In God’s Sovereign Mercy we’re Selected by Him, we Seek Him, and we Serve Him today

If we believers in Christ know God’s sovereignty, we will thank Him for His mercy, for our becoming a Christian, our going on with the Lord, and our loving the Lord, all of which depend on God’s sovereign mercy, and we are vessels of mercy unto honour and glory under the sovereign mercy of God.

Thank You, Lord, for having mercy on us. Thank You for Your love, the source of Your mercy. Thank You for selecting us in Your mercy, and thank You for reaching out to us, where we are to bring us back to Yourself so that we may enjoy the grace and love of God. We love You, we trust in You, and we fully open to You! Amen, praise God for His sovereign mercy! Amen!

Our God is a God of mercy. We are here under His mercy, and He has mercy on us. Why did He have mercy on us and not on others? We do not know; we only know that, in His sovereignty, He had mercy on us.

May we be those who come to the Lord day by day, in His mercy, and just open to Him and enjoy Him.

He wants to gain us as the kingdom people today; this doesn’t mean that He wants us to behave better and have a better life to show forth who God is.

It is not Christian ethics, morality, or spirituality that God is after. He wants to gain a group of people who are open to Him so that He may work Himself into them and live in them.

He wants to live in us and be expressed through us. We do not have to strive to accomplish something for God, nor do we need to try harder to be pleasing to God according to our own efforts.

We need to realise that, as believers in Christ, we have been born of God with His life and nature, and now it should be no longer I but Christ who lives in me.

Christ must live in us. He must be expressed through us.

Matthew five through seven is not a matter of morality or a high standard of ethics but the living of the divine life by the believers in Christ.

When we believers in Christ live by the divine life in our spirit, we express the divine life, and we live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.

May we learn to turn to our spirit and live one spirit with the Lord. May we learn to allow the Lord to live in us, even to live by the divine life in our daily living.

When we live out Christ, when we live by the divine life, we have the kingdom life, the reality of the kingdom of God.

May the Lord save us from trying to improve ourselves or better our being and behaviour; may we depend on God’s mercy and praise Him for His sovereign mercy in all things, for we depend on His mercy for everything!

If we Know God’s Sovereignty, we will thank Him for His Mercy: we are Vessels of Mercy

If we would serve God in His New Testament economy, we need to know that it is wholly a matter of God’s sovereign mercy. God has mercy on whomever He has mercy, and He has compassion on whomever He has compassion (Rom. 9:15-16).

We are vessels of mercy unto honour and glory, and we were chosen by God according to His sovereign mercy (Rom. 9:11-16).

God has mercy on whomever He wills to have mercy. For example, He had mercy on Moses and the people of Israel, but on Pharaoh, He did not have the same mercy.

In this universe, there are three things that cannot be denied: God’s sovereignty, God’s mercy, and man’s free will. God’s sovereignty and His mercy are both divine and eternal, without beginning or ending.

Our will, however, is something created by God. God displayed His greatness by creating man with a free will. God is great, and He does not force us to choose Him.

Rather, He leaves us free to make our own choice. We believers in Christ chose God and His will, but we cannot explain why; God has willed to show mercy to us.

The only thing we can say is that, according to God’s will, the mercy of God has been extended to us.

In Romans 9:18 we are told that God may will either to show mercy or to harden; this is illustrated by the cases of Moses and Pharaoh.

Moses was one to whom God willed to show His mercy, whereas Pharaoh was one whom God willed to harden.

We can be either Moses or Pharaoh, and it is all a matter of God’s sovereignty. If we see God’s sovereignty, we will worship Him for His mercy.

If we look back on our life, we will realise that God had mercy on us. God chose us even before we were born, even before the world began.

His sovereignty is the basis of His selection; it is of God’s sovereignty that He created us vessels to contain God.

We are vessels of mercy unto glory and honour, and this is all of God’s mercy based on His sovereignty.

He foreknew us before the world began, and He selected us (Eph. 1:4). We human beings select things and people based on what we like; if someone or something seems to be good, promising, or successful, we will select it.

But God’s selection is not based on what we are or what we have done; it depends entirely on God’s sovereignty and desire.

He is the Potter and we are the clay. He has authority over the clay to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour (Rom. 9:20-21).

If He wills, He can make one vessel to honour; also, according to His sovereignty, He can make a vessel unto dishonour.

This is because He wants to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory, even us, whom He has called (vv. 23-24).

How we thank and praise the Lord for calling us to be vessels of mercy unto honour and glory! It is not of us.

It is not because we are more seeking or better than others. It is because of God’s sovereignty and His mercy.

He had mercy on us. God has the authority to make us, those whom He has selected and called, vessels of mercy to contain Him so that the riches of His glory may be known and manifested.

If we see God’s sovereignty, we will worship Him for His mercy.

We were predestinated by His sovereignty to be containers for God to come in and fill us. He made us vessels of mercy unto honour and glory so that we may be filled with Him and express Him.

This is altogether something of God’s mercy, even His sovereign mercy, and we worship Him for this.

If we know God’s sovereignty, we will thank Him for His mercy. We can’t explain this, we can’t understand this fully, but this is what He does.

Lord, we praise You for Your mercy! Thank You for being sovereign and choosing us to be vessels of mercy unto honour and glory! We worship You, Lord, for Your sovereignty and for Your mercy. You chose to have mercy on us. You had compassion on us. We trust in You and we give ourselves to you. We open to You, for we are vessels. Oh, what a privilege it is to be a vessel of mercy unto honour and glory! We open our vessel to You, Lord, to be filled with You! May You fill our vessel more today. We just want to contain You so that we may express You. We depend not on what we can do or on what we are; we depend on Your mercy. How we praise You and thank You for Your mercy! Amen, God’s mercy is absolutely a matter of God’s sovereignty! Praise the Lord, we are vessels of mercy not as a result of our own choice but because of God’s sovereignty! We worship You, Lord, for Your sovereignty! We praise You for Your mercy! Amen!

In God’s Sovereign Mercy we Seek Him, Love Him, Serve Him, and are in the Church Life today

When we see God’s mercy, when we realise that God is sovereign and merciful, we will worship and praise Him for His sovereign mercy.

In God’s sovereign mercy, our hearts are inclined toward Him; because of His mercy to us, we seek the Lord day by day (Jer. 29:13; Deut. 4:29; Isa. 55:6).

It is the Lord’s mercy that we wake up a little earlier in the morning to spend time with the Lord.

On our side, we cooperate with the Lord to go to bed earlier and set up our alarm clock to wake us up earlier, but it’s God’s sovereign mercy that we do this. In His mercy, God inclines our heart toward Him.

We are thankful to God for His mercy and we praise Him for His sovereign mercy.

We don’t understand why this is happening, we don’t understand why we are pursuing the Lord, and some around us do not, but we trust in His mercy.

The more we see that everything related to us is a matter of God’s mercy, the more we will bear our responsibility before the Lord.

However, even our willingness to bear responsibility is of God’s mercy. God saved us in His mercy, He imparts His life into us daily in His mercy, and He wants us to serve Him and bear our responsibility.

However, even our being willing to bear responsibility to live Christ and minister Christ to the saints is God’s mercy.

If we consider our history, even our coming into the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we will worship God for His mercy.

Some of those who came into the church life with us are no longer here with us, and even some who brought us into the church life may have left the recovery.

Some of our closest friends, people we grew up with and even went to church with, may no longer believe in God or meet with the church.

It is not because we are better in any way than others; it is all because of God’s sovereign mercy.

Because of God’s mercy, we responded to the gospel when others did not. It is because of His mercy that we received a word about Christ as life when others refused to receive it.

It is truly His mercy that we took the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way.

We are people under God’s sovereign mercy, and it is nothing of ourselves but of God who shows mercy.

We may have heard the gospel together with some people, but only we believed into the Lord; it is His mercy that we believed.

We may have come into the church life together with some people, who may no longer take this way; it is God’s sovereign mercy that we are still here.

It is God’s sovereign mercy that we take the narrow and constricted way, while others take the wide way. We only open and cooperate with Him a little, and even our cooperation and willingness are of His mercy.

He has mercy on whomever He has mercy. Even our function and serving in the Lord and in the church life, it is all of God’s sovereign mercy.

He draws us to Himself, and we open a little; He commissions us with the work, and we just cooperate.

If we were to analyse what the underlying factor is of our going on, our being in the church life and our desire to serve the Lord, we will realise that it is God’s mercy.

His mercy is displayed in our pitiful situation; in ourselves, we are nothing and can do nothing, and even our small cooperation with the Lord amounts to not much.

It is not a matter of our strength, our ability, our gift, or our personal initiative; it is all because of God’s sovereign mercy.

As we go on with the Lord, in His mercy, we need to appreciate God’s sovereign mercy and give ourselves to Him.

We may have been in the church life for a long time, and many storms came and went, and we are still here; many who are more gifted and knowledgeable than we are have left, but because of God’s sovereign mercy, we are still here.

Some grow bitter because of certain things happening, others become hard as they go through sufferings, and many have a stiff neck as they go through trials and persecutions.

But somehow, we are still open to the Lord today, and He has mercy on us to keep our heart soft and open toward Him. All we can say is that God is sovereign and He had mercy on us.

When we see God’s sovereign mercy, we should be filled with aspiration that we would open to Him and pursue Him, yet we do not trust in our effort or ability but only in His mercy.

We need His mercy to finish our course. We need His mercy to press on.

We need Him to continue to have mercy on us so that we become kingdom people. May we open to Him as never before and give Him the cooperation He needs today.

Lord, thank You for Your sovereign mercy on us. It is because of Your mercy that our hearts are inclined toward You. Oh Lord, it is because of Your mercy that we seek You today. We love You and we open to You. We worship You for Your sovereign mercy. Oh Lord, everything related to us is related to Your mercy. We give ourselves to You to bear our responsibility, knowing that even our willingness to do this is of God’s mercy! Oh Lord, we are so blessed to be under God’s sovereign mercy! Thank You for having mercy on us. We cast ourselves on You. We open our being to You. Have mercy on us, Lord, that we may press on and gain more of Christ. We want to give You the cooperation You seek so that we may finish our course and fulfill our ministry for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ! Oh Lord, may we gain the benefit of Your mercy so that You may soften our heart and not harden it! Keep our heart soft and open toward You today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 110, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crucial Aspects of Matthew 5 through 7 (2025 September ITERO), week 4, Blessed Are the Merciful, for They Shall Be Shown Mercy and Receive Mercy – day 2.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – How we marvel at this mercy / So far-reaching and so vast! / It has reached us, e’en the sinners, / And will ever hold us fast. / From this mercy, from this mercy, / What can cause us to be cast? (Hymns #26 stanza 2)
  – Father, to us Thy mercy Thou hast shown, / In Thine own way; / Sinners like us as dear sons Thou wouldst own, / In love for aye. / Vessels of mercy, Thou didst us prepare; / Vessels of honor, we Thyself declare. / “In mercy I delight, not sacrifice,” / Thou hast declared; / Thru this Thy mercy, favor in Thine eyes / We all have shared. / ’Tis not of them that will nor them that run, / But of Thee showing mercy as was done. (Hymns #25 stanzas 1-2)
  – God’s compassion is my story, / Is my boasting all the day; / Mercy free and never failing / Moves my will, directs my way. / God so loved us, God so loved us, / That His only Son He gave, / That His only Son He gave. (Hymns #33 stanza 3)