Battlefield of the Mind

Originally Posted:  May 23, 2014
Update: October 11, 2014
Update: March 3, 2015
 
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

We are still living in one of the most exciting, yet perilous times in the history of the human race–Great Tribulation, so naturally the context of our discussion remains the same. This time however, my thesis is: How to overcome the many temptations and wiles of the Devil on the Battlefield of our Minds during GT. Also we will answer the question, "Can the enemy of the believer read his thoughts"?

Although a Spirit filled Christian for more than a decade, I have often wondered whether my enemies have the power to read my mind. This question arises when my thoughts are plagued with feedback from outside. Feedback in the form of strategic noise made by cars, foreign objects and lately foreign voices, to twist the words and songs of my mind. What were blessings then become imprecations. It is similar to what the psalmist says, "All day they twist my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil" (Psalm 56:5).

I will be singing a song or ruminating a plan in my mind when I begin to be interrupted by carefully formulated noises during certain parts of the song or plan. These intrusions have continued for extended periods of time. The debilitating torment they cause cannot be described.


Beginning late last year the voices aforementioned have been coming from inside my own head. Strange voices on any number of topics, ranging from casual to cruel. They see and hear everything I do. Think about that! The casual end–they make comments on my daily routine, give instructions and commands. On the cruel end, they deride, curse, gossip, slander and accuse me of sin, my safety and that of my loved ones have been threatened in many ways. They continue all day. They were all night as well, but God has been allowing me to sleep at nights; just another way in which He is faithful to me. But I will awake to the sound of these voices from inside my head.

After searching the Scripture for a battle plan to win the Spiritual Warfare in my mind, I found Ephesians 6:11: Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, and II Corinthians 10:3-6: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to punish all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Pulling down strongholds, casting down imaginations and high things, and bringing every thought into captivity require diligence (the first attribute that keeps us from falling, II Peter 1:5) because it can be a continual task, and extremely harrowing. To do it, I employ the following techniques:

1) PRAY. It is written, "Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray (James 5:13). A quick word of prayer to the Father or the Holy Spirit to give me a new song has proven helpful. Also"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," with short, long, silent and audible prayers to the Father, to Jesus or to the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).

2) REGROUP and change the song or thought of my mind, in what has seemed a futile attempt to evade the presence of the intruder, but I keep at it as the Holy Spirit leads. Holding my breath for as long as I can often helps me to stop the current song and switch to a different song or thought. Changing my posture also helps to clear my mind and again, I PRAY.



3) SPEAK THE WORD OF GOD WITH AUTHORITY.

4) REBUKE

5) CAST OUT EVIL SPIRITS.

6) REJOICE- Matthew 5:10-12 says:


Blessed are they [who] are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for [My] sake.

Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets [who] were before you.

These wearisome matches have lasted for hours on end as I have had to superfluously engage the enemy on the Battlefield of my Mind with the strategies listed above to pull down strongholds, cast down imaginations and high things, and bring every thought into captivity. These fights have even been extended whole days and nights. You can imagine how tiresome, but a necessary exercise, so I just determine to do it. Scripture says we should not be weary in well doing (II Thessalonians 3:13). It is also written, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;" (II Corinthians 4:8-9). And the Lord God has delivered me out of every single attack.

We had said in our previous discussion Last Days: Days of Many Antichrists that in fulfillment of Scripture, sorcery is prevalent in our generation–The Last Days, so in answer to our introductory question, "Can the enemy of the believer read his thoughts"?: YES, it should not be surprising to find that attacks of the mind are not just "all in the mind", but that they result from the enemies of Christians reading their minds with power they have received from Satan. Not only can they read the mind of the believer, but they have received power to show him signs in vision form, tell his most intimate secrets past, present and future; even inflict pain. All this the Scripture refers to as LYING SIGNS AND WONDERS, SORCERY, WITCHCRAFT. (Matthew 24:24, Revelation 18:23). But again the Christian is not without help. Recently the Holy Spirit has revealed to me that they (these sorcerers) have power to find out dreams without the dreamer disclosing them–dream snatchers–for they are even capable of erasing dreams, and then they are forgotten.

In addition to the steps above, I conclude with one last line of defense available to Christians on the Battlefield of the Mind, and it is what I call "The Believer’s Hope": Jesus will return for all Christians soon. It is written: For the Lord [Himself] shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we [who] are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Therefore comfort one another with these [Words]. –II Thessalonians 4:15-18


When were you filled with the Holy Spirit?

Yours in Christ’s Love,

Denise 

Last Days: Days of Many Antichrists

For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. –Matthew 24: 24

Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ:

We will begin the new year with a corroboration to last spring’s Great Tribulation. You will remember we had said from Scripture that we are living in the time of many antichrists. You will also remember The Holy Scriptures defining antichrists: "He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (1 John 2: 18, 22). This time let us develop our thesis further concentrating on the sheer size and scope of this group–antichrists, in these last days. Our main Text is from the Gospel according to Matthew, and Mark.

Recently I have been noticing that the prefix anti- means opposite kind or against, so not only do antichrists deny Jesus, but they are opposite, and opposed to Him. The opposition of antichrists towards Jesus progresses into hostility towards His followers–Christians.

Many antichrists existed in the early church and still do, but only as opponents of Christ. Jesus prophesied that in the last days, however, many will be saying they are Christ and shall deceive many; these antichrists are called false Christs and prophets (Mark 13:6).

So there are two groups of antichrists. There are those of Jesus generation (who still exist today), then there are those from our time, known as false Christs and prophets in Scripture. I believe the latter, are a more formidable foe for three reasons: one, because they say they are the Christ; two, because of the signs and wonders they do to deceive many; and three because the Antichrist proceeds from this group. Both types of antichrists, however, lead others astray and if it were possible even the elect.

It is apparent then that neither groups of antichrists are friends of the Lord Jesus, and consequently His followers. They both deny Jesus and oppose Him, sometimes through His Saints.

Recall that Scripture defines the antichrists of our day as false Christs and prophets, false because they impersonate The Lord Jesus Christ. It is written, that they shall do great signs and wonders. These do great signs and wonders for the effect of deceiving many. Christ, on the other hand, performs great miracles for the benefit of assisting our faith.

Regarding the fall of MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, it is prophesied, "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee; for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived" (Revelation 18: 23).

Of the myriad prophetic questions I would ask a false Christ would be: when did you suffer death by crucifixion for the sins of the world, and was raised again from the dead? Because according to Messianic Prophecies of the Holy Scriptures Zechariah 12: 10 fulfilment John 20: 27 and Psalm 16: 10 fulfilled also in The Gospel accounts, Jesus is the Christ.

The Christian’s reaction to these random acts of wickedness is to remain steadfast in the faith. In all my personal encounters with antichrists, as a follower of the Lord Jesus, I have sought the Heavenly Father for help in prayer–"Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray (James 5: 13) rested on the hope of salvation through faith in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (John 20: 31) and continued to abide in the Word of the Lord, Jesus, and to let His Word abide in me (John 15: 7).

During an attack one night, the Lord told me as plain as day: No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper (Isaiah 54: 17).

These false Christs already know that Jesus is the Christ and Saviour of the world, but they put no trust in Him. Yet it is Jesus Who died for the sins of the world and, thanks to a Heavenly Father, was raised again from the dead. There is no other Christ. There are only His followers.

As mentioned above Christ does great miracles; and like Christ, His followers do great miracles for the benefit of helping our faith along.

Unlike antichrists, the Christian's attitude towards Christ is faith, hope and love. Towards the believer love, God's love, as it is written: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his live for his friends (John 15: 13).

When were you filled with the Holy Spirit?

Yours in Christ’s love,

Denise

Correction

Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

Last Days: Days of Great Tribulation

Incorrect:
We are told of the many perils Jews and Christians will endure as a result of the diabolical powers of the Anti-Christ during "Great Tribulation".


Correct:
We are told of the many perils Christians (Christian Jews and Gentiles) will endure as a result of the diabolical powers of the Anti-Christ during "Great Tribulation."

Yours in Christ's love,
Denise

The New Birth

Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

Last season we realized that we are living in the Last Days of this dispensation, meaning Christ's return is even sooner than we had thought. We had said how to prepare for meeting the Savior, only in passing though, so in this blog we will talk more.

We begin the Race to salvation by first believing The Word of Truth when it is revealed to us for "without faith, it is impossible to please [God]…" (Hebrews 11:6). Jesus Christ is Lord because with His Life He paid for our sin. God raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him the greatest Name making Jesus Lord. Unfortunately some are disqualified at this first part of the Race simply for not believing. In Jesus Parable of The Sower and the Seed, this is the group represented by the Wayside. We have avoided disqualification here so now we are "on our marks."

The next step in the Christian Race is to repent of our past sins and determine to live like Jesus in the future. Those who fall out of the Race at this stage do not endure temptations. They either enjoy the pleasures of sin instead of the rewards of righteousness, or they are weak so they fall when tempted to continue transgressing against the Law of God. If already a believer, the temptation is to commit sin randomly. Whether unbelievers or Christians, we have to take the Way God has made for us to escape temptation: faith in His Word. When Jesus was tempted in the Wilderness, He used the Word of God to endure. Using the Word of God is easy, for example, the next time we are tempted to mistreat someone we should say aloud with faith, It is written, "You shall
love your neighbor as yourself," and we too shall endure temptations (Mark 12:31). To prevent disqualification for sin, believers must obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have reached the Water Baptism stage. In this part of the Race we have to find a local church and express our wish to be Water Baptized. I had to take a class for several weeks to learn the implications of my decision for Water Baptism. Upon successful completion of the course, I was baptized in the Name of Jesus. The year was 2004. Christ Himself was Water Baptized in the River Jordan before beginning Service to God, the Father. It is written that "the Spirit like a dove [descended] upon Him" immediately after He came up out of the water (Mk. 1:10). If you guessed that receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit is next, you are right.

We have made it to another important first part of the Christian Race—the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we are still only in the early stages. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a little more complicated than Water Baptism, which is probably why it has been misunderstood. We have gone from "tarrying" for the Holy Spirit to excluding Him altogether. What happened? The former probably due to ignorance, God knows the reason for the latter. I thank the Lord for helping us to grow, since receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential to the life of the believer. According to Scripture, we must express this wish as well. At this stage in the Christian Race, we simply let the minister know that we would like to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, now we have made Jesus Christ our Lord and have been Water Baptized in His Name.

We may not have to be Water Baptized before Baptism of the Holy Spirit can take place, but we must have received Christ Jesus as our Lord before we can receive the Gift of God's Holy Spirit. Accepting Jesus as Lord is a spiritual cleansing prerequisite to receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

The minister will ensure that all the conditions have been met, and then he or she will most likely pray to God first for the Promise. One of two things could happen next, we could just begin to speak with other tongues after hearing the spoken Word of God like Cornelius and his household did, or he may lay hands on us and the Gift of the Holy Ghost be imparted then (Acts 10:44, 19:6). Either way we will speak in other tongues (foreign languages) as the Spirit gives us the Words to say (utterance) (The Amplified Bible, Acts 2:4). We may even prophesy at the same time, but we must speak in tongues, else we have not yet received the Gift of the Holy Spirit. I did both. I spoke in other tongues and prophesied like the Ephesians in Acts Chapter 19, when I first received the Holy Spirit more than a decade ago. Speaking in tongues was my most memorable New Birth experience.

If you thought we felt like a brand new person in the earlier stages of the Christian Race, you have not spoken in tongues yet. For me saying Words I do not understand is very humbling, but again absolutely vital to the life of the believer, as the infilling of the Holy Spirit advances us to the next lap in the Race to Salvation.

You may have noticed I was Water Baptized after receiving the Holy Spirit (like Cornelius and his household). Incidentally, I had begun the Race to Salvation at the age of 12. I had made Jesus my Lord, had gotten Water Baptized and was "tarrying"
for the Holy Ghost, but my life was uncommitted, so in the late 90's, I began the Race again from scratch and have been obedient to the Gospel of Jesus Christ ever since, so help me God. Maybe I could have just picked up where I had left off, but I had been living in sin for years, and I believe the Holy Ghost led me to start over.

If we have not been disqualified so far, we are now ready for perfecting. At this next lap in the Race, finding a group of Christians to assemble with regularly is not a bad idea. Actually it is written that we should congregate with other Christians (Hebrews 10:25). This means becoming a member of a local church. It may be the same church in which we began the Race. It must be a church that believes and practices the Gospel of Jesus Christ; knowing that the Race is not over, but that we are all running together, helping to perfect each other all the way.

Finally remember: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. And now that we are born again children of God, The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…. But he [who] shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (John 3:3, Ecclesiastes 9:11, Mk. 13:13).

Yours in Christ's Love, Denise.

Last Days: Days of Great Tribulation

Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

The election of our souls is the single most important decision we will ever make as it determines if we will perish or live forever.

The age-old question of the Anti-Crhist does not come up often enough in in Christian circles but when it does, I as a Christian, join the debate. There are many Scriptures to study concerning the Anti-Christ that diligent Bible scholars have for hundreds of years now. With the help of the Holy Spirit I myself was able to search for the Truth. In this blog we will talk about the Anti-Christ, compare the times we are living in to his generation, and review our options.

The Holy Scriptures calls the Anti-Christ: The Anti-Christ, The Man of Sin, The Son of Perdition, and The Beast (1 John 2:18, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Revelation 13:18). Before going and further, let us read the definition of Anti-Christ: He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22). The Word of God also tells us that the spirit of Antichrist was already in the world at the time of writing of the Epistle of John.

The above just confirmed what many Christians already know, we are living in the Last Days (Hebrews 1:1-2); the characteristics of which Jesus describes in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. I counted more than 15 End Time prophecies in these two chapters, and again with the help of the Holy Spirit, I confirmed that the majority of them are already fulfilled, including the start of "Great Tribulation". We are told of the many perils Jews and Christians will endure as a result of the diabolical powers of the Anti-Christ during "Great Tribulation". For the Witness of Jesus Christ, he will "make war with the saints, and [prevail]" (Revelation 13:7).

I take this opportunity to encourage all Christians reading this blog to examine himself and ensure that he is in the family of God and Christ, and to continue believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, undeterred by the power of the Anti-Christ. Let the Light of Christ shine more and more in your hearts and all around you, as you abound more and more in love (Philippians 1:9).

To those of you who have not accepted Jesus as Lord, please do so now and save yourselves. Only abiding faith in the Lord Jesus can save us. Pray this prayer out loud from your heart:

Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner, but I believe that You sent Your Son, Jesus, to die for my sins. And I believe that You raised Jesus from the dead, and made Him Lord. Heavenly Father, please forgive me of my sins. I don't want to sin anymore. I welcome Jesus into my heart and my life as my Lord and Savior right now. Please help me to live like Jesus. In the Name of Jesus I pray, and give you thanks. Amen.

All those who worship the Anti-Christ or his image will have denied God, the Father and Jesus of Nazareth His Son. Every worshipper of the Anti-Christ will accept a mark known as "The Mark of the Beast." They will allow themselves to be deluded by the ballyhooed acts of wickedness performed by the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet who caball the arenas of justice throughout the world with theatrical and spectacular signs—wicked power God will allow Satan to give them for a time. Whoever accepts "The Mark of the Beast" shall be doomed (Rev. 19:20-21).

Over a decade ago I decided to renew my vows to make Jesus of Nazareth my Lord and Savior, and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I decided again to get water baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ also. Since then I have never looked back and as Christ continues to strengthen me, I never will. It is my desire to save my soul from the eternal flames of Hell and the Lake of Fire: two very real places described in the Holy Scriptures where all sinners will spend eternity (Rev 14:9-11, 19:20, 20:10).

I am convinced that Jesus is Lord, Son of God, Who died for the sins of the world, and Whom God raised from the dead. The Name of Jesus Christ means Anointed Savior, God chose Jesus (The Amplified Bible, Matt. 1:1, 21). The Scripture says Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that He lived in Nazareth, Israel; that He was empowered by the Holy Spirit to go about teaching the Gospel, and doing good, and that He takes away the sins of the world (Jhn. 1:29, 1 Jhn. 2:22).

Because Jesus is Lord of lords and Savior, I choose to worship Him, and to accept His seal (2 Timothy 2:19). Who do you choose to worship, the True God through faith in His Son Jesus Who has all power, or do you choose the worship the Anti-Christ and accept his mark?

The Unforgivable Sin

Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

It is written that Jesus said all sins will be forgiven men except the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). He did not say why, but I imagine that it is because the Holy Spirit makes is possible for us to receive the grace of God (Hebrews 10:29). This means without acknowledgement or acceptance of the Holy Spirit, we cannot be saved.

Even when God imparted His grace in the Old Testament, it was by His Holy Spirit. At the time, the Holy Spirit did not fill the believer, but now, in the New Testament, He does. So this high honor of receiving and accepting God's love, when despised, is considered blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and is unforgivable.

I have found 5 ways from Scripture that someone could blaspheme the Holy Spirit, they are:

1. To speak against or treat Him with irreverence (Matt. 12:31), such as to say to someone "You are working for Satan", when he is actually witnessing to you the saving grace of God and Christ.
   
2. To deceive or lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11).
   
3. To utterly reject Christ, the Son of God (Heb. 10:29).
   
4. To quench the Holy Spirit i.e. to suppress, despise, ignore, reject or resist His inspired teaching, instruction or warning; be it passively or aggressively, rejecting the Witness of Christ is blaspheming the Holy Spirit, because it is only with His help and power that His witnesses are able to be witnesses of Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:19, Acts 7:51).
   
5. To betray and murder His prophets (Acts 7:51-60).
   

The consequence for blaspheming the Holy Spirit is—no forgiveness. This may sound incredulously extreme, but blaspheming the Holy Spirit denotes utter rejection of God's love, by denying His Son, Jesus Christ; to spurn enduring faith in One Whom has saved us (John 3:16).

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit constitutes rejection of Christ because the Scripture says the Holy Spirit seals us until the end (Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30). Without the Holy Spirit, God does not recognize you as a Christian on the great day of redemption.

And if you think logically, you would realize that repentance must precede salvation. We must repent of our sin before we can receive forgiveness, and be saved (1 John 1:9). So if we are never sorry for our sin, even after the Holy Spirit has corrected us (using His prophets, teachers, pastors, or His Direct Word), how can we be cleansed. Please see #4 above.

In other words how can we blaspheme the Holy Spirit and be forgiven?

We saw earlier that there is no forgiveness for blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The ramification of this consequence—blaspheming the Holy Spirit is death—the penalty for all sin (Romans 6:23). The only safeguard against committing the unforgivable sin is a redeeming relationship with God, and through Jesus Christ, His Son.

To begin your journey to salvation, say this prayer out loud, from your heart:

Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner, but I believe that You sent Your Son, Jesus, to die for my sins. And I believe that You raised Jesus from the dead, and made Him Lord. Heavenly Father, please forgive me of my sins. I don't want to sin anymore. I welcome Jesus into my heart and my life as my Lord and Savior right now. Please help me to live like Jesus. In the Name of Jesus I pray, and give you thanks. Amen.

Next, according to Acts 2:38, you must repent—turn away from sin. Get baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit. And maintain your relationship with God through Christ by keeping the faith—praying, reading the Word of God, and obeying Him everyday, i.e. giving Him first place in your life.

Then you will be well on your way to salvation.

Yours in Christ's Love,

Denise

PS If already saved, when were you filled with the Holy Spirit?

Mercy and Grace

Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Mercy and grace both began in the Old Testament (OT), but mercy exceeded grace then. Grace, however, takes the lead in the New Testament (NT) as one of the blessings of God that characterizes this Covenant. Although not many more, there are other differences between mercy and grace. But before we continue let us define them. In both Testaments, I believe God defines grace as unmerited favor and compassion. The meaning of mercy, however, is versatile. In the OT, I believe God defines mercy as merited favor and compassion—almost the opposite of grace. But in the NT mercy is used interchangeably with grace.
One had to earn mercy in the Old Testament. If you wanted God's sure mercies then you had to work for them. It is written that God made a Covenant with the children of Israel in which His Divine Mercy was contingent upon their obedience to His Commandments (New International Version, Deuteronomy 7: 9-13). In the New Testament sometimes you have to earn mercy other times not. Grace you never have to earn in either Old or New Testaments.
Sometimes in the New Testament, mercy has the same meaning as grace—unmerited favor and compassion. An example of this is illustrated in the story Jesus tells of The Good Samaritan, who was merciful to someone who, by being outside of his faith, was undeserving (Luke 10: 25-37). Sometimes in the NT mercy is still based on the same point system of rewards as it was in the Old Testament for example Jesus says to His disciples during one of His lessons: "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28). Christ is merciful to His disciples by rewarding them for their duties performed. And so will God be merciful to the rest of Christ's enduring followers by rewarding them according to their services rendered to Him, or their faithfulness.
Not because He has to, but because God is merciful, He rewards us when we obey His commands. God does not have to reward us for our faithfulness to Him because God is Sovereign. After we have been obedient to Him, we have only done our duty, so we did not profit (Luke 17: 7-10). But because God is merciful, He rewards us for our loyalty to Him.
God did not command His people to be gracious in the Old Testament, only merciful. God was merciful to you and favored you in the Old Testament because you kept Covenant with Him—whatever blessings you received from God is what you earned, in other words you got out what you put in. And because God favored you He commanded you to extend certain mercies to those who kept Covenant with God along with you. They deserved your mercies by being in the same Covenant of God with you.
God Himself was gracious to only a few in the Old Testament (Please see God's Sovereignty), so I guess that's why He never commanded His people to be gracious to each other or to outsiders. Christians, in the OT, were allowed to hate their enemies, and commanded to fight them. God even allowed the children of Israel to take revenge on each other (Deu. 25:19, I Kings 16: 7-13). Grace was in very small quantities in the OT.
God commands us to be both merciful and gracious in the New Testament. Jesus teaches in the New Testament "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy"
(Matt. 5:7). And as to grace, He teaches "Love your enemies," (Matt. 5: 43-48). Another example of grace is when Jesus healed the Canaanite woman's daughter, when God had only sent Him to the Israelites (Matt. 15: 22-28).
In the New Testament, God commands us to be gracious because He has been vastly gracious in that He loved the entire world. God's love for the world is evident in that He gave Christ for all people (John 3:16). It is written that "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us; For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith" (Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:8). So in keeping with His Own Character, God commanded His people to be merciful in the OT; and both merciful and gracious in the NT.
I have found that God never commands us to do anything He isn't willing to do or hasn't already done Himself; that is the justice of God and Christ, and He commands us to be like Him. It is written, "Be ye holy, because I am holy" (I Peter 1:16).
God is more gracious this Covenant because of Christ; He does not want His Gift to be in vain. Jesus, God's beloved Son sacrificed His Life by lowering Himself from being like the angels, and living in glory to becoming like man, and living on the earth. Because Jesus lived as a Man on the earth, He is able to sympathize with the weaknesses of man and his temptations; this qualifies Jesus to help us (Hebrews 2: 5-18, 4:15). The Scripture says that Jesus mission on earth was to do the will of God, to "Bind up the brokenhearted…and comfort all who mourn" (Isaiah 61: 1-2, Luke 4:18).
The next time that we talk about God's blessings of "grace and mercy" towards us, hopefully we'll remember to bless others with our grace and mercy too like God Commanded.
Yours in Christ's Love,
Denise


PS When were you filled with the Holy Spirit?