So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “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.” At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
Acts 9:17-19 BSB
Ananias had quite the experience, didn’t he? He had a vision of Jesus telling him to go lay hands on Saul of Tarsus. He argued with the Lord, because he didn’t believe that such an evil man could be used by God. The Lord prevailed and off he went. Do you ever wonder what would have happened if this layman (as far as we know) had simply said, “No!”? I’m sure the Lord would have looked elsewhere. But isn’t it grand that He chose to use a “nobody” to heal and empower a “somebody?” Paul tells us in Acts 22 that Ananias was a good and Torah observant man, but we know nothing else about him, yet God used him as a domino in a chain reaction that changed the world.
As we head to the gathering of the saints, don’t let anyone belittle your importance. You can’t possibly know what’s going on in the life of the people around you. You certainly can’t know what God wants to do with them, and what needs to happen to get them there. You can be ready to obey Him if He prompts you to speak a word of encouragement, pray a prayer of faith, or simply offer a hand of acceptance and recognition. You never know when you might be commissioning an apostle or salvaging a discouraged deacon. We gather for a purpose, and you are part of the program. In the Church, it’s both normal and supernatural.
So very, very true.