His Mercies are New Every Morning - A Testimony of Transformation
Our need for God’s mercy
The mercy of God moves near, sweeping in close, instead of sweeping us away. Even during seasons when all we can see is our wake of sinfulness and the guilt and shame of our faults.
How could those words have spit through our lips like poison? How could we have kept watching and let our eyes look on things so impure? As young adults, why were we drawn to those lyrics? What possessed us to be so angry, mean-spirited, deceptive or trapped? Why did we compromise our morals? Do we like where we’ve ended up? Do we like where our relationship with our spouse, a difficult family member or co-worker is going? Are we living in God’s peace?
Self-loathing is a False-Savior
If you’ve struggled with sin, then you know that Satan’s accusations can be relentless. His suggestion to loathe ourselves as the answer to our battle with our own sinfulness is a false-savior. It is a self-destructive response and he knows it. All our devices, all our fears, all those lies that drive our actions are false “saviors”, false beliefs and falsehoods that narrow our vision and cloak us in darkness.
They never lead us into the Light! It is Jesus, the Son of God, who is the Light of the world. His mercies are new every morning. His mercy never runs out. He sweeps in close — no stone in His hand. His words softly spoken to your ears only — and mine, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11 NKJV) And then later for all to hear Jesus spoke these words, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Ah—the light of life—His mercy restores us to the light of life. Jesus says in John 12:36, “While you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may become sons of light.”
Nothing like married-life to refine us!
When my husband and I were first married, married life was certainly God’s refining fire in my life. Through heaps of failures and my God’s blessed revelation that my self-loathing would never work to set me free, He led me to a Bible study where I learned to ask the Holy Spirit to show me the lies I had been believing. When I prayed that simple prayer, nearly 10 lies flew through my pen onto that page. They were beliefs that I never had consciously thought, but as soon as I wrote them down and saw them written in black and white, I knew that I had been operating under them for a long time.
They were lies like:
“If I don’t defend myself, I will be hurt again, and I can’t let that happen.”
“If I don’t perform as I should, then I am worthless.”
Being angry will protect me.”
There were many more and all of them had been hidden below the surface until I asked the Holy Spirit to reveal them! Once He did, I could see clearly that each statement was untrue, and it was then that the work of healing and asking Him for targeted truth to replace those damaging beliefs began.
My past + Satan’s lies = Bondage BUT
My SAME Past + God’s Truth = FREEDOM
The study I was doing taught me that my past plus Satan’s lies would keep me in bondage, but my same past plus God’s truth, love and perspective would always set me free.
I began my journey with my Heavenly Father, asking Him to show me how to replace those lies with His truth, but many of them had been stuck onto the walls of my mind and heart for a very long time and had been sealed there as my response to painful experiences and deep hurts. It quickly became apparent that they weren’t going to go away by just slapping some Bible verses on top. That old ink would just seep right through. I needed deeper healing, and my Heavenly Father did not disappoint! I kept pouring out my heart to Him and let Him meet me deep in my spirit. His presence and my honest tears allowed much of the old glue to dissolve so the lies could be scraped away. He led me to so many beautiful pictures of His love for me and promises of HIs power to defend me and help me. He led Tim and I to a counselor during these months, and he helped me see that my tendency was to be “a stagnate pond without an outlet", which meant that I was bottling a lot up inside and I had to learn to trust Tim enough to be honest with him about my emotions even when I didn’t understand them or want them. Even when they were irrational! Learning to share my heart more honestly instead of stuffing it all down did help.
But God also showed me that things I thought I needed, even things like my idea of respect—weren’t needs. They were often based in my pride and what I really needed was to obey Him. If I would trust myself fully to His care, no matter what may come, He would be enough and He would work all things for the good in my life like Romans 8:28 says. He showed me this would be the path to having a gentle and quiet spirit. I could have peace in my marriage. I did not have to be controlled by anger or rage anymore. When I resisted those sins of angry outbursts to gain control or “save” me from being hurt, etc., the devil fled! When I reckoned that old me with its sinful ways dead, the new nature God had given me in Jesus began to grow and flourish in me.
There have been plenty of other rounds of soul searching and renewing of my heart and mind that have needed to be done, and still do, but with each valley of honesty with God where His word shines its light on an area where that ugly wallpaper is still feeding me lies in my subconscious mind—where that old sin nature of mine is still hiding out—there is a breakthrough!
Yes, His mercies are new every morning and I’m so grateful for His exhortation which says, “Do you think lightly of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 NASB)
Along with that, we would do well to take to heart Jesus’ antidote to Satan’s temptations—
“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) —Don’t rely on the flesh, or your own understanding; rely on God!
“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Matthew 4:7) —Don’t be foolish. Live in reverence of God; live wisely.
“Be gone, Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” (Matthew 4:10) —Don’t play with fire! Be set apart for God alone. He alone is worthy!
I’m so thankful that “He who began a good work in [me and] you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
His sanctification is assured. Romans 8:28 reiterates that truth and it gives me great hope! When I am brought face to face with my sin again and feel like I’m losing the wrestling match, the promise which states “whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren” is absolutely true! The Lord showed me that there is hope for me, and I can and will change for the good, because I have been predestined by God to be conformed into His Son’s image.
Jesus is pure and sinless and has total victory over sin, death and the devil. By God’s grace, change—good, wholesome, godly change will happen in my life, and I will look more and more like my Savior. Of course, I do need to cooperate! 1 John has much to say about living this out. But my self-loathing, self-condemning ways will never bring about God’s righteousness in me (or in YOU!) Only Jesus Christ and the work of God’s Spirit in our lives can do that!
Isaiah 53:5 was God’s crowning scripture for meduring those very challenging years of early married life when my sin was on display in all its unlovely colors nearly every day!
It says, “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace fell upon Him and by His wounds we are healed.” During a Good Friday service, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that yes my iniquity in my flesh ran so deeply that Jesus had to be crushed—totally crushed to pay my price and to strip its power away, but now that He had done that for me I needed to truly receive it in faith. I needed to trust that Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf was and will always be enough!
Now, every time I take communion and crush that unleavened bread between my teeth, I think of this verse and praise God that because of what Jesus did for me His mercies are new and able to reach me every single morning. May you take that journey to Isaiah 53, and believe on the Son of God, described in vivid detail there. Jesus willingly laid down His life in your place and in mine. By faith, receive the peace—the shalom—and the healing grace that His wounds hold out to you.
There is no Savior like Him. He alone is the Lamb of God who saves us from our sins.
Some Next Steps to Consider:
If you have resonated with the testimony I’ve shared in this devotional piece and would like to experience more spiritual transformation, please consider purchasing my EARLY RAINS Journey into Trust Bible Study Guide: 7 Weeks for Women who Want to Grow. It will take you more deeply into the concepts of Romans six and how to live in the new life Jesus has purchased for you. You can read a description of this study, a few reviews, and easily purchase it by clicking here:
Hopeful Buttercup Book Shop — The Hopeful Buttercup!
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You may also grow from reading these posts:
Thanksgiving: Piece by Piece — The Hopeful Buttercup!
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Strengthening our “bones” - both physically and spiritually — The Hopeful Buttercup!
Photo Credit for Cross picture: Landscape photography of trees photo – Free Sunset Image on Unsplash
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