So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 9:17, ESV)

In case you are not familiar with Paul’s story in Scripture, I’ll give you a little recap. Paul, previously known as Saul, experienced a very dramatic conversion event. He went from being a persecutor of Jesus’ followers to a follower himself.  

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Acts 9:1-2 says, “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” He asked and got permission to persecute those following Jesus. Some say he was even responsible for killing some as he was a witness to Stephen’s stoning (see Acts 7).  

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Then, he was dramatically converted and struck blind when Jesus appeared to him (Acts 9:3-9). Enter Ananias… Acts 9:10-17 says, “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 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.’” This next part is so real.  

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“But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And he has authority from chief priests to bind all who call on your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit’” (emphasis added).

Paul (previously known as Saul) became the voice of Jesus to the Gentiles (us), and his story is truly remarkable. But I want to focus on a secondary person in this passage, Ananias. See, he’s a pivotal character in this story, too. Without him, God surely would have accomplished his plans through someone else, but what would Ananias have missed out on?  

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There are so many points in which Ananias had a choice and might have missed out. First, I love that Ananias had a vision. He could have simply chosen to ignore the vision and chalk it up to his crazy imagination. He could have questioned if it was really God he was hearing or just random thoughts. Does that sound familiar? It sure does to me — many times I will write something off that might have actually been from Holy Spirit.

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Next, Ananias pointed out that this would be dangerous. The man God wanted him to go to was killing his people. Umm, no thank you. He’s on his own. Have you ever been called to pray for someone you thought was “bad”? Did you go through with it or figure that God certainly didn’t want you to put yourself in a bad situation for someone like them? But God sees us all as his children and seeks after all of us. Romans 2:11 says, “God shows no partiality.”  

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Next, God tells Ananias to go anyway because Paul is his “chosen instrument.” And if God is calling Ananias to go to someone who is his chosen instrument, then Ananias also is one of God’s chosen instruments. Ananias was chosen by God to be a part of this — and what an amazing legacy he was a part of. About half of the books of the New Testament are attributed to Paul, and he visited and preached the Gospel to over 50 cities. That is influence. And Ananias got to be a part of it all, simply because he was willing to be used by God in this moment.  

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Finally, Ananias was a part of Paul’s healing and receiving of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever had the privilege of praying with someone who has just accepted Christ as their Savior? I experienced it with my son and literally saw the Holy Spirit come upon him. I will NEVER forget that experience or it’s effect on my son and me.  

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We may not all be Pauls, but we can all be an Ananias. We can all choose to embrace the discomfort or downright fear to be used in a mighty (if unknown) way for the Kingdom.  

Father God, thank you for including us in your amazing story. May you grant us courage and clarity to step into what you have called us to. In Jesus’ name ~ AMEN!