How To Make Big Decisions Wisely-10 Day DevotionalSample

Complete Life Change 

Have you had a life-changing experience? The most dramatic of those usually only come once in a lifetime and define us for the rest of our lives. I have shared my own story of encountering Jesus on a trip to Northern Arizona hundreds of times because my life started in a completely different direction that day and I have never gone back.

Jesus came to Paul (then known as Saul), in such a life-changing encounter, on the road to Damascus. We first read it in Acts 9, but it is so significant to Paul and the whole Christian church that Luke recorded it three different times in Acts. Your personal life-changing encounter with Jesus won’t be exactly like Paul’s, but it is likely to have one or more features that Paul’s had:

1) You won’t expect it - Paul was not seeking Jesus when he met him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-2).

2) Jesus will give you a new life mission – Paul’s life purpose went from destroying the church to expanding it throughout the then known world (Acts 26:14-18).

3) Jesus will not promise it to be easy but he will ultimately promise to make a difference in others’ lives through you – Jesus warned Paul he would suffer at the hands of those he tried to help but many would come to receive eternal life (Acts 9:16; 22:15; 26:16-18).

4) Others will see a change in you but may not understand it – Paul’s traveling companions saw the light when Jesus came but they did not understand his voice (Acts 22:9).

5) You may need others to help you fully understand what follow Jesus will mean for you – Jesus did not tell Paul everything he needed to know in the first encounter. Instead, he called the Christian Ananias to Paul and give him the rest of the details he needed to know then (Acts 9:10-16; 22:10-16).

How many of these have you experienced in the ways Jesus has called you?