In Christ We Are Placed into a Family
Well, as I read about Paul's encounter with Christ, I thought it was interesting that instantly God places him with the other Christians.
Christian Community Matters
Remember, Paul was travelling with other men who wanted to kill Christians, but suddenly those men disappear and Saul is taken in by Ananias, who looks after him, who cares for him, who almost nurses him back to strength, and vitally Ananias places his hands on Saul and prays for him so that he's filled with the Holy Spirit and then baptizes him. Then we read that Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
And so the point here is that Jesus never saves us to be outside of the Christian community. But the moment Jesus encounters us and saves us, He wants us to be in the company of other Christians so that we can be strengthened by them.
Spiritual Support System
Who's your Ananias? Who's the one who prays for you, asks for God's filling and anointing in your life?
And who's your group of disciples that you spend time with? Is it a group in your church or has this perhaps been something that you've lost? Many people over COVID lost this, got into their homes and never left. And even though they get the spiritual content through YouTube, they don't have that group around them.
Power of Fellowship
Every week my band Crossroad gets together to practice and one of the little phrases that we have in our minds when we come to practice is: “Pray before you play.” And we always spend that time in prayer. And I've got to tell you, a lot of the time the prayer that we have around the studio is more powerful than anything else that night - even the music - because there is great power in praying for one another and being in fellowship like that.
And so get in touch with your Ananias, get in touch with your group of disciples, friends, and just like Paul was strengthened by those relationships, you will be too.
So go well, have a blessed weekend, and thank you for sharing these messages with so many.
