THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 37

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

Day 37:  Saul and Ananias (Acts 9: 1-22)

Saul hated all Christians, and he wanted them dead.  They threatened the belief system upon which he had built his entire life.  He was more than happy to be used by his God to put an end to their destructive ways that threatened his religion.  As he traveled to Damascus, he had the support of the Jewish priests to bring all traitors of the Law back to Jerusalem.  He reveled in his thoughts while he approached Damascus, but suddenly his thoughts came to an abrupt halt.  The brightest light he had ever seen flashed around him, and being unable to withstand the power of it, he fell to the ground.  The men with him were startled as well, but it was the Voice that came from heaven that rendered them all speechless.  “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?”

Who was this who knew him by name, Saul questioned with great fear in his heart.  Yet, something inside of him knew it was Jesus.  Getting up from the ground Saul quickly realized that he had been blinded, perhaps by the bright light itself.  The men that were with him led him into Damascus, and it was there that he waited for more instruction from the Lord.  Saul then chose to neither eat nor drink for the next three days.

Ananias was told by God to go to the place where Saul was staying.  Struggling with his assignment, he questioned the validity of Saul’s conversion.  He knew all too well of Saul’s brutality toward the believers in Jerusalem.  But God had clarified to him what Saul’s mission would be—he would be used to bring Jesus and salvation to the Gentiles.  God deemed Saul a “chosen instrument,” much to Ananias’ surprise.

Arriving at the house where Saul was staying, Ananias confirmed Jesus’ involvement in both of their lives.  Immediately Saul could see again, he was baptized by Ananias, and he began to prove to the Christians in Damascus that he solemnly believed that Jesus truly was the Messiah.

Do you think (like Saul might have) that your sins have been too great to be completely forgiven, let alone to be used by God for ministry?  Do you use that as an excuse to not serve Him as He desires?  Do you question the validity of the salvation of those who have greatly sinned?  Do you support those who are newly saved?  Are you a chosen vessel?

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 24

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

Day 24:  Nicodemus  (John 3: 1-21)

“I am so confused,” Nicodemus thought. “Being a man, a GOOD JEWISH man, I have been raised and well-schooled in all the laws of God.  I know very well what God demands of me, and I have obeyed Him and His laws.  But this Man Jesus……He is a puzzle to me.  He has come to us proclaiming a new and better way.  I know that He has performed many impressive signs and miracles that only a man of God could do.  But He also overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the temple at the last Passover, declaring that they were making the temple a place of business.  Isn’t that the way it has always been?  What am I, a ruler of the Jews, to do with such a man?  How can He and the God of my fathers both be right?”

When Nicodemus’ questions refused to leave his mind, he decided to seek out Jesus late one night, not wanting to be seen by his fellow Pharisees.

From the moment Jesus started to speak to him, Nicodemus’ heart began to stir.  Jesus spoke to him of being born again.  “But how?”  he questioned.  As Jesus began to explain just how a man could be spiritually born again , the fog in Nicodemus’ mind began to clear for the very first time.  It was all about the Spirit, not the Law!  And then there was the issue of eternal life, the gift to all who would believe that Jesus was God’s Son AND live their lives by the Spirit according to His commands.  This was the salvation and hope that Nicodemus had longed for his whole life!

He had choices to make.  Would he continue to live in his dark world of sin and the laws he couldn’t possibly keep on his own?  Would he continue to hide his desire for Jesus from his friends?  Or would he confess Jesus as his Lord, coming boldly into the Light that would expose his sin?  Would he live his life by the Spirit as one who practiced the truth he claimed to believe, as a witness to his friends?

These questions also beg questions of us.  Will we receive Jesus in a way that changes our lives dramatically? Will we be witnesses of the One we call Lord? Will we be ashamed to openly worship Him?  Or will we stay safe?