via TJC
“Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD that you will indeed show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will deliver us from death.” ~ Joshua 2:12-13
“By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.” ~ Hebrews 11:31
I have struggled too often with a poor self-image and feeling like I didn’t measure up. After being raised in a home of church-goers, I wandered from faith in my teen years. After getting involved with things that were ungodly, I realized that God could never forgive someone with the track record I had. Even in recent years, after coming to grips with my addiction to pornography, I knew I couldn’t measure up to God’s standards. And I was right.
Rahab is included as a woman of faith who is memorialized in what Bible Scholars call the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11 that chronicles the faithful acts of 16 heroes of the Bible. A prostitute! Really God! And she is in the family line of our dear Savior Jesus (see Matthew 1:5)!
Kingdom warrior, none of us are ever “good enough”. But it is what we do from our posture of faith that delivers us and pleases God. It was Rahab’s rejection of the wicked gods of her homeland, and subsequent risking her life and the lives of her family, by hiding the Jewish spies out of allegiance and loyalty to the God of the universe, that eventually saved her and her family from destruction. There is nothing that you have done that will keep you from relationship with God, only your inaction to accept His grace and mercy. Rahab's redemption required her repentance and turning from her former life. Only when we turn toward Him, in faith, will He deliver us from the guilt and shame that holds us back.
Daily Battle Order:
Run to the Father! Accept His Grace – it is the most important decision of your life because it has eternal significance. And if you have made that decision already, let me ask, are you living like a child of the King of the Universe?
The Joshua Commission is named after this book of the Bible - Joshua. We too are moving out for the promised land, under God's command.
Quite a lot to ponder in this DBO about Rahab's faith and her action! She was a true warrior!