Love Grace Mercies – Steps 2 Success with Spiritual Solutions

“Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
For I am distressed and needy [I long for Your help].”

“Hear, O Lord, my prayer; And listen attentively to the voice of my supplications” (specific requests)!

“In the day of my trouble I will call upon You,
For You will answer me.”

“Teach me Your way, O Lord, I will walk and live in Your truth; Direct my heart to fear Your name” [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].

“I will give thanks and praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; And will glorify Your name forevermore.” (Psalm 86: 1, 6-7, 11-12, Amplified Bible)

The Psalms are songs expressing praise and worship to God, heartfelt distress, remorse, confession, and repentance.

The Psalms also teach us how to seek God for help, guidance, comfort, and protection.

The Psalms are prayers written by David and other appointed musicians, including King Solomon.

Yes, the Psalms are the honest, heartfelt cries of righteous men, who were not ashamed to express the true feelings in their hearts to the Most-High God.

“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become restless and disturbed within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.” (Psalm 42:5, Amplified Bible).

Although many believers incorrectly perceive David as suffering from depression, David was not depressed.

“Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house.” (2 Samuel 12:11).

Because of his shameless sins against God of committing adultery with Bathsheba, and ordering for her husband to be killed, David lived under a God-given curse that there would never be peace in his household.

Although two of David’s Sons, Princes Absalom and Adonijah attempted to remove their father as King, God intervened, never allowing harm to come to King David.

“I will give thanks and praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; And will glorify Your name forevermore.” (Psalm 86:12).

“The Psalms represent a personal, sincere, and lifelong commitment to worshiping God with one’s entire being (mind, emotions, and will) rather than through empty ritualistic worship practices.”

Through prayer, we have the privilege of expressing our love and gratitude for God’s love, forgiveness, guidance, and protection from spiritual warfare and our enemies.

But most importantly, our prayers should express our recognition of God’s Righteous and Loving Character, His Sovereign Authority, and gratitude for His Abundant Blessings of Grace and Mercies.

Psalm 25:4–5: “Show me Your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God My Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.”

Because we cannot foresee the future, nor do we know what will happen in the next few minutes or hours on the given day, we immediately pray, asking God to reveal His plans, and to guide and protect us.

“Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.” (Isaiah 55:6).

Each new day, we receive the merciful gift of time; and with appreciation, we whisper words of gratitude for God’s Faithfulness.

Love is reciprocal. Yes, as soon as we wake up, our love for God is expressed by the immediate response, “Thank You, God for the gift of today. “

A Christian author expresses the reasons that her daily morning worship with God is vital: “This time alone with God prepares me for what I will need throughout the day. He’s equipping me to handle what is ahead with His gentle boldness, quiet strength, and loving grace.”

“Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105).

God’s Loving Promise: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15, NIV). Yes and Amen!

Bible Study: Psalm 86

Prayer: “But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth. Oh, turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give Your strength to Your servant…Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because You, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.” (Psalm 86:15-17, NKJV).

Jesus Restores Peter: “So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.'” (John 21:15).

After Jesus’ arrest, Peter aggressively denied knowing Jesus three times, and then the rooster crowed.

“And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, ‘Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about.’ And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.’ 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.” (Luke 22:59-62, ESV).

We may ask, How is it possible for Peter to deny Christ after being in His presence and following Him for 3 years? Peter’s heart was unconverted, he attempted to serve and follow Jesus with a divided heart.

Although Peter thought his overwhelming desires for earthly prominence and wealth were hidden secrets, Peter was unaware that God, the Father gave Jesus the Divine Power to discern the real [secret] thoughts in people’s minds.

“Would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” (Psalm 44:21). Before God, who knows every human thought, habit, and behavior, we appear as naked babies.

Yes, God knows the dedicated believers who are striving to follow His Triumphant Son, Jesus Christ with daily surrender and faithful obedience; and God sees the unbelieving believers, who profess Christianity, but live to fulfill their personal agendas as wealth-builders, striving for elite social status, and the world’s wisdom [Artificial Intelligence].

The Reason It Is So Easy To Rebel Against God

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10, ESV).

“Our natural will is cold, hard, stubborn, and rebellious; The hard heart does not love Jesus, the Redeemer; The hard heart is selfish and coldly asks, Why should I [feel remorse] for sin? Why should I love the Lord?”

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Matthew 16:26, NLT).

God never coerces us to love Him. If we choose to live as we please then we choose to deny Christ as our Lord and Savior. Not only will our rewards consist of whatever we have gained in our earthly lives, denying Christ is to accept Malachi 4:1 as our destiny.

The Plan of Redemption Reveals God’s Love, Grace, and Mercies and Also Includes Unlimited Forgiveness and Restoration

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10, ESV). Regardless of our present self-seeking status; we can decide to renounce the world’s treasures and pleasures; repent and return to the Shepherd; we do not have to remain as a lost sheep!

Steps To Spiritual Restoration: Love God

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength [your entire being].” (Deuteronomy 6:5, Amplified Bible).

In Matthew 22, Jesus repeats the command given in the Old Testament that we must love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the literal meaning: To love God is to think and live with a “God First” mindset.

Embracing Jesus’ Sacrificial Gift of His Life

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17, ESV).

The Message of The Cross reveals Jesus’ overwhelming love and commitment to save humanity: Jesus fulfilled The Plan of Redemption, dying for our sins, so we do not have to die [the second and final death] for our sins.

Confess and Repent For Our Sins Against God

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

To be accepted back into our Shepherd’s flock of sheep, we repent [asking for forgiveness with the commitment to strive to live holy]; and immediately, we are justified and covered with Christ’s Righteousness; and Jesus Christ presents us as being cleansed from all sins to God, the Father.

Sanctification is the lifetime work of the Holy Spirit changing our mind, character, personality into the likeness of Christ’s Righteous Character.

Sanctification requires the human effort of daily participation. We pray for God’s Will to be revealed, and our responses are faithful obedience along with renouncing our heart’s desires and Satan’s temptations.

“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.'” (1 Corinthians 15:33, CSB). Our commitment to God and lifestyle must reflect that our hearts have been cleansed and transformed.

Spiritual Restoration requires letting go of all worldly people, habits, behaviors, and lifestyles. Study Romans 12:1-2 on how to live appropriately as a follower of Jesus Christ.

We are Temporary Travelers living on a Temporary Earth preparing every day for Jesus’ Coming. Live as if it is your last day. This is not a morbid thought, God has not promised us tomorrow.

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14, NIV). We are living in the last days and we do not have the time that we think we have.

If we do not actively renounce sin, the Holy Spirit cannot change us; and the unrighteous character that we have today will be the same unrighteous character we have when Jesus comes.

Following Jesus Gives Us our Spiritual Identity

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9).

Society’s system of valuing people should not matter to us. As the righteous Sons and Daughters of God, who will inherit our Eternal Crown of Life, at all times, we must stay spiritually alert and prepared. Jesus tells us to separate ourselves from lawlessness.

The True Believers Worship God in Spirit and Truth

Daily surrender, faithful obedience, praying continuously for guidance and protection, studying the Bible, and letting go of our internal desires invites the Holy Spirit to empower us with Jesus’ Wisdom and Strength to discern and overcome every temptation that we face.

Jesus asks, “Do you love me?”

Then “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s Will is.” (Ephesians 5:15 – 16, NIV).

Lord God, with humility and surrender, we approach your Throne of Grace, asking for the forgiveness of our sins. Lord, we ask You to restore us and to anoint us with Your Presence through the Power of the Holy Spirit. As we navigate through this tumultuous spiritual journey of life, we ask for Your Divine Guidance. Teach us how to keep our focus and faith on our Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus, we love You; and we bow before You, Triumphant King asking You to lead us from Earth to Heaven. Lord, we also request for You to be our strength. In faith and with joyful anticipation of receiving Your blessings, we ask this prayer in the Loving and Righteous Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Tag: Love Grace Mercies

God Wants To Prepare You For Today – David’s Prayer: “Teach me Your way, O Lord”

Jesus Asks, “Do You Love Me?