Lord, You tapped me on the shoulder, too.

Sunday   10-18-15  Home in Modesto

Scripture reading:    Job 3-4   Acts 8-9

S=Scripture O=Observation A=Application P=Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S.  Acts 9:10  Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias...  NLT

O.  God taps Ananias on the shoulder.   This is his big moment.  His name and brief story will be read thousands of times by people of every language.  His response to God’s nudging will mean the release of God’s first missionary to the heathen nations of the world.  Ananias could not imagine the impact of his daring deed.  How had he become a believer?  We don’t know.  Was he the leader of a small group of frightened Christians in Damascus?  No info.  Without the record of this deed... he would have been a nobody.  

A.  I want to be like Ananias.  He was ready to walk in, lay hands on, pray for and rescue his most famous enemy.  He knew if this was a trap he and his family were dead meat.  But he also knew the voice of the Lord and had to courage to act upon it. 

P.  God, make me like this guy named Ananias.  When you speak to my heart may I dare to step into potential danger.   And may my obedience touch the soul of another one of Your great servants... launching him or her into a life of self-sacrifice and fruitful ministry!   You have done it before and tens of thousands are now saved and serving You.  You can do it again as I go to minister in San Salvador, Central America, in just three weeks.  Send me like Ananias was sent!  See my tears and hear the cry of my heart today!  Amen.

Ralph  

So send I you

So send I you to labour unrewarded

To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing
So send I you to toil for Me alone

So send I you to bind the bruised and broken
Over wandering souls to work, to weep, to wake
To bear the burdens of a world a-weary
So send I you to suffer for My sake

So send I you to loneliness and longing
With heart a-hungering for the loved and known
Forsaking kin and kindred, friend and dear one
So send I you to know My love alone

So send I you to leave your life's ambition
To die to dear desire, self-will resign
To labour long, and love where men revile you
So send I you to lose your life in Mine

So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred
To eyes made blind because they will not see
To spend, though it be blood to spend and spare not
So send I you to taste of Calvary

"As the Father hath sent me, so send I you"