121 Days of Prayer

Barnabas Took Hold of Him and Brought Him to the Apostles

The purposes of this prayer are: Spreading of the Gospel, Ability/Success and Obedience.

Holy God, the apostle Paul lost none of his zeal after his road to Damascus conversion to being a follower of Christ from his former days of being an ardent Jewish persecutor of followers of Jesus. The book of Acts informs us that as soon as he regained his eyesight, Paul began to go to the synagogues in Damascus to share the good news about Jesus, which caused the Jews in Damascus to start to plot to kill him: “For several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying. ‘He is the Son of God.’ All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, ‘Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?’ But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesaria and sent him away to Tarsus.” Acts 9:19–30 (NASB). Gracious Lord, we pray that we may be as zealous for Jesus, and as ardent to share our faith as Paul was. Amen.