Monday, February 7, 2011

His Mercy Endures Forever

How great it is that Gods has mercy forever.  I read this Psalm 136 and was filled with joy.  No matter what I do God's mercy will endure.  He will always forgive sin (1John 1:9) and when He forgives He remembers them no more (Psalm 103:12).
To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 136:5
Who remembered us in our low estate:  for his mercy endureth forever.  And who hath redeemed us from our enemies:  for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 136:23-24
These are three verses in that text that illustrates three important points about the mercy of God.  

1. God doesn't have to give mercy to us.  He has all power all might and all wisdom.  Would it be smart to redeem a people who so much caused Him pain? (...by wisdom made the heavens...)

2. God is the only one who can forgive. "...who hath redeemed us..."  If something is redeemed that means that it is bought back.  If you buy back something that means it was whoever's buying it backs first.  Like at a pawn shop only the owner's pawn ticket can buy back the item.  That is what Christ did.  He died to cover our sins and He bought back all of mankind that believe on Him.

3.  God did this because He loves us.  "Who remembered us in our low estate..."  God loves us so much that He would do anything to take us out of the pain and struggle we put our own selves through.  He remembers us at all times, watching over us though we sometimes care not what He thinks.  It takes great love for a person to continue to look after someone after so much rejection.  That is why I love my God.  He still loves me though I ran from Him for many years. I am glad to call Him Father.

God's mercy endures forever!
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 136:1
 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Desperation

We should be in a desperate longing for God.  We should constantly be crying out to Him, seeking His will in our lives, and loving Him fully.  We should have an overwhelming desire to be near the LORD and to feel His presence.
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee O LORD.  Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.  I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.  My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning:  I say, more than they that watch for the morning.  Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.  And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Psalm 130
When we read this verse we should feel desperation and need for the Father.  The writer is seeking forgiveness for sin. "Out of the depths have I cried..."  This guy is earnestly desire for God to hear him."...let thine ears be attentive..."  We need to be this desperate for God.  This is a call for repentance.  We have got to cry out to God from the depths of our sin and flesh.  We have got to ask God to hear our cries.  I believe this is part of seeking His face.  Seeking his face is to have that desire for God to speak and for His will to be revealed in our lives.

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  We have got to know the truth.  This guy knew the truth.  He knew he was a sinner.  Not all sins are big.  Not all people sin big.  Lecrae said in one of his songs that people always ask the question "If there is a God then where is He in all the murder and in the rape?"  but his rebuttal to this is "Why doesn't God let us feel the wrath of sin?"  What Lecrae is getting at is that sin is more than rape and killing. It is even lust, lying, and our evil thought.  Anything contrary to God is sin and we have all strayed from His perfect will.

But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.  But thanks be to God that was not the end of it.  God gives forgiveness.  There is only one able to forgive and make clean our sins and He has done it.  GOD has shown His love by sending His Son to die.  In that death the blood of Christ has covered all of our sins.

 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.  In that forgiveness of sin our love comes.  We love God because of His love for us (1John 4:10).  And through that love we wait on Him. The Hebrew word for wait is qâvâh.  This means to expect or wait eagerly.  When we wait on the Lord it is in excitement to see what God's plan carried out will be.  We can expect it to be carried out because He said it would be.  His word is sure. On the forgiveness of sins we know that He forgives so we wait for that Holiness gotten through confession (1John 1:9). However, for revival of our souls if we seek God to change our stagnant faith we can expect a consuming fire to fall upon us.

 Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.  And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.  The love of God changes people.  When we seek God in desperation to change our lives He does.  And when He changes our lives we know that He can change others.  I love how on a lot of Psalms it talks about how the country will benefit from the LORD.  Imagen every Christian on bended knee praying to seek revival in their own hearts seeking God in desperation. What would this country be (2Chronicles 7:14)?

Desperation is one who is willing to do any extravagant act regardless of consequences.  Are we willing to be desperate.  Thats in our prayer life.  Can we pray for more than five minutes?  In our bible readings, can we take scripture read and apply it to our lives everyday?  In our public life.  Can we walk the faith in which we were called to?  I challenge you to be desperate.  What could be more worth it?