Sunday, August 22, 2010

Joy in the presence of the angels!


This morning I dragged myself out of bed and plunked down on the couch, opened my Bible, and started rubbing the sleepyheads out of my eyes so I could read. I do not like mornings. As far as I'm concerned the only thing good about them is the fact that no one else is up, so I can have some solitude with the Lord before the rush of the day begins. As I peered at the first chapter of Colossians I realized that I was not alone. I heard a pair of little feet slapping down the stairs. My youngest daughter appeared, looking just as sleepy as I was.

Great. There went my devoes. I thought. I said, "Hi, sweetie, come sit with me." Maybe I can get some reading in this way. She snuggled up, and I commenced reading out loud, so she wouldn't feel the need to squirm or talk to me. I got to this part:
Colossians 1:12-13 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (13) Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
And I began to think, she has no idea what this means. I read the next verse;
Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Then the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask, "Do you know what redemption means?"

"Uuuuuh, no."

Again, the Lord pushed me to explain this word to her. There is a wonderful story about a little boy who made himself a sail boat, that he loved, and when he went to the river to play with it, the wind blew it away. He saw it go in to the rapids, where there was a big fall, and he thought it was lost to him forever. Then one day he saw his sail boat in a store window. Not only had it survived the falls, someone had found it! When he asked the store owner for it, he found out that it was still lost to him, because in order to get it, he would have to pay the full price for it. He loved his boat so much that he brought money to pay for it, and redeem it.

I told her this story, and explained, that was what Jesus did for us. He made us, and He loves us. But our sin will take us to Hell, and we will be lost to Him, so He paid for us to be redeemed back to Himself, to take away our sin, and the price he paid wasn't money, it was His own blood. That's why it says, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." All we have to do is repent of our sins and receive His gift of eternal life!

"I want to do that! Right now!"

Thank God for this! Isn't it wonderful to see His Spirit working in the lives of our children? Elisabeth had made a profession of faith, but I sensed she didn't understand everything she had done, and last week, the Lord put a burden on my heart to pray for her, that God would make clear to her if she was saved. My prayer was answered a couple days ago when she told me frankly that she was not saved and going to hell, because she was a sinner and couldn't stop sinning. At that time, she didn't accept Christ. Sometimes it takes time for the Holy Spirit to work each part of the gospel through our hearts. I didn't push it. This time, I could see the lights come on. No, she didn't want to wait another minute, Jesus had paid for her sin, and she wanted to receive eternal life right now! I told her to tell Jesus! She did, very simply and frankly, ask Jesus to forgive her, and take away her sin so she could live in Heaven with Him. Then she jumped up, eager to tell everyone, "How do you say 'I got saved' in Spanish?"

I don't think I'll ever complain about having my personal devotions interrupted!

5 comments:

redneck preacher said...

Amen. nuf said
HTOITA

Emily Campbell said...

Praise the Lord! that is so awesome! tell her we are so excited :)

Michelle said...

Praise the Lord!

Stephen Benefield said...

Awesome! No greater thing in the world than to see your own child get saved! Thanks for sharing the story.

Elaine said...

Amen! What a joy to read!