John Dyslin: His Mercy is More – A Love Letter of Restoration to Our Wounded Warriors, PART ONE

What riches of kindness, He lavished on us

His blood was the payment, His life was the cost

We stood ‘neath a debt, we could never afford

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Praise the Lord, His mercy is more

Stronger than darkness, new every morn

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

   From His Mercy is More by Matt Papa

1. You have a magnified comparative view of your sins. I suspect your sleep has been haunted by images of your travels and deeds as a warrior that I as a civilian (thankfully) cannot imagine.  For that, I’m truly sorry.  So, I’m not suggesting that, perhaps, you don’t actually have a truckload of iniquity to be forgiven of.  I am suggesting, however, that your neighbors are guilty of so much more iniquity than you (or they!) are giving them credit for!

Consider that “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it (James 2:10).”  In the eyes of a perfectly righteous God your washed-clean civilian neighbors are guilty of committing the very sins you’re beset by!

Also consider that, according to Jesus Himself, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (Matthew 5:21-22).”  So, while, perhaps, some act(s) you committed would rightly be judged as murder (although perhaps, in the conduct of war, not), we’re all guilty of murder in our hearts!  The Lord is righteous beyond our capacity to understand; His standard is perfection; not through our strength, of course, but through His.  And, since the fall, we’re all equally, and wholly, guilty, one no more than another, of transgressing against the entirety of His law.  As Paul wrote, “None is righteous, no, not one; for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10,23).”

The fact that you’re repentant, though…now that sets you apart from your reprobate neighbors of Romans 1:18-32.  And, I’m convinced it’s absolute proof you’re not beyond salvation; otherwise you wouldn’t give such matters a second thought.  Your regret, and desire to be freed from sin, is something God can work with!

2. You have too small a view of Jesus’ power to save. 2700 years ago Isaiah recorded, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear (Isaiah 59:1).”  The Lord is indeed “mighty to save (Zephaniah 3:17)!”  However, in our past, “[our] iniquities have made a separation between [us and our] God, and [our] sins have hidden His face from [us] so that he does not hear (Isaiah 59:2).”  Isaiah 59 is truly worth a read; it details the unabashed depravity of mankind.  After recounting Israel’s fall, it then declares, “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede (Is. 59:16(a)).”  What to do!?!

But God.  The Lord Himself steps into the breach for us, as He knows we’re utterly lost and helpless without Him.  “…then His own arm brought him salvation, and His righteousness upheld him.  He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak (Is. 59:16(b)-17).”  For those with eyes to see, this is a clear description of the Messiah Jesus, Whose very name means salvation!  It is He who donned the warrior’s armor to avenge unrepentant evil – yet He first laid Himself down as a perfect sacrifice, shedding His own blood in our place, that we might be restored.

That’s total sacrifice – and not made tritely.  And the towering magnitude of the Lord Himself sacrificing His only Son for you – that speaks directly, and powerfully, to the infinite extent to which it contains power to save – even the most unclean, if that applies to you.

3. The enemy is running a PsyOp on you. Ahh, the devil.  He’ll use even your righteous regret and grieved conscience against you.

From the beginning of this awful, fallen world mess, satan began by deceiving Eve, saying, “Did God really say…(Genesis 3:1).”  In light of this, consider – has satan said, “Did God really say…” to you too?

Did God really say He would forgive the likes of you?  After all you’ve done!?!

You can almost hear the hissssss of the devil as you read these words.

As a warrior you understand the impact and import of PsyOps; they’ve been a cornerstone of warfare since before Sun Ztu.  Well, friend, your sworn enemy the devil is running one on you – planting seeds of self-doubt, God-doubt, and self-condemnation to cause you to restrain yourself from running into the arms the One Who already paid it all, so you could be set free!

It delights me to say to you, that you are far closer to being washed clean, and laying your burdens down, and to knowing a liberty from your past you can’t yet comprehend, than you can imagine!

By all accounts you have a grieved conscience.  That’s a gift God put there, that you would be blessed by your conscience.  The Lord is already at work in you to restore you to Him.

So, let’s play a thought experiment for a moment.  Set aside the enemy’s lies, and the chattering demons parroting scripts of condemnation; if you miss them you can always take them back up later (or not!).  Consider what the Lord Himself said: “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word (Isaiah 66:2(b)).”

Is that you?  Are you humbled by the weight of your sins; by the stains you will never be able to wash off?  Good!  You’re just who the Lord sent His Son to save!  For Jesus Himself said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:31-2).”  Not just those with a thimble full of sin; but the worst “sinners.”  If that’s you, He came for you!

And…as it pertains to the filthy lies of the father of lies (John 8:44)…self-condemnation is a debilitating, immobilizing, worthless habit.  Judge the tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:15-20); what good has it done for you?  What ill?  If it’s poison to you, why keep entertaining it?  It is literally designed to withhold you from restoration, through the only One qualified to do so – Jesus Christ.  So, I strongly encourage you to replace the enemy’s PsyOp lies with, “Get behind me satan (Matthew 16:23)!”  Then get on with healing up, and joining in the only battle that really counts – saving souls (becoming a “fisher of men” like Peter and the other disciples (Matthew 4:19)) and storming the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18)!

3a.  You may be applying a corrupted form of self-sacrifice.  The warrior ethos demands that you put your life in the hands of your brother-in-arms, and to provide that same protection for him.  Now, after years of being tormented by the memories you’ve endured, it may seem right to you to lay your life down on the funeral pyre of depression, or misery, or self-harm, thinking that somehow this penance will redeem you from your past.

God forbid!

This thwarts your healing and restoration through the One Who already laid His life down for you, that you “may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).”  The enemy, who “comes to steal and kill and destroy (sic)” whispers in your ear for you to sacrifice yourself instead – whether by unceasing misery, or by taking your own life.

Laying your own life down – whether day by day or all at once – does nothing but doom yourself, and compound the misery among those who love you.  If you judge this tree by its fruit, it is utterly corrupt and worthless; there’s no good in it at all.  There’s also a thread of deceived self-righteousness in this perversion of sacrifice – by doing so one is saying that God’s already-perfected sacrifice is insufficient; that only by substituting your sacrifice of your fallen self will the pain end.  Now that’s a lie out of the pit of Hell.  Notice how satan always wants everyone to die for him, an inversion of Christ’s sacrifice for us?  Only Jesus Himself is up to the task; He did it to perfection, and already secured victory on your behalf – so you could truly live!

Your iniquity is guaranteed to be healed and restored if you repent and believe.  He longs for you to accept His sacrifice, as yours would be a tacit rejection of His.

4. Some of the greatest heroes in Scripture were murderers – and redeemed! Moses – the unchallenged hero of the Old Testament before King David – murdered an Egyptian soldier, causing him to have to flee Egypt (Exodus 2:11-15).  Clearly, though, Moses was forgiven, as he was chosen by the Lord to lead the Israelites from bondage.

David had his own faithful general Uriah killed as he had already impregnated Uriah’s wife Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11).  In fact, David’s reign of Israel was so bloody that the Lord would not permit him to build the first temple to the Lord (1 Chronicles 28).  Yet, David was beloved by God, and was the apple of His eye (2 Samuel 22:20-22).  The Lord delighted in David, and rewarded him “according to [his] righteousness; according to the cleanliness of [his] hands did He reward [him] (sic).”  Wait…is that the same David!?!  Yes – after he repented, and sought the Lord for salvation from his iniquities!  In fact, David was so beloved that the Lord declared that the Messiah would be of his lineage (2 Samuel 7:12-16).  Now that’s honor and restoration in the wake of iniquity!

David stands as an indisputable example to men like you, that you have not strayed too far for the Lord’s mighty right hand of Salvation.  (Read 2 Samuel 22 – an amazing message of gratitude and glory from a renewed warrior king to the One True God.)

Then there’s Paul.  Paul was a zealot and a “Pharisee among Pharisees (Acts 26:5).”  So much so that he tended to the cloaks of the mob as they stoned Stephen (Acts 7:58-8:1) and subsequently was sent with official papers to crush the Christians in Damascus (Acts 9).  Yet it was on that very road to Damascus that the Lord Jesus appeared to Saul, saying “Why do you persecute me (Acts 9:4)?”  Although he was “chief sinner (1 Timothy 1:13-15),” the Lord turned his greatest foe of the era to his greatest advocate, and unleashed the most devastatingly effective warrior for Christ to bring light into the world.

That same power – that dunemis – the Lord wants to unleash in you too – that you might be a mighty warrior for him, assailing the gates of hell and unleashing the power of the Gospel through you, in His strength!

This is part one of two. Check back for the next installment tomorrow!

John Dyslin is the author of Nehemiah Strong: Life-Sustaining Essentials for a Season of Trial, a 480-page field manual equipping believers to stand, occupy, and overcome as the enemy comes in like a flood.  Learn more at johndyslin.com, and use discount code Scout1 to save 10%.

Recent articles:

World Net Daily:  “Dark forces are gaining – will you stand and ‘do exploits’?”  Published 11 August 2022.

Wisconsin Christian News:  “The Call – and Our Response.”  Published August 2022.

Other information:

Web site – johndyslin.com

Summary of the book, Nehemiah Strong

Praise for Nehemiah Strong

Selected reviews for Nehemiah Strong

Interview segments (links to full interviews) with John Dyslin

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