The Goodness of God
My kindness, My goodness is forever and unchanging. It draws you, it leads you to repentance. Like the Good Shepherd I am, I never desire anything other than good and I always, without fail, lead you to green pastures of abundant life.
Goodness is perfected in Me and worked out in you with long-suffering mercy and grace. All goodness ever to exist comes from Me first for I am the beginning and end of all that is good.
There is none good besides Me. I am good in My character, My essence, and I possess the highest degree of whatever is pure, lovely, upright and worthy of thought. When I tell you to think on whatever is pure and lovely I am asking you to think like Me and on Me. My attributes of goodness are immeasurable and endure forever (Psalms 52:1). All My acts of kindness, charity and benevolence simply radiate from Me as delightful, visible manifestations of My very personhood, which is goodness.
Beloved today I am opening your heart to understand My goodness, to experience it, to revel in it as it flows from the wellspring of My very being. There is no way you can ever exhaust the bountiful treasure contained in Me. I keep on giving and giving until complete perfection and sanctification is manifest in you?until you set at My table on that day arrayed in My glory.
Let My goodness govern your life, your thoughts and your hope for a future. Many times I chasten those I love and justice has its way. Does this negate My goodness? NO! Justice flows out of My righteousness. The very essence of goodness I am drives justice giving way to chastening. I chasten because I am good. It would be wrong and totally against who I am to leave you in a state or a place able to cause you harm. My goodness demands justice in order to protect you from harm and make you perfect as I am perfect. I never do anything with wrong intentions. I am good and I do good (Psalm 119:68).
My goodness is separate from My mercy. Mercy I give. Mercy I exercise in compassion toward those who deserve punishment. My goodness is given to those who deserve nothing and have no goodness in of their selves. It is something I impart as an act of My very nature as an outward manifestation of who I am.
I have proved My goodness by giving My precious Son, by which you have been saved from eternal destruction. Seeing I have gone to such great lengths, do you think I would stop giving now? It will never be. I have already given the most precious thing to Me and I will continue to give by being who I am: bountiful, protective, provisional, comforting, assuring, loving, benevolent, charitable, abundant, and infinitely communicative. Listen closely to the beating of My heart for you today. It is full of majestic pleasure and radiating with joy and gladness over you. Receive My infinite goodness. Receive Me without reserve. Today is a new beginning, a new time to revel in My goodness.
The Mercy of God
Beloved, I am slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness (Psalms 145:8). I know all have sinned and come short of My glory. I know this about you and yet My mercy is without end. I give it to you each and every morning fresh and new. I give mercy each and every moment without fail. I not only have mercy for today but have planned for the days ahead. This is why I can say they are new every morning. My mercy is for the present and the future. I give mercy today and have already provided mercy for tomorrow. You see, I am mindful you are but dust, all the while calling you king and priest.
Why can I do this? I can do this because I am good and My mercy endures forever and ever and ever (Psalms 136:1). My mercy is ever ready to relieve you of your fallen condition and all its outcomes. My mercy knew you would sin and will sin and provided a way to forgo punishment. It is true that I rain on the just and the unjust and this is mercy. However, there is a mercy which is sovereign. This sovereign mercy I give to you and all the heirs of salvation as a covenant bought by the blood Christ. Never belittle this mercy by self-justification when I paid such a great price.
The mercy the wicked partake of is temporal and delegated to this life. The mercies I give to you are eternal and without end. They are a free gift paid for by Christ. The blood of Christ is the surety which demands justice be set aside making way for mercy given to the redeemed heart, a heart of humble repentance. I have pardoned all your guilt and removed all your iniquity.
Beloved, always be quick to repent and never make excuses for your behavior. Remember, all have sinned and come short of My glory. Therefore, never give way to self-justification and forgo mercy. I oppose the proud and give grace to the humble. When a heart walks in rebellion it believes in its own preeminence and cannot expect mercy. When a heart realizes its guilt before a holy God and pleads for mercy, leaving behind all excuses and self-justification it receives mercies immeasurable.
To trust in Me is to know first and foremost that I am merciful. When you know this, pride cannot hold sin close to your heart. Excuses appeal to justice hoping for a good outcome without giving up self-defense of the heart. Admitting guilt and then repenting appeals to My mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment beloved.
Forever cease from making apologies or using self-defense. All have sinned and the blood of Christ is the only defense. Confess your sins and be cleansed from all unrighteousness. I am a God of patience and I am gracious to you. I wait on high, always ready to extend compassion. Today I am pouring showers of mercy, and enabling you to let go of anything left over in your heart from times of being wronged by others or your own falling short.
Always remember repentance and forgiveness of self and others are the quickest ways to walk in expressed mercy. Yes, receive mercy and give mercy. It is the only way.
The Unfailing Love of God
Beloved, many people throughout the ages have pondered My love, discussed My love, and spoke about My love with great oratory skill. Enough books to fill the largest of all libraries have been written on the subject of My love. All ever discussed or contemplated about My love since the day of Adam cannot begin to express the height, depth, or breath of it, yet I shed it abroad in your heart.
All ever accumulated on the subject of My love is a mere drop in the bucket, and a microscopic drop at that. It seems the grandness of all it contains remains elusive to most of mankind but not to you. Each time you think of My name in reference to difficulties and weakness in your life, love is released. My love is unfailing and is always present before you are even aware you need it.
There is nothing you can do to have more of My love. It is a gift and not based on works or good behavior. You can have no more of Me tomorrow than you have today. However, you can have more revelation of My love for you. And this is what I am doing in your life. I am unfolding My unfailing love, rolling it out like a red carpet for you to walk on. This is how I see you; as a star of great importance and having value worthy of My complete and devoted attention. Love is what I am and what I do. I am only capable of love. Those who choose another path, who do not choose the Cross, are still loved. I desire none to perish even though they do by their own choice.
My love for you is always reliable at all times and in every season of your life. You can never exhaust it or use it up for it endures forever and continually flows from My being. If I ceased to love, I would cease to exist, for I am Love.
Though men have not been able to measure the depths of My love, I desire for you to experience it in all its fullness. Therefore, I will move heaven and earth to excavate all hindrances to the fulfillment of this great revelational experience in your life.
Today and every day I am doing this for you. You have My constant attention and intervention. I have come to remove all obstacles of obstruction and fill to you to overflowing with fresh revelation. I am drawing you with My loving-kindness for I love you with an everlasting love. I am shedding My love abroad in your heart and life in a liberating and exhilarating way. Prepare yourself to be astounded, amazed, and ecstatic as My unshakable, enduring, undeniable, sacrificial, abounding, priceless, and unfailing love establishes itself in your heart with all power and glory.
Goodness and Mercy Follow Me
I am your Good Shepherd and I gave My life for you (John 10:10-12). I have told you goodness and mercy follow you and it is so. Therefore, you must follow Me without fear or doubt. My unfailing love and goodness will never allow Me to forsake you, abandon you in any situation, from the minuscule to the larger than life itself.
The only safety sheep have is within the bounds of their shepherd’s care and tender compassions. This is the way it works. Outside of My protection wolves in sheep’s clothing lie in wait to deceive even the most careful ones. It isn’t always the most blatant of sins My sons and daughters find their selves enmeshed in. It could be busyness, unkindness or just trying to please Me in your own strength. This is where My goodness and My mercy come in.
Sometimes they are not expressed in ways one would normally expect them to be. Know this, I will go to any means to pull you back into the safe confines of My presence. If I was willing to or allowed you to stay outside the place of safety; I would not be good and merciful. I would not have sacrificed all. I would not be God. I am compelled by My goodness for I am Good. I am God.
You will save yourself and those you love much heartache if you stay close to the goodness and mercy emanating from Me within the realms of My presence. It is something you must choose to believe, to have faith in no matter the circumstances you are experiencing. Negative circumstances do not negate My goodness and mercy. Though it rains on the just and the unjust, My righteous ones are never forsaken or begging for bread. I am the Bread of Life and I am always near. You never have to beg for Me to come. I am always with you no matter what. I am near to all who call upon Me. (Psalms 145:18)
Beloved, hear My voice and you will not follow another. Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” How could He say this unless the very goodness and mercy he received by following me then emanated from his life to those who followed him ? unless it left deposits of Me everywhere he went?
What follows you beloved? You can tell how much you are following Me by what follows you. Yes, My mercy and grace follows you, always believing the best, giving the best. You must do the same for others.
Remember, I am love and I lead you with love. In this I make way for goodness and mercy to follow you with infinite tender-hearted compassion. Therefore, if you who love Me follow and receive these mercies you will leave behind the very thing you receive. It is then imparted into the lives of those you touch and they in turn find Me in a more profound way. And just maybe they find Me for the very first time.
I want you to know not only am I a blessing to you, but you are a blessing to Me. When those you love do well, succeed, experience joy or any other myriad of bountiful blessings your heart is thrilled; it is blessed. I am likewise blessed by you. Each time you make a step of progress My heart swells and overflows with goodness and mercy. I am and will be with you in this manner all the days of your life as a giver and as an example. Be like Me. Follow Me, receive mercy, receive goodness and you will experience all their benefits. You will be goodness and mercy.
Dwelling in the House of the Lord Forever
David’s confession to dwell in My house, to seek Me all the days of his life, was an affirmation of his satisfied heart. It was a declaration of confidence, trust and faith in Me as his Good Shepherd. He was aware of My goodness and mercy following him and this led to his commitment to never wander outside of My presence all the days of his life. He knew no matter what he did, achieved or had success in, they were naught without Me.
He knew his identity was in and given by Me and that it could only be contained in Me; not in what he achieved. This enabled him to know even if mother and father forsook him, I would not (Psalms 27:10). What he did or achieved was not as important as who He was in Me. All else flowed out of this great love he had for Me. I truly became the very air he breathed.
Because of all this, he expected nothing less of Me than he gave his own sheep while sitting out under the heavens at night. He understood the fact that I am all encompassing and omnipresent. He knew buildings and temples could not contain who I am. He never confined Me to a place nor did he restrict himself to worshipping Me in a limited way. How could one who worshipped extravagantly under the stars ever confine Me to brick and mortar?
He could not restrict Me in any way, for he had experienced My goodness and mercy. He made a determination to serve Me, follow Me and be in My presence among long days and quiet starry nights in the days of his youth. He prepared himself in advance for a purpose not revealed. Are you willing, beloved, to prepare yourself today for things not yet revealed? I want you to let go of the past and reassert your heart toward Me in a most intimate way. This does not mean you have walked some rebellious wayward path. It simply means; I want to give you a David heart today and use all you have ever learned to prepare you, to launch you into the next phase of dwelling in My house, My presence.
Did you ever wonder how he came to do such extravagant things for Me? Did he go to church year after year and suddenly one day it all dawned on him. No he didn’t and no it didn’t.
Through consistent dwelling He found Me in the midst of sheep, treacherous countryside, still waters and green pastures way before he ever became a king. This prepared him for any day of trouble (Psalms 27:5). He knew how to be in the secret place of My presence through meditation of the Word which he hid in his heart. In other words, he KNEW Me.
What David had and experienced was not just for him. He was a man just like you, and he made many mistakes and I still called him a man after My own heart. I do look on the motives and desires of the heart. They matter to Me very much. Make a decision today, fresh and new, to be a pursuer of My heart and find yourself dwelling with a passionate, purposeful intent. Do not let it be something you do here and there by chance.
Today, at the sound of your voice, at the cry of your heart, I come to breathe new desire and hunger from Me into you. I come to release understanding and revelation into your very core being. You are made by Me, for Me, and to be with Me. This is the beginning and the end. Everything else is just a result of our communion and relationship. Therefore come, partake and never let the outworking of the assignments I give you outweigh or become more important than who you are in Me.
Prayer
I am overwhelmed with the goodness of the Lord in my life and I give my heart, my life and everything I have done and ever will do to Him. Help me to always receive Your great love Lord. The eyes of my heart are open and flooded with wisdom and revelation. I follow in the Good Shepherd’s footsteps and I do not stray to my own way. Mercy and goodness follow me and I leave behind the essence of the Lord wherever I go. I receive mercy and I give mercy. I am merciful as He is merciful. The love of the Lord is shed abroad in my heart; therefore, I love as He loves. My one focus in this life is to be in His presence all the days of my life and to have a heart like David.
Keep me forever in your presence and never let me stray from the paths You have set for me. I hear Your voice and I will not follow another. Let the cry of my heart enter into the secret places of You heart causing You to breathe new hunger and thirst into me. I am renewed in You. Amen
Reflect and Journal
For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving]! (Psalms 84:10-12 Amplified)
- What things in your life have you had trouble reconciling to the goodness of God?
- Have you been dwelling on things or parts of your life in ways not pure, lovely or upright? Confess, repent and put your thoughts on Him and His Word.
- Take time to let Him love on you in these areas of struggle and write what He says.
- Are there any areas of your life you constantly find yourself making excuses for, self-justification for. If so, choose to admit your weakness, confess it and receive the mercy you need and forgive yourself.
- Have you felt God is angry with you over anything, any behavior or failure to overcome?
- Tell Him, write them down and deal with each one. Let Him release mercy so you can overcome.
- Have you tried in any way to earn His love by works or great effort?
- Have you believed in any way that if you could do or be better He would love you more?
- Contemplate all the above definitions of what unfailing means such as unshakable, undeniable, sacrificial, etc. Pick one and write Him a love note based on this on characteristic of His love in relation to your life.
- Have you ever experienced the intervention of God in your life and not considered it merciful only to find out later it was?
- Reflecting back on this situation, how can it help you develop trust in His goodness and mercy?
- In what areas to you need to be more merciful in, thereby demonstrating the heart of God?
- Have you valued the things He has asked you to do over your personal relationship with Him, over intimate communion with Him?