The Miracle of Life Change!

“For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”
Colossians 2:12 (NLT)

Each year, we witness amazing, life-changing moments at Super Summer Baptism Weekend at Woodlands Church!  Over 800 people publicly professed their faith in Jesus Christ this year through baptism, and 92 students at Beach Week! It’s the greatest visual display of faith and my favorite event of the year! What a thrill to see God at work, healing hurts and restoring lives! Each one is a Grace Story, and we’ve literally witnessed thousands of them!

This week, we’ll examine some of the greatest life change moments in the Bible, as well as experience the stories of men and women today whose lives are being forever changed by the grace of God. These Divine encounters are living testimonies of the transformative power of Jesus Christ. You can begin again!  You can be raised to a new life! In Colossians 2:12 (NLT) the Bible says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.” God is writing your story, and it’s a good one!  Just give Him the pen and see what happens.

One of my favorite Grace Stories in the Bible, creating huge life change in the heart of a woman trapped in immorality, is found in John’s Gospel at a well in Samaria. There, Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman in the heat of the day, and said to her, “‘Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.’ ” Jesus appealed to a thirst for love in her life that no human relationship could satisfy. She had tried so many times, five times, in fact, with five different husbands, and the man she was now living with was not her husband. Jesus had hit a chord in her heart. Notice how quickly she responded, ‘Please, sir,’ the woman said, ‘give me this water!’” John 4:13-15a (NLT) Maybe that’s your heart cry as well.

When Jesus turns the light on in our lives, it produces a desire for change, real change! We experience life, the life God intended for us to live, with the Creator Himself restored in His creature, making of us a new creation in Christ! Old things pass away, and everything becomes new! That’s what happened to this Samaritan woman. When she encountered Jesus at that well, her life was changed forever! 

This unnamed woman was so impacted by the love of God that she “left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!  Could He possibly be the Messiah?’” (Vs. 28-29) Love breaks through all barriers! His light was shining through her now!   

Curiosity must have gotten the best of the people in that village because John said they all came streaming out to see Jesus, and many believed in Him because of what the woman had told them.  In John 4:42b (NLT), we read their response, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard Him (Jesus) ourselves.  Now we know that He is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Like that woman, your story matters too! It is the greatest evidence for the existence of God and His redeeming love!  Our stories are stories of grace that you and I need to share that will bring others to Jesus. One such story was shared with me following Super Summer Baptism.  

“A woman in her 60s came out of the church weeping. She was embroiled in an ugly divorce. She had come to Woodlands Church with her son and daughter-in-law a couple of times in the past. She was distraught…looking for peace…looking for healing…looking for God. She only knew to go to the church where her son and daughter-in-law had taken her before. She heard the message and felt the Lord prompting her heart to get baptized. She was obedient, despite not having planned or being prepared for a baptism, God was prepared. She said she was nervous, but trusted God. As she got baptized, she said she left it all in the water! She felt free. She knows it is a journey and there is more healing to come, but as she left, she didn’t feel like a prisoner. She said Woodlands Church was no longer her son's and daughter-in-law’s church. It was her church, too!”

Like the woman at the well, this woman experienced a life-changing moment with Jesus and was raised to new life by the power of God! Just as God is writing their story, He is writing yours!  Have you committed your life to Christ? Have you taken that first step of obedience in baptism as a Christ follower?  Jesus began His earthly ministry with a public baptism!  Miracles followed that simple step of obedience to His Father.  I wonder what miracle will follow your experience as you take that same step of baptism. 

If you missed Super Summer Baptism, you have another opportunity this weekend to take that step of obedience at Super Summer Baptism 2. Register now at a Woodlands Church Campus near you and experience the miracle awaiting you! 

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Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.

Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.