The How of Mercy - A Dose of Encouragement 74

Having looked at various aspects of God's Mercy this month including
What is Mercy?  
When can I receive Mercy?  
The Where, Why & Who of Mercy

 plus

Not focusing on our guilt because of His Mercy in You're Not guilty Anymore last month

we have now come to the last blog post on Mercy which I hope will make us sit up and pay attention because although we do not earn God's Mercy we do need to do something

              we need to receive it.


Yes we have a choice we can receive it wholeheartedly and believe what God has said or we can never get out of our guilt and remain in a state where we never fully rejoice in His great love for us.

 

How Do We Obtain this Mercy?

By the Grace of God through Jesus.

Mercy is extended freely to us and even if we don't comprehend how God would ever desire to be so good to us we need to receive this offering.

But

Sometimes
     We don't even recognize His Mercy

Sometimes
     We don't even realize we need His Mercy


Yes
God gives His Mercy but we need to accept it.

That is okay at Salvation - we completely get it then and are so thankful for it then.

But we also need to accept it throughout our Christian walk.

Yes even though we know He is merciful we don’t really take it in properly that He is always merciful to us and we don’t think we can have this beautiful thing He is offering so we don’t accept it and we stay in a state of not forgiving ourselves and feeling unworthy to do anything for Him
.

1.     We must truly believe He is Merciful.

        None of the

•         He can't really like the way I still can be?
•         He couldn't possibly use me for His Glory? 

        Let me tell you He is still merciful even if you have been saved 40 years.

2.     We must not listen to the devil.

        None of the

•         You can't be forgiven yet again.
•         You can't believe God has the patience for you

3.     We must listen to the Holy Spirit.
     
                 Condemnation comes from the devil but encouragement comes from the Holy Spirit


4.     We must read and believe the Bible.
     
                 This will help us to see the examples of His Mercy and understand it better.


5.     We must know that we are special to God.
     
                 You must accept it even if you find it hard to understand - You are special to God.


6.     If you believe He wants to save you; you also have to believe He wants to show His Mercy to you.


Mercy is God's but it is also Ours.
We must allow God to show His Mercy.
We must accept His Mercy to live the life He means us to live.
The life where we are not condemned or unworthy to work for Him.
The life that is under His hand and not under the devil's.
The life that can then also extend Mercy to others.



How Should we Show God's Mercy?

By allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us.

Remember the Beattitudes

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." 

Being merciful means to show kindness to everyone and to forgive those who do things that may hurt you. It is realizing that everyone makes mistakes.

One of the great examples to us of mercy in the Bible comes from John 8 v 1-11 

  

 1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

 (KJV)  from BibleGateway.com

Mercy doesn't focus on a person but on a person's need.

Mercy is active compassion to someone in need

mercy banishes revenge

mercy keeps us grounded

it imitates God but disappoints satan

Mercy says "not my will but thine be done"

We do not know better than God

so accept one another as God accepted you.

If we focus on the person we will tend to fall back into the "deserve or earn" way of thinking

REMEMBER

God loves us so much with His great love   (Ephesians 2 v 4)

that He is rich in mercy which means   (Psalm 100 v 5)

He has so much mercy for us that He will never run out of it

And this was not just said for the people at the time it was written because it clearly states here that it is everlasting

so rejoice because it means He is still rich in Mercy TODAY toward US.

How can we not be thankful that our God is so generous in 

His Mercy.

The Other Blog Posts in this mini Mercy Series are:
What is Mercy
When Can I Receive Mercy?
Where, Why, Who of Mercy