You are not defined by the likes of many; you are defined by the love of One.
I WILL NEVER forget how I first glimpsed the presence of Jesus in my life. I did not experience a dramatic healing like the man at Bethesda or a voice booming down from heaven. But it shook me up and left me unsettled just the same.
Now, I will admit that if you saw me back in high school, you would probably say that it did not take much to shake me up! Most people would have called me a nerd, a good student interested in learning and determined to excel, who was fairly introverted and reserved. I hate to admit it, but I probably felt more excited about listening to Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses, and Van Halen than hearing our pastor’s sermons on Sunday. I preferred playing video games to studying the Bible and enjoyed watching MTV and old Star Trek reruns more than going to Sunday school. In other words, I looked and acted like a typical teenager in the 1980s!
After high school I wanted to attend college and study computers, becoming an engineer or some kind of programmer in the growing field of technology. I never imagined becoming a pastor. Only in my worst nightmares would I see myself standing in a pulpit preaching before thousands of people. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine talking to the president of the United States, let alone offering to pray at his inauguration before a worldwide audience of millions of people.
But all that changed one night at age sixteen.
Most of the day had been like any other school day. I went to classes, came home, did homework, ate dinner with my family, and then prepared to watch TV for a few minutes before bed. Flipping channels, I clicked past familiar sitcoms with laugh tracks and melodramatic prime-time soap operas with wealthy oil tycoons wooing glamorous women. Then for some strange reason, I paused when I came to a well-known televangelist preaching before a crowd of people in a large auditorium. At the time, I had never really thought about him or his style of preaching much at all.
In that moment, however, as I sat before the screen of our big console color television set, I immediately received a message in my heart. “One day, Samuel, you will preach in front of people just like that! So many people!” I did not doubt it for a second, even though I had no idea at the time where it came from. In fact, it would have creeped me out if I had not felt the greatest sense of peace about it.
After the sermon ended, I sat there dazed and began flipping channels again. Had I imagined that message I heard inside my head? Maybe I just needed to go to bed already! I paused on the public television channel, airing a special on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I knew of him, of course, as the iconic leader of the civil rights movement largely responsible for overturning segregation in our country. But when this program showed a clip of Dr. King preaching, something stirred inside me once again. “You will be doing that someday,” this voice said. “You will preach and lead other people and tell them about God’s love. You will be up there someday!”
I had no sense of needing to do anything differently, but I knew deep down that God has just given me a glimpse of His future for me. The next day and the weeks that followed, I could not shake the feeling of something significant having occurred that night as I sat in front of the TV in our family room. No one in our family had ever been in full-time ministry. My loving Christian parents created a warm, safe home for us, but I felt confident they had no aspirations for me as any kind of pastor or minister.
But after graduation my life began to take a different direction than any of us expected. The shy computer geek began to be transformed into a passionate young preacher on fire for God and the power of the gospel to change people’s lives. Others began to notice, and one door after another opened for me to lead and to speak—at my church, at other churches within our denomination, and at conferences and community events. These opportunities opened before me so easily, so inevitably, that I knew without a doubt God had divinely appointed them. As more and more people and other pastors noticed me and extended invitations for me to preach, I felt as if I knew a secret. God had revealed this path to me all those years before, and now He started to unveil His big plan for my life.
Compare my experience to that of the man beside the pool at Bethesda. His miracle, according to his observations and understanding, resided in waters moving there within the pool at Bethesda, with its five porches near the Sheep Gate corner of the temple courtyard in Jerusalem. But we find a problem with his perspective and resulting expectations: his breakthrough resided in a system established in the past.
Then Jesus came along. He easily could have said, “I will prompt the waters to move, and I will carry you in Myself.” But He did not. Why? Because Jesus did not need to abide by this old system—He fulfilled it and thereby created a new system where all of us can experience God and His healing power in our lives.
Originally a system created by God prompted occasional supernatural intervention. This method of divine interaction permitted sinful human beings to experience relationship with the Holy One, the living God, the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. In general terms we have come to call this way of relating to God “the Law” because of its reliance on obeying commandments; maintaining strict habits of speech, thought, and behavior; and offering sacrifices, often a lamb or other animal, to atone for one’s sins on a consistent, regular basis. We see the Law in effect throughout the Old Testament as the people of Israel struggle to love and serve God based on their own efforts.
Then God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to earth in the form of a man in order to radically change the way people related to God. Christ Himself became the system that guaranteed continual supernatural engagement. Perfect and sinless, Jesus took on all the sins of the world and became the unblemished Lamb of God, offered as an eternal sacrifice of atonement. “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 2:2, NLT). God replaced His Law with His love.
But people could not easily accept this change.
The Jewish people had been waiting for hundreds of years throughout many generations for God to send the Messiah, whom He promised to them by way of His prophets. As they watched their nation surrender to the Roman army and become another part of its vast global empire, the people of Israel became more desperate for God to deliver them—just as He had done before when they had been enslaved in Egypt. They expected the Messiah to raise an army and establish a kingdom that would restore Israel to its former glory.
Jesus turned those expectations upside down!
People waited for an event.
Jesus showed up and said, “I am the event!”
When Jesus shows up in your life, His presence always makes it the event!
When you experience such an event and encounter Jesus, nothing stays the same. Sometimes your relationship with Him develops slowly and gradually blossoms into more. Looking back at my life now, I can see many little seeds God planted in my life to bring me to Him and to my purpose for His kingdom.
Other times, though, I know He often shows up unexpectedly and—bam!—nothing remains the same. Like the man at the pool of Bethesda experienced that day when he encountered Jesus, everything can change in the blink of an eye. Curiously enough, in those situations you might suddenly see the world around you quite differently than you did only seconds ago. Or, in the case of the apostle Paul, you might not see at all!
When we consider what it means for God to confront you in the midst of your situation right now in this present moment, we cannot find a more dramatic example than the showdown Paul, then known as Saul, had with the living Christ on the road to Damascus one day.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
—ACTS 9:1–9
Talk about a close encounter of the best kind! Talk about changing the entire direction of your life! Just imagine Darth Vader traveling along looking for rebel Jedi warriors when suddenly he drops his lightsaber and collapses—because Saul had been that kind of guy! Only bad guys issue murderous threats like some fire-breathing dragon on the loose. In some ways, any fantasy creature pales in comparison to Paul because he believed in doing things precisely by the letter of the Law.
You see, Saul had been raised in a strict Jewish religious household and taught to believe no one could be righteous without strictly adhering to God’s Law. Jewish people who took this Law seriously and lived righteously had favor with God, but only as long as they obeyed every last detail of the Law. This included not only following the Ten Commandments—as we call the ten edicts God gave to Moses for the people of Israel—but also the strict dietary, social, and cultural laws recorded in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Saul must have heard about Jesus’ claims that He fulfilled the Law and set all people free by God’s grace.
But Saul did not buy it—not for a minute!
So not only did he go out hunting followers of Jesus with their grace-based lifestyle known as the Way, but Saul also made sure his prisoners would have no legal or religious recourse after he captured them. He had the high priest in Jerusalem write letters to the priests in charge of other synagogues in nearby cities authorizing Saul to arrest any of these believers in their communities.
Notice too that the text specifies both men and women could be taken as prisoners. Usually only men would be charged, arrested, and taken into custody in this ancient culture that considered women to be personal property, not public criminals. But not so in this case. Any woman participating in this new cult forming around the carpenter from Nazareth would be captured and considered just as culpable as a man. Saul intended to eradicate this errant system of false beliefs and its adherents before it grew and went any further.
But then he met Jesus.
A bright light flashed in the sky as Saul fell to the ground. Then a voice boomed out, “Why are you doing this? Why are you persecuting Me?”
Saul, like most of us, asked for the identity of his apparent assailant. “Who are You?” he cried.
“I am Jesus, the One whom you are persecuting. Get up, go to the city, and you will find out what to do next.”
While we might be tempted to think Saul had little choice, he, like all of us, got to choose how to respond to such an unexpected encounter. He could easily have become angry and upset, more determined than ever to seek out the Jesus groupies who must surely be responsible for his attack. But that theory would not have held water because the event left the men traveling with Saul speechless. They knew they had not engaged in any kind of human confrontation. They had not been ambushed by bandits or hijacked by foreigners. They had experienced a divine encounter with the living God!
When you have an encounter with Jesus, others might struggle to accept your transformation. They might be more familiar or even more comfortable with the person you have been. This certainly happened to a dangerous bounty hunter like Saul, a well-known persecutor of believers. In fact, Saul-turned-Paul would face this problem with his reputation frequently.
Later, after he had been saved by grace and filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul often explained his life prior to Christ: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify” (Acts 22:3–5). Paul even admitted that not only had he gone from one synagogue to another to beat and imprison Jesus’ followers, but he had tacitly given his approval while an angry mob martyred Stephen for his Christian faith, choosing to guard the coats of those stoning an innocent preacher of the gospel (v. 20).
Not surprisingly, other believers struggled to accept Saul’s encounter as authentic. A follower of the Way named Ananias resisted the Lord’s prompting to go and tend to Saul, but then God made it explicitly clear that he had big plans for this man who had once persecuted believers. As we see, Saul was indeed never the same man again following his encounter on the road.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
—ACTS 9:10–19
When we wander down our own Straight Street, we often have to face up to old habits and patterns of living. Sometimes we may have to surrender our addictions and sinful behavior at the foot of the cross daily or even hourly. Sometimes God removes them from our lives like the scales falling from Saul’s eyes. Suddenly we too see clearly that our old lives are over, and we sense God calling us to something new. Others may struggle with accepting our new lives, but if they know the source of our transformation—the grace of God through the power of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit—then they know how immediately God can work.
Sometimes after God confronts you in your present, you may struggle to get back on your feet again. I find it significant that Saul required assistance from others for his healing to be complete. First, he had to be led into the city because he could not see, and then he needed Ananias’ help. Ananias called Saul, “Brother,” laid hands on him, and prayed over him as the scales of blindness fell away and the Spirit of God filled his heart.
Whoever you used to be, whatever you have done, wherever you have been—these things no longer matter when you meet Jesus.
The impact happened immediately! Saul got up, and what did he do? Even before he ate some food, he got baptized! The man had not eaten for at least three days, and yet once he encountered Jesus, Saul hungered for God more than for food. After his conversion Saul became a new creature in Christ known as Paul.
Whoever you used to be, whatever you have done, wherever you have been—these things no longer matter when you meet Jesus. He wipes the slate clean. He heals your paralysis. He breaks your generational curses. He empowers you to do what you could not do before. He gives you a new life through the power of His Spirit in you!
Saul fulfilled the calling God placed on his life with flying colors. When God told Ananias, “This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel,” He meant it!
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Is not he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
—ACTS 9:19–28
Notice that after his personal encounter with Jesus, Saul began doing the very thing he had once violently opposed—sharing the good news of grace through Jesus Christ. Not only did he get baptized right away, but Saul also began preaching shortly after his conversion. When God confronts you in your present, you will suddenly start moving out of your comfort zone and into your grace zone. You will take risks that you would never have taken before. You will accomplish things that you would never have considered attempting before. You will no longer worry what others think about you and what you do.
I learned this firsthand, my friend. That shy, reserved, tech-loving Trekkie who planned on a quiet life as a computer engineer became this fired-up, pulpit-pounding, God-praising, Spirit-guided preacher, teacher, and leader. If I had not responded to my encounters with God, I would have missed out on many blessings. It has not always been easy, but I would not trade the adventure of faith God continues to guide me on for anything in this world.
As Saul found out, though, living out our faith has never been about taking the easy road. Right away Saul began getting grief for the dramatic way he preached and evangelized. And he must have been a powerful megaphone for God because some of the Jews wanted him dead! I cannot help but wonder if some of Saul’s former colleagues and associates turned on him, furious that they had lost their top lieutenant in the pursuit and persecution of believers. Surely they considered Saul a traitor!
Saul’s new family in Christ, however, clearly had his back. Knowing these Jews monitored the city gates day and night, a group of Christians hid their new brother Saul in a basket and lowered him like a bushel of wheat to the other side. Yes, some believers still feared him and wondered if Saul’s behavior was some kind of ruse, but others, such as Barnabas, trusted God’s guidance in accepting and helping Saul.
From there Saul began traveling, first with Barnabas and then later with Timothy and other believers, teaching and preaching to Gentiles in foreign lands. Somewhere along the way Saul began using the Greek version of his name, Paul, which is how he became best known. I suspect the change not only helped him escape his bad reputation as a bounty hunter but also reflected the new identity he found in Christ. Paul went on to endure beatings, arrests, shipwrecks, and snakebites. In fact, I wrote an entire book about Paul’s unbelievable journey from Jerusalem to Rome: Shake Free: How to Deal With the Storms, Shipwrecks, and Snakes in Your Life.1
While making his many journeys, Paul frequently wrote letters, or epistles as they were called, to the communities of believers in the distant ports he had visited. Many of these letters divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit became part of the New Testament in the Bible. His words continue to speak to us as God’s Word today, and his example reminds us that when God confronts your present, you need to surrender to His love.
Paul faithfully served the Lord and proclaimed the gospel message for the rest of his life. He never forgot though that God’s grace and God’s grace alone was the source of his identity, his authority, and his reality. In a letter to the church at Corinth, Paul wrote, “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:9–10).
An authentic encounter with the grace of God continues to change people today. Just as we see with the man at Bethesda and the conversion of Saul, the presence and power of Jesus changes everything. When Christ confronts your present, He conveys a new message about your identity and purpose. I believe Jesus says:
I am not here to change the things around you—I am here to change the things inside you!
I am not here simply to change your circumstances—I am here to change you in the midst of your circumstances!
I have not come to stir up the waters in front of you—I have come to stir up the faith inside you!
But too often we continue to ponder our paralysis and wallow by the waters. You see, paralysis doesn’t only happen to your body. When you refuse to experience the fullness of God’s Spirit through the presence of Jesus in your life, paralysis strikes your thinking. Your faith freezes. You disable your strength, hope, and power.
However, God does not confront you right here and right now about your power—but about His power! We can get so full of ourselves and our problems sometimes. In the love of one Christian brother for his sisters and brothers in the family of Christ, let me tell you something: get over yourself! I know that might sound harsh, but as severe as that sounded, it would be far worse to miss out on what God has for you! Do not let the devil keep your eyes only on your paralysis and what you cannot do. Do not buy his lies that you are not good enough or strong enough or powerful enough.
It does not depend on you—if it did, you would remain paralyzed!
In the love of one Christian brother for his sisters and brothers in the family of Christ, let me tell you something: get over yourself!
The Word promises us that “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13). Stop crawling on your belly when you can stand on your feet and step out in faith! Quit writhing on the ground when you can hold your head up high and lift your hands toward heaven, praising God for all He has done and will continue to do for you!
Do not look at your ability—look at His anointing.
Do not rely on your potential—rely on His power.
Do not focus on who you are in Him—focus on who He is in you!
Stop asking what you can do through Him—ask what He can do through you.
My friend, you and I are not blessed because of where we are; we are blessed because of whose we are! God wants to work in your life, to lift you up and make you well.
Will you let Him? Will you obey and stand up? Will you let go of the ground and grasp the hand of your Savior? If you want to experience the healing transformation that results when you embrace God’s presence in your life, then tell Him! Pray to God right now and let Him know you feel ready to walk. You have grown tired of waiting and wondering, watching and worrying. You will no longer wait on someone else to lift you up and take you to the waters. From now on you refuse to live under the old systems that keep you paralyzed.
Instead you drink the living water of Jesus.
You let go of who you once were.
You prepare for your turn, right here and right now in the present!
You are next!