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In The Garden Daily Devotional
Series: A Walk Through Matthew
"Mercy ME"
Pastor Wayne Clabaugh
SCRIPTURE TEXT: "Blessed are the
merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7
(KJV)
Mercy isn't an
attribute easily chosen. We have a tendency as humans to
believe that wrong - deserves punishment. But let's just
look at some of the things the Lord said about
forgiveness, and showing mercy – beginning with how He
taught us to pray.
"And forgive us our
debts, as we forgive our debtors." Mt. 6:12 (KJV)
This is the very
first prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray. It
was a “spiritual
principle” that needed to be followed - or
the consequence would be staggering. Imagine being at
odds with our very Creator: The God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Yet people do it everyday.
Look how Jesus says
God reacts to those who don’t follow this principal:
"For if ye forgive
men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses." Mt. 6:14,15 (KJV)
Our Lord makes it
pretty clear to us how The Father feels about
forgiveness. And while we’ve had Christian Leaders
teaching it for years - we have the most distant,
"private", "leave me alone", TROUBLED Nation in the
history of mankind. Why? Because we forget that they "key"
ingredient to forgiveness and mercy is YOU!
Case in point: So
many people in this world are miserable because of
wrongs they have committed against their siblings or
their parents. Many of them are floundering emotionally
just because their parents never found any good in them
but continually told them how worthless they were. Now
those “grown children” live in an endless cycle of
bondage – never able to see their full potential; never
able to experience the blessing of mercy and forgiveness
from the most influential people in their lives: their
parents!
So many today are
living in a tailspin of regret and remorse over their
past and are never able to break free because of the
powerful profile that has been inscribed for them by
their parents – who were very probably suffering from
the same relationship with their parents before them.
It is TIME to
break that curse and to RELEASE YOURSELF FROM BONDAGE
with God’s help. It is TIME to forgive YOUR SELF. For if
you can’t forgive yourself - how will you ever forgive
others?
Let's pray,
Oh
Father God - I need your help to have the courage to
take a look at my own life today and to be willing to
“lay it on the table” once and for all – remembering
Your forgiveness of my many transgressions… and be able
to say "I forgive me"! Lift my burden this morning Lord,
as I bring the trespasses of those that have wronged me
before Your throne, and leave it there at your feet. Let
me take with me today the "oil of gladness", and the
"hand of fellowship", and the "heart of peace". In
Jesus' Name I pray, Amen.
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