Weekly Memory Verse:
Jesus replied, "My Father is always working, and so am I." John 5:17 (NLT)
Meditation Thought:
When have I been doing exactly the opposite of what God wanted me to do? How did He get my attention?
Today's Reading - Acts 9:1-15 (HCSB) Choose another translation
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, either men or women, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
"Who are You, Lord?" he said.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," He replied. "But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. Then Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. He was unable to see for three days, and did not eat or drink.
Now in Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!"
"Here I am, Lord!" he said.
"Get up and go to the street called Straight," the Lord said to him, "to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so he may regain his sight."
"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name."
But the Lord said to him, "Go! For this man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before Gentiles, kings, and the sons of Israel."
(Today's reading came from the Holman Christian Standard Bible)
5 comments:
It's amazing the lengths God will go to in order to get our attention. We usually stop trying after a while. But when God has a person in mind - stand back!
God has used people and circumstances to get my attention - and like Paul, I wished I would have listened sooner.
When called by God, Saul responded "Who are You, Lord?" Yet he immediately does what God instructed him to do, even thou he had been blinded. Ananias answers God's call with "Here I am, Lord!" Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name." Todays reading really makes me look into myself. Even thou I answer his call as “Yes Lord” I don't always do what Saul did. I like Ananias say Lord do realize what you are saying? Look at that person, or where that person is at. I enjoy God seeing me as who he wants me to be yet I look at who and where others are not who they will become in Christ.
A lot of times God will use others and situations to remind me where he wants me to be. It really humbles me that God loves me enough to correct me.
"The important thing is to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become. (Charles Dubois)
Maybe what we are is not what God wants us to be. Listen. Pray. Obey.
After reading this it makes me think that no one is to wicked, to far gone for God to change. Just look at how God used Paul after that...There is hope for those around us that we feel could never have a relationship with God!
Sometimes I wish that God would take these great lengths to get my attention.... then again maybe it would be a good idea to just listen a little more.
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