It will really help our sharing of the Gospel if we recognize that the eyes of some have been blinded by the devil so as to keep them from seeing the Truth of God's Word! ALWAYS pray before you go out to share the Word! Pray that the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of the lost to see the Truth of the Gospel. Then share as the Holy Spirit leads, operating in the gifts of the Spirit, with each and every individual. Our reading in John today is a good example of that blindness! We have the account of the man born blind whom Jesus healed by spreading mud on his eyes and having him wash in the Pool of Siloam. The Pharisees just could not figure this out! Look at John 9:14-17:
14 Now it was on the Sabbath day that Jesus mixed the mud and opened the man’s eyes. 15 So now again the Pharisees asked him how he received his sight. And he said to them, He smeared mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see. 16 Then some of the Pharisees said, This Man [Jesus] is not from God, because He does not observe the Sabbath. But others said, How can a man who is a sinner (a bad man) do such signs and miracles? So there was a difference of opinion among them. 17 Accordingly they said to the blind man again, What do you say about Him, seeing that He opened your eyes? And he said, He is [He must be] a prophet!
And then again in verses 24-33:
24 So the second time they summoned the man who had been born blind, and said to him, Now give God the glory (praise). This fellow we know is only a sinner (a wicked person). 25 Then he answered, I do not know whether He is a sinner and wicked or not. But one thing I do know, that whereas I was blind before, now I see.26 So they said to him, What did He [actually] do to you? How did He open your eyes? 27 He answered, I already told you and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Can it be that you wish to become His disciples also? 28 And they stormed at him [they jeered, they sneered, they reviled him] and retorted, You are His disciple yourself, but we are the disciples of Moses. 29 We know for certain that God spoke with Moses, but as for this Fellow, we know nothing about where He hails from. 30 The man replied, Well, this is astonishing! Here a Man has opened my eyes, and yet you do not know where He comes from. [That is amazing!] 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and a worshiper of Him and does His will, He listens to him. 32 Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything like this.
I especially like the underlined verses! Can you just see how the Pharisees would have reacted to that? Religious thinking is some of the hardest to undo in people! They put more stock in what they THINK the Word says than in what it actually DOES say! Pray and let the holy Spirit do the work! OUR responsibility is simply to tell the TRUTH! Preach the GOOD NEWS! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "I'm Not Ashamed":
Shalom in Him!
