Sue O’Donnell. 08.03.21
“ ‘I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem’, chosen for great honour, and anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.” (1 Peter 2 v 6 NLT)
Renewed
Refreshed
Restored
Replenished.
Who is this?
It is us in Christ Jesus!
God searches for us
Through His Son,
The living Word
Of grace, of truth.
“Always continue to fear the Lord. You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed.” (Proverbs 23 v 18 NLT)
Jesus is the manifestation
Of marvellous mercy,
The identification
Of true love.
The God of forgiveness
Offers us His kindness.
Daily He renews
His love for us,
In the cleansing water
Poured over us by the Holy Spirit.
We become refreshed.
“Where is another God like You, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of His special people? You will not stay angry with Your people forever, because You delight in showing unfailing love.” (Micah 7 v 18 NLT)
Our trust for life’s meaning,
With an eternal purpose
Is also being replenished.
For we have been restored
To God’s favour
By His Son’s sacrifice.
He heals our brokenness.
For Christ Jesus
Is new life to us.
Find Him by the Spirit.
“He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ, our Saviour.” (Titus 3 v 5, 6 NLT)
And we begin
To find our Father.
He who would rather
Allow His Son,
Also in love with us,
To die on a †
Than to lose sight of us.
It is out of an incredible mercy,
A truly amazing grace,
We are blessed, being
Renewed
Restored
Refreshed
Replenished.
“Desire only God and your heart will be satisfied.” (St Augustine of Hippo)
“When He sees all that is accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied. And because of this experience, My righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins.” (Isaiah 53 v 11, 12 NLT)
Lord Jesus, by Your wounds inflicted so cruelly upon You at the †, we are healed. This was prophesied “He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.” (Isaiah 53 v 5 NLT) Many have been the testimonies since of physical, emotional, relational and of course, spiritual healing.
You are our Brother and You are our Saviour, taking the punishment for our sinfulness, that which was due to us, upon Yourself that we receive mercy by forgiveness.
Thus we experience hope being renewed to our Father’s favour, being in receipt of His all loving grace. Truly we esteem and exalt You as our Healer Renewer.
We ae uncommonly loved, incredibly loved, profoundly loved, because You make us of right standing once more in our Father’s eyes. He loves to be merciful towards us and You make this justifiable.
Mercy restores us to every grace, favour, benefit and blessing here in Your kingdom upon earth, a foretaste of eternal joy. Thank You. Lord Jesus, You are our Healer Restorer.
Ever let the power of the Holy Trinity be understood, experienced at first hand, esteemed, venerated, praised, admired, thanked, appreciated more fully. What blessed assurance this holy love gifts us.
The Holy Spirit works tirelessly to cleanse, purify and sanctify our desires, wishes, thoughts, intentions, decisions and actions. The more He does this, the better we come to understand our Father’s love for us, freely
gifted in You, Lord Jesus, and we feel refreshed. You are our Healer Refreshment.
You are infinite majesty and infinite goodness towards us, incomparable, undeniable, unalterable. We extol the greatest treasure of Your love and compassion, our Father’s kindly mercy and the Holy Spirit’s enlightening presence. Together, You are our fullest satisfaction, a total joy, our life and our all.
Your beloved mother pleads for us, her love too being perfect like Yours. What help this offers us. For all eternity, we will praise God’s mercy, as made ours by Your gift of a perfect life and sacrificial death, which
replenishes our opportunity to become sinless. Lord Jesus, our hope, our help, our solution to brokenness caused by sin, You are our Healer, Replenisher and we thank You from deeply grateful hearts.
“...right living can save you from death” (Proverbs 11 v 4) we are told. This is according to our Father’s mercy as called into effect by You, Lord Jesus, our Healer Saviour. Thank You for accomplishing our salvation.
You are forever Saviour, that we live with hope uppermost in our heart and on our mind. We know we have to call daily upon the Holy Spirit as we are told to “...listen and be wise; keep your heart on the right course.” (Proverbs 23 v 19 NLT)
May Your Spirit, the Father’s Spirit of loving mercy help us to accomplish this request “Get the truth and never sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.” (v 23) Thank You for making all of these available to us.
In fact, holy wisdom is so vital for our well being, it bids “Give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways,” (v 26) which is a helpful reminder to me.
We have to trust in You, Lord Jesus in order to gain holiness. This holiness causing us to delight in the involvement of the holy Trinity in all aspects of our daily life which then becomes enhanced.
“Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires” (Psalm 37 v 4 NLT) which is Himself and all the blessings and benefits which then accrue.
For daily You are our forever Saviour, the One who rescues us from all that is evil, redemption having been won for us at the †and recalled in every Holy Eucharist.
“Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust Him and He will help you.” (v 5) This could be our motto for Lent, for Easter and beyond. Our life can be transformed as the Trinity cause our “...innocence (to) radiate like the dawn.” (v 6)
Lord, I woke up this morning just as dawn was breaking. It was a hopeful sight to see the light cutting across all the dullness. This is exactly how life is for Your disciples of today.
Thank You for coming to us as the living Bread from heaven to nourish our faith; as the light of all holy wisdom and truth guiding and safeguarding us by Your Spirit. Together You shepherd us.
We become enlightened to realise that which is “...the hope to which You have called us, that which are the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints.” (based on Ephesians 1 v 18) We are all called to be saints.
Heaven is full of saints and if we are to reach that exalted status, we must live now to “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction (Romans 12 v 12) knowing all will be well one day.
“All will be well and all will be well. And all manner of things will be well.” (St Julian of Norwich) This is our firm belief because You save us to sanctify us by Your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus.
We are supremely grateful for this teaching, our calling to be ever faithful to prayer. To spend this time in solitude except for Your presence, is to experience Your full love, our Father’s mercy, the Holy Spirit of joy.
Thank You for helping us to pray. Prayer is the repair of so much that we get wrong, or has simply gone wrong, because our adversary stalks the world looking for some hapless victim.
But powerful as love is, the power of holy love is stronger by far. Our Father is searching for us. He sends You to seek us out and Your healing, life building Spirit sets to work.
Thank You for every aspect of renewal, refreshment, restoration and replenishment that You make possible.
Aware of Your unfailing love involving our Father’s mercy, may we live according to the way You ask of us.
“I love Your sanctuary, LORD, the place where Your glorious presence dwells,” (Psalm 26 v 8 NLT)
in all prayer as You seek to make us holy. We invite You to live within us, to be active amongst us, and lovingly You respond to help us live with integrity.
Redeemed by holy mercy and steadfast, promised, covenanted love forgiving us our sinfulness, we fully rejoice to be enabled to know, love and serve our Father, through You by the Holy Spirit. May we never give up serving You, for You never give up on us. Lord Jesus, Healer and Saviour, all our hope is in You. Our future will not be cut off, I am sure! Amen.
Images by Artist Christine Garwood
http://www.christinegarwoodartist.co.uk/
Season
Key Themes
MERCY
