Today I realised that without the mercy of God I would not be here today, It's the mercy of God that is actually keeping us all and it's because of the love He as for us all. The love of God is so powerful and no one can ever understand that it is the love of God carries us through all day.
Mercy is what God gives us and looking at it all, it is God that has actually given us all things - God gave us love, God gave us Faith, God gave us His Son, God gave us grace, and what as God not given to us His children, and it all comes from Him.
God is a God of abundance who loves to give to His children and all we need is Faith and believing that He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think , according to the power that works in us - Ephesians 3: 20 - 21. There is so much that God has for us, after giving us His Son - His only Begotten Son - John 3:16, would He not give to us out of His abundance?
God is faithful and the desire of His heart is to bless us always, and see His goodness in our lives at all times. A Father that loves, is a Father that gives. Trusting in the love of God carries me through every second of everyday of my life, and knowing that I have a God that loves me is very encouraging to me in this difficult time that we are living in.
What is Mercy?
Mercy is the love that God as for His children, a love that shows mercy in our short comings as sinners.
Mercy also means His pity, compassion and kindness toward people. His mercy shows up in the believer's life at salvation, and God continues to show mercy in forgiveness.
Mercy is God's patience in action. It is God extending patience to those who deserve to be punished.
Mercy is a love that responds to human need in an unexpected or unmerited way.
And as I ponder the meaning of mercy, it reminds me of the thief on the cross when Jesus was been crucified.
Luke 23: 35 - 43
Now the people stood by, watching; but even the rulers ridiculed and sneered at Him, saying, “He saved others [from death]; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him and [cruelly] offering Him sour wine, and sarcastically saying, “If you are [really] the King of the Jews, save Yourself [from death]!” Now there was also an inscription above Him: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
One of the criminals who had been hanged [on a cross beside Him] kept hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us [from death]!” But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? We are suffering justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, [please] remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” Jesus said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
And this is truly the mercy of God at work in the life of someone who did not deserve to be forgiven , but Jesus had compassion on Him and forgave him of his sins, let's remember that on that cross, Jesus did not ask him of his offence and did not remind him of what he had done. He ( the thief ) knew what he had done but asked for mercy from the Lord. The thief also believed in Jesus' mercy and kingdom. Mercy showed up on the cross.
Wherever Jesus was, He showed mercy - forgiveness is the attribute of our Lord. I ask myself this question all the time, without Jesus' mercy in my life, where would I be? Mercy upholds us so many times. Mercy triumphs over judgement - James 2:13.
We all need God's mercy in our lives, there are so many scriptures that points to the mercy of God.
God is a God of mercy.
Luke 18: 9 - 14
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [posing outwardly as upright and in right standing with God], and who viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood [ostentatiously] and began praying to himself [in a self-righteous way, saying]: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—swindlers, unjust (dishonest), adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!’ I tell you, this man went to his home justified [forgiven of the guilt of sin and placed in right standing with God] rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself [forsaking self-righteous pride] will be exalted.”
This is again the mercy that God shows to His children, who do not think to highly of themselves, been self - righteous will not allow the mercy of God to show up. And we can see from this parable that the self - righteous one did not receive the mercy of God. But we can also see that the one who admitted his wrong, was the one that truly received the mercy of God.
James 4:6 clearly states this
But He gives us more and more grace [through the power of the Holy Spirit to defy sin and live an obedient life that reflects both our faith and our gratitude for our salvation]. Therefore, it says, “God is opposed to the proud and haughty, but [continually] gives [the gift of] grace to the humble [who turn away from self-righteousness].
Daniel 4: 37
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and faithful and His ways are just, and He is able to humiliate and humble those who walk in [self-centred, self-righteous] pride.
Proverbs 8: 13
The [reverent] fear and worshipful awe of the Lord includes the hatred of evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way,
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
Mark 7: 24 - 30
A Gentile Shows Her Faith
From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”
Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”
And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.
I believe that this is been humble, why? simply because the woman refused to give up, even with the Lord ignoring her, she persevered and the Lord Himself saw that the woman humbled herself before Him, not caring about what others were saying or thinking. She was desperate and in her desperation her daughter was healed.
Another parable that comes to my mind is in Luke 18: 1 - 8
Now Jesus was telling the disciples a parable to make the point that at all times they ought to pray and not give up and lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and had no respect for man. There was a [desperate] widow in that city and she kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice and legal protection from my adversary.’ For a time he would not; but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will give her justice and legal protection; otherwise by continually coming she [will be an intolerable annoyance and she] will wear me out.’” Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says! And will not [our just] God defend and avenge His elect [His chosen ones] who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay [in providing justice] on their behalf? I tell you that He will defend and avenge them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith on the earth?”
This widow was not ready to give up and in her condition she humbled herself always before the judge, this judge was not merciful towards her and he even said to himself that he did not fear God or man, and this is been self - righteous. But in this parable Jesus showed us what been merciful meant by saying that God who is merciful will definitely avenge his children, who cry out for help. We all need help and if we do not ask, then we are been proud, believing in ourselves and not in God who shows us mercy.
Hebrews 4: 16
Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].
God in His love and mercy encourages us to come and not to be too proud not to come before the throne room of His grace, where we will receive His abundance of mercy to help us all in our time of need, what a wonderful God we serve. A God who is full of mercy.
God is a God of mercy.
Remember He said this to us in Psalm 136
Psalm 136: 1 - 26
Thanksgiving to God for His Enduring Mercy
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever.
To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
For His mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from among them,
For His mercy endures forever;
With a strong hand, and with [a]an outstretched arm,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
For His mercy endures forever;
And made Israel pass through the midst of it,
For His mercy endures forever;
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who led His people through the wilderness,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who struck down great kings,
For His mercy endures forever;
And slew famous kings,
For His mercy endures forever—
Sihon king of the Amorites,
For His mercy endures forever;
And Og king of Bashan,
For His mercy endures forever—
And gave their land as a [b]heritage,
For His mercy endures forever;
A heritage to Israel His servant,
For His mercy endures forever.
Who remembered us in our lowly state,
For His mercy endures forever;
And rescued us from our enemies,
For His mercy endures forever;
Who gives food to all flesh,
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
For His mercy endures forever.
God's mercy is everlasting, the mercy of God endures forever.
To endure means long - lasting , live on, go on, tarry, remain, continuing, permanent and unending.
This is awesome that the mercy of God is all of this and more! To receive the mercy of God is to be humble and not to be to proud as not to ask for His mercy. There is a scripture that says be merciful as your Father is merciful - Luke 6:36. This is my prayer for myself everyday. I need to be like my Father by been merciful as well.
We have God in us - 1 Corinthians 3:16 ; Galatians 2:20 ; Colossians 1:27
Therefore, we are to show mercy to those that are around us, this is simply because it's the mercy of God that we receive in our lives everyday and by loving Him, we obey Him as well and be merciful to others.
It's through the help of His Spirit that we can do the same - The Holy Spirit is our Helper and wants to help us at all times, but we are to ask for help - John 14:26.
We are God's children and He desires to be our Father and as we trust in Him, we can be like Him in every area of our lives.
Remain blessed as you receive the mercy of God in your every day life. God bless
