Aren’t you glad to know that God isn’t standing over you with a big stick waiting to whack you when you do something wrong? He isn’t standing over you frowning about all the mistakes you make. He is bending over you with joy, thrilled and happy because you are His child. He is hugging you to Himself in tender mercy and compassion, wanting to forgive you, help you, and pour out His blessing upon you. Why?
Because that’s His nature! He is prone toward mercy. If He can find a way to get forgiveness and kindness and blessing to somebody, He’ll do it because that’s what pleases Him.
Many people don’t understand that about God. Religion has given them the impression that He actually enjoys punishing the wicked and disobedient. But the Bible doesn’t say that. On the contrary, in Ezekiel 33:11, God says, “As I live … I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” One translation I read has a side note to that verse which says, “God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked for death is strange to His nature.”
When I think of an especially wicked person, one who comes to my mind is Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq. That man did unthinkable things, victimizing women and children, murdering untold thousands. No doubt, many human beings took pleasure in his death. But not God. It’s not His nature. It’s not His way.
His desire would have been for that man to repent and call out for God’s forgiveness. His way would have been for Saddam Hussein to ask for mercy, and wicked as he was, if he had sincerely asked, the Lord would have delighted in giving it to him.
How much more can those of us who are God’s dear children, born again of His own Spirit, be confident that He delights in extending His mercy to us!
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:43 – 48
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”