Redemption

P 2175 The treasures of redemption.

/ DVH

“Since we are now joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by His blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of His grace.”Ephesians1:7 TPT

I have a passion for words, so I’d rather read a really good book than watch some dumb thing on TV! Today those words in Ephesians …’cascading riches’ … caught my attention. When I hear that phrase, I can immediately see Niagara Falls in my mind’s eye. Hubby and I stood beside that magnificent wonder once, watching tons of water succumbing to gravity … endlessly. It was a force of nature like nothing else I have ever seen. The water just roared over the edge. The sheer power of so much water endlessly moving, falling down to smash on the rocks, just took my breath away. 

We also went on one of the boat tours, the ones that go right up to the bottom of the falls. Man what a rush! I was standing next to a tiny little Asian girl, who was nearly blown away by the power of all that falling water hitting the rocks and river below. I had to gently put my hand on her shoulder … she very nearly achieved lift-off! 😂 Wow! Seeing that particular waterfall was such a memorable experience – it was inspirational. Now, when I think of His love, I think of those falls. It blows my mind, every single time. 

These words in Ephesians 1 describe how rich, how wealthy and more-than-we-could-ever-ask-or understand, in LOVE, redemption, and passion our Lord is. Much, much more than we can ever imagine.  When we came to know Christ and recognised Who He is, we stepped into a passionate endless river of love – and we get to jump off the edge with Him daily, in our own private waterfall. Plus, because of our decision to follow Him, we are now part of Him as well as each other – we are all a part of something so much bigger than our little lives.

From now on we have something we’ve all dreamed about – endless unconditional love. The Precious Holy Spirit looked through time and saw each one of us, standing there covered in the muck and bad choices of our lives in this world and then He came after us and washed us all clean in that river. Love was on His mind. 

I don’t know about your life before Christ, but mine was a total washout before I met Him.  Even though I was married and had two gorgeous little girls, and all that I thought I wanted … I was not happy. Life did not turn out the way I thought it would. I certainly knew very little about the sacrifices of love. So I was vastly under- prepared for the kind of human love that quickly turns into endless daily routine. But one day the Lord Jesus came along and interrupted that life, and offered me a chance to live differently. He asked me to live for Him, because He came here once and lived for me, long ago. This life became an adventure – with good bits and bad ones. However it was not ever boring again!

Before that day, I’d tried religion … many, ma-n-y kinds! My sole parent dragged me with them into some really weird things. But as I got older I realised the stuff I had experienced was pure religious hypocrisy, and so eventually, I walked away from all of it. I found out that there was nothing there to hold my heart. But the minute I met Jesus I knew immediately. HE. IS. REAL. He taught me a different, lasting kind of love that involves sacrifice. Redemption is a treasure that cost Almighty God everything, He sacrificed all He had and we cannot take that gift for granted. 

Personally, I think that when redemption becomes habitual, and not a great source of joy, it leads to traditional religion. That sort of religion sucks all the joy out of loving God, and shrinks relating to Him down to a series of unobtainable obligations and rules. It overwhelms people and numbs them. Either they hide who they really are – or they get so enamoured by the rules and regulations and run about trying to control everyone within the sound of their voice. Neither of those things even remotely look like the redemption Christ died to give us. He died to restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father. 

Jesus’ kind of redemption always leaves us free to accept or reject Him. He gives us choices. The downside of those choices is … we can easily end up part-time Christians … if we want to live like that. The Lord of all,  Jesus Christ, allows us to choose our own rate of growth – how amazing. The sad thing about that way to live is that every second we spend in this life living for ourselves is a second we freely give away to something that cannot last! However when we allow His complete redemption into our lives, He will transform us from self-centred, bigoted, controlling, weak human beings into loving, compassionate people with the strength to serve others daily, gladly. Transformation through redemption sounds like treasure to me.  👋🏻 

P 2145 Some very interesting questions.

/ DVH

The Lord asked my lovely husband some questions recently, when he was praying in his quiet time and he shared them with me. The questions were all so good I thought I would include them in today’s blog, with hubby’s permission. Maybe we can both give them some further thought, so I’ve put them here for you to think on too. Please bear in mind that the first part of each question relates to law and the second half of the question relates to Grace. I think it is very useful to have questions to use to help us understand the way the Lord thinks.

First of all, He asked hubby to consider: “Do you want to be defined by Law or Grace?  One system is defined by ‘justice,’ and the other by ‘mercy.’  One system embraces ‘punishment’, the other ‘redemption.’ …  

Sometimes we can’t leave our anger at someone else behind us, because, deep down, we want them to be punished. Those thoughts are not just childish – they are dangerous. However, that’s also when we can see that we are clinging to a system that leaves Grace out. For the other person as well as us. Our God is so gracious, He will find a way to bless that other person even while we are withholding forgiveness. But we will miss out on seeing and comprehending what He is like, when we imprison ourselves within spite, revenge, hatred and unforgiveness etc. Personally, I don’t want justice … I need mercy. Like I’ve said once before, what comes out when we’ve been squeezed tightly is what is actually IN there – don’t be condemned, but let’s not excuse ourselves either!

The Lord also said this: “One system ‘imprisons’ people, the other ‘restores their freedom.’ One ‘limits’ potential, and the other ‘extends it way beyond belief.’ One system depends on ‘past performance’, and the other hangs everything on our ‘hope in Christ.’ 

There is no prison as strong as the one we foster and create for ourselves, by expecting the world around us to conform to our standards. However freedom actually becomes something tangible when we value it enough to give it away to someone who will never deserve it!. We can’t afford to put our hope in anything else but the blood of Jesus. As soon as we start thinking “I’m right and you are wrong” – we’ve missed it. We have flipped over into performance and left our own hope in the power of Christ’s blood to redeem behind us. Let’s not limit our spiritual potential by things that will weigh us down.

Here are some more things the Lord said: “One system rewards us for ‘merit’, the other ‘empowers us for what is to come.’  One ‘judges’ others, the other ‘prophesies good’ wherever it can. The former builds on what is ‘seen’, the latter builds on the ‘unseen, and the eternal’ and speaks life into situations that look dead and finished.  

When we live our lives expecting to be treated fairly and kindly, we are denying the fact that the founder of our faith was treated appallingly, without any remorse – and He was utterly innocent. We have the power of God residing inside us, so NOW we can speak His life into desperate situations and hearts. These things are about simply making quality decisions – they are not about feelings. It is way past the time when we should start prophesying His life into the darkness around us, as He leads us. Personally I can’t face this life at all without His Spirit empowering me, minute by minute, daily. 

Lastly the Lord said to hubby: “The focal point of the Ark/Presence of God, is the MERCY SEAT.  Not a judge’s seat.” He concluded their conversation by saying: “All that sounds like LOVE to Me.” Amen! 

Mercy is a precious thing, if we want to enjoy it ourselves, then we need to give it away freely to other people. I love it when our Heavenly Father clarifies the things we think we know, with some well-placed, thought provoking questions! It seems to me that it would be a good thing if we revised all our thoughts in favour of Grace and Mercy … as a way to live. I’ve found that walking in His Grace opens my eyes more, spiritually. Instead of looking for places to criticise others, or protect myself, now l want to look for ways to bless them as He encourages me to do it. When I live that way it changes my view of everything around me as well.

I want to be defined by the Grace He gives me, so I live realising that I have and need plenty of Grace myself, so I can easily give it away to others. That will keep me humble! Every single time I red flag things that I am saying or thinking – I know that something is going on that will lead me into spiritual deafness if  I continue down that path. It means I’ve stopped listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying Him. AcknowledgIng that I cannot live my life like Jesus’ lived His, without His Grace, is the beginning of transformation. 👋🏻

“Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let His mindset become your motivation.” “He existed in the form of God, yet He gave no thought to seizing equality with God as His supreme prize. Instead He emptied Himself of His outward glory by reducing Himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! He humbled Himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in His death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion!” Philippians 2:4-8

P 2130 Follow me, I know the Way out!

/ DVH

“This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out.”A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey you. Can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.”Then a minister comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘Mate, I’m down in this hole can you help me out?’ The minister writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. ”Then a friend walks by, ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, ‘Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.'” 

I imagine that you can see that similarities between my anecdote from an episode of “West Wing” years and years ago, and the Good Samaritan. Luke (10:25-37.) “(Jesus) answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 

A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii[ and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

The similarities between my anecdote, from the series, West Wing, years ago, and the story told in the bible are obvious. Meanwhile the good Samaritan does more than jump in the hole – he utterly engages in the solution. But I wanted to repeat that other story here, because I believe it points to something worth remembering. Simply telling people that Jesus is the solution to their pain and suffering is inadequate. However, jumping into the ‘holes’ in their lives as He leads you, and letting Him use you to guide others out, is called engagement in the process. Anybody can talk – but caring enough to help is the real point and even a Hollywood scriptwriter recognises that! 

Meanwhile, it is also easy for US to fall into a hole and get stuck. Some times our best stories and testimonies are born out of the pain of abject failure. IE: We have failed Jesus or one of His/our precious brothers and sisters. At the time of our failure it seemed that things could never be redeemed, and we were, or maybe we think we still are, doomed to live with that failure. Jesus Christ was rejected for our sakes when He did nothing wrong. We do not have to face our personal failures alone – we are now part of a family – who can pray we will find our way out of the situation, with His help.

In some circumstances you may need to start by forgiving yourself, plus avoid blaming others, and take responsibility for whatever you did. Then ask for forgiveness from other people as well. Our God is much bigger than the sinful stupid things we may have done. Jesus Christ made Himself NO-ONE in order to save this world’s ‘so called’ someones. Some of our finest testimonies are born from facing worse case scenarios and being delivered by the Lord, Who is SomeOne greater, more forgiving, loving and powerful than we are. To do that we will need eyes to see Him at work, even if it seems like nothing is happening. Plus the faith to keep believing.

The best person to talk to someone who is stuck in a hole, is the person who has been in one themselves … sometimes of their own making … and God Himself got them out. We dare not ever forget that our story is always a Redemption story. When we get to heaven people will not be praising US for our clever solutions, they will praise Almighty God and the Lamb forever for what They did in our lives. We may like what we believe to sound and look like a success story, but the truth is – it is His success story – not ours. We miss the whole point if we only repeat the things that testify to how we responded well, or we used our faith etc. etc. That is when the Lord becomes an add-on, not the feature. Our stories and testimonies need to be about how HE, our God, turned things around. To cultivate this kind of attitude, we need to be able to see Him at work in any situation, no matter how dire it is. 

Our job is to tell others that we know the way out – we are here to be His hands and feet, so we can help others escape from the holes of this life. We are not the way out, but we know the One Who is.  Humility and service are the way forward – serving and helping others who are inside, and outside our churches. His love is never wasted, even if the person we give it to does not understand what they have been given. Finally we need to realise that … I am never ever going to be ‘all that’ … but I know SomeOne Who is ‘all that” and He loves me passionately. I have His favour. That means I can help, as well as pray for someone else.  👋🏻