THURSDAY March 3, 2022

Delivered from Darkness

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13-14

Through the Son of His love, God has delivered us from the power of darkness! Once a person has repented and turned away from their sin, every past sin they committed has been forgiven. They are now saved and have received eternal life (John 3:16). This is God’s work––not mans! God’s love is so tremendous. We are now children of the light.

A child of God cannot be possessed by the power of darkness anymore. They can never, ever be demon-possessed. However, a Christian can become oppressed and depressed, but never possessed. The One who possesses the life of a believer is the Holy Spirit; He is greater than Satan: You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, [false prophets] because He [the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). God dwells in us!

Consider the timeless words of Charles Wesley who expressed in a hymn his personal testimony of his soul’s redemption:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night, thine eye diffused a quickening ray I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee! Amazing love! How can it be, that thou, my God, shouldst die for me!

Through Christ, we have redemption. To redeem means “to be rescued by ransom.” In the Old Testament, the only way redemption was possible would be to kill an animal. The shedding of its blood became the atonement for sin––a covering––but it did not take away sin. God sent His Son to take away our sins, once and for all (Hebrews 9:28).

We have been rescued by ransom. Jesus paid the ransom price of our redemption by the shedding of His own precious blood. We now have forgiveness of our sins and eternal hope.

The presence of faith gives no guarantee of the absence of spiritual depression; however, the dark night of the soul always gives way to the brightness of the noonday light of the presence of God.
~R.C. Sproul~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!