June 13 - Healed and Filled
The apostle Paul is, unquestionably, the greatest missionary of all times. His footsteps span through continents, establishing numerous churches. He wrote a number of books of the New Testament and is the one who formulated Christian doctrines as we know them today. It is interesting to see how God met him, changed his life, called him into ministry and prepared him. He is our example in serving the Lord and obeying His call in our lives.
Paul's conversion was nothing less than spectacular, Jesus revealing Himself to him on the road to Damascus as a bright light from heaven and a voice from above. This manifest presence of the risen Lord changed Paul's mind about Christ, causing him to call Jesus "Lord" and obeyed what he was told. He was to go into the city and await instructions. For three days, he was blind, neither ate nor drank in waiting for someone to come to him.
At that time, Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, received a vision from the Lord about Saul of Tarsus. He was to go to him and tell him his life's destiny. God had a plan for Paul and Ananias was the person God used to convey it. In short, God had chosen Paul to carry His name before the Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. He was to suffer for the sake of God's name while he would be doing God's bidding.
Paul was converted miraculously and was given a mission for his life through another disciple who sought him out and told him. God prepared Paul through Ananias who told him that his mission was to heal him and to fill him with the Holy Spirit. In order to be a missionary or an apostle, Paul could not go with scales in his eyes. He needed healing and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit before he could begin to live out God's plan in his life.
The healing was more than physical, it was emotional and spiritual as well. Saul persecuted the church and arrested Christians, breaking up their churches and their families. The same people he was persecuting would become his own spiritual family. What tremendous shame and guilt he would have felt. He was in spiritual darkness but now he is in God's light. The healing was the first preparation for anyone to serve the Lord. Once you are healed, you are ready to serve God.
Today, many are serving God with unhealed wounds, physical, emotional and spiritual. This would prevent the Holy Spirit from filling them and so they operate on woundedness. Some even called themselves "wounded healers". Are you serving God with wounds in your life? Go and ask God for healing so that there would not be any hindrance for the Holy Spirit to fill you. Be healed and be filled now.
Ps 132:6-12 1 Kgs 11:1-12:19 Acts 9:1-25 Prov 17:4-5