Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics for Joy Williams singing … Do They See Jesus In Me … poignantly singing of a question all Christians need to ponder … if others see the Lord in what we say and do.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Acts 9:15 [NLT] … 15 But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. …”
…God shows Ananias exactly whom Saul was to become in/for Christ.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Acts 9:13-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Ananias was afraid of Saul’s image as an anti-Christ “hit-man.”
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Reference Passage : … Psalm 139:23-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… A prayer I pray EVERY MORNING, desiring that I follow Christ closely so that anyone following me will be following the Lord’s ways.
Reference Passage : … 1 Corinthians 11:1 [NLT] … 1 And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
… The Apostle Paul wasn’t afraid for others to follow Him because he knew he was following Christ.
Reference Passage : … 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!
… In Christ, if we’re serious disciples, we’ll become more and more like our Lord in what we think, say, and do.
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.
… For all born-again Christians, God’s Spirit will be continually doing a “make-over” of our spirit into that of our Lord’s images.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Peter Chin, used a personal story to illustrate how others see whom we are. … The ODB author wrote: I’ll never forget the time I took my future wife to meet my family. With a twinkle in their eyes, my two elder siblings asked her, “What exactly do you see in this guy?” She smiled and assured them that by God’s grace I had grown to be the man she loved.
I loved that clever reply because it also reflects how, in Christ, the Lord sees more than our past.
As I indicate above in referring to Ps. 139:23-24, this is a prayer I pray each day before my feet hit the floor in the morning; and I’m praying it to reflect what Joy Williams sings in the linked song, … asking that others seen Christ in the way I think, speak, and act. I want my life to have the confidence the Apostle Paul had with his identity in Christ [see 1Cor. 11:1]. He just knew that others could imitate him because his whole life was dedicated to imitating Christ.
Can we all say the same thing; or do we need to be praying David’s prayer of Psalm 139:23-24 and praying that God finishes his make-over of our spirits (as He promises in Phil. 1:6) more completely today?
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your promise to reform us into Your image.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to seek for others to see us as reflections of Christlikeness. … 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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