Daily Bible Reading – Acts 9
Acts 9
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
POWERFUL and FAMOUS words of our Lord. Jesus is so interconnected with us His body that when we are persecuted HE is persecuted!
Ananias - I don’t think many of us would have liked Ananias’ job. Here is a godly man whose response when he hears from the Lord is “Yes, Lord”. Can I just say as a freebie, it is impossible to say NO LORD. Yet Ananias questions God’s plans, wondering if perhaps the wiring on his Spiritual tuner was a bit off. How could he possibly be speaking of this legendary Saul of Tarsus as a convert. God reaffirms for him to go and he does. I imagine that goodbye had to be a tough one as he left his home unsure if he would ever return.
Saul’s conversion – This story is a very tough one to understand if your life revolves around God not messing with your free will. In this story probably more clearly than any other we see the way God works. It wasn’t anything good in Paul that was going to warrant his conversion. It was simply that Paul’s life and salvation were a part of God’s beautiful plan to take his gospel to the world!
A freebie: in my experience this is most often the pattern God uses for advancing his kingdom. First HE RAISES up a leader and CALLS him or her. Then he or she is trained and then he or she does what God calls him or her to do. If God has called your name… look out!
Paul receives His own medicine, a lot of it. Yet, he continues on fearlessly.
23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him,
28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,[a] but they tried to kill him.
God sometimes takes us through wonderful times in the life of the church, a respite amidst all of the battles. It would be wise for all of us to ponder living under the Lordship of God and being encouraged by the Spirit. The only time we will ever need to be encouraged is if there is something we are afraid of, for who needs courage when life is easy? Any old wimp can do that!
“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.”
