Messengers of Hope for All Men

Acts 9:17

So Ananias departed and entered the house.  And laying hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

In an instant Paul not only received his physical sight, he also received the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Thus, he received wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge of God and a holy reverence for God.  All of these gifts came on him at once. His vision of who He was in Christ, along with all of its associated power, served to allow him to replace the evil man that he had become with the new, righteous man that he was to become.

Just as the sinner and prosecutor of the early church, Saul, became the new man Paul, those of us who have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior become new men and women in Christ.  And just like Paul, the power of the Holy Spirit fills us so that we are able to proclaim the Good News and serve as conduits of God's love.

Do not miss the secondary message of this passage.  It is a powerful Word for all of us.  There would have been no conversion for Paul without the obedience of Ananias to got out and deliver the message of God, even though He questioned the righteousness of the one that he was called to minister to.  We must be careful not to withhold the message of hope from anyone because we feel they are not worthy.

Let us make ourselves seekers of the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Let us learn to overcome our natural instinct to shun those we may consider too wicked for salvation.  Let us make ourselves available to be deliverers of the truth to all who God places in our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the anointing that we receive as disciples of Jesus Christ.  We ask that You release the gifts of the Holy Spirit into our lives so that we may see the vision that You have for our lives and be empowered to go out as messengers of hope in the world that surrounds us.  We pray that our hearts are prepared to view every person as worthy to receive the Good News that we possess.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who rescues those whose spirits are crushed, Jesus Christ.