I’m Gonna Live, Gonna Live Again…

I’m Gonna Live, Gonna Live Again…

This is the sound
Of dry bones rattling
This is the praise
Make a dead man walk again
Open the grave
I’m coming out
I’m gonna live
Gonna live again
This is the sound
Of dry bones rattling! ~Elevation Worship / Rattle

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.”
And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. ~Acts 9:11-19 NKJV

When we are wrapped up in sin it is easy to allow “scales” to cover our eyes and lose sight of the Lord. We chose to look away, we chose to be separated from our King, our Lord, our Savior. It is a choice made in the mind, the heart and finally the spirit of our soul. It begins in the mind. We listen to lies from the enemy that dress up as envy, gluttony, false pride or one of millions of other disguises the deceiver uses to trick us. Then it morphs into something else and attacks. What we “heard” was “unworthy” that morphs into lust, fear or  the headmaster, false pride. The “pride” parades are called “pride” parades for a reason.

Having a Spiritual experience, like is explained in the book Alcoholics Anonymous, is not uncommon. It is as common, not as dramatic and usually not as earth shattering as Saul / Paul, but it is common as someone truly working the Steps. The Spiritual experience most people have doesn’t change the world, however, with the help of another human being that is filled with the Holy Spirit, it is the same type of Spiritual transformation as described above. People are born again, a new creature, in the image of God, their Christ identity is offered and most never take their eye off the Lord the remainder of their days.

Here are thousands of men and women, worldly indeed. They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things. There has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking. In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them. This happened soon after they wholeheartedly met a few simple requirements. Once confused and baffled by the seeming futility of existence, they show the underlying reasons why they were making heavy going of life. Leaving aside the drink question, they tell why living was so unsatisfactory. They show how the change came over them. When many hundreds of people are able to say that the consciousness of the Presence of God is today the most important fact of their lives, they present a powerful reason why one should have faith. Source

Either the Gospel is divine inspiration, the Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of Him, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.