“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in Him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” Lamentations 3:22-25

               What is mercy? Mercy is the compassionate kindness of God, which leads Him to withhold punishment and offer forgiveness and relief to those who don’t deserve it. At the end of the day, none of us deserve forgiveness. We have all fallen short in some form or other. “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” Romans 3:10-12. This is a piece taken out of Psalm 53 and Psalm 14. It is basically saying there is no one in this world who can boast about being flawless… there is only One who managed to live out a perfect life of righteousness and His name is the name above all names: Jesus Christ. When I think about what He did for me and anyone who believes in His name, I am enamored by what Jesus did for me. He was fully man and fully God and came down to this earth and lived a perfect life to fill the righteous requirement to be the “propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10) and the perfect sacrifice.

               Think about it. The love and mercy of God is that “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 I have screwed up so much in coming to the Lord and His great mercy is the fact that I’m still alive and in right standing with Him. I should be dead, many times over in the last 6 years but I’m still here. God is not done with us and doesn’t care about the mistakes of yesterday, the mistakes of last week, last month, or last year. He cares about seeing you prosper and helping you get to doing the thing He created you for, whatever that may be.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13

This prophecy came when Israel had been exiled to Babylon and had to wait 70 years for this promise to come to pass. But even in the midst of living out their punishment for going after other gods, God still showed up with compassion and gave them a promise to bring them back to the promised land. So, even while you’re living out a punishment and having to face consequences for your actions, God still shows His love and mercy by never leaving your side. Everything you do bears weight, sometimes however, you don’t receive what you deserve because you pray to God for mercy and repent with a sincere heart. Rather than being punished severely or even a little bit, God will forgive and forget the whole thing when He sees you are truly remorseful for your actions. Now, habitually sinning and continuing in it will cause you to get the chastisement of God and that is extremely unpleasant. I have received chastisement more than once for not listening to what He said, but I have also been on the other side where I received mercy for something I should have been punished for.

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” Hebrews 12:11, 12

               One of the hardest things God has had to deal with me on and be super merciful towards is my rebellious spirit. I will be the first to admit that there is just something in me that makes me want to not listen and do the opposite of what He says sometimes or think that what He says isn’t really Him talking and it’s just me saying to do or not to do something. That happens more often than not. I have been extremely confused by other spirits that are not the Holy Spirit talking to me in my head too.

Not to mention, some people I have been mentored by seem to think that the Holy Spirit is only there for spiritual guidance rather than helping us in every area of our lives. I personally know that He has helped me with more than just spiritual guidance. He has helped me learn how to clean the house, talk to people who are hostile, how not to react when other people are rude, how to work out, how to not road rage, and so much more. Why can’t our Heavenly Father tell us how to live in everything we do? Not just spiritually, but in everything we need help with learning how to do in a righteous way. He is our Father, and an earthly father gets personal with his children so why shouldn’t our Heavenly Father be even more personal when He knows our thoughts before we do?

Our main goal as children of God is to be “holy as He is holy,” (1 Peter 1:16) which means we are to offer ourselves up as “living sacrifices,” (Romans 12:1) and do whatever He asks of us. That also means to start acting the way He acts, talking the way He talks and living the way He wants us to live. We give up our lives for Him because He already gave up His life for us. The hardest part is fully surrendering to God, something I have struggled and struggled with. But He has been so merciful and patient, and I really pray that I no longer go back to doing the things I used to in my old way of life. It is time I start walking in freedom and victory that Christ paid so dearly for me to have. Today is the day where you can continue doing what you have been doing or start walking in the calling that God has for your life. The choice is yours.

“But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right – the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding closely to Him; for He is your life [your good life, your abundant life your fulfillment] and the length of your days, that you may live…” Deuteronomy 30:19, 20