SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/29/2017 11:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Fervency in Supplication
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 9:10-12
Message of the verses: “10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.’”
I have heard stories of people who were in trouble and
praying about the situation that is in front of them and at the same time
another person or persons had a burden for the person who was in trouble even
though they did not know they were in trouble.
We see a similar situation in these verses we are looking at today, as
Saul was praying to the Lord about what was going on in his life after seeing
the glorified Christ who told him to go to a certain place and wait. Ananias is the name of the man who has a
vision, and we know that this is not the same Ananias whom we meet in chapter
five as he died. Let us look at Acts
22:12 “"A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by
all the Jews who lived there.”
Notice how Paul speaks of this man as he talks about his conversion in
chapter 22 as I have highlighted some of the characteristics of this man
Ananias. Ananias had a wonderful
testimony as I am sure Saul found out, as from what we read in Acts 22:12 we
can be sure that this man was one of the spiritual leaders of this city. Now as we move on we see that “the Lord said
to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house
of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul.’”
We will learn soon that Ananias knew about Saul of Tarsus and this is
another indication that he was one of the leaders of this church. We know that this is a very severe test that
is given to Ananias a test that may make him think that what he had for supper
the night before may be causing him to think that he is seeing something or
hearing something that is not what it looks like. Another part of this test is
that Ananias would have had no idea that Saul became a believer a few days
earlier.
We read kind of a footnote to show us what Paul was doing
“for behold, he is praying.” I have to
say that I have fasted for an extended time on a couple of occasions and one of
the things that I learned was that my mind was much more clearer and prayer was
better during the times of fasting, so I can understand why Saul would be
praying at this time.
We can see that God was giving instructions to Ananias
and then moves on to say what He was going to do for Saul as Ananias was
waiting, as God gave Saul a vision which told him that Ananias would come and
lay his hands on him in order for him to regain his sight. John MacArthur concludes “God, in His tender
kindness to this persecutor, did not want him to be in any unnecessary sorrow,
so He gave Saul hope for receiving his sight.
A pair of visions were about to bring together two men who had been
poles apart.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thinking of
a passage from the book of Hebrews which speaks of men not realizing that they
had been entertaining angels. As I think
about that and about this story about Saul and Ananias, especially Ananias I
have to come to the conclusion that for me to do anything like what the people
in Hebrews did and what Ananias did I must keep my life clean, that is keep a
short list with the Lord so my heart will be clean and ready to do what the
Lord desires me to do at any time.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord as I prepare to
teach my lesson in Sunday school class this up-coming Sunday.
Memory verses: Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, For
You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever
is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever
is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if
anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Hannah” (1 Samuel 1:15).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where did Solomon get cedar
trees for the temple?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/29/2017 11:46 AM
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