For thought and meditation

[rl69]

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."

—Acts 9:17

Saul of Tarsus . . . his very name would have sent chills down the spines of followers of Jesus. Yet God spoke to a believer named Ananias and 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” (Acts 9:11).

This was Saul, the hunter of believers, the killer of Christians. We certainly could understand the reticence of Ananias. Yet I love his response: “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’” (verse 17).

Did Saul ever, in a thousand years, think he would hear a Christian call him “Brother Saul”? But what a difference a day makes—or even an hour makes.

There will be times when God will put a burden on your heart to approach a certain person or say a specific thing or go to a specific place. You have a choice in the matter: you can go, or you can not go. God came to the prophet Jonah and told him to go to the city of Nineveh and announce his judgment against it. But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction. You can be a Jonah, or you can be an Ananias.

Ananias is truly an unsung hero of the Christian faith for doing what he did. He never preached any sermons that we know of. We don’t read of any miracles being performed through his hands. He never wrote an epistle. But he did reach someone who did all of those things and more.

[USMC87]

Amen.

[Boaz]

Ananias was a messenger . We are all messengers in many ways if we are trying . We do not take seriously the work GOD gives in our daily lives (I'll take some flak over this ...BUT) . I'm throwing myself in that pile ! How many times 'could' you have mentioned the name of GOD in normal conversation yesterday ? Do you give a reply or greeting like ; GOD has given us a beautiful day ! When the teenager that rolled your groceries out and loaded them up and shuts the trunk do you say anything like ; Thank you ! I hope our Lord blesses you today . How much do you call his name ? We are all messengers , we confirm , we provoke thought .

[Blackwater]

"But what a difference a day makes—or even an hour makes."

INDEED!!! The "before and after" lives of a believer are in no way comparable! It really IS a "transformation." Some just take longer to realize it fully than some others. It will always amaze me to see a non-believer come to Christ. It's as though we were watching a caterpillar become a butterfly, right before our eyes! And it's a wonderful and humbling and powerful thing to watch, too! God loved us even before we were born. Most atheists can't and won't accept that, and claim they can't understand such "gobbledygook." But it's true. They just have their minds set to see it as "impossible," when nothing could be MORE possible, and likely, if they just looked at ALL the evidence that's right before them if they will simply pick it up and use it. But that's their little ball of wax, and they can do what they wish to with it. That's the gift God gave all of us. Apparently, He doesn't want anyone who is so pig headed and self-centered as to WANT to die, when life is so easy to attain. God be with those who yet do not believe! He stands at the doorway to our hearts as long as we yet live, and holds out His hand, if we'll but simply take it. So easy! So very, VERY easy! And yet, so many think they'd rather sit haughtily and deny! What a wonder mankind is!