Greetings. It is not easy to not speak on the wonderful things God has showed me out of his law: so, I write about them. If nobody ever read what the Spirit has given me I can take great comfort in this: Psalm 119:18Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Now the title of this letter is called Saul, but we could have used our own name. God is revealing His words to those that seek after him. And if you imagine seeking is just joining your local synagogue of Satan and just learning to quote a few scriptures you are in spiritual error. 1 John 4:6We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. We have all heard the spirit of error and thought it was God’s voice. This next verse shows us the voice we have heard in our minds will be the one that we are familiar with. Isaiah 29:4And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.  This verse describes man as he hears his own devilish wisdom about the Bible and thinks it is coming from God and this wisdom will destroy your soul. Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. A living soul dies and returns to the dust unless God makes it a quickening spirit. [See the letter: the quick and the dead, on our website] 1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
We trust what is familiar to us and forget we were formed out of the dust. If we ever learn to hear God’s voice it will trouble the old man in us and destroy him if we continue pass sin or our own moral thinking. Romans 6:6 knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. God’s word is a Spiritual fire that consumes the fleshly thinking of men, no other words have such power: because no other words art found in heaven. Why would this spiritual fire be directed at the head or heart? Because that is where the trouble all begins, in the heart, I presumed I knew who was giving me counsel: my spirit or God’s Spirit.Psalm 40:12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. When something is compassed it is surrounded, the innumerable wicked thoughts against God’s word, forms the iniquities encamped spiritually around the mind. Our real unseen enemy is the thoughts of sin inside all of us, which wars against anything from the household of faith. 2 Samuel 3:1 Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. We thought are battles were only physical, and we have never understood who the real enemy was, thus we could not war against Saul house or our own mortal thinking. We have not loved the truth and our house has waxed stronger and stronger when it should have been destroyed. Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. The only God we have loved has been the image of a familiar: spirit of ourselves.Matthew 10:36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. When any person can Spiritually witness the above verse, his wicked thinking that they thought was good: would have to change and that brings on tribulation in the mind. The future King of Israel, David knew what was in man’s heart nothing good, and man refuses to humble himself. King Saul had a problem that we all have, pride and while we might be physically small in height but in our minds, we are all giants. 1 Samuel 10:23 And they ran and fetched him [Saul] thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. Let a person quit doing something physically that he imagined is wicked, learn how to quote a few scriptures, next thing he is a self-righteous Bible carrying Pharisee and looking down at others from his imagined self-exalted spiritual height.Luke 14:11For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. When men speak their own wisdom about the Bible, it exalts them in the eyes of other men. 1 Samuel 15:17 And Samuel said, When thou[Saul] wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? Simply put, mortal man just wants to rule spiritually over God’s word’s or Israel. There is nothing special about any physical geological place on this physical planet called earth. There is nothing perfect about any of us to God unless he chooses us to be His sons. We are commanded to be spiritually perfect in our spiritual interpretation and understanding of His words. Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.  Acts 13:21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. The people wanted a physical king to rule over them and God gave them Saul or something they could see. 1 Samuel 10:23 And they ran and fetched him[Saul] thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. Later God would reject Saul and choose another, David. When the Prophet Samuel first looked on David’s brother he was impressed. 1 Samuel 16:6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. You can fool men. if a person is often young and physically good looking and can quote six scriptures we feel: Surely the Lord’s anointed is before us. One of history’s most successful mast killer was describe by many as being very charming and good looking. When we read the scripture we also spiritually look at the outward meaning or appearance.1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused [Eliab] him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Once God reveals the evil that is in our own heart, you will never look on the outward appearance of men again. It is revealed in the book of Acts that King Saul reign for the space of forty years and most of his time was spend trying to kill David. Most of our little time on this physical planet is trying to look good to others. The cosmetic industry is valued in the United States at an estimated almost 600 billion dollars a year. 1 Samuel 15:30Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God.Noticed that King Saul did not ask for the honor that comes from God alone and he called God: The God of Samuel. I have read the first and second Samuel books forty years ago many times, but unless it can be revealed to me the mysteries hidden in the stories, it is of no spiritual value. The carnal man of sin within us all, never rest in the pursue to destroy our soul. The Chinese Preacher Watchmen Nee, doing the nineteen-thirties wrote a book called the Salvation of the Soul. I recalled reading it as a young man but understood extraordinarily little of his books; but it showed me God’s word were deeper than my spiritually ignorant Pastor understanding. This man spiritually would put any of the modern-day Preachers to spiritual shame. 1 Corinthians 15:34Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. Spiritual ignorance to God deals with our lack of knowledge about his word which we should all be ashamed, also notice it says, Awake to righteousness. Spiritually we have all been asleep. Psalm 13:3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. David once found the man that sought after his soul and spared him. 1 Samuel 26:12So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul’s bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. All of us have been in a deep spiritual sleep because we were all in self-righteousness and ignorant of the righteousness of God. Romans 10:3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. We have all even as King Saul went about establishing our own self-righteousness, so that our kingdom would endure and made an enemy of anything that threaten our spiritual kingdom of darkness. Our own thoughts are those that devise hurt to our soul and to bring it to the dust. Psalm 35:4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Only God can deliver us from the roaring spiritual lion that devours anything spiritual every time we read the Bible.  Psalm 7:2lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. That hidden adversary has spiritually walking around in your thoughts devouring anything spiritual and we have loved him. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. The old man of sin within all of us, as liken to King Saul will never rest until he has destroyed you. The problem being we waste most of our time thinking somehow, things physically one night are going to change for the better. It's not that physically things are getting worst, things are just presented to us faster; thanks to that cell phone given at birth.  If history has taught us anything about ourselves: that man is a murderer physically and largely unknown a spiritual murderer also. King Saul was not going to have any peace until he had destroyed David. 1 Samuel 24:14After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. But millions have never realized their worst enemy of their soul was themselves or the carnal mind. OUR SOUL MATTERS TO GOD!  Michael Rudolph Hodges 6/8/2020