Rescued from Darkness

Colossians 1:13,14: 13) “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

       Accepting Christ as our Savior brings us into His light. A light that many search for, some for all their lives. A light that exposes our total being, in His light our hearts are laid open. In the darkness we could not see where we were, and our sinful life was leading us to an eternal death of which we did not realize. In His wisdom Christ allowed our sins to trip us up, bringing us down, falling into the hole, we have dug, that utterly destroyed us.

          It is hard to think that God loves us when we lay at the bottom of our hole. But we were created by God and He loves us unconditionally. “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” 1 Timothy 5:5 (NIV). Jesus comes to us in our time of need, if we open up our hearts and allow Him to. By finally giving up, by admitting that we are helpless in our ways and utterly weak to change anything, our hearts door opens wide allowing the healing that is needed to flow in, overtaking us with its power and sweeping us into His arms of love and forgiveness. We return to the Father who created us. We enter into His kingdom and inherit a house made for us, and stored, in heaven. We then become aware of the other “children” around us. His children that have also come into the light of His love and mercy and grace. Their lives, like ours, changed forever by the washing in His blood.

          From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will befall you.” Job 5:19 (NIV). God rescued us from ourselves, if you will. One, we were not living as He had told us to. Two, He had a purpose for us and we were not obedient in following that purpose because we were living as we thought was right, walking along the path of our own making. The path that led us to tumble over our sins, causing us to fall, shattering into a million pieces when we hit the ground. But Christ came, out of His love for us, and healed us. He mended and put us back together as only HE CAN. He picked us up and lovingly embraced us. And we felt His presence in our hearts and we wept, allowing the tears of joy and the peace that we finally found, to wash us clean. By coming to us we finally realize that it is not what we can do that saves us but what He HAS DONE that clears out our transgressions.

          His death on the cross, of which He willingly did, is what clears our sins away. His blood, and the power contained within, is what brings us into His light, as a new person. At our defeat, because of our sins and the power they had on us, we cried out to our Father for help, hoping that He would come. In our minds though, Satan’s lies has us chained to guilt and shame. We just knew that God looked on us as trash, and we were unworthy to call out to Him for help. But Christ did come. He came because He had defeated Satan when He rose from the grave defeating eternal death for us. Satan was defeated in his control over us. Christ picked us up, and we finally knew that His love for us was more than we could ever know. We finally heard His sweet gentle voice, lovingly calling out our names and restoring in us the light that we had thought was extinguished long ago. We now see that what we thought was a power over us was in reality weakness. Through our study of His word we now know that Satan is powerless against Jesus Christ. But Satan’s lies are powerful, to a soul that is weak and sin laden. As we walked on our paths, Satan guided us to our eventual downfall and destruction. But in His love Christ came and restored us to the person that He had created! A person that was designed to accomplish the plan that He had laid out for us at the time the world was created. “to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Acts 26:18 (NIV).

          Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:14 (NIV). So now we have accepted Christ as our personal Savior and we have been washed in His blood, cleansing us. We are filled with His Holy Spirit and now have the desire to study His word, His map for our lives. And as we study, the power from those words fills us more and more with the Holy Spirit. In order that we look now to Him for guidance and direction in our walk. Our redemption has given us new eyes in which to view Jesus. As the loving Father and Creator that He is. Also through our studies we are continually filled with the knowledge that He walks with us continually, always, never sleeping or slumbering, but always at alert to call out to us to follow Him. And even in our trials and storms, His word assures us that He holds us tightly in His hands never letting go but carrying us through those storms to the other side where His light again will fill our lives and hearts. Instilling in us even greater knowledge of His love and affection for us. So it is that knowledge that we are commissioned to take into the world. Telling others of His unconditional love for them. A love that will never fail no matter what their pasts were. His words of love and kindness must be shouted to all who will hear, so that they may accept Him and receive the healing of the Holy Spirit as we have. Our lives MUST portray the life that Christ commands we live in order that others see and are encouraged to follow Him. Leading them to live that life that the Father has for them to live, so that they too may further His kingdom. Together we can tell others of His power and might. But most importantly His love, mercy, grace and forgiveness for ALL that HE CREATED!!!