In our last visit we amplified the information gathered about the apostle Paul before his conversion experience on the road to Damascus as recorded in Acts 9.
Most people don’t have such a dramatic encounter with Jesus Christ – a blinding light, an audible voice and direction concerning their next step and a vision of the one who is going to come to remove their blindness and explain God’s plan for them. That didn’t happen to me and most people I’ve prayed with to receive Jesus Christ didn’t have experiences anywhere close to this. But if you’ve trusted in Jesus Christ and been converted you’ve experienced the essence of what Paul experienced. You’ve become a child of God and received eternal life. The Holy Spirit has entered your life like He entered Paul’s life. God has a plan for you just as He had for Paul.
God used many different people in Paul’s life bringing him to salvation and as he began to grow in his faith. His parents had a profound impact on his life as seen in their move to Jerusalem so he could study under Gamaliel. Yes, though he is not recorded as having made a commitment to Jesus Christ, Gamaliel was used by God to give Paul a rich Biblical exposure to the truth. Paul never forgot the witness and martyrdom of Stephen, recorded in Acts 7. Stephen never saw the fruit of his work for God, but his witness in word, deed and death had a powerful influence on Paul.
We never know whose life our witness touches as God prepares them for salvation and service, so faithfully let your light shine.