by Martha June

“He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.” Psalm 18:16-19

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Ephesians 1:7-10

Psalm 107.

This is a chapter of the Bible that God is using to bring me to freedom, friends, and today I hope you experience this same freedom through Jesus Christ.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12

The words of God require action, as we find in the verse above the very breath of our Lord is enough to divide the physical as well as the emotional/spiritual parts of us.

The Lord caused a verse in Psalm 107 to both challenge and encourage me a number of years ago, verses that spoke action to my heart. I can sit still no longer. This is the verse, and this is my testimony of how Jesus Christ has changed my life.

“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story – those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered in from the lands, from the east and west, from the north and south.”   Psalm 107:2-3

The moment I read this verse I felt a scary, weird, joyful feeling. A feeling like this verse was sticking out for a reason and had some major flash-of-the-Almighty-in-my-life, all-the-strings-attached purpose.

And yet,

I let fear set in.

Sure, I was redeemed by God. I was a sinner, I needed Jesus’ blood to cleanse me of my sins. I knew who I had been, even though I wasn’t the same person anymore. But share that testimony?

I just wanted to block the old Martha out.

So I moved on.

That verse has been running through my mind almost daily for years. I prayed for boldness, and God has answered that prayer.

For those of you who have asked Christ into your heart, and proclaimed him Lord of your life, maybe you have run into this lie.

The lie that your redemption story isn’t ” good enough.” The lie that your story is not impressive, or compelling to listen to.

This was a lie I fell head over heels into, a ditch I didn’t want to climb out of.

Until now.

Listen, for years I thought I didn’t have much of a “story”. I grew up in the church and had great parents who encouraged me to claim Jesus as my own instead of adopting their beliefs. I knew in my heart I wanted Jesus. So, at seven years old, I proclaimed Christ, was buried with Him in baptism, and came out of the water a born-again Christain.

I wasn’t someone who had been formerly incarcerated or had a past that was dramatically dark in the eyes of the world before I knew Jesus. I might have even described myself, according to society, as a “good person.”

But this doesn’t make my sin any less significant.

Our culture has given us the idea that certain sins are greater than others, but this is not the truth. The Bible says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

Did you get that?

ALL.

The truth is,

I was a liar. I was a manipulator, a self-absorbed child, full of anger. I could rage myself into super dark places. I didn’t care much about other people, and I was attracted to kids who were rebels and had no interest in living an honest life.

I remember being unhappy and hurting inside. I tried to fill my life up with things. Books, TV, friends, stuff, more stuff, food…you get the picture. No matter what I consumed, All of it left me feeling empty.

I can’t remember the exact moment, but I remember sitting in kids church thinking “yeah, I need Jesus and I want him in my life.” So I talked with my parents and pretty soon afterward I got baptized.

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4

…

I think some people have an expectation that once you become a Christian, and you claim Jesus as your Lord, every sin is really easy to give up.

But here is the truth about being connected with Jesus.

It is not easy.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” Ephesians 6:12-13

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at the time from the things of which you are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:20-23

Once you give yourself to Jesus and receive His resurrection life, the enemy will attack and your body will resist. Yet Jesus wants to change you right in the middle of that. This is what sanctification is. The power of His life inside of you will shine a light on your wrongdoing, calling you to repent and give up your sinful habits, and make room for His life to take hold of you. When you yield to that call, you have come more fully into the light.

“Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25 

The enemy will tell you that the darkness is safer, that it will hide you, that you will never be caught.

But the Bible says that darkness flees in the presence of light, and if Jesus walks into the room, darkness will run and hide, leaving you behind.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

Can I tell you something about the light?

Where light is present, freedom is not far away.

“Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

“This is the message we have heard from him and procliam to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not prcatice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word in not in us.” 1 John 1:5-10

My lies never saved me from punishment. The enemy convinced me that if I lied and hid, no one would ever know.

He was wrong.

I knew.

Each time I chose the darkness, a shackle was placed on me, binding me to my sin.

My rage never solved a problem but instead isolated me. Bitterness and contempt never made things easier, but instead made me feel less and less like myself and more unhappy.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

But God in his grace intervened.

The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.

That was my fate. That is the fate of every single person on this earth if they do not chose Jesus. It seemed that the more I lived for myself the more weighed down I was. Even after I chose Jesus and claimed him as Savior and Lord of my life, I struggled to fully release my sinful habits. And while I can say today that I am changed, no longer who I was, I can also say that life with Jesus, by his grace, means we are a constant work in progress. For every step we take further into the light, walking in the Spirit, there is a yet another step God will reveal in short order.

He promises “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

I am holding to that promise and truth.

I am changed. I am not the same Martha that was born into this world. I have been born again in the name of Jesus Christ!

Today I am proclaiming that I AM REDEEMED! From the sin that bound me, from the guilt that weighed me down.  The penalty for my sin HAS BEEN PAID!

“For God so loved the world that his gave his one and only son, so that whoever believes in him will not parish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16

Christ was crucified and resurrected. He defeated death!

Some days it is easy for me to take this gift of boundless grace for granted, but today I have been reminded of who I was: a girl full of darkness that God sought amongst the shadows and called into His glorious light!

So today, if you have been redeemed, SAY SO! Tell your story!

In Revelation 12:11 a reference is made to the believers in Christ. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

Recently the Lord opened my eyes to a truth I had not comprehended or understood. There is POWER in the name of Jesus. And not just in his name, but in the works of his hands. The hands that lifted me out of the pit, are the same hands outstretched for you.

“I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. Yet a little while and world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” John 14:18

I have been a witness to how God can change a life. And, friends, by his grace and mercy He is still changing me. It is my prayer that God will not stop changing me until I meet Him again in heaven. I pray the same for you.

The free gift of salvation and life through the blood of Jesus is free for all.

Today is the day for salvation!

“For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2

“But that is not the way you learned Christ!-assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:20-24

Taking off the old self is hard. But taking him off and asking Jesus Christ in, brings freedom friends! I have tasted and seen that the Lord, no matter what, is good! He is the definition of good!

I was lost. Now I am found.

If you know Christ and have believed that your own personal redemption is unimportant to anyone but you, I encourage you to share your redeption story! Share with this hurting world how their lives can be changed! There is joy in Christ, and we His people have been redeemed! Psalm 107 is all about how Christ redeemed His people from all walks of life. My story is just one.

Don’t let that cloud of guilt cover you any longer, shake off the weight and burden of your sin. If you have not asked Jesus into your life, today is the day. He is waiting with open arms.

You -yes you- can be REDEEMED.

Join in the song of the redeemed.

The world is waiting for you and I to tell them all about it.

“And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who have been redeemed from the earth.” Revelation 14:3

Sincerely,

Set free eternally because Jesus Christ bled for me