As sure as the sun rising in the east is me saying those words when I\u2019ve broken something, said something I shouldn\u2019t have, heard about devastation or someone\u2019s plight. Those are my \u201cgo to\u201d words without even thinking. I say those words often \u2013 particularly when I don\u2019t have adequate words to say otherwise. \u201cLorrrd, have mercy!\u201d It is a quick retort when yet another \u201cI can\u2019t believe it\u201d circumstance happens. But the truth is \u2013 those are exactly the words that should come out when we encounter a \u201crough patch\u201d on our road of life. God\u2019s mercy is at our beckoned call when tough times come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God’s mercy was given in His covenant as He promised protection, provision, guidance, and His constant presence to His children. Because God is the initiator, the mercy He gives is gracious, unmerited, undeserved, is compassionate, leads to forgiveness, and to the steadfast love that God sustains in our relationship with Him. In Psalm 51:1-2, David cried out, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions\u2026\u201d A plea to God for mercy is asking Him to withhold the judgment we deserve and instead grant to us the forgiveness we, in no way, have earned. David encountered that mercy after he had relations with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. God forgiving him, was truly Divine Mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are NOT our past and God’s mercy is real and available. Of course, we celebrate His mercy every time we cry out to Him for mercy when we have failed Him, every time we forgive someone, or someone forgives us. Mercy should be our mode of operation when we hurt others and when others hurt us. \u201cBlessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.\u201d Matthew 5:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When God forgives us, His ocean of mercy washes over us to wash us clean \u2013 through and through. That is His Divine Mercy. The apostle Paul is a great example of someone receiving God\u2019s Divine Mercy. We know he became a great evangelizer and wrote much of the New Testament. He led many to Christ, but what a past he had. Before his conversion to Christ, he arrested, tortured, and killed Christians. That was his job! He participated in the killing of Stephen, the first martyr. But God showed him mercy and he became one of the great saints of the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whoever we are \u2013 whatever we\u2019ve done — whether our sins are small or great, the mercy of God is available to all of us. The mercy of God is real! The mercy of God is the power of the resurrection still working today. You and I are not our past. Believe in it! Embrace it! God\u2019s Divine Mercy forgives, forgets, and even forges the way to becoming all God destined for us in the first place. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.\u201d Lamentations 3:22-23<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As sure as the sun rising in the east is me saying those words when I\u2019ve broken something, said something I shouldn\u2019t have, heard about devastation or someone\u2019s plight. Those are my \u201cgo to\u201d words without even thinking. I say those words often \u2013 particularly when I don\u2019t have adequate words to say otherwise. \u201cLorrrd,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12944,20314,18956],"tags":[611,1210,1769,4443,3226,3227,1382,9170,16817,40,110,12941,20313,753,12943,12942,20312],"class_list":["post-14155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-divine-mercy","category-lord-have-mercy","category-unmerited-favor","tag-blessed-are-the-merciful","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-compassionate","tag-covenant","tag-divine-mercy","tag-forgiveness","tag-gods-mercy","tag-have-mercy","tag-inspiration","tag-lord-have-mercy","tag-mercy-of-god","tag-ocean-of-mercy","tag-steadfast-love","tag-undeserved","tag-unmerited","tag-withold-judgment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14157,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14155\/revisions\/14157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}