Good morning. It’s Tuesday, March 3rd, aka National Anthem Day.

🥳 Congratulations on starting today with God, and thank you for letting us be a part of it.

📖 Verse Of The Day

— Acts 9:15

🧠 Devotional

The title says, “Who is Ananias?”

But we’re not just talking about one Ananias here.

Because in the book of Acts, there are three different men named Ananias, and we’re going to talk about each of them.

• One appears in Acts 5.

• One appears in Acts 9.

• One appears in Acts 23.

How do we know Acts isn’t talking about the same Ananias in all three chapters?

We know this because they do not have last names the way we think of last names today.

In the New Testament, people were usually identified by their location, their role, or their title.

So in Acts:

• The first is simply Ananias, the husband of Sapphira.

• The second is Ananias, a disciple in Damascus.

• The third is Ananias, the high priest.

In Acts 5, the early church is giving generously to support one another. Ananias sells land but keeps part of the money while claiming he is giving all of it. Peter says in Acts 5:3 that he has lied to the Holy Spirit. Verse 5 says he fell down and died. He chose appearance over honesty.

In Acts 9, Saul has just been blinded after meeting Jesus. God tells Ananias to go to him. Ananias says in Acts 9:13 that he has heard about Saul’s persecution of believers. He knows the risk. But in verse 17, “Then Ananias went.” He lays hands on Saul and calls him “Brother Saul.” He chose obedience over fear.

In Acts 23, Paul is on trial before the council. Ananias is the high priest. When Paul begins to speak, Acts 23:2 says Ananias ordered him to be struck. He chose force instead of listening.

Each Ananias faced a moment where truth was in front of him.

One lied.

One obeyed.

One resisted.

When God speaks, your response matters.