powerful redemption..

My heart is so full right now so tender. I just got finished reading the book "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers..I completed it in less than 24 hours. It is a fiction novel based off of the book of Hosea and God's crazy love for His people.

I think the most astounding thing in American Christianity today is how much people absolutely do not get it. They write redemption off and bind themselves to chains of legalism and raise their hands to cast the first stone. We have all been guilty of it..but I don't want or desire to be bound to anything but the cross of Christ. Love is what covers a multitude of sins. Love and nothing else.

I walked into a church service one night and slid against the wall in the back of the room, as I sat there I began to feel so incredibly claustrophobic and I wasn't a hundred percent sure why so I began to pray and ask that the Lord would help me to identify the emotions that were welling up inside of me. He began to speak that legalism chokes the life out of things..and that is how I felt..squeezed. I had finished reading through the book of John just a week or so before that and I recalled how the Pharisees were always running around trying to kill Jesus..trying to kill the truth and the life SQUEEZING the life out of the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.

We must get back to the basics and just start loving on people. That is my only prayer, that I will have the heart of my Father that I will be able to love in a way that is so incredibly supernatural I know it did not seep out of my flesh it couldn't have..there was too much of it. That is the kind of love that people can't resist. I could go on and on and share so many analogies that the Lord has given me that cover the pages in my journal but I will wait..for now we have to get back to the beauty of Redemption.

Redeem: "to obtain the release or restoration of, as from captivity, by paying a ransom."

Do we believe that Christ truly has the power to purify us as though it never was? Do we believe it for others?

"Love the Lord your God, and love one another. Love one another as He loves. Love with strength and purpose and passion and no matter what comes against  you. Don't weaken. Stand against the darkness and love. That's the way back into Eden. That's the way back into life." ~Redeeming Love

Ephesians 6:10-18 MSG "God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
 ^13-18Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out." 

Our battle is not against flesh and blood. We've got to stop waging war with each other and wage war with the one who comes to steal kill and destroy(John 10:10)..and cling to the one who promises to grant us  life of abundance.
John 10:9-11 Amplified
  ⁹I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely], and will find pasture.
    ¹⁰The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
    ¹¹I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd risks and lays down His [own] life for the sheep.

I desire ABUNDANCE what about you???