Category: Redeemed

Redeemed – Entry #4 of 4

This is the last Blog entry for this song and I will start a new song with my next entry. Here are the lines to be covered to wrap up this song:

Because I don’t have to be the old man inside of me
‘Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I’ve got a new name, a new life I’m not the same
And a hope that will carry me home
Chorus
Chorus
Oh God I’m not who I used to be
Jesus I’m not who I used to be
‘Cause I am redeemed
Thank God, redeemed

As humans we, with the exception of Adam and Eve, were all born with a sinful nature, which is also referred to as the old man(person) inside of us. This sinful nature has a tendency to make us think in a more selfish manner, perhaps because we do not know what the future brings. While letting this tendency control us, we are focused more on the here and now because we do not have the hope for or the knowledge of an eternal life. Once we accept Christ as our savior, we do know what ultimately lies ahead for us. We may not know what tomorrow or the next day may bring, but we do know what eternity brings,

Christ left us with the Holy Spirit to help guide us and comfort us. Will we still sin and lose our way at times? Most certainly. We no longer let the old inner self drive our lives and that was the only driver we had until we gained salvation. We have a better understanding of right and wrong, what is expected of us in our lives, what eternity holds for us; and the old inner self is no longer in control of our destiny.

We all get a new name. I am no longer just Stan Simpson, I am now a Child of God and have an eternal plan laid out for me. I am a new person with a new focus and also know that as I get off the path God has chosen for me that I will hear that still small voice reminding me of where I am and where I need to be. As a Christian, I am never alone and always have a companion in my heart and in my walk that will help guide me along the way.

We are given hope knowing that whatever challenges we face in this life; we know we have an eternal home that has been prepared for us. We will still experience frustrations, heartbreaks, rejection, and failures; but we know now what really lies ahead for us. Keeping our eyes on our future home and the gift of eternal life will help us through the travails. The journey is not going to be easy for any of us and it will be more difficult for some, but the rewards are great and are waiting for us.

We need to thank Jesus everyday for what he has done for us, the peace he brings, and the new home that is just waiting for us. It is because of his death giving us redemption, that all of this is possible. He took away all of our sins and past mistakes, and just asks for our acceptance and love. We can’t run from our past and we will probably not forget our past mistakes, but we can know that whatever happened in our past has now been forgiven. We just need to focus on the bright future he has planned for us.

Redeemed – Entry #3 of 4

This Blog entry will address the following lines, the next Blog will complete this song:

All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, “Child lift up your head”
I remember oh God, You’re not done with me yet

Do you ever feel unworthy? Perhaps we have been called unworthy as the song states, but perhaps we are the ones who tell ourselves we are unworthy. I believe we have a tendency to equate failure with unworthiness. By definition, unworthy means not deserving of attention or respect, not deserving of acceptance, and not suitable. People often feel they are unworthy because of failures. Maybe we did make a mistake on our job, does that mean we are unworthy of that job? We may feel as if we did a bad job as a parent, does that mean we are unworthy of being a parent? Our last relationship may have ended in an ugly way, does that mean we are unworthy of a positive lasting relationship? More of these questions and doubts come from inside us and from Satan as he tries to discourage us. We berate ourselves over what we have done wrong, where we have failed, and therefore give Satan a stronger hold over us. He is always there speaking in our ear and telling us how unworthy we are and reminding us of all of our failures. He does whatever he can to get us to listen to him and his voice of shame and regret and to keep us from listening to the Holy Spirit Christ has given us. It doesn’t mean we have lost our faith in Christ, it means we are trying to drive our lives instead of looking to our Savior for guidance, support, and love. We are hanging our heads as we go through our woe is me life perspective. The net is we end up serving the wrong master, even though our soul belongs to Jesus based on our salvation. All of this is so easy to say and we all end up in this place at some time, but how do we get out?

Once again, the songwriters tell how Christ reaches out to us and reminds us that he is always there. He is the one who whispers in our ear and tell us to be strong and hold up our head. This may be a whisper, but it is one that comes across with power. Our Savior and Comforter tells us to lift up our head and remember what he did for us so we could have eternal happiness and reward. Note that we are called his child, we are always one of his; regardless of the situation we are facing. This loud and resonating whisper brings us to our knees as we remember that we are always a work in progress and will never achieve perfection in our physical lives. God’s plan for us takes us through this lifetime on earth, he has things he wants us to do. There are so many things in his plan that requires action from us. He is always preparing and training us for the tasks ahead. Maybe he wants us to bring a neighbor to Christ, perhaps he brings a stranger to us that he wants us to help, maybe he wants us to be a stronger light to all of those around us. He could be looking at us to work in the church, to be part of missions, to work with children, or work in a service capacity. We need to always remember we may be the only Jesus some people will ever see. The world watches us every day to see how we respond as Christians. Our actions and our words determine the strength of our light in this world. To be what God wants us to be, we need to grow our faith and witness every day. I know the above is a daunting path but think of what Christ has done for us and what lies ahead of us. Are the expectations of God greater than the reward? I don’t think so.

Redeemed – Entry #2 of 4

I will take a look at the following lines in this 2nd entry for Redeemed:

Then You look at this prisoner and say to me “son
Stop fighting a fight that’s already been won”
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off these heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
I am redeemed
I’m redeemed

So, as we fight through our shackles and battles to get away from the dark cloud and imprisonment that seems to hang over us, we seem to dwell on the past mistakes we made and how we could have done things differently; we fight these battles and memories day after day. Jesus offers us encouragement. The song says he reaches out to us, he doesn’t wait for us to reach out to him. He reaches out to us as being his children, in this case the writer references son merely because the writer is a male.

Jesus is aware of the shackles we have and the history behind each one. He sees us fight the battles every day and expend so much effort to try and get free of our bondage. Our Savior reminds us that he has already fought the battle for us and that as he died on the cross, all of our sins had been forgiven and that we would have eternal life with him. Jesus knew we were not strong enough to fight temptation and fight Satan, so he fought that fight for us by dying on the cross and taking away all of our sins forever. He is telling us that he has prepared our eternal home and we just need to accept him in our hearts and rely on him via the Holy Spirit to guide us in every step we take. We need to keep our focus on the future he holds for us instead of the present and past that are weighing us down.

Through Him, we are redeemed, we are saved from the bondage of sin. Jesus paid the price for our sins in exchange for our freedom, this is what being redeemed is all about. Moses, via God, freed the Israelites from physical bondage in Egypt. He and the Israelites incurred the wrath of Pharaoh, but in the end their physical bondage went away. Only Christ can free us from our self-imposed shackles.

Because of this redemption, we can shake off these heavy burdensome shackles. These shackles carry immeasurable weight, yet we are now able to not just take off the burden; we are able to shake it off. Along with the removal of these bonds, Jesus wipes away after dark spot and every deep dark recess from us and basically allows us to start anew. Every stain on our soul has been removed and, in his eyes, we are perfect since we no longer have the sin we carried. We are no longer who we used to be. Will we sin again? Absolutely. Will we have dark days? Yes we will. The difference is that we have someone we can reach out to in order to provide comfort. We have a future that no one can take away from us. We know the day is coming when we will know only pure happiness, we now have help along our journey. We are redeemed when we accept Christ.

Redeemed – Entry #1 of 4

The next song for my Blog was written by Benji Cowart, Michael Weaver, and Michael David Weaver and first released in 2012. A link to Big Daddy Weave performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

Redeemed

Seems like all I can see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me “son
Stop fighting a fight that’s already been won”
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off these heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
I am redeemed
I’m redeemed
All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, “Child lift up your head”
I remember oh God, You’re not done with me yet
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off theses heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
Because I don’t have to be the old man inside of me
‘Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I’ve got a new name, a new life I’m not the same
And a hope that will carry me home
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off these heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off these heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
Oh God I’m not who I used to be
Jesus I’m not who I used to be
‘Cause I am redeemed
Thank God, redeemed

I will begin the first entry in this Blog by analyzing the first four lines of the song.

Seems like all I can see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last

Whenever we read/see/hear the news today, it is all about the negative things going on throughout the world. It is about death, illness, destruction, family issues, disease, and on and on. It is almost to the point that there is very little time for the news to dedicate to anything good.

With all of this going on, it is not wonder that we start thinking about our lives and the struggles we have. It is easy to focus on what could have been, mistakes we made, things we should have done, relationships or family situations that went wrong; you can almost feel as if your life is as negative as the news. We put ourselves in a pit and struggle everyday to get out of that ever-deepening hole. It is these ghosts of the past that seemingly appear whenever we are alone or in the darkness of the night; these unwanted spirits torment us whenever we are vulnerable.

Every time we try to move forward, it is as if we have a shackle and chain attached to us and holding us back. Perhaps we came out of a failed marriage or relationship and we are scared to open ourselves to being hurt again. Our emotions are raw, the hurt is deep, and we question whether or not we will ever love again. We are sometimes so cautious that it is difficult for us to engage in a new relationship because we don’t want to feel that pain and emptiness again. The fears of being hurt are a shackle that holds us back.

Maybe we had a friend or friends that let us down. The friend was someone we trusted and someone to whom we had poured out our soul and deepest secrets. It is a friend who we trusted with our life. This was a person who was always there for us when we needed them, but one day that friend betrayed us. We may never understand why that betrayal happened, but we feel like an outcast and find it difficult to become strong friends with anyone ever again. This fear of fully trusting someone else is another shackle that we might carry.

Many of us might have a child who did not turn out the we way we wanted and expected. The relationship between parent and child is strained as the parent perhaps watches that child make one bad decision after another. The mom and/or dad feel the pain of their child and just pray for the day that child gets back on the right path for their life. Maybe the relationship between family members is not what it should be, but the love and pain are there nevertheless. This feeling of hopelessness may be yet another shackle we have added to our lives.

There are many other shackles and chains which might be attached to us that are maybe related to jobs, poor experiences at churches, feeling as if we are different in some way, or maybe just generally feeling like a failure in whatever we do.

The shackles we carry weigh us down and impact our lives every day. I don’t know that one shackle is bigger or heavier than another and I don’t know if the quantity of shackles makes a difference. What I do believe is that having only one of these attached to us is probably all it takes to drag us into the pit of darkness, failure, and even depression.

We ask ourselves, how long is this going to last? Am I ever going to escape this feeling and have the seemingly happy life that others seem to have? Is there anyone I can trust again? Is there anyone out there for me?
The good news is that we have hope and I will discuss this hope in the second blog entry for this song.

Click Here to Watch Redeemed Sung by Big Daddy Weave