Bible Characters - Paul (Daily Devotional)

Greetings and welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you once again for giving us this wonderful opportunity to come together and meditate on God’s word and spend a few moments in prayer. I want to thank you for journeying with me throughout this week, where we have looked at bible characters and even as we wrap up this week, we are going to be talking about the great apostle Paul. Saul was a well-known persecutor of Christians, but that was before he met Jesus, in a blinding vision on the road to Damascus. After Saul was brought into the city by the men he was travelling with, Jesus told a disciple named Ananias to bring Saul message and restore his sight. Ananias reminded the Lord that Saul was a persecutor of the Christian faith and Saul had come to arrest the believers of Jesus Christ. Ananias’ fear was joined later by astonishment of others. Even the disciples of Jerusalem could not believe the news. Only the courage and kindness of Barnabas helped Saul get an introduction to the apostles. What changed? Saul changed. Saul had met Jesus; he had been blind but now he saw the truth. An unlikely instrument, a persecutor of the church has now become the preacher and teacher of the message of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s life was remarkable and there is little doubt that it changed the course of Christianity. He went about planting many churches, wrote two thirds of the New Testament and many of the truths we read about are from revelations that he had received. Paul, the apostle had expanded the church far and wide, flinging open the doors to the Gentiles, strenuously fighting for his conviction that the gospel was for all people and there were no barriers. Paul the theologian was the first to work through many intriguing questions regarding Jesus’s’ life, death and resurrection. Paul the letter writer gave us not only some of the most profound pieces of early Christian theological reflections, but also some of the most finest writing in the history. The apostle Paul had a brilliant mind, a commanding knowledge of philosophy and religion and could debate the most educated scholars of his day. At the same time, his clear, understandable, explanation of the gospel made his letters to the churches the foundation of Christian theology. Paul explains in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, that God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Paul says because we are reconciled to God, we also have the task of sharing the message of reconciliation. You and I are God’s ambassadors. Paul’s life is a true testament of God’s transformative power. God did not waste any part of Paul, his background, his training, his citizenship, his mind or even his weaknesses. Are you willing to let God do the same for you? You will never know all He can do with you until you allow Him to have all that you are. Let’s pray, Father, we thank you for this entire week. We thank you for these wonderful men and women of God we can read and learn about. We pray that we will continue to pursue you, continue to grow in our relationship with you, in intimacy. Lord, we thank you for it is not by our own abilities but it is by your grace and mercy in each of our lives, we give you all the praise and glory, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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