Daily Dose of Hope

December 2, 2025

Scripture - Acts 9:1-31

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Help us start this devotional today with a time of silence, a time to pause before you...Lord, hear our prayers. Speak to us. We want to hear from you. In Your Name, Amen.

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan. We are currently walking through the book of Acts. Today, we start Acts 9.

This is a great passage - Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus. It's amazing how God took the biggest persecutor of believers and very intentionally chooses him to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. His conversion story is dramatic, and it really needs to be. He doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would take hints from God. He needs something that cannot be disputed, like the living Christ meeting him on his Damascus journey and speaking directly to him. Then, he loses his sight, only to regain it when Ananias prays for him. It's quite extraordinary.

Most of us are pretty familiar with Saul's conversion story but today, I'd like to focus on Ananias of Damascus. He is the man in the shadows. Keep in mind, there are several men named Ananias in the New Testament; we are focusing on the man in Damascus who prayed over Saul who became Paul. What we read in Acts 9 is that God appears to Ananias in a vision and tells him to go to the house of Judas on Straight Street where he will meet Saul of Tarsus. Ananias knew of Saul's reputation and he knew that Saul was in Damascus to arrest believers of Jesus so he protested a bit. God tells him to go to the house anyway.

Despite being fearful, Ananias obeys. I'm going to say that again. Despite knowing that Saul could potentially arrest him, Ananias obeys God. He goes to the house and prays over Saul. Almost immediately, something like scales fall from Saul's eyes and he can see again.

We don't know much about what happens to faithful Ananias of Damascus after this incident. The author of Acts doesn't give us a lot of information – does he go on to preach the Gospel in his community and beyond? Does he found churches? Does he end up getting arrested for preaching Jesus? Really, we have no idea. What we do know is that Ananias of Damascus obeyed God's command to go pray over Saul so that Saul could go do all of those things. Without Ananias' prayer, Saul might have spent the rest of his life as a blind man wandering around, not knowing what his life might have been.

Not everyone can be Saul/Paul, but we can all be Ananias. We can all be obedient. We can all pray for those who have harmed the church and those who have been harmed by the church. We can do what God is asking us. We don't have to found world-altering movements but we do need to do what Jesus asks us to do right now, right here.

What is Jesus asking you to do?

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki