I grab my magnifying glass when I want to see details close up. It makes something small much bigger. Psalm 103:10 is like a magnifying glass for me over mercy. It says, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.”

We know from Romans 3:23 that, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We miss the mark. Think of two dots spaced wide apart. The last dot is a little higher. As you draw a line with a ruler straight across, you will see that the line misses the far dot.

How tragic to live our lives thinking that we are going to heaven because of our good works, only to miss the mark of believing in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

A verse in a new song called Extravagant Oil Of Joy. “O the wonder. The marvelous wonder and awe. All my sins are cleansed in the power of Your blood.” Hallelujah for His abundant, unequaled, and rich mercy that is new every morning, and endures forever.

Luke 1:78 was part of Zacharias’ prophecy concerning Jesus. It says, “Through the tender mercies of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us.” We are called to exemplify the Lord in every aspect of our lives.

Are you a tenderhearted person? Colossians 3:12-13 says, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering. bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Unforgiveness hardens the heart. Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Forgiving is not an option. It is a command. 

Tenderhearted means merciful and compassionate. Think of Jesus’ interactions with those who were bound in sickness and every disease. Matthew 9:36 says, “…He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary…”

Physical and emotional pain is exhausting. O Lord, help us to always be moved with compassion for those who are physically and emotionally weary and distraught.

Psalm 103:4 says, “Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Jeremiah 31:3 says, “…with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” Consider this verse. Psalm 145:9 says, “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.”

We are the work of His hands. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” According to Romans 8:28 He orchestrates everything in our lives to turn around for our good.

Nothing is wasted in God’s economy. Nothing is in vain because He redeems it all. We are of great value in His eyes. Psalm 139:17 says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” I love exclamation points.

The next time you fall into a trial, or you complain about the circumstances in your life, remember His tender mercies are arching over you. They are a canopy of His love that covers our lives continually.

Our pasts are only in our minds. We cannot go back into them to change anything. They happened. They are our past that has passed. We are designed to live in our present in His Presence.

Remember that at salvation we received two irrevocable gifts ~ joy and peace. The moment we go back and rehearse a negative situation in our past, we cover over those gifts. Irrevocable means not able to be changed, reversed; final.

Here is a verse in Proverbs 3:2 Amplified that reveals the fruit of one that daily keeps, adheres to, and applies God’s word to their lives. It says, “For length of days and years of a life (worth living) and tranquility (inward and outward and continuing through old age till death), these shall they add to you.”

We will all live out the days He fashioned for us. Psalm 139:16. I want my life to be like Psalm 92:14. It says, “They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.” The literal for fresh is fat (full of oil or sap).

Psalm 119:73 says, “Your hands have fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.” Psalm 25:4-5 says, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.”

Hosea 10:13 says, “You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way…” Inner vows and pronouncements are lies that war against God’s design. They bring shame, inner defilement, and self-contempt.

2 Corinthians 4:2 says, “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully…” Hebrews 3:13 says that sin is deceitful and it hardens our hearts.

Renounce means to disown. We first confess our sin in believing the lies. Then we use God’s word to dig up the roots and destroy the strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are…mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”

What we speak either brings healing or disease. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” James 3:6 says, “…The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body.”

Inner vows are words like, “I will never…” They generate from a heart that has been wounded by others or circumstances. They bind us and hold us captive to the words. They impede our progress, like falling into quicksand.

Pronouncements are death words, spoken in anger or frustration. Coming from others, they may sound like, “You will never…” “You can’t do anything right.” “I wish you were never born!” 

Coming from our own mouths may sound like, “I can’t do anything right. “I am so stupid.” “I hate you body.” Both inner vows and pronouncements are against our design. We are made in the image of God. Genesis 1:26. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” The seed of our conception carries the Lord’s whole purpose for our lives ~ perfectly designed.

Psalm 31:10 says,, “…my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.” Proverbs 17:22 says, “…a broken spirit dries the bones.” Proverbs 18:14 says, “…who can bear a broken spirit?”

Psalm 37:8 says, “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm.” Buried anger: precursor to a heart attack. Fretting dries up the synovial fluid in our joints, creating bone on bone.

Isaiah 53:4-5 says that Jesus bore our griefs (sicknesses), sorrows (pains), bruised and crushed for our iniquities, and by His stripes (whipped with metal pieces that cut deep into His flesh), “…and by His stripes we are healed.”

James 3:2 says that if we do not stumble in word, we are able to bridle our whole body. What words are you speaking over yourself? Verse 10 says, “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

Let’s make Psalm 141:3 our daily prayer. It says, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Psalm 103:3 says, “Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases.” Dis-ease often has a spiritual root. Let’s look at what the Lord told the children of Israel. We can take personal applications from it for ourselves.

Exodus 15:26 says, “…If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” Pause and consider. Are you adhering to His requirements?

As we read His word daily for understanding, the Holy Spirit will highlight areas in our lives that are in a deficit state. Consider it like a spiritual blood draw to ascertain the level of our health.

In Acts 8:22-23 Peter told Simon, “…pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound in iniquity.” Bitterness causes chemical changes. Resentment hardens our hearts. 

What happens when one rotten apple stays in the barrel with all the other apples. Little by little they all rot. Hebrews 12:15 says, “Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”

I have a chapter in my book, “Freedom! From Past Hurts” entitled Inner Defilement. Matthew 15:18 says, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.” Whew! Are you listening to what you are saying about your past?

In 1983 I was given a book that had a title something like “Do You Hear What You Are Thinking?” Our words come from our thoughts. Our thoughts come from what we believe in our heart. What we believe is formed by our perceptions from our pasts.

The Holy Spirit taught me years ago to ask, “Marilyn, what do you believe about yourself right now?” Reactions are triggered by something in our present that brings up an unresolved issue. Proverbs 4:23. Buried things produce inedible fruit.

I had this conversation with my online mentee. She wrote, “My brain is the most disorganized part of me. I haven’t figured out how to fix it yet.” She is not a believer yet, so I used her skill and love of organization to craft my answer.

Our inner dialogue determines the pathway of our thought patterns. Caroline Leaf is a Christian neuroscientist. She says that our thoughts control our brain. Proverbs 23:7 says that we become what we are thinking about. 

1 Chronicles 28:9 in the Amplified says, “…For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts…” As we hide Scripture in our hearts, it will be there for the Holy Spirit to recall to us when He brings course correction to our thoughts.

Dwelling in the past through our thoughts is deceptive. 2 Corinthians clearly states that the old is gone. We are new creations. It says, “…old things have passed away…” Five minutes ago is our past. What fruit is there in holding onto something negative from our past? Nothing worth sharing.