His Mercy is More!

A convicted and condemned criminal was sent to death for his crimes. He was "guilty as charged!" 

He yearned for mercy.

But who could he ask? Not the judge - he was the one who sentenced him. Not the victims -- they jeered at him and desperately sought revenge. The crowd watching was blood thirsty.  No mercy there.

So, as a last resort,  he turned to the bloodied body of the One who hung on the cross next to his. There was a sign on His cross that said, "King of the  Jews." A strange way to treat your King, he thought. But his time was running out, and that Man did seem different somehow. So he gave it a try.

"Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom." And he heard the answer, "Truly, today you will be with Me in paradise."

A dying thief on a cross, a pedophile in prison, a murderer on death row -- all can receive mercy. Witnesses say Jeffery Dahmer received Christ's mercy before he was killed. He received Christ as his Savior, read his Bible, confessed his sins will great remorse, and urged other prisoners to do the same.

No one of us beyond the reach of God's mercy. And none of us is  beyond the need for it!

How about the law-abiding citizen sitting on the pew in church? He goes to the altar, also seeking mercy. 

Does it matter to God where we are when we call to Him?

On a cross? On a pew? In a government prison or in our own personal, self-constructed prison?

I think not. We are all sinners who need mercy. "Our sins are so many, His mercy is more!"

He is in reach, right now! And reaching out to you! If you haven't already received His mercy,  ask for it now! Take His mercy and all the other gifts He includes and then tell everyone else!

Bookends - John Stott

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).


As we consider various means by which Christians grow think of each one of them as a book you're putting on the shelf of your life. In order to keep those books in place, you need two bookends.

The first bookend we need is the righteousness of Christ. The most important question any person can ask is: How can I, a sinful person, be accepted by an infinitely and righteous God?

Paul told us it is by trusting in the righteousness of Christ. Paul counted all his impressive religious credentials as rubbish in order that he might "gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Philippians 3:8-9).

Paul found his acceptance with God not in his own imperfect obedience, impressive as it was, but by trusting in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, which God credits to all who trust in Him as Savior. That is what faith is--trusting in Jesus Christ as one's Savior.

The second bookend we must set in place is the power of Christ.  Just as our acceptance with God must come through the righteousness of Christ, so our power to live the Christian life must come from Christ as well. As Jesus indicated in John15:5, we have no ability within ourselves to grow.

All that ability must come from Him.

The common element in these two bookends is the word dependence. We're dependent upon the righteousness of Christ for our acceptance with God and upon the power of Christ for our ability to pursue spiritual growth.

                 -- From John Stott

Whose Will?

                                                              

                                                                     Whose Will?

Jesus' prayer in the Garden was "Not My will, but Thine, be done."

Most often I would rather pray, "Let my will be done."

And that gets me into trouble! The sin in my life, and probably in yours, can be traced back to pursuing our own wills, goals and desires, rather than His -- the will of our heavenly Father who made us, knows everything and plans our best in all things all the time.

So when we pray we should ask  God to reshape our will, to realign it with His Will through the Word of God.

Our hearts are inclined toward sin, rebellion and walking out of step with God.

But God, in His infinite mercy and grace, has given us His Spirit and His Word to  reshape our will and recalibrate the desires of our hearts to bring us back into step with Him!

He always gives us what we need to obey and glorify Him!

 What a great and loving Father we have!

Bloom Where You Are Planted!

Bloom Where You Are Planted!

Thoughts from Charles Spurgeon --

"Believer, if your inheritance is meager, you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured it is best for you. Remember this: If any other condition had been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there.

You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you could choose your lot, you would soon cry, 'Lord, choose my heritage for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows.'

Be content with the things you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good work and word to the glory of God. Busy self and impatience must be put down; it is not for them to choose, but for the Lord of love!"

Armies - Seen and Unseen

Remember Elisha and his servant? They were in Dothan and an angry king wanted to destroy them. 

"Elisha's servant got up early, and when he went out, he saw an army with horses and chariots all around the city. The servant said to Elisha, 'O my master, what can we do?' 

Elisha said, 'Don't be afraid. The army that fights for us is larger than the one against us.'

Then Elisha prayed, 'LORD, open my servant's eyes and let him see.'

The LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." (2 Kings 6:15-16).

An army of horses and chariots of fire -- a celestial army!

Too often we focus on the wrong army! 

We need to change our focus --

"Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" John wrote in 1 John 4:4.

Jesus, who lives in us, is stronger than our enemy!

Stronger than all our enemies' armies-- seen and unseen!

We  just need to adjust our vision --take another look! And maybe pray for friends who are facing great calamity -- pray as Elisha did, that the LORD would open their eyes and let them see!

Remind everyone around us that God can correct our vision! He can open our eyes to see things previously unseen!