So...interestingly, below is part of the answer from our dear Lord Jaheshua, received this evening, as to how I am to be used. I feel thrilled and privileged that He is directing me to situations that touch my heart...the homeless and the hungry...which apparently include those who need to find Him.
For the record, I don't see myself as a do-gooder/one who works with charities, but I will find a way to follow His direction.
Quote:
Quote:
how does one actually show mercy?
There are MANY ways to show mercy to another/others, dear LQ (peace to you!). The easiest way is to not "close the door of your tender compassions" upon one. It may be easier, though, to say what NOT showing mercy is:
- Not forgiving/releasing someone from a transgression, whether against you personally or against the Law
- Sitting in judgment of someone (especially while you're existing in your own sins! Take heed, WTBTS "elders"!!)
- Ignoring someone when they ask something of you (including, but not limited to food, clothing, shelter... going a "mile")
- Ignoring someone in need of help (think, the account of the Good Samaritan, who felt compassion for his enemy, a Jew who had been robbed and left for dead, and so took him and had his wounds bandages, and then paid for his care until he recovered - notice, the Samaritan did not take the man to his OWN home; who knows what kind of man the Jew was? Even so, the Samaritan felt enough PITY/COMPASSION to see that the man was cared for until he recovered, even if at an inn)
- Placing burdens on others that you yourself can't bear (for instance, WTBTS elders who sit in judgment of others for, say, "fornication"... while they themselves are alcoholics, adulterers, cruel to/absent from their own spouses/children, etc.)
- Not wanting to touch someone with, say, HIV, AIDS, leprosy... because of fear of being "contaminated," yet forgetting that, in the eyes of God, we are ALL "unclean"
- Not caring for one's own... child(ren), parent(s), etc., when it is within one's power to DO so but NOT doing so in exchange for giving one's time, attention, and mammon as "corban" (a gift to the church/temple/religion)
In essence, anything that ignores the "fast" of JAH... and "profanes" HIS "Sabbath"... rather than GLORIFIES Him... and these (fast and Sabbath):
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of JaHVeH will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and JaHVeH will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
JaHVeH will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and JaHVeH's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in JaHVeH,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of JaHVeH has spoken.
Isaiah 58:6-14
What, though, is "the Sabbath"? Does JAH mean Sunday? Or, for some, Saturday? Or, for others, the time from sundown one (last) day of the week to the sundown the next day? The weekly sabbath? The "Great Sabbath"?
No. He means HIS "sabbath". A "sabbath," is a day of REST. JAH rested... on the "seventh" day of His creation. And we are still IN that Sabbath, the "day" of resting... from OUR "works"... in observance of HIS works! Hence, EVERY day is a "sabbath"... or "day of rest"... to JAH! EVERY day we are to cease from doing our OWN will... and do HIS. Because our dear Lord, the HOLY One of Israel, JAHESHUA, the Chosen One OF JAH (MischaJah)... His Christ... is LORD... of the sabbath!
And so, HE did the works of his FATHER, not his own works... and that is the "pattern" we are to follow, those of us who belong to him, who are in union with him. We "enter" into JAH's "rest"... when we cease doing our OWN will... and speaking a word... call each day a DELIGHT... and HONOR His "day"... by NOT going our own way, but following HIS "Way"... Christ... THEN we not only enter into His REST... but His JOY.
Those works, JAH's works... are works of mercy. Yes? If one isn't sure, then all one need do is look at Christ... and HIS works... to see! Because he did NOTHING of his own initiative, but as he observed the Father doing! He did his Father's works (of mercy): feeding those hungry, healing those sick, and in EVERY way releasing the captives (to sin), etc.
I've shared what those works can be generally, above. What those works can be SPECIFICALLY, however, are on a day-by-day, case-by-case basis, dear one.
I hope this helps!
Again, peace to you!
Your servant and a slave of Christ,
Shellamar
The quote is from a 2013 thread (peace to you Shelby my sister) about MERCY. It was enlightening, but moreso for me today. Thank you sister for passing on to us our Lord's words to you.
Peace,
Your servant and sister in Christ
Loz x