Author: Pastor Joshua Oravbiere
As I sat at the altar, I listened to her give a testimony of how the Lord had delivered her from a hopeless situation, yes! A hopeless situation indeed, my mind reflected on how she had had many sleepless nights crying unto God, up to a couple of days prior to this testimony. I remembered how distressed she was because it was uncertain to her what the outcome of her asylum petition would be. She had enough reasons to be fearful: the statements she had given to the immigration were evidently full of contradictions, and unexpected to pass the credibility test; Her attorney had mocked her and told her that, if God would come down from heaven, the judge before whom she would stand would not grant her petition; Loved ones had reported their dreams seeing her being served with a deportation letter, to say but a few; so her fears were “justified.” But as she gave her testimony, her countenance had changed from what it was days earlier, she had a sense of peace, and her face was radiant with beams of joy. I could almost see a river of joy flowing through her inner being. She had been delivered from a hopeless situation: Praise unto the God of mercy and of miracles. The scripture that immediately came to mind as I
thought was Psalm 126:1, “when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream….”
As I listened to her, I said in my heart, “truly, Jeremiah is right”. I recalled the night we had the monthly prayer vigil in our church, seeing her fears that night, I told her, using the experience I had learned from Prophet Jeremiah, that her fears would be no more if we could appeal to THE MERCY OF GOD concerning her case; and we did. We appealed to God to have mercy on her and forgive her errors, and all her contradictions. We told God that her dependence was not on the documents or statements she had presented, but on His mercy alone. We prayed that all negative decisions that might have been prepared against her in the spiritual; or in the natural by the trial attorney and the judge in consideration of her faulty evidences, should be nullified by His power, and that they be replaced with a decision that is based on His mercy alone. When we had finished praying that night, she went home peaceful. It’s true that an appeal to the mercy of God is the secret of obtaining victory in prayers when your case is hopeless and unjustified.
I want to show you how this same principle can be applied to your hopeless situation. First you must know that Heaven oversees the affairs of men, and that whatever decisions reached in heaven find their manifestations here on earth. The will of God must be done on earth as it is approved in heaven. You know also that God has the hearts of kings in His hand; He turns their hearts to do whatever He has approved (Prov. 21:1). Kings therefore have no decisions of their own, but such as are given them by God. It makes no difference whether this king is the “king” of a court, of a political kingdom, of immigration, of medicine, or of employment; God is in control of their hearts. Therefore, before you influence any decision here on earth, you must first settle the matter in Heaven, with the only one who has the power to influence the affairs of men. Each time you carry your matter to God in prayer, you actually go before God who is the Supreme Judge to ask Him for justice on the basis of your evidence. God then decides your case based on the supportive evidence you present to Him.
If your evidence is weak, you cannot win in His court; He’s the Righteous Judge. At that point, you’ll need to appeal to the Mercy of God. If your evidence is too weak to support your petitions in the natural, and you have no other way to do it better, you’ll need to go beyond the natural “king” that considers your case and settle it first with the King of kings. There, instead of asking for justice, you should appeal to the Mercy of God; If He approves your appeal in the spirit realm, the evidences you present to any human authority will not count anymore; and if God needs them He knows how to arrange them for you. Once God settles it, these weak evidences may not be considered by human authorities at all to grant your request, though they may require them from others.
I want you to know that if you are in a hopeless situation in your life, there is still hope for you if you know how to appeal to the mercy of God. We find this hope in the Lamentations. Jeremiah reminds us in his hopeless situation that the only hope we have to avail ourselves of a hopeless situation is to appeal to the Mercy of God. He remembered this approach when all his appeals and complaints to God for vindication on other grounds had failed to avail him of his anguish (read Lamentations 3:1-23). At the point when he thought that all hopes were gone, he said: “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s Mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” – Lam. 3:21-23. The mercy of God protects us from being consumed by any negative or hopeless situation in our lives; it insures us against every arrow of the enemies. The mercies, or the compassions of God never fail, they are guaranteed by His faithfulness. The mercy of God is His attribute, which allows Him to pour out His grace upon us, so that He might
give to us all the good things that we do not deserve to have: Mercy triumphs over judgment – James 2:13 (NIV).
To appeal to God’s mercy, you do not claim your good deeds; it means denying your goodness and admitting your guilt, weaknesses, and failures before God. It means judging yourself, so that you may not be judged by God or any other. It means that you have to be open and plain before God and quit complaining or using any form of defense mechanism. Also, be sure to forgive (or show mercy to) those that have wronged you (Matt. 5:7). Once God grants your request, human force has no choice but to simply follow, and carry out His instructions. He’s the one that openeth, and no man shuteth, and shuteth and no man openeth (Rev. 3:7); He’s the one that decides your case before any human voice can utter his judgment. Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46) applied this approach, and cried to Jesus for mercy over his blindness, and Christ did not deny his request. Therefore, if you are in a hopeless situation at this time, I counsel you to carry the matter to the merciful God and appeal to His mercy.
Say this prayer with me: Merciful God, have mercy on me; forgive my errors, and my weaknesses, and relieve me of this hopeless situation. Thank you for the victory I have in Jesus name, Amen.