They are new every morning #thefathersword

Lamentations 3:22-23
'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'

Mercy. What is Mercy?

The dictionary describes it as an act of kindness, compassion or favour. It also describes it as compassionate or kindly forbearance shown towards an offender, an enemy, or another person in one's power; compassion, pity or benevolence.

Did you know that in heaven, you have a heavenly account? Now, let me explain this in modern day terms.
Each of you has a bank account and in order for you to withdraw money, you need to have money in there. In order to transact money, you need to deposit money in there. If however, you have nothing in your account, you can't take anything out.
I wonder, what would it be like to have an account where each morning there is always money available. What would it be like if there was an overflow in your account every day?

You see, every day in our lives we strive to be like God, because he is perfect and we desire to strive to be perfect ourselves. During any one day, you can come across situations that will come to test you and may require you to draw on the mercy of God so you can get through the day. But what would happen if every day you have the same amount of mercy you had from the day before, life would be peak each and every day.

I am very grateful that God's mercies are new every morning. God is very compassionate, not one day will he fail to not show compassion to someone.

So back to the heavenly account. Just as we have an earthly account, we also have a heavenly account and in that account, there is plenty for us to withdraw from. I would imagine that you have love, peace, joy, faith and mercy. At the end of every day, it's like God saying to you - "Go to sleep, wake up and start again, fresh and on point"
In other words, God makes a transaction, everything we did or didn't do, he wipes it away and replaces it with new mercy. What a mighty God we serve.

We as human beings, we don't generally qualify for mercy. Ever since Adam sinned, we then were born into sin but God has different ideas. Despite our sin nature, he showed us mercy and came to save us. You think you didn't deserve it but God is merciful is full of compassion and for him to go against that, it would be detrimental to everything that he is.
We probably would have been consumed if it wasn't for the Lord's mercies.

1 John 4:8 - 'He that loveth not knoweth God; for God is love'

God is love and within that love, he is full of compassion and he is full of mercy. His mercies are new every morning.

#thefathersword - Love is the answer

Around 2.40pm yesterday afternoon, Westminster Bridge and Parliament square were the subjects of a terror attack, one of the bloodiest attacks since the 7/7 attacks in 2005.
Amongst the dead was the attacker and also PC Keith Palmer. The scenes were quite horrific as hoards of people were laid out along Westminster Bridge.

As I was digesting all the information with a friend, I felt compassion and love towards each and every person who was caught up in the attack. On my way home, the word 'love' played on my spirit and so I was pointed to a particular passage within the bible - John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

The images that I saw and the stories that I heard of people running to help the fallen and also to help the injured police officer really brought that passage to life. People laying down their life in order to help their fellow citizens really showed me that the London is full of love and compassion.

In the aftermath, people have really been divided over the attack but our message today is - Love is the answer.

1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love

After an atrocity like the one we all witnessed yesterday, there will always be the tendency to go and attack the enemy like never before but in reality, the more you attack the enemy, the more he will attack you. We must choose the right response and respond in love.
Stand together with one another, Be united with another and resolve to not let terror grip the hearts of this nation.

This is not a time to fight evil with evil, it is time for us to stand together and love one another. Right now, it may seem like the world is in darkness but the only way to eradicate the darkness is being shining lights, by spreading love all over this nation.

Be blessed, be safe and spread love wherever you go.

The Daily Word - Can you Love whilst Hurting

'Despite going through pain and torture, he went to the cross to show how much he loves me and you'

Some time ago, God asked a question - Do you still love people even though they hurt you? . I had to think a long time about that, it was something that had me stuck for a while until I finally realised why.

There's this mentality that some people have which is this - If someone hurts or lets me down, there is no way I can trust someone else or even love someone else. Looking from the outside that could be totally acceptable but let's take a step back and really consider whether it's the correct idea.
Let's look it at from the perspective of Jesus.

On the third day when he rose again, you would imagine that he had some scores to settle. His first port of call was to appear before Peter and have a heart to heart. That was a poignant moment, even though Jesus was hurt by Peter he still showed love by commissioning Peter and then he appeared to the rest of the disciples.

In a modern day context, you would describe a person who did that as quite mindless but ask yourself this - How many time has God forgiven you? How many times has God shown his love to you.
Even though we hurt God on a daily basis, he still shows us his love.

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. - Matthew 11:28-30

Wow, so what Jesus basically said is to give him all our troubles and exchange them for his yoke so we will find rest for our soul. What a huge statement, a statement of sincere love for me and you. We sinned against him, got him tortured but yet he is willing to take away our sins and forget them no more.

This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES - Matthew 8:17

Holding on to the past, holding on to those memories of the people that hurt you and let you down, the memories of being abused and neglected, the memories of being cheated on, all of this will weigh you down and keep you down. Give it to Jesus, he is willing to take your burden and wants to give you his yoke so you can be free and be able to move on. 

So, let me ask this question again - 'Do you still love people even though they hurt you? How will you respond...................................