Month: March 2024

Acts 9:15-18

After Saul’s life-changing meeting with Jesus, the Lord told a certain disciple named Ananias in a vision to arise and go lay his hand on Saul so that he might receive his sight. Ananias protested this frightening assignment; he had heard of the havoc this man caused in the lives of Christians in Jerusalem. However, God is sovereign; His purpose for Ananias would prevail. In v.15 God told him to go because He had chosen this Jesus persecutor as a vessel of His to carry His name and proclaim Christ to both Jews and Gentiles. Also, in v.16, He said that He will show Saul how many things he must suffer for His name’s sake. Romans 8 says that theSpirit assured believers that they are children of God (Rom. 8:16). We are His heirs and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His spiritual blessing and inheritance], if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory (Rom. 8:17).

Ananias obeyed the Lord. He went to Judas’ house on the street called straight. He went in and laying his hands on Saul: “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (v.17). “Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes; he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized” (v.18). Ananias hesitated to meet Saul, but he obeyed God and fulfilled his mission. Thank God for his obedience.

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Acts 9:10-16

God is purposeful and leaves no stones unturned. In a vision at Damascus, He spoke to a certain disciple named Ananias (v.10) and told him to get up and go to the street called Straight. There, at the house of Judas, ask for Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying (v.11). I imagine he was thanking God for breaking the shackles of bondage to Satan and turning him to The Way of God by believing in the same Jesus he had been persecuting. At the same time God prepared Saul for Ananias’s visit, showing him in a vision that Ananias was coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight (v.12). 

Ananias did not want this mission; he was frightened by it. He told the Lord that he had heard from many about this man and how much evil he had committed against saints of God at Jerusalem (v.13). Here he is in Damascus with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who “confess You as Savior” (v.14). However, the Lord told Ananias to go, saying that He had purposely chosen Saul as His vessel to bear His name before Gentiles, kings, and the sons of Israel (v.15). The Lord declared that He would show Saul how many things he must suffer for His name’s sake (v.16).

Like Ananias, you may have been given a mission and are afraid. Today, put your trust in God; He’ll give you what you need to fulfill His purpose. 

Clap your hands and shout, “Glory!”

Acts 9:1-9, NKJV

Saul was “still breathing threats and murder” against those who walked in the Way of the Lord. He was so driven to persecute the church that he asked the high priest for letters to the synagogues of Damascus. He intended to arrest and bound Christians in chains and bring them to Jerusalem for punishment. 

As Saul traveled, coming near to Damascus, he had a blinding encounter with Jesus, whose light shone around him from heaven (v.3). He fell to the ground and heard the voice of the Lord ask him why he was persecuting 

Him (v.4). Saul pursued and harassed Christians probably never thinking he actually persecuted Christ until he heard the voice of Jesus. When we’ve been lied on, abused, criticized, and etc.: “Happy is the man who doesn’t give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward – the crown of life that God has promised those who love him” (James 1:12).   

Saul, trembling and astonished, asked the Lord what He wanted him to do. The Lord told him to arise and go into the city, where he would be told what he must do (v.6). The men with him stood speechless; they heard a voice but did not see anyone (v.7). Saul arose as commanded; he opened his eyes but was blind and did not see any man. So, they led him by the hand into Damascus (v.8). He experienced three days of blindness, and a three-day fast (v.9).

Decide today to get off the road to Damascus; stop persecuting Christ! Clap your hands and shout, “Glory!”

Romans 8:28-30

No matter what we go through in life, “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” (v.28a). If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. As a result, He promises that through all the heartaches and pains we endure, He uses them to work it out for spiritual good to those, who not only love Him, but also“are the called according to His purpose” (v.28b). Second Timothy 1:9, paraphrased, declares that before the beginning of time, God saved us and called us with a holy calling, and not according to any works we have done. Heprepared His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus. We are to live so that our lives will glorify God. Jesus promised on an occasion that if any man serves Him, His Father will honor him.

Paul continued by talking about the called or chosen. The Lord knows those who belong to Him. Paul, here, declared that those whom God knew beforehand, He also predestined, or ordained beforehand, to be conformed spiritually and morally to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn and most beloved and honored among many brothers (v.29). God has called all to freely accept or reject His plan of salvation. “Those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified” (v.30).

Clap your hands and praise the Lord for what He has done for us.

Luke 18:9-14, NKJV

Believers have many plans of the heart. Proverbs 16:1 tells us that God prepares those plans, and we depend on Him to direct our paths, giving the answer of the tongue. It is self-righteousfor believers to think that in their own eyes all of their ways are pure (Prov. 16:2a). Jesus taught a parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. He addressed some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else (vv. 9-10, NIV).

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, thanking God that he was not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector (v.11). He boasted offasting twice a week and giving tithes of all he owned (v.12). The tax collector stood way off and would not even look up to heaven but with an attitude of repentance prayed, “God, be merciful to me a sinner” (v.13)!Jesus declared that the tax collector went home justified rather than the Pharisee; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (put down), and he who humbles himself will be exalted (v.14). The Pharisee prayed about his good works; the tax collector acknowledged that he was a sinner and asked for God’s mercy in forgiving his sin.

Let us humble ourselves before God and acknowledge our sins; He will forgive us and make us righteous. Then by faith, we can walk in His righteousness and trust Him to lead us in fulfilling the plans of our hearts according to His purpose. 

Shout, “Glory!” and give Him praise.