Acts 26:19-23. After recounting the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul goes on to tell King Agrippa that he was not disobedient to this heavenly vision. He declared to all of Damascus, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, and to the Gentiles that they should repent, turn to God, and perform deeds worthy of their repentance. It was because of this that the Jews seized him in the temple and tried to kill him. So he now stands in a Roman audience hall, testifying to both great and small, that what Moses and the prophets foretold about the Messiah has come to pass.

As someone who has sometimes received messages and visions myself, and I am very grateful for the guidance of the Bible, and that of Paul here, in what to do with them. At first I was very confused, as I written about before. But passages like this, along with personal experience, have taught me not to talk much about the fact that the message was given to me, and instead discern what the message is asking me to do and do that. If the message or vision is one of warning, I am to warn people by speaking of the signs of the times. If it is one of love, I am to love people, even if they hurt me. (After all, God loves me, even though I have hurt Him often!)

When Paul had his vision, he immediately began proclaiming to all, but he wasn't saying "Hey, everybody, I had vision in which Jesus told me to come speak to you." Instead, he simply proclaimed Christ as the fulfillment of the Messianic promise. In other words, it was not about Paul, but about Christ. This is the way to properly handle a message or vision.

The visions and messages that we receive are for us - to get our hearts and minds in the right place in order to evangelize well. Sometimes, we may have to recount them to others, as Paul is doing here, but that is not the main purpose of our receiving them. If we get a vision or a message, we should pray and discern, discuss it with trusted advisors (or people that God sent to us sends to us, such as when Ananias was sent to Paul in Damascus), and then act. When we act, we should act in the way the message or vision was telling us to do without making it about us.