Mercy Rule

The mercy rule. That’s a new one I learned the other night. We were watching our oldest grandson play football via our smart phones screen playing on our tv at home. When our home team had run up 40 points to their zero before halftime that rule came into play. Running up the score is considered unsporting.

Oh beloved, you need to know that God has put you under the mercy rule. You will always run behind and you can never make points on your own. We are all in this predicament. Good won’t cut it. I’m sure there were some very honorable young men on the opposing team. Rules won’t cut it. I know the guys were trying their best to play by the rules. They surely needed this new to me mercy rule applied.

But God wants you to know that His mercy rule changes everything. He delights in showing mercy. So instead of hanging your head, feeling the shame of loss and going home in defeat, you can fall on the mercy of your King. Jesus went to the cross to make the mercy rule stick forever. Jesus rose again so that everyone has the opportunity to live under mercy all their lives.

Now this team didn’t try to just lay down on the field and refuse to play because of the huge lead. They didn’t behave sloppily or unbecoming a guest team. They played their best. You and I have no excuse to live “sloppy agape” because of this amazing mercy of God. We are under the blessing of mercy to live life as a changed person, with all the benefits and anointing and productivity of one who is no longer their own.

You can even apply this wonderful mercy rule to your daily life. And the hardest person to apply it to is yourself. Others will let you know that you’ve not lived up to their standards. And you will feel at times that the problems you encounter are all your fault – you played bad somewhere and now this. But you beloved, aren’t just living for mercy you also have grace. Don’t let what someone has pronounced on you become your reality. Jesus gave you a new reality altogether – full of mercy and grace. You aren’t your own, you belong to Another. You are free to live each day as though no one is against you and nothing is holding you back!

God loves you and He’s for you. Run to Him this morning and ask Him for help to continue to walk the field of faith in mercy and grace. Forget everything else and focus on Jesus who will walk you through to victory always.

I Peter 2:10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

2 John 1:3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

James 2:13 …mercy triumphs over judgment.

Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

Breaking Barriers of Faith

On this day headlines are something that really caught my eye this morning. The first from 1947 was about Chuck Yeager, who became the first person to pass the speed of sound while flying the experimental Bell X-1 plane at an altitude of about 43,000 feet, going 700 miles an hour. As kids we all heard planes making a sonic boom. Now you don’t get to hear about it anymore because noise abatement regulations halted supersonic flight (by civil aircraft) over U.S. land.

Oh beloved, I hear the Lord speaking to my heart this morning. As believers are remade, renewed, rewired and born again to do what goes beyond the ordinary. We are meant to fly high and break barriers. Our spiritual travel may seem quite slow at times, but in the heavenlies we are moving fast.

You beloved, are part of the generation of these last days. You are on assignment. And even if there seem to be many regulations regarding spiritual living, you are not restrained by the earthly rules. You are born again into freedom! You are being challenged, even when the enemy confronts you with restrictions. In heartbreak and troubles, you are challenged by the enemy to be grounded – to lay down and never soar again. After life is what it is.

But you beloved are a five star general of faith! Hope in God’s will, fly above the clouds of doom, pick up your sword and wield it in the heavenlies. Look back at the great cloud of witnesses mentioned in the Bible – they didn’t give up, no matter what they faced. They kept their eyes on the Master Pilot. So too, as you look at the great saints of recent history, you notice that they walked with God and broke barriers over and over again. Your life is not the sum of your hard landings. Rather you are full of motivation to take off and let God use you to break barriers of faith for Him!

God loves you and He’s for you. Always. Whether you are grounded or flying high. Don’t berate yourself for not flying. Rather run to Him and ask for His credentials to get you back up and going. And live, precious believer, up in the heights with Him for the love and glory of the Lord!

Isaiah 40:31 But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 58:14 Then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Psalm 60:12 Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

Daniel 11:32 …but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.

Transformed

I love reading underdog stories. You know the type where the not expected to win people become the big winners. I read about a young woman who started gymnastics as a way to help build much needed muscle tone as a small girl. Through that decision she was transformed from being unable to execute simple muscle maneuvers to a four-time national championship at the Special Olympics.

Oh beloved, what is God saying when He brings a story like this to our focus? He is saying that your weaknesses have nothing to do with your abilities. He’s saying that Christ is your transformation – through Him you are transformed. He says you were never meant to be held back by insecurity, shame or comparison. Don’t spend the rest of your life comparing yourself to others. You are indeed special, and that special is the One who lives within you.

The problem comes when we don’t flex our spiritual muscles. And we have more abilities in the spirit than we can even comprehend. But those who know their God perform exploits! They leap over walls of adversity, they bring down mountains unscalable and they overcome obstacles of the flesh without problems.

God knows your needs this morning and your heartbreak. He sees you as you are. He hears your self-reflection – that you don’t want to go on, that you wish you were elsewhere, that you would love to go back and do some things over again and better. Oh precious believer you will never build the spiritual physique you need to win if you constantly look back. You are a winner by default, through the spiritual inheritance of Christ. So stop living life backwards, let it all go, and learn to lean on the One who will make you all that you are destined to be! You are born again to be the best of the best and that’s all God wants for you!

God loves you and He’s for you. Today is your day to change the entire playing field by leaning on Him. Brush all the obstacles out of your mind and let your spirit soar. And live, beloved, by the power of the One who raised Christ from the dead!

Psalm 60:12 With God’s help we will do mighty things, for He will trample down our foes.

Isaiah 40:29 29 He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.

Ephesians 3:16 I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being

2 Timothy 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Hebrews 13:21 may He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen.

Out Of The Shallows

Last night I dreamed that we took visiting friends to the lake. When we arrived at the lodge we could see a bit of water that wasn’t very deep and lots of people swimming.

They were not very impressed. “Is this all there is?” I told them the area we were at was just the tip of the iceberg. If they’d get out in the water and look beyond the swimming area, they’d see the expanse of the beautiful lake and be amazed.

Oh beloved, truth is we often don’t go beyond the swimming area do we? We are content with the tranquility of floating in clear cool water. But listen, what you and I have experienced is just the tip of the iceberg! God has so much more for us than we can imagine. And it’s just beyond the shallows.

God wants you to know that the lake in this dream means peace, tranquility and rest. But He wants to take you deeper. He wants to take you to new depths, give you a greater measure of influence and beauty. Truly the tip of the iceberg often means trouble, but God means more of His good gifts!

Going beyond the shallows will give you more. Instead of seeing the troubles, you see His hand. Instead of focusing on your lack, you see His favor. Instead of concentrating on your heartbreak, you see His tranquility. For God is not unaware of what you are going through. And He didn’t cause the problems you have. But He will use the present situation to give you more of Himself! And what you need most is more of Him! He makes oases out of deserts. He makes high dives out of shallows. He takes your wrecked dreams and builds you a plan that is more beautiful than you’d ever think. All you have to do is dive in with Him and look beyond the natural.

God loves you and He’s for you. He has great empathy towards your life – the heartache, the rejection, the loss and all. But His empathy won’t leave you in the shallows. He wants you to run to Him this morning and let Him change your view completely as you live in the Light of His amazing mercy and grace.

Job 11:7 Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?

Luke 5:4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

Ephesians 3:18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.

1 Corinthians 2:6 Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom–but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

I Corinthians 2:9 but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

Heavy

We bought a dresser over the weekend. It is one of the heaviest pieces of furniture I’ve ever seen. But where we bought it was like a treasure shop to me. Everywhere I looked I saw things I liked. There was even a huge old kettle like the one that used to sit on the stove at an aunt’s house. I told the woman that she might be my new best friend!

Although that dresser was so heavy it could hardly be moved, my husband and that little woman moved it out of the storage building, across the yard and up into his truck.

Oh beloved, how heavy is your burden? Did you know the burdens you bear were never meant to be carried alone? For sure Christ is always with you to help lift the load. But listen, when believers gather together and work with one another in prayer and faith, the load that seemed impossible is suddenly lightened. The impossible is overcome. Two friends, working together brings amazing results.

But God says even if you feel you have no friend to ask for help – Jesus is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. He won’t fail you. He won’t leave you to carry your own weight. He isn’t waiting until you figure out how to be strong enough to do it on your own. In fact, we are never expected to live through anything in this life on our own. We are meant to be discipled all our lives.

As you learn to lean on the Lord more and more, you don’t become weaker. That is where your true strength lies. It is in unity with the King of Kings that you have overcoming power to lift the load of life, to overcome every obstacle around you and to break the chains of the powers that come against you. Some of the issues of life are solved quickly when we tell the Lord what’s happening (He knows already anyway), when we speak the Word over our situation (out loud it is powerful and effective) and when we release the negative thoughts and embrace the Truth.

God loves you and He’s for you. He sees everything. He sees who rejected you. He sees what bills need to be paid. He understands the burden you shoulder alone without another helper. But yay God! He is right there with you! Not only will He cheer you on, He will help you, heal your broken heart, deliver you and grant you rest in the process! Run to Him this morning and thank Him for being your daily burden bearer and live in the Light of His power accessible in your life!

Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. Selah.

Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.

Psalm 103:13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Psalm 138:3 On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.