Good Monday morning! I am getting ready for our last week of school. Alan has two weeks, then we have one week to breathe before church camp!I’m searching for some answers from God right now, and Saturday morning I was reading wherever God led me and I ended up in Isaiah 53. In the NLT (2nd edition- I found out there is a difference) the second half of the verse reads like this:
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
Whatever issues I have, whatever injustices have been committed against me- He paid for. He was beaten so the effects of sin didn’t do long-term damage to me. He suffered, so I wouldn’t have to. He was whipped so the emotional, psychological and spiritual pain -whether caused by my own sins or the sins committed against me – so I could be healed.
This is a whole new dimension of deliverance from sin, of redemption, of freedom and grace.
In some ways it reminds me of our reimbursable health care plan. Jon contributes to it every paycheck and the company matches a portion of it and we pay all our medical expenses from the fund. Jesus Christ has established a limitless fund of grace and mercy that I can access anytime I need. Whenever a ‘headache’ of thoughts or ideas creeps in, I can make a withdrawal. Whenever a ‘heart attack’ occurs that leaves me discouraged or fearful, I can use the fund. At times, I have a little trouble ‘walking’, and the fund is available. Unlike our health care fund, there are no restrictions on how often or the situations to which it can be applied. The only catch in the plan lies with me. I have to ask for the grace and mercy.