Mercies from Heaven 9-23-10

Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of my morning, lead me beside Your still waters and set my feet in the paths of Your righteousness. … “But after they had rest, they again did evil before You, and You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them; yet when they turned and cried to You, You heard from heaven, and many times You rescued them according to Your mercies. And You warned them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey Your commandments, but sinned against Your ordinances, by the observance of which a person shall live. They turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years You were patient with them, and warned them by Your Spirit through Your prophets; yet they would not listen. Therefore You handed them over to the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in Your great mercies You did not make an end of them or forsake them, for You are a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore, our God—the great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love—do not treat lightly all the hardship that has come upon us…. we are in great distress” (Nehemiah 9:28-37). You chose the children of Israel as Your possession and sealed them with Your covenant. You called them to trust You and Your ways, to obey You and Your will. And many times they did. But in Your relationship of love with them that requires the freedom to love You or not, to trust You or not, to obey You or not, they always had the freedom to choose their own way instead of Your way, trusting in themselves instead of trusting in You. And though it would break Your heart, You would allow them the suffer the consequences of their actions and allow them to experience the outcomes of their choices. But even Your judgments were Your mercy, because Your judgments were always intended to lead them to repentance; and repentance always restored them to Your mercy. Whenever they humbled themselves to turn again to You, You heard from heaven and sent Your Word and Your Spirit to rescue them in Your mercy. And lest we become too prideful in our own eyes, looking upon their failures as foolishness in the judgment of our own self-righteousness, Your Word reminds us that all that happened to them are to be examples for us: “These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:11-12). Just as they fell, so are we tempted to fall. Just as they had the freedom to rebel in their stubborn hearts with their stiff necks, insisting upon their own wisdom and relying upon their own strength, so do we. Yet the same God who was unbelievably patient and merciful, keeping covenant and steadfast love with them through all their sins and failures, all their greifs and sorrows, is the same great and awesome God who hears us when we call and delivers us from our distress. You never leave us nor forsake us, even when we deserve it the most. You’re never blind to our hardships nor unmerciful in our sufferings. You are with us through it all, always sending Your Word and Your Spirit to lift our eyes again to heaven and open our hearts again to our Savior. Like the children of Israel, there may be times and seasons of suffering and hardship, but they do not compare with the seasons of joy and peace—sometimes interwoven with those same difficult seasons—as we turn to You and call on Your name, returning to trust in You alone as our Savior. “They offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. The joy of Jerusalem was heard far away” (Nehemiah 12:43). By the grace of God, let us keep turning to You. Let Your mercies fall from heaven and let our rejoicing rise from our hearts, even heard from far away. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep us in prayer in preparation for my time of ministry in Wales, with Heather Butler and our team at gatherings we'll lead all across the country during our Encounter Wales revival campaign during the month of October. If you'd like to be on our interactive intercessory prayer team, please let me know and I'll get you on our email prayer team list. Thank you and God bless you! Subscribe for free by email to me at Messiah Ministries: MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you! Morning by Morning, Thursday 9-23-10 – Mercies from Heaven Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of my morning, lead me beside Your still waters and set my feet in the paths of Your righteousness. … “But after they had rest, they again did evil before You, and You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them; yet when they turned and cried to You, You heard from heaven, and many times You rescued them according to Your mercies. And You warned them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey Your commandments, but sinned against Your ordinances, by the observance of which a person shall live. They turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years You were patient with them, and warned them by Your Spirit through Your prophets; yet they would not listen. Therefore You handed them over to the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in Your great mercies You did not make an end of them or forsake them, for You are a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore, our God—the great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love—do not treat lightly all the hardship that has come upon us…. we are in great distress” (Nehemiah 9:28-37). You chose the children of Israel as Your possession and sealed them with Your covenant. You called them to trust You and Your ways, to obey You and Your will. And many times they did. But in Your relationship of love with them that requires the freedom to love You or not, to trust You or not, to obey You or not, they always had the freedom to choose their own way instead of Your way, trusting in themselves instead of trusting in You. And though it would break Your heart, You would allow them the suffer the consequences of their actions and allow them to experience the outcomes of their choices. But even Your judgments were Your mercy, because Your judgments were always intended to lead them to repentance; and repentance always restored them to Your mercy. Whenever they humbled themselves to turn again to You, You heard from heaven and sent Your Word and Your Spirit to rescue them in Your mercy. And lest we become too prideful in our own eyes, looking upon their failures as foolishness in the judgment of our own self-righteousness, Your Word reminds us that all that happened to them are to be examples for us: “These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:11-12). Just as they fell, so are we tempted to fall. Just as they had the freedom to rebel in their stubborn hearts with their stiff necks, insisting upon their own wisdom and relying upon their own strength, so do we. Yet the same God who was unbelievably patient and merciful, keeping covenant and steadfast love with them through all their sins and failures, all their greifs and sorrows, is the same great and awesome God who hears us when we call and delivers us from our distress. You never leave us nor forsake us, even when we deserve it the most. You’re never blind to our hardships nor unmerciful in our sufferings. You are with us through it all, always sending Your Word and Your Spirit to lift our eyes again to heaven and open our hearts again to our Savior. Like the children of Israel, there may be times and seasons of suffering and hardship, but they do not compare with the seasons of joy and peace—sometimes interwoven with those same difficult seasons—as we turn to You and call on Your name, returning to trust in You alone as our Savior. “They offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. The joy of Jerusalem was heard far away” (Nehemiah 12:43). By the grace of God, let us keep turning to You. Let Your mercies fall from heaven and let our rejoicing rise from our hearts, even heard from far away. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep us in prayer in preparation for my time of ministry in Wales, with Heather Butler and our team at gatherings we'll lead all across the country during our Encounter Wales revival campaign during the month of October. If you'd like to be on our interactive intercessory prayer team, please let me know and I'll get you on our email prayer team list. Thank you and God bless you! Subscribe for free by email to me at Messiah Ministries: MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!