HE DELIGHTS IN MERCY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012
HE DELIGHTS IN MERCY
by David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it “(Hebrews 12:11).

God is talking about His own heart here, as well as ours. His chastenings are not joyous to Him, but grievous and painful. Yet when God moves in to judge, He hovers over His children as He chastens them. He looks for even the slightest sign of sorrow or repentance and He lets up at the first inkling of one. He longs to say, "Enough—no more. It pains Me too much to punish you."

Beloved, you must come to grips with this matter of God's pain. When others are trying to hurt you, you have to bring your thoughts into captivity, and say, "Oh, Lord, let me pray for my enemies, for those who are trying to wound me."

God loves the most wicked, vile sinner on the street and if He loves that person, how much more does He love the Christian who hurts you and has made himself your enemy?

Perhaps you have an idea by now of how far we are from the heart of God. We have so much yet to learn of His heart. No, He does not delight in judgment. He takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, nor in His chastening of His children. On the contrary, it pains Him awfully.

Let me tell you what the Lord delights in:

"Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:18-19).

Thank God for His great compassion, available to all. He delights in mercy!

Thanks Joyful Heart for posting these wonderful comments on God's Mercy by David Wilkerson. It is a powerful teaching of Jesus as part and parcel of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ that superseded the Old Testament Covenant of Moses.

Mt 5:7 Jesus says:

7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Jesus says: Mt 7:1-5

" Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

And James, the brother of Jesus (Yes, Jesus had actual brothers and sisters, the Children of Joseph and Mary) wrote Of the New Covenant Law, The Law of Liberty:

Jas 2:12-13
So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

All Scriptures NASU.

It amazes me that there are 3 current topics on keeping Head coverings going on right now. It boggles the mind. so what if a woman does not wear a covering in Church, which currently is the topic of three different threads. Does she goes to hell? I do not think so. Hopefully they do not read my post, there is no need for another thread on hats.

It's refreshing to see and acknowledge and accept what Jesus has actually accomplished for us, God's gift to us who believe Him and walk with Him by faith, and not by sight. And by what He actually taught us on how we should treat each other, including sinners and our enemies, with Love and Mercy.

We are saved by the blood that Jesus shed on the cross, The perfect Paschal Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. All who accept Jesus blood as a covering of all their sins for all time, are recipients of the Holy Spirit, and they shall enter into God's Kingdom which God prepared for His children before He even created this universe (Cosmos).

Again Joyful Heart, my thanks for sharing David Wilkerson's words and (Micah 7:18-19)!

Amen ArtB. Man says judgement God says mercy. It does not water down judgement. But the good news is there is hope! There is hope for the Church, the sinners, the backslidden, the periodicals, the ones who are luke warm and even us!

Who can point the finger at any of these and say, I have never backslidden, been lukewarm or living in sin? Not one except Jesus.

Then why when we are so miraculously brought out of these with God's great love, mercy and grace do we have an attitude of looking down on those who are still held captive? Do we forget maybe where we have come from? Maybe. Sometimes there is pride in the fact one is humble. Oh, God help us. Jesus came to save, sanctify & to set us free.

It is so simple. Call upon the Lord while He may be found. He wont turn a hurting, a lukewarm person, one in a sinful habit, a periodical away. Just talk to Him, pour out your heart to Him, He longs to hear from you. He already knows your situation but He wants you to want Him, to ask Him for His help etc. He is a loving God. No person. No sin is too hard for the Lord. He can and will help us become the holy person as He is a holy God. And we can only become that person with His help. Call, cry out to Him and dont stop until you know He has heard and you have the peace He will help you.

Stay close to Him in your heart and mind. When doubts, ugly thoughts come your way and they will, rebuke them in Jesus Name and say out loud. Jesus is my Lord and Savior and He is helping me and will never leave me. He is helping me get to the narrow path. He is finishing the good work He began in me.

Oh, glory to His Name! We cannot do it without Him. People dont need more of this and that. We need to know Jesus, the Savior of the world. SAVIOR - a powerful word. We can rejoice, have peace, joy, fellowship, be delivered and set free, we have our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life and so much more. We cant even repent without His help and have it be a true repentance. That is why I say the more we get to know Him the more we fall in love with Him and the desires, habits etc. will grow strangely dim.

Key thing. is keep our eyes on our Savior, in the word, in His Presence, with a thankful heart believing He is who He says He is and He will get us to the finish line. And not on our failures etc. And I am surprised at how many things have fallen off me personally since I did just that.

I have not even hardly arrived. But I do praise His Holy Name that He never left me and is finishing the good work He began in me. He is fine tuning me. Because of Him we can be godly minded, bring forth the fruit of the spirit, live like 1 Cor. 13. Our path can become more and more narrow as we keep our eyes on Jesus. It's all about Jesus.

Bottom line. There is HOPE. Jesus is our only hope. He longs to hear from you no matter your situation, no matter what your into, no matter how lukewarm, or how deep you have gone, He longs to hear from you. He loves you with an everlasting love.

Read the Gospel of John and get to know this Jesus even more. Or maybe for the first time. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to you. He will. Dont give up. Take a chapter a day and ponder on what it says.

But people - there is HOPE. Jesus says come as you are.

Heavenly Father, I come before Your Throne of grace & mercy, I come humbly but boldly asking for those who are hurting, who are without hope, struggling to survive, the ones who are confused, the prodigals, the backslidden, the ones who don't know You yet. Come Holy Spirit and reveal the loving Father's Son, Jesus Christ who takes away the sins of the world. Who died in our place. As I read Your Word Lord, I see how much you love us. You died for us while we were still in sin.

It is the ones who are proud, the know-it-alls etc. that You have trouble with but these Lord who read this and are in need, come to them Lord, come in a mighty way and reveal Yourself. I know Your waiting for them Lord, as you waited for me, and You will turn no one away.

There is always HOPE in JESUS for every person born. For every situation. Nothing is impossible for Jesus - Just come.

And O' Holy Spirit. Keep us humbly before You always knowing that we were there at one time or another or could be there if we dont stay at Your feet with eyes on Jesus.

Amen and Amen

Amen, Joyful Heart.