Erin Davis: I don’t know where you are listening to this podcast—in your minivan full of kids, cruising down the road, or if you’re at home or work. But I’m so glad you’re listening!
I am thinking of the women who are listening to these words come through their speakers right now, and I just want you to know how crazy I am about you and how excited I am to get to spend the next few weeks walking through the study of Rahab with you!
I’m going to introduce you to some of my favorite people here in a few minutes, who are opening the Bible with me, but you’re one of our favorites, too! If you’re listening, we want to get you to the Word of God. That is our goal.
So we’re walking together through the study together, Rahab: Tracing the Thread of Redemption. We can’t …
Erin Davis: I don’t know where you are listening to this podcast—in your minivan full of kids, cruising down the road, or if you’re at home or work. But I’m so glad you’re listening!
I am thinking of the women who are listening to these words come through their speakers right now, and I just want you to know how crazy I am about you and how excited I am to get to spend the next few weeks walking through the study of Rahab with you!
I’m going to introduce you to some of my favorite people here in a few minutes, who are opening the Bible with me, but you’re one of our favorites, too! If you’re listening, we want to get you to the Word of God. That is our goal.
So we’re walking together through the study together, Rahab: Tracing the Thread of Redemption. We can’t know your name, but you can know ours. So, panel members, why don’t you introduce yourselves really quickly to those listening?
You know what? I kind of have the first-day-of-Bible-study jitters, a little bit. Do you ever get those when a new Bible study starts?
Paulina Torres: Oh, yes, definitely!
Erin: I want to know what is it that makes you a little bit nervous when you’re starting a new Bible study with a group of women? Maybe it is that you’ll say the wrong thing or that nobody will like you or that the food will give you a tummy ache.
We’ll start with you. Tell them your name; tell where you’re from and what gives you the “first day of school” jitters.
Paulina: Hi, my name is Paulina. I am from Mexico, and I get really nervous. I guess it’s because I’m afraid I’m going to say something that God doesn’t say in the Bible. You know, just say my opinion or those crazy things. This is really important. I don’t want to be saying something that God doesn’t say!
Erin: It’s a good fear. But you don’t want it to keep you from going to Bible study or talking about it this week, right?
Lisa Whittle: I’m Lisa; I’m from North Carolina. I’m an introvert, so I have jitters about the whole thing—leaving my house, coming in, sitting down; small talk is terrifying!
Erin: Who you’re going to sit by . . .
Lisa: It’s uncomfortable from moment one for me.
Erin: Paulina, are you an introvert?
Paulina: I don’t know. I get really shy, but then I like talking. I like people. But in a way, I also think of those things. “I want to know you,” but it’s like, “What should I say?” Can I be a mix?
Erin: Yes, there is a word for that, I think. (I can’t remember what it is). Well, I’m Erin, and I have all of those jitters. “Who am I going to sit by? Am I going to say something awkward?” (Which, I am. I always do! I don’t know why that makes me nervous.)
But I always think women want to know two things: “What should I wear?” and “Will I have somebody to sit by?” It doesn’t matter if we’re in junior high or what, we want to know the answer to those questions.
So we want to put your mind at ease: You sit with us. You wear whatever you want. It’s not about any of that. It is about getting you to the Word of God. And whether you’ve studied the Bible for thirty years or this is the first time you’ve ever done a Bible study, we’re so glad you’re here!
We are here to talk about Rahab. Rahab’s story is found in the book of Joshua. Pop quiz: Old Testament or New Testament?
Lisa and Paulina: Old Testament.
Erin: Good job; you passed! Good test.
Lisa: Thanks for the easy question!
Paulina: Yes, obviously softball there.
Erin: Rahab is found in Joshua chapter 2, mostly. When I start to study something new, I like to just start with what I know. Maybe you know a lot about Rahab or maybe you know nothing about Rahab. But before you did this study with us, what did you know about Rahab? Paulina, what did you know?
Paulina: Not a lot. I knew she was a prostitute, and pretty much I guess I read in James about her faith in God, and that’s it.
Erin: Yes, prostitute and faith in God . . . pretty much it. You got it. What about you, Lisa, what did you know?
Lisa: Yes, I mean, some more. “Prostitute” stands out. I mean that’s something you just don’t forget. Scarlet cord . . . some of those details. But definitely the occupation.
Erin: If you have any experience of the Bible at all, any knowledge of Rahab, you know that she was a prostitute. We’ll talk a lot about that in this session. But let me paint the picture for all of us to remember what’s going on in the bigger story.
The Israelites had been promised this land. That’s why we call it the Promised Land; God promised to give it to them. Moses had led them in the wilderness for many years. We know they were stubborn; we know they were grumbly. But we know that the Lord also took expert care of them, fed them, gave them everything they needed.
And so we’ve come through that period of wandering. Moses has died, the Lord Himself buries him. A new leader has risen up, and that leader’s name is Joshua. They’re right here on the cusp. They’re on the cusp of the Promised Land, and they’re about to go into their first battle. That’s where we’re going to meet Rahab.
So, all you know is that she was a prostitute, basically. The subtitle of this study is Tracing the Thread of Redemption. Based on the fact that you just know that about her, would any of you have chosen her as the poster child for redemption?
Paulina: No. Definitely not.
Lisa: No, she would not be at the top of the list.
Erin: No, she wouldn’t! We wouldn’t qualify her for a grand story about God. Because of that one detail, we would probably count her out. But Rahab was, in fact, a prostitute. Some Bible scholars have tried to say, “No, she was just an innkeeper.” They’ve tried to sanitize the story of Rahab.
But Rahab was not an innkeeper. We see it clearly throughout Scripture. I don’t want you to take my word for it. So, let’s look at three places in Scripture. I’m going to read to you from Joshua 2:1; Lisa is going to read to you from Hebrews 11:31 and Paulina is going to take us to take us to that James verse she referenced, James 2:25.
Joshua 2:1 says,
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.
That’s the first time we hear Rahab’s name, and they don’t even tell us her name first; they tell us her occupation first.
So I guess you could say, “Well, it’s just one verse, bad translation.” Maybe you see “innkeeper” there in the ancient language. But the Bible goes on to repeat this several times. Lisa, can you read us Hebrews 11:31?
Lisa: Yes.
By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.” (CSB)
Erin: Okay, there we go. We see her name again, we see “prostitute” again. And one more time, Paulina: James 2:25.
Paulina: James 2:25:
And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? (NKJV)
Erin: And that’s not even all of the verses that talk about Rahab being a prostitute. I don’t want to totally beat the issue over the head as we talk about it. But it’s multiple places in Scripture—Old Testament, New Testament, different writers. They all tell us that Rahab was a prostitute.
Sometimes we try to bend Scripture to our own comfort level. We don’t just turn prostitutes into innkeepers. There are all kinds of ways that we try to make the Word of God more sanitized or more palatable for ourselves. Can you think of some examples in your own life where there’s a temptation to adapt Scripture to make you more comfortable? Paulina, what comes to mind for you?
Paulina: When I don’t want to apply it. I read something—maybe about forgiveness and God’s telling me I have to forgive, or go and humble myself and ask for forgiveness if somebody has something against me. It’s not comfortable! We don’t like it, and sometimes we just want to manipulate the Word and say, “Well, maybe today is not for me!”
Erin: I don’t know what rises up in you when you read those things, but what rises up in me is, “You just don’t know! Surely if you knew how horrible she had been to me, then this wouldn’t be here this black and white!”
It’s not necessarily changing Scripture, but it’s like adding a little caveat: “Except in this situation when she really was awful to you, you don’t have to forgive.” It’s adapting it.
Paulina: And we don’t see any such exceptions in Scripture: “If that person was really bad to you, then you don’t have to forgive.” No, it says, “Forgive like I have forgiven you.”
Erin: Right. Lisa, can you think of some examples of how you try (it’s not conscious always) to make Scripture more comfortable for you?
Lisa: Well, I was just thinking as you were talking. It’s not even being open to what God’s Word has to say. You might be reading the Word, maybe it’s hearing a sermon—it’s kind of that thing where you think of something else.
So you’re reading the Scripture and your mind is going to someone else—this is about them or for them. So you’re not willing to look at it for you! You’re not willing to at what God may need to change in you where your life is not aligned with the Word.
I think that’s a way that we justify, “Oh, I’m reading the Word!” But my heart’s not really open to the Word, to where God may want to change me. I’m thinking about my best friend that I’m in a broken relationship with, and I’m applying this verse to them. If they would forgive this grievance, they would be . . .” I think we do that as well.
Erin: Yes, it makes it an easier pill to swallow, probably, if it’s about somebody else. I think of the New Testament when Jesus very clearly said, “Love your neighbor.” The audience responded with, “Well, who's my neighbor?” (Luke 10:27–29). It’s like, “I don’t have enough information. That can’t mean what it sounds like.”
Well, it means, “love your neighbor.” You don’t have to pull out the commentaries and compare all the languages. That means what it means. So Rahab was a prostitute, and as we walk through her story, it’s going to be really important that we don’t sanitize it, gloss over it, and pretend it’s not there. Even though it’s a little bit—it’s a lot—uncomfortable to think of God using a prostitute in His redemptive plan!
But not only was she a prostitute, we’ve got to get some cultural information here, too. Which of you two is really good at geography? If I had the United States map here and you had to fill out the States?
Lisa and Paulina: No. Me neither. No, sorry. Pass.
Paulina: I’m from Mexico.
Lisa: I forgot. You definitely get a pass!
Paulina: But I don’t know if I can do it in my own country!
Erin: We should be able to do it. I can’t. I love maps and I love globes. I have them from everywhere in my home. I can’t find anything on them! My children will say, “Mommy, help me find . . .”
I’m like, “No, I can’t.”
Geography may not be our strength, but we do need to know a little bit of geographical information for the full picture of what’s going on here with Rahab. And it’s easy; you’re going to do great. I’m going to read you, again, Joshua 2:1, and you’re going to answer one geography question. I expect you will get 100 percent!
Joshua 2:1, “And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’”
Paulina: “Jericho!”
Erin: Jericho! What city did Rahab live in? Jericho. See, you can do geography. Jericho was a city in Canaan—Canaan is the Promised Land—which means that she was a Canaanite. When you’re reading in Scripture, you might see “Canaanite” or “Amorite.” Those are two ways to describe the same people group.
I’m a Missourian and a Midwesterner; same thing but two different ways to say it. Lisa, you’re a Carolinan and a Southerner . . . but you’re also a hybrid.
Lisa: I’m actually a Texan.
Erin: You’re a Texan. Texans really want you to know they’re Texans!
Lisa: We need you to give us that! Even though I haven’t lived there in twenty years . . .
Erin: And Paulina . . .
Paulina: I’m just a Mexican.
Erin: There’s no other way to say it. But Rahab is a Canaanite and an Amorite, and Scripture does not speak favorably of the Canaanites. We could look up lots of passages before this that describe some really wicked things that existed in the Canaanite culture.
The short version is that they did not worship the One, True God. They worshiped little “g” gods, and lots of them. They had all of these practices worshiping these gods that don’t align with the way God calls His people to worship. So not only is Rahab a prostitute, she’s a pagan prostitute.
And yet, as we’ll learn in these sessions (maybe for the first time, or maybe discover again), Rahab’s story, the story of this pagan prostitute, shines a white-hot spotlight on the redemptive plan of God!
Lisa: And this is the whole point in pointing out and not glossing over the fact that she was a prostitute. That’s important because it’s important for redemption! So we’re not beating a dead horse here, and we’re not wanting to just pound that and say, “Remember, she was this . . .”
Erin: “Prostitute, prostitute, prostitute!”
Lisa: Right! It’s for a point. That’s why it’s in the Bible.
Erin: Well, and we’ll get there. But if she was just this perfect woman living this perfect life—regardless of the circumstances that were happening around her—would she need redemption?
Lisa: Right, would we be drawn to her?
Erin: Would we see ourselves in her?
Paulina: No wonder God used her in the Bible!
Erin: Yes, “No wonder God used her in the Bible, she earned that. No wonder God rescued her”—which He’s about to do—“because she’s a good girl with a cleaned-up life!” And that’s not who she is, and God is the One writing the story!
It’s not Rahab’s story; it’s not Joshua’s story—it’s God’s story. God is the One writing your story for His glory, and every piece of that, then, matters. So, I wonder (we can’t ask her), but here all these years later Rahab gets written into the Word of God. Does she wish that that detail got dropped? Probably!
Are there parts of my story I wish were written out? Sure! But God used Rahab, the pagan prostitute, to declare the message of redemption so that He could get the glory. I wonder what message your life is declaring that you’re just amazed by?
I’m sure Rahab is like, “I can’t believe they’re sitting in a studio talking about redemption and my life!” So what message is God using your life to tell that shocks you?
Lisa: Well, I’m shocked I’m here talking on a podcast, reading the Word of God, partly because I was really a shy kid. For me, growing up in a pastor’s family, I would crawl under the table when people would try to talk to me at restaurants. I mean, that’s how shy I was, Erin. It was just painful!
Erin: What did your momma do? Did she just let you sit under there?
Lisa: Well, she let me get under the table. She wasn’t overly picky about germs, I guess. So, I mean, that’s miraculous! That is a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in me, to be able to do this now. So that piece wouldn’t feel as much like redemption, but it’s still a surprise.
But I’ll tell what is redemption for me—and I feel this all the time—is the part of my story where there’s church hurt involved. My father was the pastor of a very large church, and he lost his church in a very public way. It really wounded me as a young woman.
So there’s a lot of church hurt there, and people listening can relate to this, because there are a lot of listeners who have gone through this. The thought that now God has me speaking to the Church—that I love dearly! Honestly, besides Jesus Christ and my family, I love the Church. That’s redemption!
That He would use the thing that wounded me in many ways to then heal me, and that He would use that part of my story to be redeemed, that I might be in great fellowship there, I marvel at that every single time, and I don’t get over it!
Erin: I’ve seen that in your life. I think it’s a moment in time where bashing the Church is a little faster lane, and some people do that. I’ve seen you really be this advocate for the Church and communicate your love for the Church. If someone didn’t know that about your past, they’d think, Well, she’s just had a lifetime of good church experiences.
Lisa: Yeah, no.
Erin: You’ve had really crushing church experiences. So the fact that the Lord is using you to hold high the banner of the Church . . . you’re a surprising poster child for redemption!
Lisa: Yes, in every way!
Erin: Paulina, what message is God using your life to tell that just shocks you?
Paulina: I’m also shocked that I am here. If you would you go back more than ten years ago, you would say, “Well, there’s Paulina”—maybe not the prostitute, but “the big huge sinner!” I could totally identify my life with Rahab.
I won’t go all the way back, but there’s sexual abuse in my past. When there’s abuse, you react in different ways. For me, I grew up without a father, so I was also a woman who looked for acceptance and love in men.
I would go and have different boyfriends. I just wanted to fill that gap or that emptiness in my heart. I thought that it was going to be filled with somebody loving me. I could totally think like Rahab, “I don’t like what I’m doing, but at least I want somebody close to me, or at least I want to be desired.”
Can I read 1 Corinthians, which is me, and I know you ladies will relate as well. In 1 Corinthians 1:27 and 28, it’s a picture of my life. It says,
Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world, what is viewed as nothing to bring to nothing what is viewed as something.
Erin: She’s got me in tears! We’re already in tears. Yes, and just in my limited interactions with you, your life declares the goodness of God! I didn’t know you ten years ago, but you didn’t think you were going to be declaring the goodness of God. None of us got to this spot in this podcast by earning it. We’re all amazed! “How’d we get here?”
Paulina: Just a couple of years ago I got the opportunity to teach in a city that was like my “sin city.” I got to teach the Bible, and I got to teach about Jesus. It was so great. There was a person who said, “And you’re Paulina from this and this?!”
I said, “That’s me. And I’m here to tell you about Jesus now!”
Lisa: That’s neat; that’s amazing!
Erin: Well, for me, I just can’t believe that I get to teach the Bible! I mean, I didn’t go to seminary. I know you went to seminary, Lisa. I’m jealous!
Lisa: A seminary drop-out, so let’s make sure we say that.
Erin: Oh, a drop-out. Well, I’m not even a seminary starter. In my college experience I had no concept of calling or ministry or any of that. My college degrees are just pieces of paper. They don’t have anything to do with my life. I’m not the smartest girl in any room. I didn’t start reading my Bible for myself until I was in my mid-twenties.
So the fact that I get to talk about the Bible, that I get to teach the Bible, just lays me flat! My pastor said from the pulpit a few weeks ago, about me, “That girl knows her Bible!” I could have died right there; I was so happy! Nobody could ever say anything about me more meaningful than, “That girl knows her Bible!”
It’s a miracle that anyone would say that about me. Because in my flesh I would just only study my own reflection in the mirror. I would never be drawn to the Word of God or be able to understand the Word of God or be able to pull others toward the Word of God. It just amazes me!
Lisa: What I love about your testimony is that we know the Word of God when we do one thing: get into the Word of God! So it’s an even playing field. It’s not about a seminary student, or it’s not about someone with this background vs. this background.
Here’s the Word of God; we can all know it in a way that we admire in someone else by digging into it. You’ve spent many hours here. I’ve spent many hours here. I only know Bible stories. I mean, honestly, I grew up around Bibles; I was in a pastor’s family. Do you think that meant I read it? Not really!
Because sometimes when you grow up around it, it’s like you feel like it’s a spiritual osmosis. You’re just going to kind of get it, you know? And so, it makes you lazy; it makes you a lazy believer.
Paulina: We start at the beginning, like, “Where’s Matthew?” It takes time. We all started like that. We didn’t know where some books of the Bible were, and we had to look at the Table of Contents. So everybody grows at a different pace. Sometimes it’s slower, sometimes God has to be really patient with others. But it’s a process.
Erin: I don’t know that every woman listening knows that. I don’t know if a woman doing this Bible study is doing it on her own or in a group, and she doesn’t know where Rahab’s story is, or she didn’t even know Rahab was a prostitute and someone invited her.
I think of my friend Tracy who was in a Bible study in our home for years. One day she said, “Hold up! You guys talk about your Bibles like you read your Bibles. I don’t know how to do that.” That was the bravest woman ever!
Now she could probably put me under the table with her Bible knowledge. But none of us are in the Kingdom roles we thought we’d be in!
Lisa: None of us ever arrive, either, as far as knowledge of Scripture, so let’s say that.
Someone here may be listening; they’ve been reading their Bible for a long time. I always say, “There’s always somewhere deeper we can go with the Lord.” When we get to the point where we think we know it all, we’re in a really dangerous spot!
I’d like to say, I love Google; I love the Table of Contents in my Bible. I don’t think they need spotlighted higher than anything else, but I would like them included. There is nothing wrong with some in-depth, a good YouVersion app. These things help you find what you need to find. I’m known to flip around in the Old Testament a little bit and not know exactly where that book is. It takes me a little bit.
We’re all daunted by things that we assume about other people.
Erin: But give me a willing and surprised and unqualified servant for God over the one who thinks, “This is what I’m made for! This is what I have to offer!” I mean, the fact that we’re shocked that God’s using our lives to give a message that matters is right and good.
And the fact that I’m sure Rahab is shocked—if she could express it—that we’re still talking about her in the lens of redemption. It just speaks to the way that God works and the fact that it’s all from Him.
So it’s not about me; it’s not about my story. It’s God’s story! Your stories aren’t about you; they’re God stories. We wouldn’t have chosen Rahab to talk about redemption, to display God’s redemption. Who are some other people in Scripture that, if we were figuring it out, we wouldn’t have chosen?
Paulina: I think of Paul.
Erin: Paul comes to mind; he’s a great example. Go ahead, tell us about Paul.
Paulina: Well, Paul, first of all, even though he was religious and knew the law, he didn’t have a relationship with God. It was all about doing, doing and not being. He was in charge of chasing those Christians and throwing them around and putting them in jail, or even killing them, just because they now believed in Jesus. He was evil! And God can transform evil people!
Erin: Yes, he was on the road to Damascus, and God transformed him!
Paulina: [God to Paul:] “You are going to serve Me now.”
Erin: And what Paul went on to write—thirteen books of the New Testament. And he planted many churches throughout Europe and Asia and to spread the gospel. He was an extremely fruitful ambassador for the gospel.
Paulina: Now he says, “I’m the chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15).
Erin: But you would never have picked him.
Lisa: No, I wouldn’t have picked him.
Paulina: No.
Lisa: I wouldn’t have picked Moses to be this grand person that he was. He even says, “I’m not a great speaker; I can’t speak well.” Then I read Deuteronomy 30, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, and I’m like, “This is one of the greatest speeches of all time! So that’s unlikely.
And then, if you want to bring it female, I think about the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1–5, the young woman who is unnamed. It is a really short reference to her in the Bible, but she’s a catalyst in this story. So the Bible is full of unlikely folks! I think almost all of them.
Erin: That was the verse you read us, Paulina. He uses the “foolishness” of the Word to shame the wise! (see 1 Cor. 1:18–21) It’s upside-down! He doesn’t pick whom we think He would pick, and the purpose of all that is His glory! And frankly, who deserves to be used by God?
I mean, our stories may not include some of these giant issues we’ve mentioned. We might not be someone who martyrs Christians. We might not be somebody who can’t speak, but none of us are qualified! God chooses unexpected people to accomplish His purposes . . . which we’ll see in the life of Rahab is so important!
Rahab is an unexpected heroine; there’s no going around it. We’re not going to talk about how she was an “innkeeper.” She’s not who you might pick for a woman hero of the faith, when we think about the “women of the Bible, the heroes of the faith!” She’s not who we would pick, but she has so much to teach us about God’s redemptive plan.
As we’re wrapping up here, I just want us to think about “the Rahab women”—those women who have either been disqualified by their sin, or they’re underqualified or unqualified. They don’t think they have anything to offer to be a part of the story God is writing.
I just want us to talk about what Rahab’s story is going to encourage them in. Who are they? This is my grid: I think of the mom who is home with small children. That’s me! And most days, it’s just about laundry and getting the meals done, man!
I’m not going to hyper spiritualize. It’s not like, I feed my children breakfast; we read the catechism at the table and sing a hymn! I mean, no! It’s a war zone! I have four sons! There’s so much mundane that I feel like a Rahab woman—not in that I have this dramatic sexual sin in my past, I don’t. But I’m like, “How’s He going to use this? What’s He going to do with this!?”
So I think of those women as kind of “Rahab women.” Women that are thinking, How could God use this!?
Paulina, if you want to share any more about your story, or just speak to the kind of women who are “Rahab women” in the way that you’ve experienced . . .
Paulina: Yes. My husband says that we are all trophies of God’s grace. I personally could say to all those women or girls listening to this that there is no sin that God cannot forgive, because He is faithful!
In God’s Word we see, in 1 John 1:9, that He is faithful to forgive our sins if we confess. So there is no sin that is too big for God’s forgiveness, because His grace is so much bigger! So for every woman who says, “No, He can’t use me! This is my past,” there is hope for all those that have sinned in any way, because we have a gracious God!
Erin: Lisa, are there any other kinds of women who come to your mind as a “Rahab woman,” just women who feel like, “God can’t use me in His story.”
Lisa: Yes. You well-covered it, both of you. I think I encounter a lot of people—a lot of women—who truly want to be used by God but feel very underqualified in teaching the Bible, in talking about things that God has shown them as they have been reading the Word. The Holy Spirit has revealed things to them, and they feel very intimidated to even speak about that.
I know that sounds kind of like a really interesting twist on it, but I feel like it does make them feel unqualified—disqualified. We’ve covered the woman with a past, and the woman who lives in the mundane, and then the woman who feels just like, “What do I have to offer intelligently or theologically?”
Paulina: It gives a paralysis.
Lisa: Yes. I think we can find ourselves in any of those places.
Paulina: When you’re a new believer, it’s just sharing what God has done in your life. That’s it. Even if you only know one verse, John 3:16, God can use that! Because people want to see that you’ve been transformed, you have a new life! If you know just one verse, God could use whatever you know in the Bible.
Obviously, we want to keep learning about God, but He’ll use whatever you know at that time to help others or give hope to others.
Erin: Lisa, would you just end this episode by praying for the Rahab women, those women who know they are not the poster children that anyone would choose for God’s mercy, His redemption, His kindness, His grace, His purpose. Just pray for them to be encouraged through Rahab’s story.
Lisa: Father, I just thank You for this story. Oh God, we thank You so much for this example of this woman, Rahab. We thank you for her obedience. We thank You for not leaving details out, so that we could find ourselves in the story.
I just pray for those listening and watching and all of us who feel utterly unqualified and feel very much like Rahab, and in community with her. Women who feel like You couldn’t use us based on our past and our sin, and even just the things you know about us this very day!
God, I just pray that there will be encouragement and strength and the understanding that we, in and of ourselves, can do nothing; but that You can make much of our lives in this way of redemption!
Father, I just ask that those listening would, even this very day, turn to You and give their lives completely to You. I pray they would say, “Do with it what You will! Take my past. Take all of the pieces of my life and make something beautiful, that the world may know more about Jesus Christ!” It’s in Your Name I pray, amen!
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