The verse of the day (June 27, 2025) on the YouVersion bible app wasMatthew 5:7– not my first time reading this verse however, it was my first time seeing what I saw. This made me think about the Mercy of God.
Mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before God (those who are moved by Him).
Luke 1:50(MSG)
God’s Mercy endures forever YET it is new every morning. Ever wonder why? WHY renew something that has NOT expired, is no where near its expiry date (and because it endures, it has no expiry date, so it can NOT), and does NOT expire? WHY? What is THE Point? With God there is always a point … there is always a knowledge of Himself being revealed in everything He does – this is so that we may know Him (HAVE Faith) and truly live. Surely, Mercy is a must-HAVE part of our livelihood.
Matthew 5:7says ‘blessed are the merciful for (because) they shall obtain Mercy’. Like the breaking of bread in two parts, we are told the gospel truth that(1)the merciful are blessed, and that(2)the blessing they GET from God is Mercy. In other words: the blessing of the merciful (those already FULL of Mercy) is Mercy. Seems somewhat redundant or de trop right? Wrong! Better yet, Mercy says NO!
God is abundantly lavish. That said, He is NOT wasteful. Evidence of the latter can be seen in John 6:12 (AMPC) – after feeding the 5,000+, Jesus told His disciples to gather the left-overs so that nothing was lost or wasted. To better understand Matthew 5:7, imagine pouring water into an-already-full cup of water – what results is an overflow that inevitably gives (pours out) water. As you would imagine, there can be no out-pouring without this overflow … also, there can be no overflow without the fullness (without first being full) – this is a depiction of the blessing of the merciful, I refer to it as the Overflow that gives … this right here isTHE Point.
THE Point of the enduring newness and overflow of the Mercy of God is for ‘giveness’ or giving. I’ll elaborate on this with intent to praisefully exalt the Mercy of God. It is my desire also that reading this blog will give you a reason or more to love Mercy and be for giving as Mercy is.
God has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does The LORD require of you but to do justly, and tolove kindness (justice) and Mercy… to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
For starters, let’s clear the air of a gross misunderstanding … or two.
Amiss-UNDERSTANDING
‘I better forgive so that God can forgive me too’. It seems that the ‘forgive us as we forgive others’ prayer inMatthew 6:12may have been mistaken to mean that the blessing of the merciful (God’s for-give-ness or Mercy) applies BECAUSE we “forgive” those who offend us. Furthermore, it seems that what Jesus said inMatthew 6:14-15may also have been misconstrued to mean that God forgives us BECAUSE we “forgive” others, implying that the correlation between the two is but a dependency of the latter (God forgiving me) on the former (me forgiving others). On top of this is the ‘I forgive then become merciful’ perspective that mistakes the action of forgiveness as what substantiates the state of being merciful.
Combined, they result in a FALSE positive and misinterpretation of the Truth hidden in Matthew 5:7, 6:12,14-15. The mindset that underpins both perspectives is amiss and void of the Knowledge of The Holy One (The HolySpirit) – He is the hidden Truth entrusted to us, the very Truth that God desires to have in our hearts. The Knowledge of this hidden Truth is Understanding – Proverbs 9:10B (GW); God wants us to GET to know and HAVE Him.
Therefore, get Wisdom: And with all thy getting, get Understanding.
Proverbs 4:7B(KJV)
Let’s set course for UNDERSTANDING and go GET Him: the very ROCK on which we stand. He is The HOLY and He stands Tall –Isaiah 52:13(MSG),57:15(MSG).
The UNDER-STANDING
God’s for-give-ness (what He gives and does for us: Mercy) is NOT contingent on man’s action or inaction. Case in point: Jacob vs Esau before they were born –Romans 9:10-16. It is entirely God’s choice (Romans 9:18A) and He so chooses solely based on Who He is.
Jeremiah 2:13tells us that God is The Fountain of Living Water … the representation of Water in this context can be seen as Justice, Lovingkindness (undeserved justice), or Mercy. True to form (being the Fountain that He is), God gives and keeps on giving. It’s in His nature to pour and keep on pouring out Water. In deed, the River of God is FULL of Water, abounding and overflowing is He. He is El Shaddai: The Pourer-Forth and Giver of Himself. He gives out of His FULL knowledge of Himself – 2 Peter 1:3 (AMPC), Isaiah 53:12 (AMPC). He is Faith (the very knowledge of Himself). He is Faith’s Fullness. GREAT is His Faithfulness.
It is because of The LORD’s Mercy and Loving-kindness (undeserved justice) that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. GREAT and beyond measureis Your FAITHFULNESS.
Lamentation 3:22-23(AMP/C)
Therefore, get this: God is for giving (every part of Him is a Gift that He gives). He is all about giving and He gives faithfully so, even in spite of our grass-like-ness (a condition I recently realized I project onto God #coversface).
[Definition] Grass-like-ness: the effect (infirmity, weakness) of the sinfulness of sin i.e. forgetfulness, fear, doubt – Psalm 77:10A (KJV) 11A (CJB). Indeed, people are like grass – one way today and another way tomorrow. God is NOT – He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I’ll quickly share a side but related story about this …
… I started out my day on June 21 being acutely aware of my need for God and so I prayed asking for His help. In response, God reminded me that He’s got me 💜🥰. He then took me down the memory lane of yesteryears dating back to 2007 – to the moment He told me He would guide me along the best pathway for my life. Together, We walked through key events that have occurred between Aug 7, 2007 and the Saturday in question. Shortly after the walk-through, I picked up my phone to do God-knows-what, it was then that I saw the verse of the day on the YouVersion bible app:Psalm 77:11-12… I was inspired to read the whole chapter because both verses were in line with what God just had me do: the walk through time and back.
Asaph, the writer of the chapter, starts out crying out to God for help until he was too troubled to even speak. Then he began to reminisce … there after came the questions – I call them 21 Questions (it was June 21 afterall 🤭).
For context, 21 Questions is a generic term for mindful considerations that result in doubt-triggered questions.
Asaph’s doubt-triggered questions (Psalm 77:7-9) were more directly about God. Mine (when they’ve come up) tend to be about my grass-like-ness and how it might or could change God’s mind about me. Howbeit focused on me, my questions were indirectly about God. They essentially implied the same thing as Asaph’s, which is that God’s God-FULL-ness (the Godliness of God) … that His very nature can somehow be dissuaded or retracted. The trickery of such thoughts or should I say sly little foxes. Thankfully, the ANSWER (WORD) from God to Asaph, myself, others alike, and even the sly little foxes is as clear as DAY or as the clearness of Heaven – the ANSWER is: NO.
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What God will do for us (MERCY) is what He has already done (RIGHTEOUSNESS) and keeps ready for us. His FAITHFULNESS is what connects the dots between what He will do and what He has already done. God is and can NOT be dissuaded by us. He is NOT a man nor the son of man that He should feel compunction (misgivings) for what He has promised –Numbers 23:19(AMPC). God is NOT like grass – He is NOT as we are.
When things don’t seem like what God told us He would do, we sometimes doubt what we once believed we heard Him say or question our standing with Him. Unchecked, this doubt subtly transitions into fear, a faith-less (unfaithful) response. The same is the case when there’s an increasingly growing distance between when God said what He promised and where we are, we sometimes forget. Unchecked, the joyful hope we experienced when God gave us His word/promise begins to fade. Thankfully, God does NOT forget when we forget. Also, the Joy on His face and in His Heart is exactly as it was when He (1) desired to do, (2) did, and (3) said what He promised. God certainly is NOT unfaithful when we are unfaithful. Still, we sometimes imply that God might be too … that He might be as we are because we are as we are.
The implication that God is faithful to Himself or His Word to us ONLY when we are faithful to Him is a snare (the fear of man: a trap) and a lie – we were all kinds of unfaithful when Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). In spite of His foreknowledge of our sinful state, both of the heart and art act, God still continued/continues His faithfulness toward us – Jeremiah 31:3 (AMPC).
Bringing all this back to the topic at hand …
1.The premise that God forgives only when or because we forgive inadvertently implies that when we don’t forgive, God doesn’t forgive us either– this is a projection of our grass-like-ness on God, AND it is NOT true. It is a far-fetched lie that fuels the temptation to question God’s faithfulness when or because we are unfaithful. God doesn’t forgive only when (or because) we forgive. The notion that underpins this mindset is NOT God-glorifying. It is NOT a reflection of the Gem hidden in Matthew 5:7 and Matthew 6:12,14-15. It most certainly is NOT reflective of the more-than-enough, non-stop Overflow that El Shaddai is.
2. God doesN’T not forgive us.
No matter our disposition to Him, God is for giving and ever giving. Proverbs 4:2 (AMPC) – He gives what is to be received first by us. This is so that we can have to give to others out of the abundance with which God lavishly gives to and through us, without being depleted – 2 Corinthians 9:8.
That said, what God gives does NOT flow through a vessel that is not for giving to others. Every vessel of God’s Mercy gives as (and in the moment that) God gives. Such a vessel is receptive to the continuous flow of God’s Mercy in, to, and through it … a God-traveled road so to speak (and to give). Like a king’s heart – Proverbs 21:1 (AMPC) – a pathway through which God’s delight-FULL Will is done and continuously flows. This really is what theMatthew 6:12 line of The LORD’s prayer asks for: to be an extension of God’s giveness – to be a branch (a Nazarene). To be as God is (to be for giving as God is for giving i.e. to forgive as God forgives) – a vessel that gives what God gives: God … a vessel through whom God flows. When said truthfully and not amiss, God hears and grants this prayer because it is according to His Will – Amos 5:24 (MSG), Habakkuk 2:14.
I want Justice – oceans of it. I want Righteousness – rivers of it. That’s all I want. That’s all I want… a mighty and ever-abundantly-flowing stream.
Amos 5:24(MSG, AMP/C, CJB)
#Anendlessocean
So, IF God doesN’T not forgive us, what THEN did Jesus mean inMatthew 6:14-15? Good question 🙂 … to answer it, I’ll share a couple connecting dots:
🟣 First, note that having is giving … to have is to give. As a matter of godly principle, when we give (have), we receive what God gives and have MORE abundance: an overflow – Matthew 13:12A (NIV, KJV).
🟣 Relatedly and according toJames 4:2D-3(NKJV), we have not and thus give not because we ask not and as such we receive not. Here too, the principle holds true: when we don’t give (or have not), we don’t receive what God gives.
This 👆 is what Jesus was talking about. It is the true meaning of what He said in Matthew 6:14-15, which is that: we are for giving by God (we are vessels of Mercy that God can use to have or pour Mercy on and through to others) WHEN we are for giving as God is – this happens ONLY by continuing to receive what God gives beyond being full, to the point of overflowing, and even more so. Other than this, we are not for giving by God. Assuredly, separate from Him (The Vine and VineDresser: The Husband Man), we (can) BUT do nothing – John 15:1-5,7 (AMPC).
This is NOT because God stops giving (no, He doesN’T not give). Instead, it is because we do not continue to receive God’s Mercy and do not GET to or remain at THE Point of OVERFLOW … The OVERFLOW is WHAT gives and The One WHO actually forgives, not us per se.
3. We do not forgive and then(or as a result)become merciful.
Truth be told as it is in Matthew 6:14-15, we can NOT forgive UNTIL we overflow with the fullness of the Mercy that God is. Therefore, the order is as follows:(A)we ACCEPT (receive) God’s Mercy till(B)we BECOME merciful: full of it Him … further MORE(C)we CONTINUE to receive God’s Mercy and inevitably get to(D) THE tipping Point where we overflow and then forgive (or accurately put, forgiveness happens through us). Keep in mind that forgiveness is but one of what God gives … there is MORE – so much MORE to have … to hold … to cherish … to give.
4. Mercy is for the sake of giving … it is something to be given. It is given by God to us and then through us to others. Thus, we must first receive Mercy in order for us to have, give, or be giving of it Him.
Getting(to)THEtippingPoint
The merciful get to THE Point of OVERFLOW by obtaining, receiving, or accepting Mercy – we get this fromMatthew 5:7which itself inspires another question: WHY get MORE of something you are already FULL of? Better yet, what keeps us wanting MORE of (and going after) WHAT we are already FULL of? Generally speaking, three things come to mind: lust, greed, OR humility. When the WHAT is God, God wants it exactly so – He is VERY OKAY with all three.
Relative to God …
🟣 God Himself has all three – it’s called The Jealousy of God(The wanting MORE of God) … indeed God is a Jealous God. I dare say that it is WHY God created Man: to have (give) MORE of Himself (to Himself). God desired MORE of Himself so He created goblets –SOS 7:2A(AMPC), cups –Psalm 16:5(KJV), containers –Romans 5:5(MSG) to drink from … to have His fill of His inheritance. In His desire for MORE of Himself, God created receptors to fully and overflowingly fill with Himself (WHAT God gives).
🟣 God wants us to have all three too … God wants us to have the jealousy of God – it’s why He wants His HolySpirit Whom He pours into us and has caused to dwell in us to always be welcomed (accepted, received) withThe Jealousy of God–James 4:5(AMPC, NKJV, NIV). This Jealousy is the desire of God for God … it is a state of humility … the state of MORE and MORE!
God gives and continues to pour more and more grace upon us … He gives grace continually to the lowly: those who are humble enough to receive it
James 4:6
The merciful are perpetually in this state of humility … this state of always desiring MORE of God even when already FULL of Him …
… help me and hold me, for I am lovesick! I am longing for more – yet how could I take more?
SOS 2:5 (TPT)
THIS state of still needing God and acknowledging our need for Him by ASKING (crying, inquiring of and for Him, requiring Him with all our desires), and wholeheartedly receiving Him, IS what gets us to (and keeps us at)THE tipping Point – the point where the merciful beget Mercy– the point ofMatthew 5:7🙂.
The reason the merciful obtain Mercy is also a matter of principle: the godly principle that Mercy begets Mercy. This is THE Point of the Overflow… to beget Mercy – to beget and perpetuate what God gives and does for us, as branches of God, oaks of Righteousness, God’s divine offsprings: His Holy People (God’s inheritance), The City God wants –Isaiah 62:12 (ERV, NLT), a desirable or desire-ABLE place – God’s Own resting place.
Speaking of resting place or rest, a king’s heart daughter (Psalm 45:9A,13), Nyimenka, shared a recording with me of God’s Somebody saying that: ‘Man is designed to rest when he GETs his greatest desire‘. I believe that the same is true of the Creator of Man (ELOHIM) – God rests when where He gets His greatest desire (Himself: His Holy Spirit). We are designed to be God’s resting place – the place where He gets what He gives (Himself: His Glory) … the resting place of His Glory … the place of His delight: Mercy.
Seeing therefore that we are receptors and conduits of God’s Mercy, let us keep receiving Mercy that we may be enabled by God’s Grace to fruitfully beget Mercy. Candidly speaking, neither the receiving nor the begetting always comes easily or without a good fight of Faith. As pointed out earlier, the former (receiving) requires humility – it requires being in a constant state of need (a state of constantly needing God) – the flesh of man is inherently resistant to this. The latter (begetting) can be somewhat like the travail of labor – not readily easy, ONLY gracefully so (Matthew 11:28-30). Thankfully, being a partner in our labor (Romans 8:28 AMPC), God strengthens us by His Grace.
Not only do we stand to gain the blessing of the Merciful, God does too. He is Merciful afterall – the blessing of the Merciful applies to Him too. He delights in it – He delights in Mercy, He delights to show Mercy, He delights to have Mercy, and we are His vessel of choice – Romans 9:23– Will you let God have Mercy on you? Will you let God have God through you? Will you let God give God to Him, you, and others through you?
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Heavenly Father, have Mercy on me … have it on me, have Your fill. It’s my treat.
Rivers in the Desert 