Acts 13:9-11

"Then Saul who wa also called Paul, filled with the Holy spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 'you are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything tht is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?'

Interesting thought. Paul had such a heart for the lost and the people that are far from Christ that he couldn't stand people who adamately opposed to Christ get in the way. He seems very blunt if not extremly judgemental. There is an interesting thought behind why he did this. Paul really wanted the proconsul who was seeking God to hear the word of God and accept it. elymas was trying to turn the poconsul from the faith. Paul thus rebukes Elymas from doing so. There is incredible insight in these verses. To want someone to come to Christ to the point where you are willing to sound judgemental to someone else for the sake of the person hearing God's word.

God honors this and blinds Elymas for a time and this becomes a sign to the proconsul and elymas about the power of God and their teaching. I hope and pray that God will continue to increase my heart for people who don't know Him. I pray that I would have the nuts to boldly rebuke someone who is getting in the way of someone coming to know Christ. The awesome thing is in an incredible way all of them are blessed by God through his boldness.

In addition I think it's awesome how Paul's teaching and words brought about change. The procounsul was amazed at the teaching and Elymas was blinded for a time. This was all due to the power of the holy spirit as Paul spoke God's word. I pray that the Holy spirit can be that obvious when I speak God's word, that people would be amazed at God and the power of His word. As james said Elijah was a man just like us.....I think Paul was a man just like me and the power lies in the Holy spirit but I often don't trust it as much and don't lean into the power that I have in God and often take the burden on my shoulders. I pray again that the power of the Holy Spirit would just be so apparent and everyone would be blessed as I remain faithful to saying the things that God as put inside of me to say.