Reaping Mercy
(week 22/06)
Olubi Johnson
Jude 21 NKJV: keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Psalms 145:9 NKJV: The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.
Lamentation 3:22-23 NKJV: Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
These scriptures give us a functional definition of the mercy of God: the compassion of God: capacity to feel our infirmities, weaknesses and limitations; this causes Him to release a measure of eternal life, through the air upon our spirits, souls, bodies and circumstances, to help us overcome the infirmity, weakness or limitation.
Since the mercy of God releases a measure of the life of God, we can speak of the mercies of God in plural meaning the several measures of the life of God released upon us as a result of His mercies given to us.
Furthermore, we can see how the mercies of God are new every morning: a new measure of life is released as a consequence of His compassion that new day!
We need the mercy of God to be superimposed upon our willing and running so that our human weaknesses will be overcome to cause our willing and running to be successful:
Romans 9:16 NKJV: So then it is not of him, who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
It is possible to will and run and still fail, because of our human weaknesses and limitations: it is the mercy of God that enables us to overcome these weaknesses and limitations especially in difficult or seemingly impossible situations.
For example, it was the mercy of God in operation that caused an angel to appear to Jesus to strengthen Him when He was finding it difficult to be willing to go to the cross:
Luke 22:41-46 NKJV: And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel appea to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” NKJV
Also, it is the mercy of God that preserves us from destruction when we sin or fail in operation of spiritual laws that ordinarily would have led to our destruction. This preservation causes us to remain in the Christian race rather than for our race to be terminated prematurely by Satan, hindering us from fulfilling the fulness of our destiny:
Lamentation 3:22 NKJV: Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
For example, it was the mercy of God on David’s life that caused him not die shortly after he committed adultery and murder. It is instructive to note that in this case of David, the mercy of God did not totally eradicate God’s judgement it only reduced it to some degree.
2 Samuel 12:13-14 NKJV: So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”
This shows us that the mercy of God is given in measures: the measure you receive will depend on the degree of the integrity of your heart.
The quicker you are to confess and repent of your sins the greater the mercy you will receive (Pr. 28.13) and so the less the effect of God’s judgement of the sin in your life. In fact in some cases where the sin is not severe and you do not continue in it for any appreciable amount of time the mercy of God will totally eradicate the judgement triumphing over it (Jam. 2.13).
Now how do you reap mercy?
By sowing in righteousness.
Hosea 10:12 NKJV: Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy;
You sow in righteousness by walking in right-standing and right-doing by the blood of Jesus, the life of God using the written Word and power of the Holy Spirit by praying in the spirit.
As you do this God will minister mercy to you from the air in sufficient measure to make up for any deficiencies in your walking in the spirit.
So, any short fall in the flow of the life of God due to errors in your walking in the spirit because of human weaknesses and sin is compensated for by mercy of God from the air. In other words, the mercy of God from the air acts like an uninterrupted power supply if and when the supply or flow the life of God from your spirit stops or drops in intensity.
This truth is the fulfillment of the scripture that says ‘mercy and truth have met together’; met here implies a connection that creates an uninterrupted flow of the life of God:
Psalms 85:10-11 NKJV: Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.
It is operating diligently in both mercy and truth or grace that will restore the glory of God that was lost because of sin:
Psalms 85:7-9 NKJV: Show us Your mercy, LORD, and grant us Your salvation. 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly. 9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land.
Romans 3:23 NKJV: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Now, the measure of mercy you reap is dependent on the measure of righteousness you sow:
2 Corinthians 9:6, 10 NKJV: But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness?
Also the measure of mercy you show to others will determine the measure of mercy God releases to you when you need it:
Matthew 5:7 NKJV: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
So show mercy to people when it is in your power to do so by acts of kindness, forgiveness and generosity.
One sure way of showing mercy to people is by praying regularly in the spirit with all types of prayer (See our book ‘A practical guide to prayer’ for more details) because when you do this God exercises His sovereignty through you releasing life into the air and upon the lives of men to show them mercy and so you become a vessel of mercy!
Ephesians 6:18 NKJV: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints–
Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV: Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen!
