I Am Redeemed!

Do you really know what it means to be redeemed by Jesus?
Sometimes when I'm doing a word study in the Bible, it's meaningful to me to simply look in the dictionary. Thefreedictionary.com gives this definition of "redeem":
1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum.
2. To pay off.
3. To turn in and receive something in exchange.
4. To fulfill.
5. To convert into cash: redeem stocks.
6. To set free; rescue or ransom.
7. To save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences.
8. To make up for.
9. To restore the honor, worth, or reputation of.
Well, that was enough for me!
Lord Jesus, I thank You that You recovered ownership of my soul from the prince of the power of the air, the enemy of my soul by paying the price of Your death on the cross.
Thank You for paying off my sin debt!
Thank You for turning over Your body and life in exchange for mine!
Thank You for fulfilling me--that You are all I need. Ever.
Thank You, Jesus, for converting me from worthless to something worthwhile through Your indwelling Spirit in me.
Thank You for setting me free, rescuing and ransoming me from the devil!
Thank You for saving me from my sinful state and its consequences, which would have been to be eternally separated from God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and from you.
Thank You for making up the difference for everything in my life. All things are but loss for the excellency of Your power!
Thank You for providing me honour, worth, and reputation by allowing me to just BE IN YOU.
Thank You, Jesus, that I AM REDEEMED!


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But for the Blood

Great is the mercy, great is the love;
Great are my many sins, but for the blood!
I'd still be drowning in death's bitter flood,
Hopelessly perishing, but for the blood!
~ sung by the Hoppers

Reared in a preacher's home, I was saved at the tender age of 10. From the womb I have been taught to love Jesus. I'm so thankful for the things from which God spared me by giving me that Godly heritage. I'm thankful for a Godly mother who taught me the Bible, enabling me to quote more than 200 Scriptures by the time I was two years old. I'm thankful for a Godly father who would slip into my bedroom at night and kneel next to my bed and pray for me.

It would be easy for me to think I was all right, that I didn't need the blood of Jesus as much as the alcoholic or drug addict on the street. Shamefully, there have been many times in my life when I had those thoughts. However the Bible makes it clear that the status and condition of my heart and life when I was born was "sinner." I still needed Jesus' blood to cover me, just as much as a murderer. I'm grateful God saved me before I had the opportunity to commit what the world would consider heinous sins, or even what the church would consider "bad," but I realize more and more that pride and hatred in my heart is on the same level as murder, and it makes me that much more thankful for Jesus' blood!

There's another Gospel song that says, "The ground is level at the foot of the cross; no man stands higher than I." And I could add that no man stands lower than I! To think so is prideful. I'm no better than anyone else.

The neat thing about accepting this fact is that I can recognize so much more vividly that the "old man IS crucifed with Him" and that I am "freed from sin" (Romans 6:6-7)! I am dead and my life is "hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). It's not I who lives but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). When I recognize that I can't live the Christian life, and that I don't have to, I can choose to yield to His "power that worketh in me" (Eph. 3:20).

This is my victory! His blood made it all a reality in my life!