Should We Pray, “Lord Have Mercy on Me”?

Summary

Grace in Focus – Episode Summary

Episode: Should We Pray, “Lord Have Mercy on Me”?
Date: May 28, 2026
Hosts: Bob Wilkin & Colin Jackson
Duration: 13 minutes

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Overview

In this episode, Bob Wilkin and Colin Jackson address the question: "Is it appropriate for Christians to pray, ‘Lord have mercy on me’?" Drawing on scripture and church traditions, they critique the common practice of using this phrase as a means of seeking salvation, and instead emphasize that praying for mercy is appropriate for believers seeking God’s daily grace and forgiveness. Key points of distinction are made between justification (the new birth) and sanctification (ongoing Christian living), with a careful look at biblical passages and personal church experiences.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Listener's Question and Scriptural Background

• [01:03] The episode begins with a question from Chet, referencing church traditions that use “Lord have mercy,” based on the tax collector’s prayer in Luke 18:13.
• Colin notes that many see this prayer as salvific, but asks if, in light of Christ’s sufficient sacrifice, praying for future mercy might display unbelief.

2. Propitiation & Unlimited Atonement

• [01:49] Colin: “He's a propitiation for our sins. And propitiation basically means something like satisfaction. So he satisfies our sins and not ours only, but also the whole world. In other words, not just born again people, but even the people who aren't born again. It's a great unlimited atonement verse.”
  – Explains 1 John 2:2, clarifying that Jesus’ sacrifice satisfied God’s justice for all, not just believers.

3. Interpreting the Tax Collector’s Prayer (Luke 18:13-14)

• [02:28 – 03:12]
  • Bob reads the parable: The humble tax collector begs for mercy and is “justified”; the self-righteous Pharisee is not.
  • Colin’s insight: In the Gospels, "justified" often means “vindicated” (proven right in attitude/action), not necessarily the Pauline sense of justification leading to eternal salvation.
  • Example: “I don’t think there’s an example anywhere in all four gospels of Jesus using the verb dikaio or the English word justify in the sense Paul uses it, for example, of justification by faith alone.” [03:12]

4. Liturgical Experience and Responsive Prayers

• [03:30 – 05:26] Colin shares childhood memories of liturgical prayers in the Serbian Orthodox Church, drawing similarities with Catholic responsive prayers.
• Bob recalls: "Yes, and we were constantly beseeching God for mercy for our sins and having the saints pray for us. And yeah, there was very much a fear of impending judgment for our sins." [05:26]

5. Should Christians Pray ‘Be Merciful to Me’?

• Colin's teaching: “There's nothing wrong with praying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Obviously, Jesus exalts it, right. He says, this is a good attitude to have.... But if we're thinking just by saying the words, God, be merciful to me, somehow this is going to get me into the kingdom or get me to heaven when I die, then we're sadly misguided because there's no verse like that in the Bible." [05:48]
• Distinction: Praying for mercy for new birth (salvation) is not biblical; praying for daily mercy in sanctification is both biblical and necessary.

6. Sanctification, Ongoing Need for Mercy, and Biblical Examples

• Cornelius from Acts 10: [07:23] Used as an example—unbelievers, too, can have attitudes pleasing to God, but still require the messenger (Peter) and the gospel to be born again.
• Personal example: "I sure hope I get a lot of mercy in this life and a lot of mercy at the judgment seat of Christ." [07:56]

7. Mercy for Believers and Consequences of Sin

• [08:08 – 10:44]
  • Bob: Is it appropriate for believers, especially those fearful of discipline, to ask for mercy?
  • Colin compares to asking a judge for leniency; requesting mercy is about present circumstances and consequences, not eternal life.
  • Even while “walking in the light” (1 John 1:7) and confessing sins (1 John 1:9), believers “still need mercy,” since forgiveness does not always remove earthly consequences.
  • David as an example: Despite forgiveness after sin with Bathsheba, David’s life was marked by hardship—showing mercy and consequences can coexist (2 Sam 12–24).

8. Assurance of Salvation

• [12:27]
  • Bob: "We hope for God's mercy and his discipline for us, but... he'll never take away everlasting life."
  • Colin: "No, because then he would be denying himself. Then he would be unfaithful to his promise, and he can't do that."
  • Assurance: God’s mercy is guaranteed in terms of our eternal standing, even as we may face discipline or consequences in this life.

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Memorable Quotes and Notable Moments

• Light-hearted moment:
  • [01:41]
    • Colin: "And by the way, 1 John 2:2 is one of my favorite ballet verses."
    • Bob: "Why is that?"
    • Colin: "Because it's a tutu."
    • Bob: "Oh my goodness."
• Scriptural clarity:
  • Colin: "There's nothing wrong with us beseeching God to be merciful to us. In fact, I sure hope I get a lot of mercy in this life and a lot of mercy at the judgment seat of Christ. Right?" [07:56]
• On the assurance of salvation:
  • Bob: “He'll never take away everlasting life.” [12:34]
  • Colin: “No, because then he would be denying himself. Then he would be unfaithful to his promise, and he can't do that.” [12:41]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:03-02:28 – Listener question & connection to Luke 18:13
• 03:12–04:44 – Biblical sense of “justified” in the Gospels vs. Paul
• 05:26–05:48 – Discussion of Catholic and Orthodox prayer practices
• 05:48–06:47 – Correct vs. incorrect understanding of “God be merciful” prayer
• 07:23–07:56 – Unbelievers, Cornelius, and attitudes pleasing to God
• 08:08–09:17 – Should believers ask for mercy?
• 09:25–10:44 – Walking in the light, forgiveness, and real-life consequences
• 12:27–12:41 – Assurance: mercy, discipline, and everlasting life

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Conclusion

The hosts affirm that praying for mercy is always appropriate for believers—not as a formula for earning salvation, but as a humble attitude for daily living and seeking God’s grace. The episode underscores the assurance believers have in their eternal security, even as they continually depend on God’s mercy in the Christian life.

Final note:
Colin summarizes: “As long as we’re walking in the light and confessing our sins, then, yes, God’s giving us a lot of mercy, whether we ask for it or not. But asking for it is obviously endorsed by the Lord himself. In Luke 18, 9, 14.” [10:44]

Transcript

[Bob Wilkin]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.

[Announcer]

Is it a legitimate prayer to pray for mercy, Lord have mercy or God have mercy? This happens to be a responsive prayer in some churches. But since Christ's act of redemption brought about propitiation by the Father, is it possible that to beg for mercy is somewhat an act of unbelief? Let's discuss this. Thank you for joining us today, friend on Grace in Focus, a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org we also have a YouTube channel, YouTube Grace Evangelical Society, where we do short videos each week. How about, would you subscribe to that and like those videos? We would love to have you watch those and tell your friends about them too. YouTube Grace Evangelical Society and our website again, faithalone.org now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilken and Colin Jackson.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yes, this question is from Chet. He relates an experience where he was in a church and they had a responsive prayer where they would basically say, God have mercy, Lord have mercy. And I guess this was based on the sinner's prayer in Luke 18:13, right? We just had a radio segment about the sinner's prayer, and I guess that's where the idea came from. But his point is that in light of 1 John 2:2, Christ's death made the Father propitious toward us, and that to beg for mercy in favor of him is maybe an act of unbelief in his view.

[Colin Jackson]

And by the way, 1 John 2:2 is one of my favorite ballet verses.

[Bob Wilkin]

Why is that?

[Colin Jackson]

Because it's a tutu.

[Bob Wilkin]

Oh my goodness.

[Colin Jackson]

First John tutu. He's a propitiation for our sins. And propitiation, Propitiation basically means something like satisfaction. So he satisfies our sins and not ours only, but also the whole world. In other words, not just born again people, but even the people who aren't born again. It's a great unlimited atonement verse. So what does it mean when people pray, lord have mercy or lord have mercy on me? How about reading Luke 8:13 for us?

[Bob Wilkin]

Sure. This is Luke 18:13. It says, and the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner?

[Colin Jackson]

Okay, so the Lord Jesus is envisioning two people. One's a Pharisee and one's a publican or a tax collector. And the Pharisee looks up to heaven and thanks God that he's not like this tax collector. And not like all of the sinners in Israel, but that he's a righteous man. And then the tax collector, he looks to the ground and he says, lord, be merciful to me, a sinner, as he beats his chest. Verse 14 says, what?

[Bob Wilkin]

I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

[Colin Jackson]

Yeah, So I used to think that what the Lord was saying is that the publican was born again that day. He was justified before God, forensically justified. Justified. I don't think there's an example anywhere in all four gospels of Jesus using the verb dikaio or the English word justify in the sense Paul uses it, for example, of justification by faith alone. He's talking about vindication here and all the uses that Jesus had. Like he said, wisdom is justified by your children, meaning wisdom is vindicated by the actions that flow from wisdom. In the same way here he's saying, of the two men, the one man whose attitude was vindicated was the one who humbled himself, not the one who exalted himself. I remember I grew up on my dad's side in the United Methodist Church, on my mom's side in a Serbian Orthodox Church. And we'd go to the Serbian Orthodox Church maybe 10 times a year, something like that. And I remember the choirs would sing. They'd have this choir in the back, and they were in the back and above, they were up in the balcony, and they'd sing, Ghost Bodhi Po me Louie, Ghost Bodhi Po me Louie. I had no idea what it meant. I thought it was some guy named Louie and they were singing something to him. No, actually, I learned later that wasn't even Serbian, that was Old Slavonic. In fact, I have here a book called St. John Chrysostom's Divine Liturgy in the Serbian Orthodox Church. I'm turning to a particular page, and one of the liturgies, the English side says, choir, lord have mercy. Then the old Savonic side says, choir, gospodi pomilo. Well, you've got to read Cyrillic, which I'm not very good with Cyrillic. But anyway, you can see that there. The principle for many people when we're praying, God be merciful, is they're thinking, this is salvific. This is how I'm going to be born again. In fact, didn't you spend a lot of time in the Roman Catholic Church?

[Bob Wilkin]

Yes, and we were constantly beseeching God for mercy for our sins and having the saints pray for us. And yeah, there was very much a fear of impending judgment for our sins.

[Colin Jackson]

So you had a lot of the same things that you'd get in the Orthodox Church, you would also get in the Catholic Church.

[Bob Wilkin]

Lot of responsive prayers like Chet mentioned here.

[Colin Jackson]

I would agree with Chet. I wouldn't want to pray a prayer like this unless I was thinking, God, be merciful to me, a sinner in the sense that I want God to give me mercy, not to be born again. I want him to give me mercy day by day, because that's what I need. Right, sure. So there's nothing wrong with praying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Obviously, Jesus exalts it, Right. He says, this is a good attitude to have. You don't have to be a tax collector or a harlot to pray, God, be merciful to me. But if we're praying that for the new birth, then I hope what we mean is, lord, I don't know what I need to do to be born again, but please show me. Because if we're thinking just by saying the words, God, be merciful to me, somehow this is going to get me into the kingdom or get me to heaven when I die, then we're sadly misguided because there's no verse like that in the Bible.

[Announcer]

Just jumping in here to make you aware of our magazine, Grace in Focus. It is a bi monthly, six issues per year, 48 page magazine, full color, and we want you to subscribe by emailing your name and your snail mail address to gesaithalone.org the subscription is free, it can be accessed electronically or it can be actually physically sent to you. If you live in the lower 48 United States, that's our Grace in Focus magazine. Send your name and snail mail address to gesaithalone.org I don't think that the

[Colin Jackson]

Lord's trying to tell us that the publican in this story was born again. All we're saying is he had the attitude that was pleasing to God. Unbelievers can have attitudes that are pleasing to God. Look at Cornelius in Acts, chapter 10. His prayers and alms ascended to God, and yet he wasn't born again until Peter preached to him. So there's nothing wrong with us beseeching God to be merciful to us. In fact, I sure hope I get a lot of mercy in this life and a lot of mercy at the judgment seat of Christ. Right?

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah. So is it possible for a believer maybe to have done something that they're ashamed of or they're worried about discipline from the Lord, is it appropriate to ask for mercy?

[Colin Jackson]

Yes. First off, yeah, if you've done something and you are concerned about the consequences of what you've done, it's absolutely appropriate to ask God to be merciful to you, recognizing that what you've done is wrong, but you're asking for mercy. It's just like if you go before the court and let's say that you were guilty of driving 20 miles an hour over the speed limit, you might ask the judge for mercy. If you could have any mercy on me, I haven't had a speeding ticket ever in my life. I would really appreciate it if you could show me any mercy. And the judge might go, well, since it's your first offense and since you're acknowledging it, I'll mark it down to 15 miles over the speed limit or 10 miles over the speed limit or something. And he might show you some mercy or he might not. But nothing wrong with asking for mercy. And the same thing with God, that mercy would be mercy now, right? We want his mercy now, but also we would want that mercy when we appear before Christ and we're evaluated at the judgment seat of Christ. Was that both parts of your question?

[Bob Wilkin]

No, the second part is. So let's say a Christian is walking in the light and confessing sin. Is he in need of mercy?

[Colin Jackson]

Oh, yeah, good question. So walking in the light is 1 John 1:7. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. And this is following the verses where God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. So if we're in fellowship with God, we have to be walking in the light. If we're walking in the darkness, then we're lying. If we say that we're in fellowship with God. So if I'm walking in the light of God's word, that means I'm a regular partaker of God's word. I'm going to church. A solid Bible teaching church. I'm hearing it taught and I'm taking it in. I'm listening carefully, I'm meditating on it. I'm thinking about it. And if it's something that strikes me, I may think about it for weeks or months as I'm grappling with this passage or whatever. And so I'm walking in the light of God's revelation and God reveals sin. And when he does, I confess it. Then I'm forgiven and I'm cleansed. Of course. First John 1:7 says, I'm cleansed as long as I'm walking in the light. And then first John 1:9 says that as I confess my sins, he's faithful and just to forgive me and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. But do I still need mercy? Absolutely.

[Bob Wilkin]

Sure.

[Colin Jackson]

Because the fact that God forgives me doesn't mean the consequences go away. To give you an example, if you read second Samuel, the first 10 chapters, David is on the incline, everything is going upward, and better and better is his rule as king. Then he commits adultery with Bathsheba, and when he can't cover it up, he has Uriah killed. In chapter 11, he's confronted by Nathan the prophet. He says, God has forgiven you. You're not going to die now. You should have died for both the adultery and for the murder, but God suspends the death penalty. But if you read the last 12 chapters of 2 Samuel, chapters 12 through 24, you find all the way through there. Everything is on decline. David experiences all kinds of calamities. At one point, Absalom rebels against him and David has to flee. Then Absalom dies, and David is saying, absalom, Absalom, how I wish I died, not you. The whole thing is showing that even though God gave him great mercy, yet there were still consequences. So praying for mercy is something that makes sense because we don't want God to give us what we deserve. We want him to give us mercy. As long as we're walking in the light and confessing our sins, then, yes, God's giving us a lot of mercy, whether we ask for it or not. But asking for it is obviously endorsed by the Lord himself. In Luke 18, 9, 14.

[Bob Wilkin]

We hope for God's mercy and his discipline for us, but in his discipline for us, he'll never take away everlasting life.

[Colin Jackson]

That's right.

[Bob Wilkin]

So we don't have to worry about him being unmerciful in the sense that he'll take away salvation. He'll. He'll never do that.

[Colin Jackson]

No, because then he would be denying himself. Then he would be unfaithful to his promise, and he can't do that. Thank you, Chet. And thank you all. And remember, keep grace in focus.

[Announcer]

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[Bob Wilkin]

The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.