SURE MERCY< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Psalm 23

ÒPardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.Ó (Numbers 14:19) This is a prayer of intercession by Moses on behalf of the children of Israel after one of their rebellious acts that made God to react against them during their wilderness journey. At any point in time, have you complained against Him or have you found yourself in a situation that is not well with the experience in your wilderness journey? It is worth it to pray the kind of prayer that Moses prayed because it was all written for our learning. Great is the faithfulness of God and He is abundant in mercy. In His hand is His mercy and He can choose to have mercy on us and He can also choose not to have mercy. However, He said in His Word that we should ask and not faint. When we ask constantly and consistently according to the greatness of His mercy, He will no doubt hear us from Heaven and His mercy shall be given unto us. The Psalmist knew to ask for His mercy when he prayed, ÒHear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4: 1) The phase Òhave mercy on meÓ should be an adopted signature tune for each and every believer in every area of life. In the absence of His mercy, there could be a merciless destruction by the liar and his agents of wickedness. Just for His mercy alone, the Lord is worthy of great and mighty praise and adoration. He is a good God and His mercy endures forever. The Psalmist considered it as very important to acknowledge this fact when he repeatedly testified in the first verse of Psalm 106:1, 107:1, 118:1, 136:1, ÒÉOh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good For His mercy endures forever.Ó Indeed He is good and His mercy endures forever. It is His mercy that we need when all have rejected us as hopeless and condemned. The mercy of God is all that we need to consider us. ÒHave mercy on me, O Lord! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death.Ó (Psalm 9:13) He never runs out of mercy, however, we run out of His mercy. The Bible says His mercy endures forever. Can you trust in His mercy? Trusting in His mercy is trusting in His name because His name is merciful. Today, lift up your hand, pray and ask for His sure mercy. ÒSurely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.Ó (Psalm 23:6) Amen.

HIS TOUCH       < ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Isaiah 6:1-10

If there is any thing to ask from Him in this season, it should be for His hand. The hand of God is mighty and cannot be reduced or denied in any area of life. His hand is deliverance and it will also bring forth healing. The operation of His hand cannot be separated from that of His word. When the Lord called Jeremiah, it was through the operation of His hand in combination with His word. Jeremiah 1:9-10, ÒThen the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: ÔBehold, I have put My words in your mouth.10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.ÕÓ The word of God was there to be activated for Jeremiah to answer and live for the fulfillment of his calling. Without the touching of God, he would not have been able to see. The Lord put forth His hand to call his attention to what had been deposited in him. It was the touch of GodÕs hand in the life of Jeremiah and the grace for Jeremiah to hear that caused JeremiahÕs eyes to be opened up and see. Jeremiah truly saw that day and his life was never the same. Could it be that all you need is to be touched? Has the word located you, but you are yet to get a touch that will cause you to become on fire for Him? The hand of God and His word can be likened to matches that spark fire in the hand of one waiting for the spark from the ignition of fire. Isaiah also testified in Isaiah 6:6-7, ÒThen one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ÔBehold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.ÕÓ Isaiah could not hear until he had been touched. As a result of the touch that came into the life of Isaiah, his life became a flaming torch for the purpose of the Kingdom of God. The Book of Isaiah is referred to as the miniature Bible. Just like the Bible, his first thirty-nine chapters are compared to the first thirty-nine books of Old Testament while the last twenty-seven are compared to the last twentyÐseven books of the New Testament. By His touch, Jeremiah and Isaiah carried out great exploits to the glory of God. Ask and ask consistently for the mercy that will cause His hand to touch you for His name to be glorified in your life.

THE WORD IS POWER

1 Kings 17:1-6< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

ÒBut the Word is very near in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.Ó (Deuteronomy 30:14) Anyone who is having the word in their mouth and in their heart will do the word. The ones who know to do the Word will undoubtedly know how to call on the word for use whenever challenges are demanding. Psalm 107:20, He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.Ó The same word of God that was sent is the same that is near our mouths and we are to use it as a weapon for defense against all that the enemy brings in our direction. ÒIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.Ó (John 1:1-3) The word of God is God. The word has never stopped coming to us since the beginning. Jesus, the living word of God, also declared His availability in John 10:10 ÒÉI have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.Ó The word that has been made available will only be available if our hearts have been available for the word to reign and rule. The word of God is true and is power. The Word will work for those that walk in it while living in this world of wickedness. Hebrews 4:12-13, ÒFor the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.Ó This is the same word that Elijah operated with a consciousness when he called on rain to cease for three and half years. The word of God is not without power to those who know to walk and to stand in the Word of God. When Elijah encountered Ahab, the king of Israel, all that was in his power was the living word of God. 1 Kings 17:1, ÒAnd Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ÒAs the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.Ó What you eat is what you will become. If you will let the word of God be your daily bread and meditate on it day and night, the word will become of you and you will also be able to stand in declaring it when challenges demand it. Be a carrier of GodÕs word and His word will not fail in carrying you.

FULL OF LEPROSY< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Luke 5:12-15

ÒAnd it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, ÒLord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.Ó (Luke 5:12) A man who did not just  have leprosy, but was full of leprosy saw Jesus. This man knew who he needed to look to in order to get healed from the disease that was having him. The fullness of his leprosy was a demonstration that he did not only having leprosy, but leprosy had him. In many cases when you are down in a situation that is beyond comprehension, you can easily lose seeing the Healing Healer because the fullness of your situation has taken away all your focus. Today, how are you handling the situation that is beyond your control? Are you seeing Jesus in it or out of it? Are you looking out to see Jesus? It is one thing to be in a situation and it is another to be in a situation and be down in such situation. If you are in a situation that is beyond your control, there will be a need to see Jesus either through prayer; through the Word of His grace as documented in the pages of the Bible or through giving Him praise and worship. The children of Israel were not just in bondage for over four hundred years, but they were also down in it until God declared, ÒAnd I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.Ó (Exodus 3:17) The same God who was yesterday, is today and will be tomorrow will bring you out of all that is keeping you down in all the down areas of life. The man with the leprosy fell down before the King of kings and the Lord of lords because he acknowledged the power that Jesus carries. It was a parallel flat down fall whereby he had his face down and in that fall, he called for help. He knew that the grace to give and to take belongs only unto Jesus. As a result, he was submissive in his request by stating, ÒLord, if you are willingÓ. (Luke 5:12)  He was expecting a miracle. He wanted and needed a miracle that would bring him from down to up. It is impossible to fall down before the Lord and not rise up for His Name to be glorified. God wants to be glorified because He is the King of Glory. Jesus will not be unwilling concerning all that confronts us. He will help in all that represents all kinds of infirmities in our lives in the name of Jesus.

LAUNCH AND LET DOWN< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Luke 5:1-11

ÒWhen He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, ÔLaunch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.ÕÓ (Luke 5:4) This was a command that came after Jesus had finished speaking. It was not a suggestion; neither was it an idea. For Him to command Simon to launch was an indication that all Simon needed was already waiting in the deep. All Simon had to do was obey the LordÕs command. There are so many ways today that He is telling us to launch into the deep where our eyes cannot see what is deposited there in the deep. The inability of not being able to see what lies in the deep continues to make it difficult for us to launch into the deep just has He commanded in the pages of Bible. Many have launched into the deep and many are still launching into the deep without getting the kind of results that could justify the reason for obeying Him. God is not a liar and He will not cause us to make a move where we cannot remove ourselves from all that has been moving away from us for our good. The problem with launching into the deep and not getting a break like Simon is rooted in the lack of obedience. JesusÕ command is not only to launch into the deep, but to launch and let down. In all of your launching, have you seriously been letting it down? Have you been partially letting it down or after launching, have you been holding back and not letting down? His command to Simon was clear and direct enough to generate the expected result for Simon. Is it clear enough to you that when you launch into the deep and let down as He commanded, you will come up with the grace of abundance? Launching into the deep and not letting down is an evidence of struggle and anxiety. It does us no good to give our problems to Jesus and then turn around and take them back by continuing to worry and doubt. Jesus wants us to launch and give it up for Him to pick it up. Simon and his fellow professional fishermen launched, let down their nets and they were able to see a miracle that turned them around into following Jesus to where they would never fail to catch and gain for the KingdomÕs glory. The fishermen did not only have a break through in their obedience, but the spirit of God also caught them. Luke 5:11, ÒSo when they had brought their boats to land, they forsake all and followed Him.Ó It was a base-shifting miracle for the fishermen. The same word that sounded for the fishermen is still sounding for us today and the word is to launch into the deep things of God and allow Him to take over by letting it down for Him to pick us up from where we have let it down. Believe in the Word of the Bible and follow Him today and all the rest of your life. He will not fail you or forsake you in the deep.