Part 14 – Paul (Saul): “Lord, What Do You Want Me to Do?” (Acts 9:1–22)

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1. Name & Context

Saul of Tarsus, later known as Paul, was a zealous Pharisee, a scholar of the Law, and a fierce persecutor of Christians.
He believed he was serving God by destroying the early Church (Acts 8:1–3).
On his way to Damascus to arrest believers, Saul’s confident religiosity was shattered by a direct encounter with the risen Christ.

This moment transformed him from enemy of the faith to apostle of faith.

📖 Acts 9:1–2 (NKJV)
“Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way… he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

2. How He Asked for Faith

When confronted by divine light and voice, Saul fell to the ground and cried out — a response of shock, humility, and surrender.

📖 Acts 9:4–6 (NKJV)
“Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’
And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’
Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
So he, trembling and astonished, said, ‘Lord, what do You want me to do?’”

That simple question — “Lord, what do You want me to do?” — marked the birth of faith.
The persecutor instantly became a petitioner, surrendering his will to the One he had opposed.

3. How God Responded

Jesus answered with clarity and purpose, giving Saul immediate instruction:

📖 Acts 9:6 (NIV)
“The Lord said to him, ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’”

God’s response was not a full plan but a first step — a hallmark of faith’s journey.
Then, through Ananias, God confirmed the calling and restored Saul’s sight:

📖 Acts 9:17 (NKJV)
“Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus… has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’”

This divine-human collaboration shows that faith grows in community and obedience.

4. How He Received or Grew in Faith

Saul’s faith was born in encounter and grew through obedience and transformation:

  • He obeyed blindly — literally and spiritually — following God’s command though he could not see (Acts 9:8).
  • He received the Holy Spirit and was baptised (Acts 9:18).
  • He immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues (Acts 9:20).

📖 2 Corinthians 5:7
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

This was both figurative and literal for Paul — his new walk began in physical blindness and spiritual illumination.

5. How Faith Was Tested or Refined

Paul’s faith was relentlessly tested through suffering, persecution, and personal weakness:

  • Beatings, imprisonments, and shipwrecks (2 Corinthians 11:23–28).
  • Thorn in the flesh — a continual trial to keep him humble (2 Corinthians 12:7–10).
  • Rejection by former allies and suspicion from believers.

Yet these hardships refined his faith into unwavering endurance.
He learned that faith thrives not in ease but in dependence.

📖 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Through every test, Paul’s faith became both intellectual and experiential — a faith that suffered yet rejoiced, reasoned yet relied.

6. Results or Outcomes

  • Transformation: From persecutor to apostle; from destroying faith to defending it.
  • Mission: Became the greatest missionary in history, spreading the Gospel across the Roman world.
  • Scripture: Authored much of the New Testament — Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and others — shaping Christian theology of faith and grace.
  • Martyrdom: Faith completed through death; he remained steadfast until the end.

📖 2 Timothy 4:7 (NKJV)
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

His life became the ultimate witness that true faith is transformative — from opposition to obedience, from pride to grace.

7. Key Verses Summary

  • Acts 9:1–6 — Saul’s confrontation and surrender.
  • Acts 9:17–18 — Healing, Spirit-filling, and baptism.
  • Acts 9:20 — Preaching Christ immediately.
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9 — Faith refined in weakness.
  • 2 Timothy 4:7 — Faith fulfilled through perseverance.

8. Faith Insight / Lesson

Paul teaches that faith begins when self-reliance ends.
His conversion reveals that no one is beyond God’s reach and that faith is both revelation and reorientation — seeing Christ rightly and living for Him entirely.

Faith’s journey in Paul moved from zeal without knowledge to knowledge filled with grace.
He learned that weakness is not the absence of faith but the arena where faith displays God’s strength.

💬 “Faith turns enemies of grace into instruments of grace.”

Paul’s story crowns this series with a profound truth: faith is not achieved; it is received — through encounter, surrender, and perseverance.

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