Acts 9:1-22 (MSG)
1 All this time Saul was breathing down the necks of the Master’s disciples, out for the kill. He went to the Chief Priest
2 and got arrest warrants to take to the meeting places in Damascus so that if he found anyone there belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he could arrest them and bring them to Jerusalem.
3 He set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light.
4 As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?”
5 He said, “Who are you, Master?” “I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down.
6 I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you’ll be told what to do next.”
7 His companions stood there dumbstruck—they could hear the sound, but couldn’t see anyone—
8 while Saul, picking himself up off the ground, found himself stone blind. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus.
9 He continued blind for three days. He ate nothing, drank nothing.
10 There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.” “Yes, Master?” he answered.
11 “Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying.
12 He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”
13 Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem!
14 And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us.”
15 But the Master said, “Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to Gentiles and kings and Jews.
16 And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job.”
17 So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul, and said, “Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on your way here. He sent me so you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes—he could see again! He got to his feet, was baptized,
19 and sat down with them to a hearty meal. Saul spent a few days getting acquainted with the Damascus disciples,
20 but then went right to work, wasting no time, preaching in the meeting places that this Jesus was the Son of God.
21 They were caught off guard by this and, not at all sure they could trust him, they kept saying, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem among the believers? And didn’t he come here to do the same thing—arrest us and drag us off to jail in Jerusalem for sentencing by the high priests?”
22 But their suspicions didn’t slow Saul down for even a minute. His momentum was up now and he plowed straight into the opposition, disarming the Damascus Jews and trying to show them that this Jesus was the Messiah.

Encounter! How much we all want a “Damascus Road” experience but are too sceptical, too scared, or too timid to allow the Lord in. Encounter!
Have you experienced a special, physical shaking, opinion changing, attitude adjustment and life-transforming encounter? A spiritual episode that realigned your destiny and life with the plan and purposes of God?
We are all on a journey going somewhere: like Paul, with misguided but good intentions mixed with a wrong motive, journeyed for the Lord only to discover the absence of the very One whose journey we are on, on way to “Damascus.”
There are so many Christians today who aren’t “born again” or “converted” yet like Paul, they are very eager, loyal, and fierce in the pursuit of their perceived beliefs. God does not need us to fight His battles and as He said to Paul, it’s persecution when we go after fellow “Christians” because of denomination classification.
Encounter! The collision between the Holy Spirit and our egos. When we encounter God in the naturally supernatural way, we realise how tiny we contrast with the bigger picture of eternity. We strut around with the mentality and ego that we are tongue-speaking, scripture quoting believers and lovers of God but if God weights us will He find us wanting? Daniel 5:27.
Paul went around against the disciples of the Lord; not against wicked men, murderers, and thieves, and other evildoers, but against the harmless and innocent followers of Jesus, he persecuted the early followers of Jesus because they claimed he was the long-expected messiah.
Encounter! Paul saw a light and, within the light, Jesus Himself, in His risen and glorified body.1 Corinthians 9:1. Have you seen the light? Have you encountered the Lord? Although Paul’s encounter is the most dramatic and transforming, there are a few others who encountered the Lord such as:
In Genesis 18 the patriarch Abraham has a dramatic personal encounter with God. His meeting with God provides us with a wealth of insights into who God is and how He relates to us humans.
In Exodus 3 God called Moses to do what he’d run away from, he met the Lord in the burning bush but wrestled with his faith with questions like, what if they don’t believe me or listen to me?
Judges 6 records the encounter of the Lord with Gideon – the man through whom God would save Israel from slavery to the Midianites. He met the Lord at the threshing floor where he was gleaning and hiding grains from Israel’s enemy.
In Genesis 28 Jacob sets out for Harran, so, instead of his comfortable bed or a warm inn at the side of the road, he spent his first night sleeping on the cold, hard ground without any physical shelter and only stones for a pillow and this is where he encountered the Lord in a dream.
Luke 23:32-43 says the thief pleaded with Jesus to remember him in God’s kingdom. This desperate and humble cry for mercy is all that God needed to welcome him into the family of God. What an incredible story! A man who led his entire life in opposition to God, by the great mercies of God, was saved in his dying moments.
There is no other name by which we can be saved. Acts 4:12. We all need an encounter, I ask the Lord for a daily encounter, a new encounter, a fresh encounter for myself and my household, that’s what keeps our faith life adventurous. If you haven’t met the Lord yet, ask God to come into your heart and life or the Lord might just meet you on the way to Damascus.
Shalom