In my previous article, Paul’s first encounter part 1: Awareness of Identity in Christ, we took the time to discover how Paul’s prophetic journey began. That encounter with God defined the rest of his life. We discovered his identity in Christ and therefore his purpose in Christ. In this article, we’ll find the promise Jesus made to Saul and look for its fulfillment. This process will lead us to a more keys to prophetic encounter stewardship.
On this page:
Jesus’ promise to Saul
A conditional promise?
Saul’s response
While Saul waited
Did Jesus keep his promise?
Keys for prophetic encounter stewardship
Jesus’ promise to Saul
For the sake of brevity, these few verses are enough to highlight Jesus’ promise to Saul.
Acts 9:3-6
3 As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6 but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”
If we strip out all of the other words except Jesus’ promise, we would get down to this.
it will be told you what you must do.
That’s it. This is Jesus’ first promise to Saul. We all know what a promise is but for the sake of a definition, the online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a promise as “a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified.”1 Jesus’ promise to Saul here is a declaration that He will reveal to Saul “what he must do”.
But we can’t just remove words from their context to suit our own purposes. In this case, of course, my only goal was to highlight Jesus’ promise not to give a proof text to support my pet theology. When we read the context of the promise, we find something curious. A condition on Jesus’ promise.
A conditional promise?
In this case because Jesus’ promise seems to be dependent on Saul’s response to the rest of Jesus’ words.
but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.
Acts 9:6
Making a list will make this crystal clear. Jesus told Saul to do a couple of things before telling him what he must do.
- Get up (faith-directive)
- Enter the city (faith-directive)
- It will be told you what you must do (promise)
I’m going to refer to these as faith-directives. The label is not as important as what was said, as well as if and how the person responded. Saul would be told what he must do after he got up and entered the city.
We could put it like this. Jesus was saying, “Saul, I know who you are in me. I know you’re true identity. You haven’t been acting like yourself. I have your true identity and I want to reveal it to you. I’ve got plans for you. I will tell you those plans but I want you to follow these instructions first. When you do what I’ve asked, I’ll reveal my plans for you.”
This was a promise that seemed to depend on Saul’s response to what was in his power to do. Do this and I will do that. Jesus had a plan for him but Saul had no way of knowing that plan unless Jesus told him. If Saul wanted to find out, he needed to trust Jesus.
Saul’s response
It’s one thing to experience a prophetic encounter and It’s another thing entirely to respond well. More often that not, encounter’s with Jesus require a response. The response is always in relation to what Jesus is communicating. When we have an experience with God, we are being invited into something more. We may not understand the more of any given encounter but responding to what we do understand can lead to more insight. So, how did Saul respond?
Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.
Acts 9:10-19
- He got up
- He entered the city (with help)
But then he had to do something else. He had to wait. Jesus didn’t give Saul a timeframe. Saul didn’t know how long after he entered the city that he would be told what he must do. Now our list looks like this:
- Get up
- Enter the city
- Wait
These three were in Saul’s power to accomplish. As we read this story, we know Saul waited for three days and nights.
And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Acts 9:9
Saul took Jesus at his word and accomplished all three faith-directives. He got up, entered the city, and he waited. As stated, Saul didn’t know how long he would be waiting. So what did he do while he waited?
While Saul waited
We are going to discover a prophetic encounter stewardship key here. The more we understand that Saul had no idea how long he was going to wait, the more profound this key will be to us. What did Saul do while he waited? We have our answer in this passage:
Acts 9:10-11
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying…
We’ve already said Saul did not eat or drink while he waited. That’s what he didn’t do. But what did he do?
- He fasted food and drink
- He was praying
Saul was praying while he was waiting. I call this as “waiting prayer”. This is a type of prayer. Waiting prayer is a key to prophetic encounter stewardship and can be defined from this context as keeping oneself in a state of seeking God while waiting for his promise to manifest and until his promise manifests. Speaking of God’s promises manifesting, do we see a fulfillment in this story?
Did Jesus keep his promise?
The short answer is “Yes”, Jesus kept his promise. How do we know? This promise is easy to track because the fulfillment is in the very next part of the story. Jesus sends Ananias to Saul to both heal his eyes and give him his first prophetic word. Here’s the entire, short dialogue that reveals Jesus kept his promise.
Acts 9:10-19
10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.
Even though we don’t see Ananias tell Jesus’ words to Saul in this passage, we know Ananias told him at this time. We know this from Paul’s retelling of his story to the Jews in Jerusalem. I cover this in detail in Paul’s first encounter part 1 – Awareness of Identity in Christ. And, since we are careful readers, we see that Jesus said “it will be told you what you must do”. Jesus didn’t say “I will tell you what you must do”. He said it will be told you.
Jesus has done what he said he’d do and he did it through Ananias. I don’t know about you but I have more questions! How long did Saul wait for this fulfillment? Did he know how long he’s have to wait? What did he do while waiting?
Keys for prophetic encounter stewardship
What can we learn from Paul’s first encounter with Jesus that we can use as a key to unlock our identity in Christ?
Key – Waiting prayer
Have you ever had an encounter with God and then had no idea what to do after that initial euphoria wore off? Saul’s response to this encounter gives us insight into how we can respond to our own touchpoints with God. He was told to enter the city and he would “be told what to do”. But after he entered the city and before he was told what to do, what did he do? The scripture says, “He is praying” (Acts 9:11). This could also be called 911 prayer, due to the scripture reference in case you missed it.
Key – Obedience leads to revelation
Raw obedience to simple things can lead us into greater revelation from Jesus about our identity in Christ. After Saul obeyed Jesus’ two simple commands, “get up, and enter the city”, he was told what he must do.
Continued in: Paul’s first encounter part 3 – More promises from Jesus to Paul (Coming soon…)
Resources:
1 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/promise