“We love because he loved us first” – I John 4:19 (NIV)
Who doesen’t love being favoured. Favor is something which would bring smile to any of us. When Joseph presented his two children, Manasseh and Ephraim, to Jacob for a blessing, their grandfather placed his right hand on the younger brother, Ephraim, before his elder brother. Joseph resisted and tried to influence his father against. “But his father refused and said, “I know my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations” (Gen 48:19).
Actually Jacob he himself had been a favored child over his older brother. Earlier when his father, Isaac, was about to pass on, he called on his elder son, Esau, to be blessed of him (Gen 27:7). But his mother, Rebekah, tricked their father and had the younger son be blessed before. When Esau found out he cried out in protest to Isaac but without much success. “I have made him lord over you, and I have sustained him with grain and wine” (Gen 27:37).
Favor had followed their grandfather, Abraham, too. So much so that when he and his nephew Lot once found their herdsmen wrestling each other for pasture due to their immense herds of cattle, Abraham, assured of the Lords favor, decided to leave the best land to Lot. But God still blessed Abraham even with his seemingly poor choice. “All the land that you see I will give you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you” (Gen 13:16-17).
As Believers we too have been chosen and favored not because there was anything deserving but that God loved us first. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet of nation” (Jeremiah 1:5).
Favor is unmerited grace. God favors us not because there is any good in us. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God – not by works, so that one can boast” (Ephesians 2: 8-9). God favors us because He chose us to be His children. Today may you confidently walk out in the knowledge you are a favoured child of God!
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you that you have chosen and blessed me as a child of favour, and today I pray to walk out with that favour upon my life to experience your full blessings, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
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18/05/2024 - 19/05/2024 All day“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15)
Perhaps one of the most inspiring passages in the Bible with enduring lessons is where Moses pleads to Pharaoh to let the Jews go. Instead Pharaoh dared Moses if he had the power as that of a king. Challenged to “perform a miracle” Moses turned to Aaron who threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs (Exodus 7: 9-12).
What we see here is the presence of occult powers in high places, as is true even today. A common mistake by some is to deny the existence of the occult behind certain thrones or power centers, especially in instances where we find those putting on a genteel manner of social respectability. There are also those who through their education and confined exposure to the spirit realm of things, doubt the existence of occult powers. The reality is that in the world we live in the enemy is much at work. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
In this passage we see that while Pharaoh did release his snakes the staff God had placed in the hands of his messenger, Moses, was far greater and swallowed all. Here is the point. As believers we do have a far greater and mighty power to protect us from any attacks of the enemy. It is the blood of the lamb. As it is written, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony...” (Revelation 12:11).
Today whatever snakes you may encounter from anywhere be assured that you have a far greater power than of the enemy. It is the blood of Jesus. As His word says, “call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me” (Psalm 50:15).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray for protection from the attacks of the enemy by the blood of the lamb, this I pray in Jesus’name.
