29/05/11

Safeguarding the eyes

Acts 13:11 - And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.


We read in today's message Barjesus who was also called Elymas seem to be a wise man (because his name was that) was trying to sway away the Roman proconsul (a post like that of a governor) when Paul and Barnabas were preaching to him. Paul under the power of the Holy Spirit made him blind for a period of time.

What message the Lord is giving us which we need to understand is why the Holy Spirit led Paul to blind Elymas? We also need to remember that before the change in Paul's life from Saul he too was made blind for a period of time.

Eyes are a very important part of our body and have a very special function to give vision, but Jesus also spoke of the eyes being a window to our inner man. Our eyes are also an important element / part of our heart / inner man. If one understand today's message many who have problems of the eyes can receive healing, also you can learn to improve the situation of your inner man / heart by taking care of your eyes.

The easiest way to impress a woman is to tell her she got beautiful eyes and the easiest way to impress a Believer is to tell he or she got a beautiful heart.

When the Lord explained to me the connection between the eyes and the heart by the structure of the eyes and functioning of its various part it was just awesome. I would not be able to explain that details in these short messages but you need to understand the deep connection between the two.

What we see common between Saul (before his being born-again) and Elymas is the hardness of their hearts. Saul at that time was a hard core man of traditions following the Jewish teachings as practiced by his forefathers. Elymas on the other hand was a man filled with worldly understandings which made him feel powerful so kept his name as wise man Elymas even though his real name was ironically Barjesus (son of Jesus / Joshua).

In the case of Saul his eyes were made good when the covering of his eyes which when fell off were like fish scales. Paul was restored sight and also made a new person by a cataract operation performed by the Lord on him. But in Elymas' case he must have received sight after the period of blindness but the records do not show he had a cataract operation like Paul and therefore he was not a renewed man working for the Kingdom of God.

Understand dear brothers and sisters in Christ a part of our inner man is symbolised by our eyes and things of the spirit are manifested in the flesh. If you have eyes problems start to work on your heart and you will see your eye problems disappear.

We also need to understand every bit of visual information which enters through our eyes goes and settles in our inner-man. Like a bottle of coke which we drink, the impurities take more than 3 to 7 days to be cleansed out of our system so also any picture which enters through our eyes also takes a pretty long time to be cleansed out. We may watch a provocative visual thinking they are harmless but we do not realize the harm they do within us. They may be sexual in nature, or violent, horror, or matters which are against the Truth, they all start to create a darkness with in and work to extinguish the Light of God within us.

So let us protect our inner-man by making the right choice of what we see or read. Things that edify us or build us are good should be regularly read or seen, but things which create darkness within us should be avoided even if they look harmless.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, You have created us awesomely. You made sure we are given sufficient warnings of the things which are not visible so that we can the necessary steps. The sicknesses of our body are just the manifestations of the sickness of our spiritual body. As son of man Jesus Christ You were without blemish because your heart was perfect and inner-man without corruption. Lord, help us guard our inner-man by specially guarding our eyes. Help us discern what we should read and what we should see. Whatever problems we are facing of our eyes help us to work on that area of our hearts so that not only our hearts but also our eyes are set right...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scripturesr ]
Acts 9:3-8, 17-18
3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

Matthew 6:20-23
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single [whole], thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)