from murder to mission

Acts 9:1-18 (JDV)

Acts 9:1 Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest
Acts 9:2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them tied up to Jerusalem.
Acts 9:3 As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.
Acts 9:4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you chasing me?”
Acts 9:5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are chasing,” he replied.
Acts 9:6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Acts 9:7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but observing no one.
Acts 9:8 Saul was raised up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.
Acts 9:9 He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.
Acts 9:10 There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” “Notice I am here, Lord,” he replied.
Acts 9:11 “Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there.
Acts 9:12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”
Acts 9:13 “Lord,” Ananias reacted, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your devotees in Jerusalem.
Acts 9:14 And he has jurisdiction here from the chief priests to tie up all who call on your name.”
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.
Acts 9:16 I will show him how much he must endure for my name.”
Acts 9:17 Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Sacred Breath.”
Acts 9:18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and he was baptized.

from murder to mission

Saul’s story in Acts reveals a transformation so dramatic that Luke describes it in terms of breath itself. Before encountering Jesus, Saul “breathed threats and murder.” Hostility was the atmosphere he lived in. Violence was the air he inhaled and exhaled. His entire identity was shaped by zeal without knowledge, conviction without compassion, and religious certainty without the life of the Spirit. But everything changed when the risen Christ confronted him on the Damascus road. The light of Christ did not simply interrupt Saul’s journey; it overturned the entire direction of his life.

The encounter left him blind, helpless, and dependent. For three days he neither ate nor drank. Those days were not wasted time but sacred time — a period of stripping, humbling, and reorienting. Saul had been confident in his understanding of God, yet now he sat in darkness, praying, waiting, and listening. The man who once acted with fierce independence now learned dependence. The man who once believed he saw clearly now discovered how blind he had been. Those three days became the soil in which a new life began to grow.

Yet even this encounter and this period of prayer were not enough by themselves. Saul needed the ministry of another servant — Ananias. This disciple, though fearful, obeyed the Lord’s command to go to the very man who had come to arrest believers. Ananias laid hands on Saul, called him “brother,” and became the human instrument through whom Saul received sight, the Holy Spirit, and baptism. The transformation was not only vertical, between Saul and Christ, but also horizontal, bringing him into the fellowship of the church. Only after this sequence — encounter, prayer, dependence, community, and baptism — was Saul ready to become the missionary God intended him to be.

The contrast in Saul’s life is striking. He moved from breathing out threats to breathing in the Sacred Breath. He shifted from inflicting suffering to enduring suffering for the sake of Christ. He changed from a destroyer of the church to a builder of communities of faith across the world. His story shows that genuine transformation is both instantaneous and gradual — a decisive encounter followed by a deep reshaping.

Lord, transform the inner life so completely that every breath is shaped by Your Spirit rather than the remnants of sin, and form a heart ready for whatever mission You entrust.

What would you endure if you knew it was preparing you for a mission? (video)