Tag: favor

To Be Known as Men and Women After God’s Heart

Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Most people who study the Bible find David to be one of the most intriguing characters in all of the Old Testament. It is likely that he is so interesting to most of us because he is a character of such contrast. We learn that He was passionately devoted to God as evidenced by today’s passage. But on the other hand, we find that he was guilty of some of the most grievous sins written of in the entire Bible. We learn that David was a mighty and courageous warrior that won many battles because of His favor with the Lord. But conversely, we find that he was at his weakest when he was fighting his own personal battles in the flesh. David’s emotional highs and lows are well chronicled by David himself in the Book of Psalms. His writings provide us with some of the most heart-warming and inspiring poetry written anywhere in the Bible.

As we struggle through the challenges of daily life, the way God views David offers hope for all of us. Of David, the Lord said, “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” We can be comforted in knowing that there is nothing that we can do to cause Our Heavenly Father to love us less. His love and forgiveness are perfectly paired and extended to us without end. Our Lord is particularly pleased when, like David, we come to Him with praise even in our darkest hours.

Let us go boldly to the Throne of God, particularly when we find ourselves in a dry or weary place. Let us sing our praises to our precious Lord. Let us be strengthened by knowing that Almighty God delights in seeing us come through our trials in loving obedience to His calling on our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect love and forgiveness. We sing Your praises knowing that even when we have fallen that Your love for us never fails. We bless the name of Jesus through Whom we are separated from our sin. We ask that Your Holy Spirit will inspire us to thirst for You in the passionate, intimate way that David did. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will strengthen us to walk in obedience to all that You ask us to do. We long to be called men and women after Your own heart. We ask all these things in the name of the living testimony of the love of God, Jesus Christ.

Bringing Comfort, Hope and Joy to the World Around Us

Philemon 1:21
Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Paul wrote to Philemon asking him to forgive his slave, Onesimus, who had run away. Paul also asked Philemon to accept Onesimus as a brother in Christ. The law gave Philemon the right to deal with his runaway slave harshly. Paul was asking Philemon to go beyond the law and respond with an act of brotherly love.

God’s call on each of our lives is unique. While He gives all of us His Holy Word and the Ten Commandments to follow, He sets aside specific directives for each of us to follow. He places these callings on our heart. He wants to see our obedience to Him. It is for His glory. It is for the gain of His kingdom here on earth and in heaven. When we follow God’s calling, it is certain that our obedience will provide favor in our lives beyond anything that we see or imagine.

But we should strive to go beyond the things that we are called to. We should open our hearts and our minds to find ways to give joy to one another. We should look around to see who among us is hurting, struggling or simply in need of a kind gesture. Let us find ways to comfort one another and bring joy to one another. We should exhaust every measure to bring hope to others. But if in no other way, we should abound in prayer for everyone.

If obedience to the law brings us unimagined favor, what will we receive for going beyond the law? Just as Paul was confident in Philemon, Jesus is confident that His disciples will do even more than He asks. He is waiting to richly reward those that love and serve the world.

Let us take up the Cross of Jesus Christ, who gave His all for all of mankind. Let us model the servant King. Let us show the world the love of the One who dwells within us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for calling us to serve You. We know that You will provide Your favor and protection when we follow your Holy Word and your Commandments and the callings that You place on our lives. We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You for all eternity. Gracious Father, we pray that Your Holy Spirit reveal to us the areas where You are calling us in obedience to serve you. We ask for an overflowing of the love of Our Savior in our lives so that we will be founts of comfort, joy and hope to those that are in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the Worthy Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Trusting in God for Everything

Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

It is easy to read Philippians 4:6 and come away with the simple thought that God encourages us and desires for us to bring Him our prayer requests. This interpretation is absolutely true. But when we break it down, we find that God is saying much, much more to us.

First, and foremost, we are being taught to be anxious in nothing. Does that make any sense? Surely we all have daily concerns and cares that we need to attend to as good stewards of our provisions, our relationships and our own spiritual condition. God is aware of these due concerns, but He is giving us the command to trust in Him. He knows our needs better than we know our needs. He is actually calling on us to have peace and comfort when the world would suggest otherwise.

After first resting in the comfort of His promise, then we are urged to go to Him in prayer with our requests. But there is a stipulation attached as He commands that we bring our thanksgiving in advance of our requests. Why does He ask us to come with thanksgiving? Again, it is for our peace and comfort. When we bring our thanksgiving, we are reconciling with Him all the favor and blessing that He has provided in the past. This positions us to approach His Throne with the confidence that everything we ask for will be addressed and answered perfectly according to our needs, our real needs.

If we are in line with the passage to this point, then our thankful, angst free mindset will help us to meet the last command in this passage which is to let our requests be known to God – not to men. This is a not so subtle reminder that it is not our job to manipulate our circumstances through our own capability. Instead we are to depend on Our Heavenly Father for everything in our lives. In exchange for following His supplication process, peace will be our companion.

Let us go to Him in thanksgiving, adoration and trust. Let us rest in His peace as we wait for His provision.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your unconditional love and Your forgiveness through Your Son, Jesus. We ask forgiveness for coming to You so often with our needs alone, accompanied by a stark absence of our professed love for You and our expression of our sincere thanks for all that You provide. Teach us, Lord, how to seek Your presence in our lives. Teach us how to fully trust in You throughout each and every day. Teach us how to use our prayer lives to build our relationships with You. We ask all these things in the name of the One whose mercies and miracles never come to an end, Jesus Christ.

Preparing Ourselves to Receive and Share the Blessings God Has for Us

Ezekiel 34:26
And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing.

Everything on earth, whether man, beast or plant, is under the hand of Almighty God. Our all-sufficient Lord sends out everything required for sustenance and growth. And when the timing is right, He sends showers. When God is ready to spread His grace, be certain that you will not receive drops or droplets. You will receive showers, not a shower, but plentiful showers.

He will cause the showers to come down in season. His showers will fall upon us according to His divine will and timing for our lives. His showers will refresh us, revive us and make us fruitful unto His own purpose for our lives. And it will all be a part of His abundant grace which provides peace, rest, pardon, righteousness and eternal life for each of us.

And through His blessings on each of us in the Body of Christ, the world will receive showers of grace. But first, we must prepare ourselves to be worthy vessels and we must be alert to the onset of our seasons of grace. When our seasons arrive, we must be obedient to His calling on our lives. If we have made ourselves ready, we will receive the promised showers of favor on our lives.

Let us prepare ourselves for the God’s blessings by spending time with Him and spending dedicated time in His Word. Let us prepare ourselves through obedience to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Let us become cisterns of His anointing showers and fountainheads for dispersing those showers of grace into the lives of others.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You and thank You for Your abundant nature. We seek the wisdom to learn to wait on Your provision. We pray for the Holy Spirit to sharpen our awareness of the showers of grace that You pour upon us. We ask, Father, that You help us to prepare our ground so that we will bear much fruit when the showers arrive. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in becoming eager conduits of Your grace. We ask all these things in the name of Our All-Sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.

Unimaginable Provision, Day after Day Without End

2 Kings 25:30
Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.

During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, God punished the Jews because of their disobedience and falling away. He allowed the Jews to be overcome by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Jews from their land and imprisoned their king, Jehoiachin. When Nebuchadnezzar died, his son Evil-merodach became king of Babylon. Because God loved His children so much, He placed favor for the Jews in the heart of the new Babylonian king. King Jehoiachin of Judah, who had been imprisoned for 37 years, was given a seat of honor in Evil-merodach’s house. Jehoiachin dined regularly with the Babylonian king and was provided an allowance for all his daily needs as long as he lived.

Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, they were exiled from the land where they walked with Almighty God and each of us that followed them was also exiled by sin to a life outside the presence of Almighty God. But because God loved us so much, He provided His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the Cross to atone for the sins that separated us from Our Creator.

Like Jehoiachin, we received unmerited favor. But while Jehoiachin received a seat of honor at the king’s table, we were provided unlimited access to the throne of the King of Kings. While Jehoiachin was provided an allowance for his daily needs, we received a royal inheritance of all of the unlimited treasures of Our Heavenly King. While Jehoiachin’s privileges ended at his death, we were given the fullness of God’s blessings for all eternity.

Let us be mindful of the eternal treasures that have been prepared for us. Let us rejoice in knowing the seat of honor that awaits us. Let us give thanks for the daily provision that we receive on earth and the unimaginable provision that we will receive, day after day without end, in the eternal kingdom of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You loved us so much that You gave us Your Son, Jesus, to atone for our sins. We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to join You in Your heavenly kingdom. May the Holy Spirit guide us to Your throne to receive the fullness of Your blessings and the ongoing provision for our needs. May our cups overflow with Your love and Your grace. May all the unmerited favor that we receive be poured out on the world around us. We ask all these things in the matchless name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Privilege of Being of Service to Almighty God

Esther 4:14
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.

God had a unique will and plan for Esther’s life. He wanted her to be the instrument that He used to deliver His people. He wanted her to know that He would bring favor for His people through her efforts. But God would not make the choice for Esther, she had to make her own choice to follow His instruction. If she did not follow His will, God made it known that He would find someone else who would be the instrument of delivering His people.

God was very clear in conveying the options to Esther. What He did not say to her was, “Thanks, I could not do this without you.” God can accomplish His plans without any help from us. If we are not obedient in doing the things that He asks us to do, the loss is not His. He will find a replacement to do His good work because He loves to use His children to accomplish His work. It brings Him great pleasure and glory.

But if we are not obedient to the things that He asks us to do, it is our loss. The work that we do for the Lord is more about our sanctification process than the results of our work. Who we are in Christ is defined by our obedience to His calling.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us how we can fulfill God’s will and plan for our lives. Let us seek to join the Lord in His good work.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the privilege of serving You on this earth. We rejoice in knowing that we bring You great pleasure and glory when we do Your good work. We pray, Father, that You will open our eyes so that we may see the ways in which You are calling us to serve You. We pray, Lord, that You will prepare our hearts to surrender to Your will for our lives. May all that we do be for Your pleasure and Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of the Great King Over All the Earth, Jesus Christ.

Seeking the One Who Calls Us

Acts 9:6
But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.

Paul’s writings provide the foundational truths upon which our faith in Jesus Christ is built. But as great as Paul’s writings were, his living testimony may have provided even more valuable teachings to those who are seeking to be disciples of Our Savior.

In Acts, we read that before Paul was given any specific spiritual task to accomplish, he was simply asked to “rise and enter the city.” If Paul had failed to be obedient in following this simple command, we would not have all the writings of Paul in the Bible. Some other obedient man would be there in his place. But Paul was obedient in this first dramatic calling and to all the others that the Lord issued to Him, so he became one of the greatest men in all of the Bible. His teachings have been a blessing to generations of people throughout the ages. His legacy continues to live on today.

The other thing that we learn about Paul is that he never sought the favor he received. He only sought the one who called Him. So it is with us. We will receive favor from the Lord, not because we seek favor but because we seek Him.

Let us be mindful of Paul’s example. Let us seek the Lord first. Let us be obedient to His calling on our lives. Let us rejoice in how he uses us. Let us celebrate the favor that He pours upon us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for calling us to Yourself. We seek You, Lord. We humbly come before You and ask forgiveness for all the times that we have fallen short in our obedience to You. We pray that You will strike us down like You did Paul, so that we may see how we have offended You and so that we may turn our lives toward the path that You direct us. May the Holy Spirit guide us, inspire us and provide our strength to overcome the torments of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy. May we learn to be slaves to Jesus Christ and not slaves to this world. May Your grace be with us always. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ.

Goodness Upon Goodness, Joy Upon Joy and Abundance Upon Abundance

John 1:16
And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

There is nothing more complete, more sufficient or more perfect than the fullness of Jesus Christ. To borrow from the teachings of Charles Spurgeon, the fullness of Christ is reflected in His Diety, His manhood, the atoning power of His Blood, His righteousness, His power over death and His endless grace to pardon, to regenerate, to sanctify, to preserve and to perfect.

The fullness of what we have received from God can be summed up in one word grace. It is the great gift that we receive through His Son, Jesus, that we do not deserve and could never earn. It is the unmerited good will of God directed toward us. It is the gift that cannot be received by unrepentant sinners. It can only be received by those that have been washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. It is all that has been perfectly and completely prepared for all men by Our Savior.

And finally, a perhaps most importantly, God’s grace through Jesus Christ is cumulative and never ending. When we live in the fullness of Savior, we receive goodness upon goodness, joy upon joy and abundance upon abundance. It is the good will of God towards us and the work of God in us.

Let us humble ourselves before Our Savior. Let us surrender to His presence in our lives. Let us prepare ourselves to receive the fullness of His amazing grace.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the unmerited favor that You bestow on us through Your Son, Jesus. We bless the name of Our Savior for making it possible for us to receive Your unlimited flow of grace in our lives. We pray, Father, that You will open our hearts to receive the fullness of Your Son, Jesus. We ask that You show us how to tap into the inexhaustible treasure that He holds in His hands for us. We ask all these things in the name of the source of all grace, Jesus Christ.

The Plentiful Showers of Grace

Ezekiel 34:26
And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing.

Everything on earth, whether man, beast or plant, is under the hand of Almighty God. Our all-sufficient Lord sends out everything required for sustenance and growth. And when the timing is right, He sends showers. When God is ready to spread His grace, be certain that you will not receive drops or droplets. You will receive showers, not a shower, but plentiful showers.

He will cause the showers to come down in season. His showers will fall upon us according to His divine will and timing for our lives. His showers will refresh us, revive us and make us fruitful unto His own purpose for our lives. And it will all be a part of His abundant grace which provides peace, rest, pardon, righteousness and eternal life for each of us.

And through His blessings on each of us in the Body of Christ, the world will receive showers of grace. But first, we must prepare ourselves to be worthy vessels and we must be alert to the onset of our seasons of grace. When our seasons arrive, we must be obedient to His calling on our lives. If we have made ourselves ready, we will receive the promised showers of favor on our lives.

Let us prepare ourselves for the God’s blessings by spending time with Him and spending dedicated time in His Word. Let us prepare ourselves through obedience to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Let us become cisterns of His anointing showers and fountainheads for dispersing those showers of grace into the lives of others.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You and thank You for Your abundant nature. We seek the wisdom to learn to wait on Your provision. We pray for the Holy Spirit to sharpen our awareness of the showers of grace that You pour upon us. We ask, Father, that You help us to prepare our ground so that we will bear much fruit when the showers arrive. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in becoming eager conduits of Your grace. We ask all these things in the name of Our All-Sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.