"SOWING SEEDS AND DEEDS OF GREATNESS" - MERCY

By Mary Lindow

Then he (Jesus) added,

"Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture:

'I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.'

For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous,

But those who know they are sinners."

Matthew 9:13

It has been said that after the French Revolution, a certain convict that was released on parole traveled the countryside in search of a new beginning. Being an ex-con, as you would expect, led to complications in this search, and he wound up at the gates of a clergyman who agreed to host him for the night.

The convict, as is well known, takes advantage of the bishop’s generosity: getting up early before dawn, he takes off with the bishop’s silver; his escape however is hindered by the local Police Inspector, who after seemingly catching him presents the presumed thief to the bishop for identification. The bishop, without missing a beat, covers for his sneaky guest and speaks such words of kindness over the convict’s past present and future, through releasing him even though caught red handed and deserving of further punishment.

His words? They were profound and dripped of Mercy.

"My friend, you forgot to take the candlesticks as well."

For those of you who are perhaps not familiar with the story about the convict/man and the priest I just spoke of, I am referring to Victor Hugo’s book “ Les Miserables.”

I think Victor Hugo shows something of the challenge of today’s Message of the Gospel that Jesus would want us each to hear and to act upon.

"Be merciful, as your Father is merciful." -Luke 6:36

NOBODY LIKES A BULLY OR TO BE TALKED DOWN TO.

Maybe it is easy for us to be merciful when we have the upper hand.  If someone comes begging for forgiveness, it becomes a show–of generosity of spirit, but a show nonetheless–that we are in some way better than that person. Picture elegant royals, who, moments before the execution of a criminal would decree their royal pardon, leaving a lasting impression of compassion upon those pleading for another chance.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY GODLY MERCY WORKS.

Oh how merciful is our Father! It’s not that our faults are not important to an immeasurable God. We have without a doubt deeply wounded the ties that bind us to him.

Yet he still holds out his hand, bloodied and deformed holes in them, created by the nails put in, even to his enemies.

TODAY JESUS INVITES US TO RE-EVALUATE OUR MERCY:

How deeply do I forgive those who offend me?

Do I pray for them, or allow my forgiveness to become a show of winning the upper hand?  (Another way of showing false humility.)

The forgiving priest not only forgave Jean Valjean’s theft, he created an excuse for him, and even gave away the last of his own treasure, in the hopes that Valjean would be able to start a new life, knowing that he was shown the purest of love and authentic mercy.

MERCY MEANS…

Empathy, pity, sympathy, understanding; favor, grace; benevolence, care, compassion, gentleness, goodness, goodwill, humaneness, kindliness, meekness, mildness, niceness, softness, tenderness; generosity, affection, devotion, love, worship

IT ALSO MEANS…

…Letting go of harshness, accusation, presuming you know better what others need in order for them to better serve God. When we act out like this, we become much like Javert the Police Inspector hounding and lording it over Jean Valjean, bent on making sure all deeds that do not measure up to our way of justice are fully dealt with.

He felt sure that God wanted him to be the individual who would measure out justice and harsh terms of punishment in order to break John Valejan, thus having him pay the price of his wickedness and perchance if once finally shattered and broken, he may perhaps have God look his way .

"DON'T GET MAD -- GET EVEN?”

This seems to be the usual way people view the world nowadays. We should be thankful that God takes a different view of things. Although the Bible makes it clear that God is the Great Judge who hates all evil doing, he is also the Merciful One, who forgives and accepts people who turn to him.

Occasionally God chooses not to grant us mercy; for the purpose of judgment, rebuke, discipline, or testing. Fortunately, for most of us, this is the exception, not the rule.  For the time being, God has shown incredible patience and mercy by withholding most of the effects of our sins.

I will have mercy, on whom I will have mercy,

And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

Rom 9:15

  

GOD IS NOT ALWAYS SCOLDING US!

"He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever."

Psalm 103:9

Could God find reasons to scold His children all the time? Indeed, He could! None of us are perfect. We could all do better.

However, as justified as scolding us would be, God realizes that we would easily be discouraged if all we ever heard was scolding.

When He scolds us He is correcting us so that we confess our sins and do better.

"The Lord All-Powerful says, “They belong to me; on that day they will be my very own. 

As a parent shows mercy to his child who serves him, I will show mercy to my people."

Malachi 3:17

ASK GOD FOR THE HELP YOU NEED TO OVERCOME SIN.

Face the reality that much of the suffering in our fallen world is caused by human sin.   But count on the fact that God is merciful toward all sinners. Whenever you recognize a situation in which some of your own sin has contributed to your suffering, pray for help, and God will give you the strength you need to overcome sin. Stop holding onto any sinful secrets that have been causing guilt, shame and bitterness in your soul. Confess your sins specifically, repent of them, accept the forgiveness that God offers you, and embrace the power that God gives you to move forward into a better life.

LISTEN FOR GOD SPEAKING IN THE SILENCE.

When your suffering becomes so painful that you can’t make any sense of it or figure out how to endure it, you may feel as if you’re trapped in silence, since nothing that other people say or do to try to help actually breaks through to you. But when you’re at the point where you don’t hear anything else, you can actually hear God best, since you’re less likely to get distracted by the world’s noise around you. In the silence, pour out your thoughts and feelings to God in prayer, and then listen to what He has to say to you. God won’t shout, but He will whisper, to encourage you to keep drawing closer to Him.

SUFFERING IS ALL AROUND YOU IN THIS FALLEN WORLD.

Sometimes it’s so tragic that it’s heartbreaking. Yet, God promises that He is loving and merciful. How can you reconcile these two realities that seem like they compete against each other?

The key is to look for God’s mercy, even when it seems like it can’t exist with the suffering you encounter. God’s mercy is a stronger force than even the worst suffering, and when you look for it, you’ll find it.

The spirit, which he sent to live in us, wants us for him alone.

James 4:5

WE ARE GOD’S OWN.

LET US NOT BE AFRAID TO BE LIKE OUR FATHER.

Let our hearts be conduits of God’s mercy, knowing that we ourselves have been forgiven so very much.

Let us communicate our thanks to Him by being overflowing vessels of kind and tender expression, showing God’s mercy to all.

The Lord is kind and shows mercy.

He does not become angry quickly

But is full of love.

Psalm 145:8

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www.marylindow.com

www.globalprayerrooms.com

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" Who Really Cares About Friends Who Are Suffering? ”

              

By Mary Lindow

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please us the player below or to your right in the sidebar column

SUFFERING AND SORROW ARE A PART OF LIFE.

Knowing this, however, doesn't make it any easier to cope when you find yourself in the midst of the deepest, darkest trials of faith, and mentally anguish and strain.

Don't you wish Christianity could make you exempt from suffering? That would be great, but as most of us have learned, following our faith doesn't give us a free ride. We catch as much trouble as unbelievers—often more.

The difference, of course, is that we can turn to Jesus when things gowrong. Unbelievers might argue that we're only turning to our imagination, but we know better.

At some time in your life, however, suffering will hit you so hard that you won’t be able to do any of those things, and that dark time will probably visit you more than once.

“Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright,

for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.”

Psalm 112:4

WE ALL WANT THINGS WE DON'T GET.

Maybe it's a person you're sure would make a perfect spouse, and the relationship crumbles apart. Maybe it's a better job or promotion, and you don't make the cut.

Or it might be a goal you poured your time and energy into, and it doesn't come to pass or others sabotage it all.

All of us have prayed for the recovery of loved ones who were ill, but they died anyway.

It takes real spiritual maturity to stay faithful when things go wrong, but severing our relationship with God punishes us, not him.

It's self-destructive behavior that can put us on the path to a miserablelife. The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke15:11-32) teaches us that God always wants us to come back to him.

Whether your problem is discouragement, illness or aging, sometimes allyou have left is Jesus. When you're angry and bitter, you can still cling to Jesus in the midst of your tears.

You can grab onto him and refuse to let go until he brings you through it. You'll find, to your surprise that he holds on to you even tighter than you hold on to him.

JESUS UNDERSTANDS SORROW.

He knows about being hurt. He remembers the terrible moment on the cross when his Father was forced to abandon him, because he was filthyfrom taking on our sins. Jesus won't let you go.’

And as you age and start down the path from this life to the next, Jesus will take your hand to guide you. He appreciates all that you have done for him through the years, but what he has always wanted most is your love.

So there you are in the middle of one of life's train-wrecks-dazed, wounded, wondering what shoe-or bomb-will be dropping next, and up walks Job's comforters.

We all remember Job from the Bible. A rich, powerful man, a great father and good in every way was Job. Then, in a series of overlapping upheavals, he lost everything and everybody except his wife-who turned out to be a whole lot less than sympathetic in her changed status.

Battered Job ends up sitting alone on a pile of dirt, scratching his boil-covered body with some broken pottery.

WE CAN IDENTIFY WITH POOR JOB.

Life drags us through some tough times of loss that make us feel every bit like Job. Caught in a vortex of pain, and wondering if we'll ever make it to safety. And, boy, do we recognize Job's so-called friends who showed up to by all accounts offer support and comfort. As they sat with Job in his misery, they took turns playing a self-centered, self-righteous, can-you-top-this game of knowing for certain that every bit of Job ‘s disaster had to be his own fault or a lack of trust in God.

They weren't sure how or why because Job seemed so decent, but deep down, they insisted, he just couldn't be all he pretended to be.

THIS IS FAMILIAR TERRITORY.

You get fired, and friends smirk knowingly when you try to explain the political nature of the event. Your child gets into difficulty-well; you know the kind of comfort you'll get from friends about that. (It probably started sometime during potty training.)

Yet others try to “help” you with what I call “prayer lecturing.” While praying “for and with you” they let you (and God) know just how lucky you should be to even have running water, had a meal that day and more! Not really comforting in any way, and very very short on compassion.

Yet, from the story, it's clear that Job was completely innocent. Dreadful things do happen to completely innocent people, good people.

Because of their opinion of Job's guilt, history has bestowed his friends-(and their current replicas) - the label, "Job's comforters." So-called friends who add to a suffering person's anguish by piling on false charges of blame and guilt and harsh reprimand for daring to show sadness or agony.

You may never have met anybody like Job, but you've met his comforters on more than one occasion. They seem to be everywhere.

WE CAN CHARGE SOME OF IT OFF TO JEALOUSY.

Job had everything a person could dream of wanting-and then some- so jealousy was never more than a stone's throw away. The green-eyed monster is a little more subtle with people living everyday typical lives, but jealousy doesn't need much ground to take root and grow with vigor.

WE DON’T WANT TO ADMIT BAD THINGS MAY HAPPEN TO US!

If bad things happen to people who don't deserve them, they could happen to anybody, including me. If I don't want bad things to happen to me, (who does?), I have to persuade myself and everybody around me that the victim's actions caused the problem. If blame can be assigned, then I'll be safe as long as I'm good.

In other words, if I can claim that the cause of your problem is something you do that I don't do, then what happened to you can't happen to me. There is, of course, no logic to this, but it brings some shaky comfort to frightened hearts.

We see this thinking at work when people stare numbly at adversity and ask, "What did I do to deserve this?" Sometimes the answer is, "nothing."

HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF WHY ME?

And it doesn’t have to be bad; you could be excited from something wonderful.

Most often then not I ask myself this after something I am looking forward to goes wrong.

Even at times when something goes wrong I lay awake at night and my thoughts wonder to what previously occurred. I am sure everyone does it at times, wishing for another try or chance.

You may lay awake thinking about your suffering, part of life’s suffering is misery’s shadow persisting/hanging on; not only do you suffer but you have to think about suffering.

I can’t prove this with statistics or find it any book I know of, yet I would say that more people either come to the faith or fall away because of this reason above all; the disturbance of suffering.

YOU SEE GOD USES TIMES OF SUFFERING…

… TO TEACH AND GROW US.

If you allow yourself to recount your sufferings, did you not learn more about faith while suffering then any other time? It has been said that; “Blessings are God’s whispers, he speaks in our conscience,but shouts to us in our suffering.”

“O my Comforter in sorrow,

My heart is faint within me.”

Jeremiah 8:18

Suffering becomes the only way to realize our hollow spiritual self. Pain is unmasked, and every person knows when something is not right when they are hurting. Pain insists upon being attended to.

So when you travel down this line of thought you come to the idea, why do I or someone else suffer when others don’t?

I KNOW SUFFERING IS EXHAUSTING AND PAIN HURTS.

That is why it is called pain and suffering. If there were an escape a person of great wisdom and insight would have done it already. Yet Discipleship demands such trials to compel us towards renewal.

Read Hebrews 2:10

“God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.”

The real question is what to do when life has just punched us a goodone, and Job's comforters show up at our door. Nobody says we have to let them in.

And certainly nobody says we have to entertain them. And, most positively, nobody says we have to believe them.

“For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, So also through Christ our comfort overflows.” - 2 Corinthians 1:5

We can sort out the who's-to-blame-for-what after we get some solid ground under our feet and a little energy back into our lives.

But we still won't want Job's comforters anywhere around us…

… We will want people who care.

“Compassion “

To me not to be kind

Is evil of the mind.

No need to pray or preach,

Let us our children teach

With every fond caress

Pity and gentleness:

So in the end may we

God's Kingdom cause to be.

~ 
By R.W. Service

Duplication and sharing of this message is welcomed as long as

the complete message and website information for 

Mary Lindow is included.


Thank You
!

Copyright " 2013" THE MESSENGER ” ~ Mary Lindow


www.marylindow.com

www.globalprayerrooms.com

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“Do you Want Peace and Rest?” - Then You Must Have Jesus Himself

By Mary Lindow

 TO LISTEN TO THIS MESSAGE AS AN AUDIO PODCAST PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO THE AUDIO PLAYER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE OR USE THE WEB PLAYER IN THE RIGHT SIDE BAR COLUMN.

The question is often asked... 

..."What is the reason for the weak spiritual lives of so many Christians?” This is an excellent question and it is amazing how little the church responds to Christ's voice, which is ever calling out! How little the church is what Christ wants her to be!

What really is the matter? What truly is needed?

Many answers will be given but there is one answer that includes them all. each believer needs the full eye-opener of a personal Christ as a spiritually internal, “living inside of me”  Lord  and as someone who was a satisfying portion.

When the Lord was here on the earth what was it that distinguished his disciples from other people? I think the answer is that Jesus took them away from their fishnets their busyness and their homes. He gathered them around himself and they knew him.

He was their Master, and he guarded them, and they in turn followed him. What is supposed to make the difference today between Christ's disciples-not those who are just hoping to get to heaven, but those who are Christ's wholehearted disciples-and other people? I think it's this. When Jesus was upon the earth, he was able to keep the disciples with him for three years day after day. Now that Jesus is in heaven, and he is able to do what he could not do when he was upon the earth - to keep in the closest fellowship with every believer throughout the entire world. Imagine this!

You might know the verse in Ephesians: 4:10

 “He that descended is the same also, 

that ascended up far above all heavens, 

that He might fulfill all things.”

Why was our Lord Jesus taken up to heaven?

Away from the life of earth? He ascended to heaven because the light of the earth is confined to localities, but the light of heaven has no limits, no boundaries, and no localities. He was taken up to heaven so that in the power of God the ever present omnipresent God, that he might be able to fill every one of his followers on earth and be with every individual believer in a personal way.

This is what my heart wants to experience by faith. It is a possibility, it is a promise, it is my birthright, and I want to have it! By the grace of God, I say to Jesus, “Jesus, I will not rest until you have fully revealed your self fully to me.”

How did the disciples get their burning hearts?

Remember that day that they were on the Road to Emmaus? It was through the way in which Christ opened the Scriptures to them. He made it all look different and new, and they saw what they had never seen before! They could not help feeling how wonderful and how heavenly the teaching was!

Many Christians have discovered that the best time of the day is when they can read and pore over their Bibles, and they love nothing more than to find a new spiritual insight. Just like a person who mines diamonds rejoices when they have found a diamond these individuals delight when they get some new thought from the Bible, and they feed upon it.

Yet, even with all of their interest in God's word and with the joy that is stirred in our hearts, when we return to work or attend our daily duties, we find that there is still something missing in our lives.

From time to time…

…We must leave all the many and unique blessings that Jesus gives us,

and come to the one blessing that outshines all of them.

The blessing that Jesus makes himself known, that Jesus is willing to make himself known to us!

If I were to ask you, “Isn't this exactly what you and I need, and what many of us have been longing for?” I am sure you would answer, “Yes! This is exactly what I want!”

Listen to this poetic verse.

“Oh, the peace my Savior gives!

Peace I never knew before,

And my way has brighter grown,

Since I've learned to trust him more.”

An individual in the midst of great trouble and difficulty wrote this poem.

She stated that it brought wonderful comfort and strength to her.

However, how can a person maintain peace in his or her life? It was the presence of Christ that brought the peace; therefore, peace must be sustained through the continual presence of Jesus.

Remember that when the storm on the Sea, was threatening to swallow up the disciples, that it was the presence of Jesus himself that brought the peace.

Do you want peace and rest?

Then you must have Jesus himself.

We talk of purity, and we talk of cleansing. We also talk of deliverance from sin!

 

Praise God, for the deliverance and the cleansing, when the living Jesus comes and gives us power and strength. It's there that we find that we have that resurrected Christ who sits on the throne, who is making himself known to you and I. This is the secret of purity and the secret of strength.

Perhaps some of you may be now asking,

“How will Christ revealed himself to me? How will he come?” That is the secret no one can know, it is the one that Jesus keeps to himself. It will come in the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus?  

They had a sudden revelation of the living risen Christ!

The Scripture says, “Then they knew Him!” He revealed Himself, he showed Himself fully to them, and then he vanished from their site! Was that moment of Christ visiting them revealing Himself to them worth much? It was over in a minute, yet it was worth heaven, eternity, it was everything!

From that time on Christ's disciples were no longer to relate to him in an earthly way. Thank the Lord that Christ now reveals Himself to each and every one of us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, how He does this is a sacred thing between Christ and each individual believer. Take this as an assurance, “their eyes were opened, and they knew Him,” and believe that this was written for you!

You might be able to say that I have experienced a sad heart at times.

When I mourned that I did not know the living Christ. And I have had times when my heart is slow to believe and have struggled with my lack of faith, and I also know this stage of a burning heart in what I experienced and the  great times of joy and blessedness.

If you can say these things you will come to a place where you have a satisfied heart.

You will have a heart that has been made glad and will last until eternity!

You will have a heart that cannot keep and hold its joy but is poured out on other believers and shared, just as the disciples ran back to the believers in Jerusalem and said, “It is true! Jesus has revealed himself! I know it! I feel it! It has been made personal and real to me, alone!”

Dear child of God.

I'm sure you are asking but how would this revelation come?

Jesus will tell you. Just come to him and say a simple childlike prayer. You need to come to Jesus yourself. What I share with you here today is finished! I have pointed you to the risen One. Now you must step into the presence of the Holy One and begin to crying out, saying, “Oh my precious Lord and Savior! I have come to you and fully abandon my dreams my will, my hopes, and my sorrows.   I have come so that I might have this blessedness with me at all times.

Dear Jesus!  I want you completely the fullness of all that You are. I want to know you personally and completely. Not just simply by hearing the experiences of others. No Lord! I want to know that I can have your blessed presence surrounding me at all times because I am your child and I have been set free from my own condemning self-hatred, religious thinking, performance-based actions, and fear of not measuring up.

Jesus! Help me! Be my portion forever!”

Is this possible? Can we always be thinking of Jesus?

Thank God you don't need to be consistently thinking of him. You may be the manager of a grocery store and your whole attention may require you to carry out the business that you have to do. While you were thinking of your business, Jesus will be thinking of you and He will come in, and if you listen to Him he will take charge of you.

When I was holding my new Grand-daughter just today, (5 months old) I was thinking about when an infant sleeps in his or her mother's or grandmother’s arms, he or she lies there helplessly. He or she hardly even knows it’s mother or grandmother, he or she does not think of her, but the mother and grandmother does think of the child. And this is the great mystery of love.

Jesus waits to come to me in the fullness of His love.

And when He is allowed possession of my heart, He gathers me into those Divine arms and tells me, “My child I am the ever faithful one, I Am the mighty one, and I will remain with you. I Am watching over you and will keep you every day.”

Oh I can hear many of you saying, “Oh, if only I could believe that, if only I could believe it is possible to have Jesus constantly taking and keeping charge me every hour and every minute!”

But you see this is exactly what He said to you. He said these words,

“For low I am with you always”.

He meant it in the fullness of His divine love, and He is longing to show himself to you and to me, as we have never seen Him before.

“Your heart says this is too good to be true,

And that is just too wonderful to be possible for you.”

 Still you do admit that it is an amazing way to live!

Oh you fearful one, mistaken one, and anxious one!

I am bringing to you God's promise; it is for me and for you.

Jesus will do it! As God, He is able, and Jesus is willing and longing, having been the crucified one to keep you in perfect peace.

This is a wonderful fact…

… And it is the secret of unspeakable joy.

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Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed provided that complete message and website information for Mary Lindow is included.

Thank You

Copyright © 2012 " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow

www.marylindow.com

www.globalprayerrooms.com

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