August 30, 2013 … THE Defining Moment

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 242

Devotional Song:   Go to this link ...  PLEASE use this link and take in this powerful song written by Bill Gaither and sung by his Gaither Vocal Band, singing He Touched Me, reminding us that when Jesus comes into our lives He transforms us. His touch of saving grace is the primary defining moment in our lives as Christians.

Highlight meditation passage – Acts 9: 3 [NLT]: …  
3 As he [Saul of Tarsus] was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.
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Highlight reading study #1 of Acts, Chapter 9: Go to this link … 

My Journal for Today: As Os Hillman writes in his devotional today …  
"For Moses, it was the burning bush. 
For Peter, it was walking on water. 
For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it was walking through the burning furnace untouched. 
For Daniel, it was deliverance from the lions' den. 
For Joshua, it was parting the Jordan River and crossing into the Promised Land. 
For Saul of Tarsus (becoming the Apostle Paul), it was being blinded and spoken to by Jesus on the Damascus road.”

For these men to be used of God, these were defining moments in their lives. And that’s what Bill Gaither and his Vocal Band are singing about in Gather’s rendition of He Touched Me, his song linked for your hearing and meditation above.

When Jesus brings a lost person to that Spirit-prepared moment of brokenness; and through His prevenient grace, The Lord touches that one with His saving grace, it is THE defining moment in the life of any Christian. It is that moment when our humility is readied to the place of being able to recognize and receive the grace of salvation offered by a forgiving and loving God Who wants to transform us into His own image. And in that eternally powerful defining moment, we are changed forever.

Perhaps, like me, you can remember your life-changing, defining moment. During the years Jesus walked this earth in ministry, there were many such moments for those God, The Father, led His Son to touch, … people like the bleeding woman who touched Jesus’ robe, … or the woman at the well, whom Jesus showed such compassion, … or Saul of Tarsus, whom the resurrected Jesus was willing to knock Saul off his horse on that road to Damascus; and from the blindness and healing which followed, Saul became Paul and through His changed life and God-inspired writings, the Apostle Paul has changed the world.

And I can remember, as if it was yesterday, my Damascus Road experience on April 13th, 1983, which God took my brokenness and showed me, through His truth in Philippians 4: 13 (note it was on 4/13/83) that He was the only One Who could give me the Spirit-imparted strength to cover the weakness I had recognized in myself. And from that day forward – to today – He has been carrying out His promised transformation of my life.

I will pray this morning that you’ve had a touch from the Savior which has transformed you; and it’s never too late for anyone who recognizes himself or herself as a sinner in need of a Savior to receive God’s saving grace. And all it takes is the willingness – in the faith He will provide – to receive His touch of grace; and when it happens and one is willing to confess it before others (see Romans 10: 9-13 - linked here ), if you’re that one, God will provide the saving touch that will change you forever.

So, if you need The Savior’s touch today, … just receive it and then go out, in faith, and tell others how He has changed your life for eternity.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I pray that any who meditate with me here today have been touched with Your eternal, life-altering, grace, … they will be willing to share the good news with others. I know I have; and I declare it so here to You in gratitude for Your mercy and to any who might read and be so touched today. … Amen