DaveEnglund.Name/DBlog

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!

Just thinking about this phrase today from Isaiah 43:1b, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you."

Today, while sitting in a business training session this phrase from Isaiah 43:1b quite suddenly appeared to me as good news. Why should I not have anxieties about my standing before God? Because that standing is not of my own doing. It is not conditional upon my successes or failures each day with respect to sin and my sin-prone heart. My standing with God, and the peace I know in its certainty, has everything to do with what God did on my behalf. He redeemed me.

How did he redeem me? God redeemed me through precious blood, through the blood-bought sacrifice, of his only begotten Son (the fully-man fully-God, Son of infinite worth and glory). This is a sacrifice (or, offering) beyond question. God is bound to treat this sacrifice with all the respect it is due, and it is due every last bit of his respect, as the Son fully reflects the all of the Father's own glory.

So, when doubts and anxieties arise about my standing with God or my eternal security, I should remind myself of the good news that I was redeemed, not by any effort of my own, nor do I remain so through any effort of my own. I was redeemed by God himself through the precious atoning work of his Son. God's faithfulness in preserving my position before him is not conditional upon me. It is conditional upon who the Son is and what he has accomplished.

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Redeemed—how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child, and forever, I am.

[Chorus]
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child, and forever, I am.

Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.

I think of my blessed Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long;
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.

I know I shall see in His beauty
The King in whose way I delight;
Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps,
And giveth me songs in the night.

Peace I leave with you

This past week I've been in a life circumstance that has been...uncomfortable. It has caused me to second guess some of my recent decisions and wonder what, if anything, God may be saying to me. I have kind of had the impression that God wants me to hang tough in this place that is...uncomfortable. But frankly, I haven't been doing very well at that.

This morning I happened to catch some of the Focus On The Family radio show. At one point Jim Dobson described an experience from his early, early childhood as told by his father. He was just under two years old, and at that time was sleeping in a bed in his parents room. On more than one occasion during the night his father would wake to the sound of his little voice wispering, "Daddy?" His father would then reach over and just take his little boy's hand in his own. Soon the little tike was sleeping again. He just needed to know that his father was there, cared about him and he was safe.

That story stuck a chord in me today. It seemed to be speaking the language of my own heart. So I bowed my head and prayed something like,

"Abba, my heart seems to need the same thing little Jim Dobson needed. Only this time I need you, as my heavenly Father, to take my hand and tell me you're there, you care and I am safe. Would you do that?"

My thoughts moved on to other things for a moment or two, but soon I was in prayer again. Quite unexpectedly, I found some words welling up from within me. They were:

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. But not as the world gives peace."
(John 14:27, paraphrase)

And, I realized my heavenly Father, by speaking these words into my heart through the Holy Spirit, had just taken hold of my hand.

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
-Colossians 3:16

Over the past several months I have begun to notice a rather interesting pattern about how God's Spirit occasionally speaks into my life - through "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" that rise up from within my heart.