21 Days of Prayer (Renew, Rebuild, Restore)Chikamu

Restoration from shame 

When Jesus met with the Samaritan woman at the well it was about noon (John 4:7), the hottest part of the day. It is suggested she was there at this time to avoid the respectable women who would go to get water at sunrise or sunset. The Samaritan woman was considered immoral, had five husbands and now lived with a man who was not her husband. She may have experienced shame and rejection by others because of her actions.

Jesus spent time talking with her and revealed his true identity as the Messiah to her (John 4:26). This woman went on to witness to others telling that she met a man who told her “everything she ever did” and many of the Samaritans believed in him because of her testimony (John 4:39). 

We are all likely to have experienced a time of shame. We have all sinned and done things we regret. We may have hurt others or not lived lives as God would want us to, like the woman at the well. However, Jesus has time for us in the same way he did for this woman. Jesus meets us in whatever circumstance we are in and knows all the details of our lives, “everything we ever did”.

Jesus promised whoever believes in him, that rivers of living water will flow from within them, (John 7:38). He goes on to explain that by this he meant the spirit for whom those who believe in him were later to receive. (John 7:39). If we have a thirst for Jesus in our lives we can be restored by his spirit from the feelings of shame and experience the spring of water welling up in us.

Prayer Focus:

Thank you that you can restore us from feelings of shame and that you have time for us. Thank you that through the power of your spirit we can be changed and have a desire to live our lives in a way that pleases you. Give us a thirst for you and may your Holy Spirit fall afresh on us today.