In His sovereignty, God the Father has had mercy on us and made us vessels of mercy unto honor and glory; we must praise and worship God for His sovereign mercy and trust not in ourselves but in His mercy.
According to Gen. 1:26, God created us in His image and according to His likeness so that we may express Him and represent Him with His authority.
But because of the fall of man, we lost God’s image and likeness, and our vessel was spoiled.
Now man tries to fill his vessel with so many other things, and he forsakes God as the real content, the real life.
Even as believers in Christ, because we are still fallen in our natural human being, it is so easy for us to simply forsake Christ and be filled with replacements for Him.
We may not conscientiously put Him aside and take in other things – we are simply deceived and tricked by the enemy to take in things that are not Christ, things that do not satisfy us.
So again and again God reaches out to us in His sovereign mercy; He has created us to be vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, and He comes to us in our situation and according to our condition to reach us in His mercy.
God’s mercy reaches further than His grace; His mercy is an expression of His love.
Everything related to us is a matter of God’s mercy, and everything depends on God’s sovereign mercy; we can only praise and worship God for His sovereign mercy.
The older saints are more clear concerning this, for they had many years of exposing, failures, and mistakes, and they really know that it’s all of God’s mercy.
The younger saints, however, and the young adults, seeing that they can still do this and that, they still have the ability to achieve this and that, they don’t feel they fail that much, they are quite confident in themselves, and their trust is not in the God who has mercy.
But the Lord in His mercy and sovereignty arranges all things for our good, for we love Him; one day our eyes will be opened to see in a definite way that everything depends on God’s mercy.
It’s not of him who wills or who runs; it’s not because of our being better or more seeking or more intelligent than others that we still love the Lord and enjoy Him in the church life – it’s all because of God’s sovereign mercy.
Such a realization causes us to bow down before the Lord and worship Him for His mercy, for He has mercy on whomever He has mercy, and He shows compassion to whomever He wills.
How we thank, praise, and worship God for His sovereign mercy over us!
Seeing that God the Father has had Mercy on us, we Praise and Worship Him for His Sovereign Mercy
When we see that, in His sovereignty, God the Father has had mercy on us, we will praise and worship Him for His sovereign mercy.
When we realize that it is not because of ourselves, what we are, or what we can do that we are where we are and we still love the Lord, we will have no trust in ourselves.
Our being in the church life enjoying the Lord with the saints is not of our willing nor of our running, but of our God who shows mercy.
What a mercy it is that we are saved and that we are willing to take the Lord’s way!
The world is so attractive and attracting, our friends are calling us to join them, and the trend in this evil age is so strong, but we are here, willing to be separated from today’s evil age and enjoy the Lord with the saints; this is God’s sovereign mercy.
Because of His mercy, we have no appetite for the things of this world, and something like a divine insulation keeps me from the world system.
It’s not because our heart is better than others, neither is it because we are so strong and diligent that we pursue the Lord and enjoy Him in the church life in the Lord’s recovery; our trust is not in our pursuing power or in our strength to seek God but in God who shows mercy.
We shouldn’t put our trust in what we are able to do, what we desire to do, or what we plan to do; we simply need to trust in God’s mercy and bear our responsibility to be an open vessel toward Him.
It’s His mercy that He has selected us, He predestinated us, He called us, and He placed us in His recovery.
He took care of our past, He is our present, and we trust in Him for our future; our trust is not in ourselves but in Him and in His marvelous mercy.
Even in bearing the responsibility to be open vessels for His dispensing, for He created us to be vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, it’s all because of His mercy.
We can’t bear the responsibility to keep our vessel open to Him – we trust in Him and in His mercy.
The more we thank, praise, and worship God for His sovereign mercy, the more we realize that He is bearing us and because of Him we can be open to Him, we can go on with Him, and we can build up the church as His Body.
The more we try in ourselves to do this or that for the Lord, the more we try to be responsible in ourselves, the more we shall suffer inwardly, and our inward taste is one of bitterness.
But if we worship the Lord for His mercy and trust in Him, we will experience Him bearing us in bearing the responsibility to be open vessels for Him.
This makes us happy, and we have a sweet taste like honey when we trust in the Lord and worship Him for His sovereign mercy.
Once we used to ask Him to do so many things for us, to give us this and give us that, but now we realize that all we can do is praise and thank Him for His sovereign mercy.
Our prayer is full of thanks and worship to God for His mercy, for He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He will have compassion on whomever He wills.
As Hymns #26 says, we enjoy the Father’s mercy which is ever fresh and ever new, and every morning it is shed upon us, refreshing us as the dew.
Oh, how we taste God’s mercy, and how we praise and thank Him for what He does for us!
As Hymns #25 says, we obtained God’s love and grace in His mercy, and in His sovereign mercy we can see Him face to face; for His mercy we worship Him through all our days and through all eternity! Amen!
Praise You Father God for Your sovereign mercy toward us; we can only praise and worship You for Your mercy. We come forward with boldness to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help. Father, we enjoy Your mercy – ever fresh and ever new! Your mercy refreshes us, bears us, and causes us to go on with the Lord. We taste Your mercy and we praise and worship You Father for Your sovereign mercy! It is because of Your mercy that we receive and enjoy love and grace, and in Your mercy we can see You face to face! We worship You, Father, for Your mercy through all our days and through eternity!
We were Created to be Vessels of Mercy unto Honor to Contain Christ and Honor God and Man
God created us to be vessels of mercy unto honor to contain Christ as the God of honor (2 Tim. 2:20-21; Rom. 9:21) so that we may honor God and man (Judg. 9:9).
On one hand we are vessels of mercy, and only God’s sovereign mercy can reach us and bring us into a position to receive and contain God in Christ as our treasure.
On the other hand, we are vessels of mercy unto honor to contain Christ as the God of honor; being vessels of honor is not the result of our choice but it originates with God’s sovereignty (Rom. 9:21).
Our being a vessel of mercy is not our choice – it’s God’s choice according to His sovereignty; similarly, our being a vessel unto honor is not our choice but God’s choice, originating with His sovereignty.
We believers in Christ are vessels of mercy unto honor with Christ as our treasure through regeneration; when we were regenerated, Christ as the treasure came into our vessel, and now we are vessels unto honor with Christ as our treasure.
Our vessel is earthly and is decaying, but within our vessel we have a treasure, the Christ of glory, the shining of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and we are vessels unto honor.
How we thank the Lord that we are not “instruments” or “weapons” in His hand but rather, we are His vessels, His containers!
We contain mercy, glory, and honor; this mercy, honor, and glory are actually the Triune God.
In the initial stage of our experience, the Triune God is our mercy; then in the progressing stage He is our honor, and in the completing stage He is our glory!
At the time of our regeneration, we enjoyed God as our mercy and honor, and we received a treasure in our earthen vessel; we became vessels of mercy unto honor and glory.
Daily, God’s mercy reaches out to us, Christ as the treasure in our vessel is our honor, and our destiny is to be in glory with Christ in God! Hallelujah!
What makes us honorable is not the earthen vessel but rather, the treasure that is in the vessel; our vessel is earthen, made of clay, but in this vessel we have an excellent treasure, the Christ of glory!
Christ is honorable; He is in us, and this makes us vessels of mercy unto honor.
We are vessels unto honor through our cleansing of ourselves from the vessels unto dishonor.
In 2 Tim. 2:20-21 we see that in a great house there are many kinds of vessel, some unto honor and some unto dishonor; in the entire Christianity, in the entire realm of believers, there are some vessels unto dishonor.
We need to cleanse ourselves from these, so that we may be a vessel unto honor.
As vessels unto honor, we are those who honor God by living and walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25) and we honor men by ministering the Spirit to them (2 Cor. 3:6, 8).
When we live and walk by the Spirit, God is honored; when we minister the Spirit to others, we honor them. In this way we are vessels unto honor.
May our daily life be a walk by trusting in God for His sovereign mercy and living by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, so that we as vessels of honor would honor God.
May our daily living be filled with Christ as the Spirit; may we be so full of Christ that we minister Him as the Spirit to others to honor them.
Thank You Lord for creating us to be vessels of mercy unto honor to contain Christ as the God of honor so that we may honor God and man! Hallelujah, in His sovereignty God has chosen us to be vessels unto honor! Thank You Lord Jesus for coming into our earthen vessel to be the treasure and to make us vessels unto honor. Hallelujah, all genuine believers are vessels unto honor with Christ as their treasure through regeneration. Amen, Lord, want to cleanse ourselves from any vessels unto dishonor so that we may be vessels of mercy unto honor. We exercise to be those who honor God by living and walking by the Spirit and honor men by ministering the Spirit to them!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Romans, pp. 610-614 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 5, God as Our Sovereign Potter Making Us His Vessels, His Containers, to Contain Him.
- Hymns on this topic:
– “Father, we enjoy Thy mercy, / Ever fresh and ever new; / Every morning shed upon us, / It refreshes as the dew. / How we taste it! How we taste it! / Giving Thee the praises due” — Hymns, #26, stanza 5.
– “Father, Thy mercy with Thy love and grace / Did we obtain; / And in Thy mercy, with Thee face to face, / We’ll e’er remain; / And for Thy mercy we would worship Thee / Through all our days and through eternity” — Hymns, #25, stanza 3.
– To the lost world minister Christ, / By daily walk making Him known; / Imparting Christ by whom you live, / Share with all men what you own. / To the lost world minister Christ, / The precious One you possess, / Imparting Christ to those you love / As all their gain and success. (Hymns #922)
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