In his second session at WAFBEC 2022, Pastor Poju shared how to obtain the mercy of God. He read from Isa 49:8 and showed that the acceptable time had come. The mercy of God is the compassion of God, it is the willingness of God to use His power to help you. Jesus came to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and that time is NOW. 2 Cor 6:2
Jesus was referring to the year of Jubilee when he spoke about preaching the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:19). Jubilee was a year of release and restoration. Every debt is cancelled in Jubilee. Lev 25:8-10 Jesus came to make an atonement for every single person, and now as preachers, we blow the trumpet, that announces it. 1 Cor 14:9
Reading from Heb 4:16, he established that in order to find grace to help, you must, first of all, obtain mercy. Mercy has already been provided by God but you have to obtain it. He noted however that there are conditions to obtaining mercy.
The first condition he identified was from Isa 49:9-14. Every time you allow the conditions of your life to determine your response, you forsake the mercy of God. Because of the refusal to rejoice when things don’t go as they expected, they missed the mercy of God. The first condition is that you must never judge God based on external circumstances. You must rejoice whether the circumstances are favourable or not.
The second condition, drawing from James 2:9 -16, is that you don’t condemn people because of their weaknesses. Thank God but don’t judge people as you don’t know their struggles.
The third thing about people that obtain God’s mercy is that they walk in humility. I Tim 2:12-14, James 4:5-8, I Pet 5:6. The remaining part of his message was focused on buttressing the third condition.
He read from Ps 32:1 – 6 and pointed out the need to humble yourself under God’s mighty hand. God’s hand not only lifts but can also keep you down. That hand is on you to get you to repent and make some corrections. There’s a condition in your soul God is trying to deal with. And so you pray like Job, that which I know not, show me. (Job 34:31-32)
If you want to get out of any situation, don’t ever blame anybody or argue that you’re right. Like the tax collector in Luke 18:10 -14, you acknowledge that you are wrong, and you ask God for mercy. Note that people are applauding you doesn’t mean you didn’t miss God.
Go to God and ask Him to have mercy on you. Then God will open your soul and show you where the error is. The blood of Jesus has given us the assurance that God is not holding anything against you and so you can go to Him to ask Him to show you what you’re doing wrong and where you’re missing it.
And once you make the correction, you get into the unforced rhythms of grace where things begin to flow with ease.