It’s all of God’s Mercy: we Hope in His Mercy and come to Receive Mercy & Find Grace

Our God is a merciful God, and we thank and worship Him for His mercy, which reaches further than His grace; we come forward with boldness to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

On the one hand, we need to realize that God is sovereign, and in His sovereignty, He arranges all things for us to be vessels of mercy unto honor and glory.

On the other hand, we believers in Christ are here in the church life simply because of His mercy, not because we are better, more seeking, or higher in any way than others; it’s all because of His mercy.

God created each one of us as vessels to be filled with Him, and He makes known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.

Hallelujah, we as vessels are of mercy and unto glory!

The fact that God is sovereign implies that He is on the throne; He is the ultimate ruler, king, and Lord, and beside Him there’s no one else.

Because He is on the throne, we can only submit to the throne, and we should open to Him and enthrone Him in our being.

We want to have an open and clear sky so that we see the throne of God and the One sitting on the throne.

We are not on the throne; rather, God is on the throne, and in a very practical way, Jesus Christ the God-man is on the throne, and He is on the throne in our heart.

He has the full authority. However, even though we acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and we even call on His name, Lord Jesus, we still do things, say things, go places, and make decisions that are apart from the Lord.

So many times we rather listen to our parents, our boss, or the police officer but do not listen to the Lord.

When the Lord within us touches us concerning a particular matter, not to speak a word to our spouse or not to approach a certain subject in our conversation, do we listen to the Lord’s leading?

This is where the rubber meets the road; in our daily living we need to listen to the Lord, obey Him, and not only enjoy Him but also enthrone Him.

If we are under the Lord’s authority, we will never try to obtain or enforce any outward authority; trying to impose any authority on others in the church life is something ugly.

Authority comes from the growth in life, from being under the throne of God, and it is organic, not something that is imposed or shown outwardly.

May we remain under the throne of God, having a clear sky between us and the Lord and dealing with anything that rises up so that Jesus may be on the throne in our heart and in our entire being.

God’s Mercy Reaches Further than His Grace: Our God is Merciful, and He has Mercy on us!

Our God is a merciful God.

On the one hand, He is sovereign, arranging all things and working out all things for the fulfilment of His purpose and heart’s desire.

On the other hand, God is merciful, having mercy on us. Even in His showing mercy, God is sovereign.

He has mercy on whomever He will have mercy so that it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who shows mercy (Rom. 9:15-16).

God is sovereign, but He is also merciful. Mercy is the most far-reaching of God’s attributes, going further than his grace and love (Matt. 9:13).

What God desires is not sacrifice but mercy; He doesn’t desire that we make many sacrifices for Him and give our all to Him, but that we would enjoy His mercy and even show mercy to others.

When Jesus came, He clearly said that He came to call not the righteous but sinners.

He came in His mercy to reach each one of us.

We were far away from God, alienated from God’s life, dead in sins and offenses, and in a position in which we could not even receive God’s grace.

If someone is in a good condition, we can give them a gift, and that can be considered grace; however, if someone is poor, sick, and wretched, we cannot give him a gift – we can simply show him mercy.

We were in a pitiful condition in our standing, we were far away from God, and we were not in the right position to receive God’s grace; so God, being rich in mercy toward us, reached out to us in His mercy.

God’s mercy reaches further than His grace; God is merciful, and He has mercy on us. His mercy goes further than His grace.

None of us were in a condition that corresponded to God’s grace; we were so poor and pitiful that there was a need for God’s mercy to extend to our fallen condition.

Thank the Lord for His mercy! Why are we Christians? Why did we believe into the Lord Jesus and have come into the church life to enjoy His unsearchable riches with the saints?

It is not because we were better than others or because we were more seeking than them; it is all because of God’s mercy.

God’s mercy has reached us and lifted us to a position where we can enjoy His grace.

In Luke 10:20-24 we see that the prodigal son returned to the father and was ready to be the father’s servant, only to be in the father’s house.

When the father saw the prodigal son returning, he had compassion on him; he had mercy as an expression of his affectionate love toward him.

Then, the father clothed his son with the best robe and fed him with the fattened calf; this is his mercy reaching out to him to bring him to enjoy his grace, and both are a manifestation of his love.

This is how God’s mercy reaches out to us, reaching even further than His grace, to bridge the gap between us and God’s grace.

Thank the Lord for His mercy!

In Matt. 9 the Lord called Matthew, one of the tax collectors, to come and follow Him, and Matthew did this.

Then, he had a dinner, a feast, for all his tax collector friends and Jesus; as they were feasting together and the Lord was there, the Lord showed His mercy.

But the Pharisees, the self-righteous law-keepers, were offended that the Lord ate and drank with such sinful people, for He was eating with the tax collectors and the sinners.

In those days the tax collectors were despised by others, for they were unrighteous in their collecting of taxes, and the sinners were considered by the law-abiding and law-keeping Pharisees as being the lowest of all.

But the Lord said, But go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Matt. 9:13).

The Lord’s mercy reaches further than His grace, and He has reached out to all the tax collectors and sinners there.

This is who the Lord came for; He came to reach us, the sinners and tax collectors, so that He may show mercy to us.

Even more, we were dead in sins and offenses; sick people need healing, but dead people only need mercy.

No matter how much we value ourselves, no matter how we think about ourselves, we all have been dead in our offenses and sins in which we once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air.

This authority is operating in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also all conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and its thoughts.

We were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (Eph. 2:1-3).

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (vv. 4-5).

We can only praise and thank Him for His mercy!

According to our natural condition, we were far removed from God, totally unworthy of His grace; we were eligible only to receive His mercy (Eph. 2:4).

Our disobedience affords God’s mercy an opportunity, and God’s mercy brings us to salvation (Rom. 11:32).

Lord, we praise You for Your mercy! Thank You for reaching us in Your mercy so that You may bring us to Yourself to enjoy You as grace. Oh Lord, though we were dead in our offenses and sins, You were rich in mercy because of Your great love with which You loved us and saved us! Amen, Lord, though we once walked according to the age of this world and conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, You reached us in Your mercy. Thank You, Lord, for Your mercy and grace. We were far removed from God, unworthy of God’s grace, but God’s mercy has reached us. Wow, Lord, our disobedience afforded Your mercy an opportunity, and Your mercy brings us to salvation! We come to You as we are, Lord, for You have mercy on us. You are our merciful God. It is Your mercy that we have believed into the Lord Jesus to be saved. Amen, Lord, it is Your mercy that we are now in the church life enjoying You with the saints. Praise You, Lord, for Your mercy!

It is all of God’s Mercy: We hope in God’s mercy and come to the Throne of Grace to Find Mercy!

Our concept today as human beings is that, the more we seek something, the more we work on something, the more we study and perfect ourselves in something, the more we will gain something.

Our concept is that the one who wills shall gain what he wills to obtain, and the one who runs will gain what he runs after (Rom. 9:16).

However, God is sovereign and merciful. In His sovereignty, He has chosen us to make us vessels of mercy unto honor and glory.

In His mercy, He has reached us, and He is doing a work in us to transform us and conform us to the image of Christ, the Firstborn Son of God.

It is not of him who runs nor of him who wills but of God who shows mercy.

This doesn’t mean that we should sin and be disobedient, for God will have mercy on us; rather, we need to humble ourselves and come to the Lord to enjoy His mercy and be under His mercy.

God has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.

If we today harden our heart and reject God’s mercy, it may be that our heart will be so hardened that we are unable to receive God’s mercy, and we may suffer the Lord’s discipline.

May we come to the Lord again and again, opening to Him and asking Him to soften our heart and even melt our heart by His mercy.

Even our coming to the Lord and opening to Him is of His mercy.

It is not of him who runs or wills but of God who shows mercy.

If it would be because of him who runs or wills, God’s selection would be according to our effort and labour.

God’s selection has nothing to do with our running, our effort, our zeal for God; it has everything to do with God’s mercy.

God’s selection is of God who shows mercy; we don’t need to will or to run, for God has mercy on us.

If we know God’s mercy, we will neither trust in our efforts nor be disappointed by our failures; rather, we will hope in God’s mercy, for only He can do in us what He wants to do to obtain what He is after.

Even after becoming believers in Christ through His mercy, we still depend on God’s mercy.

We may think that now that we are saved, we can do this or that for God, or that we are a little better than others who don’t know the Lord, for we may gain so much knowledge from the Bible.

But even as believers in Christ, we still depend on God’s mercy.

So many times we fail, we make mistakes, and we are exposed that we behave, react, speak, and do things like the people in the world, for we still live in the flesh and in the natural man.

We need God’s mercy. We need to come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy from the Lord (Heb. 4:16).

Before we can enjoy Him as grace, we need to come to the throne of grace with boldness and receive mercy; mercy is there, we simply need to receive it.

When we receive God’s mercy, when we allow the Lord to have mercy on us and reach us in His mercy, we can be brought into a position where we can enjoy His grace.

Our disobedience affords God an opportunity to show us His mercy, and our failures cause us to be humbled and desperate to depend on God’s mercy.

God doesn’t want us to improve ourselves and do better, nor does He want us to try harder to obey His word and fulfill His desire.

God simply wants us to depend on His mercy. It is all of God’s mercy.

May we come to the Lord again and again, exercising our spirit to come forward with boldness to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace.

Many times we feel we are so low, for we failed, we did not contact the Lord for a while, and we are so involved and busy with the things in the world.

So we come to the Lord like beggars, in somewhat the same condition as was the prodigal son when he came to his father.

May we know God’s mercy. May we realize it is all of God’s mercy.

May we realize it is not of our running, striving, trying, or doing, but it is of God’s mercy.

And when we fail, may we not be disappointed but rather, may we trust in God and have no hope in ourselves.

May we not trust in our efforts or zeal but put our full trust in God and His mercy.

When we trust in His mercy and enjoy His mercy, we can partake of His grace, and He can do in us what He desires to do.

Lord Jesus, we come to You as we are, depending on Your mercy and not trusting in ourselves. We are nothing, Lord, and we can do nothing; we are wretched, poor, naked, and blind, but You are merciful. Thank You, Lord, it is not of the one who wills or runs but of God who shows mercy. Thank You for showing mercy to us. Thank You for selecting us in Your mercy. Thank You for keeping us in Your mercy until today. We trust in Your mercy. We do not trust in our efforts to please You nor do we trust in our desire to do what the Bible says; we trust in Your mercy and we come forward to You. Amen, Lord, we come forward to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help. Oh Lord, we are not worthy of anything, but You aer merciful. We are fallen and are full of failures, but we trust in Your mercy. Amen, Lord, our hope is in God’s mercy. May we not be disappointed by our failures but hope in God’s mercy!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 10-11, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 5, Living under the Sovereignty of God and according to the Mercy of God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – God’s Far-reaching Mercy, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – God’s mercy, a portion from, Gospel of God, The (2 volume set), Chapter 2, by Watchman Nee.
  – God’s Mercy, via, Lamb Follower.
  – Having mercy on us, a portion from, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 3, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Reconciliation, Enjoying God, and Becoming His New Creation, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The selection of grace, a portion from, Life-Study of Romans, Chapter 58.
  – God’s Mercy, via, Living to Him.
  – The Lord Had Mercy on Me, a testimony via, the Local Churches.
  – Praise God for Mercy unto New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – A Sister’s Testimony, testimony via, The Church in Dallas.
  – God’s Christ – My righteousness, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God, we praise Thee for Thy mercy, / ’Tis so great and so profound! / In our weakness and our failures; / With its greatness it abounds. / We adore Thee! we adore Thee! / With such mercy we’ve been crowned! / How we marvel at this mercy / So far-reaching and so vast! / It has reached us, e’en the sinners, / And will ever hold us fast. / From this mercy, from this mercy, / What can cause us to be cast? (Hymns #26 stanzas 1-2)
  – Let me at Thy throne of mercy / Find a sweet relief; / Kneeling there in deep contrition, / Help my unbelief. / Trusting only in Thy merit, / Would I seek Thy face; / Heal my wounded, broken spirit, / Save me by Thy grace. (Hymns #1054 stanzas 2-3)
  – Pray to touch the throne of God, / Touch the throne of grace divine, / Grace to find and mercy too / Which will meet the need of thine. / Pray to touch the throne of God, / Deeply sense thy need of grace; / In the spirit stay with God, / Fellowshipping face to face. (Hymns #783 stanzas 1-2)