Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

You may not see forgiveness in this verse, but it is there along with many other things that hold you captive. He has come to set you free, to have liberty, to love freely. So often we think of liberty as being set free to do what we want. What we are set free from are entanglements that keep us from sharing the love which resides in us, Christ.

There is an ivy that grows at my door. It has these thorns that hurt if I try to pull out this covering that chokes off any good growth which I have planted. I have to protect my hands as I pull it out. Unforgiveness is exactly like that choking ivy, painful to remove but necessary for growth.

What holds you back from sharing the love of God with anyone who has wounded you? Unforgiveness.

Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Lord deliver us from unforgiveness, set us at liberty to love.

Exodus 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

I will not tell you I know God’s mercy from His perspective. I can only speak to the mercies that I have received. I see the need for mercies in my brothers and sisters in Christ and I pray, “Father be merciful.” In some cases, He is merciful. The number of unanswered prayers for mercy are far greater. Does that mean our God does not love those people any less? No, not to my understanding.

Why does God choose to be merciful to some in need and not others? That is something I cannot answer and something in me says, “Don’t question your God.” We do not know how people’s sufferings will play out in the overall picture of salvation. Jesus, in response to the Pharisees, linked mercy to salvation. Only God knows what is in the hearts of His people and how His will is exacted in mercy.

We only see what is before us. God knows all things. We should be thankful for mercies shown and testify of the goodness of our God. We should not allow mercies withheld from our sight to dampen our faith, nor keep us from praying.

If my healing should cause the loss of one soul, let me suffer.