LAMENTATION 3:22 says: “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions faileth not.”

Beloved, the reason you are alive today is not due to your cleverness or smartness but because of the mercy of God through which you receive deliverance, salvation, have all your prison sentences cancelled and through which you will receive total freedom and the blessings of heaven. Mercy is the privilege of God’s grace, which all mankind particularly the Children of God should rely upon for their safety.

Prophet Jeremiah took cognizance of this fact and humbled himself and sought the mercy of God when he realized he has sinned and God instead of dealing with him in heavy judgment, dealt with him in mercy. Although he was punished but his punishment was much more less than his iniquity deserved.

*Pastor LAZARUS MUOKA

The Children of God must not toy with this opportunity to always ask for God’s mercy which stands as a gateway of escape for us. When our friends and relations fail us, we should remember that God is our eternal portion.

When King David was under the judgment of God because of the evil he committed by sleeping with Bathsheba and overseeing the killing Uriah, he remembered the mercy of God and cried for mercy and the Lord heard him and granted him mercy and the mercy prevailed against the cruel judgment meted to him.

David prayed in Psalm 51:1-18 and said: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightiest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

“Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.”

The above prayer for mercy was made by David to show his remorse over the sin he committed. And his pleas for mercy yielded good result as God called him the man after His heart. God takes delight in showing mercy to all those who call on Him for mercy because He is a merciful God. Even today He is advertising His mercy to those who truly will repent from their sins and boldly come to the throne of grace.

The hope of a repentant sinner is that God should grant him mercy and grace, and these were the bases on which David approached God. He pleaded for mercy, that he may promote the glory of God and the conversion of sinners and God who is always pleased with a contrite heart, granted his request.

Where else would a sinner return, if not to the Lord his God, who alone can heal him? Those that truly repent of their sins will not be ashamed to approach God for repentance and God will not be ashamed to call them His own.

No matter the evil you have done in the past and its consequences, which are currently hanging on your neck, by the mercy of the Lord you shall be qualified for forgiveness. Is there anything you have done and which makes you feel ashame whenever it is remembered? If you can cry out today for God’s mercy, the Lord will forgive, show you mercy and cancel all the effects of sentences and judgment on your life.

Habakkuk, though a prophet of God saw the need to seek the face of God when he derailed from grace and prayed: “O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2)

If all things have failed you, I urge you to cry as Habakkuk did, I am sure God will show you mercy for it is not the will of God that you should perish and if there is any judgment anywhere against your life, the mercy of God will step in to reverse the effects of those judgments, and He who is ever merciful, the embodiment of mercy will show you mercy.

No matter the degree of your iniquity, only if you can cry to Him for mercy, the assurance am giving you is that all the sorrows, trials, afflictions, sicknesses and problems of life working against you shall be cancelled and you will receive complete freedom in Jesus name.

The Psalmist always cried unto God because he had the knowledge of God’s mercies and if you would have this understanding and cry to God for His mercies, no matter what the problem may be, they shall not withstand the power of God available to save and deliver you from the hands of your enemies.

Psalm 40:2-3 says: “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.”

Beloved, God has advertised His mercy today and is set to hear your prayers so that mercy shall prevail over your judgment. This mercy will qualify you for His blessings and you will in the end sing a new song in Jesus name. Remember it is said that, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)

If you cover up your sin and refuse to acknowledge it, you shall not obtain the mercy of God. If a sinner does not acknowledge his sins and refuses to come to the Lord for salvation, he shall not obtain mercy. But if he confesses and forsakes it, and with a broken heart repented, he shall have mercy.