How God Sees Us

"By the tempest and the sorrow that we fall into on our part, we be often dead as to man’s doom (judgment, decree) in earth; but in the sight of God the soul that shall be saved was never dead, nor ever shall be."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 50)

Here on earth man and man's law judges us all guilty sinners worthy of the punishment of death. Man's justice tends to say that wrongdoing must be punished or paid for. The payment required for heinous sin is death. The Old Testament law of the Bible highlighted this type of justice and showed man's desperate need for mercy and grace in the midst of the law's decrees of guilt, condemnation and punishment.

Yet God's way is so different and is seen in the New Testament. The law only brought condemnation and death, and increased the amount of sin. Yet God's way of grace eliminated condemnation, freed us from death and took away sin! The law considers us dead because of sin, yet God never does. God only sees a pure child of His very own, who has needed healing and help in all its suffering, and who Jesus came to seek and to save. To God we have never been too far gone, wretched dirty sinners, willful rebels, or as good as dead. To God we have always been good-hearted souls who have been trapped by evil delusions and needing of rescue and liberation.  Even when we did the worst thing and killed God's only begotten Son, Jesus said we didn't know what we were doing. Christ conquered sin and death for us and brought us to new life with Him in the resurrection, life beyond the reach of sin and death, life in relationship with Him forever. God has seen us in Christ all along, has seen us as new creations in Christ all along. He has seen us pure and innocent, clean and holy, alive and free. He has always seen us in Christ's resurrection life, running freely and joyfully with Christ, vibrant and victorious. He has never seen sin on us or seen death holding us. He has always held us in light, in love, in life! He has always known sin and death weren't the truth about us. He has always known purity and life were the truth about us. He has always known us as His good children, and He has always known He would bring our true identity to light and expression through Christ!

"You are not under law but under grace."

Romans 6:14 (ESV)

"Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people."

Ephesians 1:4 (CEV)

A Prayer: Thank You for always seeing the truth about me - righteousness and life in Christ - even when I could only see sin and death.

Already in Peace

 "Contrariness is cause of our tribulations and all our woe, and our Lord Jesus taketh them and sendeth them up to Heaven, and there are they made more sweet and delectable than heart may think or tongue may tell. And when we come thither we shall find them ready, all turned into very fair and endless worships. Thus is God our steadfast Ground: and He shall be our full bliss and make us unchangeable, as He is, when we are there."

Julian of Noriwch (Ch. 49)

Right now we are changeable in our thoughts and behaviors. When we see God's love for us, we find it easier to relax and love ourselves and others, and we find ourselves to be more at peace within, which is in alignment with God's own nature of love and peace. But other times we may lose sight of God's love for us or suffer tribulation so that we may temporarily see only through our physical senses, and we may find ourselves in turmoil, frustration, tension, struggle and even anger within. Yet we are still aligned with God's peace and love within, even if we can't always see or feel it. And all those feelings and even behaviors that come from frustration, anger or unpeace have already been taken by Christ, who absorbed all our pain, sin, suffering and wrath on the cross, and brought up to heaven transformed into righteousness and purity!  So every negative emotion or even sinful thought or behavior we may go through here on earth has already been taken away by Christ and turned into righteousness, peace and beauty. On the cross He became our sin and we became His righteousness. That is an eternal event that is applicable for all time. All the struggle, anger and strife within us has already been pacified and transformed into love and peace by Christ through His finished work. 

So how do we handle those irritated or tense feelings? Maybe we can treat them the same way God does, for He always extends love and peace, and Christ in His love and peace embraced us at our worst moment and melted away all the angst of the world, making us all clean and pure and alright. So we can extend grace to ourselves, just as Christ always does. We can love ourselves in our dark moments, knowing that's not the deepest thing about us, but that the deepest thing about us is the peace of God. We can know that in Christ we have actually already won over any negative thought with the truth of His peace, knowing that all that anger and hurt has been healed in heaven and we will see it manifest visibly, either here on earth or when we arrive in heaven.  But either way, we have been made unchangeably good, calm, peaceful, victorious and sweet by Christ, and that's heaven's reality right now!

"When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up."

Psalm 94:19 (MSG)

A Prayer: Your peace is already reigning over my restless mind.

He Ministers Peace to Us

"God is our very Peace, and He is our sure Keeper when we are ourselves in unpeace, and He continually worketh to bring us into endless peace."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

He is always ministering peace to us, the peacefulness of His own presence. That means God's peace is always dissolving any and all struggle, tension, anxiety and stress within us, and it will keep on ministering to us till we come to rest. His peace is like the gentle waves of the sea lapping continually onto the shore, caressing the sand and soothing with rhythmic sounds, like the rocking of a baby to sleep. In His presence we find perfect peace that this world cannot give and cannot take away. We find the peace of heaven, eternal peace, the peace of knowing God has everything in His hands and everything will be okay, everything is okay somehow. He is constantly leading us by the still waters of His heart, constantly restoring our soul, constantly filling our cup with His perspective, His calmness, His own Spirit. He quiets all the clamoring voices, saying "Peace, be still," till we hear only His whisper to us and know only His presence with us. Nothing can reach us here to disturb or challenge this calm place we are in with Him, in His arms, in His strength, in His peace.

"It is My own peace that I give you."

John 14:27 (GNT)

"He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul."

Psalm 23:2-3 (NKJV)

A Prayer: You are my peace.

The Work of Goodness

"(We are blissfully safe:) that is to say, full pleased with God and with all His works, and with all His judgments, and loving and peaceable with our self and with our even-Christians and with all that God loveth, as love beseemeth. And this doeth God’s Goodness in us."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 49)

What does it mean to be experiencing the bliss of our salvation? It is to be pleased with God and His works, understanding that He is all love and never harms or does violence. It is to be pleased with all His judgments, knowing that His judgment is positive, calling the whole world innocent and clean. It is to be loving and peaceful with ourselves, accepting ourselves just as we are and seeing ourselves as God's good children, because we know God loves and accepts us just as we are as His good children.  It is to be loving and peaceful with all people, because we know that they too are all God's children, loved and accepted by God and therefore we are all one big family of God. We don't have to strive to be like this or work at it. God's goodness naturally produces this effect in us. His unconditional love and grace naturally softens our hard edges, eases our tension, dissolves self-hatred and calms any anger. We find ourselves relaxed and able to enjoy God, ourselves and others. We love as Christ first loved us. This is the beautiful result of God's grace and love within us. This is what true Christianity is all about: not judging and harshness and rules and punishment, but love and grace and peace and unity! This is the birthright of every child of God, this is what it's like to be in God's family, this is God's love goal and promise that He will fulfill in us!

"We love because He first loved us."

1 John 4:19 (NIV)

A Prayer: Because You love me, I love myself and other people.

Securely Safe, Blissfully Safe

 "Though we, by the wrath and the contrariness that is in us, be now in tribulation, distress, and woe, as falleth to our blindness and frailty, yet are we securely safe by the merciful keeping of God, that we perish not. But we are not blissfully safe, in having of our endless joy, till we be all in peace and in love.."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 49)

We can rant and rave, get in trouble, lash out at others and hate on ourselves, yet all the while God holds us in His arms and loves us unconditionally. No matter how we blow it or mess up, due to our weakness or simply being blind to how loving God is and how He is always with us as a Friend, it doesn't matter. We are still securely safe in His arms. Nothing can take us from Him or His love, even our own mistakes, ravings, weaknesses or blindness. Nothing! We don't really enjoy that safety, though, till we hear the good news of Christ being in us and us being in Christ, in perfect love no matter what, as innocent children of God free from all our sins. When we hear this wonderful Good News, that we are safe with God no matter what and always will be His innocent children held in His arms, then we can relax and begin to find peace with ourselves and with others. We are then blissfully safe, enjoying more fully all the safety, belonging, love and harmony that is already ours in Christ. It's like when a scared, upset child wakes up from a bad dream to find themselves safe at home, and they relax and are able to smile, play and enjoy family life. They were always safe at home, they just needed to wake up and realize it. So we are always in God and securely safe whether we know it or not, and when we do realize and experience that and it affects our lives, we are blissfully safe in God's endless joy, peace and love.

You are my hiding place; You, Lord, protect me from trouble; You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance.

Psalm 32:7 (AMP)

A Prayer: To know I am safe with You -  no matter how I act or how I feel - fills me with joy! I just want everyone to know they are safe with You!

Sheltered in His Love

"For though we feel in ourselves, [frail] wretches, debates and strifes, yet are we all-mannerful enclosed in the mildness of God and in His meekness, in His benignity and in His graciousness. For I saw full surely that all our endless friendship, our place, our life and our being, is in God."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

So often we can be in turmoil or have negative thoughts or emotions within us, tensions and strife within ourselves or with other people. But still, even in the midst of those tumultuous inner storms, we are enclosed in God's love and goodness and peace. We are living in a palace of peace, God's own heart, even when we don't feel that peace completely within us. God wraps us up in His love, kindness and gentleness even when we don't have love, kindness or gentleness.  He holds us closely in peace and quietness and acceptance even when we are not accepting others or ourselves. We may think we are wretched, may sometimes feel and speak and act wretchedly, but God still holds us close in love, still holds us close in peace, still calls us His beloved friends. He is our real life, not the crazy thoughts and feelings inside our brains. Our true self, our true place, is in Him in infinite peace and love, not in any stormy, antagonistic or troubled thoughts that come along. We're always wrapped in His friendship and always cherished in His heart, and no feeling, thought, word or act from us could ever change that. So whether we always feel or know it or not, we are always held safely in the shelter of His love.

"You are my hiding place. You will keep me out of trouble and envelop me with songs that remind me I am free."

Psalm 32:7 (VOICE)

A Prayer: You are my shelter from angry thoughts and troubled feelings. I am Your beloved one, found in Your peace and love.

Where God Is, Is Peace

"For I saw full surely that where our Lord appeareth, peace is taken and wrath hath no place."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

Wherever God is present, there is peace. In His presence there is never any striving, any tension, any strain. In His presence unrest disappears, agitation fades away, turmoil dissolves into stillness and rest. He is always saying into our stormy feelings and circumstances, "Peace, be still." Anger and discord, struggle and conflict just cannot exist in His presence. He is our Peace. With Him we find the quietness, the tranquility, the calm we are looking for, all within His eyes of love and friendship. With such a great and loving Friend, we feel safe and at peace and only want to extend safety and peace to those around us. In God is true peace, and we have that peace in Him right now. We have not our own peace or any peace from the world, but God's very own peace. That is the peace we live in today!

"God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:7 (GNT)

A Prayer: With you, I just can't stay mad or upset for long! You always bring my agitated mind to rest. 

Dissolving Our Anger

"For He that wasteth and destroyeth our wrath and maketh us meek and mild,—it behoveth needs to be that He [Himself] be ever one in love, meek and mild: which is contrary to wrath."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

God works in us to dissipate and dissolve all the tension, antagonism, anger and strife within us. He soothes our hearts, calms us down and fills us with His loving perspective. He loves us unconditionally, no matter how hateful and wrathful we feel or act, and this gracious stance toward us melts our defenses and brings our stormy hearts to stillness and peace. If God loves us even when we act out or feel so frustrated, He will always love us, and knowing this love and gentleness and kindness brings us to feel loving, gentle and kind as well. If God is always drawing us by His love to gentleness and peace, doesn't that mean He Himself embodies gentleness and peace? Such gentleness and peace is the opposite of wrath. Our God draws us away from anger and toward humility and love, because that is how He is. God is gentle and unwrathful, so to be godly is to be gentle and unwrathful. This peaceable character of God is seen in the fruit the Holy Spirit bears in us, the fruit of God's own nature:  peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness and self-control. We have a God who is only full of humility, kindness, gentleness and love. The essence of His character is this gentle and peaceful demeanor toward all people, no matter what they are like. That is what He brings us to be like, because that is who He is. Wrath is truly foreign to God's character!

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Galatians 5:22-23 (NET)

A Prayer: Thank You for having no wrath or anger towards me, ever. I never need to be frightened of You. And thank You for getting rid of my own anger! 

Friendship is the Opposite of Wrath

"For wrath and friendship be two contraries."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

Anger or unrest is the exact opposite of friendship and peaceful relations, so anger or wrath never applies to the attitude of God towards us! He is always holding us close in the bond of perfect friendship and His attitude is always perfect accord. In fact, Christ has brought us into the friendship circle of the Trinity itself, which is the most perfect friendship and most agreeable fellowship of all. There is complete accord, openness and always-pouring-forth love among all the members of the Trinity, and that is the friendship bond that we live inside in Christ. This fellowship of the Trinity knows only concord, unity and peace; wrath and animosity and tension do not exist here. And because Christ has brought us inside this Trinity fellowship, wrath and tension do not exist for us, either. We are safely sheltered in the perfect, tender, gentle friendship of God!

"Our Leader Jesus Christ has welcomed us to fully participate in the same friendship that He and the Father enjoy."

1 John 1:3 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: I love being caught up in the love relationship of the Trinity family! I have found my home and it's right here in the circle of Trinity love!

Always Our Friend

"Therefore to the soul that of His special grace seeth so far into the high, marvellous Goodness of God, and seeth that we are endlessly oned to Him in love, it is the most impossible that may be, that God should be wroth."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

God is always our Friend, always, always, always. He is the Person we can count on to always be there for us, always support us, always cheer us on, always believe in us. He is the One we can count on to always love us, care about us, understand us, be on our side and by our side. We are oned to Him in love, the highest bond of friendship. When we feel we are friendless, we aren't, because we always have this Friend like no other to walk through anything with us and always have our back. Looking at Him, seeing how He is just pure goodness and pure love, seeing how we are bonded together in friendship with a bond nothing can break, we see that there is no way God could ever be angry with us. No matter what we do or how we fail, even if we turn our back on Him, He won't turn His back on us. He won't reject us, won't leave us, won't get irritated with us. He is our Friend.  We just cannot change God's demeanor towards us. His demeanor is unfailingly loving, open, tender-hearted, accepting and loyal. He is loyal to us and at peace with us no matter what. He is only one way - friendly. That is His permanent way of being and His eternal character. That is just who He is. That is what His love means, what it means to say that "God is Love" - it means we always have a Friend in God!

"A friend loves at all times."

Proverbs 17:17 (NIV)

"Love is patient and kind....It is not irritable."

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NLT)

A Prayer: You are the best Friend I could ever have. Thank You for never getting irritated or angry with me. Thank You for always extending kindness and love to me!

Grounded in Love

"Our life is all grounded and rooted in love, and without love we may not live."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 49)

It is so comforting to know that our whole existence is held within the love of God. His love for us is the ground of our lives, the reason and purpose for which we were created, and the very source from which we were made. We were literally made of love, made of God. His love for us is like the root of our life, from which we sprout and grow and flourish. In fact our lives cannot flourish without the nourishment of God's love. His love is supporting our life, keeping us in life, keeping all of creation in life. How wonderful to find that the One who holds this created cosmos together is wearing a smile, is for us and not against us, is constantly loving us and not judging us, is gentle and good! At the heart of the Universe is a Personal God who is Good, who is unfailingly kind, who is pure Love! This whole universe is built on the foundation of God's Love for us all! We would not even exist without His love. God, who is Love, is the center of us all, the center of all that exists, and He holds up all things through the Son, who is the exact image of Love and holds all things in His hand by the power of Love. This Love is the heartbeat of all creation, the heartbeat that echoes through our lives at all times, beating out the enduring message: "I love you without condition and My love for you will never end." We are being held right now in the arms of a Love that will never let us fall, never let us down, never let us go!

"In Him all things hold together."

Colossians 1:17 (ESV)

"Your love has always been our lives' foundation, Your fidelity has been the roof over our world."

Psalm 89:2 (MSG)

A Prayer: I'm so thankful that Your love is holding me right now.

No Need for Forgiveness

"Our Lord God, anent (with regard to) Himself may not forgive, for He may not be wroth: it were impossible. 

Julian of Norwich (ch. 49)

From God's perspective, He has no need to forgive because there is nothing He sees as an offense. Forgiveness is letting go of an offense, but one can't have or need forgiveness if noone is offended. God is not offended by us. The sin in our lives He sees as sorrow and suffering, not as willful and wicked offenses against Him. He looks at us and sees friends and beloved children, who are weak and get caught in traps, who fall in ditches and can't get out, who are deluded by sin and become enslaved to it against their true will. From His point of view there is an infinite understanding of why we do the things we do, with our life history, influences, wounds and struggles. His infinite understanding, patience and love for us mean that He is not offended by us. He simply has more compassion for all the pain we are going through from the sin that so easily entangles us. God is not offended by us! So of course He is not angry or wrathful. Of course He sees nothing to forgive, has no need to forgive. God loves and understands us and pities us in our suffering from the tyrant sin. He is always on our side against the things that hurt us, even if it seems we sometimes foolishly choose those things!

"As a father is kind to his children, the Lord is kind to us....He knows that we are weak humans."

Psalm 103:13-14 (EASY)

A Prayer: It is a great relief to know it is impossible to make You angry with me! It is a great relief to know that I could never offend You!

To Slacken Our Wrath

"The mercy of God and the forgiveness is to slacken and waste our wrath."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

It is eye-opening to see that salvation is all for our benefit, not God's. We have a God who is always loving us, always accepting us, always has His arms open wide to us in friendship, always expresses friendship towards us. Since He never turns away from us, never gets offended with us, we see that salvation isn't to change God's mind about us but to change our mind about God. We may feel resistant to God out of fear or guilt or out of confusion because of erroneous images of God that we have been taught.  God  breaks down the walls of defensiveness and fear we have built up against Him. He shows us in Christ that He is all loving and gentle and friendly. He gives us all forgiveness and has compassion on us as those who are wounded and in bondage and need rescue and help. So Christ's loving act on the cross slackens and dissolves our wrath, not God's. It appeases us, not the Father. It reconciles us to God, not God to us. It was all for us! We needed saving from lies, confusion, fear, shame, anger, struggle, bondage and pain. Christ rescued us. He rescued our minds from the lies we were caught in and rescued our bodies from death. Now we can walk with God in peace and love and acceptance and joy! What a Savior and what a salvation!

"Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living."

Psalm 116:7-9

A Prayer: Thank You for always being at peace with me.Thank You for dissolving the anger inside of me so I can enjoy Your friendship! 

The Reward Grace Won for Us

"For I saw full surely that ever as our contrariness worketh to us here in earth pain, shame, and sorrow, right so, on the contrary wise, grace worketh to us in heaven solace, worship, and bliss; and overpassing. And so far forth, that when we come up and receive the sweet reward which grace hath wrought for us, then we shall thank and bless our Lord.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

The law says that those who sin deserve pain, shame and sorrow. But grace says that those who sin receive solace, worth and bliss! How can this be? It is because Christ through grace has won a reward for us in heaven. He has bonded us with Him and we are standing in His perfection and joy, and all the blessings of heaven that are His, He shares with us. This is not something we have to earn or maintain perfect performance in order to have. This is a gift, this is what grace is all about! We are under grace, not law. So no matter what human judgment on earth may say we deserve, in heaven grace is pouring out love, acceptance, glory, honor and bliss on us! These gifts are all freely given to us in Christ, and are the heavenly and eternal reward that grace has won for us! That means that no matter how we blow it down here, we are known as righteous ones in heaven, we are winners already in heaven, we are glorified and honored in heaven, we are given the bliss of heaven! It's a free gift that Mr. Grace Himself, our beautiful Lord Jesus Christ, has won for us and gives to us freely and unconditionally, with no strings attached. 

"How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him."

Ephesians 1:3 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You for the blessings You have already given me freely, by grace!

Grace Overpassing

"For I saw full surely that ever as our contrariness worketh to us here in earth pain, shame, and sorrow, right so, on the contrary wise, grace worketh to us in heaven solace, worship, and bliss; and overpassing."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 48)

We may be failing here on earth, may have struggles and hangups that we never seem to overcome. We may struggle with shame or guilt or condemnation. But the reality about us is that we are actually already a totally new and pure and complete creation in Christ, resurrected with Him and reigning with Him in heaven. We are not failures, shameful and unworthy, or ruined, or lost. We are not truly in the realm of sin or death, where law and punishment rules, at all. We are truly in the heavenly kingdom, Christ's kingdom of love, where grace rules. We are already receiving honor and bliss that overflows in superabundance. Our righteousness, purity, and wholeness can't be improved upon because it is the righteousness of Christ in us. Our relationship with God can't be any better. We are already perfect, sinless, one with God and victorious. Christ has done it all for us in defeating sin and death and shame in our lives. There is nothing left to be done about all that. So we can enjoy what He has brought us into already -  new creation life, sharing in His resurrection life. We are living resurrection life even now. All because of His overwhelming gift by grace!

"Now, in the light of your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before, in Christ you are a brand new person! The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new!"

2 Corinthians 5:17 (MIRROR)

"He took our sorrows, our pain, our shame to his grave and birthed his righteousness in us. He took our sins and we became his innocence."

2 Corinthians 5:21 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: Show me my new creation reality in You!

Grace Works

"Grace worketh: raising, rewarding, endlessly overpassing....Grace worketh our dreadful failing into plenteous, endless solace; and grace worketh our shameful falling into high, worshipful rising; and grace worketh our sorrowful dying into holy, blissful life."

Julian of Norwich (Ch.. 48)

Grace, wonderful grace! Grace is God's blessing coming to us always, without our effort, earning or even asking. That is because grace has nothing to do with law or requirements or self-effort. We don't have to work to gain it and we cannot by any failure lose it. Grace is unconditional. It just comes. It is unconditional love, unconditional acceptance, unconditional gifts, unconditional blessing! Grace is God turning every bad thing into something wonderful, beyond even our wildest dreams. That is because grace doesn't just abound, it superabounds! Failure has been turned into comfort, falling has been turned into rising, death has been turned into life, all by the finished work of grace done by Christ for and in us! 

By grace God raised us up with Christ into His resurrection life, life that is unconquerable and invincible, life that never ends, life that is always fresh and sweet and good, life that is always full of God, full of love, full of joy. By grace God made us to ascend with Christ to heavenly places, and we are seated with Christ before the Father in heaven, so we are reigning over every problem and sin already. And by grace we have been bonded into the relationship of the Trinity and take part in the relationship of the Father and Son. You could not ask for a more perfect, wonderful, stable, intimate, deep, amazing or eternal relationship with God! That is the essence of eternal life, to know God so fully and intimately and enjoy Him! All this we have by grace, and it was accomplished completely in and by Christ before we were even born! We were born into a state of grace and could never be "out" of it. Christ has made everything so safe and secure for us. All that is left is to see what we have already and enjoy this wonderful life with God that we have by His grace.

"This is how grace rescued us: sin left us dead towards God, like spiritual corpses; then comes the resurrection of Christ, in that moment, He simultaneously co-quickened us. While sin proved how dead we then were, grace reveals how alive we now are.

(As much as we were co-included in His death,) we are co-included in His resurrection. We are also elevated in His ascension to be equally welcome in the throne room of the heavenly realm where we are now seated together with Him in absolute authority. We are in Christ Jesus.

Timeless perpetuity (the eternal future) will continue to tell of the surpassing excellence of His grace towards us. Grace exhibits excessive evidence of the fact that we are embraced in God’s kindness because we are associated (positioned) in Christ.

Your salvation was a grace thing from start to finish, you had no hand in it; because it is all God’s gift to you, because He believes in you."

Ephesians 2:5-8 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: Thank You for Your wonderful grace that blessed me in Christ beyond my greatest imaginations!

Mercy Works

"Mercy worketh: keeping, suffering, quickening, and healing; and all is tenderness of love."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 48)

God's mercy or compassion works in our lives no matter what. We cannot fall too far and cause it to stop working in us. No matter how low we go or how big a mess we make, His mercy still works in our lives, His compassion still works in us. 

Mercy keeps us. God's compassion holds on to us through all our trials, sufferings and failures. It keeps us safe and sound in Christ always.

Mercy suffers with us. God in compassion feels all the hurts we feel and suffers all the things we suffered. Christ took on the weight of all the sin and sorrow and pain of the whole world on the cross. He bore it away so we don't have to bear it. 

Mercy quickens. It is God's compassion that raises us up from the dead and dark places our minds get trapped in, the death and darkness our bodies are susceptible to. God in compassion brings life to the dead, raising us up with Christ to new life, showing us there is always hope and always a happy ending. 

Mercy heals. All the wounded places in us get comforted, soothed and healed by the love and compassion of God. He has entered into our sickened minds and healed them from the inside out, dispelling the darkness with His light. He is there. He cares. He hurts with us and heals us. He loves us and lightens us. Mercy works so beautifully in our lives, never ceasing, never failing!

"I've picked you. I haven't dropped you. Don't panic. I'm with you. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you....I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I'm not letting go."

Isaiah 41:10, 13 (MSG)

A Prayer: Your mercy never fails me.

Mercy in our Falling

"We die in so much as we fail of the sight and feeling of God that is our life. Our failing is dreadful, our falling is shameful, and our dying is sorrowful: but in all this the sweet eye of pity and love is lifted never off us, nor the working of mercy ceaseth."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

It was when Adam and Eve lost sight of God, and who they were to God, that they fell into sin and death. God is our very source of life and being, and losing sight of Him and our identity as His good children causes us to sink into wrong beliefs and behaviors. It brings only corruption and death. Yet His mercy and love never lift from us. His sweet eye of pity and love still rests upon us. He remains the source of our life and the One who holds us in His hand. He refuses to let us go into nothingness and death; He rescues us and lifts us up into eternal life with Him in Christ! This is a finished work. The victory over sin and death is already won. We are saved and safe. We are brought up into the relationship Jesus has with the Father, a relationship that is secure, eternal, unchanging and perfect. We are in a perfect relationship of perfect love with God. And it all began with the lovely and unceasing mercy, pity, kindness and love of God for us, His created children!

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy."

Titus 3:5 (NIV)

A Prayer: Your love and mercy saved me!