Overcoming Guilt
The worshiping woman in Luke 7 gave Jesus her all. She held nothing back. And as a result, she gained the attention of the Lord.
She needed that attention. She needed the power of God in
her life. She needed to hear Jesus’ words to her: “Your sins are
forgiven…Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Luke 7:48,50).
After all, she was known in town as a “sinner.” She had
been dramatically transformed by her relationship with the Savior, but
she still had to walk that out before people who would scoff and
criticize and try to pull her back into her old way of life.
She couldn’t afford to worship Jesus halfheartedly. She needed courage and power to face the challenges that lay before her.
How about you? Many of us worship as if we have it all
together. We don’t need anything from the Lord. We don’t need His
forgiveness as much as the next person.
But Jesus told the Pharisees at that dinner, “Therefore I
say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.
But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47). Are
we worshiping as ones who “love little”?
Jesus perceived this woman’s faith through her loving
worship. In response, He offered her forgiveness of her sins. No longer
would she be held back, as so many of us are, by a sense of her own
unworthiness and guilt.
Guilt is a thief—it steals our confidence and weakens our
spiritual authority base. It keeps us from using our spiritual gifts
and speaking out boldly. Just as we get up enough courage to begin to
sing or pray or preach, the devil whispers in our ear: “Who do you
think you are? You can’t do that—you’re a failure and a fraud.”
And usually he is right! We have all made bad choices. We
all “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We are all sinners in
need of hearing Jesus say, “You’re forgiven.”
The Word tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When we worship with the kind of abandon
that says, “Here I am, warts and all; take all of me,” Jesus is
faithful to tell us, “I love you just the way you are. Your sins are
forgiven.”
Whenever we feel down on ourselves, whenever we find
ourselves sinking into a “pity party,” we have only to worship to hear
the voice of our loving, forgiving Savior—and we will emerge from that
experience fresh, guiltless and new in Him.
A Prophetic Act
Because of this woman’s wholehearted worship, she was
given a special gift that not even the disciples who walked daily with
the Lord had received: She caught a glimpse of the glory of God and the
true nature of Jesus’ mission on behalf of mankind. Though the
disciples looked at Jesus and saw a conquering hero and political
leader who would overthrow Roman rule in Israel, this woman saw a
suffering Savior who would soon give His life for sinners on a brutal
and lonely Roman cross.
After drying Christ’s feet with her hair, she took a
flask of expensive oil and began to anoint Him with the same loving,
worshipful abandon. The disciples protested, “‘Why was this fragrant
oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred
denarii and given to the poor’” (Mark 14:4-5). But there is no waste in
worship to Jesus.
“‘Let her alone,’” He responded. “‘She has done what she
could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial’” (Mark
14:6,8).
What happened? In worship, this woman became perceptive.
She became prophetic. Judas had not yet gone to betray Jesus, and yet
she knew what lay ahead. Jesus would die, and He would need to have His
body anointed in preparation for burial.
Peter and John didn’t see it coming—only this woman who
loved the Lord enough to worship Him with everything she had in her.
They sat in His presence and missed it; she worshiped Him and saw it.
What gifts does God have ready for you in worship? What
do you need? Do you need prophetic insight into the circumstances of
your life and the lives of your loved ones? Do you need power to
overcome the worries and fears that hold you back from being all you
can be in Jesus?
We need so much from God! Yet we hesitate to get close
enough to Jesus to really touch Him. We hold back the emotion needed to
kiss His feet continuously and wash them with our tears. We don’t let
our hair down because it might embarrass us or make us look bad in
front of others.
We need to understand that our power lies in loving,
abandoned, wholehearted worship. That’s where we get Jesus’ undivided
attention. If you want to be a woman of spiritual authority and power,
worship Him!
Jackie McCullough has been dubbed one of the most
influential preachers in the nation. An ordained minister, McCullough
is the president and CEO of Daughters of Rizpah, an evangelistic
outreach and teaching ministry. She also serves as associate pastor of
Elim International Fellowship in Brooklyn, New York.
Bill Wiese 
Paul McGuire 
