TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 17TH JANUARY 2025)
“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Romans 9:14-16 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 17TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY.
It is another day from the LORD, and we give Him the glory. He has been faithful to us, and has kept us alive again, giving us another day to serve our generation according to His will.
In today’s devotional we want to look at the subject of God’s mercies. You will need a lot of it to survive the dark side of this year, and shine like God’s shining start even in the darkest moments.
Being vessels of His grace, we have seen so much from the bowels Of His mercies. We know how a life can look like under God’s mercies. Sometimes, I tell people who care to listen, “if you want to check how God’s mercy look like, please do not go far! Just look at me.”
I have come to realize that if God’s mercies do not rewrite our terrible and morally bankrupt stories, nothing else will.
When God’s mercy takes on your moral issues, it will not mess up your life by handing you over to God’s judgment. It will rebuild your life by leading you to the threshing floor; the place of repentance and reconstruction. That is the story of my life. Perhaps it is the story of your life too.
Perhaps you were once in a situation where everyone gave up on you, and thought you will never amount to anything, until God’s mercy came up and disappointed the expectations. We all have been there in some ways. People may say such things. But God’s mercy has no such sentiments.
In the school of God’s mercy, every saint was a sinner, and every sinner stands the chance of becoming a saint. There is no saint without a terrible past. That should tell you that anyone you see doing terrible things, stand the chance of becoming saints, and having what you see them do today as a past life.
God ordained His mercy to be the most powerful force on earth, especially for the salvation and redemption of the most valiant offender, who breaks down in submission to His will and ways.
MERCY IS GOD TAKING AWAY THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SINS AND GIVING US WHAT WE DO NOT DESERVE AT THE END.
All that is accessed through the door of repentance, and unlocked by the key of submission to divine will. Yes, men and women who submit to God’s will, are usually the ones who enjoy God’s mercies the most. They usually watch Him crowning their years with His goodness.
The Bible says in Psalm 65:11, “You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths drip with abundance.” May your 2025 be crowned with God’s goodness in Jesus precious name. May the best of God happen to you, and the worse of the year be far from you. Amen!!
Whenever God crowns a man’s year with His goodness, the paths He designed for him will begin to drip with abundance. When a year is beginning like this, those who will spend the months of that year following God’s will or ways, or God’s paths for their lives, will not miss His goodness.
They will watch Him crown that year with His goodness. That is how His mercies are released to change life stories.
For those who are not aware, I want to say this; towards the end of last year, the LORD said to us, “2025 is Our Year of Victory.” He then set paths for us to follow. We have decided to spend each day of the year 2025 following those paths.
The Bible teaches that following God’s paths, is the only way to position for His sure mercies. Saul lost God’s mercies because he departed from God’s paths for his life. But David had a different experience; God vowed that He will not take His mercies away from him like He took from Saul.
The reason is because David was sold out. The Bible says he was a man whose heart was after the LORD. We believe that if we become sold out to the LORD like David was, God will never remove His mercies from our lives.
We believe He has prepared His mercies to speak in our lives each day of this year, as we have already seen. A major highlight in our devotional text this morning quoted God saying, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
GOD HAS DECIDED TO HAVE MERCY ON US THIS YEAR; A MERCY THAT WILL MAKE THE YEAR A YEAR OF VICTORY.
Our job is to be sold out to His will and ways.
Sometimes we think that God’s mercy is for wicked people, who want to escape judgment. Well that is true but not the whole truth. Like I have always stated, the righteous need more mercy from God than the wicked. Yes, God’s Children needs more mercy than the lost.
The reason is because it does not take any effort to stand strong in sin. But it takes a lot of effort, external support from Heaven, to stand strong in righteousness. So, we need more mercy from God that the wicked does. Peter shows us this when He said,
Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. 1 Peter 4:18-19 NKJV
This scripture made it very clear that we need more mercy from God than the lost. The Bible made it clear that the challenges of saying yes to Jesus are not easy without God. It says if we the righteous are scarcely saved, where will the ungodly or sinner appear?
We need a lot of mercy from God to retain our salvation after receiving Christ as LORD and savior. Everyone knows that becoming a true Child of God is not the end but the beginning. The real warfare is not in becoming but retaining your position or status in the Spirit as a true Child of God.
It’s possible to lose what makes you a true Child of God if there is no mercy in your life as a righteous Child of God. Jesus tells us the possibility of this happening when He said,
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” Matthew 5:13 NKJV
WE NEED GOD’S MERCY NOT TO LOSE OUR FLAVOUR AS CHILDREN OF GOD, BECAUSE OF ALL WE HAVE SEEN ABOVE.
Another highlight in our devotional text today says, “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Meaning, to retain our flavor as the salt of the earth, will not be by might nor by power but by the mercy of the LORD!
Zechariah the prophet puts it this way;
So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6 NKJV
I believe God is answering us today and saying, “yes, you need to make sure you do not lose your flavor as my child, but it will not be by power or by might but by my Spirit. In other words, by His mercies!
Paul will later warn, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV). How do you take heed? You take heed by knowing that it’s not by might or power, but by the mercies of God, and then going all out for it by becoming sold out to do His will.
Friend, when it comes to “walking” and “talking” with GOD, or retaining your flavor as His child it is indeed not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
If God’s mercy is on your life, you will be able to overcome temptations.
If God’s mercy is on your life, trials of faith will not be able to defeat you. You will always come out victorious. If God’s mercy is on you, He will make sure you find a way of escape in any circumstances of life. You will be living longer than your enemies.
A lot of people have oil from preachers on their heads, but they do not have God’s mercies on their heads. Some others have so called altars they have raised or silenced on their behalf, but do not have God’s mercies risen over their lives and silencing every activity of darkness in their lives.
You will need God’s mercies to have the best of the year, not the dark practices of altar raising and etc.
Understand that this is a new year, and believe that the LORD has released new mercies to see us through the year. What that calls for is faith. Do not Fear whatever might happen, just be sold out to the LORD, and the year will be one of the best years of your life. Amen and amen!!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” Lamentations 3:20-24 NKJV