Mercy, Grace and Diligence
(week 34/06)
Olubi Johnson
Grace is Gods favour that causes Him to give divine life into the human spirit by the cleansing of the blood of Jesus to get men born-again and to enable men do spiritual labour or work:
1Pet 3:7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Mercy is the compassion of God that causes Him to release divine life through the air to preserve men from destruction and cause them to remain faithful to do the will of God under pressure:
Jude 1:21 KJV: keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Lamentations 3:22 NKJV: Through the Lords mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
1 Corinthians 7:25 KJV: Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one who hath obtained mercy from the Lord to be faithful.
Diligence is applying consistent, concentrated and well directed effort: so it takes wisdom to know how to direct your effort properly for maximum efficiency to be diligent.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 KJV: If the ax be blunt and one does not whet the edge, then must he put to it more strength; but wisdom is profitable to direct him.
Now it is diligence in keeping the law of love using the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus that makes our calling and election sure:
2 Peter 1.2-10 KJV: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as 3 His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. 4 Thereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5And besides this, using all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, 6and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, 7 and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Therefore brethren, give diligence all the more to make your calling and election sure, for if ye do these things ye shall never fall.
In this context, our calling speaks of our going to heaven; while our election speaks our selection or choice to fulfilling the fullness of our destiny: to be conformed to the image of Jesus in this life time.
It is possible to be called and go to heaven but not to be chosen or elected and so fulfill your destiny. Those who are called but not chosen are saved but suffer loss:
Matthew 20.16 KJV:So the last shall be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
1 Corinthians 3:12-15 KJV: Now if any man build upon this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, 13every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall test every man’s work of what sort it is. 14If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as fire.
It is diligence that makes both the calling to heaven and the election or selection to destiny certain or sure.
Now it takes grace and mercy to be diligent: the reason many Christians are not very diligent in the Word, prayer and in practicing the Word is that they do not have sufficient measure of the grace and mercy of God upon their lives.
In other words, the degree of your diligence is proportional to the measure of the grace and mercy of God upon your life.
Now what determines the measure of the grace and mercy of God upon our lives?
The degree of the honesty of our hearts determines the degree of mercy and the degree of the humility of our hearts determines the degree of grace.
Honesty of heart is telling the truth to yourself: accepting the truth of Gods Word in your heart even when it is not convenient for your flesh:
Psalms 15:2 KJV: He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart;
You increase the honesty of your heart by accepting truth that is difficult for your pride or flesh to accept; as you increase in honesty of heart the mercy of God will increase in your life.
Psalms 15.4 KJV: in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoreth them that fear the LORD; he that taketh an oath to his own hurt, and changeth not;
Humility of heart is acting on the truth that honesty of heart has accepted.
You increase humility of heart by doing Gods Word even when you do not feel like it. This is why fasting makes you more humble: you do not eat to seek God even when you feel like eating:
Psalm 35:13 KJV: But as for me, when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned unto mine own bosom.
So you increase the mercy and grace upon your life by increasing your honesty and humility of heart and by mentally acknowledging, with thanksgiving (Col 4.2), the presence of the 3 persons of God-head in the air around frequently throughout the day especially when you are praying in tongues:
Psalms 16:8 KJV: I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Jude 1:20,21 KJV: But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
By doing this frequently throughout the day you will become diligent washing the feet of others and so keeping the law of love using the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus!
