Wednesday Worship - Lifesong

Engrafted by His Grace--

Memorial Day

I hope we, the American people, can take a moment today to pause and reflect thanking God for those men and women who have served our country. Men and women voluntarily give up their lives for us to live free lives.

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You today for the many men and women who fought bravely to protect our freedoms in America. Lord, I pray You bless their homes; bless their families. I ask You to comfort loved ones of those who sacrificially gave up their lives so we can live in freedom today. Lord, I thank You. In Jesus name, Amen.

If you or you have a family member who has served or who is serving our country, I want to personally thank you.

Engrafted by His Grace--

Bleeding?

Teaching my sixth grade son to write, he methodically outlined the topic he chose to write about. After writing out his outline, I asked him to narrate to me in complete sentences what he planned to write on the paper. After a few short, choppy sentences and phrases, I stopped him.

"Chase, think of your outline as the skeleton. Your job in writing the paper is to put flesh on the skeleton--"

"Oh yeah, Mom, so you can make it bleed."

Engrafted by His Grace--

Mercy Came Down by Del Way

Last Saturday at a Women's Ministry event, Jolee sang the special song. She sang this song Mercy Came Down by Del Way. The words ministered to my soul.



You can visit Del Way's website to learn more about his music and ministry.
Del Way Ministries

Engrafted by His Grace--

Mercy Blessings

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. ~~ Matthew 5:7

Are you inclined to give mercy? I found myself recently not so inclined to be merciful with those who live with me. I demanded acts of mercy from them, yet I acted harshly to them. I wanted them to follow this three step plan to me:

1. Acknowledge their offense toward me
2. Repent of their offense
3. Make restitution for their offense

But no one in my household followed this plan for me and I certainly did not feel I needed to yield to it myself. I wanted some respect from the others. In all honesty, what I wanted was control. But I’m not in control; God is in control.

The unmerciful servant found in Matthew 18 begged for mercy from his king. After he received mercy, he went to a fellow servant that owed him so much less and forced the three-step plan on him. When the fellow servant did not make restitution, the unmerciful servant had him thrown in jail. Because people talk and spread news quickly, the word got back to the king. As a result the king took back the mercy shown. The unmerciful servant lost the mercy he initially received. Jesus warned us that is how our heavenly Father is with us. I saw the warning signs flashing.

I decided to toss out my three-step plan, repent and obey the scriptures. Scriptures tell us God is a God of mercy. Deuteronomy 4:31 states, “For the LORD your God is a merciful God.” Since our Lord is a merciful God, he requires us to be merciful. Zechariah 7:9 reads, “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.”

Therefore, according to the Word of God, I’m to show mercy and compassion to those I love. I am challenging myself this week to stop barking orders, stop demanding my way in every situation, stop showing harshness with errors, and instead, showing kindness and compassion in all areas of my home.

I believe as I am merciful, I will be blessed. Blessed with what? Others being merciful to me? I don’t know, but I believe the blessing that comes with this act of obedience is peace in my heart and peace in my home. I think the enemy would love to get his foot in my door, but I’m not letting him in my house. I will guard my heart and my home through obedience to the scriptures. Being merciful to others will protect me from bitterness, envy, jealousy, and anger. Acting in mercy will bring blessings.

Engrafted by His Grace--