Saturday 18 Oct 2014

October 18: Acts 9:10-16

Key Verse: Acts 9:13
‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.

Devotion:
I could quite imagine what Ananias must have though when he was told by The Lord in a vision to go and heal Saul. Saul had built up a bit of a name for himself as being the one the Jews should avoid at all costs because he did nothing but persecute them; now here was God saying that he should go and be kind to him! How many times have you had something similar told to you? Maybe you really did not like someone at school and the teacher pairs you off with that person!

God is the one who knows what is going on inside people’s hearts and He alone is the one who is able to put the right people together at the right time to make sure they have the best opportunity to get to know Him! We come up with all sorts of excuses so that we don’t have to mix with the people that we do not like. God is the one who says we should love our enemies as well as our friends. He says that we need to forgive people over and over again. He wants us to make a difference in the world and not just to the same people over and over again.

Ananias did not want to go out and make friends with the enemy for fear of his life and the lives of the Jews around him. But when the Lord told him that He had chosen Saul for the task, Ananias did not stand around complaining about things all day long; he got about doing what God had told him to do. Too often in our lives we try to make the choices for God because we think we know the people around us! It is not our job to judge the people around us. That is God’s position. Our lot is to listen to what God tells us and where He tells us to go.

I would never have dreamt that I would be serving the type of teenagers that I steered clear of when I was in school. I would run a mile before mixing with those types, and yet that is where God has placed me in my ministry. Yes it is hard work at times but it is very rewarding because I know that I am doing what God has asked me to do and not running the other way like I used to. When God ask, smile and say ‘yes Lord’.

Points to Ponder:
Are you trying to guide God?

Do you really listen?