Wednesday

The How of Mercy - A Dose of Encouragement


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.
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.
And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
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.
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.
And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
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





Sunday

Songs for Worship #21


Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






I hope you will follow along with me.



                         Looking today at 



God is Self-Sufficient







God doesn't need anyone or anything  -  He can do all things!


God doesn't NEED us - He WANTS us!

I am so thankful for that.






God is Able


God is able

He will never fail

He is almighty God

Greater than all we seek

Greater than all we ask
He has done great things



CHORUS:



Lifted up

Defeated the grave

Raised to life

Our God is able
In His name we overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able



VERSE 2:



God is with us

God is on our side

He will make a way

Far above all we know
Far above all we hope
He has done great things



CHORUS:



Lifted up

Defeated the grave

Raised to life

Our God is able
In His name we overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able



BRIDGE:



God is with us

He will go before

He will never leave us

He will never leave us
God is for us
He has open arms
He will never fail us
He will never fail us



CHORUS:



Lifted up

Defeated the grave

Raised to life

Our God is able
In His name we overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able
For the Lord
Our God is able
For the Lord
Our God is able 












If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below









Wednesday

Where, Why, Who of Mercy? - A Dose of Encouragement


Each Wednesday this month I am looking at the topic of Mercy.


Last week I considered the question When Can I Receive Mercy?


The week before I started this short series with the question What is Mercy?



Today I would like to consider where, why and how God's Mercy is shown upon us.







Where:


A   Where Does It Come From?


Mercy comes straight from the Heart of God which is full of Love.


Not from our actions for us to be worthy of it.
Not through the church.
Not from the Bible.


But straight from the Heart of our Loving Heavenly Father and Jesus our loving Saviour and the Holy Spirit who guides us.







B   Where Can We Receive This Mercy?


Anywhere!

The same as at any time.



We do not need to be in church.

We do not even need to be in prayer.

We do not need to set up special circumstances.

It is available anywhere we need it.

How wonderful is that?

How Encouraging is that?

How can we not be thankful that our God is so present and considerate in our lives.






Why:

There really can only be one reason why God extends Mercy to us all.


Because it is part of the Character of God.





Because He made us and He is both Loving and Just.

Because He wants to be the giver of Mercy.









Who:


We need to think about the Who behind the Mercy.


In this blog post we have already mentioned the Loving Heart of God which is the source of this Mercy.





In the previous post we talked before about how The Saved as well as the Unsaved receive God's Mercy.

Because God’s mercy is not just for Salvation.

God’s mercy is for all (anywhere, anytime)

Our Gracious, loving God who is the giver of Mercy is the one who decides all about the mercy we receive.  We do not have any say in how this mercy is given, or why it is extended to us.


God is in control of everything to do with His Mercy


But at this stage YOU need to consider just 

who YOU are. 



Are you a sinner who is receiving God's Mercy as He draws you in to recognise His great love for you?


Do you need to seek His forgiveness for your sin and accept His Salvation through His Son Jesus?

If the answer here is Yes, then you are at the point where have an ideal opportunity to accept the greatest act of Mercy and bow to the acknowledgement of Christ as your Saviour.



Or are you a Christian who is receiving God's Mercy as He lifts you up and holds you in His hand no matter what has just happened in your life?


Christian Let's consider


WHO you are!

and

Who you are Not!


As the Redeemed of the Lord



You are not:




Guilty

Broken

Crushed

Filthy

Condemned

Worthless

Captive




These are just the things the devil wants you to believe you are.


Photo Credit:  Bigstock



You are:



Faultless

Loved

Holy

Righteous by the righteousness of Jesus

Pardoned by God

Forgiven

Cleansed

Blameless

Redeemed

Spotless

Whole.




And most of all:


"You are Mine" says the Lord






The Other Blog Posts in this mini Mercy Series are:
What is Mercy
When Can I Receive Mercy?
The How of Mercy












Sunday

Songs for Worship #20


Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






I hope you will follow along with me.




                         Looking today at 



God is Perfect







Overcome


Seated above, enthroned in the Father's love
Destined to die, poured out for all mankind
God's only Son, perfect and spotless one
He never sinned but suffered as if He did


All authority

Every victory is Yours
All authority
Every victory is Yours



Savior, worthy of honor and glory

Worthy of all our praise, You overcame
Jesus, awesome in power forever
Awesome and great is Your name, You overcame



Power in hand speaking the Father's plan

You're sending us out, light in this broken land


We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb

And the word of our testimony, everyone overcome











If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below











Friday

A to Z of Organising our Home!


A little Round-up of things we say, do or use during the organising and housework in our home.









A  -  Accidental Reducing of Articles 

The times when you accidentally break some plates or mugs and they just have to be thrown out.

Funny how I used to be annoyed; now unless it is something special, I just think

 "that's another one of my 365 items to be decluttered in 365 Days"   -   smiley face.







B  -  Beautiful Clearouts

When you get rid of those items in the wardrobes that were there because you had paid money for them and thought you should get the most time out of them but really thought that you didn't look good in them or the wife thought the husband didn't look good in them and he hadn't realised it yet.



C  -  Careful Clearouts

Those times when you are supposed to empty out a cupboard and sort everything out and then return only some of the things but in reality you return all but maybe one!

Now I would never do that!!!!



D  -  To the Dump!

A good phrase in our house because it means something is going out of the house, garage or garden and it is more than can fit in the bin.







E  -  Easier Housework.

Yes there really are some things that help me along the way.

I use them for many, many tasks because anything that makes the work easier and done more quickly is a bonus for me.



F  -  Fred????

There are so many sentences that begin with this word when it comes to the organising of our home and mostly the answer is

"I don't know!!!!!"




G  -  Garden Shed Sort out.

Well in our case it was a bit more than that - Plus we made a video.







H  -  Helping each other?


Where is it?

I don't know.

But you had it last.

No, You had it last.

No I didn't.

Yes you did.

Well where did I have it?

I don't remember.





I  -  Inside & Not on Top of!

You know when you have designated a good drawer or container for an item and the husband comes along and just sets it down on top of the container, or the kitchen worktop.

Enough said!







J  -  Just a Little Time before Bed

That's the time I keep saying I will just do a little tidy up in the bedroom and Fred just laughs - well he has known me for all these years.



K  -  Kitchen Organising

The one place I do like to seriously think about before I move into a house and designate areas to specific tasks.

The Tea & Coffee corner being the top priority of course.






L  -  Leave me some space to sit down!

The words I have often heard when in the middle of sorting out something and I have cluttered up the entire room.

There was an entire table covered as well as the couch.






M  -  The "Man Drawer"

Yes I wrote about that last year, there is one in our kitchen but still his "things" end up in other strange places.  Plus I'm always asking the question "What is that thing?" about most of the things in the drawer.



N  -  Nowhere to put it?

That is definitely not what you hear in our house!

More like - I know I had decided where those were to go but I've forgotten again.



A to Z of Organising in our home? well trying to not fail at organising!




O  -  Opening the Post

Should mean exactly that - you open it and deal with it.
You know - throw it out, respond to it, or file it away for future reference.

In our house it gets opened and looked at and then put back in the envelope!!!



P  -  A "Place for Everything"

Yes I wrote about this one before too.





And we really will get there one day, I'm sure.
Well pretty sure.
Well really hoping!



Q  -  Quite a Productive Day

This is how I feel when I have managed to actually get more than half of my day's ToDo List completed.



R  -  Remembering.

Okay I know that certain people on reading this will just laugh and say:
Some hope!

Yes I may be always saying I forget things but I do have a few things that I need to remember when cleaning the house and not just the fact that having a coffee does not get the house cleaned.







S  -  Spread the work on Spreadsheets.

I have my Organising and Cleaning Schedule for the year on a Spreadsheet.




Fred & I both love Spreadsheets.

Trouble is I could easily get distracted away from the organising of the house once I get on the spreadsheet because it is on the computer.



T  -  Take Time for the Tedious Things Before the Coffee.

The thing we hate to do but often gives us the most sense of satisfaction when we actually get round to it is one of those tedious things that just have to be done but I can always think of another word -

procrastination and it goes well with coffee.







U  -  Unusual Uses for Simple Products.

There are things around our homes that don't only have to be used for one purpose.

We need to be a bit more imaginative and find other uses for them.
Which can actually be more interesting than using them!








V  -  Very Good Ideas

Unfortunately those are the ones that I have when I am in the middle of doing something else, or just about to fall asleep and I'm sure I will remember them because they are so good but then I have forgotten them the very next day or hour or even in 5 minutes time.




W  -   Do Without It?

The Housework?          Yes! Please!

But what about those things in the Kitchen that you just feel you can't do without.

They may be small but they are so useful.







X  -  Xtra Special Days 

The times when you get away from the house for a really enjoyable time and are completely refreshed and ready to tackle the house again.

Those breaks are xtra important in the better weather because the sun is tempting you, or in the cold dark weather when you need something to brighten up your day, or just any time because you can always find some excuse.







Y  -  YOU didn't put it away AGAIN!

Those times when we get fed up because something is not in the place we actually do have allotted for it because neither of us have put it away yet again.

How will we ever be organised?



Z  -  ZZZZZ when it's all done.

Or when we are just too tired to do any more.

Just kidding with this one because it is never done and I would claim to be tired at any time to get out of the housework and on to the funwork.



But there is always




to keep me going.







Do you have any great ideas to add that just keep your house organised or are you more disorganised like me?




Wednesday

When Can I receive Mercy? - A Dose of Encouragement


Last month I wrote about God bringing my
attention to a special song to share about His
Mercy in the post
You're Not Guilty Anymore.


Then last week I started this short series on looking at God's Mercy in more detail and covered the question
What is Mercy?





Today I would like to come back to look again at this subject and consider when God's Mercy is shown upon us.



When Can I receive Mercy?



On Salvation

God is shows mercy to us as sinners and extends His mercy so deliberately at the point of Salvation.
In fact isn't He so merciful that He wants to draw us to Salvation and has provided His perfect plan in Jesus to be our substitute at the cross.
This is the obvious time in our lives for us to witness His mercy towards us and to understand partly what His mercy entails because suddenly we truly know we are being treated with Love and not rejection and death as we really deserve.





From Creation

Right from the start of mankind God’s mercy is shown.
 All the way through the Old Testament.
 All the way through the New Testament.

His mercy was not just produced at the cross although it is His greatest sign of mercy.

Mercy is an attribute of God so has always been part of Him, and always will be part of Him.



For Evermore







Every Day

God is merciful to us every day at all times it does not stop at Salvation.
This is the part that is hard for many Christians to fully understand, often we do not feel that God can possibly continue to show His mercy to us once He has Saved us. Even though we will read about it and sing about it and speak about it we still deep down do not accept that He is always a merciful God. It is one of His attributes and He doesn’t change so He is still merciful.


"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."  Lamentations 3 v 22-23


New Every Morning what a blessing!
1. Each day we can start afresh knowing that He is still merciful.
2. Can we even experience new different examples of His mercy on a daily basis?
            Yes God is infinite so His Ways are infinite


Edith McNeil wrote the words of this song based on Lamentations 3 v 22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

His mercies never come to an end,
They are new every morning, new every morning,
Great is Thy faithfulness O Lord,
Great is Thy faithfulness.


She was leaving us with a great prompt to help us remember that God extends His mercy to us on a daily basis.

Not only that but this song should be on our lips each morning as we rise to face the day with the new mercies He will extend in that new day.

We need to accept His mercy that is given so freely to us and be thankful for it daily.

Even when we do not feel worthy of it.

He has not put any conditions on it.


Let's be thankful for His Mercy even when we do not feel worthy of it.

And the last & most important comment is

Right Now

Aren't we thankful for that!



Enjoy this version of the song today and then go on to enjoy His Mercy.






The Other Blog Posts in this mini Mercy Series are:
What is Mercy
Where, Why, Who of Mercy
The How of Mercy




Sunday

Songs for Worship #19


Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






I hope you will follow along with me.



                         Looking today at 



God is Gracious









This is Amazing Grace


Who breaks the power of sin and darkness
Whose love is mighty and so much stronger
The King of glory, the King above all Kings

Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder
Leaves us breathless in awe and wonder
The King of glory, the King above all Kings

This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You laid down Your life
That I would be set free
Jesus I sing for all that You've done for me

Who brings our chaos back into order
Who makes the orphan a son and daughter
The King of glory, the King of glory

Who rules the nations with truth and justice
Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance
The king of glory, the King above all Kings

Worthy is the lamb who was slain
Worthy is the King who conquered the grave







If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below