You Can Change

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1527. Today's Devo is called you can change. Hey there. We're the Alessi's, 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. Good morning Stephanie here and let's dive into our devo. Today we're going to continue in the five chapters of Acts that I will be reading this week. I'm reading Acts 9 today, 1 through 6 in the NIV version. Let's dive into it. By the way, before I do that, if you are liking this, please let us know. Please put it in the comments. And if you are reading along with me with your Bible handy comment as well, I got my Bible comment. I don't know the color of your Bible and if it's big, big print or little print, because I have a big print green Bible and I love that Bible. So let us know. What Bible are you reading from? I want to know. So here we go. Acts 9:1-6. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. Woof. Good morning. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. Please continue the rest of this story. Oh my gosh, I love this story. The the story continues with Paul meeting a man named Ananias. And Ananias is the one who places his hands on Saul to restore his sight to him. And that's pretty much when Saul says, okay, this is real. This whole Jesus thing that I have been trying to demolish for years is now so real to me. And now I am called to go preach the name of Jesus. So it is a total 180. What happens to Saul so soon to be Paul? And you know, few people in scripture honestly experienced a more dramatic life change than Saul because he wasn't searching for Jesus, he was hunting Christians. Imagine Saul traveling to Damascus, confident that he was defending God. And then suddenly a light from heaven stops him in his tracks. And he hears the voice of Jesus Christ asking why are you persecuting me? Everything Saul believed about himself absolutely collapses in that moment. And the man who came to arrest believers becomes a believer. Saul spends three days blind reflecting on what just happened. And then God sends Ananias and this is where I want to zoom into this story. God doesn't just forgive us, he transforms us. And if you feel like you need to be transformed and this is for the new Christian and the lifelong Christian, if you feel like you need some type of transforming, God can do it. He took Saul, who was a middle aged man and changed his heart completely. Changed his heart. I'm going to be honest, about a year ago I needed to be transformed. I was having a meeting with somebody and they told me point blank this is why I love people who speak the truth in love. That I had started to believe lies about myself. That created a poor perspective of others around me, of situations around me, of and a poor perspective of myself. But it was because I had not allowed the Word to transform me by the renewing of my mind. And the Bible says do not conform to the patterns of this world. Whether you've been a Christian for two weeks or you've been a Christian for 20 years, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. And you know what I had to do? I had to recite scripture over myself. Every single day I would tell myself I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. I am being built up to become a dwelling place for his Spirit. I no longer live in shame, I no longer live in self doubt. For God has given me not a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and love and sound mind. And then slowly I started to feel the transformation where when I would go through tough situations, my victim self pity mentality was gone. And my brain went into I trust God, I have faith in God, we can do this, Everything's great. I have it in me to make this happen. I didn't feel defeated anymore. I didn't feel hesitant anymore. Honestly, for the first time I. I felt a new confidence for who God had called me to be. And I allowed the word of God to transform me. And maybe today is your day to start that transformation. God, change my mind, change my thoughts, change my heart. I'm too negative. I always see the glass half empty. God, I'm too judgmental. I always see the Flaws in everybody. God, transform my mind. I keep thinking about the past. I can't seem to get past it. God, transform my mind. And then start to recite scripture. I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus. And see how, just like God transformed Saul to Paul, he will transform your mind from the old ways to new ways. And I'll also just give this small tip to husbands and wives. We may be sitting around praying, transform my husband, transform my wife. They need your transforming power. Please, God, change their heart. But let me just encourage you to shift your prayer about your spouse as well. God, if there's something in me that needs to change, then change me. And if there's something in them that needs to change, allow a Saul on the road to Damascus moment to happen. But first my prayer is for my transformation. And then, Lord, you will allow the transformation to happen in my spouse. On your timing. And I trust you, God forbid, with your timing, but change my heart first. You know, sometimes we believe that we are too far from God or his ways. But Saul, he reminds us that no one is beyond the reach of grace. The same God who stopped Saul on the road can still change hearts today. Your heart, my heart, everyone's heart as long as we step into it. And we believe that that transforming power can work in our hearts and minds today. Let's pray. God, we thank you so much for your transformation. Power that can seep into the depths of our heart and change our thought patterns, change our perspectives, change our beliefs. God, if we need to change something that we have never been able to fully break away from, I pray that today is our Sol moment that God, you will change us from a Saul to a Paul. That our negative ways will become more joyful. Our struggle with depression and anxiety will finally meet a newfound joy and peace. Our judgmental ways, whatever they are, I pray that we will now be the ones bringing joy and laughter into the room and encouragement to others. So our hearts are open to you, God. Seep into them as deep as you can as we surrender ourselves to your transforming power. And in Jesus name, we all 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 using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.