I Have Been Seized

My eyes had yet to see light, and there were his lies. Planted so intently in my mind. As I hit the snooze button a few too many times, the enemy was ready, “You’re just going to waste this day away. You should have been up 30 minutes ago. You’re going to forget to read your Bible again. You’re a failure.” All in a matter of seconds, these thoughts like flaming arrows were being thrown at me. In my half-asleep-disillusionment almost habitually, I began to agree-- to reinforce what the enemy was feeding me. “Gosh, Shelby. You are a failure. Don’t you realize how much you have to do today? You’ll never get it all done. You really need to get it together.”

But how awesome, how sweet, and how loving is my God. Ready for battle, His Spirit jumped right in.

“Stop it! What are you doing?”

It’s funny because He was saying these things to me.

“Do you realize when you take that bait… when you believe the lies that Satan plants, you’re essentially siding with him?”

Wow. I have NEVER seen it like that.

“If you claim your failure, your inadequacies, your short-comings, that is what you will be-- defeated, condemned, depressed. And you have just sided with Satan in the battle to ruin your life. You have helped him defeat you.”

The LAST thing I want to do is side with Satan. I HATE him.

And the Holy Spirit left me with this, “You are redeemed."

Man! It’s amazing how such a quick encounter can be so liberating. Guess what… I have been pressed for time today. I have been rushing to get things done. I got all the way to Starbucks to spend time in His Word only to find that my Bible was not in my car. What a FRUSTRATING day. But you know what? My smile has never left my face. All I keep hearing is, “You are redeemed.” And because I’m a nerd and love words, I had to look up “redeemed” in the Greek. I know the weight it carries in English, but Greek and Hebrew is so much richer.

Check this out: eksagorázō - seizing a buying-opportunity, i.e. making the most of the present opportunity (recognizing its future gain)

I am REDEEMED! I have been seized! God found my life precious enough to purchase me with His Son’s blood. I have been “made the most of” presently because He sees His future gain in me. He knows I will be part of a world-changing movement for His glory. Even when I feel hopeless and worthless, I am treasured enough for God to see my potential and save me out of my failure-status. I am redeemed!!

Written 2.2.12