Tag Archive for mercy

Blessed Are the Merciful

2014-01-16 Beatitudes, Devotional with Hymn No comments

This is the seventh of an eleven-part series on the Beatitudes.
Each part features a hymn to a familiar tune.

Jesus’ fifth beatitude is this:

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7, NASB)

Father, You are merciful.
You are kind to the undeserving.
You are generous even with the greedy and selfish.
You freely forgive those who wrong You.
You warmly welcome the unworthy.
You are gracious and patient and always good.

You call us to be the same.
If we are to be Your children,
we are to think and love and act like You.
We are to be merciful.

What’s more, the giving and receiving of mercy are inseparably linked.
We cannot receive Your forgiveness
unless we extend it to others.
Your forgiveness cannot flow to us
until it flows through us.
Until we grant forgiveness to those who have wronged us,
we remained enslaved by sin,
suffering the lovelessness, resentment, anxiety and anger that injustice brings.
We can only free ourselves by also
freeing those who have wronged us.
If mercy is the solution for sin,
it is the solution for every last one of us.

Father, Your Son showed us the way of mercy.
While being tortured till death, He prayed,

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34, NASB)

When I suffer because of someone else,
give me His Spirit.
Give me His love.

When I am asked to share with the undeserving,
give me Your generous heart.
You lavishly pour out an entire world of blessings
on both the wicked and the good.

Father, grow in me
Your compassion,
Your open heart,
Your open hand,
Your freedom from selfishness.

May the needy sense in me Your eagerness to
smile and help and bless.
Let all who cross my path,
including the unkind,
get a glimpse of Your beautiful, life-giving mercy
through me.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Let Mercy Shine
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

 

Bound over to Mercy

2013-10-03 Devotional, Prayer No comments

God has bound all men to disobedience
so that he may have mercy on them all.
(Romans 11:32, NIV)

How painful to have loved ones lost in spiritual darkness. It’s frustrating to watch them pursue misdirected desires that will only disappoint and destroy them.

But reflect back on your own spiritual journey. You can likely sum it up as your floundering and God’s faithfulness. God planted a tiny seed of faith in you, then tenderly nurtured it. What amazing fruit is growing from that little seed!

God is so very patient. The growth process takes years, but He never seems frustrated or in a rush. Since this is the kind of God we have, continue to lift your loved ones to Him. Hold on to that bright hope. He is faithful, patient, and rich in mercy from generation to generation.

Mercy

2013-06-02 Devotional with Hymn One comment

Almighty God, I don’t need a major moral failure to experience Your mercy.
I experience Your mercy every time you give me what I don’t deserve.

You are an unbounded Being,
complete in Yourself,
the source of all life and all that is.
My existence is a mercy.

You are infinite in excellence,
perfect in power, wisdom, and love.
You graciously gave me fellowship with You.
I rejected You and chose myself:
a speck of dust,
a breath,
utterly corrupt.
I chose death,
yet You continue to give me life.
Every moment is a mercy.

I am insignificant.
Living in Your presence, sharing existence with You,
I deserve to be completely ignored.
Your attention is a mercy.
Even Your anger, Your judgment, Your condemnation
are mercies.

Holy and just God,
You know all that I have thought and said and done.
Condemned, I deserve whatever punishment can be inflicted
on such a miserable creature as me.
Your total forgiveness is
an unspeakable mercy.

Though I am marvelously forgiven,
my response to You continues to be
lukewarm,
inconsistent, and
ungrateful.
I deserve Your disgust.
Instead, in mercy
You fill me with Yourself and
tenderly grow me toward You.
Day by day,
every breath is a mercy.

This beautiful earth is a mercy.
Every chance to know You better is a mercy.
Your faithful Spirit is such a mercy!
The amazing privilege of prayer is a mercy.
Your unfailing patience with my ignorance, weakness, and selfishness is a mercy.

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:22-23, NIV)

Almighty God,
my Father,
You are compassion.
You are kindness and goodness.
You are deep and enduring love.
My entire existence, every moment and forever,
is enfolded in Your unending mercy.
Praise to You!
All praise to You,
my Savior and my God!

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Sea of Mercy
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics