Tag Archives: redeemed

March 3, 2026 · 5:27 AM

From Shamed To Loved

One of the most powerful stories of giving and receiving godly love is found in John 8. The religious leaders brought a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus. Her accusers pointed to the Law and said she must be stoned to death for what she did. They asked Jesus what He thought should happen to her. With stones in their hands they waited and demanded an answer as He drew in the sand. Then He said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (NLT) One by one they dropped their stones in the sand and left. Then Jesus asked her where her accusers were. She said there were none. He said that He wasn’t going to condemn her either. Then He told her to go and sin no more.

Many of us have stood where this woman stood. We hear the voices of our accuser highlighting our failures, our past and our sin as they play on repeat in our mind. We feel too ashamed to move forward because of what we’ve done. We begin to believe that we deserve the judgement and condemnation that we earned through our actions. We’re tempted to pick up the stones and condemn ourselves. However, the same act of God’s love that sent away her accusers can cut through the accusing voices in our mind and send them away too. To do that you must start giving His voice the authority to define you and your future. Remember He made you into a new creation when He forgave you. You are no longer who you were. He has cast your sin as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more so that your accuser would have no choice but to drop the stones of accusation in the sand.

God doesn’t rehearse your failures once you are forgiven. He no longer condemns you for what you’ve done. Removing the roots and voices of shame and condemnation isn’t easy. Start by receiving God’s love along with His forgiveness. His love covers a multitude of sins. Next you’ll need to start daily saying out loud who God says you are. Saturate yourself in worship, reading God’s Word and prayer each day as well. The shift from shame to love is rarely a one time decision. It’s a daily one you must make despite how shame is making you feel in the moment. You CAN break free from the voices. You DO have a future that is defined by God’s love rather than your past. You ARE who He says you are. He no longer condemns you. Leave the stones on the ground where they were dropped when Jesus forgave you. Refuse to pick them up again as you shift from shamed to loved.

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash

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June 27, 2025 · 5:49 AM

Being Redeemed

I remember being in children’s church singing, “I’ve been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Oh I’ve been redeemed.” I didn’t really understand the word redeemed though. I’ve found out that Biblical redemption is to be set free from the power and penalty of sin through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. It’s about being set free the way the Israelites were liberated from Egypt. We are no longer slaves to sin because we belong to God now. Since you’ve been redeemed, live your life in the freedom God gives. Don’t let the enemy chase you down and hold your past against you. Jesus set you free. It’s time to live as one who has been redeemed. You are no longer condemned.

Here are some Bible verses on being redeemed:

1. We can never redeem ourselves; we cannot pay God the price for our lives, because the payment for a human life is too great. What we could pay would never be enough to keep us from the grave, to let us live forever.

Psalm 49:7-9 GNT

2. But as for me, I will walk in my integrity; Redeem me and be merciful to me.

Psalms 26:11 NKJV

3. Yet all of this was so that he would redeem and set free those held hostage to the law so that we would receive our freedom and a full legal adoption as his children.

Galatians 4:5 TPT

4. Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.

Psalms 119:154 NKJV

5. But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Psalms 34:22 NLT

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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May 8, 2024 · 5:39 AM

Redeemed From Failure

In 2003, I was going through the hardest time of my life. My first wife had left me and my business was going under. I ended up divorced and bankrupt. My mind began to be consumed with one thought, “You’re nothing but a failure!” I couldn’t shake it. I had failed God, failed at love and failed at business. That thought I couldn’t shake made me think my life was over and that God could never use me. I felt like I had let everyone down. As I was going through it, I received a word from God through someone who didn’t know me or what I was going through. God said, “What seems like an end is only a beginning. I have not left you. In fact I am walking through this with you. Im not in front of you or behind you. I’m right beside you. Where I’m leading is to a place where you will experience joy like never before.” Over twenty years later, looking back, I can say God has been true to that word.

In John 18, Peter was standing in a courtyard watching and listening to people accuse Jesus. That’s when a little girl recognized him and asked him if he was a disciple of Jesus. Peter denied it. Two more people asked about it that night and he got to the point he vehemently denied that he knew Jesus. Luke says that Jesus turned and looked at Peter after the rooster crowed and Peter left weeping bitterly at his failure. Peter began to focus on his failure and even went back to his old life of fishing rather than preaching. That’s when Jesus showed up and asked him if he loved Him. Jesus took his failure and used it to build a rock solid faith rather than to use it to disqualify him.

Psalm 103:1-4 says, “Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And all that is [deep] within me, bless His holy name. Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits; Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy” (AMP). God doesn’t just forgive our failures. He redeems our life from the pit that they create, including pits that are so deep you can’t see the sunlight. Instead of beating us up or leaving us, he gives us kindness and mercy in those times. Our greatest growth will come from our lowest moments of failure if we focus on who Christ wants us to become and follow His leading rather than succumbing to the thoughts of our failure. He restores us and leads us into new beginnings after failure if we will let Him.

Photo by Gary Meulemans on Unsplash

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February 18, 2021 · 5:30 AM

Going Fishing

For three years the disciples followed Jesus. They witnessed people receive their sight having been born blind. They watched leprous skin clear up right before them. They were standing there when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb four days after he died. They handed out the five loaves and two fish to the 5,000. They not only saw Jesus walk on water, they saw Him calm the wind and waves. They had countless fireside discussions that you and I will never know about. That’s why I’ve always been baffled by this one thing that happened after the resurrection.

John 21:3 says, “Simon Peter said to the others, ‘I am going fishing.’ ‘We will come with you,’ they told him” (GNT). After all they had seen and done, they went back to their old life. It’s hard for me to comprehend how they could experience everything they did, and then just simply go back to their old life. Had they forgotten that Jesus had told them that from now on they would be fishers of men? How could they go back to being regular fishermen? No matter how perplexing it is, I have to wonder if we are any different.

We may not have seen those miracles as they did, but if we accepted Jesus as our savior, we experienced the power of God in our own life. We felt that initially cleansing feeling and the peace that passes understanding. Yet somehow, many times we go right back to our old way of living. We know we are supposed to be a new creation, but that old life that’s supposed to be dead and buried calls out to us and tempts us to go back. Even though we experienced the power of the resurrection, we sometimes live as though it had no affect on our life.

That life is as fruitless as that night of fishing for the disciples. The great news for us is that Jesus is on the shore calling out to us, “Have you caught anything?” Then He reminds us to cast our nets on the other side. He reminds us to return to Him and to live our life in the power of the resurrection. When we live that way, our nets will be full. Jesus’ words to them that morning were simple: Follow me. That call goes out to us too. Don’t go back to who you once were before you followed Him. If you have “gone fishing” in that old life, you can swim to shore where Jesus is waiting to welcome you back with open arms.

Photo by Johannes Plenio from Pexels

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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