It's a revealed thing

I know a few people who are deeply opposed to Christianity. Convincing them that Jesus Christ is Lord seems impossible. One is a neighbor who frowns at any mention of spiritual things. He scoffs prayer and has an explanation for its obvious answers.

Another is someone in our family. He thinks the church is of the devil and anyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God is deceived. He cannot see what Scripture clearly teaches.

Another family member thinks Christian teaching is a “nice sentiment” but without substance. She will pray as if God is real, but later the same day will say she doesn’t believe “any of that.”

This could be discouraging, but then I think about my own conversion. No one convinced me. I didn’t think I was looking for answers or trying to believe. However, God burst into my life like a flash of light and suddenly I knew that Jesus is God in human flesh. That knowledge was instant and deeply planted. I didn’t seek to know it, but once He opened my heart, I’ve never doubted it.

The Apostle Paul’s story is another reminder that God can win anyone to Himself. Paul told it to a hostile crowd after being arrested for supposedly breaking Jewish law. The Roman soldiers came in to protect him, and gave him permission to speak:

“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.

“Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’

“. . . . . So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’ And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.”

Saul, later known as Paul, also told this angry mob, “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I was in a trance and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’”

Every time I read this, God says to me, “See, I can do whatever I wish with whomever I wish. Keep on praying for the hard-hearted. For me, nothing and no one is too difficult.”