The Redemptive Gift of Mercy

Redemptive Gift Mercy, you are the paradox of the gifts. One minute worshiping in the tent of the Lord, beholding His beauty and the next minute cutting off the head of a giant in passionate, holy savagery! Whereas the exhorter loves the dramatic, you, Mercy, love the extreme.

He is like a Mac computer in a PC world. The other six redemptive gifts hear and process information with their heads similar to a PC. The Mercy hears and processes from the heart, intuitive like a Mac. He understands much more than he can communicate to the world around him, and as he tries to demonstrate this to the world, many times he is misunderstood, criticized, marginalized, or ignored. Just as the woman with the alabaster jar gave it all in extravagant worship, those closest to Jesus misunderstood. Processing the information with their heads, seeing it as wasteful and foolish, they began to criticize her. Jesus did not. He saw her heart not her act, and was deeply touched by the costly worship she lavished upon Him. John, also a Mercy redemptive gift, understood and mentioned it in his gospel.

The playing field of the Mercy is worship! Extravagant, extreme, passionate, ‘give it all’ worship. Halfway is never enough. It’s all or nothing! Joshua and David both exhibited the Mercy gift in their understanding of complete, full passionate obedience. The Lord told Joshua, “Go, take the land and take no prisoners!” Joshua, ready with sword in hand, killed them all. Yet as you read about Joshua, you will find him abiding in the Tent of Meeting with Moses, marinating in His presence. He understood and found his place just ‘being’ in the presence of the Lord.

There is a driving desire for fulfillment in the heart of the Mercy Gift. Unless found in Jesus and in Jesus alone, the beauty, anointing and the passion of the Mercy will be lost in seeking fulfillment other places. The world says it this way: Looking for love in all the wrong places, either emotionally or sensually in others. Empowered by the spirit of jealousy and lust for position, he seeks this fulfillment in business, sports, friendship or physical relationship, leading to disillusionment, bitterness and anger against God. This, in turn, creates a stone wall in the heart of the mercy, keeping him locked in a prison, preventing the very intimacy he so desperately craves; a prison to which the only key is a deep, personal relationship with Jesus.

The first six days of Creation, God was busy creating, shaping and developing. But the seventh day, the Mercy day, Adam and God celebrated the work of the Creator’s hands, enjoyed fellowship with each other, and they rested.

The high call of the Mercy gift is to rest in His presence, then demonstrate that Sabbath rest to the body of Christ. Although the Mercy gift really enjoys doing, he is called to be still and know God. As he disciplines himself to spend the time immersed in God’s love and peace, he then carries this blessing of presence where ever he goes, releasing love, joy and mercy in a crowded subway train or a quiet cathedral.

Rom 12: 1 says ‘Present yourself as a living sacrifice where ever you are.” This can be Wal-Mart, a church gathering or the slums. To the Mercy Gift it is all the same. It is worship, whether in a bloody battle chopping off the head of a giant, in a church service with beautiful singing and dancing, or in the inner city feeding the hungry. It is all passionate worship!

SYNOPSIS

The Mercy Gift is the seventh of the Redemptive Gifts. The Prophet brings vision for the Body of Christ; the Servant sets the atmosphere; the Teacher brings the plumb line of truth; the Exhorter, hope and light; the Giver, birth and nurture; the Ruler, the plan and Father heart. It is the Mercy gift who brings presence and alignment to all the other gifts. Like the first violin of the orchestra, this alignment prepares the Body of Christ to move and function in the earth as one symphony under the conduction of the Holy Spirit, releasing the prayer of Jesus found in John 17. “Father, Make them one, as you and I are one.” As we play in harmony, we become one in concert, each with our own assignment and anointing, moving together as one orchestra.

HIS PURPOSE: “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21