Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from the group Hillsong leading in worship and singing… All Things New … poignantly declaring in song that God makes all things new in Christ.
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 3:3 [NLT] … 3 Jesus replied [to Nicodemus], “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
… Without God’s transforming grace, no one enters the kingdom of God.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 3:1-8, 13-16, 19-21 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus explains the transforming grace which changes born-again Christians, bringing them (us) from the darkness into the light.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … John 6:45 [NLT] … 45 As it is written in the Scriptures, [Isaiah 54:13] ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
… Jesus quotes from Isaiah that He came to teach the people the truth abut God’s transforming grace.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2 Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] … 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
… Paul had experienced God’s transforming, sanctifying grace; and he wanted others to know about it.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Dave Branon, teaches about the transformation which takes place in the life of the born-again Christian. The ODB author wrote: A few years ago a publisher made a big mistake. A book had been on the market for several years, so it was time for a makeover. The author rewrote the book to bring it up to date. But when the revision was published, there was a problem. The publisher gave the book a nice new cover but printed the old book inside. The exterior was fresh and new, but the interior was old and out of date. This “reprint” was not really new at all.
Sometimes that kind of thing happens with people. They realize a change needs to be made in life. Things are heading in the wrong direction. So they may put on a new exterior without making a vital change in their heart. They may change a behavior on the outside but may not realize that it is only God who can change us on the inside.
And I’m one of those, who, like the Apostle Paul, experienced God’s big time make-over when I came to know Christ as my Lord and Savior. And unfortunately there are some - if not many - who claim to be a “christian,” but who are doing so with exterior masks rather than surrendering internally and humbly, in repentance, as did Saul of Tarsus to become the Apostle Paul. And Jesus stated this process of internal change when He told Nicodemus in the garden that no one would enter God’s kingdom without being made-over by the transforming grace of God [see highlight passages].
I pray that any reading here have experienced the newness written about by Paul in 2Cor. 5:17; because if you haven’t, I stand ready, with anticipation, to be used by God’s Spirit to shepherd you into God’s kingdom. Just email me [@ billb13@bellsouth.net]; and God will make it happen!!
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Dear Lord, … if there are any reading my prayer today, who need Your make-over, send them my way. … Amen
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.
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