January 7, 2023 … Called And Changed …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 7 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Casting Crowns singing  … The Change In Me … poignantly, yet powerfully, singing of how God transforms us when He calls us to follow Him. 

Saul called and changed to become Paul ... 

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Highlight Passage: … Genesis 1:27-28 [NLT] …  

3 As he journeyed he [Saul] came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”  

… Saul, a pharisee, and a rabid persecutor of Christians, is called out to become “Paul,” a warrior for the Gospel and in service to Christ. 

<b><u>Highlight Passage (Context)</u>: … Acts 9:1-9 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … </b>

… Saul, persecutor of Christians, is called by Jesus to be transformed in the service of Christ.     

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Reference Passage: … Luke 9:23 [NLT] … </b>

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

… Jesus calls ALL who seek to follow Him to deny ourselves daily and surrender completely to follow Him.

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] … 

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  

… The Apostle Paul teaches truth about our transformation when we are born-again and called to serve the Lord.   

Reference Passage: … Romans 12:1-2 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul teaches fellow Christians that they (we) are to become living sacrifices to serve the Lord and others, avoiding the thinking of the world as we serve our Lord in His kingdom.         

Reference Passage: … Galatians 2:20 [NLT] … 

20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 

…The Apostle Paul shows that he had died to self and, as he called fellow Christians. to live for Christ.             

Reference Passage: … Philippians 1:6 [NLT] … 

6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ in order to serve our King Jesus.  

…The Apostle Paul reminds fellow Christians that they (we) are being made over - i.e., transformed - by God’s Spirit into the image of Christlikeness.  

                                                                            

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Kenneth Peterson… AT THIS LINK …   relates a description of a young 16 YO man, Louis Rodriguez, imprisoned for murder, and coming to know Christ as Lord in prison; and the ODB author telling of how the young man’s life was called to serve the Lord, once paroled, in prison ministry.    

And this ODB entry refers the readers to the story, in Act 9, of how Jesus called Saul to become the Apostle Paul (see photo)), … who was radically transformed from a persecutor of Christ to a powerful ambassador of the Gospel, … the man who wrote most of our New Testament gospel writings. 

And I’m praying that all who read with me here have taken in the linked song and meditated on ALL of the Scriptures above, … all of which document Christ’s call - for all of us - to surrender ourselves and be transformed to serve our Lord, King Jesus, … becoming His bond servants as we are transformed to share His gospel truth by the way we live our lives for Him.   

My THANKFULNESS:... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for Your calling on my life and how You’ve transformed me to serve You, Lord.           

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to live our lives in self denial and using our transformation, Lord, to serve You by the way we live like You and serve others in Your Name and for Your glory.    Amen

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Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.