He Has Redeemed

I have spent my entire life as a Christian, born to a preacher in a line of preachers. Skipping church was the most grievous of sins growing up and only occurred because of sickness or youth group events. However, despite growing up in a Christian home and spending half of my life in a church building - both as a congregational member and ministry leader, my heart lived for and in the world.  In 2017, I truly gave myself in surrender to Jesus Christ. I had already been baptized (in 1995, at age 8), I had believed in Him my entire life and believed in the Gospel. I had never doubted God's Word. Yet, it wasn't until 2017, when I was 30 years old, that my true walk of faith began.  The Lord showed me, He removed the scales from my eyes, that I had been living my entire adolescent, teenage, and young adult life as a practitioner of witchcraft, a participant in things wicked as well as sexual immorality, I was serving other "gods" with idols galore - both in my house and ...

The devil will stop at nothing to deceive you into falling away. The biggest mistake most Christians make, is that they assume the devil is dumb and predictable. That he is a horned red monster with a pitchfork that dances in hellfire. That he only comes at you with obvious sinful temptation. This couldn't be farther from the truth. He is the Father of All Lies and the Master Deceiver. He appears to the Christian as an angel of light, twisting the Word of God to sound pleasant to sinful desires and filling your mind with the age old lie, "Did God really say? Did God really mean?"....Take heed O Christian that you stand, lest you fall. Keep your eyes on Christ, even when something is screaming in your face to look at this or that. Keep your ears trained upon His voice, even when there are conflicting or even pleasant, honeyed voices whispering in your ear. Keep your mind on God's Word, even when your flesh screams out that it is boring or there are things needing done...

For a couple of weeks now, the story of Uzza has been on my mind. In 1 Chronicles 13, we read about how David was ready to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He goes to Kirjath Jearim, puts the Ark on a brand new cart driven by oxen, and heads off down the road to Jerusalem while playing music. The procession reaches the threshing floor of Chidon and the oxen stumble on the road. In an act of good intention, Uzza puts his hand against the Ark to keep it from falling off the cart or moving. Within mere seconds, the Lord strikes Uzza dead. Why? It is something that many people, including myself, have pondered when reading this passage. Even King David angrily asked the Lord why, and Scripture says that he became afraid of the Lord - refusing to carry the Ark into Jerusalem at that time. Instead, David commanded the household of Obed-Edom which was nearby, to house the Ark of the Covenant. I imagine they were scared too, having probably witnessed the events of the procession depe...

This is a little long, but bear with me.... I was sitting in the recliner, having breakfast and coffee, watching the morning sun stream through my living room window. I noticed how where the sunlight didn't hit the glass of the window, it appeared clean and clear. Yet, where the sunlight hit the glass, it appeared very dirty and blotchy and just plain yuck. I also noticed the thousands of teeny tiny dust motes swirling in the air, exposed by the sunbeam. I couldn't help but be disgusted because I knew I was breathing in those dust motes and there was no getting away from them. However, I looked closer at them. Some of the dust motes sparkled like tiny diamond dust. They were beautiful! Others were dim and dark - just specks swirling around mixed in with the sparkly pretty ones. Then the Holy Spirit spoke. He's been giving me this same analogy in so many different ways.....Who is the light? Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:13 it says, "But all things that are exposed are made ...

On the way to my children's physical therapy one day, we were stopped at an intersection. Next to us, was a garbage truck. My kids naturally pointed it out to me, and then the Lord placed a lesson upon my heart right then, that the kids needed to hear - and myself as well. Garbage trucks take our trash and relieve our homes of it. Each week, a garbage man comes to our home to take the refuse. He takes the trash away to a landfill where it is either buried, recycled, or burned - incinerated. No one aspires to be a garbage man. No one desires to operate a garbage truck. No one dreams of fooling with other people's nasty trash, much less their own! Yet, someone has to do it. Even before we had garbage trucks and waste management centers, someone had to dispose of the garbage. For thousands of years, civilizations have burned their refuse in undesirable forsaken areas, designated for such a purpose. Trash is gross, useless, foul, unclean, and just plain filthy. Living in or near ga...

One morning I got up earlier than I usually do. I had been yearning to wake up at a time to where the house is silent, yet I was not tempted to fall back into a deep sleep. I yearn for time with my Lord, but as each of us knows - our flesh is weak, especially when our bodies are exhausted, even our minds.  One morning, He gave me the strength to get up and grabbing my coffee, I retreated to sit in my bedroom nook in front of an open window. I sat and just enjoyed the crisp cool fall air, the beginning chatter of waking birds singing in the dark, the twinkle of fading stars, and the dull almost ambient drone of commuter cars on the busy highway next to our home.  I praised the Lord and then asked Him to just speak to me. To allow me to be still and quiet for but a few moments so that I could hear His voice. It was hard! I am so used to doing all the talking in our relationship (I am a woman after all lol), so I had to constantly restrain my thoughts, my voice, my heart in order...

This happened a couple of years ago, but the message applied is timeless.... My husband was giving my young son a bath the other night, to which my son gave all heck. From the bathroom I heard screaming, yelling, frantic water splashing, and worried statements all coming from my son. My husband, no matter what he said, could not console our five year old tantruming son. My son's excuse for all the rigmarole? He had a "boo-boo" on his knee (he really did not have one) and was scared that it would hurt if we gave him a bath and washed him clean. Hearing a few seconds of this loud performance (and I mean loud), I immediately felt the Holy Spirit nudge me. He showed me myself in that same position of tantruming child, afraid to get washed and cleaned. I asked the Lord, are we really like that? Do we act like this when you try to "clean" off our dirt? And I got a resounding "YES!" with a whole lot of good natured laughter behind it. It was then that I refl...