Testimonies

Still Breathing Heavy

by Terry Barlow
12/27/14
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   It bears repeating if I've already mentioned it, that there are often some characteristics of the condition in which GOD finds us that persist and become key in how GOD intends to use us in days or even years to come. In the case of the apostle Paul we find in Acts 9, the chapter of his conversion account, that he was "still breathing heavy" (religous aerobics?) or refusing to even pause and catch his breath in seeking letters from the high priest authorizing him to bring back captive to Jerusalem any believers he would find in the synagogues. Already we see glimpses of the energetic zeal that later would be harnessed and rightly guided to produce so many churches and so much of the New Testament, far outstripping all the other apostles.

  But beyond even that in this passage opening Acts chapter 9 we see him "approaching the high priest for letters to the synagogues" as he would later seek Jesus the ultimate High Priest for the Holy Spirit inspiration of the letters he would eventually send to the synagogues and churches not many years following. Consider too that Peter and Andrew were casting nets when they met their Master and would later be great evangelists and" fishers of men, even as John and James who were mending nets would mend the hearts of spiritual sheep as pastors and shepherds.

  My own conversion occurred in Spain and though I am far from there now, I am continually involved in ministry in Hispanic cultures, and delightedly so! And we could go on and on to great length with more examples, but suffice it to say we could all benefit from meditating on the circumstances of our own conversion experiences for keys into what God is up to now, remembering though there will always remain some mystery in it. As such there ought to be.! Amen.?!