Friday, September 13, 2013

Mercy


Before heading to bed last night I signed in to Twitter for my usual #FMFParty lingering and I arrived just in time for Lisa-Jo Baker's tweet announcing the prompt word. Her tweet... "This week's five minute writing exercise with special guest @AliaJoyH is on MERCY bit.ly/14QaiTC #inmercy." One of these days I will stop lingering and actually join in for the #FMFParty.

I crawled in to bed feeling overly exhaustedmentally exhausted. The week seemed twice as long with my husband being gone.

As I laid there thinking about the word mercy I was convinced writing on this word would be too hard. I didn't know where I would begin. Maybe I would skip Five Minute Friday this week. I was too tired to even think about it. Before long I was sound asleep.


GO

It's a new morning and another morning with HelloMornings as we study Ephesians together. Friday is an application day. This week we've studied from Ephesians 2:1-10. For this particular book I've become quite attached to The Voice translation. I review my notes from the week and on one of the pages I wrote the word MERCY. It's underlined and underneath is the definition.

     Mercy: a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion
I don't remember where I pulled this quote from, I believe from Matthew Henry's Commentary, but after the definition I wrote, "God's eternal love or goodness towards His creatures is the fountain whence all mercies flow to us; and that love of God is great love, and that mercy is rich mercy."

This past week the verses that stood out to me in my study time were,

"But God, with the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy focused on us, united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with lifeeven though we were buried under mountains of sin--and saved us by His grace." ~ Eph. 2:4-5 (The Voice)

It is the verse shortly after that spoke most to me. In Ephesians 2:7 Paul tells us why God focused His love and mercy on us.

"He did this for a reason: so that for all eternity we will stand as a living testimony to the incredible riches of His grace and kindness that He freely gives to us by uniting us with Jesus the Anointed." ~ Eph. 2:7 (The Voice)

The Glorious Grace study guide we are using for HelloMornings asks, "What is one thing you want to remember from this part of the letter?"

For me, it's never forgetting what God did for me. He took this "lifeless soul" of mine and gave me life. It's a life I never dreamed of having; a better life. He saved me by sending His son to the cross for me. The love and mercy He has shown me has me on my knees saying, "Thank you, God. I'm not worthy but thank you."

I want to be a testimony to His amazing grace and kindness. "Please God; help me to stand as your living testimony."

I pray those words and know the only way I will ever come close to showing this same grace and kindness to others is when I make the choice to follow His son. Jesus is my example. Jesus is our example. I will follow Him all the days of my life.

STOP

18 comments :

  1. Love your prayer "Please God help me stand as a living testimony." Even if I could just stand as his living testimony for one moment today and for one person.

    Thanks for your words-visiting from fmf

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    1. Thanks for stopping in Rachel. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

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  2. Agreed, loved your prayer! Also, "Thank you, God. I'm not worthy but thank you.", this was an amazing reminder for me. Thank you for sharing on FMF!

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  3. Dear Beth
    A love so great as that of our God still takes my breath away! Not only did He and does He give us His grace and mercy everyday, He LIVES in us..... Christ in me, my hope of glory (Col.1:27).
    Blessings XX
    Mia

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    1. As always my friend, I'm grateful for your loving comment. Blessings to you.

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  4. Hi Beth! I am so happy that you got the grace to write on this subject. I know you feel so sad that your husband is gone now, but the mercies of the Lord are never 'tapped out', and he is with you in power. (This post is a proof of that :) )

    I too compared mercy to an ocean, limitless and flowing. People wonder why we believe in Jesus? My goodness, the benefits of the Lord are WAY better than anything this world can give. And what a model to follow too, just as you pointed out.

    Thank you for visiting me today! That was a mercy too.
    Ceil

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    1. Thank you, Ceil. Coming here tonight to read your comment has lifted my spirits. Thank you!

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  5. Beth - How precious that you tied both the study & FMF together! Loved what you shared here. I join you in that prayer as I want to be a living testimony as well.
    Blessings,
    Joanne

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    1. Thank you my friend! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

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  6. Beautiful. Something I never want to forget what God did for me!! Amen. (Felt the same about this word).

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  7. Beth! I felt the same. Mercy! I had no thoughts and then thoughts from various directions. I thought I'm too busy this morning, I'll skip out! Seriously, we stumbled and by His mercy blessed us with His truth to pick us up and remind us how His mercies are new every morning. Love the quote you had! Glad you shared what you have been learning and how you almost didn't jump in!

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    1. Oh thank you Rebekah. I'm so grateful for how He picked us both up and gave us the words to speak of His great mercies. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. And how awesome that not only did we both experience same emotions with writing but we also used similar photos. He is SO good isn't he?

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  8. And our photos are of a similar theme too! Funny??!!

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  9. Beth,
    Your life DOES stand as a living testimony to God's boundless love and mercy!! He speaks to me through every single one of your posts! Also, meant to tell you I love the new look of your blog site! Look forward to talking this week...
    Love and ((hugs)),
    Bev

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    1. Thank you my friend! Your comment came just when I was in needs of encouraging words. Love you!! I look forward to talking soon. {Hugs}
      Beth

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