Not everyone has an encounter this dramatic; a surrender on the spot. But then few of us are called to suffer as much as did Saul (who changed his Jewish name to Paul after God called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles). Yet a sudden and unexpected “Damascus Road experience” is still spoken of as the measure of a dramatic religious turnaround.
After being blinded by a light “greater than the noonday sun”, Saul was led by the hand to Damascus, and to the house of Judas, on “a street named Straight” (Acts 9:11). Soon after, a disciple named Ananias was instructed by the Lord to go to Straight Street to the house of Judas and there lay his hands on Saul. Ananias adjusted himself to the vision Jesus had given to the still-blind Saul, laid hands on him, and addressed him as “Brother Saul”.
After laying hands on Saul so that he would receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit, Ananias left the house on Straight Street, and is not again mentioned in Scripture. He was a disciple who simply did as his Lord instructed, Ananias could not have known that the power of the Spirit received by Saul through his hands would enable the man (later known as Paul the apostle) to change the world.
We all need a bit of time on a ‘straight street’ after our conversion to Christ. Without it we might waste valuable time up dodgy, doctrinal dead-ends. We need to be led to a fellowship where we can receive an understanding of God’s word and an impartation of His Spirit. Our eyes need a greater vision of Christ, and our ears need words of prophetic direction. Our hearts then expand with the knowledge of God’s amazing grace and our minds grasp the vision of His power in our lives and through us to others.
Have you had a powerful encounter with Jesus in a solitary situation — a Damascus Road kind of conversion to Christ? A personal encounter with the risen Lord Jesus is an experience that will prove unforgettable. But those who are unwilling to be led into fellowship can end up in doctrinal mazes or lost in the cultic twilight of New Age deception.
If you have come to faith in Jesus Christ alone while viewing TV or as a result of growing personal conviction by the spirit of God, what you need is some time in a “house in straight street” — time with those of like mind in a local Pentecostal fellowship where the Lord can impart to you a new vision; where you can be welcomed into the family of God. A place where you can be baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit and discover the unique role that Jesus has for you to play in life – and the sooner the better.
There’s a Straight Street still in Damascus, but there’s no record of Ananias going back there; and Judas resides there only in the record of Acts 9:11. But both men did what he could when they could, one as a host to the newborn Saul and the other as directed by the Lord through a vision. It’s all very Pentecostal, isn’t it?
We might not live on a street named Straight but we can all be open to receiving new believers in Jesus and with others help them to get safely through those first vital days. And maybe the Lord will straighten us out somewhat in the process!