Kinsman Redeemer

Just the other day a heated argument errupted in the house that I should have never allowed myself to engage in. However, the damage was done, I said what I said. It is not what I said, but it was just the fact that I allowed myself to even become involved that was the problem. When fiery darts come at us from the enemies campfire, we have to learn to walk away. It is not profitable for us to turn around and  launch arrows back to the enemy. The bible reminds us in Ephesians 6:12 that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Your family is not the enemy! When you allow yourself to engage in a heated discussion instead of walking away, you allow yourself to become entangled again with a yoke of bondage. When we learn to walk away, the fire can be put out much faster, and with less damage, because you are not there adding fuel to the fire by backlashing and trying to prove your point. Besides, we don't have to prove our point with man. As long as we are upright before God, than he alone will justify us.

As it turns out, at the end of this fiery discussion where my character came under attack by the enemy, I left the house, and it just so happened that a faithful leader of the church was out front speaking with my daughter. So as I approached her with smoke coming from ears, fuming red, about to explode, her wisdom brought me quickly back to reality and quenched the ungodly fire that was in me. She reminded me, of who I was in Christ, the power that was in me, and gifts that God had so freely given me. I quickly realized how right she was, and the frustration disipated almost immediately. I cannot stress to you the importance of having Godly people in your life. It can mean the difference of life and death. She was able to bring me quickly back to my "reality in Christ." She didn't feed off of my anger, and add fuel to the fire and encourage me to continue to sin. Psalm 4:4 says to "be angry, and sin not!" We are going to be angry at times, but the key is not to sin. You are NOT the "weakest link" if you walk away!! In fact you are the link with the most wisdom.

The title of this message is Kinsman Redeemer and you are probably wondering what this message has to do with that. You may remember in the book of Ruth, where Ruth and Naomi return to Naomi's homeland as widows. The way it was back then, when a woman became a widow, her husband's brother or closest male relative would have the opportunity to redeem the widow's husbands blood line. In this scenario the family member had declined to be the redeemer, and so Boaz who had fallen in love with Ruth became the Kinsman Redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. This is truly an amazing story of love and redemeption and a picture of Christ redeeming us, and reconciling our relationship with the father.

The way this story relates to mine is this: First of all, many of us, including myself have longed for acceptance from our families. Whether it's our father, mother, brother's or sisters. We all have a desire to be loved and to be unconditionally accepted. We want our achievements to be recognized by those we love, and we want our mistakes to be forgotten. The truth of the matter is, your justification will not come from these sources. As my character came under attack that day, I quickly forgot who I was in Christ. I didn't use the weapons I had been given to me, which are the words of God!! I became blindsided by my anger, and to be honest at the time, not one redeeming scripture came to mind. All I could think about, was proving my point with man (which is futile). So now, two days later, during worship, all I heard from God is that he is my Kinsman redeemer!!! When family and friends have left you dismayed and disappointed, God comes alongside you and tells you are anointed and appointed!!! Of course because I am under excellent leadership at Rehoboth, I have heard this before. Although I heard it, I didn't truly hear it. Sometimes God has to allow us to live thru something, in order to teach us something. I now know after multiple teachings on this topic, that Jesus is my Kinsman Redeemer. He is what defines me, he lives in me and thru me, and no matter what anyone else thinks or does to me, I am Redeemed by the blood of the lamb!!! He alone can Justify me, He alone has sanctified me, He alone died on the Cross for me!!! And I know, my Redeemer Lives, and I live in Him!!!

BE THANKFUL!!!

I was so profoundly touched today as I enjoyed worship with the Father. As I began to thank him for so many things that he has blessed me with, even the clothes I was folding. Sometimes when I fold clothes and then have to put them away, I get slightly irritated over such a trivial task. But then I thought to myself, I should change my perspective on how I look at this everyday chore. The reality is that we are a family of four, and as most of you know, four people can create quite a bit of laundry. What if  we didn't have those clothes to even wash, fold and put away? I thought of the countless humans around the world who wear the same clothes day in, and day out. If they do get to wash their clothes, it most likely is in a puddle of dirty water, that they may also use to drink from. We are so conditioned here in the States to having so many amenities at our fingertips. There is nothing wrong with that. God has blessed us to live here in comfort, but how many of us have said thank you for the privilege of living here in the US. Even if you have to go to Laundromat to do your laundry, you are still blessed!!! There are so many things we have to be thankful for in this life, lets start today by saying thank you to Jesus for making it all possible. He alone is worthy to be praised in the morning and at night and all through out the day!!! Shout unto the Lord with a joyful noise and BE THANKFUL!!!