Personal encounter – Part 5

Text: Acts 9:1-21
Key Verse: Acts 9:5, “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” (KJV)

Saul had a personal encounter with God when a flash of light shined on him. He went blind and fell to the ground in awe of God. The man who had been the strongman suddenly became a helpless creature wobbling and led by the hands of his inferiors. Saul, who had been the number one predator of Christians, was now heading to a Christian’s house vulnerable and exposed to attack.

In Acts Chapter 22, Saul, now Paul, gave account of his conversion to Christ. When you encounter Christ, you have a personal testimony of what the Lord had done in your life, just the way Paul had testimony of what happened in his life. He had a testimony of how he had been transformed from his old lifestyle to a new creature.

According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Many people quote 2 Corinthians 5:17 every day and say they are in Christ, yet there are no signs of a new creation in their lifestyles. Some people say that they are in Christ, yet there are not transformed in their behaviour. Rebellious, people are still rebellious and there is no change in their lives.

As a woman, a wife living with the husband, if you are disobedient, stubborn, proud, naughty, rude, among others, then know that you need an encounter, because that is not the picture of a Christian woman. The purpose of this encounter that we are talking about, particularly in the case of Saul whose example we are looking at, is to make you to properly understanding whom Jesus Christ is. It is an encounter that will make you to totally yield or surrender yourselves to the Lord.

There are always people who live in secret sins; some are still in our churches. Saul was brought up in the city of Tarsus at the feet of Gamaliel, a leading authority in the Sanhedrin, but he had no personal encounter with Jesus Christ until the day that he fell to the ground. The need of the hour is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

You need an encounter. One of the things that will give you boldness as a child of God is to know that you have completely submitted yourself to the Lord. When Saul encountered Jesus Christ, the people who were with him were hearing a voice but they did not understand the voice. It was Saul alone who fell to the ground — that was a personal encounter with God.

Saul submitted himself completely to God. Trembling and astonished, he said: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). Saul had a face-to-face encounter with the saving power of the gospel. It is the gospel that produces conviction, the sense of fear and trembling that comes when sin is exposed, and the need for repentance is made clear.

• Today’s nugget: The need of the hour is personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Prayer: Lord, I pray reveal Yourself to me. Prayerlines: 08054477940. E-mail: servantofgod111@yahoo.com. Rev. Pastor Ejikeme Ejim, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God Nigeria