Category: In My Past – Beth Redman

Isaiah 1:15-18, 26b-27 (ESV)
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean…
cease to do evil,
learn to do good…
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool…

Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.”
Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

“What does God see that we don’t? Our hands bloody? Jesus said that murder can take many forms, including anger, cutting words and unresolved relational tension (Matthew 5:21-24).

God is more ready to meet us with grace than we thought. His invitation is irresistible:  God is saying, ‘Come on, let’s talk this over. Here’s my invitation. You present your blood-red hands to me in open confession, I’ll wash you clean in the blood of Jesus, and your worship will come alive.’

We are redeemed at a cost to God that we will never understand. At the cross he put the real moral guilt of sinners onto Christ, the perfect substitute. What else can we do but repent? We need to repent of our sins every day. We need to receive afresh, with the empty hands of faith, real righteousness from Jesus Christ every day.” (Ortlund, Raymond C. Jr.  Isaiah:  God Saves Sinners.)

Prayer: Father, thank you for righteousness and redemption in Jesus. I turn to you today with empty hands of faith and ask for cleansing and righteousness afresh, that I may live like you in this world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord in song with “Upon Him” by Matt Redman (click here).

-BR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John 4:15-18
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water..”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

“‘Intrigued by Jesus’ offer of ‘living water,’ she asks to have some. If you want to take Jesus up on his offer of running, pure water, bubbling up inside you, you will have to get rid of the stale, moldy, stagnant water you’ve been living off all this time. In her case it was her married life – or rather, her unmarried life. Jesus saw straight to the heart of what was going on.” (Wright, N.T.  John for Everyone, Part 1. p. 47)

This woman could have taken offense at Jesus’ words and felt like it was the fault of others, but those six men were not the ones standing with Jesus being offered living water. This moment was about her and Jesus. She stayed and listened and agreed with his assessment of her life.

Isaiah 55:2-3
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the finest food.
“Come to me with your ears wide open.
Listen, and you will find life.”

Prayer: Jesus, you alone are Lord. I come to you today to listen and to live. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we worship the Lord in song with “I Speak Jesus” by Charity Gayle, let’s declare his name and rule over every part of our lives (click here).

-BR

John 4:10-15; 26
“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “Where can you get this living water?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water…”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you – I am he.”

“Jesus is talking about a new life that is available through the Spirit of God. Water has become a symbol of this new reality since the beginning of the book and later will be defined as the Holy Spirit (7:37-39). Christ himself is the source of precious living water, which can transform even this woman in her isolation. It is the ‘gift’ of God.

It is…a dynamic experience that makes a life as living as the water itself… The woman in search of a well discovers that the Spirit could transform her life into a well that does not require reaching and dipping, but which roils and gurgles with water until it spills over its rim.” (Burge, Gary M. John: NIV Application Commentary. p. 94)

Prayer: Lord, we pray for those around us who are in search of water. May they discover that your Spirit can transform their lives into wells that spill over. Fill us with your Holy Spirit in our campus meetings, fall outreaches and tabling, missional groups and outreaches, workplaces, and homes – so that others may experience the Messiah. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord in song with “In Christ Alone” by Passion (click here).

-BR

Song of Solomon 2:11-12
“See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come….”

John 4:26
“I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

“I still held onto the trauma and the memory of [our son’s] fight for life.  I kept reliving the grief of him being taken, the fear of him dying, and the agony of leaving our tiny baby on a breathing machine in the hospital while we slept at home.

I realized past events held me, and through prayer I took all the memories, flashbacks, and grief to the cross of Jesus.  God freed me to live in the here and now and properly celebrate our amazing God and his incredible gift to us. It was over.” (Redman, Beth.  God Knows my Name:  Never Forgotten, Forever Loved.  p. 48)

Beth Redman’s order here is crucial.  She held onto the trauma, and the result was that it felt like the past events held her.  But they did not, for when she went to the Lord in prayer, he said to her, “You can let it go,” and “It is over.”

Where do we hold onto fear?  God wants to say to us, “It is over.”  We don’t have to live in fear.  The season of singing has come, because the Messiah is here.

Ephesians 1:6
We praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

Prayer: Lord, I praise you for the glorious grace that you have poured out on me because I belong to Jesus.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord in song with “God You’re So Good” by Passion (click here).

-BR

Let’s read aloud together the following passage, commentary quote, and prayer:

John 1:1-5, 9, 12-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world… To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

“‘The Word become flesh’… [is] the high point of history. God has become incarnate in the Word and entered this world… [It] is a mystery beyond us; we don’t fully understand it but fully rejoice as we accept it.” (Osborne, Grant R.  John:  Verse by Verse.)

Prayer: Father God, thank you for the Word become flesh that made his dwelling among us – our Lord Jesus. We rejoice today as we fully accept this truth and your presence with us by the filling of your Holy Spirit anew. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord in song with “King Jesus” by Matt Redman (click here).

– BR