52 Week Bible Reading Plan

Traditional (Exodus 17-20)

Chronological (Genesis 44-45)

Acts 26:16

 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

    The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was no passing emotion, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him, and he says, "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:"(Acts 26:19). Our Lord said, in effect, to Paul--Your life is to be overmastered by be Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine.
  If we are spiritual at all, of what Jesus wants us to be, and the great thing is to learn not to be disobedient to the vision, not to say that it cannot be attained.  It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him.  Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, personal overmastering relationship to Jesus Christ.  Verse 16 is immensely commanding--"to make thee a minister and a witness."  There is nothing there apart from the personal relationship.  Paul was devoted toa Person not to a cause.  He was absolutely Jesus Christ's, he saw nothing else.  "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2).