By Hany N. Sadq

Paul's conversion was greatly astonishing, for the people who heard him preaching Jesus for the first time were astonished by his conversion (Ac. 9:21); because he was a famous persecutor of the church, and his conversion went like this:

I. On the road to Damascus

Paul was on his way to the city of Damascus in order to arrest some Christian disciples, and during this journey the Lord Jesus appeared to him around noon with a very strong shinning light brighter than the sun, and spoke to him about his persecution of him (as Paul was persecuting the church which is the body of Jesus Christ); (Ephesians 1:22-23).
Paul had fallen to earth and was astonished at what was happening but finally he realized the authority and identity of Jesus, and submitted his life to him, the Lord then told him to enter the city of Damascus, where he will be told what to do.

II. In the city of Damascus

Paul stayed in Damascus for three days praying and fasting; his sight was gone because of the strong light that he had seen. On the other hand, the Lord told Ananias (who was one of the Christian disciples at Damascus) to visit Paul where he was staying and to pray for him, so Ananias obeyed the Lord and visited Paul; laid his hand on him and prayed for him, then the sight of Paul was restored and he was baptized.

Paul stayed in the city for some days but soon he began preaching Jesus as the son of God, which caused a great astonishing effect among both the Jews and the Christians in Damascus.

Conclusion

The conversion of Paul is an event that had great effect both on the early church and on Paul himself. The effect on the church appeared in the great encouragement that the church had in the testimony of God's glory in Paul's conversion (Gal.1:22-24), while the effect on Paul is that he was motivated by God's amazing grace to serve him fervently than any other minister (1Cor.15:10), as he knew that he didn't deserve to be Christ's apostle because he used to be the famous church persecutor. What about you? How the grace of God did affect your life and ministry?

Hany N. Sadik
http://neovine.wordpress.com.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/groups/neovine1?view=doc&id=196000297123402

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