Mercy: How to Obtain Mercy at the Throne of Grace

God sits on the Mercy Seat on His Throne of Grace that is established on Truth, having Righteousness and Justice as the foundation of His Throne. Mercy is the overarching theme of the entire Scriptures, captured in the Hebrew word chesed. It means lovingkindness, covenanted love, mercy, grace, goodness, kindness, favour and faithfulness. Thus, when I say mercy, it is devoid of love or grace. It is fundamentally the same essence. It’s important that we know this. God’s steadfast unfailing unconditional love is what we are talking about.

God’s Sovereign Love in Predestination

God’s love is unconditional. That means He loves fully and freely regardless of the response of the object of His love. Everything God does is as a result of this Love, including things we may not understand like His wrath or discipline. God does everything He does out of love, for He is Love. By God’s lovingkindness, He created us and predestined us for His perfect Will without consulting us or adjusting it based on His foreknowledge of our mistakes and failures. This alone should put you at rest.

There are certain things God chose for you we without your input, knowing that it’s the very best of His Will for you; your family, your nation, your destiny, your gender etc. By the election of Grace, He chose you before time begun to fulfill a specific destiny at a specific time in history to bring glory to God. If you understand this, you won’t stress to do what God has not given grace to do. If you do all someone does intoto, you still won’t produce the results the person produces because the person’s effort is established on and facilitated by the grace allocated to them.

It is not of him that wills or him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. Whatever comes naturally to you was allocated to you by grace. Yes, your gifts and talents; it’s from God’s abundant goodness and kindness. Predestination and election is by God’s sovereign love. The theme of your life, the boundary of your destiny, the texture of your calling, all by Mercy and Grace. When we talked about Main Character Syndrome, we said it’s not about being in the spotlight, but about following the light on your path. As great as Elijah and Elisha were, they were not predestined to be authors of any Scriptures. As honourable as Moses and Daniel were, they were not in the lineage of Jesus.

In God’s sovereign act of showing Mercy, it is usually in the area of the good works He predestined for you. Thus, certain orchestration you thought were random was engineered by God’s Mercy. It may not always be pleasant, but He uses it to glorify Himself. In I Timothy 1:1, Paul said “for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.” As a result, what the enemy meant for evil, God turns it around for good by His act of mercy. This is what it means to be a vessel of mercy.

It is important to note, however, that predestination and election are only in the area of destiny, not in the determination of one’s eternity. Nobody has been predestined to go to hell. Everyone in hell was shown mercy before judgement. By God’s Grace and Mercy, He predestined all people to be saved. That means He decided to save us while we were yet sinners and undeserving of His Mercy. Thus, God can show mercy as His own sovereign act. That notwithstanding, He has also shown us mercy by making us worthy to approach Him, that we may obtain mercy. Let us dive in to that!

How to Obtain Mercy

So by God’s sovereign love, mercy was given you before you ever made a decision. This was what Romans 9 was about. That is only in areas where you had no decision to make, like where you will be born. However, there is mercy that is allocated to you based on your decisions. If not, we wouldn’t be told to come boldly to the Throne of Grace to obtain mercy. Mercy predestined me to write. However, if I ever feel like not writing, I can enter to access mercy. I hope you understand. Usually, the Bible talked about mercy being obtained, so it’s necessary that we know how to obtain mercy. Mercy is not random selection. Mercy can be obtained.

Asking for Mercy

Don’t assume that God knows that you need mercy. Ask for mercy. Proof that you need it is that you asked. He is more than willing to show mercy. By asking, you give Him permission to lavish you with the multitude of His mercy. Ask for mercy everyday and never get tired of doing so.

Psalms 86:3 NKJV
Be merciful to me, O Lord, For I cry to You all day long.

Psalms 123:3 CEB
Have mercy on us, LORD! Have mercy because we’ve had more than enough shame.

Matthew 20:30 NKJV
And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”

Daniel 9:18 NKJV
O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.

Repentance

Sins make you a candidate for judgement. However, once you repent and turn to the Lord, He is more than willing to forgive you, restore you and equip you to live above sin.

Isaiah 55:6-7
Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

Proverbs 28:13
He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

Psalms 25:6-7 NKJV
Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; According to Your mercy remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.

Joel 2:13
Let your broken heart show your sorrow; tearing your clothes is not enough.” Come back to the Lord your God. He is kind and full of mercy; he is patient and keeps his promise; he is always ready to forgive and not punish.

Humility

One thing God utterly and clearly hates is pride. Pride is the cardinal sin; every sin leads you to pride. It takes pride to live in sin. If there is one way to forsake God’s mercy, it’s by pride. The opposite is equally true.

I Kings 21:29
“See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.”

Proverbs 3:34 TPT
If you walk with the mockers you will learn to mock, but God’s grace and favor flow to the meek.

James 4:6
But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

Showing Mercy to be Shown Mercy

Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

James 2:13
There will be no mercy in judgment for anyone who hasn’t shown mercy. Mercy overrules judgment.

Luke 6:36
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Psalms 18:25
With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;

The Fear of God

Psalm 103:11
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

Psalm 103:17
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him.

Luke 1:50
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

Firstly, the Scriptures has established that those who are merciful to others will be shown mercy by God.

Trusting God

This is having an unshakable faith in the Word of God. He has never failed, and because He has made with you an everlasting covenant, His mercies are sure and trustworthy. Therefore, you can count on His mercy every time.

Psalms 32:10
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.

Psalms 52:8 NKJV
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.

Psalms 13:5 NKJV
But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

Loving & Obeying God

Psalms 25:10
All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Exodus 20:6
[I] show mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Daniel 9:4
And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments

Righteousness & Justice

We see the interplay of the 4 again; whoever works righteousness, lives in truth, shows mercy and renders justice pleases the Lord. God being a Just Judge will be His exceeding Reward.

Hosea 10:12
Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

Psalms 37:21
The wicked borrows and does not repay, But the righteous shows mercy and gives.

Proverbs 14:21
He who despises his neighbor sins; But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.

---

I hope this was very eye-opening. God shows mercy to those He loves, which is essentially everyone. He also shows mercy to those who love Him. Next week, we will talk about how to forsake your own mercy.