Day 35 | 40-Day Lenten Fast & Devotional

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. -Psalm 107:1-3

Good morning, good morning, grace and peace to all of you, my father's children. It is in fact,  day 35 of our 40-day Lenten devotional. And this week,  welcome to Holy Week.  As we've entered on yesterday into the triumphal entry and  on our way to the cross,  this week we want to focus in on redemption. So if you have your swords with you, I'd for you to turn to the book of Psalm.

Um, the 107th Psalm, we want to start at the first verse. Let's read two verses really quickly. “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. Verse two, “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.”

David mentions this as we enter into the sacred space of Holy Week. We are reminded that our testimony is really what gives breath and life  to what God has done, but also to how we are to respond to God's grace and forgiveness. As we ease towards the cross, David is reminding all of us  that ultimately, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. If somebody does something incredible for you, it's not just okay just to say thank you, but also as body, as members of the body of Christ and believers, we ought to tell one another that it is because God's grace. It is because it's a redemptive power that we're here. Oftentimes we get caught up into thinking that there are some places and points where we almost may have redeemed ourselves. We consider ourselves either. We say things like, we are lucky or, you know, look at karma or something else. We give credit everywhere else but God for our redemptive context. And maybe even some of us are so naive to believe that we didn't need to be redeemed. Maybe we forget our fallibility,  but this week I want us to focus in from the place of point saying that we needed redemption.

And not only we need redemption, but we continuously find ourselves in the place where we're activating the redemptive power of God in our lives. We fall short of the mark. We miss the mark day in and day out, moment by moment. But God taught so much of us that he redeemed us.  God said, you know what?  At the end of the day, he's still mine. She's still mine. You're still his. And because of such we ought to say so. We ought to open up our mouths. It says we ought to tell  our story, those who we redeemed from the hand of the foe.  So I get this, the scripture is only germane to those who recognize God's redemptive power that has already graced their lives. All of us who are honest enough to say that we don't always get it right. And when we don't, we still have a level of grace that is embedded to the place of redemption. That's what the cross is about. That is literally what Holy Week is about. It's a reminder, one to another, of God's redemptive power. So because of such, we operate differently. We should go through our day as redeemed folk. There should be an attitude shift knowing that God redeemed you. There  should be joy embedded in how you move, how you talk. Others should know that you are gracious for your redemption by the way that you act. If you've ever been in a place where God has, or you've been almost, you've been let go. You ever been pulled over and the cop said, I'm let you go with a warning and you drive off? You drive differently after that. You move differently after that because you moved as someone who realized you were guilty, but did not receive the adjudication for your guilt.

So on today, this wonderful Monday, it's marvelous Monday, let us act, operate and talk as the redeemed folk that we are. God bless you, have an incredible day.