Wednesday, February 22, 2023 Some material taken from Kingdom Opportunities Part 2
But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me. Acts 26:16-18
Open Blind Eyes
While traveling to Damascus on a mission of hate and persecution towards Christians, Paul is blinded by a light from heaven, which turned out to be Jesus getting his attention. …I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Acts 26:13-15 God goes on to tell Paul that He is sending him out to “open blind eyes…” So, here is Paul, his eyes blinded by Jesus’ light, being commissioned to go and open blind eyes. Paul was blinded for three days after this transformative meeting with Jesus on the Damascus Road.
Satan is always looking for ways to distract us from the truth. Blinding us to the truth is one of his greatest tactics and today, with all the media platforms we have, it is easier than ever for us to be deceived if we are not careful. In this passage, the eye is symbolic for the window to the mind. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul says, "The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God." 2 Corinthians 4:4
When our eyes are opened, we see the truth of the reality of what is happening. We see the truth before us, but we greatly feel the weight of being deceived. We have all been blindsided at some point in our lives when we were shocked to discover the truth. We can also choose to close our own eyes to the truth sometimes because we don’t want to deal with it, but this is different. This is Satan deliberately deceiving us and that is what he is best at doing. He is called the great deceiver (Revelation 12:9) and the father of lies (John 8:44) for a reason.
Jesus wants us to open blind eyes by telling them the truth of the Gospel. We are partners with the Holy Spirit. We plant the seeds, but the Holy Spirit is the one who does all the work. We speak the truth, we show the truth, and we share the truth, and the Holy Spirit brings conviction. We want their eyes to be opened but we also want them to have something better to believe in than what Satan has given them.
How can we open blind eyes? What is our part? There are two very important things we can do when it comes to opening blind eyes:
· We pray for God to open the eyes of the blind.
· And we speak words of truth about Christ so that when the people's eyes are opened there is something to believe. God will give us the right words at the right time.
Pray for the miracle of spiritual sight for the blind and put the truth of Christ into a person's mind with a testimony. Remember, it is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, not ours. Our job is to speak the truth in love – Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. Colossians 4:5-6
Four results will come from the opening of blind eyes:
- Being turned from darkness to light
- Being turned from the power of Satan to God
- To receive forgiveness of sins
- To receive an inheritance among God’s people
Satan does not want blind eyes opened. He will try to stop us from doing this so get ready and be on the lookout because he is prowling. But Jesus has commissioned His church to carry this out. He wants us out there exposing His truth to all who have been deceived. Let’s go.
