Bought With a Price

It is so very important that we always keep in mind what God has done for us and from what He has rescued us. I think so often we flippantly talk about God and how good He is, and it's not that we are not meaning what we say, we just forget the magnitude of the greatness of God. The Almighty, Just, Righteous, Holy, Perfect Creator of the Universe has redeemed us from darkness and death to Himself. We, who are nothing apart from Him and merely a breath in this life compared to eternity, were so very desired and longed for by this Great God that He was willing to shed His own Perfect Blood on our behalf. We were owned by sin, by darkness, by death, and we were not free. There was a high price on our lives that we ourselves could never pay off. Only Blood could redeem us from our hopelessness. So, we were bought by the precious Blood of the Lamb. How glorious and beautiful and humbling, that a perfect God would die in my place to redeem me to Himself!

If you find yourself feeling hopeless, or weary, or insecure, just remember this: that He adores you so much more than you and I can even begin to imagine. He is Holy and Righteous, and through the Blood of Jesus He has made us holy and righteous. We are justified to be in His presence because we are now in the image of Christ!

If you find that you are still struggling with past failures, do not be afraid! God does not expect that you all of a sudden have everything perfectly accomplished and taken care of. He knows that you will struggle, and He wants to help you. Just rely on His grace and the Holy Spirit, and do not ever accept the lie that says you are not worthy of Him because you messed up. Jesus has made you worthy. It is not by anything that you have or have not done that you are made righteous. You can never earn righteousness either by what you do or do not do. And there is no condemnation in Christ. None! SO if you mess up, get it right with God and move on.

And finally, if you struggle with insecurity (and I speak to myself here too), here is a passage of Scripture that helps me tremendously every time I read it:

¹³If you set your heart aright and stretch out your hands to [God],

¹⁴If you put sin out of your hand and far away from you and let not evil dwell in your tents;

¹⁵Then can you lift up your face to Him without stain [of sin, and unashamed]; yes, you shall be steadfast and secure; you shall not fear.

¹⁶For you shall forget your misery; you shall remember it as waters that pass away.

¹⁷And [your] life shall be clearer than the noonday and rise above it; though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.

¹⁸And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.

¹⁹You shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; yes, many shall sue for your favor.

Line your heart up with God's, and everything else will fall into place. It may not be easy, but He promises security. He wants you to rest in Him alone!

Ladies, He has crowned you with beauty! DO not measure your beauty by worldly standards, but by heavenly ones. I know, believe me, that it gets really hard when all the magazines and movies say you have to look a certain way for a guy to love you, but that is not true! Only set your eyes upon His face and desire to please Him, and that will shine through you and make your countenance lovely. My prayer now, instead of for God to change the outside of me, is that God would make me beautiful from the inside out. Above all I deisre to be beautiful in His eyes. And at the right time, he'll open up the eyes of a man who is after His heart, and that man will see me through the eyes of God. An He will do the same for you, if you only trust Him and rely on Him alone for your source of security and not your outer appearance.

I know I got very wordy tonight and seemed to be all over the place. Had a lot on my heart I guess! I hope you didn't get bored reading this. If you did read all the way through, I pray that you are blessed by this post. It's definitely not for me, but all for His glory! Have a very blessed week! :)