From Opponent to Messenger

You are listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1515. Today's Devo is called From Opponent to Messenger. Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Hello, everyone, My name is Lauren Alessi and I am your host for this week. I'm having a very fun week, actually. I've talked on People in the Bible all week. I love it. I feel like I'm more like story time than anything else. So it's great. Today we are talking about none other than Paul, who I love, one of my favorites, great guy. And that's why we are talking about From Opponent to Messenger. So I'm just going to jump right into the word this time and then we'll get into a little bit of context. We're reading out of Acts, chapter nine, verses three through five. And it says this. As he neared Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say, saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, who you are persecuting. So again, a little bit of context here. If you don't know the story of Saul, if you don't know the story of Saul turned to Paul, you need to read it. Because what we see in the story is Saul, who later his name gets changed to Paul, was active, was actively persecuting Christians. He was a Jew, was a very staunch Jew, was like these, this is the law, you need to follow it. If it's wrong, then you deserve to die. And if you are being a Christian, then you were going against Jewish law, therefore you deserve to die. So when he saw the disciples following Jesus, when he saw apostles that were following new Christian laws back then, it was like Gentiles. He was like, they deserve to die because they're going against Jewish law. He believed that the message of the law was so strong that the message of Jesus was totally dangerous and totally wrong. Therefore he thought he had a right to persecute them. And on the way to continuing to persecute Christians, Jesus stops Saul and encounters him and changes his life. And he says here, Saul, why do you persecute me? And Saul goes, who are you, Lord? And he goes, I'm Jesus, who Are you, are who you are persecuting? And everything from there on, Saul changes his name, changes to Paul. There, there's beliefs that in this moment, there's time in between where, where now Paul is spending time with Jesus and spending time with other ministers and other apostles, and he's getting to know more about Jesus's history and his true message. And, and what we see is that same basically staunchness for the belief of what the law should be like now is changed to that same strictness for Christianity. And Paul becomes such a widely renowned minister for the word of God and for the Bible that we read today. I think he's written like three fourths of the New Testament. Is that, is that right, Solange? Like an insane amount. Most of the Bible we read today is from a man who formerly persecuted Christians who believe what we believe now. And Jesus decided to change his life in an instant. So why am I bringing you this story today, which most of you probably already know, because here's what I want to ask you. What part of your life needs to be redirected by Jesus? What part of your life does Jesus need to show up and ask you, hey, why are you doing this? Why are you persecuting me? Is it. Why are you not spending enough time with me? Why are you not giving your children over to me? And by that I mean, why are you letting me, you know, just have a little, little bit of your children's life? But you haven't fully surrendered who your kids are, their futures. You haven't surrendered that over to me or your marriage. Why haven't you fully surrendered your marriage over to me? What part of your life needs to be directed by Jesus? Maybe it's salvation as a whole. Maybe you started listening to this podcast and you haven't really fully given your life over to Jesus. Can I just encourage you, after this podcast, have a very one on one come to Jesus prayer where you ask Jesus to come into your heart, forgive you of your sins, and accept, accept him into your heart. Ask as your Lord and Savior. So whatever part of your life needs to be transformed and redirected by Jesus, ask him, give that over to him. And just like Saul, just like Paul, it's not to leave you in the dark, to make you feel bad, to. To leave you in condemnation. No, it's to see where your fullest potential is at. If you haven't given your marriage over to God completely and you're still trying to control some aspect of it, or you're still trying to control some part of your life and not give it over to God. Just like Paul, once you trans, you give that over to the Lord, watch it become the best marriage you've ever had. Watch it become the best children you've ever raised. Not because it's you raising them, because you've let the Lord in on it. Because now the Lord has full control over your life, over your family, over your future, over your present. So what part of your life needs to be directed by Jesus? Only you can answer that. I don't have the answer for you. I'm just giving you examples. But only you can ask the Lord that. And only you have the answer. So let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for this devotional, Lord. We pray that it is challenging. We pray that it is good for us. Because Lord, your word is not just to make us feel good, Lord, but it is to also challenge us and to equip us and to make us better. Lord, I just pray for every person listening, God, whatever part of our lives needs to be redirected by you. Whatever part of our lives you need to come and say, hey, why are you doing this? You need to give that over to me. Why are you doing this? Reveal that to us, God. Speak to us even now and Lord, help us surrender it over to you, God, so we can go from being your opponent God, to being your partner, to being your messenger God and being the best version of ourselves. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.