“Lord, Have Mercy!” As a boy growing up in the south, I would hear that phrase several times a week, every week.  I think most of the people who would say “Lord, Have Mercy!” would say it, part out of frustration and part as a prayer.  The reality is that we all need some mercy.  As for me, I need more than some mercy, I need a lot of mercy and I am thankful that God supplies it!

Jesus Was All About Mercy! Jesus came to earth on a mission of mercy!  Hebrews 4:14-16 says: “Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Jesus became human and got into our skin and this is exactly what mercy is all about!

Mercy is much more than just concern for people and their needs. Mercy is about getting inside of the other person’s skin, seeing life from their perspective and being moved to do something about what you see.  Mercy is messy work!  When you see life through the eyes of another, or when you feel the sting of pain that burns another, or when you identify with the needs of another, then you begin to understand another and are prepared to show mercy to another!

We all need mercy and God has given it to us! We deserve Hell and eternal separation from God, but God in mercy does not give us what we deserve, instead He offers us His love, which provides grace, mercy and forgiveness and all that we have to do is accept these amazing gifts and our lives will change!

Since God has given these gifts to us – we should give these gifts to each other! Who do you need to show some mercy?  I encourage you to make a list, begin to try to see life from the other person’s perspective and have mercy!

I thought about taking a day off from the blog, but then when I got on here to tell you that I was going to take a day off from the blog, I realized that if I told you that I was taking a day off from the blog – on the blog, then I was really not taking a day off from the blog.  So I was thinking about taking a day off from the blog, but decided not to take a day off from the blog after I got here and started blogging.  I hope you enjoyed it!  God Bless & Press On!

Our goal today is to learn how to make hunger and thirst for righteousness work! To make it work you have to walk backwards through the first three Beatitudes! You cannot hunger and thirst for the things of God, unless you surrender control.  You will not surrender control, until you face up to and are sorry for your sin.  You will not face up to and be sorry for your sin, until you die to self. It all begins with dying to self!

Life is not about me! That really is a hard pill to swallow!  Life is about ETERNITY WITH GOD and my getting prepared for it.  God gives us our lives so that we might have the opportunity to make a choice to have a relationship with Him that will last forever and always.  “I” get in the way – way to much!  This is why it is so important that we learn to “die to self!”  If I stop and consider reality, then reality tells me that I am nothing without Jesus. If I am nothing without Him, then what am I with Him? When I learn to change my thinking, then my living will follow by understanding that me and my sin get in the way of God’s great plan.  When I start to grasp the cost of my sin, then I will be sorry for my sin and look for a way to gain victory over this thing that gets in the way of God’s amazing plan for my life.

I am a sinner! I don’t like to say that, but it is so freeing when I do, because it is the truth.  My sin gets in the way of God’s plan, so I/We/Somebody has got to do something about my sin.  This is why Jesus came – to pay the price that I could not.  God does not want to hold sin against you.  God wants to forgive sin and give you victory over it.  We cannot have victory without admission, confession and repentance!  Admit your sins – own up to them!  Confess them to God and ask for His forgiveness!  Repent – change your direction and give God the glory!  By the way this is what it means to MOURN in the Beatitudes!  When we come to this place of admission, then it should not be to far of a jump for us to come to the place of surrendering, giving up, letting go of control.

I get in the way! I have got to learn to do what God wants me to do and stop doing what He does not want me to do.  I need to be MEEK!  I seem to get this one reversed!  I don’t do what He wants and I do what He does not want.  I used to think that this meant that I needed to take my hands off of the steering wheel and let somebody else drive, but I think what it really means is that I need to listen to and follow the directions that I am given.  What good is a GPS if you are not going to listen to what the little man or woman tells you?  What good is God going to be able to do your life if you will not listen to and follow His directions?

You don’t have to be in control! You are never really  in control anyway!  Even when you think you are in control, it is just an illusion – because at any moment the next thing around the corner could be the thing that change’s everything!  Surrender control, not by throwing up your hands and doing nothing, but by listening for and responding to the still, small voice of God.  When you get to this place, you can’t help but to hunger and thirst for the righteous stuff of God!