THE MERCIES OF GOD AND THE WILLING HEART - Why and How we Present our bodies a living sacrifice to God

Welcome to Day 3 of Willing Heart August Solemn Assembly of Prayer 

Day 3 Devotion - THE WILLING HEART - 

The Mercies of God  

A willing heart is obtained by the mercies of God and by being transformed through the renewing of our minds for God's purpose for Israel. Romans 12:1 says; I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.  

The mercies of God in this verse in Romans 12 come from the context of the Romans 11:28-33 mercies, that come from Israel's disobedience that released God's mercies to the Gentiles....

For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that He may show mercy to all. Romans 11:30‭-‬32 NASB

It is because of the mercies we received from our root Israel's disobedience, that we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices for all of Israel to be saved. This is our reasonable service of worship, or the least we can do since it's because of our root, Israel, that we were given mercy and engrafted in.

For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” Romans 11:25‭-‬26 NASB

It's through the mercies of God that we are to become WILLING to stand for Israel's redemption in faith and intercession, praying for the peace (reconciliation to God) of Jerusalem, for Christ's return to the earth to set up His Kingdom in the earth, as it is in heaven.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. Psalms 122:6 NASB

Mercy #1

What are the mercies of God? What is being referenced to in this verse when it speaks of, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice?  

There are three words for mercy translated in the original text. One word is the Hebrew word-racham, which means, to love, to have, show, obtain mercy on. This is the mercy that God used to save the world.   

For God so loved the world….meaning, he had so much mercy on the world that he gave his only begotten son. This mercy is the mercy that motivated God to send Jesus. This aspect of mercy must also be apart of our sacrificial laying down of our lives that is referred to when Paul says, by the mercies of God; We must have that agape Love for the world, the church and Israel in order for salvation to be wrought, when we sacrifice our lives  

Mercy #2

The next word for mercy recorded in the scriptures is the Hebrew word checed, which means, kindness towards God, piety, beauty, favor. This is the mercy that God operates in when he looks at us in our sin, knowing that we deserve Judgment for all we’ve done against God and man. 

However, because of the “Checed” of God’s mercy, He looks at us through the blood of Jesus and chooses to exercise mercy towards us. This means He chooses only to see us as he sees Jesus, righteous, holy, clean, Justified.   This mercy is one of the operations of mercy that Paul is referring to in the phrase; by the mercies of God.

We must choose only to see the world, the church and Israel as God sees them, beloved, chosen, elect, regardless of what they’ve done, or do, we must operate in the checed of God and see them through the kindness of God.  

Mercy #3

The third word for mercy is the Hebrew word chanan, which means to bend or stoop in kindness, to move to favor, to bestow; to implore, to make supplication, to show mercy on or upon. This mercy is the mercy that God operated in through acting out the giving of righteousness, prosperity, wealth, healing, power, deliverance, and much more, to all believers,’ through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

This mercy is the acting out of compassion, love, and favor that we must bestow upon the world, the church and Israel in presenting our bodies living sacrifices for the saving of humanity. It is the tangible giving of self and everything that one has to show favor upon another. This is what is being referred to by the gift of mercy, which is found in   

Romans 12:8, which is one of the office-body gifts. 

This is Love in action through service, and sacrifice, for someone that you have mercy upon. This is mercy in manifestation. This act of mercy is what will elicit a response and a change of heart and mind in the person which receives it towards the person it is received from. It is this mercy that the body of Christ must show towards the world and Israel to illicit a response and a change of heart and mind concerning Christ and his church.  

…By the Mercies of God  

One type of mercy is the mercy we must have in our hearts, the next type of mercy is the mercy we must possess with our eyes (how we see), and the other type of mercy is the mercy we must show with our actions (how we respond to others needs).  

Romans 12:5-8 says, So we, being one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6) Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us (That grace was given in Romans 11:6 to the remnant of believing Jews and gentiles), whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;   7) Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teaches, on teaching; 8) Or he that exhorts. On exhortation: he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.  

It is by the mercies of God that the willing heart comes into a man’s heart. This heart is the heart that causes a person to be a giver. This heart is the heart that causes a person to willingly look to help others above themselves. This heart is the heart that causes a person to look to sacrifice its own desires and plans for the desires and needs of others. This type of heart only comes by the mercies of God.

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Blessings to you

Brondon Mathis 

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