A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD PART 3 - THE OIL OF MERCY

 

This is part 3 of A Royal Priesthood series.  Originally, I was not going to make it part of this series, but by the end Father came to show me how it forms the heart of intercession, or maybe, building further on from what we discussed. We seem to not be able to get away from the account of Mary in Luke 7 where she anoints Yeshua’s feet.  Today we will be addressing something different in that account that lies at the heart of priesthood.  Let’s start by reading it again in Luke 7.

 

LUKE 7: 36 – 50

³⁶ And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.

³⁷ And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

³⁸ And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

³⁹ Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

⁴⁰ And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.

⁴¹ There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.

⁴² And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

⁴³ Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

⁴⁴ And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

⁴⁵ Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

⁴⁶ My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

⁴⁷ Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

⁴⁸ And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

⁴⁹ And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

⁵⁰ And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

The first thing that we can understand from what Simon thought here in verse 39 where he was thinking to himself, or so he thought, is that if Yeshua knew who and what manner this woman is, He would not allow her to touch Him.  There is a lot of speculation that this woman was Mary Magdalene, but obviously this was a woman whom they considered of ill reputation and that Yeshua would be defiled.  This is why Simon said that if He knew, He would not have allowed her to touch him.  Simon is questioning things here, not happy with what he is seeing.  When we look at Mary and see in what lavish way she pours out her love upon Yeshua, she did not just wash his feet, which Simon did not do being the custom of that time to wash a guest’s feet, but she washed his feet with her tears.  Not only that, but she wiped his feet with her hair, a woman’s hair being her glory.  She also did not cease to kiss Him.   What we find here is a woman who is pouring out her whole being upon Yeshua.  Ministering to His body, His head.  She also took the alabaster box and broke the seal as we know, which was our previous focus in the other devotionals.  She poured out, in this case, her whole being on Him in worship.  Contrary to that, Simon did none of that.  She did not cease to kiss Him.  Now, at those times they did a brotherly kiss in greeting, but she did not cease to kiss His feet. 

 

What you find in the disposition of Mary to be is absolute meekness, humility, worship and adoration.  Simply somebody that only has eyes for Him.  It is the best way I can describe it.  Much like Ruth at the feet of Boaz.  At this late hour we find ourselves in, this is exactly the position that the Bride needs to be in.  Her eyes need to be on Him.  Not just in waiting for Him to return, but also in that place of waiting on Him in stillness and adoration in her quiet time, seeking His face. 

 

Now, Simon is a good example of those who do love the Lord as well.  The example Yeshua gave was that the one owed 500 pence and the other only 50 pence, but he forgave them both.  They are both forgiven.  Simon is an example of those Christians who have invited the Messiah into their lives, their house.  There He is, He is their guest.  They serve Him and do everything that is right.  However, like Martha, they lack that one good thing, which is that of Mary at His feet.  But not just at His feet, but a place of adoration and worship, kissing Him continually with worship.  Simon is an example of those that do everything right, they get the visions and the dreams, the personal words, the Lord uses them, they have gifts.  They do everything right and there is nothing in particular that you can pinpoint as sinful.  But, Yeshua was addressing something that was of a disposition of heart that is required.  It was not necessarily that he did anything wrong.  However, Yeshua wanted him to understand the difference in this woman’s love and his love.  He was comparing their love.  Simon’s love with her love.  He was saying to him that those who have been forgiven much, loves much and those forgiven little, loves little.  He was basically telling Simon, “You are not aware of how much you have been forgiven.  This woman is aware.  And because she is aware of how much she has been forgiven, she loves Me so much.  That is why she is willing to pour out her whole life.  That is why she is willing to go to such an extent to worship Me.  That is why she is willing to be lavish, lavish in her love.  She gives liberally, just like I gave liberally.  She is an extension of Me, of the Head.”  The Word says that God loved the world so much, there is that word “much” again, that He gave His only begotten Son.  Not only that, He gave His Son to die on the cross for our sins.  He also gave us His Spirit without measure, with gifts and bounty.  He gave us talents.  He continually keeps giving every day.  In the beauty of this world.  When you get up in the morning, seeing a beautiful sunrise, think of the affect that it has on your heart, the stillness that it brings, the way it ministers to you about the faithfulness of God.  Silently the first thing the Lord tells you in the morning is, “I am in control.”  He does not have to do it.  You can just wake up to a bland, grey sky.  But He kisses us with that kind of love.  Or even a sunset, or the beauty of snow, the change of seasons.  What about friends?  The encouragement they bring.  And fruit.  Sometimes I eat fruit and it tastes so delicious and I say, “Lord, you are just amazing with what you can do.”  The small things in which He is so lavish in loving us.  He gives liberally and the Bride is an extension of that lavish giving of the Head.  This is where she finds herself in giving to Him, loving Him much.  Yeshua was comparing Simon’s love and her love for Him.  In other words, He could have said, “Simon, those who have been forgiven much, loves ME much and those who have been forgiven little, loves ME little.” 

 

Watchman Nee made an interesting quote saying, “The principal of power is the principal of waste.”

 

That which you are willing to waste on Him is the principal of power.   When we look at the cross, the Son of God on the cross, and those who walked with Him, who heard of Him and seen His miracles, having such great hope, looking upon the cross they may have thought, “What a waste of a good man!  Look at this man completely torn to pieces, dead!”  But what principal of power was in that waste?  We can be encouraged that this is exactly the disposition that He wants to work in the Bride.  This is what is needed for the time to come.  You might be saying, “Pietra, you are not telling us anything new here.” 

 

In the time to come, one of the most important things we will need is faith.  The Word says that faith worketh by love.  The other day I was thinking about the Word of God, saying to Father, “The Word is not only a book of history and the future, but it is also a book of heroes.  It is full of heroes. And He reminded me that I downloaded a book that is called “A book of heroes.”  I started listening to it.  It is about the martyrs that have gone before us.  We have the privilege of listening to different testimonies, of reading material like Foxe’s book of Martyrs, and DC Talk wrote two books called “Jesus Freaks”, also about martyrs.  Different testimonies that we can find everywhere, like Richard Wurmbrand and Darlene Diebler Rose and Dimitri Duduman.  We have many of these books available.  I want to ask, do you read these kinds of testimonies?  Do you listen to them?  They are such a provision for us to grasp the disposition; grasp the heart and learn so much wisdom of those who have gone before us.  The time awaiting us is a time that is far worse, the Word tells us, that has ever been before, condensed in such a small time.  The time we are going to go in will require of us that which we cannot give out of ourselves.  Richard Wurmbrand was tortured for 14 years.  14 years!  He was tortured in Romania, locked up.  He wrote a book called, “Tortured for Christ” and you can find the movie on YouTube as well.  They used to blooden his feet to a pulp and he was unable to walk because of that.  How did he endure that?  How did he make it for 14 years?  There was no sign of God.  I am sure there were small little “splatters”, but he was not set free until after 14 years were over.  Darlene Diebler testified that the Japanese placed her in a small hut in which she was barely able to even lay in.  She had only a small opening that she could peek through, having to stand at the tip of her toes to be able to see outside.  She would be grateful when they brought her food.  She could not really see, because it was too dark in the hut.  She would have rice and realize that it is maggots all over it, scraping it off and be grateful for what is underneath it, so that she could eat that little bit.  Knowing the affect it would have on her already thin and tattered body, the consequences.  But she was grateful.  How?  Have you ever asked yourself how was it possible for these people to endure all these things?  We are aware that in the time we are going in that the Spirit of God will rest upon those certain individuals and workers that will be going out.  However, this does not constitute that there will not be suffering.  In fact, we are guaranteed that there will be suffering, persecution and travail.  There will be great sorrow to endure.  But how did they endure it?  It is not that they were like someone laying in a swimming pool, breezing through it.  They suffered, but they suffered well.  They suffered well, without turning their backs on Him.  How was it possible for them to endure?  The Word says that faith worketh by love.  Yeshua said, “Those who have been forgiven much, loves much.” 

 

The other day, I was grating cheese.  My dogs love cheese and are very obedient when they sit around me for those little blocks of cheese.  This particular time I did not feel like giving them cheese.  I do not know why.  I have given them cheese every time, just a little bite, but this time I did not feel like it.  At that moment the Lord said to me, “Even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat of the crumbs.”  I knew in that moment that Father was speaking to me further about what we are talking about here. 

 

That particular scripture is written in all the Gospels, but the one I want to read is in Matthew 15, because of the particular wording that is applicable. 

 

MATTHEW 15

²² And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

²³ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

²⁴ But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

²⁵ Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

²⁶ But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.

²⁷ And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

²⁸ Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Here we have this Gentile woman, she came from Canaan, and she comes into the house and the disciples are saying to the Lord to please send her away.  They did not want anything to do with her, because she is a Gentile.  At that time how the Jews looked upon the Gentiles, was that they were considered dogs.  The word “dog” in the Strong’s Concordance is someone of an impure mind and somebody that is defiled.  The Jews of that time wanted nothing to do with the Gentiles.  They would not even go into a Gentile town.  Should they need to go to a town that meant that they had to go through a Gentile town to get there, they would rather take the long way around, even if it meant hours or days in journey.  They would consider themselves defiled by just being in their presence.  Now this woman comes, knowing full well that she has no right to ask anything.  Everything about her disqualifies her to ask anything of Him.  Here she comes, desperate, worshipping Him and calling upon His mercy.  “Have mercy upon Me, oh Lord!”  Addressing His mercy and not even considering all her disqualifications.  All she is looking to is His mercy.  The same example is in John 4 where the Samaritan woman comes to Yeshua at the well.  He tells her, “If you knew who I am, you would ask Me for water and I will give you living water.  For the time has come, and is now, where My Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  He is saying to her, “Instead of you giving me water, if you knew who I am, you would ask Me water.”  It is kind of a strange thing to say.  Was He saying to her that if you knew that I am God then you would ask Me water?  Or was there something else that He was getting at?  Well, the first thing this Samaritan woman did when she came to the well, was to address the cultural difference.  She was saying to Him, “How come you, a Jew, are speaking to me?”  She was addressing the same issue that Yeshua was addressing with the woman that said that even the dogs are allowed to eat of the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.  He was saying to her, “If you knew that I came and I identify with those who least deserve My mercy and My grace;  if you knew that this is who I am, then you would ask me and you will receive.  You will not only just receive, but receive lavishly.  Think of the Rock that was struck twice in the desert.  Do you think it was a few drops that could feed such a great multitude?  Or was it that the water gushed out like a force out of that Rock?  It was not drips, but lavishly that living water came forth for the whole multitude.  He was addressing the issue of His mercy.  As I was writing all of this in my journal, Father started to give me a word that I want to give to you.

 

IF YOU KNEW

 

If you knew who is speaking to you, if you knew Me, if you understood that I am a very merciful God giving to those most undeserving My love, you would ask and you would receive.  Why would you receive? Because your faith would be great.  You would know from out of the revelation of who I am that you will receive.  There would be no doubt.  But those who doubt, do not know Me.  They have not come to the full understanding of My love that expresses itself in mercy, which is the cross.  They do not know how much they have been forgiven. Because they have yet to see their own sin in the light of that cross.  That it is their sin, their iniquity, their sorrows, their sicknesses and their pain that was upon Me.  They have yet to see their unworthiness in the light of My suffering.  Yes, they claim it.  Yes, they confess it, but they have yet to identify with it.  This is why My prophets, when interceding for Judah and Israel, said it was their sin too.  They said that they too transgressed against Me and because they knew Me, they called on My mercy knowing that I am a merciful God.  The judgment that fell on Me on the cross, was the judgment meant for you.  You may know this, but do you identify with this? All of creation will be confronted with mercy scorned, for those who have been forgiven much, loves much.  Those forgiven little, loves little.  They do not have the faith, the trust in Me to believe for everything.  They believe only to the degree of their revelation of Me and My mercy.

 

When we think of Mary at Yeshua’s feet, we can see the principal of knowing how much we have been forgiven expressed by the lavish way she gave her life to Him.  She loved Him much.  It is a principal that Yeshua is addressing here.  He is saying that His Bride is willing to give her life to Him and for others.  She has an understanding of the depth, and also identifies with the extent of how her sin caused Him suffering.  She identifies with the cross. Not just that her judgment was on Him and that she has been forgiven, but she has an understanding that it was HER sin.  It is personal.  It is her sin that placed the scars on His Body.  She is ministering to that body.  She is worshipping Him and anointing His feet.  The same example we find where Yeshua spoke to the rich man, saying that it is difficult for a rich man to come into the Kingdom of God.  He started to tell him a parable of the Good Samaritan.  When we hear the story of the Good Samaritan, we think this is what it means to love your neighbour.  However, Yeshua wanted them to understand that the man beaten is the neighbour that needs to be looked after.

 

LUKE 10

³⁰ And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. (Who do you think this sounds like?)

³¹ And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³² And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

³⁴ And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

³⁵ And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

³⁶ Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

³⁷ And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

With this example we have a priest and a Levite.  Pretty much like Simon who has also allowed the Lord into his life.  He is religious and serves the Lord.  Before we think of the word religious in the context of a Pharisee, what I mean by that it is that the person has God in their life and is a believer.  In this parable He was speaking about the Jews though.  The Good Samaritan is a Gentile or what we can call another dog.  Just like the Canaanite woman and the woman at the well that represents the Gentile Bride.  When we look at the example of the priest and Levite, you see that Yeshua do not go into great detail, except to say that they crossed the road and did not want anything to do with this man that were attacked by the thieves and left for dead.  But He gives a long list of what the Good Samaritan did, in the same way that He told of all that Mary did when she came into Simon’s house.  He took compassion on his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. He placed him on his beast, took him to an inn, stayed the night and paid the inn keeper and said that if there are any money still owed after the night, that he would come back and pay that as well.  That is quite a long list of the extent that he was willing to go.  Here is a good example of those who has been forgiven much, loves HIM much. They take pity on His wounds.  They look upon the cross and see the wounds that they have inflicted upon Him.  They identify with the cross.  Not just as a place of justification, but a place of identification where the Bride has learned to identify with the sinner, as well as the Saviour.  With the sins of the sinner and the suffering that it inflicted on the Saviour.  When the Bride has come into that place, where she truly sees what her sin has done, and she intercedes for others, identifying with them knowing what she has been forgiven of, the place where the sinner and the Saviour meet is at the MERCY seat.  This is where we meet Him when we are aware that we have been forgiven much.  We meet Him at the mercy seat.  From this place the LIFE flows, the oil flows where we can minister to His wounds in that place of intimacy.  That is what Mary did.  She was preparing Him for His burial, anointing His wounds.  Mary, mother Mary and others, took ointment and spices, together with the ointment Mary put on Him before the cross, and anointed Him for His burial.  The Bride minsters to His wounds, because she identifies with the fact that it was her sins that placed those wounds there.  It is not something that she is theoretically parroting from the Word, but it fills her whole being.  She is aware of the mercy of God upon her life because of that.  Therefore, she extends mercy.  She ministers to His Body. 

 

With the example of Richard Wurmbrand, Darlene Diebler and those who have gone before us, “the torchbearers”, knew they have been forgiven much, and therefore they loved much.  They were willing to endure.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and it endures ALL things.  This is why in this time we are going in the most important factor is to have a revelation of the mercy and love of God.  We need to be apprehended by the love of God, a true revelation of how much we have been forgiven in order to extend that mercy.  In order to minister to His wounds and to minister to those who are left behind.  They will look like He looked upon the cross.  Is it possible that the body of Yeshua on the cross, how it looked and torn to pieces, is for our understanding that it is a prophetic picture of what the Body will look like in persecution?  That the Bride will be sent out to minister to His wounds.  She herself will have to pour out her life and by extension, be a living sacrifice herself.  I wrote a book called, “A Kingdom of Priests”.  Priests by extension are there to identify and the way they identify is by being a living sacrifice.  This is how they identify with Christ.  They themselves become an offer.  The seal workers who will put their necks on the line in the time to come during the anti-christ, where many will be persecuted, because they have not taken the mark, they will put their lives on the line.  They will become a living sacrifice.  It is not that they will just be martyrs or just seek to die.  Their disposition is an extension as the Bride is out of her unity with Him who gave Himself lavishly.  The Bride will give herself lavishly as a disposition.  She cannot help but give herself but give in such a way, because she has been forgiven much.  She identifies with His wounds.  Another example is the parable of Lazarus.

 

LUKE 16

 

¹⁹ There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

²⁰ And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

²¹ And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

²³ And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

²⁴ And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

²⁵ But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

²⁶ And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

²⁷ Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:

²⁸ For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

²⁹ Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

³⁰ And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

³¹ And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Here we have an example where Yeshua says that this rich man is the Jews who have Moses and the prophets.  They are rich and it is going sumptuously and soon it will not go so sumptuously, because there will be great destruction and they will be dispersed into the wilderness.  They are rich because they have Moses and the prophets.  They have the truth, but not The Truth.  The five brothers are the first five books of the Law that comes from Moses.  Father Abraham is Father God and Lazarus is taken into His bosom, who is Yeshua.  Yeshua is here identifying with the Gentile Bride that is under the table, a beggar.  Having nothing to your name, no reason why you have the right to ask Him anything, you are a nothing.  Here is Yeshua identifying with the Gentile Bride and the dogs come and lick His feet, His sores.  Like Mary and the Good Samaritan taking compassion on His sores.  They will minister to the Body in the time to come.  They will need oil.  They will need oil and wine to pour on His wounds.  The dogs once again are licking the sores. 

 

Paul in Ephesians 3 prays, “I pray that you will be rooted and grounded in the soil of God’s love.  I pray that you will have an apprehension, an understanding of the depth, the height, length and width of His love.  That you may be filled with the fulness of God and know that He is able to do super-abundantly above all you could ask or think, all glory to be unto Him.”

 

He is saying to them that they need to understand His love.  We need to apprehend the width, length and height of His love.  Why?  Why is it not enough to just say, “Jesus loves me”?   Why does one really have to be like Mary?  Why can we just be nice people?  We pray in the morning and pray for others, giving to the poor and organisations.  We are nice.  We are nice Christians.  We are good people.  He is saying, “Those who has been forgiven little, loves little, but those who has been forgiven much, loves much.”  How do they love?  “They take compassion on My sores and My wounds.  They are those who are at My feet seeking My face.  They have not ceased to seek Me just because they became Christians.  They know there is a depth, a width, a height of My love that cannot ever be reached to its fullest degree, because it is so vast.  It is so vast, but they are willing to plunge.  They are willing to wait on Me and to put the time aside and seek My face.  They are willing to go down on their faces before Me on the floor.  Have you ever done that?  Have you ever gone literally down with your face to the floor and just be silent?  Not speak a word.  I promise you, you will hear Him speak so much, because you have become silent.  This past week He said to me, “Be still, so that you can know that I am God. I will give you the privilege to know Me as God the way I intend you to know WHEN you become silent and seek My face.”  Have you stopped seeking His face because you have been a Christian for so long?  When last have you cried out to Him to reveal more of Him.  Has He been your first priority or has your Christian life been a substitute for that, because you are doing the Christian thing, and saying He is your first priority?  Please do not think that.  Think of Martha, doing everything right, but the thing most needful she did not do.  Mary chose that.  Once again, He is saying to the Bride, “Mary chose the best part which is to be at My feet. Kissing My feet and anointing My wounds.” 

 

Paul speaks about love in 1 Corinthians 13 and in Romans 8 says that because we have the Spirit we can say “Abba, Father”.  He was not addressing “daddy issues”, but was addressing the extent of the love of God that no matter what comes our way, that knowing the love of God, none of those things will be able to separate us from that love.  That love is the very thing that will cause us to endure.  What is the list he gave?  Demons, angels, darkness, life, persecution and tribulation.  These are the very things that those who have gone before us had to endure and now giving us the torch in last part of the race.  These are the very things they endured and that torch is the flame of the love and mercy of God.  It is the oil of mercy that burns in that torch and is the only thing that will be the light in the time to come, which is the love of God.  For God so love the world that He gave, and so it will be for us and we will give lavishly, because we have been forgiven much.  We identify with the sinner and the Saviour. With the sin of the sinner and the suffering of the Saviour.   When Yeshua was on the cross, whilst He was being killed, being in pain and agony for hours, He cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Do you know who else said that?  Stephen.  Whilst he was being stoned, he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  How is it possible for Stephen to have been able to show mercy in a time like that if he himself was not apprehended by that mercy?  If he himself was not apprehended by that mercy, he would not have been able to extend mercy and be a living sacrifice at that moment.  That is what the priests will be…living sacrifices.  But what kind of sacrifices?  One where each stone that hits you, mercy will flow out of it.  To your enemies, not just your friends, those busy killing you, mercy will flow out of you.  That is what Paul was apprehended by.  He was not a super human, but he was apprehended by the mercy of God.  Right after that incident he was confronted with the Light, “Paul, Paul, why do you persecute Me?  Why are you causing these wounds on Me? Why are you doing this to Me?”  Paul could have easily said, “Lord it is not you, but those who follow You, not You.”  But Yeshua will say, “No.  Did you not hear Stephen?  The clothes were being placed right before your feet as you watched him being stoned and that hatred in you were fuelled to persecute Me.”  Are you still persecuting His Body?  What flows out of you when you are being ignored?  Does mercy flow out of you?  What flows out of you when you are being hated?  When you are not considered?  What flows out of you when people talk badly about you or your friends gossip about you?  When your husband or your wife do not love you and no longer cares about you?  What flows out of you when your friends turn their back on you, because they do not agree with you?  What flows out of you?  Arrogance? “Oh, they’re stupid.  They should know better. Look at what they are saying!  They do not know what they are talking about.”  Is that what flows out of you?  Is there mercy flowing out of you thinking of what is waiting for them?  Is your heart breaking over those who will be left behind?  Because they deserve it, right?  “They should have known better.  They want to believe what they want to believe…fine!  Let it be according to their faith! They can be left behind.”  Or, does your heart break, like His heart?  Are you still persecuting Him? 

 

When I was unsaved, when I hated Him, mercy flowed.  When I lied to Him, mercy flowed.  When I turned my back to Him over and over in my backslidden ways, mercy flowed.  He never stopped coming after me.  When I had other lovers, He was not good enough, mercy flowed.  When I just did not get it, mercy flowed.  And it has not stop flowing and I am still under that crimson flow of His blood! Mercy keeps on flowing and He is still giving lavishly.  Are you under that flow?  Are you at His feet?  Are you seeking Him more than ever and do you have a revelation of that mercy and love, which you will need for the time to come?  Not just to endure, but to be able to minster to His body, to place oil on those wounds. 

 

ZACHARIAH 12:10

¹⁰ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

 

They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced.  The Gentile Bride, the dogs, they have looked upon Him and identify with His sores, Him whom they have pierced.  Have you?  Have you looked upon Him whom YOU have pierced?  Even if you are forgiven, have you looked upon it?  Have you allowed, meditated on the cross?  The Levites, the priests or rich men, they who have Moses and the prophets, they will look upon Him whom they have pierced.  We can easily think that they will get what is coming to them, because they did this.  Really?  Not our sin?  Have you looked and efficiently been apprehended by the knowledge of how much you have been forgiven? 

 

Not long ago I received a vision from Father where He showed me Yeshua on the cross.  I could only see His leg.  A gaping wound slightly below His calve.  Raw flesh with blood pouring out of it.  It touched me deeply to such an extent that a poem came out of my heart because of it.  I am most definitely not a poet, but it came by the Spirit and I pray it touches you and that the Lord will just have His way. 

 

Forgiven Much

 

Have I made that gaping wound in your leg?

Pressed those gruesome thorns in your head?

That horrible flow of blood,

Constantly streaming down as a flood?

 

Have I lashed your back with whip and chain?

Causing you to writhe in violent pain?

Have I pierced your side and nailed you down?

On that cross to lay my burden on your brow?

 

Have I tormented thee from six to nine?

Torn your back and slashed your sides?

Have I done this to my lover and friend,

In sorrow and heartache, I now lament!

 

Blood, blood, blood everywhere!

I’m stained, guilty of His despair.

Blood, blood, blood everywhere!

Now washed and have been spared.

 

My God, how can it be,

That I have been forgiven by thee?

I, the guilty party of your death,

I, the one who caused this bloody shed.

 

How you love me through every pore,

As blood kept dripping on the floor.

And now I stand under mercy’s flow

As you now dare to call me your own.

 

I love thee for thy my sin did take,

Standing in righteousness, I’m saved,

from that dreadful lake.

Bought with divine blood

Saved by grace,

Forever, I’m yours, yours to break.

 

Let your life and love now flow

No longer mine self, but now your own.

Let it flow from this broken alabaster box,

Mercy flowing from the cleft of the Rock.

 

I also received a vision of diamonds laying on the floor scattered.  As my vision moved, I saw the diamonds were more closely to one another until it eventually became the most beautiful wedding gown of the Bride.  The whole gown was just diamonds reflecting the light in diverse colours.  Imagine this shining bright brilliance of this gorgeous diamond robe of the Bride!  Right at the bottom are these scattered diamonds still not completely part of the dress.  Previously, when doing this devotional, having to have to do it twice, I did not know where this vision fit in.  I had to wait on Him.  This is what He wanted to tell us.  There are some who are like Simon, who allowed the Lord into their lives, but they are not part of that dress, clustered together tightly.    There are those who are part, but yet not part.  They do not cling, not vitally united with the disposition that is required of the Bride at this moment.  Yes, they are the Bride, but they still need to come into that disposition.  If you are one of those and this message is speaking to you, I want to ask you to seek Him afresh.  To fan that flame of love like it was in the beginning.  That you will put aside those things that distract you.  That you will come into that place.  Especially if you are a worker.  You will need that love that endures all things and to be able to extend that mercy.

 

My kitchen window looks out over our orchid next to our house and we have five very big olive trees, but the olives are different on every tree.  The Spirit told me to get some of these olives and I did.  The one tree’s olives are very big and sumptuous, whilst the other are small and almost dried out.  They do not look well at all.  Mary had oil in her alabaster box full of oil.  When she was crushed, oil would come out.  How full of the oil are you?  In Zachariah 4 we read of the Sons of Oil, the two witnesses, where the oil was poured OUT of them.   How much oil pours out of you?  How much oil is pouring out of you when you are presently being crushed?  Are you as the dried-out olives that will barely be able to give any oil, if anything?  Or are you full of the oil that you can only receive in that place, in the Holy of Holies, in seeking His face, where He crushes you?  Where He reveals Himself to you and reveals you to you?  Where you allow Him to crush you, because with every consecutive crushing it produces a reservoir of oil within you that will be used for the time to come.  It is truly a time to seek the Lord like never before. 

Amen.

 

Note:  Painting I painted called MERCY CAME RUNNING.  This is how unbridled His mercy flows from the throne of God.