The Names of God

      My Savior

"And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." Luke 1:47

Resources to aid your Understanding

Who needs a Savior?

I do! Every day. The more I learn about Him, the better I understand how lost and blind I was before He opened my  eyes.  The more I see of my own selfish tendencies, the more I praise Him for His saving grace in daily spiritual battles.  The more I  grieve over the suffering of His people in this darkening world, the brighter shines His promise of a final rescue from all earthly corruption. 

For I am confident that God's gift of salvation covers the past, the present and the future.  My wonderful Savior...

1. has already saved me by His Spirit and joined me to Himself. Titus 3:4-7

2. is saving (and sanctifying) my soul daily as He grants me His victory in all kinds of visible and invisible battles.  Philippians 2:12-13

3. will one day save me out of this aging body and clothe me in a new body, fit for a joyful eternity with Him.  1 Corinthians 15:42-44

The first part is history.  Long ago, He stirred a longing in my heart and showed me the emptiness of life without Him.  When I was tempted to satisfy my spiritual hunger with a pagan counterfeit, He sent a warning and drew me to Himself instead. 

Suddenly I knew in my heart that He was my Savior. I saw my depraved nature, trusted in the redemption 1 He won for me on the cross two thousand years ago, and confessed my sins as the Holy Spirit brought them to mind.  He granted me the gift of repentance, so that, by His grace (not by my own strength or willpower), I chose to turn my life around.  Then, miracle of miracles, He filled me with His glorious resurrection life in exchange for my futile and failing life.

At that moment in time, Jesus saved me from two enemies that held me captive: the spiritual forces of evil and my own sinful nature. Together, those two foes had blinded my "eyes" and separated me from all the spiritual riches that he longed to share with me. The Bible explains it well:

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ... and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."  Ephesians 2:1-9

The second part of His salvation is ongoing.  Even though Jesus took my old sinful life to the cross and put it to death, the imprints of its old inclinations still reach into my heart and mind, stirring contrary wants and pulling me away from His best. My own strength or will power won't save me, but His grace will - that is, when I trust Him to be my life. Romans 7:19-8:2   For -

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20  

What a gift! His sufficiency in my weakness! His righteousness for my sins. His eternal riches for my dirty rags!  His life, not my life, in every moment! Colossians 3:1-4

I don't deserve this wonderful "exchanged life", but I gladly receive it.  For by that amazing grace, you and I can be "more than conquerors" in Christ.  Each day, "having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" as we "press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Romans 5:10-11,  Philippians 3:7-14

Then, one glorious day, when our Savior has finished His earthly work in and through us,  He will lift us out of this physical world, gather us to Himself, and clothe us in a new glorious body for all eternity. What could be more wonderful?

"Therefore... let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.... Hebrews 12:1-2

The longer I walk with Him, the more my heart delights in a precious old song by a blind hymn writer.

All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befalls me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
 

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,  and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever." Jude 24-25

References:  Eternity

 Jeremiah 32:38-40;  John 6:44;  Romans 5:1-5,  6:11-18,  7,  8:1-39; 

1 Corinthians 2:9-13,  4:7,  15:42-44;  2 Corinthians 5:17-21;  1 Thess 5:5-11; 

2 Timothy 2:24-26;  Hebrews 9:15; 1 John 1:8-9;  Psalm 27.

What it means to be a Christian

1. Redemption: "denotes to buy out, especially of purchasing a slave with a view toward his freedom. It is used metaphorically in Gal. 3:13 and 4:5, of the deliverance by Christ of Christian Jews from the Law and its curse." Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, page 945.