Hosanna Restoration Church

Recently as I tossed about in the night, I found myself calling out to God for mercy. Nothing else was getting me back to sleep! As I did, I was reminded of the blind man calling for mercy and when he told Jesus he wanted to see; Jesus told him that his faith had done the trick. He left seeing and rejoicing.

As you can imagine, my cry did not result in sleep so much as it caused me to consider what the Lord was teaching me. The following two nights when I found myself again awake; I again called out to the Lord for mercy. It was on the third night that the Lord brought grace, mercy, and peace to my mind and sent me on another quest down a path following Him.

Paul started and ended letters expressing his desire for the folks to have the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and here in Ephesians he speaks of God being rich in mercy. When God spoke to me, He sandwiched mercy between grace and peace.

One definition of mercy according to Webster is a blessing that is an act of divine favor and relief from distress. Mercy is more than getting out of trouble and being forgiven for our sins. No wonder the blind man called for mercy.

You could say that distress is flooding the world right now; it is a good time to call for mercy to rain down. Even if people refuse to turn from sins, we can still cry out for mercy!

One definition of grace that I loved was that it was the empowering presence of God that enables us to do what God calls us to do and be what God calls us to be. God’s presence is a great place to find peace. Of course, if we do not like His presence it can be anything but peaceful. However, when we put mercy in the middle; the realization that God is merciful can remove the distress over our awareness of what we deserve and produce the peace that passes understanding.

When the distress is gone, grace is cleared to bulldoze the path to peace that passes understanding. The first time that people experience the peace that passes understanding, it can be confusing. I know in my life that I knew something happened, but I have no idea what it was. I just knew I needed to know!

Recently I had the privilege of introducing a young woman who was 101 years of age to this peace. I prayed before going to visit that God would guide the visit. As I think about it now, I can see the GMP sandwich that God used. We visited in His empowering presence and then God revealed His mercy and what was available. Her first reaction was to tell me how she went to Sunday School as a child! God responded in grace as I shared that I did that too, but I found later that I had a great need for mercy and ultimately, she felt that need to do whatever God wanted as well.

We prayed together and peace overflowed into tears and rejoicing. I should have slept better last night, but there was one other thing the Lord pointed out. Always be aware of the thief. Later!