The Past is Past! Miraculous transformations
Lessons from the life of Rahab with Valerie
Around the holidays many have a tendency to feel depressed about past mistakes they have made in their life.
The feel worthless and some even consider suicide.
The Bible is a wonderful book of hope to show us that even when we mess up our life, God can transform us into new creations and give us a fresh new start.
Today let’s turn to Joshua 2 and 6 see how God miraculously gave a woman beauty for ashes.
In the city of Jericho, there lived a prostitute named Rahab. She was lost and looking for love in all the wrong places. War was raging all around in the city and she feared for her life and family. God saw the tears of this woman and put his miraculous plan into action.
Moses had died, and Joshua was their new leader. God instructed Joshua to send 2 spies into Jericho and divinely sent them to Rahab’s house.
Rahab welcomed the men into her home as a safe haven.
Suddenly the king’s men came knocking at her door. They were searching for the men, but Rahab had wisely hidden them up on her roof under some stalks of flax.
When asked if she’d seen the men, Rahab risked her life and kept God’s servants safe from harm. Rahab said to the spies, I know that the LORD has given you the land, and your terror is fallen upon us.
All the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. We heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when you came out of Egypt, and that you utterly destroyed the 2 kings of the Amorites.
As soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted and there remained no more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath.
Because I have shown kindness to you, please show kindness to my father’s house and keep my family alive.
The men said, Our life for yours. If you do not reveal our plans, when God gives us the land, we will deal kindly with you. Rahab let the men down through a window with a scarlet cord and instructed
them to hide in the mountains for 3 days until the coast was clear.
The spies instructed Rahab to tie a scarlet cord in her window and have all of her family remain in her house until they returned.
After 3 days, the spies returned to Joshua and said, Truly the LORD has delivered into our hands all the land, for all the inhabitants of the country faint because of us.
God commanded Joshua and the Israelites to march around the walls of Jericho once each day for 6 days in complete silence. This was an amazing thing for over 1 million people to be still in total obedience to the LORD.
On the 7th day, 7 priests lead the procession of mighty men before the ark. They marched around the city 6 times. The 7th time, the priests blew the ram’s horns and the people were told to shout loudly.
Joshua and his people obeyed God’s orders, even though it probably didn’t seem like much of a battle plan for men of war.
God rewarded their obedience and the walls of Jericho came crashing down.
So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day. Joshua 6:25 (NLV)
The city of Jericho was burned to the ground, and all of the people were killed…except Rahab the harlot and her family.
God chose this prostitute to be remembered, in the hero’s hall of fame recorded in Hebrews 11… along with great men like Moses, Gideon, Samson, David, and Samuel the prophet.
By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. Hebrews 11:31
She was chosen, simply because she believed in the power of the Almighty God, who she’d heard about, from the testimonies of others in neighboring communities.
The faith she had in God, gave her the courage to lie to the king’s men when they came knocking on her door.
If caught, she would have been killed, because she had committed treason to her country. When the walls of Jericho came crashing down…she believed in the honesty and integrity of 2 strangers, to be faithful to their word to protect her, when God delivered them. Rahab and her family remained in their home, until God’s men came and took them to the safety of their camp.
Rahab was taken in as an adopted daughter of the Israelites. Her old life as a prostitute had ended. God allowed her grace and a fresh start. She and her family lived among the Israelites. Later, God sent a young man to marry her, by the name of Salmon.
Their marriage brought a child into the world named Boaz. Boaz married Ruth…Naomi’s widowed daughter-in-law.
Rahab…through God’s miraculous hand… became the great grandmother of King David…
and our Saviour Jesus Christ. as recorded in Matthew 1:5
Rahab’s past was past…and God had a amazing new life planned for her.
Today you may be alone and afraid of the future.
The guilt and shame of your past haunts you day and night.
You may have gone from relationship to relationship…
looking for someone to love you…
Each time you were rejected by a parent, a boyfriend, a husband…
you built a wall around yourself so high…that no one could ever hurt you again.
People may have called you names like…
Easy
Fat
Ugly
Stupid
Slut
Whore
But they lied!
God loves you precious one.
Before you were born…
God knew you and had a plan for your life.
You may have gotten off to a rough start…but
God has all your tears in a bottle.
Each time you went seeking for love or acceptance…He sat in heaven waiting and hoping you would turn to him… God loves you so much, he sent Jesus to die for your sins.
No one’s past is too horrible to be forgiven from a humble and repentant heart.
No one’s past can hold them back from becoming a new creation used by our Heavenly Father.
Rahab was a prostitute.
Moses was a murderer.
David was a murderer and committed adultery.
The Apostle Paul persecuted Christians.
Peter denied the LORD Jesus.
Thousands of people remain trapped in the past. They try to deaden the pain with cutting, drugs, alcohol, sex, or suicide.
They don’t believe God could ever forgive them for what they have done.
Beloved…Don’t let your past, steal your future!
If we confess our sins…God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us. He’ll wash away every dirty stain, every tear, every scar with the blood of his Son.
He promises to transform us into new creations…
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLV)
Jesus is standing at the door of your heart knocking… His nail scarred hands are open wide to receive you as a child of God.
Jesus said…
“I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6
If today was your last day on earth…where will you spend eternity?
Heaven or Hell?
Choose this day…who you will serve.
He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Revelation 21:7 (NIV)
Choose Christ… Choose Life!
Heavenly Father, Holy is Your name…
Thank you for the gift of this beautiful new day and for your son Jesus to save us from our sins. Forgive me each filthy sin of my past. I accept responsibility for my mistakes and thank you for your loving mercy and grace. If there are consequences for my sins, I accept your correction, knowing it will only strengthen and make me into a mature witness, to share your love with others.
Help each one who reads this message to confess their sins…and forget them, as you cover them with the blood of Jesus our Savior. Like Rahab help us to start this day new and fresh with the cleansing
power of the Holy Spirit. Fill us with wisdom and knowledge to know and do your will. Flood our hearts with love and power, so we may walk with joy and peace in our hearts. We believe that we are born again.
We are a new creation, that you are molding and shaping, to be conformed to the likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us bury the garbage of our past…and never dig it up again.
Let us never again live in fear or let someone make us feel inferior. We are your son’s and daughter’s, created and chosen especially by you, for a special mission in life.
Purify our minds and cast out doubt, fear, depression, and anxiety from us. Empower us…so we may become mature men and women to preach and publish your words boldly and with power.
Thank you Father for giving us a new life and a second chance. May our lives speak volumes of hope and love into the hearts of others this Christmas and in the New Year.
We lift up prayers to you for all who are victims of abuse. Wrap your loving arms around them and protect them from all harm and danger.
Wipe the tears from their eyes and give them beauty for ashes. Help them to lay the shattered pieces of their lives at the foot of the cross and trust you to mend and heal them from within.
In Jesus’ name we pray…
Amen
I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. Isaiah 43:25
Your sister and servant of the Lord,
Valerie Rousseau
