1. When is the last time you encountered a Fist Shaker? I'm having a hard time with this one...just can't think of anyone right now. This may be a stranger to you or as close as a loved one in your own home. Does anything in our description help you to understand their animosity towards God? Are you able to have more compassion towards them?
2. Does anything about Rahab's redemption strike a nerve? Yes. Earlier in my life I remember being puzzled by Rahab's redemption. It didn't quite seem fair that she could do one little thing right & be rescued. How funny, though, because that's exactly the story of every believer. We do one thing. We believe. Rescued! Still, Rahab's story didn't taste any different to me until I lived in a pit of my own for a little while. When God delivered me, Rahab's redemption took on a whole new meaning. This may be a question you would like to ponder privately. Sexual sin and/or victimization can be an area where Satan has an enormous stronghold because it can hold so many painful and shameful memories. If Rahab teaches us anything, please know God can redeem any life and any situation, no matter how heinous it seems, and plant you unashamedly 'in the midst of Israel'. Rahab deserved death according to Mosaic Law, however she was shown nothing but lovingkindness by the God and nation of Israel.
3. Is there an area of your life in which you feel you have come full circle? HAVE I EVER!! PRAISE GOD!! Where you've come to a place where everything and nothing are the same? This is a part of my life that I don't share unless there is a need to minister to someone in the same situation, but my adult life is a picture of "full circle"...I should change the name of my blog. (I'm thinking Lord of the Rings when Frodo goes back to the Shire after his long adventure. You have no clue what I just said if you are not an LOTR nerd so just ignore this if it doesn't make sense! :)
4. When you were born again, did you gain a new appreciation for your surroundings as Rahab did when she received the Promise along with the Promised Land? Has some old place, object, or relationship been redeemed by now serving a 'high and holy purpose'? My past (especially a couple of crazy years) is now a ministry tool, a witness.
5. Believers can still be Fist Shakers. Do you have circumstances in your life in which you find yourself shaking your fist at God? Not presently & not in awhile. Something He has asked you to endure, asked you to do, seemingly taken away from you? I've been there, done that, & am sure I could go there again without total reliance on the Spirit of God. Can you see how shaking your fist is keeping you from your Promise? (I'm not talking eternal security here - Only abundant living.) Yes, this is exactly what was happening in my life when I was going nowhere fast. I wanted to blame God for the consequences of choices that I had made without His consent. Until I was willing to accept responsibility for my own sin & quit blaming God I could not move forward into the amazing land of Promise that He had for me all along. My daddy would always tell me, "Tonya, you get to the edge of the Jordan, but you won't cross it. You've got to cross it.". Daddy's always right!
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