Greetings,
The Lord was leading me to start this thread after reading a book titled "Paul" a book by a man named Charles Swindoll whom I'm sure all of you are familiar with. In the book he made an extremely vital point, which I am about to share to all of you for your benefit. It will change your thinking about the way God does things dramatically!
Picture this image: You are a Jew, living in Austria. Your country has just been taken over by Nazi Germany, a force of evil that stops at nothing to rid the world of people just like you. Show yourself in the street and they would most certainly cut off your head, kill you and your family. You are in your house praying to the Father when he tells you this "My Son, I want to you go to a certain street, to a certain house to do something for me. I want you to go and heal a man, a man that I am going to use for my own purpose, and that man is Adolf Hitler" Think of the shockwaves of emotions that would be filling your entire body at that moment. A man you have heard of doing evil things, a man you have only known through stories of murder and persecution, and God chose YOU! to go and see him. Now remember, your a Jew and God has asked you to go and see a man who would most certainly kill you for no apparent reason other than your beliefs or your heritage.
Now, in any normal circumstance we would be looking for a way out of this situation because frankly we are scared and we don't want to do it. This is exactly how Ananias felt in this story. (Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.) Now, Ananias wasn't telling anything to God that he didn't already know. God knew Sauls past. And I love his response to Ananias, He simply says "Go" -- when God gives us a word, we don't need to quibble over details, if you look in the story Ananias had no details about anything other than God wanted him to heal this man. He didn't know Saul was blind and helpless. The only thing on his mind was about the horrible things that Saul had done, but God told Him nothing than to go and obey. Once he did, he learned a bit more information.
Saul was no ordinary slouch, he had been taught by the greatest teachers among the greatest relegious schools that were available at that time. He knew the Law, knew everything about the Old Testament, and he was a Pharisee. I want you to note a extremely important word that is in this passage. In the NIV and NKJV in Acts 9:5 it mentions the word "goads" Now you are probably wondering what on earth a goad actually is, as I was. I decided to look into it.
A goad is simply a rodded stick, with one end sharpened to a point. And what farmers would do with this was, if an ox was stubborn and would not obey the farmers command to move, the would poke the ox with the stick and he would move. Often the ox would kick back, driving the point further into their leg causing more pain. Jesus told Saul, that it was hard for him to kick against the "goads". This tell us something about Saul that alot of people fail to see, Saul was converted to Christ but not immediately. This word and passage seem to implicate that Jesus had been working on Saul for quite a while, but Saul had failed to submit to the Savior. So at the right time, when God was ready, He appeared to him.
Saul, now helplessly blind was lead into the city of Damascus by his companions and was taken to the house of Judas. There he fasted and drank no water for 3 days. Now comes the man of the hour, the man that most of us should strive to learn from. Ananias. Scripture tells us little of Ananias, mainly just that he was a believer and lived in Damascus. Nothing was special about this man, but God chose him for the task. Once Ananias reaches Judas house he inquires about the man God had sent him to heal. I love this part --
The first thing out of Ananias's mouth was "Brother Saul" he called Saul his brother! He felt compassion for a man who he lived in fear of all of his christian life. That requires some serious faith. He saw the broken shell of a man, humbled under God, related to his suffering and acknowledged him as a brother.
The point of the story is that God took Ananias, a man of no distinction, a man who was nothing special and used him to help mold a giant Apostle of Christ. Think about it this way: God has alot of great plans for each of us, when we submit to God's authority and obey the last command he ever gave us, then we like Ananias can make a huge difference. All God is asking you to do is be like Ananias, conquer your fear and just GO!
The Lord was leading me to start this thread after reading a book titled "Paul" a book by a man named Charles Swindoll whom I'm sure all of you are familiar with. In the book he made an extremely vital point, which I am about to share to all of you for your benefit. It will change your thinking about the way God does things dramatically!
Picture this image: You are a Jew, living in Austria. Your country has just been taken over by Nazi Germany, a force of evil that stops at nothing to rid the world of people just like you. Show yourself in the street and they would most certainly cut off your head, kill you and your family. You are in your house praying to the Father when he tells you this "My Son, I want to you go to a certain street, to a certain house to do something for me. I want you to go and heal a man, a man that I am going to use for my own purpose, and that man is Adolf Hitler" Think of the shockwaves of emotions that would be filling your entire body at that moment. A man you have heard of doing evil things, a man you have only known through stories of murder and persecution, and God chose YOU! to go and see him. Now remember, your a Jew and God has asked you to go and see a man who would most certainly kill you for no apparent reason other than your beliefs or your heritage.
Now, in any normal circumstance we would be looking for a way out of this situation because frankly we are scared and we don't want to do it. This is exactly how Ananias felt in this story. (Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.) Now, Ananias wasn't telling anything to God that he didn't already know. God knew Sauls past. And I love his response to Ananias, He simply says "Go" -- when God gives us a word, we don't need to quibble over details, if you look in the story Ananias had no details about anything other than God wanted him to heal this man. He didn't know Saul was blind and helpless. The only thing on his mind was about the horrible things that Saul had done, but God told Him nothing than to go and obey. Once he did, he learned a bit more information.
Saul was no ordinary slouch, he had been taught by the greatest teachers among the greatest relegious schools that were available at that time. He knew the Law, knew everything about the Old Testament, and he was a Pharisee. I want you to note a extremely important word that is in this passage. In the NIV and NKJV in Acts 9:5 it mentions the word "goads" Now you are probably wondering what on earth a goad actually is, as I was. I decided to look into it.
A goad is simply a rodded stick, with one end sharpened to a point. And what farmers would do with this was, if an ox was stubborn and would not obey the farmers command to move, the would poke the ox with the stick and he would move. Often the ox would kick back, driving the point further into their leg causing more pain. Jesus told Saul, that it was hard for him to kick against the "goads". This tell us something about Saul that alot of people fail to see, Saul was converted to Christ but not immediately. This word and passage seem to implicate that Jesus had been working on Saul for quite a while, but Saul had failed to submit to the Savior. So at the right time, when God was ready, He appeared to him.
Saul, now helplessly blind was lead into the city of Damascus by his companions and was taken to the house of Judas. There he fasted and drank no water for 3 days. Now comes the man of the hour, the man that most of us should strive to learn from. Ananias. Scripture tells us little of Ananias, mainly just that he was a believer and lived in Damascus. Nothing was special about this man, but God chose him for the task. Once Ananias reaches Judas house he inquires about the man God had sent him to heal. I love this part --
The first thing out of Ananias's mouth was "Brother Saul" he called Saul his brother! He felt compassion for a man who he lived in fear of all of his christian life. That requires some serious faith. He saw the broken shell of a man, humbled under God, related to his suffering and acknowledged him as a brother.
The point of the story is that God took Ananias, a man of no distinction, a man who was nothing special and used him to help mold a giant Apostle of Christ. Think about it this way: God has alot of great plans for each of us, when we submit to God's authority and obey the last command he ever gave us, then we like Ananias can make a huge difference. All God is asking you to do is be like Ananias, conquer your fear and just GO!