REDEEMED

"Redeemed! How I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. ..... His child and forever I am." How blessed we are as Believers to know that when we received Jesus as our Saviour, and the Lord accepted us into His family, all of our sins were forgiven- past, present, and future.

We read it in His Word. God has "removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west". No one can measure that distance... because it goes on and on forever. In an instant... like the twinkling of an eye, we were changed into a new creation... with our past washed away and our sins under the blood.

As we continue to walk with the Lord, to hear His word preached, to read it for ourselves, and to fellowship with other believers, our thinking begins to change as our minds are "renewed". The things in life that had seemed so important before our salvation have "dimmed" in comparison to this new life in Christ.

We accepted Jesus. His gift of salvation wiped away our sin. We began to go forward in our Christian walk. God took our sins away... and will never remind us of them again. .. because He has forgiven us. We're a new creature in Christ... but we still remember the past.

We remember all the times we fell short. All the times we did things our own way instead of the right way. We remember the people we have hurt... and those who hurt us as well. We have an enemy... an adversary who takes great delight in reminding us over and over of the mistakes we made.

The devil revels in trying to keep our history "current" and active in our minds. He hasn't forgotten a single detail, and he will do his utmost to see to it that we never forget it either. A person's past can provide a lot of "fuel" for satan to use against us.

As a believer, we should know what is right and what is wrong, and strive to please God in all things. W e have all sinned... and have no merit on our own to be accepted by God... let alone to be loved as He loves us and forgiven as He forgives. It is all because of His mercy and grace that we have been made to be "joint heirs" with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The enemy uses our past to "bog us down"... to keep us from growing and maturing in our walk with the Lord. No matter how many times we confess our mistakes and ask the Lord to forgive us, we can count on satan to bring it up again.

We have to learn to recognize his voice... the voice of the liar satan... a voice that accuses... and demeans... and belittles us.. a voice that is harsh and full of hatred and blame. When we are continually "bludgeoned" with our past sins and made to feel worthless and useless, we can be sure it is the handiwork of the devil. Only the devil wants us to walk in condemnation.

God wants us to learn His promises and His spiritual principles... to apply them to our lives and to grow in the love and nurture of the Lord.

God's voice comes to us gently, lovingly... even when He corrects or punishes us.

If the Lord God can forgive our sins and never bring them up to us again, who are we to "pick them back up" again... to "own them" again... and to allow the enemy to "run roughshod" over us, knowing that the Lord has atoned for all our sins, once and for all?

We must choose to forgive ourselves. We must choose to let go of the past. We have to stop using the mistakes we made long ago as an excuse to keep us from being the Christian God desires us to be.

When the enemy brings up our past, we need to remind him of his future. Our debt has been paid. The enemy has already been defeated. We must choose to live our lives as a victor... and not as a victim. No one can make that choice for us.

We must recognize those who bring up the past that we have confessed and God has forgiven, and tell them that those things no longer apply to our lives. All those bad decisions are "under the blood".. and that's where they must remain.

Accept God's forgiveness. Let go of the past. Forgive those who hurt you... and forgive yourself for the part you played.

Today is a new day. We need to go on with God, and spend our time and energy winning lost souls to Him... instead of "nursing and rehearsing" the same old songs again... and "singing the blues".

Instead we shout have a song of joy in our hearts when we remember the supreme sacrifice Jesus made for us.,and the great Love for us that brought Him to the rugged cross.

All praise and thanksgiving to God for His gift of salvation... and for paying our debt "in full".

CLEANING HOUSE

Last Week I threw out worrying,

it was getting old and in the way.
It kept me from being me;

I couldn't do things God's way.

I threw out a book on MY PAST
(Didn't have time to read it anyway).
Replaced it with NEW GOALS,

started reading it today.

I threw out hate and bad memories,
(Remember how I treasured them so)?
Got me a NEW PHILOSOPHY too,

threw out the one from long ago.

Brought in some new books too,

called I CAN, I WILL, and I MUST.
Threw out I might, I think and I ought.
WOW, you should've seen the dust.

I ran across an OLD FRIEND,

I hadn't talked to in a while.
His name is GOD the Father,

and I really like His style.

He helped me to do some cleaning

and added some things Himself.
Like PRAYER, HOPE, FAITH and LOVE,
Yes... I placed them right on the shelf.

I picked up this special thing

and placed it at the front door.
I FOUND IT- its called PEACE.

Nothing gets me down anymore.

Yes, I've got my house looking nice.
Looks good around the place.
For things like Worry and Trouble

there just isn't any space.

It's good to do a little house cleaning,
Get rid of the things on the shelf.
It sure makes things brighter;

maybe you should TRY IT YOURSELF.

BE BLESSED AND BE A BLESSING TO SOMEONE ELSE!!!!

(Unknown)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

May the Lord open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that
you will not have room enough to receive it all.
Malachi 3:10.

May the Lord bless you exceedingly abundantly above all you could ever
hope for.
Philippians 4:19.

I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. Philippians 4:13

THE DUCK AND THE DEVIL

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm.

He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods.

He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target.

Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck.

Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly,

hit the duck square in the head, and killed it.

He was shocked and grieved.

In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile,
only to see his sister watching!

Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch the next day Grandma said,
"Sally, let's wash the dishes."

But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me
he wanted to help in the kitchen."
Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?"
So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children
wanted to go fishing and Grandma said,
"I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper."
Sally just smiled and said,
"Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help."
She whispered again, "Remember the duck?"
So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing
both his chores and Sally's,
he finally couldn't stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that
he had killed the duck.

Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug,
and said, "Sweetheart, I know.
You see, I was standing at the window
and I saw the whole thing,
but because I love you, I forgave you.
I was just wondering how long you would let
Sally make a slave of you."

~~~~ Thought for the day~~~~

and every day thereafter?

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done...

and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face

(lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...
whatever it is...

You need to know that God was standing at the window...

and He saw the whole thing...

He has seen your whole life.
He wants you to know that He loves you
and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long
you will let the devil make a slave of you.

“There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus..."
Romans 8:1

The great thing about God is that
when you ask for forgiveness,
He not only forgives you,

but He forgets.

It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.

Always remember: God is at the window.

PRECIOUS GIFT

The Precious Gift that Jesus gave us... His cleansing blood shed once… for all... redeemed us from the punishment that was ours. His sacrifice "bought us back" from the penalty of our sins. Our sins were forgiven... PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

Our enemy satan is called "the accuser of the brethren". One of the "devices" of the enemy is to accuse us to ourselves... to bring up our faults... past sins... or poor choices. His aim is to distract us from the changes that occurred in each of us when we received Jesus as Lord and Master of our lives.

We must keep our minds stayed on who we are "in Christ"... and refuse to be "side-tracked" by satan's lies. We can’t allow his accusations to "take root" in our hearts and in our minds.

The Word says,
"I AM . . .

1. A child of God (Romans 8:16)

2. Redeemed from the Hand of the Enemy (Psalms 107:2)

3. Forgiven (Colossians 1:13-14)

4. Saved by Grace through Faith (Ephesians 2:8)

5. Justified (Romans 5:1)

6. Sanctified (1 Corinthians 6:11)

7. A New Creature (2 Corinthians 5:17)

8. Partaker of His Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4)

9. Redeemed from the Curse of the law (Galatians 3:13)

10. Delivered from the Powers of Darkness (Colossians 1:13)

11. Led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14)

12. A Son of God (Romans 8:14)

13. Kept in Safety Wherever I Go (Psalms 91:11)

14. Getting All My Needs Met by Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:19)

15. Casting All My cares upon Jesus (1 Peter 5:7)

16. Strong in the Lord and in the Power of His Might (Ephesians 6:10)

17. Doing All Things through Christ Who Strengthens Me (Philippians 4:13)

18. An Heir with God and a Joint Heir with Jesus (Romans 8:17)

19. Heir to the Blessings of Abraham (Galatians 3:13-14)

20. Observing and Doing the Lord's Commandments (Deuteronomy 28:12)

21. Blessed Coming in and Blessed Going out (Deuteronomy 26:6)

22. An Heir of Eternal Life (1 John 5:11-12)

23. Blessed with All Spiritual Blessings (Ephesians 1:3)

24. Healed by His Stripes (1 Peter 2:24)

25. Exercising My Authority over the Enemy (Luke 10:19)

26. Above Only and Not Beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13)

27. More than a Conqueror (Romans 8:37)

28. Establishing God's Word Here on Earth (Matthew 16:19)

29. An Over comer by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of My Testimony (Revelation 12:11) 30. Daily Overcoming the Devil (1 John 4:4)

31. Not Moved by What I See (2 Corinthians 4:18)

32. Walking by Faith and Not by Sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)

33. Casting Down Vain Imaginations (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

34. Bringing Every Thought into Captivity (2 Corinthians 10:5)

35. Being Transformed by Renewing My Mind (Romans 12:1-2)

36. A Laborer Together with God (1 Corinthians 3:9)

37. The Righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21)

38. An Imitator of Jesus (Ephesians 5:1)

39. The Light of the World (Matthew 5:14)

40. Blessing the Lord at All Times and Continually praising the Lord with My Mouth "(Psalms 34:1)

The power of reading and meditating upon God's Word will renew our minds and remind us that we are "joint heirs" with Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus that we have hope for tomorrow.