Devotionals for the Heart: On Mercy

The Mercy Seat
A devotional by Mirachelle Canada

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” ~Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

Everyone knows what it means to have a bad day. The kind you wish you could wake up again and start over. I was having a couple of days that seemed to be turning into a bad week.

It started on Sunday with a 24 hour fast accompanied by a cleanse for a colonoscopy on Monday to rule out cancer, then a return to work on Tuesday to find my substitute didn’t follow my lesson plans. Later, my pharmacy was not able to fill my pain prescription because of lack of authorization. On Wednesday, I showed a brief film to inspire students and several feel asleep. Then a student decided to fiddle with, then jam the entrance/exit doors. Shortly after, I discovered that a pouch of important video cards I needed had mysteriously vanished. I’d had enough. I hung my head and cried.

To my relief, my GI doctor offered to give me medicine samples to tide me over. After retrieving said samples, I drove passed the sign for Dunkin Donuts that shined like a beacon. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why would I torture myself with a fat, glazy, carb-filled donut? Sometimes you just need to throw in the mercy towel and go for it. I dug into my purse, pulled out my wallet, and ordered the best-looking mint brownie donut on the menu. What followed was a glorious taste of satisfaction. If it helps you to judge me less, I did pray over my donut before I ate it.

Moments after my dessert escapade I was sitting at a traffic light imaging what Thursday would conjure. Starting with a viewing of security footage to find the culprit who snatch my valuable video cards, then the write ups of an incident report and a disciplinary referral and having to call home to give a parent bad news. It was a giant snowball of catastrophe that I couldn’t stop from plowing into me.

“This is crazy, Lord,” I said, picturing Jesus in my passenger seat. “I don’t need to put up with this continuous fight anymore. You are above all things, so I yield to you, Lord. I need your help!”

In the next instance, I looked into my pursue nestled in the passenger seat to retrieve some chewing gum to cleanse my donut laden pallet. That’s when I saw it and my mouth dropped open in wonder. There, directly in between some items near the top, and sticking straight up like a flag of surrender, was my video card pouch.

I have not earthly explanation for how it got there, and you’ll remember I had just dug through my purse for my wallet to purchase my donut. Even at work, my pursue is locked away in a cabinet. I believe how the pouch got into my pursue is an act of God’s mercy. My overworked guardian angel was more than happy to place such a token of God’s love and grace for me to find. 

It’s not the first time something like that has happened to me and I am sure it won’t be the last. God is faithful to us, even in the small things, and when we approach Him knowing He can help, we have only to throw up our hands in surrender, ask for His mercy, and wait for His answer. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my results came back cancer free!

Are you in need of God’s mercy today? You can approach His throne with confidence and ask for it. Then, sit back and watch for His grace-filled answer.

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Author Bio:

Mirachelle Canada is a writer, playwright, screenwriter and theatre director/producer from Northern Virginia. She teaches television production at C.D. Hylton Senior High School. 

She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Script & Screenwriting from Regent University and is a member of Act One: Hollywood Film & Television Writing Program, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), ACFW Virginia Chapter, The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and Your Novel Blueprint.

Mirachelle is passionate about awakening creativity and the gifts of God in everyone. She is currently working on her first historical fiction novel set during WWII, inspired by her time studying theatre education in London, England.

In her spare time, she also writes and directs Christmas and Easter passion plays at Christ Chapel Assembly of God in Woodbridge, VA.

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Connect with Mirachelle:
Website: www.mirachellecanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirachellecanada/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mirachelle77/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miracan

Devotionals for the Heart: Thanksgiving and Heaven

Touching Heaven by Giving Thanks
A devotional by Patrick E. Craig

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, come into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” ~Psalm 100:4 (KJV)

The ancient Hebrews had a very structured set of rules by which they performed their worship in the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon. These rules were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai along with the Ten Commandments. In these instructions for worship,  God was giving the Jews a glimpse into the heavenly realm. 

This is what The Holy Bible tells us about Moses’ meeting with God:

“For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.”
~Hebrews 8:4-5 (KJV)

According to my understanding and paraphrase based on my study of the Greek word studies by Wuest Word Studies, what God was saying to Moses was, the pattern I showed you on the mountain – for your earthly worship – is a duplicate of the pattern that happens in the heavenly throne room, when the citizens of heaven worship me.

So the priests knew that if they followed the heavenly instructions they would align themselves with the heavenly realm, and in that way, actually experience the Divine presence. God responded to their faithfulness by revealing Himself to them as a pillar of fire, the Shekinah glory, on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies.

The book of Psalms is the liturgy for Temple worship the priests used every day in their tabernacle worship. Step one was exuberant praise and thanksgiving. Psalm 100:4 told the priests, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving in your heart, come into His courts with praise.” 

When they followed this instruction, the priests were able to come through the gate of the Tabernacle into his “Courts”—remember that the tabernacle was a copy of the heavenly throne room— and from there, approach the very throne of God (represented on earth by the Mercy Seat) without hindrance. 

Praising and thanking God was the mechanism by which they opened the door into the presence of God. God gave them directions for living and forgave their sins as they stood before the Mercy Seat.

In a modern context God is showing us a way to actually catch a glimpse of the peace and joy that exists in Heaven, and to share that joy – like a down payment on the next life. God knows that the best way for us to deal with our problems is to put our attention somewhere else. And if I am being thankful to God for all the blessings in my life, instead of blaming Him for all the bad things, it’s amazing how the answers to every situation just seem to come, along with real peace.

The Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote these words in Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV): “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Paul also exhorted us in this way in Hebrews 4:16 (KJV): “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

When we sit down to our Thanksgiving feast this year, let’s remember that giving thanks is the key to his presence and peace in our lives. For it is at his throne that we will find the answer to all our questions and problems. Give thanks.

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Author Bio:

Patrick E. Craig is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful songwriting and performance career in the music industry to follow Christ in 1984. 

In 2011 he signed a three-book deal with Harvest House Publishers to publish his Apple Creek Dreams series. His current series is The Paradise Chronicles. The first book in the series, The Amish Heiress, a romantic suspense novel, was published by Patrick's company, P&J Publishing, in August of 2015 and remained on the Amazon Top 100 best sellers list in three categories for seven months.

The second book in the series, The Amish Princess, a historical romance novel, was released in December of 2016 and was on Amazon's Hot New Releases for over a month. Harlequin recently purchased the print rights for both books for their Walmart Amish series. Patrick also just released Cracking The Indie Egg—A Recipe For Publishing Your Own Book and it is available in most major digital bookstores.

Patrick and his wife Judy, make their home in Idaho. They have two married children and five grandchildren. Patrick is represented by the Steve Laube Agency.

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Connect with Patrick:
Website - www.patrickecraig.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PatrickECraig
Twitter - https://twitter.com/PatrickECraig
Amazon Author page - http://tinyurl.com/n6sfagg