Paul
Ok guys, well I’ve been well overdue for a post for a while now. I guess it was a bit hard for me personally to take the time to relax and dwell upon His word and become inspired for something to share. Hopefully this post can make up for any ground I’ve lost with this blog and the inspirations in me can help inspire you guys as well =) take care and enjoy. God bless.
So yeah, I’ve been working my butt off in school, so much work that I’ve been spending my life in class, studying or sleeping… barely even time to eat (although I make time). This whole past week I’ve been working on all my subjects, except for my religious studies course. For this course, I have no midterms, no exams, just three papers due over periodic times. My first one is due on Tuesday and I tried to finish everything such that I could have a lot of time to work on this assignment. For the assignment I had to write about Paul and his life as told by the Acts of the Apostles. As you can imagine, that means going through the book of Acts and reading each verse carefully to extract any information relevant to Paul. The actual note taking process took me around 7 hours last night, and writing the report today took me another 4 or so hours. I still have editing to do, just… not now. Haha. Well yeah, basically through writing this assignment I reached a point where I was so inspired. Really, if you have time and the will power... read acts... it’s an awesome read. Learn about Paul... either that or ask me to send you to my assignment (8 pages double spaced) and read it. The life of Paul is really amazing, I never realized. It fully shadows the life of Jesus, the preaching, the miracles and all. (Paul even revives a guy too, funny story, how many of you guys actually knew that?) But I won’t ruin any more for you.
I’m here today because I was so inspired by Paul’s story. This guy shows boundless faith and perseverance. He was beaten to the brinks of death, like what, 5 or more times? And the best part of it, he either got back up on the spot or the next day and just started preaching again. What a guy. How many of us get beat down by our daily lives and we’re down there for days, for weeks, for months or ever years… There’s so much more too. Paul was thrown in jail, down to the dirts and stuck behind bars. What does he decide to do? Him and his pal Silas begin to pray and sing praises unto God. Like WHHHAATTT?? In jail? Like… how many of us even think of singing praises when we’re in school let alone jail. This God must be some amazing dude for this Paul fella.
I was having a conversation with my friend Bryan. I guess, safe to say somewhat discouraged about not hearing about many miracles here in North America? Correct me if I’m wrong. We were discussing how the amazing things we here about happen in the more underdeveloped countries (I didn’t agree with this, but just making a point). He finds it hard to compare to the miracles of Christ and even Paul. Paul, who like Jesus, revived a dead man, healed the masses, preached with scripture and led those who were lost. I guess my point is, how did Paul get to this point of shadowing Jesus move for move?
Many of us have heard the story of Saul on the road to Damascus. I often use it as an analogy to our lives (will tell it again later). One of the things I found most surprising is that Saul’s transformation doesn’t really happen there when he’s struck blind. (I think it is a big misconception that Saul transforms into Paul there and becomes an amazing instrument for God). Saul, although he does change at that moment, has barely begun his transformation. Saul is struck blind early in Ch. 19. From there he is guided to the town and then Ananias returns his sight to him. From there he begins his preaching and sermons in the synagogues, and right away is persecuted.
Right now, Saul is still known as… Saul. He’s preaching and getting beat up and all that. Many people (including myself) believed at this point that Saul has transformed, that he was made new. But no… he isn’t. It is not till chapter 13 that Saul completes his transformation. A whole four chapters pass until it really happens. In chapter 13:9 Saul performs his first miracle and strikes an evil sorcerer blind, and is from now on, called Paul.
Paul’s miracle was a sign of the completed transformation because that is when he was then on referred to as Paul. Now, why you ask when he performed a miracle? Well the analogy I tell my friends is that, “God is not going to strike you blind on the road to Damascus.” Meaning, stop waiting for God to do something ‘amazing’ to you. No, I’m not doubting God’s power. If it is in His will, then yes he will strike you blind and kick you in the butt, but you shouldn’t be sitting idle till then. Yes, Paul was struck blind; the power of God was so evident in his life, thus he was justified to preach with fervor and persistence. But then again, no, these were all acts of faith on Paul’s part. Paul was not considered transformed until his faith was at a level that he performed a miracle. At that moment is when God was so pleased with him that he gave him a new name. What I’m trying to say here is not to go trying to strike your enemies blind, but that you need to have acts of faith. God wants to see you do something for him, out of faith, without him needing you to be struck blind. At that point is when God will really fill you up with the Holy Spirit and use you as part of his perfect and pleasing will.
How many times do I have to say? Failure is not doing something wrong. Failure is missing the opportunity to do something amazing. God wants you to have faith. He wants you to do something amazing for the cause. Be like Paul. Have faith, take initiative, persevere and you can see what God can do with you. Paul was God’s
“Chosen Instrument” (Acts 9:15). What name does God have for you? No matter who you are, where you are, and what you’ve done, I’m so sure that God did not create you to live your lives day in and day out doing absolutely nothing.
I hope you don’t see it that I put any of your levels of faith into question; I would hate to do that. But, yes, you can argue, you don’t need to do works to believe in God, or to get into heaven. But I argue on pretense of James 2:14-26; if you have faith, where are your works? I’m sorry to say, maybe you think you have faith, but maybe your works say otherwise.
I write this for encouragement. God can do so much with one man. The planet was changed from the actions of Jesus Christ, Paul, Silas, Luke, the Apostles, all just men. Men with sandals on their feet and not a clue in the world how much their lives would change the world (excluding the first dude). Today I call upon you to be a man or woman with nothing but a passion in their hearts to do something amazing for God. No longer can we sit and watch the others like Paul do all the dirty work. Paul was a hero of the faith. What have you contributed to the faith?
