Real Redemption

Psalm 40:2 says, "He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps." In verse three it says, "He has put a new song in my mouth-a song of praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord."

Are you one of the redeemed of the Lord today? Have you been rescued from a life of sin, and have been brought up out of the miry clay?

Is your life heading in a totally new direction?-(established my steps) Do you have a new song in your mouth? Is it visible and known to those around you?

If you answer yes to these questions, then you are one of the redeemed of the Lord! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! (Psalm 107:2)

• What is redemption? What does it mean to be redeemed? After answering this question, then we need to ask-How do we live as the redeemed?
• Redeemed means-to get back full possession, to recover from captivity by ransom, to be free from the bondage of sin, to save from being a total failure.
• The cross of Christ is Redemption for sinners. Jesus paid for our sins, and the penalty, and the curse that was upon us with His own blood. He purchased our right standing with the Father and totally restored us.

Guess what? It doesn't stop here. Jesus also put the hurt on the enemy our our souls--the devil. Colossians 2:15 says, "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." One version says, spoiled principalities and powers. It means he unclothed them-he took away their battle dress... He de-nuded them.

Jesus said to his disciples, "Behold I give you power (exousia) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power (dunamis) of the enemy." (Luke 10:19) Before He went away He promised that why would be endued with power (dunamis) from on high. (Luke 24:49)

This kind of victory is not just a holding our own kind of victory, somehow just surviving, or making a successful excursion against the enemy and scurrying back to the foxhole for safety. Jesus isn't coming for a defeated church, but for one that is glorious and triumphant.

Why is the church not more victorious? Why is much of the church groveling in defeat? Is it because we don't know who we are and what Christ has done? Or is it because men love darkness more than the light?

The only real power the enemy has is in the realm of darkness and deception. He devastates the world and the people of God with all these attributes of darkness; fear, torment, unbelief, strife, contention, malice, hate, division...

He succeeds also because we find ourselves entertaining ideas that he (the enemy) plants there in our carnal minds.

God has given us the victory-real victory, real redemption. We need to walk in it by separating ourselves from the darkness and walking more and more in the light. We the redeemed of the Lord need to say so! Not just with words, but by our lives--by a demonstration of the Spirit's power and influence upon our lives.