Get up and Go! - The story of Saul

As I have read through chapter 1 of Galatians there are a few things that stick out to me.

Paul was not sent by man or any agency of man (Galatians 1:1). Paul was not always a man of God's word in fact he use to be the very opposite. Paul once went by the name of Saul. Saul was a man who persecuted  and made threats against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1). Saul went to the high priest to get letters, so that he could bring the men and woman who were followers of Christ to jail. On his way to Damascus the Bible says a light from Heaven flashed down on him (Acts 9:3). It was in that moment that the Lord spoke to Saul's heart and God showed Saul who He is. "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting". It was soon after that Saul became Paul. He was given a new name, and a new identity. He fell face down in the dirt and he heard the voice of the lord speak to him. Immediately God gives him instructions of where to go. God didn't just reveal himself to Saul and then leave him. God gave him instructions and He changed his identity. 

Is this not a perfect picture of what God has done in our own lives? At some point we were the Saul persecuting Christ. At some point we were running away from Jesus, but God called our names and He revealed himself to us. Whether He revealed himself by speaking directly to your heart, or He brought someone in to your life to share what God has done in their life. Either way He revealed himself to you, and now He's not done with you. Sometimes we get so caught up in what the future holds and trying to put all the pieces together, that we get frustrated when we don't see things happen right away. My question to you is are you taking the time to put your face to the ground to let Him reveal himself to you just like the first time He called you by name?

For Saul the Lord gave him the instruction to get up and enter in to the city, and it will be told to him what he will need to do next (Acts 9:6). Get up! First Saul fell to the ground, then God revealed himself to Saul, and now God is giving Saul instructions to get up and move.

Sometimes we get frustrated with not hearing God because we never fully listened to His original instructions. He said to get up. Have you gotten up? Have you done the very thing He told you to do? What was the last thing that the Lord told you to do that you still have not done? Think about it if Saul had chosen not to get up and go into the city, then 1. He would never have met Ananias and been healed of sight. God sent Saul to the city and there God told Ananias about a man from Tarsus named Saul who has a vision of a man named Ananias who would lay hands on him and heal him.

You see God did not leave Saul. He prepared the way for him. 

He promises to go before us and prepare the way (Isaiah 45:2) I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

Just as He went before Saul the same God will and has gone before you. He knows the plans He has for you, and He knows the best timing. After Saul was healed and baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17-18) he immediately started preaching the Gospel (9:20).

Think about it! If Saul hadn't listened and been obedient to the first instructions of the Lord, then He probably would never been healed, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and he probably would never have started preaching the Gospel and seeing lives changed. Not to mention look how many books of the New Testament he wrote. 13 books ascribed by Paul, but most scholars believe it was 8. Either way look at how the New Testament would have been different. God knew what He was doing in Saul's life long before Saul ever did, and He knows what He is doing in yours.

So I challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you need to be doing in this season of your life, ask Him to speak to you, or ask Him to remind you what He last told you that you haven't done. Maybe it's filling out an application, maybe it's applying to school, maybe it is giving a word to someone that your afraid is going to reject it, maybe it's teaching a Sunday school or youth class, maybe it's serving in the church somewhere specific, maybe it's taking drivers ed, paying a bill, or maybe He's telling you to wait and trust in His timing. There are many different seasons we go through, but I do know there is something specific that He wants to reveal to you, so don't be afraid to quiet yourself, put your face to ground, wait for Him to reveal himself to you, and then don't be afraid to get up and go!