“Lord,” he said, “have mercy.”
This was the plea of a father made on behalf of his demon-possessed son. It is a request we have all cried out at one time or another, in different languages and circumstances. In big and small ways, we are constantly asking for mercy from the Lord and from each other.
Give us more time!
Help us find her!
Please, just let me rest!
When Jesus healed the demon-possessed boy, His disciples gathered around to understand why they’d been unable to work the miracle themselves.
“Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed….Nothing will be impossible for you.”
—Matthew 17:20
The disciples were unable to give this man and his son the mercy they needed. Although there are certainly other times in Scripture when the disciples were able to perform miracles, this case is especially interesting because the man specifically asked for mercy, and the disciples were unable to give it. While the disciples couldn’t heal the boy or cast out the demon, Jesus could. In fact, earlier in this chapter, the mere radiance of His glory sent them falling to the ground in terror (v.6). Indeed, Jesus is set apart by His glory.
There is a great chasm of difference between God’s mercy and ours, between God’s faithfulness and our faithlessness, between God’s glory and our need. Jesus’s teaching forces me to look at the truth: Even when I actually want to be merciful and help others, in my own strength, my best efforts prove that my ability to be merciful is lacking.
Later, in chapter 18, Jesus shared the parable of a servant who owes his master a huge sum—a sum so large that he would need several lifetimes to pay it back. But then that servant turns around and finds somebody who owes him a day’s wages and starts choking him to give back his money (vv.23–28).
While we don’t literally put our hands around the throats of those who owe us something, we do choke others with our lack of mercy and forgiveness. The vastness of God’s never-ending mercy shows us our need for forgiveness is enormous. Grasping that need is the first step to understanding the gospel.
It’s difficult to remember mercy when someone hurts us. Some of us have been hurt so badly it feels like everything is ruined, that nothing can restore what’s been taken from us. The very thought of the offense can fill us with fear and loathing. But we do well to remember this: In order to forgive us, Christ had to die for us. He took the curse that we brought to Him and gave up everything so that He could give us mercy. This gospel is true! God’s great love and mercy for us are greater than all our sins.
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41 thoughts on "Jesus’s Glory and Power"
Amen and hallelujah!
Hello all- I have a question about forgiveness. How do you forgive, as Jesus taught us, but also hold boundaries of protection around yourself? When someone repeatedly hurts you, you have to guard your heart and make it clear that you won’t continue to tolerate their behavior/missteps. I’m struggling with this and would love advice!
I know I’m a day late but I’m thankful for all the comments here. I am praying for wisdom to understand how to forgive a friend who hurt me and probably doesn’t even realize it and hasn’t asked for forgiveness, and also if I should even continue that friendship.
virtues of humility, forgiveness, and brotherly love in the Kingdom of Heaven. It presents vivid lessons on how to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven and how to live in harmony with others. Through powerful parables and teachings, Jesus provides a practical guide for living out these principles in everyday life.
encourages believers to embrace faith beyond understanding and reveals the awe-inspiring divinity of Jesus. His transfiguration not only provides a glimpse of His divine glory but also sets a cornerstone for our faith, while His healing of the demon-possessed boy emphasizes the power of unwavering faith, prayer, and fasting. Jesus also teaches us about submission to authorities and God’s provision in the story of the temple tax. This chapter, laden with spiritual lessons, encourages us to live with faith, expect miracles, and embrace the majesty of Christ’s divine mission.
❤️ terri
❤
I need to learn to take a “holy pause” before responding when triggered, especially with my husband who knows just the buttons to push. I am working on forgiving him for past hurts to be able to move forward and have a healthier marriage but it is hard. My flesh wants to keep that wall up. I am feeling convicted by this and am praying that God would remove my heart of stone.
@ Mercy
Thank you for your sharing of God’s helping you to forgive and heal.
Now I understand that is what He led me through for so many years.
Praising His Name and His faithfulness to forgive us and our many sins against Him and that we are charged with forgiving those who sinned against us so that we may receive His forgiveness.
It brings peace and contentment to rest His righteous right hand as His child whom He loves.
KRIS… thank you for your comments. I needed them.
Forgiveness is a multi-layer process yet possible with the hands of God. Forgiveness goes hand in hand with healing. Do not hold a grudge, meditate not on revenge, forgive the injuries -are all of these things against our human nature? Yes unfortunately. All of the above are from the born-again nature and by God’s might. Offences are the bait of Satan (John Bevere) and it is true. The extent of offences, to the point of hurt and anguish, needs God to help us to forgive. I remember a vision that God showed me. I will be transparent and vulnerable in my description. There was a season (two years or so) that I was betrayed and abandoned by the closest people that were supposed to protect and love on me. And I came to God so He could help me to forgive. And do you know what that looked like? Tears and tears and replaying the painful memories, and asking God why, more tears, more memories replaying, months after months, and God showed me this vision, He said you’re coming to me to be healed, and I am pulling out the arrows on your back that they shot at you “in the name of love”, and each time He pulled an arrow out, I bled profusely, just like fresh wound, and I screamed in pain and tears. That’s what forgiveness and a healing season looked like. It was incredibly messy and painful. But it took God.. and it took time! By God’s mercy, may we be healed, strengthened to run the course, may our heart be purified and sanctified from the bitterness, fear, anguish, resentment, defilement that the injuries of the wicked ones can cause. The Lord is able. He is more than able to redeem every bad thing done to us into beautiful things. Be blessed dear sisters.
Thank you for sharing!
“It’s difficult to remember mercy when someone hurts us. Some of us have been hurt so badly it feels like everything is ruined, that nothing can restore what’s been taken from us. The very thought of the offense can fill us with fear and loathing. But we do well to remember this: In order to forgive us, Christ had to die for us. He took the curse that we brought to Him and gave up everything so that He could give us mercy. This gospel is true! God’s great love and mercy for us are greater than all our sins.”
Boy, did this hit home today. I just saw a miraculous end to an 8-month struggle Monday evening. It was beginning to look like all was lost. But as Tina would say, But God……
I had the opportunity to talk to my former student last evening before his surgery today. We talked, shared some scripture and songs. His go to song is “Come, Jesus, Come.” He has a playlist for today. He is in surgery now and will be for awhile yet. He will be in critical care for awhile determined by his body’s response to the surgery. I will get a response as soon as he is able to respond. Thanks for your prayers!!
Thank you Lord for your mercy and grace. ❤️
Without His mercy and grace where would I be? Not a question I want to answer, I’m not who I was but have Jesus to thank for walking this journey of faith with to the end. How do I say thank you?
Sharing prayers for your concerns.
The portion about forgiveness makes me think about this verse ”It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.13.5.NIV
Sometimes I can be easily offended by my husband. I want to get to the point where I don’t and where I don’t keep any record of wrongdoing.
God is so merciful to me. I need to be able to do that all the time!
Praying for all of you! Laura, I think that is a beautiful idea! When our daughter was away from the Lord, I asked how to pray. The Lord lead me to pray that the scales would drop from her eyes. She returned and lives for the Lord today.
Good Morning and HAPPY Wednesday sweet She’s! WOW! This IS for me! Had a small argument with my mom a couple of days ago. Forgive… yep I must forgive even when I feel gouged! I’m going to be transparent AGAIN! First, I LOVE my mom! I do! Sometimes I don’t think she realizes that she,too says hurtful things. Leaving for a trip this morning and funny thing is, early this morning BEFORE reading this devo, I was going to have a conversation with her to ask for forgiveness. Though her words were hurtful, and she may not realize it, but I need to get passed that and ask for forgiveness for my part. Also please pray for a safe trip. My kids and I are headed to the beach for an overnight stay. I also feel the getaway is necessary for all of us.
Kris- Excellent!
Carol M- with you sister!
Barb D- (welcome! new name to me!) yes! Life is so messy-hard!
Taylor- glad you are back with us daily, I sure do love your sweet young, tender heart and wisdom!
Sorry for my Messy comment, I am so not good at wrapping my thoughts up in a nice bow like you all!
GM She’s.
There is so much to unpack in these scriptures! But my heart settles on the forgiving part, and I relate to Laura’s comment. I too just had an argument with my other half last Thursday…and we have yet to settle it! I get bruised and can’t seem to put it behind and FORGET! I want counseling or a hashing out, but can’t convince him to face the issue of temper/anger issues and thus has been a repeating cycle. Boy it’s tiring.
I know God is working in this area though, because I keep looking to Him and praying, and letting the Spirit change me and reveal the fruits of the Spirit. Patients, kindness, gentleness..SELF-CONTROL..Heavenly Father, help me with forgiveness for hurts that I can’t seem to let go of, help our marriage to be a representative of your love for your people. A love that forgives, grows, repairs, and reflects your light. Be with Laura to forgive and remove the hurt and help her to repair and give love like our Father gives to us. Amen. And Laura, I think that is good that you are going to FAST for your daughter. We actually had a quick conversation with my son, sister, and nephew this past wkd…for some reason it came up and my nephew said to my son…even if you were gay, I would come to your wedding Michael, and there was a chuckle and my sister said me too Michael. And I said “I wouldn’t” that is against my beliefs..and there was surprise and like wow..that’s harsh. So it was out there, statements that reveal stances. I said I would of course still love you…but I don’t think I could embrace something that is wrong in God’s eye. Anyway, those conversations (not really a “conversation,” no one wanted to really get into “that” conversation!) always bring me back to when you told us a few years ago about the upcoming wedding of your daughter at that time. It’s a hard choice for a family, and I know at the time I said that I would love them through it and go..but I think I would stand by my convictions now. It is a tough thing that divides even Christians. But I think Christians are being forced to draw the lines more and more in today’s society. And there will be divisions in families, we are told that in scripture.
Adrienne, thanks for sharing, those are tough situations as well. That is a good example of you putting aside..for “she knows not what she does.” We had some division in our family in my first marriage and was estranged somewhat from my in-laws because of an incident. It is certainly a learning and growing in the fruits of the Spirit and forgiveness. It’s hard to know how to hold people/family accountable for their actions but offer love.
Sarah Wilson
I ‘m joining you in your prayer of embracing and understanding forgiveness while keeping boundaries in toxic relationships. With Jesus by our side, He will show us the way.
Wow. This spoke to me on so many levels. I still have chills from it as I write this. Thank you Rebecca for these words that I so desperately needed and had no idea I needed.
“While we don’t literally put our hands around the throats of those who owe us something, we do choke others with our lack of mercy and forgiveness. The vastness of God’s never-ending mercy shows us our need for forgiveness is enormous. Grasping that need is the first step to understanding the gospel.” This is a call out to me, I “forgive” but am awful at forgetting and reliving the event, which I realized from this is a huge lack of mercy. I am convicted.
“But we do well to remember this: In order to forgive us, Christ had to die for us. He took the curse that we brought to Him and gave up everything so that He could give us mercy.” There are no words. We can only accept this unbelievable gift our Father has given us. If he could do this for me, I can show the mercy of forgetting to others, or at least work really hard on it.
Just a fabulous essay. Thanks.
I see a common thread here. Matt 17:16-20. The disciples had been given power to heal and cast out demons (a few chapters ago), but here they couldn’t do it. I can just see Jesus rolling His eyes, like an exasperated mother with small children, “How long do I have to put up with you infantiles?” LOL! I can’t help but laugh a little. And when the disciples asked why they weren’t able to heal, Jesus told them it was because of their lack of faith – again. But did Jesus walk away?, did He “brush the dust off His feet” and go try to find another group?, did He tell His Father that He had missed it and gotten Him the wrong crew? Nope. He hung on fast, He kept teaching, He kept loving, He kept influencing, He kept accepting, He kept redeeming, He kept restoring. And He does the same with us. He keeps loving, He keeps teaching, He keeps surrounding us with His compassion and understanding. I am SO THANKFUL that He doesn’t give up on me, just like He never turned His back on the disciples. I Kings 8:11 shows our response to God’s goodness to us. Because of His great love and power and compassion and redemption and salvation, we cannot even continue to speak. We are brought to our knees and our mouths are silent because there is nothing we can say or do that can thank Him enough.
Wow! I could hang out and marinate on today’s devotion for a long time. Life is messy and painful. Jesus, may we be Your ambassadors of mercy while still fully representing Your Truth.
Lord, help me to be merciful as you are. Let me put self aside, and be holy as you are holy.
I have to run out the door & will be back later to read your comments and prayer requests. Have a lovely day!
Forgiveness. That’s a tough one. Over the years, I have slowly learned to be more forgiving – knowing all along that I needed to, not so much for the person I felt had wronged me or said hurtful things, but for myself. It takes a lot of mental energy to maintain an attitude of not forgiving, trying to keep those initial feelings of emotional pain at the forefront as time passes. The older I get, the more I realize that many things that trigger anger or tears … will these things matter next week, next month, next year? Sometimes yes, but many times no. So I do my best to forgive, lay it down and move forward. The rebuilding of trust is a whole different process … and doesn’t always happen.
LAURA DIANNE – praying as you fast for your daughter, and for you and your husband in the counseling
GS – praying for family dynamics for your daughter
TAYLOR – praying for you and your friends
TARA B – praying for you, husband and marriage
TAMI C – I’ll step up and admit I feel the same way at times. I know it in my head, but just not feeling it – especially if I start comparing :/ Praying that we both connect in the ways that are right for us and draw us closer to Him and His will
KRIS – member of the motley crew here :). Thankful for the Lord’s forgiveness and compassion
CEE GEE ❤️
MIA FAITH ❤️
Ouch. Pretty sure this devotional was written for me! This weekend my husband and I had a big one. He said some very hurtful words to me. My heart was bruised. The next day, he apologized. It was heartfelt. But it took me two more days to actually forgive. That’s pretty normal for me. I just find it very hard to get over things and move on. I have a tendency to focus on my hurt and the unforgiveness just follows. This was a glaring reminder that I need to forgive as I have been forgiven. Out of all of this, though, came something that I have wanted for awhile. We are going to start couples counseling next week. We both have heart changes that need to happen for us to move forward and grow in our marriage (and we have been married for 37 years!)
I am starting a new practice today. My prodigal daughter’s birthday is on the 20th day of July, so I made the commitment to fast on the 20th day of every month. I heard a story recently of a mom who fasted regularly for her son in this way and I felt convicted to do the same. I have never practiced fasting, so I am waiting on the Lord to lead me and guide me through this day.
So much running through my head this morning. I will be ruminating all day… you?
I often wonder what, exactly, was being said at the transfiguration and why it happened. I think I had known the why once but need to revisit that. I think I remember glorification. It was a Sunday School lesson that appeared fairly often.
And, as a preschool teacher… Let me just say that little children do NOT humble themselves… Heeheehee!
The servant and his forgiving master remind me that I often have a plank in my own eye, and that (why don’t I do this?) I can/should/need to forgive others. Christ forgave me, so…
For years, my MIL was not allowed in my home because of something that she had said about my husband (her SON!) in front of my own children. She never apologized, even after a “counseling” session we had with our pastor. A few years ago I was prompted/convicted by the Holy Spirit to “try again”, and the last couple years, she has come to our home on various occasions (and I take her to various appointments and have helped her during a recent hospital stay). And while she has still never apologized, and I haven’t forgotten about her behavior, I think she realizes that I have forgiven her. (Almost every time I see her, I pray that I can forgive her because “she knows not what she does”. They say that hurt people hurt people, but I don’t let that be an excuse. I have called her out before, but many times I just pray and ask for help to forgive her for the things she says and does because she has NO IDEA… she is pretty self-centered.
But then, aren’t I self-centered too? Wait… don’t answer that!
❤️
This devo is so perfect for me and my family today. My daughter’s soon to be mom in law is struggling to let her 20 year old son grow up and it’s causing ripple effects. We need prayer.
I almost skipped today’s devotion, but I’m glad the Lord woke me up early and I thought “let me just skim the devotion first.” Wow. Definitely needed as the hard conversation I had this weekend which caused the increase in my anxiety was two people sharing how we had hurt each other with our words. I’ve been stewing over here waiting for the right opportunity to demand an apology for how my friend has hurt me. Maybe what I need to do first is extend forgiveness and mercy. I wrote in my journal “Forgive as Christ forgave you.” I pray the Lord will continue to soften my heart and soften my friend’s heart so we can forgive each other, reconcile, and strengthen our friendship as I dearly love this friend. I will see them again on Friday so prayers for a healthy and forgiving conversation are appreciated!
It is interesting, the servant in Jesus’s story who owed his master money said, “Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” (Matthew 18:26 NKJV) a few verses later (Matthew 18:29 NKJV) the servant of this servant said the same exact words… Yet, we know the response was different. It was not met with mercy. A sober reminder that we need to remember God’s mercy to us, when we want to withhold forgiveness to another.
Father, thank You for the conversation I had yesterday with a sweet, godly friend. Her words, given by You, reminded me to pray for myself, pray for my marriage and family and pray for my husband. Change me, Lord Jesus! May I remember the grace You have given me and still give me every day. Humble my heart. Allow me to draw closer to You so that my children see You in me. And my husband too. In Jesus Name, Amen! Praying for all spoken and unspoken requests!
❤️
Amen! Prayers for all requests and needs, spoken and unspoken. Blessings!
Our Father of endless love and mercy, thank You. In Jesus name, Amen
Good morning SRT community, in order to forgive us, His Son died for us. Can you imagine being across from our Father as He explains this to you? My husband and I were given a son later in life (in our late 30’s) and when I watch and witness how much my husband loves our boy, it gives me a tiny glimpse into the awe and vastness of God’s love for us because I CANNOT imagine hurting even a hair on his head. My prayer of late is to understand/embrace forgiveness while holding boundaries with toxic relationships.
ERB – Missing you ❤️
CLAIRE B – Ah the church… A bunch of failures who acknowledge they need Jesus, right…?
CARLA WHITESELL – Thank you for sharing! ❤️
TAYLOR – Thank you for “Who do I say that Jesus is?”
INDIANA ELIANE – Praying for a successful surgery and peace for Steven today.
MIA FAITH & ALAYNA – Thinking of and praying for you ❤️
Oh, my how true! “While we don’t literally put our hands around the throats of those who owe us something, we do choke others with our lack of mercy and forgiveness. The vastness of God’s never-ending mercy shows us our need for forgiveness is enormous. Grasping that need is the first step to understanding the gospel.”
MIA FAITH – praying for you and your family
Thank you for your never ending mercy. Please help me to always show mercy to others. Amen
Merciful Father,
As Rebecca Faires said: “In my own strength, my best efforts prove that my ability to be merciful is lacking.” It is not in my nature to acknowledge that I need forgiveness for my sins. It is more likely that I focus on how *others* should repent for the way they hurt *me.*
But I am not any better: I hurt others just as they hurt me, and I hurt You. I forget that Jesus had to die for me, took the curse, and gave up everything so that He could give me mercy.
I need Your mercy. I need Your forgiveness. I need to take You seriously because Your great love and mercy are greater than my sins.
May I show mercy to others just as You have shown mercy to me.
AMEN.
Thank you Lord for your mercy