Little Old Ananias - Friday February 05, 2016
The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul..." Acts 9:11 NIV
If you were to ask people who the Apostle Paul was, some would recognize him as an outstanding New Testament leader who preached the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles with powerful effect. On the other hand, if you mentioned Ananias... well, there would be a lot more head-scratching and "I'm not sure's."
Ananias is mentioned in only one passage in the Bible, yet this unknown man played an extremely important part in unleashing Paul for his ministry of the gospel. Take a quick look in Acts 9 and you see the amazing God-encounter with Saul on the Damascus road. But another amazing God-encounter follows shortly when God instructed Ananias, simply called "a disciple," to visit this infamous persecutor of Christians.
Despite his initial misgivings and fears regarding Saul, Ananias listened to God and went. The rest is history. Ananias visited and prayed for Saul, who made a 180-degree turn-around, joining the ranks of the Christians and becoming their champion of the faith.
Ananias's role was such a small one in the big picture, yet it proved to be a very significant part – a part that set all sorts of things in motion for God's glory and kingdom.
Most of us can relate much more to "little old Ananias" than to the Apostle Paul. Though we will most likely never rise to Paul's fame, our prayers and obedience to God in simple acts may be just the catalyst God needs to spark a revival!
Submitted by:
Dawn Bovenmyer
Stonebrook Community Church
Ames, Iowa
One-Year Reading Plan:
Exodus 21:22-23:13
Matthew 24:1-28
Psalms 29:1-11
Proverbs 7:6-23
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SCRIPTURE REFERENCB-ES: Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible B) The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy, Bible, New International Version, copyright B) 1973, 1978, 1984 by InternaB-tional Bible Society; (NKJV) are from New King James Version B) 1982 by Thomas Nelson; (NLT) are from the New Living Translation, B) 1996, Tyndale House Publishers; (ESV) are from English Standard VersionB., B) 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; (TM) are from The Message B) 1993 by NavPress Publishers.