"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us..." (Ephesians 1:7,8).

His lavish gift involved the shedding of His blood. Our redemption, the forgiveness of our trespasses, had a price...the blood of Christ...His death in our place. Hebrews 9:22 says "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Jesus died in our place. He shed His blood in payment for our sins. He truly has "lavished" His grace upon us!

"For thus says the Lord God, the holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling, and you said, "No! We will flee upon horses"; therefore you shall flee away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds"; therefore your pursuers shall be swift" (Isaiah 30:15-16).

We tend to do this...to place trust in what we own and in our own strategies. God calls us to repent of this. Repent...return to relying on Him...resting in Him...trusting in Him.

God, help us to look to You for our strength and for our deliverance. You are our mighty deliverer.

"O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1).

I am finally back from the mountains of Glacier and my recent valley of disease. I can blog again!

I love David's yearning for God. He expresses as a desperate thirst for Him. I believe when we experience the presence of God as David we will also thirst for Him. We are overwhelmed by His glory and are astounded by His love. David says, "Because Your steadfast love is better than life" (Psalm 63:3). And, we hunger for even more of His presence.

Isaiah 6:1-3

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up;and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:1-3).

I love this passage! The whole earth is full of God's glory...let's praise Him every day!

Trusting in Your Riches

"But God will break you down forever; He will snatch and tear you from our tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, "See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of His riches and sought refuge in his own destruction" (Psalm 52:5-7).

The description quoted above: "trusted in the abundance of His riches" reminds me of Luke 12:15 (NASB) - "...Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."

We need to guard against this. It is a subtle trap to drift into trusting what you own rather than God, who has provided for us! It is easy to fall into a world of anxiety when what one owns starts to diminish...rust...decay...disappear as markets collapse... But, our lives do not consist ... do not depend on what we own. We depend on and place our trust in God.

Psalm 20:7,8 - "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright."