God is asking me to publish this early. So, a week earlier than planned, here is Defender True: may God’s will be done through these words He has asked me to share.
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:5
Do you hear those voices too?
The ones that tell you
You’re not enough
You’ll never change
All you do is make things worse?
Do you hear the voice that follows then
The one that tells you
Defend yourself
Hold on tight
To who you
Wish you were
Lest he rips it from your weary
Tight-clenched hands?
Or the one that pushes you
To lie there in that bed
A bed that covers you in blankets
Grief, despair and loathing cruel
Chaining you to who
You believe you truly are
Lost
Forevermore?
Now, stop
And still
Feel an angel’s hand
Upon your shoulder
Warm bread
And cool water
Set lovingly before you
Hear his call
To rise, to eat, to drink.
Follow him out that cave
Feel the ground shake fierce
See the fire blaze hot
Let glorious truth
Shake off the dust
Burn all the dross
To reveal
The gold in you.
Now be still
And listen for
The whisper
For glorious Truth
Kissing
The kind, sweet
Gentle Voice of
Grace.
Feel those
Rushing waters pure
Waterfalls of grace
Pouring from your Savior’s mouth
Washing away
All that’s died
Upon the Cross
To now reveal
The lavish gift
Of Christ
In you.
Hear His gentle
Tender Voice
Unveiling
The many gifts
Hidden in
His heart
In you.
Beloved
Chosen
Holy
Pure
Purposed
True
You are His
Masterpiece.
Created anew
In Christ Jesus
You shall perform
The good works
HE
Has long
Prepared for
You.
No accusing tongue
Has power here
For God Himself
Has cast these columns
This Temple
Not of human hands
But with His own
Establishing
And strengthening.
For, it’s no longer you
Who lives
But the great
I AM:
Our One and Only
Slayer of all sin
Stiller of all accusations
Defender True.
NO sin is too bad, too shameful, too ugly for Christ to forgive. Never let the enemy convince you otherwise. Christ isn’t ashamed of you in your sin. No! His heart breaks for you. His heart longs for you to know the depths of His compassion and mercy.
Sin is a disease every single human suffers from: yes, even Christians. But that’s why Christ came. Not for the (pretending to be) healthy, but the sick. To heal us from our affliction, piece by piece on earth, until in heaven we are fully healed and whole.
When I came home to Jesus, my dear friend Emily sent me this song:
God connected us on the internet, five years earlier, when I was a Prodigal. Em didn’t know my story, but she unknowingly poured out the love and kindness of Jesus over me from afar, through her open witness to her weakness and Christ’s power to save and heal her heart. Later, she would love and pray me through a time I wanted to take my own life, as the accusations of the enemy, that had me flee Jesus as a child, came back with vengeance. Jesus turned these attacks into a blessing; for through them He was able to uproot the lies and teach me how to resist the enemy’s accusations.
My friend Emily constantly reminded me through her own boasting in her weakness that without Christ (love Himself), no one is enough, no one is going to change and everyone will only make things worse. But, that WITH Christ, our advocate and our atoning sacrifice, who hasn’t left us, we are always more than enough.
Not only do we stand justified by the blood He shed on the Cross, we are also being transformed from glory to glory, moment by moment, to look more and more like Jesus. Through Christ, we in fact only make things more and more beautiful, through the blood of the Lamb and His testimony at work in us.
Our loving Heavenly Father is not ashamed of us or angry at us. He is furious at our enemy holding us captive. Unlike man, He knows exactly what we have been through and are still going through (Hebrews 2: 18, Isaiah 53:4). He also knows just how much our hearts yearn to do His will. And unlike man, He will never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). Instead, He will move to defend us.
He will shake off the old, burn away the dross and cover us in the waterfalls of His love, truth and grace (Psalm 42). He will lead us onward into greater and greater freedom from sin and shame. Let us be encouraged in the truth that “Those who look to Him are radiant, and their face shall never be ashamed (Psalm 34: 5 ESV).
For, Christ has already paid the price for the wages of our sin, cleansing us by His blood from our sin. Washing us in the refreshing truth of His Word, He reminds us that we are not defined by any of the impurity He shakes off us and burns away. For, we are already clean by the Word He has spoken to us (John 15:3). When the Father looks at us, He sees Jesus. No, nothing can separate us from His love for us (Romans 8:35-39).
Every single day, every single moment, we can walk afresh into the new awaiting us because of His blood shed at the Cross for us.
Will you join me in prayer?
Thank You, LORD, that in our imperfection, You offer us Your own perfection. Thank You for Your never-ending loving kindness to us in our weakness and need. LORD, when we get discouraged by the truth of our sinfulness and our frailty, help us to remember the truth of the Cross. Help us to cast our burdens at Your feet. Help us to pour out our heart, allowing You to uncover any wickedness in us, to purify and cleanse us of our sin and to restore us unto Yourself.
When we are afraid and chained to shame, send out Your kindness and perfect love to cast out all fear of punishment in us. Help us to draw near to You with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our heart sprinkled to cleanse us of a guilty conscience and having our body washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22).
Help us to remember that: ‘The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day’ (Proverbs 4:18). Help us to remain ‘confident of this, that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 1: 6 NIV).
Forgive us for those moments we have turned away from You to hide our sins or have tried to defend ourself, allowing the enemy to make us believe it is our perfection that will save us, rather than Yours. LORD, we turn to You now, confessing our sins to receive your waterfall of grace, believing and trusting that Your grace is sufficient for us, that Your power is perfected in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Thank You, LORD, that You are our Defender True and will always shepherd us in love, kindness, truth and grace. Father, I ask You to surround each reader of this post with brothers and sisters in Christ who openly boast in their weakness, confess their sins freely and give glory to Your saving power. And I ask You to pour back into Emily’s lap a pressed together and overflowing abundance of love and kindness – the same love and kindness You poured out upon me through her. Amen.
Be blessed in the knowledge today that His mercy is more. More than all our sins: past, present and future. More than enough to cover us in our nakedness of want and need. More than enough to hold us tight through any suffering that comes our way.