Mercy Cycles – A 2020 Blessing #4

Mercy Cycles ~ a 2020 Blessing #4 is for the Mercy portion of our sevenfold human spirit. The Lord is perfect in all His ways, including His timing of the Mercy blessing to close out this year of 2020. Several things come to mind from the past five months (even the number of months points to His gift of grace) –

• In July, intending to write the Teacher overview as the next portion in sequence, only to be redirected the morning I heard a song lyric as “My weapon is the Mercy Seat.” I knew then Mercy was to be next.
• In the hotbed of the political environment and Covid-weary world, the growing affirmation in my spirit that the Mercy overview and admonition to love mercy was precisely timed and directed by the Lord.
• More recently, sensing again ‘consider the pattern’, to discover the Mercy cycles at play this Millennium –

Three Mercy cycles later – spanning from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2020 –
“…if we look for it, God’s redeeming grace gift of Mercy will be present.”¹

•  And a more personal note for my husband and me. While off for Christmas break, the aha! moment of realization that we have concluded three Mercy cycles since our 2000 initiation into the counseling ministry. The Lord has kept, blessed, and expanded us to the present day. He now has ordained a rest.

I am constantly amazed when I contemplate God’s grace gift of Mercy present in and for people’s lives. If we all could but grasp the exquisite precision with which He flows in and around and through our life and times. The Lord is There, beloved. To look for Him is to find Him, bringing new mercies every morning ~

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in His love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

Jehovah-Shammah ~ The Lord is There

Mercy Cycles ~ A 2020 Blessing #4

 Mercy – I invite you to step forward to listen and receive deep in your spirit your portion’s blessing.

 In the community of your human spirit, I bless you with the gift of your Father’s Name:

MERCY

 Jehovah-Shammah – your Father’s Name, is He who resides amid your inheritance. The Lord is there.

“The entire circumference of the city is six miles. And the name of the city will be ‘The City of God.’”
[ The City of God, literally, “Jehovah-Shammah,” which means “The Lord is there.”]
Ezekiel 48:35 (Living Bible)

It was through the prophet Ezekiel that the Lord God gave instructions for the division of the land as inheritances among the twelve tribes of Israel.² The above verse is His conclusion to the book of Ezekiel. He ends with the promise of fulfillment contained within the last of His Old Covenant Names: His bridge to grace.

Mercy, your Father’s Name is a proclamation no one could make of Him but Himself. “My Name is Jehovah-Shammah”. Not in Name only but in living reality of My constant Presence amid all that has been allotted to you.

The Lord is there

I bless you with an increased understanding of just how present your Father is, Mercy. He is not far off. 2020 has exposed the battlefield many a Mercy wars upon. For you Mercy, who feels life and does not just do life, God’s saving grace is His abiding presence.

King David, a Mercy, knew there was nowhere he could go that the Lord was not present.³ The reality of that truth captured his heart. I bless you, spirit, with knowing when you arise and you lie down; go out and come in; that to whatever you give your mind, voice, and hand to do, Jehovah-Shammah is in your midst.

There is much need of you, Mercy. At the same time, you have great need. How like your Father to create this double-bind of need in order that you experientially come to know the reality of your Father, Jehovah-Shammah.

Wisdom’s Instruction

Mercy gift, your Wisdom principle of fulfillment drives you toward excellence and completion. I bless you, Mercy, with a growing desire and commitment to hold onto Wisdom’s instruction and not let it go; to guard it well, with a keen awareness that it is your life. Proverbs 4 recounts a father’s wise instruction. How much more so, Mercy, is your Father’s Name – His nature and character – Wisdom’s own wellspring of life for you.

Your Mercy birthright is entwined with your Father’s Name – The Lord is there. He is there when you enter His presence. He is present as you learn to worship Him in all your life. As you carry and release His holiness into your situations, His presence is made known. I bless you to hold fast Wisdom as you live in hope toward your birthright fulfilled, for Wisdom is the heart’s outflow and nature of your gift. Be of good courage, Mercy. The Lord is there.

I bless you with staying at the Mercy Seat to know the heart of your Father concerning His will. Learning to love mercy and righteousness in the face of injustice. To live through injustice without letting bitterness take root. To daily practice living in dominion over sin and unholy circumstances, for The Lord is there.

The Mercy in 2021

Mercy and Wisdom are paired by God’s design for great joy and delight when Mercy triumphs. As you engage 2021, I bless you, Mercy, with a deep conviction that, though injustice prevails for God’s appointed time, He is not unjust. Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of His throne. Love and faithfulness go before Him.⁴ His Mercy and yours will triumph over judgment. But vengeance is His to repay. All this, Mercy, is your inheritance –

Life with Christ now, and eternally in the reality of your Father’s Name ~ Jehovah-Shammah. The Lord is there.

~ Nancy

¹ The first cycle was completed at the end of 2006; the second cycle, the end of 2013. To you, dear reader, I say consider the pattern. What was significant in your life 2000-2006, culminating in the Mercy year 2006? And then, 2007 through Mercy year 2013? 2014-2020? I highly recommend some devotional contemplation of these Mercy cycles. Our heavenly Father is a God of Justice and matchless Mercy. To engage in this as nurture for your spirit and encouragement to your soul is to bear witness to the reality of this precious gift of grace.

² Ezekiel 47-48      ³ Psalms 139:7      ⁴ Psalms 89:14

Click here for a printable PDF of this Blessing: Mercy Cycles – A 2020 Blessing 4