Paul’s Message Comes from Christ
11Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.d
13You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.
15But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16to reveal his Son to mee so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.
When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being.f 17Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
18Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter,g and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.
21After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 22And still the Christians in the churches in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24And they praised God because of me.
Paul had a very personal revelation from Jesus and it changed him drastically. Does Jesus still reveal things to us directly and change us drastically? Does he reveal things to you and change you personally?
But how do we know when Jesus is speaking to us?
Lord, please help me too make time to be with you so I can easily know your voice. Oh, and remind me the LISTEN and SILENT are spelled with the same letters.
I really think Jesus does speak to us, through the Holy Spirit of course. Maybe it comes through reading his scripture or through the small voice will call conscious, or through our thoughts and feelings while we pray, but Jesus is speaking directly to us and we need to listen.
We can know it is the Holy Spirit just like we know our friends. When you pick up the phone and some say “Hello” without announcing their name, do you sometimes recognize who it is? Of course you do. And who do you recognize? The people you talk to often because you easily recognize their voices. Recognizing God’s voice in our lives works exactly the same way.