Category: Rescued from Shame

Let’s read aloud together the following passages:

Psalm 51:10-12 NIV
¹⁰  Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹  Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²  Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51:18-19 NIV
¹⁸ Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

“Once the people are restored, proper worship will come from their renewed hearts. So David concludes: ‘Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness.’ The problem isn’t with the sacrificial system; the problem is with us. The ‘sacrifices of righteousness’ are those offerings that are made by a renewed king and a renewed people. Psalm 51 is a prayer for renewal. Again and again, it has brought forth streams of ‘mercy’ to crushed ‘spirits’ and ‘broken hearts.’ Today renewal is again stirring the church. As we are ‘broken’ before God, the walls of Jerusalem will be built and the ‘sacrifices of righteousness’ will ascend to His praise and glory.” (Donald Williams, Psalms, 1-72 in The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 14)

May worship flow out of our churches, to our cities and on the campuses so that many who live in shame, failure, and rejection can come to know the joy of salvation in Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, create in me a pure heart and fill me with your Holy Spirit! I need more of you today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “I Need You More” by Bethel Music (click here).

-LB

Ezekiel 36:25-28 NIV
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

“The new plea presupposes that the person needs not only cleansing but also renewing… The fact that the spirit is broken, the heart crushed, actually clears the way for renewing. Only something that is broken can be made new… It opens up the space for God to do that new work… In effect, the suppliant is asking God to do a transformative work in the inner person that deals not only with the stain that results from past wrongdoing but also with the dynamics that will continue to produce wrongdoing.” (John Goldingay, Psalms Vol. 2: Psalms 42-89 (BCOTWP), p. 133)

Today, let’s receive both the cleansing and renewed desires in the Lord. He is giving you a heart of flesh, putting his Spirit in you. May we receive and live in the new desires— pure and worshipful desires that set us free to be who we are as God’s people.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the renewed desires to love you and love others. As we live this life of faith together, may you continue this transforming work from the inside out in my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s thank the Lord for what he has done; let’s worship to “Thank you for the Blood” by Charity Gayle (click here).

-LB

Psalm 51:4a, 7, 10 NIV
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight…
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Our past regrets and shame are very real and often leave stains, marks, scars and memories. It is not simply a matter of forgetting our past. However, the healing of the Lord comes when Jesus himself touches us and cleanses us.

“In the original Hebrew, the language of the word for ‘Cleanse’ is a really funny word. It can literally be read as ‘de-fail’ me – de-‘regret’ – de-‘shame’. Literally, ‘de-miss-the-mark’ me, God! De-‘fail’ me God, and I will be CLEAN. There is a transformation, a newness, and new identity. He would not be the same shameful sinner deserving of punishment. He would be a new ‘de-failed’ / ‘de-shamed’ / ‘de-regretted’ person. They are not the same person they were before!” (excerpt from P. Nate’s message)

Prayer: Lord, cleanse me! Against you and only you have I sinned; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s draw near to Jesus as we worship to “Draw Me Close” by Bethel Music (click here).

-LB

Regrets should never be left unattended. On their own, they multiply and lead us to believe that the Spirit will never let us be fruitful. Regrets should never have the last word. The last word for those who trust in Jesus is good news. Regrets do not exist in heaven, so we should be working toward their eradication on earth. (Ed Welch, A Small Book about Why We Hide: How Jesus Rescues Us from Insecurity, Regret, Failure, and Shame, Day 33).

Let’s come to the Lord, and cry out like the psalmist in Psalm 51, “I bring my shame, my regrets, my failures before you!”

Psalm 51:1-2 NIV
1  Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2  Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

God is full of mercy, faithful love, and compassion and has sent Jesus for us; that is good news! He deals with our shame and regret according to who he is, not who we are. Bring all of that to the foot of the cross today.

Prayer: Lord, there is no one like you. Have mercy on me, for I need your touch once again. Touch every area of my life so that I may be washed clean as you have won on the cross for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s speak the name of Jesus over our lives and worship to “I Speak Jesus” by Charity Gayle (click here).

-LB

Let’s read aloud together the following passages:

1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

“If you have ever prayed silently, you believe this. He hears you and knows what is in your heart, which is where you fret, hide, love, hate, desire, and feel. When someone knows what is in your heart, and that person loves you all the more rather than turns away from you, you are more inclined to stop hiding and start talking” (Ed Welch, A Small Book about Why We Hide: How Jesus Rescues Us from Insecurity, Regret, Failure, and Shame, 7).

We are God’s special possession. Let’s declare his Amen over our lives. He knows us and loves us and we can come to him to touch the areas of our lives that need healing.

Prayer: Lord, I belong to you. You know my heart. I open my heart to you. Thank you that through your wounds I am made whole. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship our God who has rescued us, let’s sing to “This is Amazing Grace“ by Phil Wickham (click here).

-LB