Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Acts 9 and Psalm 77

The main focus of Acts 9 is clearly Saul’s radical conversion from being a persecutor of Christians to being an outspoken preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who “baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah” .

However, the man who caught my attention today was Ananias. This is his only appearance in the book of Acts, but he played a wonderful role in Saul’s conversion. He was just an ordinary man following Jesus by faith who responded in beautiful obedience when the Lord called to him in a vision. Certainly, he asked a few questions about his mission and raised some concerns, but when the Lord had reassured him of His plan, he went at once and did what his Lord had told him to do.

The Lord used Ananias’ obedience to minister miraculous healing to Saul, who was immediately baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit. And that infilling of the Spirit ultimately propelled Saul into the massively effective mission described in the rest of the Book of Acts.

Ananias’ great contribution to the Kingdom’s cause was as simple as going to a specific house, asking for a specific man, placing his hands on him in prayer for his healing, and then baptising him into his new-found faith in Jesus. It was very straightforward. But we’re still experiencing its ripple-effects today as Gentile believers, whose spiritual ancestors came to faith in Jesus in great part due to the ministry of this self-same Saul (who became better known as Paul the apostle).

Life application: Today you may very well feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit to strike up a conversation with someone seemingly unimportant, or to perform some act of kindness. Live in spontaneous obedience to those promptings of the Spirit, knowing that He may use your simple obedience to utterly transform a life.