Love you all, praying for you.
I just love God’s Word. It tells you how much God loves you. Enough to redeem you. It means to buy something back, to make it worth something again. Have you ever had a failure in your life, your lowest point? Something that has brought guilt and shame? That the devil keeps trying to bring up – to tell you how it has disqualified you from God’s love, or at the very least, for God to use you anymore? The devil does that a lot. Peter’s lowest point. By the time the rooster crows, you will have denied me three times, betrayed me, disowned me. Not I LORD, I’m ready to die for you! There was a man of God named Hosea. And God told him to take an unfaithful, adulterous woman to be his wife. So he took Gomer and he even had kid with her, in fact he had three children with Gomer. But it didn’t take long, and Gomer was back to her old ways. She didn’t love Hosea, well maybe a little, but she loved pleasure more, and the attention of others, food, oil, money, clothes and the things that the worldly pursue. She left Hosea for another man, and then another and another. But just like any unfaithful spouse, they will be unfaithful again, and the ones they desire will be unfaithful to them. Then God said to Hosea, Go, show your love to your wife again, even though she is living with another man, and is an adultress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, even though they turn to other gods and love to eat the food of idols. So I bought her back for fifteen shekels of silver, five bushels of barley, and a measure of wine. Wow. That’s all she was worth to her lover, fifteen bucks, a few bags and some cheap wine. But not to God. Hosea redeemed her. That means to buy back, to ransom, to release, to restore, to make useful again what was useless. To place worth in again, what was worth nothing. God doesn’t just love us enough to buy us back, he can fully restore our biggest failure. The angel of the LORD appeared to Abraham. The guy that God had change his name to “Father of Nations” and here he is… ninety nine years old, and still childless. What did you say your name was? The angel of the LORD appeared, and restated the promise of God that had never changed and will never fail. By this time next year, your wife will be pregnant. And Sarah, eavesdropping on the conversation – laughed. “After I’m worn out and my husband is old, will I really have a blessing like this?" And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh?” Is their anything too hard for the LORD? Immediately she lied, “I didn’t laugh,” she was embarrassed, and she got caught… "Oh but you did laugh…" It was a laugh of unbelief, a lack of faith, which should have cost her the blessing. But God redeems. Because He loves us, He’s the redeemer. Not only did she have the son that God promised at the exact time he spoke, but God had Abraham and Sarah name him Isaac. It means laughter. Oh, not to remind Sarah of the lowest point in her life… but to remind her of the Redeemer. Genesis 21 – Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. God not only redeemed her lowest point, He redefined it, He made it into a laughable testimony. The kind that no one would even believe. When God does the impossible, and you just have to laugh. Redemption full circle, what was once a laugh of unbelief – because a laughable testimony for the rest of her life! God redeems, His love for you endures forever. Can you imagine the first time Peter saw Jesus, a way bigger deal then the Belichick and Brady rematch in his first return to Gillette Stadium. This had to be awkward. Do you really love me Peter? The one what had denied even knowing him, this was the one that God chose to build His church. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it! Peter’s failure didn’t define him, God erased it, and replaced it with a legacy of good. God can redeem your greatest failure, your lowest point. And not only that, He can not only erase the memory, He can redefine it into a monument of His faithfulness, and breath new life in what was once a failure. He can make your fulfilled purpose so far greater than that weakest moment, that it pale’s in comparison. Just the faintest reminder of the great faithfulness of God. Your greatest failure doesn’t stop him. He redeems you, He redeems it, and he can reverse the curse of the devil, and release His blessing in your life. He has a laughable testimony just waiting. Your testimony will be laughter! And everybody who hears it will laugh with you. He buys back, and erases, and restores things even greater. He redeems failure – and establishes victory. Only He can do that. And He has a laughable testimony for you for the rest of your life! Love you all, dad
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AuthorKelly Kamentz - Jesus follower, husband, father, and friend, helping others surrender time, thoughts, money, and testimony, to fulfill their purpose! Archives
November 2024
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