"Guess Who Understands?" - Inspirational Weekend

                                                     

  My computer is acting up so I pray I can finish this post. 

"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always  by all means.  The Lord  be with you all."  -  2 Thessalonians 3:16

True believers have the love of God to help sustain them, and to give them hope.   Jesus paid their sin debt in full by His shed blood at Calvary.   Past sins no longer apply once you are saved; you have  been washed clean by the  blood of Jesus when you put your faith and trust in Him and you believe in Him as the Savior.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit."    Romans 8:1

Isn't that the personification of a loving and caring Heavenly Father!  And Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life a ransom so that if we but believe in Him we may gain eternal life.  Such love!

God and Jesus truly understand us.   Following is a devotional quote by A.W. Tozer on this subject:

"We should revel in the joy of believing that God is the sum of all patience and the true essence of kindly good will!   Because He is what He is, we please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and believing that He understands everything --  and loves us still!  The God Who desires our fellowship and communion is not hard to please, although He may chasten us, He  even does this with a smile -  the proud, tender smile of a Father Who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is!  This is the best of good news!  God loves us for ourselves. He values our love more than He values galaxies of newly created worlds.  He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust!"

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit."  -  Romans 15:13

"For the joy of the Lord is your strength."  -  Nehemiah 8:10 b

True believers have so much to be thankful for.  Always praise the Lord and tell Him how grateful you are for His goodness and mercy and love.

For those of you who may not be saved, following are some Scriptures for you .

Romans 10: 9, 10, 13 tells us (9) "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,  and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (13)  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.  Believest thou this?"   -  John 11:25-26

,

"Jesus saith unto him,  I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."    -    John 14:6

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."   -   John 3:16

In order to be saved, you first need to admit that you are a sinner and in need of a Savior  -  Romans 3:23

Then you need to believe with all your very being that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; the Savior..   -  John 3:16 ;  John 11:25-26

Call out in faith to the Lord; commit your life to Him.        - Romans 10:13

The Lord understands us and is full of tender mercies and loves us more than we can fathom.

Have a blessed and Christ centered weekend.... and life!

"God's Tender Mercies And You" - Inspirational Weekend

Many years ago I saw the movie "Tender Mercies".....it first came out in 1983 and starred Robert Duvall as a country music star who came upon hard times.  It was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and Robert Duvall won best actor for his role in that film, which was rated PG.   I am not here to give a review of the story line.  Rather, I wanted to say that one of the characters in the film quoted from the Bible about God's tender mercies, and that impressed me and stayed with me as I had not been aware of that verse.  I don't remember anything of the verse except the two words, "tender mercies."   Later, as I began to read my Bible once again, I came across several verses mentioning God's tender mercies.   That touched me and in turn drew me closer to the Lord, as it made me realize He had always been near and watching over me.  In reflecting on that fact, I could recall events where He had literally saved me from one catastrophe after another.  He saw me through many trials.  I was so dense spiritually back then that I didn't comprehend His loving care and tender mercies at the time He ministered to me.  Now I understand and I have such love for Him and gratitude in my heart for all that He has done in my life, my heart, my soul, and my mind.

The dictionary defines mercy as compassionate treatment, a disposition to be kind and forgiving.  The word mercy among the Jews signified the pardon of injuries and almsgiving.  To understand mercy, we need to go to the meaning of the Latin word "misericordia".  It is made up of two words:  miserans "pitying", and cor , the "heart"; or miseria cordis, "pain of heart".  This virtue of mercy which we humans should also display is "an alive emotion of the heart which manifests itself by entering into the miseries of our neighbor" and to feel for him deeply and to empathize with him.

"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."  Jesus at Matthew 5:7

But back to God's tender mercies....

God showed extreme mercy to mankind by sending His Son to die to redeem sinful mankind...those who would turn to Jesus in repentance and faith in His shed blood to wash their sins away.  What love!  What mercy !  God is awesome !

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."   -  Jesus at John 3:16

"The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works."  -  Psalm 145:9

"Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies."  -  Psalm 103:4

"God in His infinite mercy has devised a way by which justice can be satisfied, and yet mercy can be triumphant.  Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, took upon Himself the form of man, and offered unto Divine Justice that which was accepted as an equivalent for the punishment due to all His people."  -  Charles Spurgeon

Following is a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on the mercy of God.  It is short...3 minutes long.

"Embrace in one act the two truths - thine own sin, and God's infinite mercy in Jesus Christ."      -  Alexander MacLaren.

"God's mercy with a sinner is only equaled and perhaps outmatched by His patience with the saints, with you and me."  -  Alan Redpath

What about you and me?  We should follow what Luke 6:36 says, "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."  In other words, God's perfection should be our example and our goal. "We, who want so much mercy from God, must learn to show mercy to our fellow-men.  It is impossible to look to Him for mercy when we fail to show mercy to others, or we fail to forgive others !   Not just show mercy in words, but by good deeds".  Help the poor, the depressed, those under extreme trials.  What a sincere and loving and pure motive it is when men make up their minds to endeavor to resemble the most high God in deeds of mercy and loving-kindness.   Let us, like God, be "not weary in well-doing."  God is love, and it takes love on our part to do acts of mercy.  One commentary tells us, "True mercifulness is a characteristic of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and they alone would be merciful.in God's way, seeking not to please themselves, but to do God's will."

Christ was an example of mercifulness...He always kept God's glory and honor in view.  "Christ's mercifulness recognized sin as the source of every man's misery, and our mercifulness is often so indifferent to the deepest needs of the men and women around us."   We need to examine ourselves and ask ourselves if we are truly following Jesus' example.  

"All that is really good is the outcome of the law of love, and its first result and inseparable companion is mercy."   (A bible commentary quote.)

Following is a moving song by Gordon Mote titled "Mercy Walked In" :

"I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations."  -  Psalm 89:1

"With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright."  -  Psalm 18:25

"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."  -  Lamentations 3:22-23