On a personal note: I have been reflecting on just how much mercy I receive from God every day. I mean for real; for all the things that I tend to struggle with, unfortunately, more than I want to admit publicly. Mercy is not getting what you deserve-aggressive forgiveness and continuous covering by the Merciful Blood of Jesus-which is still wet and the most powerful force in the cosmos! I am a product of unending, abundant mercy! How about you?
"Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2, N.I.V.
Keep God's mercy in view. Set His mercy in your rear-view mirror. When looking back all you will see is His awesome hand of mercy in your life! You will no longer see the trauma, mistakes, hurt, judgments, sin--no, only HIS MERCY! The prophet Micah put it this way: "What does the Lord require of you? To love mercy, to do justly, and to walk humbly with your God."
Also keep His mercy before you. The view of His mercy in the present keeps us focused on the path of His love. “Be merciful, as my Father is merciful." What an honored position, wouldn't you agree? As we show mercy, Papa is revealed all around us. The lost and/or wayfaring strugglers will be attracted to the brilliance of His mercy in and through our lives.
In view of God's mercy-we will be empowered to offer all we are as living sacrifices. Hey, just be glad He didn't say dead sacrifices. Our life-'our everyday ordinary life-- (God takes the humble offering of the ordinary and turns it into His extraordinary) your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life.' This is your/our act of spiritual worship.
The moment by moment view of God's mercy will keep you from the evil ones lies. There is no failure or shame in mercy; only innocence. Someone said, "Fear is the darkroom for the development of your negatives." Mercy is the womb of today’s overcoming faith and tomorrows hope! I’m continually amazed how my life in Him is swimming in oceans of fresh mercy!
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. (Romans 12:1-3, Msg)
Don't allow the world or evil one to pull you down by fear, etc. Keep his mercy in view: past, present and future.
In the grip of Papa's grace, Ron Ross
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