My Dear Friend,

We often, and understandably, pray, "Lord, please give me an answer to prayer." Yet here's another perspective for us to ponder, and pray: "Lord, make me an answer!" To this end, let's study what God did long ago at Ananias' house in Damascus (Acts 9:10-19).

Not far from Ananias' house, Saul of Tarsus, who was destined to become the great apostle, Paul, was in dire need. Jesus' appearance in His full Shekinah glory had only hours before struck Saul down on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-9), leaving the zealous, young Pharisee and fierce opponent of everything Christian helplessly blind. And utterly broken, fasting, and deep in prayer! Let's pause to consider Saul's dire need.

His whole world had been suddenly turned upside down. Everything he passionately believed about Jesus of Nazareth had suddenly been proven false and all the Jesus-followers' claims he had publicly proclaimed fictional had now been proven factual: Jesus had risen from the dead! He was the Jews' Messiah! The Sanhedrin had made a colossal error in rejecting Him and insisting He be crucified!

Saul's overwhelming Jesus encounter left his nerves shattered. Quivering inside, he had no idea what shocking event would occur next. As to his direction, he was perplexed and at a standstill. All the potential paths that lay before his mind seemed unsure, unsafe, or unwise. And all his relationships had been reversed. His former Jewish friends were suddenly his enemies and his former Christian enemies his friends. So, Saul did what every believing soul should do when his earthly life is suddenly turned upside down: pray to his heavenly Answerer! For what did he pray?

Two petitions were surely on Saul's lips. First, the blinded zealot asked for God to heal his eyes. Without vision, his life-work would be greatly reduced. Second, Saul asked his new Master for directions, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do" (Acts 9:6). So, Jesus sent him into Damascus, promising, "It shall be told thee what thou must do" (Acts 9:6). At this critical moment, something very important was happening, though Saul didn't know it.

While Saul was asking, the Answerer was acting! This shouldn't surprise us. Didn't He promise, "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24)? His response came in two parts.

First, the Answerer sent an angel to Ananias in Damascus, informing him Saul was in Judas' house, praying. Second, He instructed Ananias to: (1) go to Saul, (2) lay hands on him, (3) pray for his eyes to be healed (Acts 9:12), and (4) for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17).

Though devoutly obedient, Ananias initially resisted the thought of visiting Saul, who was the young church's worst persecutor, a nightmare incarnate. Saul had probably harassed, hostilely interrogated, whipped, imprisoned, or executed some of Ananias' Christian friends. Oh my!

But after God explained the inexplicable - that Saul the frightful Christian killer was now Paul the faithful Christian convert, with a unique calling and vital mission to Jews, Gentiles, and kings - Ananias immediately yielded. And off he went to Judas' house on his now-famous mission to ordain Christ's most-famous minister.

No ordinary house call, Ananias' visit launched the multifaceted, unprecedented, and unequalled ministry of the greatest believer, apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, theologian, prophet, missionary, and Christian lover in church history! Why? Ananias let God use him to relieve a desperately needy praying soul. As he went, Ananias became God's incarnate answer to Paul's incessant petitions. Our lesson?

God, who has often done this in the past, seeks to do it again. Today. With you. With me. With every willing believer. If we will only follow Ananias' example. Here are the primary truths given us in the Ananias pattern (Acts 9):

• Ananias was a "disciple" (Acts 9:10). He was not merely a believer but one that, after conversion, consecrated and disciplined his whole life to learn, live, and share Jesus' Words, ways, and will. Are you a disciple - a deeply serious, irrevocably committed, self-disciplined, student-follower of the Son of God? If not, why not?
• Ananias was abiding in the Vine. He was in close fellowship with Jesus. So, he easily and clearly heard Christ's voice when He spoke: "Ananias ... Here I am, Lord" (Acts 9:10). Had he not been abiding very close to Christ, he would not have heard Christ's "still, small voice." Are you abiding in the Vine, close to Jesus (John 15:1-8), where it's easy to hear His voice? Or have you drifted away from His Word, Spirit, and presence?
• Ananias was directable. He was willing to lay his human reasoning aside to follow the Holy Spirit's leading if it was clear and confirmed, even when the path ahead seemed full of danger or uncertainty. (See Proverbs 3:5-6.) Thus, when "Ananias went his way" (Acts 9:17), he did so as a true, Christlike child of God, "led by the Spirit of God" (Romans 8:14). Can God direct you by His Spirit, whose wisdom, ways, and power are far above ours? Or do you insist that your human reason be able to plot your course all the way through, with nothing left unexplained, before you obey?
• Ananias was correctible. As stated above, Ananias initially resisted Christ's orders - which on the surface seemed suicidal. But after Jesus explained this one thing - Saul was now saved and a very special servant - Ananias immediately yielded. Without a moment's delay or contention, he responded to Christ's correction. Can God correct you? Or are you stubborn, mulish, and hard to lead?
• Ananias was courageous. At the time, the Syrian Christians knew nothing of Saul's conversion. They all considered him their worst enemy, someone to be, not prayed for, but against. In reaching out to help Saul, therefore, Ananias risked their misjudgment and rejection. So, when "Ananias went his way" as God's incarnate answer to Saul's prayers, he did so with courageous trust in God who sent him. Brushing aside imaginations of his brothers' rejection, he bravely believed that, if necessary, his Sender would be his Defender.

Many believers who lived like Ananias have become God's incarnate answers to others' desperate prayers. Here are a few:

• Eliezer. "Before" Eliezer "had finished speaking [praying]" to find the wife God had chosen for Isaac, he looked up, and there was Rebekah, God's incarnate answer, standing before him (Genesis 24:15).
• Peter. While Cornelius was praying about how to be saved, God told him to call for the Savior's apostle. The next day Peter arrived and, as God's incarnate answer, led Cornelius and his household to the Savior!
• The apostle Paul. While Paul was praying where he should minister next, he envisioned a Macedonian - who represented many other praying Macedonians - asking for help. He immediately departed, and only days later was God's incarnate answer to the prayers of the Philippians, Thessalonians, and Bereans.
• Philip. While traveling home through the desert, an Ethiopian government official prayed for an interpretation of Isaiah 52-53. Unbeknownst to him, the Holy Spirit had already sent an interpreter, Philip, to meet him in the desert. There Philip became God's incarnate answer to the Ethiopian's inquisitive heart.
• Moses. When Moses visited the Hebrew elders in Egypt with divine signs and words, they recognized that he was God's incarnate answer to their many prayers for deliverance from Pharaoh's cruel oppression (Exodus 4:29-31).
• Boaz. After returning to Judah, Naomi apparently prayed for God to give her widowed, daughter-in-law, Ruth, the "rest" of a godly husband. When Ruth found employment and mercy in Boaz's fields, Naomi recognized Boaz was God's incarnate answer to her incessant prayers.
• Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was God's ultimate incarnate Answer. He was God's walking, talking, preaching, and fellowshiping response to every Jew's prayer for their coming Messiah and to the desperate cries of many sufferers for God's compassionate healing (see Acts 10:38).

Our destiny as Abraham's children of faith is not just to be blessed but to be blessings. "Thou shalt be a blessing" (Genesis 12:3) is God's abiding Word Christ and His angels are constantly speaking over our lives. Will we enable or hinder this glorious divine destiny? There is no greater joy than knowing that, by His Son's presence within you and His Spirit's mystical leading and power, God has made your ordinary life an extraordinary blessing to others. For the rest of their life - and forever! Want that joy?

Live in the Ananias pattern! At this very moment, some desperately troubled "Saul" is in great need: "Behold, he prayeth . . ." So, pray this daily: "Lord, don't just give me answers; make me an answer!" And watch God make you His incarnate answer.

Praying, watching,