The Ministry of Obedience

Many times, during my children’s lives I have interrupted their schedules by telling them there is something that we have to get done. Most of the time it went over easy, but there were times when it was hard to get everyone on the same page. Having our schedules “Interrupted" to do something that is not planned, but more important is not always easy or likable even by us adults, but in most cases very much needed.

In Acts 26:16-19, Paul is standing before King Agrippa sharing what had happened to him, and why he changed his life around. Paul had previously been known as Saul the persecutor of the church and was considered very good at what he did. The Lord though got a hold of him, interrupted his schedule, and told him how his life was going to change. This is Paul's account before King Agrippa:

“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth and that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests, I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. On one of these journeys, I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' Then I asked 'Who are you, Lord?' "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,'' the Lord replied 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." "So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 

Paul goes on further to explain the places he went telling people they needed to repent and turn to God. He even goes on to say how the Jews tried to kill him, but that he never stopped doing what God had appointed him to do.

How ironic that the very same people he used to “Run” with were the people that later wanted him dead for what he was proclaiming. He had become one of those people he had earlier persecuted. It's amazing how the Lord told Paul what his mission in life was to be on that day and how Paul accepted and chose to be obedient the heavenly vision from God. The Lord told him on that day he was made a minister, a witness, to go out preaching and setting people free. He was called to preach to the same people he had previously hung around with, and yet he gladly accepted the heavenly vision knowing it could cost him his life.

His life on that day was interrupted and forever changed. The Lord had laid everything out he expected from Paul and he was obedient to it all. Was he ever nervous? Perhaps he was, however, he never shrunk back from doing it with fire and true passion. He chose to be obedient even if it meant his own life, his reputation, or having people criticize him. He was obedient to the Lord and the vision. He accepted being a minister, a witness, and set off for the rest of his life to preaching the message of Jesus Christ.

For us, we all have the individual call that has been assigned to us- that heavenly vision from the Lord. Not each of us is called to be a Pastor, Evangelist, or even into public ministry, but we all are called to some sort of ministry. The thing we must do is find out what that ministry is and be obedient- obedient to all of it to the fullest. Whatever the ministry is though we need to learn from Paul when he said before the King “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” and realize those same words are the words that we will want to be able to say to our Heavenly King one day.

From Gardens of Splendor by Gina Burns