TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER 2023)
“Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies’ sake.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name.” Daniel 9:17-19 ASV
WELCOME TO THE 270TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS
It’s another great day of God’s mercy, prepared before the foundation of the world for us all. This is the day the LORD has made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it! No matter what may be wrong with you, make up your mind to rejoice, and be glad today because it is the day that the LORD has made.
If you seed joy into this day, it will bring back a harvest of peace into your life. That is why men like David will always rise with a song to the ears of God early in the morning; they will rise with a psalm to the LORD, irrespective of what they might be going through. He said in one of his Psalms,
“God, you are my God; early will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
So I have looked for you in the sanctuary, to see your power and your glory.” Psalms 63:1-2 NKJV
You cannot look for the LORD in His sanctuary, to see His power and glory, and not get a miracle from Him. His mercies will always run after you, and get your life filled with it. It’s been our season of uncovering basic truths on God’s Mercies, and today the LORD has decided to open another chamber of His wisdom to us.
Sometimes, as children of God, we do not really know what we need. We always know what we WANT, but do not always know what we NEED. WANTS are different from NEEDS and does not satisfy, but they have a way of making us very desperate. But sooner or later we wake up to find out that it is not what we wanted that we really needed.
ONE MAJOR THING WE NEED THAT MANY OF US DO NOT KNOW IS GOD’S “GREAT MERCIES.”
Now, I did not say “God’s Mercy,” I said “God’s Great Mercies.” To understand the difference between the two, it’s important that we look at this scripture in the book of Isaiah. The Bible says,
“For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. Isaiah 54:7-9 NKJV
This word was initially spoken to the natural Israelites, but being spiritual Israelites, the word is now spoken to us. If you look at it carefully, you will realize that, God did not deploy His mercies to restore Israel back to their land, following the level of wickedness that sent them away. God deployed His GREAT MERCIES. Let me explain what I mean.
Let’s leave the nation of Israel aside because their story is well known by many. Let’s look at the generation of Noah whose striking story is still unknown to many.
How did God deploy his great mercies on the generation of Noah? First, He deployed it to help the evil generation enter the ark. He was not mindful of their wicked deeds, He just asked them to enter freely. But their wicked hearts prevented them from entering; and this is how it all happened. God had said to Noah;
“The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch.”
The Bible further made it clear that while Noah was building the ark, he was preaching to them by his actions. The purpose of that was to give them an opportunity to turn to the LORD! He preached for 120 years but none repented. That was Great Mercies! Then the flood came and wiped them all away.
HOWEVER, THE GREAT MERCIES WERE NOT RECALLED.
They continued on the earth, and would later manifest in two ways;
1. The “waters of Noah declaration” in Genesis 8:20-22, resounded again when God was speaking about the restoration of Israel.
2. The descending of Jesus into the land of the dead to preach to the spirits of these rebellious men and women of Noah’s generation over 4000 years later, was a continuation of that initial manifestation.
You may not have seen that in scriptures but Peter exposed it to us!
The Bible says there is no repentance in the grave (or land of the dead) but God’s Great Mercies are not cheap mercies – they made Him to go beyond the boundaries – beyond the grave to get the dead born again.
He went beyond the boundaries God has set, to give those lost souls of the generation of Noah an opportunity to hear the gospel from His own mouth and repent. That was not “God’s mercy” in manifestation but “GOD’S GREAT MERCIES” in manifestation.
That was the only time that God deployed His Great Mercies beyond the grave, and it is the last time that it will ever happen according to scriptures. Though people in our age and time still experience what looks like this, through near death experiences. The revelation of God’s great mercies, and how to recognize and respond to it, is therefore very vital to our survival as humans.
God does not deploy great mercies anyhow. They are deployed to save lives in extreme situations. For Israel, Ezekiel described their situation as grave. 2 Chronicles said they rebelled and resisted the word of the LORD by the mouth of His prophets until there was no remedy in Heaven or on earth for them. The result was the loss of the land of Israel for many years.
They were not in need of mercies from God. They were in need of great mercies. And when that was deployed, they were restored. What they lost for many years was restored in one year. God gathered them back to their land by His Great Mercies – everlasting kindness.
The Bible says;
“For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the Lord, your Redeemer. Isaiah 54:7-8
SOMEONE READING THIS IS NOT IN NEED OF MERCY BUT IN NEED OF GREAT MERCIES.
You need God to go beyond the rules He has set to save you by giving you another chance. You need God to take His eyes off the scriptures you may have broken and look at you with great Mercies so that you will not perish like the rest. You need God to take you back into His arms as a servant not as a son. David was in the same state, when he prayed unto God to activate His Great Mercies towards him. He said unto Him,
“Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to your mercy remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.” Psalms 25:6-7 NKJV
“Great mercies” do not remember the sins of a man’s youth. It erases them! It will take a broken and shattered life that deserves death and even eternal damnation and mold it back into a temple for God in the Sprit. It will take a broken heart or marriage and mold it into the most beautiful thing on earth.
A prayer for help that Mercy may say no to, Great Mercies will say yes to! At this point, it’s important that we uncover what great mercies are in God’s kingdom. If you are a good Bible student, you will realize that eternal punishment in the lake of fire will not be the same – there will be one lake of fire but different levels of eternal punishments in the fire.
Now this is not a purgatory theology. I was a Roman Catholic. We were taught of purgatory but when I became a student of Christ, I discovered that there is no purgatory in scriptures. Jesus Himself said “God will give to everyone according to His level of wickedness.” In other words, everyone whose name is not written in the book of life, will be thrown into the lake of fire. There will be one lake for all of them all, but their torment will be determined by what they did on earth while alive.
THE REASON IS BECAUSE, GOD IS JUST; HE WILL GIVE TO EVERYMAN ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS!
The same will be done to those whose names are written in the book of life! Our rewards will not be the same. We will be rewarded eternally according to our works also. Faithfulness to what God called each and every one of us to do is what will determine the weight of each person’s rewards.
Now, these two prophetic exposures should tell us that Mercies also has weight or levels in the Spirit. Great mercies are bigger than just mercy. What God had on the Egyptians who followed Israel out of Egypt was mercy. The Bible called them mixed multitudes. That was why when they spread carnal cravings in the wilderness to the Israelites, God consumed them with fire.
They forgot that what they were riding on was mercy, not great mercies, hence failing to behave well. A man who is under God’s mercy will be thrown out swiftly as soon as he errs, but the one under His great mercies will not. You find that in the story of Saul and David.
Saul had mercy, but David had great mercies. What determine what you have is your passion for God, and His will. How your heart is towards Him, and how synchronized with His will and ways you are! David was a man after His heart, but Saul was not. That was the difference.
Friend, this is a great spiritual truth that Sons of the kingdom, should take time to meet God for further revelation. What I did this morning is to open up the lid, so that each and every one, can take an adventure into the word to find out more.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE A PRAYER GUIDE FOR US TODAY!
To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in you; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on you be ashamed; let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.
Show me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to your mercy remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord.” Psalms 25:1-7 NKJV