the persecutor persecuted

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Yesterday we read how Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and how God spoke to Ananias to minister to Saul so he could receive his sight. Ananias was shocked to get an order like that, since he knew how Saul had persecuted the church, but God told him that Saul would be an important instrument for evangelism and that he would suffer for the name of Jesus. Faithfully, Ananias goes. It doesn't take long for Saul to start living up to his promise, and to receive persecution himself. It blows me away how faithful these folks are to their call. I always come away from Acts convicted because my own faith is meek and lukewarm in comparison. How can you stir up the Spirit within you and follow your calling today?

God bless,
Sam

Acts 9:17-25

¹⁷So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, ²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” ²²Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah. ²³After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, ²⁴but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him; ²⁵but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.