September 16, 2023 … More Like Jesus Today …

September 16, 2023 …  More Like Jesus Today  …   

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in this song with lyrics from Zach Williams singing … I Less Like Me … powerfully singing of God’s grace giving us Christians  the ability to be transformed to be more like Jesus and less like our natural selves.  

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Highlight Passage: … Roman 12:2 [NLT] … 

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.   

…Paul charges fellow Christians to surrender to God’s Spirit’s influence in making us over into the image of our Lord.              

               

Highlight Passage (Context): … Romans 12:1-2 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… The Apostle Paul exhorts fellow Christians to surrender to God’s Spirit and become more like Jesus and less like the world or other lost people.                                                                           

===============                                                                 .                                                                                                                                             

Reference Passage: … Romans 8:29  [NLT] …  

29 For God knew his people in advance, and He chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  

… Paul confidently teaches truth that God chose all born-again Christians to become like His Son, Jesus Christ       

Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 11:1  [NLT] …  

21 And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.  

… Paul confidently instructs his fellow Christians to imitate his ways because he was committed to living to be more like Christ. 

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

20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me..  

… Paul testifies to fellow Christians that his old self was crucified when he, Paul, was born-again; and now he lives to become more like the Lord by surrendering to follow God’s Spirit.       

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

6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.  

… Paul declares His confidence to fellow Christians that God will do a finished work in all Christians to make them (us) over into the image of Christ.               

Reference Passage: … 1John 2:6  [NLT] …  

 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.  

… God, thru John Mark, exhorts those who call themselves (ourselves) “Christians” should do all we can to live as Christ lived.    

                                                                              

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Xochitl Dixon  … AT THIS LINK …  described how biologists took a pair of pygmy sea horses along with the coral in which they lived to a laboratory to see what color the progeny of the sea horses would be when they were born. The scientists determined that the sea horses, with a God-given internal mechanism,  would take on the color of the coral around them.   

And if my readers have taken in the linked song and meditated on the Scriptures above, we, as born-again Christians have to be encouraged that God has given ALL Christians the ability to avoid taking on the colors of this world and becoming more Jesus day-by-day-by-day.  

So, today we need to ask ourselves, as does Zach Williams in his song, … “How can I become more like Jesus today and less like me?!”          

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for leading me today to become more like You.          

My Prayer Today:  Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to follow Your Spirit and Your word today, Lord, to become more like You and less like me or the world.      … 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.