Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of Gordon Mote singing … Mercy Walked In … poignantly singing of how, when we are humbly repentant of our sin, God’s mercy and grace walk in to save and cleanse us.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Isaiah 12:18 [NLT] … 18 “Come now, let’s settle this,”says the Lord. … “Though your sins are like scarlet I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.
… God declares the essence of His faithful grace and willingness to exercise His mercy to save us sinners.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Isaiah 1:12-18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Isaiah, shows His willingness to exercise His mercy and cleanse the sins of repentant sinners.
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 53:6 [NLT] … 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.
… God’s plan was (and is) to show mercy on us sinners by His Son, our Messiah, taking the sins on Himself.
Reference Passage : … Lamentation 3:22-23 [NLT] … 22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.
… God’s promise of His faithful mercy being available to all who’re willing to confess and repent of our sins.
Reference Passage : … 1 John 1:9 [NLT] … 9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
… One of God’s most merciful and wonderful promises for all of us who’re always in need of His mercy and grace.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, James Banks, shares a personal story about his grandson whose confession illustrates how we can come to God seeking His mercy. And the ODB author wrote: My three-year-old grandson’s day was off to a rotten start. He couldn’t find his favorite shirt. The shoes he wanted to wear were too hot. He fussed and fumed at his grandmother and then sat down to cry [see photo].
“Why are you so upset?” I asked. We talked for a while and after he calmed down, I gently inquired, “Have you been good for Grandma?” He looked thoughtfully at his shoes and responded, “No, I was bad. I’m sorry.”
My heart went out to him. Instead of denying what he had done, he was honest. In the following moments we asked Jesus to forgive us when we do wrong and to help us do better.
Do you share a hearty “PTL” with me today that we serve/follow a loving, forgiving, merciful God who is willing - and ALWAYS able - to extend His mercy on genuinely humble and contrite sinners {… just as Gordon Mote sings in the linked song}?
The Prophet Isaiah (in the highlight and reference passages) was called to tell God’s people (and you and me) that He would always be there to extend His mercy and forgiving grace to cleanse those who come to Him in genuine repentance for our sins (see Lam. 3:22-23 and 1John 1:9).
So, I pray that all of us come clean today, by the mercy of God, and confess our sins today to receive His forgiving and cleansing grace.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your ever available mercy/grace.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to receive Your cleansing mercy and grace today. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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