Paul's Letters

The apostle Paul (also known as Saul) is famous for his letters – to Christians in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, and so on. But, before Paul wrote any of these famous letters, we are told that he “asked for letters” (emphasis added) of a very different sort:

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Acts 9:1-2

These were very different letters, indeed, which Paul had tucked into his satchel as he made his way down the road to Damascus! These were letters meant, not to instruct, encourage, and correct the churches … but to destroy them. These letters, unlike those for which he later became famous, had their inspiration in hell rather than in heaven! But praise God that, before Paul was able to execute the permission these letters granted, heaven intervened … not only on behalf of the Christians in Damascus, but on behalf of Saul himself!

Saul met Jesus on that trip to Damascus, and was forever changed! Now, instead of Saul “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” … now, through Paul’s letters, the Lord Himself would breathe out His very own words … “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Saul went from carrying letters for the devil, to writing letters for the Lord!

And isn’t God’s mercy rich? Isn’t His grace great? And isn’t “Jesus Christ … the same yesterday and today and forever”? He is! And that means that He is still saving souls … and even Sauls! So pray for them! Pray for the seeming ‘tough nuts to crack’ in your life – the people who, though not hateful or militant like Saul, still seem (to our weak faith) like they are among the least likely people who would ever turn to Christ, and to begin serving His kingdom. For, if Christ saved Saul, He can save the seemingly ‘unlikely candidates’ in our lives, too!

And He can save the militants, as well! So pray for the conversion, even, of people who hate the church, and wish to see her destroyed. “Is anything too difficult for the LORD?” Are members of ISIS, or the persecutors in North Korea, too difficult for the Lord to save? Absolutely not! So pray for them! Pray that they might be saved, and that they might be useful to God’s kingdom! They won’t, of course, write inspired letters, like the apostle did. But they might begin to preach from them!  They can go from handling the devil’s business, to delivering the Lord’s gospel mail!  Pray that it might be so!