DAY 8–The Archenemy of the Church Switches Sides!
READ: Acts 9: 1-6, 20-22.
Saul of Tarsus was a brilliant and elite Jew. He’d been at Stephen’s stoning and was now committed to capturing and punishing followers of The Way. (That’s the name outsiders were using to describe the new disciples). The early church feared Saul, and rightly so. Yet in a weird twist of fate, while traveling to Syria to hunt down “believers”, the man of horror met Jesus. Through a supernatural, life-changing experience, Saul, became the most unlikely convert of his day. In time, he would come to be known as the famous Apostle Paul. And it was this Jew of all Jews that God chose to be the greatest missionary to the Gentiles.
How Does that Apply to Me? Sometimes, God chooses the most unlikely candidates to do His work. The people He selects to proclaim the Gospel are many times the very people we would never imagine or choose for ourselves. Not only that, many times it seems they come from the most unusual or dramatic backgrounds. Let’s be willing to reach outside our comfort zone when opportunities arise to share our faith. You just never know what The Lord can and will do through that individual.
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel…”
Praying Together: Let’s ask the Lord for strength to witness to the very people that seem to us unreachable or difficult to love and understand. God’s plan for them may be more than we could ever think or imagine.
Matt Surber's Blog 