The Courage To Act

THE COURAGE TO ACT

a prayer to open

Holy Spirit, come. Center my heart.

Fill my mind. Guide my steps.

Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them . . . back to Jerusalem in chains.

As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.

And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.

Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord!” he replied.

The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”

“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”

But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.

Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”

All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”

Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.

The story of Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus is a compelling example of God’s intervention in an individual’s life. The fact that Saul was the leading persecutor of those who followed Jesus and then became the loudest voice for Christ the world has known is in itself miraculous. Equally miraculous, though, are Ananias’s actions and his courage to follow God’s seemingly outrageous and dangerous instruction to lay hands on this man who had set out to put people like Ananias in prison. This might not be the kind of task God will assign all of us, but perhaps we would see the miraculous more often if we trusted the Holy Spirit as Ananias did.

• Read this passage again. What word or phrase stands out to you? Sit quietly, reminding yourself that you are in God’s loving presence, and ask him to show you how that word or phrase connects to your life.
• Reflect on a time you experienced something you would describe as miraculous. What were the circumstances? What was your relationship with God like during that time?
• When was the last time you took what felt like a great step of faith? What happened? How did you experience God then?

Father, thank you that you still intervene in individual lives and transform hearts. Thank you for drawing me to you and allowing me to understand your goodness and grace in Jesus. Thank you for your willingness to pull me into the light and relieve my spiritual blindness. Help me notice where you’re at work so I can participate in what you’re doing. Enable me by your Spirit to act in faith and experience the miraculous. Fill me with courage and a desire to respond without hesitation when you call me to act. Amen.