6 What can we bring to the Lord?
What kind of offerings should we give him?
Should we bow before God
with offerings of yearling calves?

7 Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?

8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:6-8 NLT

I completed a sozo session the other day that left me feeling very angry. I was not angry at my sozo guest, but I was angry at one person in his life who did and said things no one should do or say. I knew my anger was a righteous anger, but I also knew if I held on to it beyond sunset, it would become unrighteous. So I had to do what I had just led my sozo guest to do —I had to forgive the one who had done such damage.

In Micah 6:8 we find three things the Lord says are good and He requires of us: (1) To do what is right. (2) To love Mercy, and (3) To walk humbly with God. There it is. So simple, yet so profoundly challenging… Here is how I worked my way through the anger I was feeling.

(1) “To do what is right.” In my anger, I wanted to find the man who had done the evil things to my sozo guest and give him a good thrashing! The Word of God was reminding me that “Vengeance belongs to God alone” (Romans 12:19,) and “The anger of man does not work the righteousness of God” (James 1:20.) Moreover, all the sin of mankind, including this one man, was put upon Jesus at the cross. The debt of all mankind has been paid by the blood of Jesus. Who am I to demand payment of his debt? It is unrighteous to seek payment of a debt that is paid and settled.

This leads me to #2 in the Micah 6:8 sequence….

(2) “To love mercy.” What does this mean? ‘Mercy cancels judgment.’  (James 2:13.) Mercy in my heart releases compassion for both the victim and the perpetrator. Mercy withholds deserved consequences! The servant in Matthew 18 became unrighteous because he sought to collect a minor debt from a fellow servant when ALL his own debt had been cancelled. Learning to love mercy as My Father does has been a huge challenge in this Christian walk. I am determined to know Him and to experientially know how He feels about me and every other human on the planet. Mercy is also translated as kindness. Our God is “relentlessly kind” as Graham Cooke says. I want to be like my Father in heaven.

Step 3 is becoming easier, but I still stumble at times.

(3) “To walk humbly with God.” I have heard my Father say to me that I am His son. I have heard Him say He will never leave or forsake me, and I have heard Him say He loves me. In Him I live and move and have my being. In Him I can do all things because He gives me strength. In Him I am more than a conqueror. True humility is coming into agreement with God in what He says about you. As Jesus was hanging in excruciating pain upon the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He was speaking of all mankind. This Truth lives in my heart, so how could I possibly exclude the man I was angry at? I forgave him, just as he is forgiven in Christ. I prayed for him that he will come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. I put him in God’s hands and I released my anger at the cross, just like my Father did…

 If you are struggling to release bitterness, anger, resentment or anything that is causing you to struggle or fail in being a doer of Micah 6:8, then please find the menu bar at the upper right, select “Sign up” and complete the application for a personal, private sozo session. It will be our privilege to help you do what is right, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

Blessings and peace,

Pastor Bill

Tags: , ,