Divine Openings

 ~ Luke Reports 5 Christ-Related Openings ~

 

Opened Heart (to receive Christ)  ~  “And on the Sabbath day we [Paul, Silas, and Timothy) went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.  Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us.  She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God.  The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.  And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’  So she persuaded us” (Acts 16:13-15).  

 

Opened Eyes (to see Christ)  ~  “Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight” (Luke 24:30-31).  

 

Opened Scriptures (to reveal Christ)  ~  The previous paragraph continues:  “Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.  And they said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:30-32).  

 

Opened Understanding (to learn Christ)  ~  “Then He [Jesus Christ] said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-45).  

 

Opened Heavens (to see the victorious Christ)  ~  “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.  But he [Stephen], being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, ‘Look!  I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’” (Acts 7:54-56).

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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