How Much Mercy Do You Want ?
Jan 9th, 2008
Priscilla Van Sutphin
If you want to be free from unforgiveness and have no vulnerability to the enemy, then You must forgive even your enemies, even if they wrong you over and over and over again. Peter asked Jesus, how many times must I forgive, seven ? And Jesus answered, 70 times Seven ! It’s not like you carry around a counter and keep clicking away until you reach 490 And then you don’t forgive anymore.
Seven is the number of perfection, or completion. We are to COMPLETELY FORGIVE, even as Christ forgave on the cross his adversaries, and the Pharisees, and all the Romans who crucified Him, WE ARE TO FORGIVE. Forgiveness is process, and until it is all out of your heart and you can send LOVE to that person, you have not completed the forgiveness.
I remember God showing me one time how no matter how many times someone has wronged you , talked about you behind your back, you must forgive. He was showing me through some impressions that the same love and patience He has shown me with all my faults, I need to show to others, even those in the body of Christ that have wronged me. It doesn’t mean I must trust an abuser, and subject myself to domination or witchcraft control. It’s just that I need to have the slate of my heart free from bitterness and unforgiveness, that the same grace HE gives to me, I must also give to others if I really want to be free, and less vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy.
The enemy attacks, no matter what kind of life you live. Sometimes it doesn’t seem that way, but Ecclesiastes says it rains on the good and the bad alike. So trouble comes to us all.
Just be sure that when you are being tested through trials that you give to others the same grace that you want. For example, would you want everyone telling others every little detail of your thought life, or the many sins you committed throughout your walk with Christ Jesus ? Would you want everyone to condemn you and not forgive you for mistakes in doctrinal opinion you made 5 or 15 years ago ? We are sanctified through the truth of the Word, and not just how much of that Word we have read, but how much of it Holy Spirit has illuminated to us.
The truth you really KNOW, is what sets you free. If there is truth you do not understand or have not incorporated into you life, means you still may have strongholds in your life that still need destroying. Unless you’re perfect like JESUS, then we ALL have them. PRIDE is a blinding factor for ALL of us , in that if we have opinion blocking our mind to certain truths, then it is definite that there will be mistakes in what we hear, coming from our own hearts.
Sometimes when you hear a prophetic word, through the still small voice, there is mixture, because of such opinions that have not been sanctified through the washing of the Word and the illumination of scripture. If you’re in a religious- pharisaical church that believes the ONLY way to baptize someone is to take them down to the river and dunk them, then anything God may want to say to you about baptism, may be blocked by your own heart beliefs.
That makes one open to a spirit of DIVINATION. The spirit of python, as it is, wants to choke off the true words coming from God to any prophet or prophetess, or to any believer.
So the enemy will try anything he can to disqualify you, embarrass you, destroy you. But often, he only has to play with your soul, and allow something to come out of your heart or mind, in the midst of listening to the Spirit of God. That is why prayer and worship are so integral to any prophetic lifestyle. Most of what comes from a prophet, comes from INTIMACY with Jesus. If you don’t spend time with Jesus, you don’t get much as a prophet.
That is also why prophets are so weird. They spend a lot of time NOT doing what others are doing. There is a cost to the prophetic life. You CANNOT do what others do. You may NOT do what others do and just plan your own life for example. You cannot take God for granted. You must like a wife and husband depend on communicating with each other on any decisions they are going to make, communicate with Holy Spirit in the same manner. Your life is NOT your own the Word says. You were bought and paid for with the precious BLOOD of the LAMB. So whose are you ? Who is your master ? Is it ADONAI ? or is it Me, myself and I ?
There is no middle ground for a prophet or apostle. You have to walk the line, as Johnny Cash would say, or you don’t have the intimacy you want with the Lord. The enemy will FIGHT every step of the way you spending time with Jesus. He will try and whittle away your time, with busyness, with distractions, with work, with troubles, and if you find yourself pummeled on all sides, then you better withdraw and spend time with ABBA if you want to really get a clear direction. Busyness and self pity over circumstances will EAT away and devour your intimacy time with the Lord. He will bring ants into the house so you have a big mess to clean up. Your children will be used, your mate will be used, neighbors, and he will even bring strangers off the street to try to distract you.
If you don’t think this is right, then just try starting a prayer meeting once a week in your home ! And watch the warfare you will encounter. HA ! When we did a home group for the Vineyard years ago, the enemy would bring someone whose car just broke down and needed money to the door, so that my husband would get distracted helping them and not be there to help with the group. We lived in the LAST apt in a huge complex, way in the back, yet that person came to us. Hmmm You think the enemy doesn’t know you well ? Well if you are a mercy person, he will bring every case in the neighborhood to you to try and keep you so busy you don’t even have much time to pray for them. If that doesn’t work, then communication in the family, will break down, and you’ll find yourself constantly battling emotions.
INTIMACY is VITAL to walking in the Spirit as much as REST is. YOU cannot work 12 hour shifts 4-6 days in a row without losing energy and being tired. Same is true of your spiritual life. If you go a long time without intimacy with Jesus, your spirit man gets weak, and the soul takes over, and you find yourself saying something stupid, or doing something you didn’t intend to do by mistake, just because you were tired and exhausted spiritually. The bible says to be ready in season and out of season to give a reason for the hope that is within you, so we need to GUARD our time, and make time for the LORD no matter what is going in. HE is our HIDING PLACE. IT IS VITAL in this hour that we not neglect it as the battle has only begun, and I’m speaking of the final battle. Satan is enraged with the woman who is about to give birth, and he has come down to fight with us. Rev. 12:12.
