Our Daily Bread 28th June 2020 Devotional – Redemption’s Hope
TODAY’S TOPIC: REDEMPTION’S HOPE
Bible In A Year: Job 11–13; Acts 9:1–21
Key Verse: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. – Acts 2:21
Today’s Scripture: Acts 9:1–4, 10–18 (NIV)
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 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. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,
Insight: Our Daily Bread 28th June 2020 Devotional
While Saul was on the way to Damascus, Jesus spoke to him from a heavenly light. Afterward he was blind for three days (Acts 9:8–9). We’re not told why or how Saul was blinded. It may have been a natural consequence of the light, or it may have been a supernatural occurrence. But it’s interesting that it was through Ananias that his sight was restored. While God caused the blindness, He chose to remove it through a person. Sometimes God works in unexpected ways.
Message: Our Daily Bread 28th June 2020 Devotional
The man seemed beyond redemption. His crimes included eight shootings (killing six) and starting nearly 1,500 fires that terrorized New York City in the 1970s. He left letters at his crime scenes taunting the police, and he was eventually apprehended and given consecutive sentences of twenty-five years to life for each murder.
Yet God reached down to this man. Today he is a believer in Christ who spends time daily in the Scriptures, has expressed deep regret to his victims’ families, and continues to pray for them. Although imprisoned for more than four decades, this man who seemed beyond redemption finds hope in God and claims, “My freedom is found in one word: Jesus.”
Scripture tells of another unlikely conversion. Before he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, Saul (who later became the apostle Paul) was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). Yet Paul’s heart and life were transformed by Jesus (vv. 17–18), and he became one of the most powerful witnesses for Him in history. The man who once plotted the death of Christians devoted his life to spreading the hope of the gospel.
Redemption is always a miraculous work of God. Some stories are more dramatic, but the underlying truth remains the same: None of us deserve His forgiveness, yet Jesus is a powerful Savior! He “[saves] completely those who come to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25). By: James Banks
Reflect: Do you know someone who seems like a “tough case” for redemption? Nothing is too hard for God! Bring that person before Him in prayer.
Today’s Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank You for loving us so much You died to bring us into a relationship with You.
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