Our Redeemer Lives

 

If you’ve been with me for a while you may have noticed that God’s been stirring the murky waters of my heart and revealing secret sin that I’d kept tucked away, and sin that I had dressed up to look not-quite-so-bad.
 

It’s been a hard few weeks... I mean, really, who wants to pull their garbage out of the dark, smelly recesses of the trash can for the Creator-of-the-Universe to see?!!  As if He doesn't already know exactly, much-better-than-I-do what’s there?!

The last few weeks have been a time littered with shame, 
tears, and a heart piercing recognition of subtle sin-revealed. 
 It’s also been a time of wonder and renewing and freedom and liberation.   
But the most awesome part has been a renewed laser-focus on my
 LIVING REDEEMER.

In His goodness and mercy, My Abba has been reminding me of His life-altering, life-saving redemption.  The Greek word for redemption means to buy out, to purchase in the marketplace, or to obtain release by the payment of a price.  At the time of Christ, it was often used in reference to a slave’s freedom.  Yes, before Christ was in our lives, each one of us was a slave to sin, with no hope of freeing ourselves.

Christ's death on the cross was the payment of a ransom price. {Mark 10:45}  The price by which sinners are set free... "the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God".
{1 Peter 1:19}

Christ purchased us.  No sales. No discounts.  He paid the full price for you and for me. 

When we placed our trust in Christ alone and believed that He was, is, and forever will be the glorious Son of God, the Savior of our lost souls, our Mighty King... He became our Redeemer!  

We are no longer slaves to sin!  Our chains fell off and we were set free to walk in close fellowship with our Lord! 
  

We no longer belong to this world. 

We don't own ourselves.

We were bought with a price.  

We are HIS!

Our Redeemer Lives!

I'd love to invite you to take a minute 

to worship our Redeemer in song.

I hope you enjoy your 

time with Him! 

  

 My prayer for you this week is that you will 

have intimate communion with our glorious Lord.

And through that rich fellowship, you will be profoundly changed!

I'd love to hear what you're doing to prepare your heart for the  

solemnity of Good Friday, and the celebration of Easter.

Leave a comment!

Living in His grace, 

Mary                             

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My Secret Sin

One of satan’s subtle deceptions is convincing us that 
we can do things in secret and they will never be revealed or discovered.   
The word of God says that everything done in darkness will one day be exposed to the light.

 "For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor 

anything hidden that will  not be known and come to light."  Luke 8:17 

Last summer I stripped off over 120 years of bubbled-up stain and paint from our front door.  It was a time-consuming, sloppy, gooey, messy, yucky job.  The paint stripper that I used was so strong that it ate through four pair of thick rubber gloves and then started on my fingers!

It took me a week of bending over that door, slathering on the solution, waiting for it to curl up, and then scraping off the gook.  Layer after messy layer was revealed. So many colors of paint... white, dark green, light green, brown, black, burgundy, pink, and several layers of dark stain.  Layers that hadn't seen the light of day in decades!
 

Lately, God’s been showing me that, oh yes; I closely resemble our old door.  I’ve had secret sins layered deep in my heart.  No one sees them; they’re nicely painted over with a pleasant color/smile.  Our Abba’s been busy pouring, slathering, waiting, pealing, and stripping... it’s been a painful process.  
Scrape!  There goes a layer revealing unbelief.   
Swipe!  There goes a layer revealing stubbornness.  
Scrape!  There goes another layer revealing pride and  self-reliance.

I’ve found that choosing to live life with secret sin has kept me bound in fear of man and God.  
The process of bringing light to the darkness has been painful, humbling, 
revelatory and oh so liberating.

Here are a few additional areas of sin that are easy to keep secret. Perhaps some are layered deep in your heart...

"But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin.  You are guilty of breaking the law."  James 2:9 {NLT}

"When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ."  1 Corinthians 8:12 {NIV}
 
"It's criminal to ignore a neighbor in need, but compassion for the poor-what a blessing!"  
Proverbs 14:21 {Message}

Add to those: bitterness, jealousy, pornography, unforgiveness, hypocrisy, and thinking ourselves above another.  We're capable and perhaps quite skilled at keeping our sin a secret from others... but never from Christ.

I’m so thankful that even the “intention of our heart” is forgiven when we repent!

“Repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you” Acts 8:22

Isn’t it awesome that as we confess our sins to the Lord, He forgives us and strips away our false righteousness?  

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous 

to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. 1 John 1:9

Thank you Lord for the peace, joy, and freedom that comes with secret sin revealed, repentance, and cleanse-me-white-as-snow forgiveness.  
I'm so grateful...

Has God been making some changes in you?
I'd love to hear about them.
Leave a comment!

 Living in His grace, 

Mary

A Pretty Little Sin

Before beginning each post, I spend time in prayer asking God what He would have me share. I always ask that He would, in some way, show me what would draw our hearts closer to Jesus and bring glory to Him. Well, some posts are easier to write than others. This is definitely an 'other'. I pray today that you will hear my heart, for I write not out of judgement but out of woeful self-discovery and a great love for you, my sister. So, here goes...

Sin...

Sin can be so...sneaky.  It clothes itself in  I just made a mistake,  it's just a bad habit,  it's harmless,  I deserve it,  it's understandable, or I have a right.   

Sin is a liar. It would have you believe that it is little and innocent and... pretty.

It sometimes looks like resentment all dressed up as understandable because...
The kids are driving you crazy, your husband didn't help with the housework, 
and your friend hasn't returned your texts. 

It sometimes looks like helping to set up for the Women's Banquet at church, 
then coming home to criticize and bash the other ladies because  
You had to do all the work.

It sometimes begins with a little harmless conversation about your husband 
to your best friend, and turns into a lunch filled with husband-bashing. 

It sometimes looks so pretty dressed up as humility.  When in reality,
you self-deprecate so that others will compliment you and build you up.  

Sin can blind us to its presence and can even convince us that we’re in the Light, even as we set up housekeeping in darkness.  It may not be loud and obvious, but it subtly and persuasively draws us away from The One who is Light and Life. 

So, what do we do with this thing called SIN? 
•We pray. 
•We search ourselves. 
•We ask our father to take  off the pretty dress that our sin is wearing and reveal that which seduces us away from Him. 
•We recognize that sin always seeks to destroy our relationship with our Father.
•We go before our Lord, and confess... telling Him everything.
•We, with broken heart, ask for and receive His forgiveness, turning away from the sin.  
And then... 
•We rejoice because He has paid the ultimate price for our sins with His very life.
•We rejoice because He has forgiven the sin that was quietly, yet surely, strangling us to death.  
•We thank Him.
•We praise His holy name.
And then we go on, only and always... with Him.  

"Finally, I confessed all my sins to You and

stopped trying to hide my guilt.  I said to myself,

"I will confess my rebellion to the LORD."

And You forgave me!  All my guilt is gone.

 Psalm 32:5 NLT

Where are you with this today?

Have you overcome a sin struggle?

Is God taking the 'pretty dress' off of a sin in your life?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Leave a comment!  

 Living in His grace, 

Mary