Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. - Romans 12:2 NLT

Recently, I had the opportunity to pray for a woman whose past I knew nothing about. When I sought the Lord to give me a word of encouragement for her, I had a vision of Jesus speaking to her, "Woman, where are your accusers?" reminding me of a Biblical story and indicating to me her struggle to accept God's grace.

The vision took me to the Biblical story where the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by presenting a woman caught in adultery. Would he uphold the law (and compromise his compassion) or show compassion (and ignore the law)? In the mind of the teachers of the law, it was a lose-lose scenario for Jesus. Exactly what they wanted. But Jesus responded by challenging her accusers, saying, "Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Within moments every accuser, rock in hand and boiling with self-righteous anger, was seen dropping their stone and leaving in a disturbing silence.  One by one, they left, convicted by their own sins.

The adulterous woman likely couldn't comprehend what was happening behind her. In the light of her predicament, her mindset was most surely set on the expected outcome—death by stoning. She knew she would pay the price, and she would forever become the referenced example to Israel of the evils of adultery. Yes, she heard the stones drop behind her but didn’t realize their significance even when Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, where are your accusers?" She had embraced the inevitable, well-deserved punishment, and there was nothing that could change her outcome... or so she thought. 

As I now prayed for the woman in front of me, it became clear she, too, was struggling to understand the grace Jesus had already extended to her. She had been set free from her past shame and guilt, but the truth hadn’t fully penetrated her heart and mind. She needed to renew her mind to be able to see herself in the light of what Jesus had already done for her and no longer live in the shadow of the guilt and shame of her past. God was reassuring her that those miserable days were over, gone and done with. And that the new life, the abundant life in Christ, was knocking on her door waiting for her to answer and host it in her inner being. 

I asked her if she struggled with self-forgiveness, and she admitted she did. I shared the vision and assured her that God's blessings, presence and a bright future were available to her here and now. She had been living with an expectation of judgment and shame, but now wanted to know how to overcome this broken mindset and embrace her new identity in Christ.

We discussed how renewing her mind was key to experiencing the abundant life God had for her.  But I couldn't help thinking that God had already set into motion the strategy for renewing her mind. She had been graciously given in that instant, through a stranger's vision, the revelation of God’s love. God had also given her a powerful story from the Bible to anchor His view of her from here on, revealing how Jesus deals with people who have shady pasts—He forgives them and sets them free. 

This prophetic encounter revealed to me that the adulterous woman in the Bible wasn't just spared; her accusers were confronted with their own sins. In the future, seeing her would remind them of their sinfulness and Jesus’ mercy, not her past. Similarly, this contemporary woman was given a powerful story to ground herself in God’s truth of forgiveness, redemption and restoration.

In the future, as she revisits the story of the woman caught in adultery, she will be reminded that Jesus has welcomed her into a forgiven life, free to experience all that God has for her as His new creation.

(passage video clip)

...but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”