Touched by God’s Grace and Mercy
Grace is one of the most important subjects in the whole of scripture because it is by grace that we are saved and it is through grace; through God’s help, that we are able to continue our Christian journey (Ephesians 2:8-9). The grace of God isn’t just something we mutter at the end of a Church Service or prayer time. The grace of God is the wing of God’s love and kindness that carries us through every day and every situation.
Hebrews 4:16 tells us that God is seated on a throne of grace, and we are all encouraged to boldly and confidently approach His throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. It is at God’s throne of grace that personal needs are addressed and attended to.
We have so many personal needs we want God to attend to. Some people badly need strength to pray and fast. Some others need a new beginning; a complete change from how things have been for years. Some people are about to make a crucial decision and need God to guide and direct them, while there are people who are in a serious mess right now. It could be a financial, marital or sexual mess and they desperately need God to bring them out of the mess they are in. For some, it is like everything around them seems to be collapsing. It looks like their marriage, business or ministry is about to collapse. Whatever the size or length of your problem or need, I want to assure you that God is seated on His throne of grace and as you come before His throne of grace, you will be shown mercy and given the appropriate help you need (grace) for whatever issue you have brought to God.
The woman in Matthew 15:21-28 wasn’t entitled to healing; she wasn’t a beneficiary of the covenant promise of healing. Jesus told her out rightly that the blessing of healing wasn’t meant for her (Matthew 15: 24, 26). She didn’t deserve or merit it, yet we saw grace in action in her life and she was able to receive a breakthrough that she wasn’t ordinarily entitled to. Why? She prayed THE PRAYER FOR MERCY. The prayer for God to have mercy on you is a very simple and short prayer, but we see from the lives of those in scripture who sincerely prayed this prayer, that it is the most comprehensive and powerful prayer anyone can pray. In fact, if we understand how powerful this prayer is we would spend more time praying it and less time praying about many of the things we pray about.
The first thing this prayer does is to remove the sin barrier. Isaiah 59:1-2 makes us understand that sin can be a barrier or obstacle to the hand of God touching a person. The prayer of mercy is what removes that sin barrier standing as an obstacle to your receiving your blessing or breakthrough (Psalm 51:1). David said he was able to scale over walls by God’s strength (2 Samuel 22:30, Psalm 18:19). The prayer for God’s mercy filled David with divine grace to scale over walls of sin that could have stood as a barrier or hindrance to his receiving answers to his prayers. When God’s grace flows and God’s mercy locates you, you are given blessings, testimonies and breakthroughs you don’t deserve or aren’t qualified to receive.
The prayer of mercy gives you victory over your enemies. This is because when God looks upon you with mercy, you are immediately put in a position where your enemies can never triumph over you. David frequently prayed this prayer for God to have mercy on him (Psalm 4:1, Psalm 6:2, Psalm 25:16, Psalm 31:9, Psalm 51: 1, Psalm 86:3, 16, just to mention a few). It was because of this prayer that he gained victory over enemies that came against him from all sides. None of his enemies were able to defeat him because all through his life, his simple prayer was for God’s mercy to locate him and this prayer shielded him from all his enemies.
The prayer for mercy isn’t a prayer you pray once and give up. You have to PERSIST even when you don’t see or get an immediate answer. When the woman in Matthew 15:21-28 asked Jesus to have mercy on her, He didn’t answer her immediately, but she still persisted. When Blind Bartimaeus called out to Jesus to have mercy on him, people shouted on him to keep quiet, but he still persisted (Matthew 15:23, Mark 10:48). Their persistence in praying this prayer, made them recipients of the grace and mercy of God; it gave them the answer they were seeking for.
The prayer for mercy singles you out of the crowd to receive divine attention (Mark 10:46). There was a crowd of people with so many issues and problems following Jesus when He was leaving Jericho, but it was only one man – Blind Bartimeaus that received divine attention because he prayed the prayer for God’s mercy. Right now in the spiritual realm, there’s heavy traffic to God. All over the world, people are calling on God. I pray that today God will hear your voice amongst the millions of people calling out to Him and give you special divine attention.
The prayer for mercy gives you a divine solution to a nagging, reoccurring or long-standing problem. The woman in Matthew 15:21-28 had a problem; her daughter was suffering terribly from demon possession. Blind Bartimeaus had a problem; he was suffering from blindness, but the day the Lord had mercy on them, those problems became a thing of the past. May this be your portion and testimony as you call out to God today with all of your heart, to have mercy on you.
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