Open Your Eyes

Scripture: Acts 26 v 14. - 18:  "And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
 15  And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
 16  But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
 17  Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me."


These are the words of Jesus when He appeared to Paul to send him to the Gentiles (unbelievers) to convert them to Christianity. This is what He came to Earth to do, and His death and resurrection made new creatures out of us all that would fulfil His mission. 

Jesus sees the darkness of Antichrist rising and knows that the time is very short. He is ready to empower and back up anyone who is willing to walk the extra mile or turn the other cheek.  The Antichrist has been rising from the time Jesus was born.  

The Antichrist is the spirit of Satan that wants to stop the truth about Jesus being made know.  He wants to eliminate Israel completely and have the whole world follow Satan.  He will use every deception, false doctrine, corrupt regime, false religion, gamble, blackmail, compromise or abomination to block the salvation of souls to Heaven.

He tried to have baby Jesus killed, and failed.  He thought he had Him finished on the Cross, but that backfired!  He used all the evil Caesars to persecute those who believed in Jesus to try stamp out Christianity before it grew.  Complete fail.

The Antichrist stirred up men to become Communists who were used to attempt to destroy Christianity.  They got men like Richard Wurmbrand who under torture in prison converted the torturers to Christ by the love of God.  The Russian Communists stated that they needed to stop persecuting Christians as it only made them stronger.

The message is not being heeded as persecution continues and is getting worse through Islamic State militants, some of whom fled the violence and became Christians at the hands and love of families whose members they had raped, tortured and killed.

Jesus has overcome Satan when He went down into his abode after the Cross and made a show of him openly.  He beat him in front of everyone there.  He crushed him, took away his power and weapons, gave born again Christians power over him and his demons.  Satan's only weapon against us is bluff, lies and subterfuge.

Open your eyes and stop giving him power over you.  Stop believing his lies through conmen, politicians, tv programs, social media, unsaved friends.  Start reading the Bible and its anointed truths.  Fill your life with that which is good, pure and lovely to enrich your soul.  This is your barricade against Satan and his lies.  Jesus used the Word as a sword against Satan while being tempted forty days in the Wilderness.  It is still the most effective weapon you have unless its rusting and you have not practiced with it.

Memorize verses like James 4 v 7: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  Submit by prayer, Bible reading and obedience to God, then say no to temptation and the devil will flee from you.  If you try to resist the devil before you submit to God you will be up against a professional wrestler.  If you submit first then resist him, he will be up against the One who has defeated him over and over again. He will flee.

Jesus longs to see even the worst sinners come free. He paid the price for their souls and even if they sold themselves to Satan, he bought them back. They were hostages and He redeemed them. He was the ransom. He exchanged Himself for them all.

What can you do to help? Firstly, pray for every unsaved person you know to be convicted of sin, righteousness and judgment by the Holy Spirit. Pray that Jesus would send someone, even you, across their path to open their eyes to the truth about Him.  Praise God for the work He is doing to save them. Even if nothing seems to be happening God is working on their inner man.

Be ready for when you may be needed to pray with them to receive salvation from Jesus. Keep the prayer of salvation among your saved messages. Use it as a guide to help bring a new soul into the Kingdom of God.

Prayer of Salvation:

Heavenly Father, have mercy on me for I have sinned and fallen short of Your expectations of me.

I believe that Jesus Christ is Your only begotten Son, who died in my place, and rose from the dead to justify me and return me to a sinless state.

Father forgive me all my sins which I now confess to you (......lies, theft, rebellion, sexual sin, bitterness, anger, violence, gangsterism, racism, worship of idols, bad habits - drugs, alcohol, smoking, snuff, self-harm ; false religion, witchcraft, occult etc.) I repent (change my mind) of any or all these things and will not do them again.

I forgive everyone who has ever hurt me or my family because Father if I do not forgive them You will not forgive my sins either. I name those who have made me bitter and angry.

Father wash me and cleanse me of all sin with the Blood of Jesus Christ. I open my heart for Jesus to come in and be my Lord and Saviour.

I promise to fellowship with Jesus and other believers and to read my Bible daily to know Your will for me. Thank You for saving me out of Satan's power and writing my name in the Lamb's Book of Life. Amen.