Imrah Ministries

By Nick Shelton

Once upon a time, there was a grasshopper who loved to show off his strong legs by jumping over the homes of his insect friends. After a long day of jumping and playing, the grasshopper would grow very hungry. But on this day, there was no food to be found because a winter storm had blanketed the ground with a thin layer of snow. Having no other options, the grasshopper went to his friend Mr. Ant and knelt down on his strong hind legs and begged his friend for some food.

The ant thought to himself, I worked all summer and fall gathering food so that our colony would have all we needed. While I was carrying food twice my weight, this grasshopper was jumping and dancing in the meadow. Why should I give him any food? Why does he deserve it?

This story is a moral question that many psychologists and social scientists have used to examine what kind of morals a person has. What would you do if you were in Mr. Ant’s shoes?

In this version of the story, Mr. Ant decided to help the grasshopper. The ant provided food that the starving grasshopper needed. The ant went out of his way, traveling several feet below the ground to retrieve stored food for the grasshopper.

“Here you go, Mr. Hopper,” said Mr. Ant.

“Thanks, but this is such a small amount of food. I’m a lot bigger than you. I need a lot more food than you.”

“I can only get this much at a time,” said Mr. Ant. “The ant who guards our food storage will only allow me to get so much extra.”

“There’s no way you can get more?”

“Well, I guess I could share the small bit of food that I’m given each day.”

For the next few days, Mr. Ant shared his small rations of food with the grasshopper. As the winter progressed, the grasshopper kept taking larger and larger food portions from the ant. Both of them were almost starving themselves to death. One day, Mr. Ant finally said, “Mr. Hopper, the lack of food has completely changed you. Your hind legs do not look like they’ll be able to jump any more. Why don’t you take all my food so you can survive until the spring.”  The selfish grasshopper took the food and enjoyed every bite.

The following day, the ant died in the snow trying to find more food for the hungry grasshopper. The ant gave his all in order that the grasshopper could live.

The ant did not have to do anything for the grasshopper – he did not deserve it. He showed him mercy. The ant did not have to give the grasshopper his own food – it was gift of gratitude. He showed him grace.

Grace and mercy are the two fundamental concepts on which Christianity is built. We are just like the grasshopper in many ways. We come seeking want we do not deserve, and we get something that we cannot obtain on our own.

We deserve punishment for all of our sins. Whether we are a murderer on death row, or a priest– we deserve hell. However, God does not leave us out in the cold, starving to death. He loves us and welcomes us into His warm embrace and invites us to His banqueting table in Heaven.

God not only cancels the debt of millions that we owe to Him, but He also gives us millions that we could never accomplish on our own. HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!

Ephesians 2:4 

Isaiah 55:7

Romans 3:23,24

Romans 11:42

Ephesians 2:8

Hebrews 4:16

By Sidharth Mohandas

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. [Hebrews 4:16]

In order to have a fuller revelation of this Scripture, we need to clearly understand the Throne Room of God. We have been given a faint idea of what the Throne Room is like from the earthly tabernacle that God asked Moses to build for Him. The earthly tabernacle had two places: The Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place was the Throne Room of God which contained the Ark of the Covenant. Now, the lid that covered the ark is whats called the Atonement Cover or Mercy Seat, where the High Priest sprinkled the blood of a lamb that was sacrificed for atonement. At the two edges of the Mercy Seat were the cherubim of Glory. [Cherubim are winged angels that guard the throne of God]. Well, that’s a glimpse into the faint copy of God’s Tabernacle.

Now when everything was arranged, the priests would enter the Holy Place to carry out their ministry. Only the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place, and even that was limited to only once a year and he was not to enter without the blood of a sacrificed lamb. He was to offer the blood by sprinkling it on the Mercy Seat for his sins and the sins committed by the people in ignorance. When God saw the blood, He’d have mercy on His people.

When we come to the Newer Covenant, we are told that Christ came as our High Priest of the good things that are already here [Heb 9:11]. And He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle and went into the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood. Jesus’ blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat not for Himself, since He had no sins, but for us. The blood of Christ is ever before God and each time He sees the blood, beloved, He is moved with mercy.

Now with this bigger picture in mind, I want you to re-read Hebrews 4:16:

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

This verse is for you who feel unworthy to approach God. Your confidence to approach God must solely be on the sprinkled blood of Christ. Heb 12: 24 tells us that the sprinkled blood [of Christ] that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. The blood of Abel spoke judgment and condemnation, but the blood of Christ speaks mercy. However, it doesn’t stop there; it goes one step ahead and opens us to the very life of God, to everything we would ever need to stand complete in Him. Hallelu Yah!

By Robert Allan Pennington

Many times I have complained and gone directly against what God wanted me to do. Many times I have figuratively slapped Him in the face. Many times I have been one of the worst horrible little sinners imaginable. And yet, every time He has come after me even when I have left Him. Every time He has showed me His other cheek that I might slap it also. Every time He has hugged me and called me His perfect creation. I want to know what kind of love that is! It is a God-love!

Dear brothers and sisters, are you going through a time of separation from God? Are you running away after the things of this world? Do you know what you ought to do, but you don’t do it? Do you give into the temptations that surround you, as they do all of us? Then let me encourage you that God is walking after you; He is calling after you; He is jealous for you; He is waiting for you; He died for you; He lives for you; He forgives you. Do you see His love? When you or I run away He chases us! Much swifter than a gazelle! He catches us and loves us even when we are covered in mud from our stupidity. He holds us so dear…

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. [Hebrews 4:15-16]

Dear brothers and sisters, have you sinned against God and are angry with yourself? Do you not feel worthy to come back in to His arms? Do you feel as I have that you’re not worth loving? Can you see the Father holding out His arms for you? Do you see the pain in His face because you are tormented? Can you not hear Him weeping for you? His love goes beyond what we see of ourselves. He sees the you that you will be, the perfect you. He doesn’t look at outward appearances, not at the mud, not at the sin, not at the stains that have covered you, nor at the failures. He sees His precious, perfect, blood washed and beautiful child. You are His delight.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. [Matthew 11:28]

God’s love reaches farther than the furthest star. His love spans wider than the east is from the west. His mercy is new every morning. His grace abounds to all living things. His peace is beyond understanding. His perfection more perfect than the most flawless jewel. And you precious child are the apple of His eye. Rest assured beloved, you are loved by the One that created love.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! [1 John 3:1]

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:32-39]