NEW MERCIES DAILY
THEME: THE TRUTH BEHIND TWISTED SCRIPTURES
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
— 2 Peter 1:20–21 (NKJV)
DAY 2 – TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2025
TITLE: God Is Love – But Not What You Think
BY: Effiong Etok
Carrier of God’s Word
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Real love doesn’t lower the standard-it lifts you to meet it.
SCRIPTURE TEXTS:
1 John 4:8 (NKJV):
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Hebrews 12:6 (NKJV):
“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”
INTRODUCTION
A Heart-to-Heart Cry:
Father, open our blind eyes. We’ve mistaken Your love for leniency. We’ve traded holy intimacy for emotional convenience. We cry out today-not for a love that leaves us in our sin, but for the fire that purifies. Let us weep, not because we feel bad, but because we see how far we’ve fallen short of the love that calls us higher.
MESSAG,E
When Love Becomes a Lie:
We live in a world that has rebranded God’s love into something passive, soft, and spineless. But the God who is love also fashioned a whip and overturned the tables of compromise (John 2:15). His love comforts the broken-but it confronts the rebellious.
Yes, “God is love” (1 John 4:8)-but that love is holy. It is not a blanket to cover disobedience. It is a refiner’s fire meant to burn away every impurity.
If God’s love has never pierced you, you’ve only known the shadow of it-not the substance.
“There is now no condemnation…” (Romans 8:1) we say-but we ignore the rest: “to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
That’s the truth. Grace has a gate. Mercy has a method. And love has a standard.
If your version of God’s love only soothes but never sanctifies-it is not love. It is manipulation wearing a smile.
Hebrews 12:6 doesn’t stutter: “Whom the Lord loves He chastens.”
So if you’re being corrected-if your conscience still trembles when you disobey-that is love chasing you down.
But if you can sin comfortably and still call it grace, something is dead-and it’s not just your conviction.
PERSONAL PRAYER MOMENT – A Cry for Real Love:
Lord, I’ve chased the comfort of acceptance, not the power of transformation. I’ve asked You to love me-but on my terms. Forgive me.
Strip me of this sugar-coated gospel that makes me feel safe in disobedience.
Burn away every counterfeit affection I’ve wrapped myself in.
Don’t just love me-love me into holiness.
SUPPORTIVE SCRIPTURES – Anchoring Truth in God’s Nature:
Titus 2:11–12: “Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness…”
Revelation 3:19: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.”
John 14:15: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
Jude 1:4: “Ungodly men turning grace into a license…”
1 Peter 1:16: “Be holy, for I am holy.”
TAKEAWAY STATEMENT:
If your version of God’s love never calls you out, cleans you up, or pulls you higher-it’s not the cross speaking. It’s the crowd.
PRAYER POINTS:
1. Father, I repent for trading truth for comfort. Tear down every lie I’ve believed about Your love. Let Your love wound me where I need healing, and break me where I’ve been hardened. Let me tremble at Your Word. Let me hunger for truth that stretches me, convicts me, and molds me into the image of Christ. In Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.
2. Lord, deliver me from soft gospel and powerless grace. Baptize me in the love that disciplines, corrects, and refines until I reflect You. Let me never settle for a love that leaves me unchanged. In Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.
BOTTOM LINE SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 13:5–6 (NKJV):
“[Love] does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”
