"Jubilee Cards" about Mercy
Minute-a-day cards combining verses, declarations, and prayers
Seven of the 50 "Jubilee Cards" help us catch onto the Mercy Rhythm. They clue us in to God's strategy to spread heaven's mercy all over the world so past guilt is swept away and people stop reacting to evil with evil.
If we fight evil with evil, evil wins! It is trying to multiply itself, and we are helping it do that. But if we fight evil with mercy, we kill it. Jesus wins, and we win with him. That is the mercy strategy that Jesus launched on the cross and sealed on the final Day of Atonement.
The seven "Mercy" cards are reminders of our connection to the mercy of God. Each card helps us fight evil with mercy using a verse, a declaration, and a prayer, arranged in a "Ready, Set, Go!" sequence.
READY -- the daily Mercy Verse reminds us of the big idea of Mercy Season. Each verse tells us something about what it means to be part of Jesus's empowered campaign for good in the world.
SET -- the daily Mercy Declaration links the big idea of Mercy Season to our day. It pinpoints one game-changing act of God that has huge effects on everything. As a mercy agent, we are authorized to declare this, so let's declare it! Let it define our day, which means our pains and our enemies can't tell us who we are.
GO! -- the daily Mercy Prayer invites God to SYNC us with the big idea and the Declaration. The Prayer is great to use as we are heading out the door to start the day and/or walking into the place where we spend most of the day.
See/print seven Jubilee Cards on mercy
Seven "Mercy Verses" - adapted for daily personal use
Mercy Declarations - one-liners to set the tone for your day
Mercy Prayers to SYNC you with the verses and declarations
FAQs
Jubilee Cards (default wording)
Put your name in the blanks below, or
see options to customize your own version.
Sundays
SYNC Card 29
Mercy Verse: I put my love on the line for you, ________, by offering my Son in sacrificial death for you when you didn't deserve it at all.
Adapted from The Message paraphrase of Romans 5.8
Declaration: This is a day to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and to live like it matters.
Self-understanding: We see ourselves in Christ as agents of God's mercy.
Prayer: Thank you for your merciful self-sacrifice for us. We will never get over that, Lord.
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Mondays
SYNC Card 30
Mercy Verse: I bypassed all the sacrifices of goat and calf blood, ________. I used my own blood as the price to set you free once and for all.
Adapted from The Message paraphrase of Hebrews 9.12
Declaration: This is a day to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and to live like it matters.
Self-understanding: We see ourselves in Christ as agents of God's mercy.
Prayer: Thank you for giving your life-blood as the price of our freedom. Thank you. Thank you.
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Tuesdays
SYNC Card 31
Mercy Verse: _________, I was beaten so you could know peace. My wounds heal you.
Adapted from The Message paraphrase of Isaiah 53.5
Declaration: This is a day to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and to live like it matters.
Self-understanding: We see ourselves in Christ as agents of God's mercy.
Prayer: Thank you for taking the beating we deserved. Thank you that your wounds heal us.
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Wednesdays
SYNC Card 32
Mercy Verse: It's simple, __________. If you forgive other people when they sin against you, I will also forgive you. If you don't, I won't.
Adapted from The Message paraphrase of Matthew 6.14-15
Declaration: This is a day to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and to live like it matters.
Self-understanding: We see ourselves in Christ as agents of God's mercy.
Prayer: OK, Lord, since you say so, we will let go of all our grudges and grievances today, like you forgave us.
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Thursdays
SYNC Card 33
Mercy Verse: Repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations including yours, __________.
Adapted from The Message paraphrase of Luke 24.47
Declaration: This is a day to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and to live like it matters.
Self-understanding: We see ourselves in Christ as agents of God's mercy.
Prayer: Thank you that your forgiveness is for all people of all nations. Help us get the word out today.
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Fridays
SYNC Card 34
Mercy Verse: I redeem you from hell, ___________. I save your life! I crown you with love and mercy, getting you dressed for paradise.
Adapted from The Message paraphrase of Psalm 103.3-4
Declaration: This is a day to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and to live like it matters.
Self-understanding: We see ourselves in Christ as agents of God's mercy.
Prayer: Thank you for saving us and crowning us with so much love and mercy that we have some to share.
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Saturdays
SYNC Card 35
Mercy Verse: For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces, my love and mercy won't walk away from you, ____________. My commitment stands.
Adapted from The Message paraphrase of Isaiah 54.10
Declaration: This is a day to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and to live like it matters.
Self-understanding: We see ourselves in Christ as agents of God's mercy.
Prayer: Thank you that your mercy will outlast the mountains. We trust you absolutely and always.
Customizing the Jubilee Cards
SYNC is not about standardizing you. It is about encouraging you to SYNC with Jesus Christ, the master of creativity and variety. If creating your own version of the Jubilee Cards would help you more than the "default wording" version above, here are some options:
1. Which Bible version?
The default wording above uses personalized paraphrase format based on The Message. You may prefer the straight quotes from Scripture. In the downloadable Word document at the top of this page, replace our wording with the translation of your choice. Lots of options at www.biblegateway.com.
2. Which form of the Declaration?
See three options
3. Which form of the Prayer?
See five options, including two that do not use the Jubilee Cards at all
FAQs on personal use of Jubilee Cards
Why do these Jubilee Cards work?
The verses, declarations, and prayers on the Jubilee Cards SYNC us with Christ and his sacrifice so that we can live as agents of his mercy. They clue us in to God's strategy to make his mercy work for the good of the whole world, and they sign us up to become part of his strategy during the Grace Period.
Jesus Christ is the center of God's mercy strategy. We are living in a Grace Period because of his merciful sacrifice, which brought heaven's mercy to earth. If we see ourselves in Christ, we see ourselves as linked to this strategy, which from a human point of view seems sure to fail.
Human thinking wants to make people pay for the wrong they do, except maybe for some small things we decide to kindly overlook. Many voices say, "They deserve to pay for the serious wrongs. Give them the penalty they deserve. Stand up for yourself. Teach them a lesson. If you forgive them, they will do it to you again next time."
But God is moving to a different rhythm, the Mercy Rhythm, even when the deed is as unspeakable as mocking, whipping, and executing his Son Jesus, and even before the evildoers realize they need forgiveness. Jesus prayed from the cross, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing." (Luke 23.24)
Jesus was not giving them permission to beat and crucify him again, and he certainly was not saying it was just a small mistake he was willing to overlook. No! He was creating an opportunity for them to realize what they had done and to renounce it.
And that is where we come in as mercy agents. We are the early adopters of the change God wants the whole world to make. We are the people who have renounced all opposition to God's strategy to change the world through Jesus and his sacrifice. We welcome the mercy and the forgiveness.
We let mercy sweep over us and make new people out of us, forgiven people, people who are not covering things up and not living in shame about them any more. We are people who have discovered that God's mercy deals with all those things once and for all. We never have to go back to those old ways.
We get to move on in Christ. We take on a share in his mission, spreading his mercy to other people who don't get it yet. The world need the message of Christ's merciful sacrifice, and we are the agents who bring it and demonstrate how it changed us inside.
The cards remind us of the final Day of Atonement, that day when Jesus presented his blood on the altar in heaven. We don't have to do anything else or earn anything else. We only accept his sacrifice and let the thought of it change us inside and out. Without his mercy, we would still have the death sentence hanging over us just like it hangs over the whole human race. But each time we read a card, it reminds us of our pardon. With that on our minds, how can we refuse to forgive anyone for anything?
Isn't it dangerous to add any words of our own into a Scripture verse?
The biblical warning on this point, Revelation 22.18, is about adding or deleting things that change the meaning. The intention of these adjustments of the wording on the cards is to bring the truth of the Scripture home to you in order to move you to act on it.
That truth is already there in the Scripture, and we do not intend to change any of it or add to it. We do not think we have; however, you be the judge. If you think the paraphrased version of the Jubilee Cards is "putting words into God's mouth" that should not be there, then ignore our version and print the verse from the translation you prefer.
By the way, the bigger danger about Scripture and change is that we will read Scripture but not change our view of ourselves to SYNC with it. In that case we are hearers but not doers (James 1.22). Use whatever form of these SYNC verses best motivates you to get on with the doing of the Word.
See the rest of the 50 Jubilee Cards about the other six SYNC themes besides mercy