The Holy Spirit Encounter

Mercy

Tonight we will talk about the last of the 14 major gifts: mercy. God has showed us so much mercy, yet we have such a hard time showing that same mercy to other people. I believe mercy is probably one of the things we struggle the most with.

Matthew 5:7 says, "blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Just take that in for a moment. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Then later on in the New Testament James chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 say, "speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement."  Does that send a chill down your spine? "Judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful." It should send a chill down your spine.

We have 2 sides of the spectrum here:
1) blessed are the merciful
2) unmerciful judgement to the merciless
So just given those two things it can be said that mercy is incredibly important.

All of us are capable of showing mercy, even if we choose not to; however, some people are highly gifted in showing mercy. Most of us wallow is self pity, pride, and bitterness before we show mercy to someone. Then there are some people that show mercy before mercy is even asked for, and not only that but they'll show mercy over and over to the same person. They possess a merciful attitude similar to our Heavenly Father's.

God showed us mercy by sending his only Son to die for us, before we even asked for mercy, and before we even knew we needed mercy. Some people will be done wrong in whatever way and show mercy before the person even apologizes. If the person apologizes, that is. Much like God, said merciful person still lives the wrongdoer even if they never apologize. God still loves those that reject His mercy which is why it pains Him that those who reject His mercy have to go to hell.

Those particularly gifted in mercy also show mercy to the same person over and over, often for the same mistake. God does this for us on the daily. We sin against Him everyday, yet He still shows us mercy.

Father, I thank You for Your bountiful mercy. You showed us mercy before we even asked for it. You show us mercy on the daily even though we are far from deserving of it. Father, I just pray that You'll help us to show mercy to those around us, just like You do. This I pray in Your Son's precious and Holy Name, amen.