Fueled by Faithনমুনা

Day 8 - (Part 1) Faith gives us supernatural boldness.

If you are anything like me, you have probably wondered how some men and women have been so devoted to Christ that they were willing to die for Him. I am an Armenian, and Armenia is a Christian nation, but it is surrounded by nations that have persecuted Christians for centuries. When I lived in Armenia, I heard stories of Christians being imprisoned in neighboring countries, I had friends that I could not speak to over the Internet because they were in countries where Christianity was illegal, and I have seen many people suffer for the Gospel. It was only when I developed a true relationship with the Lord that I learned how men and women would be willing to endure hardship, torture, or even death for Christ. Faith is what gives us the boldness to go where others would not dare to go, and faith is what gives us the courage to fight against the evil that is in the world, knowing that the enemy is going to fight tooth and nail to stop us. Faith is what gives us the boldness to act upon the leading of the Holy Spirit, and that boldness is what we need to see souls saved. When God calls you to do something, He will give you the means to do it. When the Holy Spirit leads you to speak with somebody, He has already prepared a way for you to do what He has told you to do. When the Holy Spirit leads you to do something, He will not only equip you to do what He has told you to do, He will give you the faith to press on toward whatever it is you must do. That faith gives us the confidence to fight for what God has put on our hearts, and it allows us to go and do things that most people would be afraid to do. That type of boldness is what the remainder of this plan will describe.

When I wrote the essay that this plan is based on, there was something about the boldness that comes with faith that stood out to me. The essay was 17 pages long, and around 6 and a half of them described the way faith gives us supernatural boldness.

In order to accurately portray the way faith produces boldness, without making this devotion too long, I have decided to separate this last point into several parts, so that we can spend a sufficient amount of time on each of the passages that we will read. Without further ado, let us begin.

The first passage that we will discuss is Acts 9, where we read about the conversion of Saul. Saul was a violent opponent of the Church, and he was not shy about his hatred for Christians. Saul would have Christians thrown in jail, or even executed. In fact, Acts 9:2 tells us about how Saul was going to Damascus, so that (in the words of the ESV), “if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem”. As Saul was traveling to Damascus, the Lord spoke. The Lord told Saul that He was “...Jesus, whom you are persecuting” [Acts 9:5, ESV] and that Saul should enter Damascus and await further instruction. Did I mention that Saul had been blinded? When the Lord spoke to Saul, He blinded him. Saul was blind for three days, and he spent those three days without eating or drinking anything.

This brings us to the part when God speaks to Ananias. Ananias is a Christian, and he lived in Damascus. Given how Saul was on his way to Damascus, and how Saul was traveling there in order to find Christians and take them to Jerusalem, it is safe to say that Ananias was at risk. Ananias actually knew who Saul was, and when the Lord spoke to Ananias, he raised his concern with the Lord.

But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” [Acts 9:13-14, ESV]

You may be wondering what the Lord told Ananias to do to warrant such a response. The Lord told Ananias that he must go to Saul, lay hands on him, and pray for him.

Wait, what?

The Lord wanted Ananias to go pray for the man that approved of the execution of Stephen [Acts 8:1], and who had been ravaging the church, “entering house after house”, and dragging men and women to prison! That man had been coming to Damascus so that he could persecute Christians! What if Saul arrested Ananias? What if Saul put Ananias to death?

Regardless of the danger that Ananias was faced with in obeying the Lord, Ananias did just what the Lord had commanded him to do, and that was the last that we heard of Saul.

Following the events of Acts 9, Saul became Paul, and Paul went on to become one the most important men in the early Church. It was not until Acts 13:9 that Saul was referred to as Paul, but from the moment that Ananias obeyed the Lord, Saul had been changed. Saul’s hatred for Christians was turned into Paul’s desire to see everybody come to know the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The extensive education that Saul had in the Old Testament was used by Paul to write incredibly powerful letters to the churches that he established while he was on his journeys as a missionary.

If it had not been for the faith of Ananias, what would have happened with Saul? Would he have gone to the grave without the ability to see? Would Saul have ever become Paul? Would Christianity have spread throughout the Roman Empire? Would we have Paul’s letters in our New Testament?

Because of the faith that was given to Ananias, he was able to go and pray for the man who had been ravaging the church. Faith gives us boldness, and that boldness allows us to do what we have been called to do.

REFLECTION:

1. Have you ever felt the boldness to do something that God put on your heart?
2. Put yourself in Ananias’ shoes. What would you have done if you had been in his situation?
3. In Acts 9, it seems as if Ananias knows certain parts of what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus. Do you think that the Holy Spirit revealed more to Ananias when he went out to do what he had been told to do?