Rise and Respond

Rise and Respond

I was reading in Acts 9 about when the Lord confronted Saul on his journey to Damascus. It is such an awesome story of a call to salvation and a call to be on mission.

In the story, the Lord confronted Saul with a bright light in a very supernatural moment. The Lord got his attention and gave Saul direct instructions. It was during that confrontation that his life was transformed, and he began proclaiming Jesus Christ, acknowledging that he is the Son of God (Acts 9:20).

Saul was called to rise and respond to the command of the Lord. And the Bible said that he did, and as we continue to read the Bible, we see how God used Saul (later changed to Paul) in some miraculous ways. In fact, Acts 19:11 says “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul.”  In other words, he was put in a position to see some amazing things that God did through him because he answered the call to rise and respond.

But what if Saul had said “No!” First, he would have been in direct disobedience and even rebellion to the command of God. And we all know that God has ways of getting our attention and convincing us we need to obey. Remember Jonah? But secondly, he risked missing those moments of experiencing the amazing things that God did through him.

But what if Saul had said “Sure!” and then adjusted God’s plan? Again, he would have been acting in disobedience and not trusting God for the results. Saul would have hindered God’s best blessings for him.

But what if Saul had said “Yes!” and followed the Lord for now, but then later became complacent and allowed the excitement to wear off. Again, he would have been out of the will of God and miss out on countless blessings.

I think sometimes we all do the same things. Sometimes we react with an immediate “No!” In doing so, we miss experiencing moments of God’s amazing plan. We may even suffer his discipline until he gets our attention.

Sometimes we even adjust God’s plan because “we know better.” Or so we think. In doing so, we can miss God’s best for our lives.

And sometimes, and maybe more often, we are excited in the beginning but then become complacent once the newness wears off. It is in our constant serving our Lord when He shows us His best blessings.

God has ways of getting our attention to rise and respond to His call. He often gets our attention in several ways:

• Through Suffering. When life is hard, unfair, painful, or just plain gut-wrenching, we have nowhere else to go but to the Lord. Those times opens the door for our learning, our trusting, our growing, and our preparing.

• Through Supply. God at times gets our attention by giving us gifts, abilities, finances, resources, talents, positions and calls us to use those for His purposes.

• Through Surprises. There are times that God gets our attention to rise and respond in unexpected ways, unexplained moments, or from unlikely people.

But I do know this, that God is calling us all to rise and respond. He has a plan for you, and He is waiting for you to say as Isaiah said in Isaiah 6:8 and Annanias said in Acts 9:10, “Here am I.”

He’s calling you to be on mission…now! Will you rise and respond?

Check out the opportunities to be on mission at www.kybaptist.org.

The Lord is waiting for you to rise and respond!