Another “M” is mercy. God is merciful. God shows us mercy.
Exodus 33:19
And God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, THE LORD, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.
Gracious, Mercy, Loving kindness...
Have you personally experienced God’s loving kindness?
His mercy?
Deuteronomy 7:9
Know, recognize, and understand therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps covenant and steadfast love and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations,
Do you see the condition? Who does he keep covenant with? Show mercy to?
Again we see a condition, it looks like...Do you see it? Love Him. Simple.
1 Kings 8:23
And he said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing mercy and loving-kindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart. ( repeated in 2 Chronicles 6:14)
See it again? Walk before you with all their heart? Do you think that means love him?
Is there any area of your heart, which you have not fully surrendered to God? Any hidden thing? Does anyone want to share on this?
Nehemiah 1:5
And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, Who keeps covenant, loving-kindness, and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
God’s mercy calls forth an action, a heart action on our parts. We can hardly NOT respond when we experience his mercy.. as stated in Psalms..Psalm 9:10
And they who know Your name [who have experience and acquaintance with Your mercy] will lean on and confidently put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek (inquire of and for) You [on the authority of God's Word and the right of their necessity].
When David sinned, he remembered Who God is and called out to God, basing it on His merciful nature/character... Psalm 51:1
[ To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba. ] HAVE MERCY upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions.
1. Do you find this comforting? Something good to remember?
2. Have you ever felt the need, because of some sin, maybe even a habitual one you are seeking healing for to CRY out to God for His mercy? Care to share?
This verse is a great one, when we are feeling shamed, slandered etc...Psalm 57:3
He will send from heaven and save me from the slanders and reproaches of him who would trample me down or swallow me up, and He will put him to shame. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! God will send forth His mercy and loving-kindness and His truth and faithfulness.
Also this one: Psalm 59:10
My God in His mercy and steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look [triumphantly] on my enemies (those who lie in wait for me).
Comments? Anything you would like to share as we think about God’s mercy?
Before we go, I would like to share a teaching from A church I attend. We have been studying the beatitudes... and this particular week, it was on mercy.
Since we know God is merciful and extends mercy to as, really as a part of meeting our needs (smile mercy+meets our needs “M”), I wanted to share how Pastor Time explained mercy.
Mercy from a sermon by Tim Maynard at FCBC on 11-6-11
Matthew 5 Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.
The first 4 Beatitudes are internal. They are heart attitudes between us and God.
The second 4 are outwardly focused. We are to be immersed with people and with their pain and
”stuff”.
1. Mercy is an emotion. (FEEL) This is vulnerability in our hearts with and to others.We feel compassion for another. We hurt and weep with others. We allow the pain of other people to “bother” us.
2. Mercy is an expression (DOING)It is doing for another in need. InJames we see being “moved” with compassion to do something. Mercy see the person who cares calls and never changes, the drunk, the broken by life one...Mercy does not ignore them or walk past them. But instead shows/demonstrates God’s love for them. MERCY wipes the blood off the hurting people.
3. Mercy is an expectation. (EXPECTED OF US)(NOT DOING)
Mercy means also to withold something. Like God withoulds his judgement from us. Some has broken your heart, you can either pay them back OR you can withold giving them what they deserve to punish them for hurting you.
Spirituality is not JUST vertrical (me and God) its going to beat up hurting people in the world and showing Christ’s love. Maybe all you can do is a small thing, like “a pillow for Pam” but then that is what you do.
If someone has injured you, lied to you, wounded you and you are holding on to them, LET THEM GO. Mercy says let them go.
Forgive.
So today, we have sort of come full circle and ended up with a Celebrate Recovery Principle... FORGIVENESS..
Additional verses to ponder:
Psalm 136:26
O give thanks to the God of heaven, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!
Proverbs 21:21
He who earnestly seeks after and craves righteousness, mercy, and loving-kindness will find life in addition to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God) and honor.
Isaiah 30:18
And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!
Daniel 9:18
O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and look at our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You for our own righteousness and justice, but for Your great mercy and loving-kindness.
Hosea 12:6
Therefore return to your God! Hold fast to love and mercy, to righteousness and justice, and wait [expectantly] for your God continually!
*****Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?
****Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, Who forgives iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy and loving-kindness.
****Matthew 9:13
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy [that is, readiness to help those in trouble] and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims. For I came not to call and invite [to repentance] the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin).
Romans 3:24
[All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
****2 Corinthians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement),
***Eph 2: 4But God--so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,
5Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved ([a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation).
Hebrews 4:16
Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].
2 John 1:3
Grace (spiritual blessing), mercy, and [soul] peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ (the Messiah), the Father's Son, in all sincerity (truth) and love.
Jude 1:21
Guard and keep yourselves in the love of God; expect and patiently wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)--[which will bring you] unto life eternal.
Any comments or questions?
The Steadfast love
Break Through
Great is thy faithfulness
Mighty to Save
Because He Lives
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