TODAY’S DEVOTION (Thursday 18th November 2021)
“I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
With the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. For You will save the humble people, but will bring down haughty looks.” Psalms 18:23-27 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 321st DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS.
We are all beneficiaries of God’s mercy. We owe our God thanks every now and then. He has been kind and loving to us that is why we are even alive.
As always, He does not deal with us according to our wickedness but according to the multitude of His mercies. That is why we can be rescued from a life of sin and given pardon and power to lead a life of righteousness.
He does not swiftly condemn a sinner to eternal damnation but helps him or her to come out of a life of sin into a life of righteousness. It is when the sinner resists Him that he or she losses eternally. One major thing we must all learn is how to make use of God’s mercies and lead a righteous life before Him, instead of living in the sin that lives in us.
To make use of God’s mercies we must understand all about His mercies.
Like I stated earlier, we are all beneficiaries of God’s mercies. It is responsible for all deliverance, breakthroughs and miracles in God’s kingdom. It is responsible for divine visitations, outpourings of the Holy Ghost, and etc.
That is why under the true Christ, you do not sow a seed to get a breakthrough. Its under Baal they do that. God rewards giving but you don’t have to give money to unlock things that are designed to come by God’s mercies.
His mercies are responsible for our sleep and our wake up many of us do not even deserve to wake up because of our level of wickedness. That is why Heaven roars each time we do not show mercy to our fellow humans having being beneficiaries of God’s mercy ourselves.
If God’s Mercy says “no” to any judgment that we deserve before God and we do not say “yes” to those who ask for our mercy by cancelling any punishment they deserve, even our going to Heaven as Christians will be at risk.
Many of us do not know that after accepting Jesus Christ as LORD and savior and remaining faithful to Him, the next qualification for making Heaven is showing mercy to others. The word says,
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV
THIS SCRIPTURE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SCRIPTURES IN THE BIBLE, SO LONG AS MAKING HEAVEN IS CONCERN.
It is one of the most important scriptures so long as obtaining mercy from God’s throne is concern. Two things will get a man to Heaven, holiness and walking in love and mercy towards others. Holiness alone or walking in mercy alone will never see anyone through. The two are the key.
Sadly, Satan knows this more than us, believers. That is why he makes those who are walking in holiness and righteousness not to walk in love towards those who offend them and needs their mercy.
That is why he makes sure after you have achieved a stable walk with the LORD, you get surrounded by those who return evil for your good so that you have a soul to hate and hinder yourself from making Heaven despite your upright walk with the LORD.
So many who have achieved an upright walk with the LORD are lacking in the area of showing mercy because of the multitude of troubles they have faced in life for leading good lives before God and men. They have people the hate silently and will never forgive for the unjust treatment they got or are getting from them.
Some hate their parents, siblings, uncles, aunties, or colleagues and even those they have been very kind to for the unjust attacks they get from them. Once you archive an upright walk with the LORD, the next thing to do is to keep your heart free of hate and un-forgiveness by the power of the LORD, because it is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit.
You must understand that no one whose sins have not been forgiven can enter Heaven. Again the scripture said;
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV
YOU MUST GET THIS SCRIPTURE AND WHAT IT TEACHES ESTABLISHED IN YOUR HEART.
You must understand that if we give our lives to Christ and start living His way and will, it’s a sign that our sins have been forgiven. The next work to do to keep them forgiven is forgiving others their trespasses, because it takes men whose sins have been forgiven to make Heaven.
What are we sharing this morning? After repentance the next harvest God expects from us (for sowing a seed of mercy into our lives) is walking in love – showing mercy to others and forgiving them their trespasses against us.
We must understand that the difference between true Christianity and human religion is the presence of God’s mercy in human religion.
A friend who was a non Christian but later gave his life to the LORD once told me that there is no mercy in the religion he abandoned. He said there is no forgiveness there and that is why he was deciding for Jesus.
He said in his religion they believe in “an eye for an eye” and “a tooth for a tooth.” And that no matter how long it takes, or how deep an offender may have repented of his sins, judgment will still be executed. He said repentance and pleas for mercy does not change laws among them! It got me thinking.
Then I began to understand why one non-Christian leader in Nigeria, who was maltreated and imprison in a coup many years ago as a military leader, would return back to power after those years to revenge his imprisonment on those who played one role or the other in a guise of fighting corruption.
Sadly, even what we call Christianity today has become like that in many quarters!
What gives great beauty to true Christianity and separates it from man-made religion is forgiveness of sins and release of divine mercy to sinners. So if a so called believer do not show mercy to those who may have hurt him and repented (or not), he takes away this shine from the Christian faith.
I also remember what a worshiper of a false god whose name I do not want to mention said. He said “there is no mercy or forgiveness in our worship.” That once one offends the gods, he goes for it.
You can even see that in our African Movies. The gods do not forgive because Satan has no capacity for mercy. Another woman that was a high class sorceress said the same thing. She said once you offend in the kingdom of Satan, there is no mercy.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD STANDS OUT BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE!
That is the only place you find unconditional, love, great mercies and pardon for sins. Only in true Christianity you find love, mercy and forgiveness! That is why Heaven will be full of ex-sinners who were forgiven; ex-harlots, ex-adulterers, ex-extortionist, ex- liars, ex-murderers, ex-fornicators, ex-drug barons, ex-homosexuals, ex-lesbians, ex-terrorists like Saul who later became Paul, ex-witches and wizards. Hallelujah! It will be full of sinners turned saints by the power of the blood of Jesus (a sacrifice of God’s mercy).
The month of Mercy can be a month of restoring back the shine of God to your walk and talk with Him by walking in love and mercy to others.
However, in showing mercy, you must be guided by grace and truth and be careful not to allow it to become a breeding ground for wickedness.
Those who frustrate God’s mercy (people who use it as a breeding ground for wickedness) are usually punished in the kingdom of God. Only those who make a proper use of it are usually blessed.
So if your acts of love and mercy become a breeding ground for wickedness to grow and thrive, you will be in trouble yourself because you will be over stepping the bounds GOD has set. I have seen Christians destroying themselves by over stepping the bounds God has set in the release of Mercy.
That is when they become more merciful than GOD Himself. That is dangerous!
For instance, in 1 Kings 13, the young prophet from Judah got himself killed because of that. If he had not shown mercy to the king God judged and exposed his spiritual safety codes in the process, he would not have been killed by a lion.
WHEN IT COMES TO SHOWING MERCY, GOD HIMSELF IS THE STANDARD – THE VERY STANDARD WE MUST FOLLOW.
Ecclesiastes warned that we should not be over righteous because we will destroy ourselves. David knew that very well. That was why he stated what we find in our devotional text this morning.
A major highlight of the text says,
“With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with a blameless man you will show yourself blameless; with the pure you will show yourself pure; and with the devious you will show yourself shrewd. For you will save the humble people, but will bring down haughty looks.” Psalm 18:25-27
We can glean truths on how to show mercy to others from this scripture. You find four kinds of hearts in the scripture.
1. The Merciful Heart
2. The blameless Heart
3. The Pure Heart
4. The Devious Heart.
God weighs the heart not the head. He weighs a man’s heart before seeding great mercies into his life. That is what we must do if we will not be over righteous as the scriptures warned. Don’t forget, He is our standard for showing mercy. But to do that successfully we must lean on His Holy Spirit and submit to His Holy Word – the Bible.
For instance, a man’s “head” could be wrong forcing him to react to the pressure and perils of life in a very bad and sinful way, but his “heart” right – merciful, blameless, or pure. I have seen good people doing very bad things. You know this person’s heart is right it’s just his head that is wrong.
He is good at heart but foolish in his ways!
God will show mercy to this kind of a person because He knows the person will not use it to groom wickedness. He will rather use it to repent form his sins and live according to the nature of his heart – merciful, blameless or pure. But the same cannot be said to the fourth kind of heart on the table – a devious heart.
The Bible says to the devious God will show Himself shrewd. Not merciful, blameless or pure but shrewd. And that can be dangerous you know! He knows if He shows Himself merciful to them, they will use it as a breeding ground for wickedness.
I believe the message of today’s devotional has been passed. May God use these words to give you an inheritance among they that are sanctified! AMEN!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY.
“For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall.
As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” Psalms 18:28-30 NKJV