paul could be all things to all people.

Paul says in Phil. 3:7-8 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” My friends can God say the same about us? They are my chosen instruments they will proclaim My name to the world. I know they will endure to the end, even if it means death. 

There are many reasons why God allowed us to travel this road. let’s look at others in the bible. And why God choose them.  Moses and David were both murderers. Thomas was A doubter, Peter denied Christ, Abraham and Jacob were big time lier’s, Judah was a Whoremonger, John was self-righteous, Mark was a scary cat, and rejected by Paul who also was a murderer,

Noah was a  drunk and comitted incest with His own Daughters. And I can continue, but you get the picture. God chooses in spite of. But Remember also, God doesn’t require a job interview or a resume from us when He chooses us because He already knows everything about us.

Psalm 139:1-24 -41 tells us “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.”

And He want hire and fire us when we mess up, because He is our father and Shepherd not an overbearing boss. And He doesn’t look at our prophet and loss, only our Gain and what you can bring to His glory and honor each day. “Like a grapevine branch, we are not always producing fruit in our life. That would be unnatural. For a significant portion of a grapevine’s life is nothing but a dry, twisted stick, fruitless with no benefit to anyone.

It is even useless for shade, worthless as timber, to all appearances it is only fit to be ripped from the ground, thrown in a heap and burned.” “Yet those barren times are as vital in the life of the vine, as the season itself”. “If spring could tip-toe passed nature without stirring it from its winter slumber; if the sun could slip through the sky without dispelling the night; if rain could fall to the ground without bringing life to the desert,

only then should you fear dry times, dark times, lean times. Though you feel as useless as a fur coat in a heat-wave, the time will come when your warmth is treasured. For everything there is a season.”(Grantley Morris) Paul tell’s us in Ephesians 2:4-9 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved,

and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Remember the forces of evil looks back over our life and accuses each of God’s chosen of all of our mistakes and tells us we have gone to far to be saved.

But my Savior starts at  Calvary, and takes us through the trials and tribulation of this life, and places us in His loving wings, and guides and protects each of us daily. All the way to his soon appearing when He will say to His Children “Well done, good and faithful servants! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness! in my pure and holy kingdom where I have prepared A banquet table for all of the redeemed.

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY