Destiny Christian Church

Archive

April 2007 (1)

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Banks Blog

Monday, 09 April 2007

40 Days of Favor - All Days

Day 1- Why 40?

"For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning" [Hebrews 4:15].

Lent is the 40-day period (Sundays excluded) prior to Easter, which the church observes as a contrite season. It begins on Ash Wednesday (which can occur any time between February 4 and March 11, depending upon the date of Easter), and it concludes with the Passiontide, the two-week period during which the church's liturgy follows Christ's activity closely through the final stages of his life on earth. These two weeks are called Passion Week and Holy Week. It was once claimed that the Lenten practice was of apostolic origin, but historians fix its establishment at a later date, probably the 5th century.

Search the scriptures diligently, from Old Testament to New, and you will find no mention of Jews or Christians observing an annual period of 40 days of fasting and abstinence preceding the festival of the Passover. However a period of 40 days is rather common in scripture:

· It rained 40 days and nights: Genesis 7:4, 12.

· Forty days after sighting the tops of the mountains, Noah set forth a raven and a dove: Genesis 8:6-7.

· Joseph mourned the death of his father Jacob for a period of 40 days: Genesis 49:33 - Genesis 50:3.

· Moses on Sinai for 40 days: Exodus 24:18, 34:28, Deuteronomy 9:9-11.

· Moses pleads for Israel 40 days on Sinai: Deuteronomy 9:18-25, 10:10.

· Canaan spied on for 40 days: Numbers 13:25, 14:34.

· Goliath taunted Israel for 40 days: 1 Samuel 17:16.

· Elijah fasted and journeyed to Horeb for 40 days: 1 Kings 19:8.

· Ezekiel bore the iniquity of Judah for 40 days: Ezekiel 4:6.

· Jonah warned Nineveh of judgment in 40 days: Jonah 3:4.

· Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days: Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2.

· Jesus was seen for 40 days after His crucifixion: Acts 1:3.

Today most of the Christian world observes Lent. By the solemn forty days of Lent, Christians unite themselves each year to the mystery of Jesus in the wilderness. The entire period of Lent is also a time of spiritual preparation for the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. It is observed more as a time of repentance than merely abstaining from food, and as a time of prayer.

As you seek the Lord today ask the Holy Spirit to reveal and convict you of what you need to turn from in order to walk in unbroken fellowship and power. Look not only to this time as a period of not eating food as you are lead - but more importantly as a time of consuming more of His presence in the crevices of your lives.

I pray that the power and presence of the risen Savior resonate in your spirit and release in your life the kind of favor that proves to the world around you that Jesus is walking the airways - and those who yet pray can still expect miracles!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 2- Lord Have Mercy!

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions; wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.[Psalm 51:1-2].

As we approach God it is important that we become honest with ourselves and with Him. We ask for mercy. Literally this asks "God please don't give me what I deserve!" This is the first response to recognition of sin. In David's life, this is the first response to the scathing prophetic accusation of "you are the man." Notice that the confession is first a confession about God. We can only come before God from that kind of circumstance in life as we acknowledge the mercy and grace of God, acknowledge that everything that is to follow depends not on ourselves and our abilities, but on God and his grace. The psalmist comes before God with a sense of commitment to him and a profound sense of contrition. The prayer uses all the typical ritual language common to priestly sacrifice: blot out, wash, cleanse. It is an appeal from a legal context in which law has been violated and the sinner seeks forgiveness.

Yet, we also need to understand that this plea for mercy is against an Old Testament background in which there was no atonement available for this sin. Sin that was done intentionally and purposefully was not part of the sacrificial system, only sin that was done unintentionally (Lev 4). To break covenant with God as David has done has legally placed him outside the covenant and beyond the normal atonement rituals. So even with the language of temple worship and ritual here, the psalmist would understand that it is not the priest nor the rituals that can forgive here, but only God.

To begin with this confession means that the psalmist understands that he is a sinner before God. There is no false piety, no excuses made for the sin. He understands that the only way out of that sin is by a gracious and a forgiving God. "Have mercy on me" is the initial cry that strips away any pretense to self-righteousness or personal merit. This plea acknowledges that this is a matter of grace. This is all in God's hands, not ours.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 3- Honest to God?

For I know my transgressions, my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. [Psalm 51:3-4]

Again, the Psalmist is willing to acknowledge his sin. Many of these Psalms were prayed in the temple before the community, so this may even be a public confession. I am not suggesting that we always have to confess all of our sins before everyone. Yet, when we have done the things that David has done, it is not a private matter. When we have abused our position of responsibility before God, committed adultery with Bathsheba, murdered Uriah the Hittite, and been confronted with Nathan the prophet, we cannot simply offer a private prayer of repentance and hope that no one finds out. That kind of public sin before God and the community requires a willingness to come before God and the community and take responsibility for what we have done.

Transformation must always begin with an honest confession of who we are before God. In fact there is some sense here that this sin is now defining who the psalmist is. It is there in front of him so that when people look at him, they see the sin.

The sin of David had been a social sin. It had been against Bathsheba and against Uriah the Hittite. It had been against the entire kingdom over which David ruled, against the community for which David was responsible. This is not a private sin. It is a very public one. And yet when the psalmist comes before God, he says that it is against God alone that he has sinned.

Sometimes we think that our sins are more like social mistakes, violations of social responsibility for which we should apologize to one another. We do things that hurt other people and then we apologize to them. Sometimes we are more concerned with what people think of us, more concerned with saving face, than we are concerned with the fact that we have sinned against God. Of course, we should apologize when we have hurt people as an expression of our repentance and our love for them. Yet theologically, this Psalm says that finally all sin is sin against God.

That is the real heart of our problems.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 4- Clean My Heart!

Create in me a clean heart, O God, ... [Psalm 51: 10]

We need to understand the change here. It is a radical change. To this point the psalmist has been talking about forgiveness, with all the liturgical and ritual language of washing and cleansing. This is the correct priestly language of what should happen when God forgives.

Yet, verse ten moves away from the language of the temple and the rituals, and so moves away from the language of forgiveness. Notice there are different terms used there. "Create in me a clean heart, O God. And put a new and a steadfast spirit within me." Something is different there. There is talk of newness, of new creation. This is not the language of cleansing the old, but of creating something new. And there is also the language of stability here, of a steadfastness that comes from within. This is not just the language of forgiveness, but of something more than forgiveness.

Part of the problem with forgiveness is that it can only deal with the results of sin. Like Paul's argument about the law in Romans, the problem with any legal or ritualized conception of relationship with God is that law and atonement rituals can only deal with violation. Forgiveness can only applies after the violation has occurred. Of course, that is necessary, especially in the context of sins such as these. We must not minimize the nature of sin and the dimension of God's grace that makes forgiveness possible.

Yet, if we are not careful, as important as that emphasis on forgiveness might be at some stage, it is easy to focus on the remedy for the sinful acts without ever asking what might cause the sinful acts. Forgiveness can all too easily become trapped in a cycle of sin and forgiveness, so that we become more preoccupied with responding to sin than we are with being faithful to God in the first place. Biblically, sin is a matter of the heart and described in terms of unfaithfulness and disobedience. That suggests that a solution must involve the heart.

How many times will God forgive? It is an easy question to ask, especially if we are talking about ourselves. We easily want to claim the broadest dimension of God's grace, and affirm that his grace is unending. But when we ask this question about ourselves, we need to realize that we are really asking the wrong question. It is not a matter of how many times will God forgive. That is unending. The more important question is: why should we keep on sinning so that God has to forgive?

Blessings!

WDB

Day 5- Give Me A Right Spirit!

. and a new and right spirit within me. [Psalm 51: 10]

Here is the significance of the shift from the language of forgiveness to the language of new creation between verses nine and ten. The first nine verses clearly portray the honesty of someone who has come face to face, not only with what they have done, but also with who they are. The psalmist has admitted that his very existence is defined by sin.

The cry here from the heart of the Psalmist is a cry for transformation, realizing that there has to be a better way than just forgiveness. There must be something more than going through the cycle of sin and forgiveness, better than risking again becoming in practice what he has always been in his heart. There must be a better way, as Paul so eloquently echoes in Romans 7. I want to suggest that verse ten is that better way.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word translated "create" is only used with God as subject. Only God can bring the newness that the word "create" suggests. Here there is no idea of washing the old heart and trying to remove the contamination of sin. In verse 10, the psalmist abandons the priestly language of forgiveness and begins using the language of transformation. The psalmist is no longer simply praying for continued forgiveness, but for a radical change in who he is.

There is recognition here that the problem is not really the failure in sinning, but a problem of the heart that caused the sin. In Hebrew, the "heart" is a metaphor for the seat of the intellect, the center of will and decision-making. The "spirit" is also a metaphor for the entire person in terms of the motives and intentions that lie behind actions. To pray for a newly created heart and for a new spirit is a confession that the heart, the will of the person, is the source of the problem. It is an admission that the hidden motives and intentions of the psalmist are so perverted and unstable that nothing short of a new creation and a steadfastness from God will bring any significant change in who he is. And he has already confessed that he needs to change.

It is also significant that the prayer is for a "steadfast" spirit. This Hebrew word means to establish as firm and solid. It is the same word used in the promise to David (2 Sam 7:16) that God would "establish" his descendants as kings of Israel. In this context, David had the external trappings of strength and permanence for his kingdom. Now, there is the realization that the external appearance of stability is not much without an inner steadfastness and stability that will allow faithfulness in actions.

The Psalmist cannot make that happen by himself. The rituals of the temple cannot make that change. The sacrifices and the water may symbolize God's forgiveness. But forgiveness is not the same as creation. Something has to happen beyond the forgiveness. Something has to happen inside the psalmist on the level of the heart, that deals with who he is. So he cries out: "Create in me a new heart. Transform me and make me new. Put a new steadfast spirit within me."

Blessings!

WDB

Day 6- The Sacrifice of Praise!

Oh Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. [Psalm 51:15-16]

What God seeks in us is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, a willingness to abandon who we are in ourselves for what we can become in God. What God wants is a person to come to a sense of brokenness in their life, just as the psalmist has done here. It is not just that we realize who we are as sinner, but they we are so grieved at who we are that we will cry out before God. "Make me new! I don't like who I am and I don't like what I have done. God, what I need is for you to do something new in my life that gives me a new heart, that so fills me with your presence that I can live a different way and be a different person." That prayer can only come at the point of brokenness, when we come face to face with who we are, and do not like what we see.

This is a brokenness that realizes that we cannot be the center of our world, even if we are King of Israel. It is a brokenness that knows if we are ever going to be different, if we are ever going to move beyond the level of constantly seeking forgiveness, we are going to have to give ourselves to God, to allow him to remake us on his terms.

Talking of brokenness is hard for us, because it is scary to risk becoming something other than what we are. We have grown comfortable with ourselves, even though we know in our better moments that we are like the psalmist here. We would much rather have the joy of our religion. We would rather have all the blessings that go with being a Christian. I suspect that for many of us we would much rather be trapped in the cycle of sin and forgiveness, hoping that who we really are is never exposed, than we would to become broken enough to have a new heart. Yet if we do not, we will never learn to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, nor will we ever learn to love our neighbor as ourselves.

We will celebrate the Resurrection not too long from now. We like to talk about Jesus dying on the cross for us, taking our place. Let me suggest to you that Jesus did not die on the cross so that you would not have to die. He died on that cross to show you the way. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, wrote in The Cost of Discipleship: "When Jesus bids a man come, he bids him come and die." That is the power of the Gospel passages that call us to take up our cross and follow him.

We cannot get away from the idea of the cross. That cross is the kind of brokenness to which we are called when we take in our hands the symbols of his broken body and the cup of his suffering. When we celebrate Communion, we are not celebrating the fact that we do not have to die. We are celebrating the fact that he has shown us how to become broken. If we are not willing to come before God with that kind of brokenness, a willingness to cry out to God from a broken spirit for renewal, then we have not understood the Gospel. And we have not experienced the creative power of God that he can bring into our lives.

Even though it may be a sacrifice of a broken heart because you don't feel like it, the psalmist reminds us that there is always a place for praise and rejoicing, and even for worship and sacrifice. Verse fifteen is about praise.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 7-An Extreme Makeover!

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. [Psalm 51:18-19]

Like the glow of Resurrection Sunday, that sacrifice of praise can only come after the brokenness and death that has allowed new creation. There is no newness in Christian living that does not come out of brokenness and ending. This is perhaps the most important insight into our own humanity from this psalm. If we are not willing to come to that point of brokenness with the psalmist there will be no new heart. The only solution for our struggle with sin is to come to the point where we are willing to face who we are honestly, to come to that crisis point in our life where we are willing to be recreated by God.

That does not mean that everything will then be perfect. It does not mean there will be no more struggles in our lives. David would spend the rest of his life dealing with the unfolding consequences of his sin. But it means that we can have a new heart that is steadfast and oriented to God. It means that we can have the very presence of God recreating us and transforming us from what we are into what we can be by grace. It means we can have the living breath of God within us giving us new life and enabling us to do what we cannot do on our own. That is the most important thing we learn about God from this psalm.

Now that I have gone through, I am not who I used to be. Though my circumstance has not altered much, I have been altered and changed.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 8- He' s Trying To Get Your Attention!

"Simon, Simon." [Luke 22:31]

There is nothing like repetition to get one's attention. This is precisely the motive behind our Lord's words when He cries out to Peter in the midst of the rest of the twelve disciples. He is calling his attention away from the crowd that surrounds him and wants him to know that there are plans for his future of which he is not currently aware.

It is an amazing paradox of grace that the One whom all awareness should surround and focus upon, must call and compete to get our attention. He calls Peter again. Not like the time in which He promised to make him a fisher of human beings. Not like the time in which He promised to build His church on the basis of his confession of faith. No, this is a different kind of call. He calls Peter "Simon". With this repetitious call, Jesus is trying to get Peter to pay attention to the Simon still left in him. He wants Peter to be aware that Satan desires to prey on Simon and ultimately crush him into pieces. Like Peter, the Lord calls us to the same realization.

The fact of the matter is that with in all of lies personal weakness that is susceptible to demonic attract and attack. Within every Peter is a Simon that must listen to the call of the Lord. No matter how on top of things we may be, there is always some area in which we must focus our attention to or it will bring us down. The Hebrew root of the name Simon is Simeon or Shimeon which means "heard". That may mean that the weak and frail human parts of us that are vulnerable to failure must be heard or given proper attention and recognition if we are to truly overcome them. 1 Corinthians 10:12 tells us "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

Take heed indeed.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 9- Permission.

".Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat." [Luke 22:31]

Jesus makes it clear that the coming battle is not just against human foes, but is inspired by Satan himself. And the disciples, as sworn followers of Jesus, are directly in harm's way. In English, the pronoun "you" can be either singular or plural. But in Greek, the number is clearly indicated. In this sentence, not just Peter, but all the apostles who are sharing the Last Supper with Jesus, are the object of Satan's wrath. He wants to violently shake, tear up, and destroy them all.

It is crucial for us all to soberly remember that the enemy of God is also always the enemy of God's people. It should be no strange and foreign thought to know that at some point the Christian man and woman will fall into the scope and sight of adversarial attack. It is inevitable. Yet the assignment of the enemy is always within the parameters of permission.

In this passage, just as he did in the book of Job, we see Satan making requests of God. The phrase "asked" used in this request means "to obtain by asking." Satan had to ask permission. He does not have unlimited power and all that he does to and with the child of God must first be sanctioned in the sovereignty of God. Even the adversary must answer to God.

This ought to bring a sigh of spiritual relief to those who are going through a season of distress and grief - for you can truly know that your troubles are literally on God's time clock. Satan can only touch your life as allowed by God and he must do so with accountably to the power of the Lord. What this means more than ever is that we need to take confidence in the power of God, for it can never be overpowered by any foe and is able to make even the designs of the adversary work for you and not against you.

If he had to ask then he doesn't have power to stay which means this is a temporary time that is only being allowed to make you better.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 10- The Power Of Pleading

"But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon." [Luke 22:32]

This one statement by the Lord is convicting and challenging to all who claim to know Him. All of us have loved ones, spouses, and precious friends that are tremendously bound by the fetters of sin. Those whom we know are headed down the wrong path and a road that leads to destruction. What is our responsibility? What should be our response?

We need to plead intercessory prayers. The strong kind that crushes Satan's shackles. We need to plead the prayers that they would want to pray. But they can't. They don't know how! They don't have the strength. Or, they feel unworthy to utter the precious name of Jesus. These are people who are bound in their sincere ignorance, incredulous of the fact that God loves to hear the cry of a person - even one trapped in sin - pleading for help. So they die, daily in their silence. Drowning in the shame of their sins.

This world needs intercessors that are willing to pray the surrogate prayer?to pray in the stead of sincere, helpless people who like Peter are the targets of demonic activity.

Salvation is an individual matter and each person must have a personal experience with Christ and His salvation plan. We cannot be baptized for another person nor can we receive the Holy Ghost as a substitute stand-in. Yet, there is no denying that our prayers have a greater effect than we can ever imagine. The power of pleading prayer reaches beyond our four walls and demonstrates a faith which offers liberty for the operation of the Holy Ghost.

The bottom line is that others are depending on your prayers. It may be your son, sister, father-in-law, or boss. They are hoping that you will plead the surrogate prayer and tell the Lord that they need Him. After they get untied, and freed from their shackles, surely they will be a testimony of faith working on their behalf.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 11- He's Got Faith In Me!

".that your faith should not fail." [Luke 22:32]

It is obvious that Satan got permission to do the same with Simon Peter. But, did you notice how Jesus prayed for him? He did not pray that it would not happen or that Satan's power would fail, but that Peter's faith would not fail. Satan, just as obviously, has been given permission to test us as well.

In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches the disciples to how to properly pray in order for heaven to move. They are told to pray that they not be led into temptation, but be delivered from evil. Yet we find that the answer to that prayer, has been answered in the power of faith, that it may not fail.

The enemy of faith is unbelief. And the Adversary knows if he can just get you to stop believing, then he has gained avenue and entrance in the vicissitudes of your existence. That is why Jesus is concerned about your faith. The truth of the matter is that our faith must be empowered, exercised, and elevated by the presence of the Spirit of God. So the Lord prays for faith. Faith that will STILL exist when everything else has disappears.

Prayer is the release of faith. So we can discern then that Jesus' prayer subsidized Peter's faith with the release of His own. Thank God for the divine release of faith that gives us access to His unmerited favor when we need it the most. Like the man who acknowledged to Jesus that he had faith but needed help with his unbelief, we too must accept the aid of the Lord who has prayed that our sustained belief in Him not fail.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 12-Born Again Again!

"So when you have repented and turned to me again." [Luke 22:32]

Peter's story is a gift to us. His journey is marked by belief and doubt. He wholeheartedly affirms faith and turns around and denies it on a dime. He runs like a coward and he steps forward to fight for the faith. In other words, his story is like mine, and maybe like yours. The New Testament makes no effort to portray him as perfect, as he represents each of us and, the one who initially expressed and confessed faith in Jesus as the Christ, the rock on which the church was built.

The church itself as a community needs, again and again, to recommit itself, to realize when it has been off-track. That's why the history of the church is marked by periods called reformation or renewal or revival. If you've spent any time around a church, you'll know why those periods are needed.

You and I, like Peter, are invited again and again to believe it, to say: "Lord, I'm sticking with you because you have words of life." We are invited to sign on again, to commit again, wherever we've been, whatever we've done, whoever we are, not because of who we are, but because of the truth that the journey of faith is not a straight line. It doesn't move in one direction. It's a lot like Pilgrim's Progress, a movement marked by detours and distractions, by forgetting and remembering, by courage and fear. The Good News of our faith, and in today's Bible readings in particular, is that we can be born again -again.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 13- He Went Through For You!

".strengthen your brothers." [Luke 22:32]

It's especially interesting for us to note that the word for "strengthen" is the Greek word "sterizo." It's the word we've chosen to identify a class of drugs called "steroids". There are a few things we know about the use of these drugs.

· They are drugs secretly taken by athletes to increase their strength so they can win big and break records.

· Steroids give you an unfair advantage over the those who are against you.

· They aid in the development of power so that more strength is gained with less work.

· Those who take them have obvious physical gains that show their strength.

This what I believe this sifting produced in the faith of Simon Peter and in turn does in our lives: A faith on steroids! Now since you have come through your stronger than you were before, the Holy Spirit gave you power in your weakest hour, and now you know something that you used to only believe. Your faith now will cause you win big to break records in your life as you will do what you never have done before this great trial. Praise God for this strength!

But with great power always comes great responsibility. The Lord's expectation of Peter was that as he would be strengthened by the prayer of Jesus, so Peter would turn around and pass on that same strength to the others. So ultimately, Peter did not fail the Lord, although he did come to understand the intensity of Satan's attempt to destroy his faith. He went through for you your benefit and mine.

No doubt that's why he would later pen these words: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." (1 Peter 5:8-10)

I pray that the power and presence of the risen Savior resonate in your spirit and release in your life the kind of favor that proves to world around you that Jesus is walking the airways - and those who yet pray can still expect miracles!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 14-Fallen Heroes

"But Jesus said, "Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me." [Luke 22:34]

We don't have to look far in the scripture to find shining examples of fallen heroes. Israel's King David fell into adultery with Bathsheba, had her husband killed, then took her as his wife (2 Samuel, chapter 11). John Mark, on a ministry trip with the apostles Paul and Barnabas, abandoned the ministry and his fellow ministers (Acts 13:5,13). The apostle Peter denied Jesus, even to the point of calling curses upon himself and swearing, "I don't know the man!" (Matthew 26:74). Yet you don't have to be a hero or someone of great public notoriety to fall. Fallen heroes are fallen humans.

I have often wondered what difference Peter and Judas had between their character. At the point of their fall they both look alike and are in the same dilemma. All of the fallen look the same. Yet the key lies in what is done after the fall. Will you just lay there or will you endeavor to get back up again?

What separates Peter from Judas is that he didn't give up on Jesus. The truth of the matter is that we can often too soon give up on ourselves and even God Himself. Judas not only gave up on himself but also gave up on Jesus and tried to find a way to make things right in his own power. The only thing he found was that he didn't have the power to save himself.

Have you fallen in some way or fashion from the grace of God? There is no such thing. God's unmerited favor is never out of reach of the fallen. You just have to reach for it in repentance. The Lord has never given up on you - He has faith in you. There is great hope of restoration and recovery for you! Jesus Christ still has a great future for you.

King David repented and acknowledged his sin and continued to serve in God's favor as Israel's king. To this day, David is considered by many to be Israel's greatest king. John Mark came under the caring, restoring oversight of Barnabas and returned to effective ministry. And the Lord granted him the privilege of writing the Gospel of Mark. Peter repented, changed his ways, and served for years as a bold apostolic leader in the early church.

Don't succumb to cowardice and hang yourself like Judas. Be a real hero and get back up from your own fall and find Jesus.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 15-My Faith Did Me A Favor

"Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.." [Romans 5:2 AMP]

To the outsider, favor looks like effortless advancement. Like an out of the blue blessing, it appears to many as a sudden breakthrough. But to those who experience it they know better. They will say to you "you see my glory but you don't know my story." Behind favor is faith. Many of us have not apprehended nor really appreciated and appropriated the power of our faith, and thus have not walked in the kind of favor God has designed for us to have.

Paul's purpose in the first four chapters of Romans is to prove to his readers that the only way a man or woman can be right with God - or justified as he puts it -is through faith. Now, in chapter 5, through the power of the Holy Spirit, he keys in on the product of that faith - salvation and its results.

The only way a person can be justified and thus obtain salvation and eternal life is through faith. It is impossible, says Paul, for a human to be saved by his or her own endeavors. Noted commentator and Theologian Warren Wiersbe reminds us that "justification is God's declaration that the believing sinner is righteous in Christ. It is righteousness imputed, put to our account. Sanctification is righteousness imparted, worked out in and through our lives by the Spirit. Justification is our standing before God; sanctification is our state here on earth before others. Justification never changes; sanctification does." With the justification obtained by faith God looks at you and me "just as I've" never sinned.

But God doesn't stop there. "Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's favor)." I like the word "also". It means something extra and maybe unanticipated. It is the language of favor. Faith allows the Christian access to God's favor.

Favor is manifested in different ways but it is only accessed by faith. I'm walking by and living in my faith in God, but as a result I access grace - the state of God's favor. The details of what that looks like may be different but the result is the same. Favor is something that God arranges for you simply because He wants to do so. You didn't earn it by your works or worth but you accessed it by your exercising your faith. Faith requires believers and believers experience favor.

It is a wonderful revelation to the child of God to know that He has not given us what we do deserve. The pay for being born in sin and sharpened in iniquity is eternal death. It is even a greater wonder for us to know that He has additionally given us what we do not deserve - Grace to enjoy Eternal, Spirit Filled, Kingdom Minded, Real Life that begins the moment we believe. Rejoice in that revelation today.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 16-The Pretext of Favor!

THEREFORE, SINCE we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). [Romans 5:1 AMP]

We know now that favor is only accessed by faith yet it is manifested in different ways. So how do recognize favor? How do we know that what is happening is a result of the Grace of God?

We must first understand that favor has a pretext.

Verse 1 is key. With the word therefore, Paul indicates a conclusion based on his previous argument. In chapter 4, Paul showed how sinners, both Jews and Gentiles, are justified by faith. The unsaved person is at "enmity with God" (Rom. 5:10; 8:7) because he cannot obey God's Law or fulfill God's will. Isaiah makes the matter clear: "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked" (Isa. 48:22); But he also tells us that ". the work of righteousness shall be peace" (Isa. 32:17). Condemnation means that God declares us sinners, which is a declaration of war. Justification means that God declares us righteous, which is a declaration of peace, made possible by Christ's death on the cross. Here he begins to describe how having been made right in God's sight by faith affects our relationship with God.

One of the characteristics of the new birth is that we experience a change of position, a new standing before God - Peace with God. Having Peace with God means there is no more hostility between us and God; sin is no more blocking our relationship with Him. More than that, a new relationship has been established, so we no longer dread the outcome of judgment, but live under the protection established by God. This is not merely a subjective feeling (peace of mind) but an objective status, a new rapport with God: Once we were his enemies, but now we are his friends.

Yet the text is suggesting that the responsibility is on us to "hold and enjoy" Peace with God. Peace has been made by God through our Lord Jesus Christ which is a fact demonstrated by God's justification. A believer is not responsible for having peace in the sense of making it but in the sense of enjoying it. On the one hand, we are complete in Christ (our acceptance with him is secure). On the other hand, we are growing in Christ (we are becoming more and more like him).

The pretext of favor means that I cannot access what God has until I have made peace with who God is. Hebrews 11:6 tells us He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Let me ask you: Are you seeking Him or His stuff?. Are you seeking Him diligently or sporadically? God isn't interested in a gold digger relationship with you or me!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 17-The Context of Favor!

Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. [Romans 5:3 AMP]

The pretext of Favor is Peace with God. Yet Peace with God is no escape from the trials of life. "In this world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33). But as believers, we have the confidence that our trials work for us and not against us. No amount of suffering can separate us from the Lord (Rom. 8:35-39); instead, trials bring us closer to the Lord and make us more like the Lord. So then we begin then to understand that the context of favor is conflict.

Favor is always manifested against the backdrop of difficulty. Before God gets the glory out of our situation, we must find ourselves in impossible tribulations. Favor and God's glory are connected because when its genuinely favor - the glory cannot be given to anybody else. I think of Joseph who was the favored son of his father Jacob. From an early age he was given dreams of greatness and saw himself in a place of prominence and authority. Yet it was not until he was thrown unjustly into prison that his gift finally made room for him and he was elevated eventually to the second in command of the nation of Egypt. Somehow the trouble in which he found himself in served as an incubator or crock pot of sorts to bring out the best that was already resident in him. That is the way all the heroes of faith found their faith strengthened and their favor clear.

· Ask Abraham and he will point to Mt. Moriah.

· Ask Jacob and he will point to a pillow of stone.

· Ask Moses and he will point to the backside of the desert.

· Ask the three Hebrew children and they will point to a fiery furnace.

· Ask Daniel and he will point to a den of lions.

· Ask Peter and he will point to a Roman fire and his three denials.

· Ask John and he will point to Patmos.

Be encouraged to know today that the environment for the manifestation of favor, is the trouble, trial, and tribulations of our lives. The word "tribulations" means "pressure". There are certainly times when this life will exert pressure on the child of God. However, the mature Christian also knows that it takes pressure to produce Christ-likeness. Pressure is the process used to turn coal into diamonds. And, it is pressure in the life of the believer that forces out more of the old, sinful nature and reveals more of the image of God.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 18-The Ethic of Favor!

And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. [Romans 5:4 AMP]

What is the aim, the endeavor or ethic of favor? The Ethic Of Favor is Enduring Character. It is one thing to claim to be a believer, but it is entirely different to prove it. Character is easily one of the most valuable things that we have as Christians. Often times we don't think about our character, but let me tell you something. If you have told others that you are a Christian then it is something that they are looking at for sure!

We can only learn of God's presence in our lives through trials and struggles. You will never develop muscles that you never use. When you have a thorough workout you feel pain in places you never knew existed the next day. The reason is because you have worked muscles you never worked before. We don't get discouraged though, for we know it is better to have all our muscles in shape, even if it may cost some pain in the process. The same goes for character and spiritual development. There are times in which we are forced into relying on Him alone. That is best place for us to be to become better.

Camouflaged in a trial God is seeking to bless your life with endurance, character and confidence which are good and lasting things. Suffering builds Christian character. The word "experience" literally means "character that has been proven". The sequence is: tribulation?patience?proven character?hope.

The reason why God chooses this process is because It takes character to be able to handle His favor. Sometimes it looks like God is holding us back but He's really helping us out. God is either creating or cooperating with the context of the conflict and tribulations of life. All to bring about a change in who we are so that we continually become whom He has destined us to be.

Our English word "tribulation" comes from a Latin word tribulum. In The Apostle Paul's day, a tribulum was a heavy piece of timber with spikes in it, used for threshing the grain. The tribulum was drawn over the grain and it separated the wheat from the shell called the chaff. As we go through tribulations, and depend on God's grace, the trials only purify us and help to get rid of the chaff or the unnecessary parts of our lives hiding who we really are in God's eyes.

God will not give you a blessing that you can't handle yet. As Bishop T.D. Jakes asked years ago "Can you stand to be blessed?" If not then rest assured that through your pain, He's getting you ready for a blessing!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 19-Why Me?!

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. [Ephesians 3:8-9 NKJV]

God is sovereign, meaning He reigns supremely within Himself. He is not provoked nor moved by elements outside of Himself that make or cause Him to do something. No one can make God do anything. He doesn't have to do it. He didn't have to make humanity. He didn't have to offer a remedy for sin. He didn't have to allow Lucifer to remain existent as Satan. The triune union of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the sovereign community of the divine that needs nothing.

So when God does anything it is based out of His desire to do so. He gives because He wants to. He saves because He wants to. He redeems because He wants to. When He is touched - because of who God is in His sovereignty - He does what is undeserving to the recipient and receiver of the blessing.

Yet God is not going to do anything without plan, reason or purpose. So even when He gives what He doesn't have to give - there is a intention and rationale.

Nestled in the pages of this epistle, are words uttered by the Apostle Paul that ought to encourage all of us today. As he speaks about Himself in humble terms (less than the least of all the saints) he tells us that God gave him favor "to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery". This is awe inspiring language. For when you and I think of who we really are - the you and me that only we know in private - it should blow our minds that the God of all creation chooses to be we us. It is His choice alone that calls us to rebirth so that we can become what He intended for us to be in eternity.

There are times in which I don't desire to be around myself, but the Spirit of God still chases me because He desires to be close. It is truly a mystery as to why we are God's choice of fellowship. When David the King of Israel thought about this he said in Psalm 8:3-6 (TNIV):

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

What are mere mortals that you are mindful of them,

Human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings
And crowned them with glory and honor.

You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
You put everything under their feet.

Praise God that He thought of getting to us when we didn't and couldn't get to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord! He didn't have to do it but He did!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 20-Because of Who He Is!

Ephesians 3:2-13 is a single sentence in the original Greek text and represents a "parentheses" in which Paul digresses to explain the origin of the Church composed of believing Jew and Gentile who are now one body in Christ.

Midway through the journey it should dawn on us that we have nothing to do with the favor on our life. After all it is called the Grace of God not the Grace of Humanity. It's not because we are so special - but because He is so special. Not because we are so great but because He is so awesome. So what does God want us to know about Himself through shedding His grace upon us? We know He didn't have to do it - why did He do it anyway?

The apostle in the words of our text tells us first that God is including everyone. God wants no one on earth to be left out of His family. Paul's assignment was to preach the unsearchable riches among the Gentiles. This is an import change to the propagation of the Gospel. Previously the Good News was targeted only toward the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But now God freely gives the opportunity for all to be in right standing with Him through the blood of Jesus. To know that God intentionally, as act of His will, seeks to include you and me in His kingdom - regardless of history or pedigree ought to give us some sense of joy. God has a plan, an intention of what He is doing, and it's not some spontaneous reaction on His part to our mess. God's purpose embraces trifling things, like the fall of the sparrow. It numbers the hairs upon our heads, it plots the trajectory of an arrow shot randomly, that is, it embraces so-called 'chance happenings.' God's purpose is not a patchwork of expedients but based on the intention of His will and desire. Within all of that, He thought of us - praise His holy name!

When Paul communicates this to the Gentiles he has to put it in terms of riches - riches of grace (favor). The essence of the message which he proclaims to us Gentiles is this: since Christ is the one through whom we become heirs of all the promises made to God's people, there are therefore, unsearchable riches in Christ. The astounding mystery is that we can have all these riches through faith in Christ. According to Ephesians 2:7 the reason God rescued us from death and made us alive with Christ is "that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." The astonishing secret of God is that He sent His Son to die for sins and to rise again in order to create a Church of Jews and Gentiles on whom He could spend an eternity lavishing every possible blessing with all His infinite might.

In the words of the text, "the unsearchable riches of Christ," "unsearchable" literally means riches that can never be explored. You not only cannot count or measure them, but you can form no estimate of them; and you not only can form no estimate of them, but you never can get to the end of your investigation. There is a boundless continent, a world, a universe of riches, that still lies before you, when you have carried your search to the limits of possibility.

We have all of this favor for one reason alone: because He is God!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 21-The Bigger Picture!

". to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Ephesians 3:10-11 NKJV]

This wonderful Scripture expresses a thought that staggers the mind's ability to comprehend and appreciate. This Scripture states that the angels in heaven learn the manifold wisdom of God through seeing what God has accomplished in the church.

Paul previously expressed his deep feeling of indebtedness to divine grace that God had given to him and the other apostles and prophets the blessed privilege of revealing his previously concealed mystery, namely that the Gentiles could be fellow-heirs of the promises of Christ through the gospel. He was blessed with the grace of preaching to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, bringing to light to all men that mystery which God had kept secret since the world began. But now at the end of the ages, God revealed his mystery. God is making known through us to all who are looking in the heavenly realm just what His eternal purpose are.

What, then, do God's angels learn from the church? "The manifold wisdom of God" (Eph. 3:10). Certainly the angels know about the power of God as seen in His creation. But the wisdom of God as seen in His new creation, the church, is something new to them. Unsaved people, including wise philosophers, look at God's plan of salvation and consider it "foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:18-31). But the angels watch the outworking of God's salvation, and they praise His wisdom. Paul calls it manifold wisdom, and this word carries the idea of "variegated" or "many-colored." This suggests the beauty and variety of God's wisdom in His great plan of salvation.

But there is another facet to this truth that must be explored. What are the evil angels learning from God's "mystery"? That their leader, Satan, does not have any wisdom! Satan knows the Bible, and he understood from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Savior would come, when He would come, how He would come, and where He would come. Satan also understood why He would come, as far as redemption is concerned. But nowhere in the Old Testament would Satan find any prophecies concerning the church, "the mystery" of Jews and Gentiles united in one body! Satan could see unbelieving Jews rejecting their Messiah, and he could see Gentiles trusting the Messiah, but he could not see both believing Jews and Gentiles united in one body, seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and completely victorious over Satan! Had Satan known the far-reaching results of the Cross, no doubt he would have altered his plans accordingly.

The bigger picture comprises the fact that through the Church God is revealing Himself to the world. Jesus is the supreme revelation of all God is and through those who comprise the body of His Church, the Lord then is greater understood and seen by those who have no wisdom about Him. This include even angels who marvel at what God is doing in your life and mine.

No wonder my grandmother used to sing with fervor: "All night and all day - angels are watching over me oh Lord!"

Blessings!

WDB

Day 22-Prescribed With Purpose!

" Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory." [Ephesians 3:13]

"Therefore," in the light who God is, and the bigger picture surrounding your situation, how can we be discouraged? Paul was in prison, chained to different guards, facing an uncertain future, not able to visit the churches and teach them. The church in distant Ephesus was wilting at this bad news. "Doesn't God take care of his servants? Why is our wonderful apostle not freed - as God freed Peter? Doesn't the Lord know that we need Paul to preach to us?" There are organizations today who teach Chinese pastors how to escape imprisonment by safely jumping out of second story windows. Paul does not seem to have learned how to do such stunts. He was in prison, and resigned to that fact, to God's refusal to release him. There are no records in his epistles of any prayers to God to open the prison for him to be freed. Why should God cause his servant this suffering?

Paul gives the Ephesians this extraordinary reason, that his sufferings were for them, his sufferings were their glory. We know that Paul had learned to glory in the thorn in his own flesh. He gloried in his own infirmities and tribulations and sufferings. They drove him closer to God. He knew that they weren't prescribed without a purpose. God used them to deliver Paul from being puffed up, to make him more usable, and so Paul could glory in his sufferings. So he says to the Ephesians, "These sufferings are for my good, and so they are for your good too. My chain, my cell, my guards, my prison are all for you, for your sake. They are therefore something for which you should give glory to God. My ministry to you through this prison letter, as you read and learn and take it into your life, will assist your elevation to the glories of heaven. My prison sufferings are for your exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

If we are honest, we would admit that there are many people who we have blessed by their own suffering. Likewise there are many that have been and will be blessed by yours. God has a way of granting us the favor of gleaning by observation. So that when you and I look at the lives of others we can learn by seeing what God is doing in their lives. That is why the power of your testimony is so important. Something that plagued one person for 20 years can be avoided by another person in 20 minutes if they would just listen to the wisdom gain from that experience.

I am not suggesting that God puts you and I in troublesome places all the time. Sometimes they are a results oif our choices and plans - sometimes they are a product of His divine providence. I am saying however that no matter where you find yourself in life, there is not only a lesson for you to learn - but a lesson others will also come to know through listening to your story.

With all of the trials you have and will face, there is also the grace of a prescription of purpose attached.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 23-The Prayer of Favor!

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory. [Ephesians 3:14-16]

Now we have the basis of a prayer of favor. Because of who God is, and the bigger picture surrounding his situation, and knowing that there is purpose attached to his personal pain and prison, the apostle focuses his petition on seeking God's favor on behalf of those who would read his letter. Many times favor is sought as a result of grace not seeming apparent. It's when we are aware of insufficiency that we should look most to gain.

As we look at Paul's prayer for us, we notice that there are really four petitions to it. The first is found in verse 16 where Paul prays to God "that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man." Here Paul is praying that we might have strength.

This petition, like all the others, is preceded by a qualification. Paul desires that God would answer according to the riches of His glory. Paul does not want the answer to come out of God's riches, but according to God's riches. In other words, Paul does not want us to experience something of God, but to experience the limitless supply of God Himself.

The provision for which Paul prays is strength. He prays that we might be strengthened. The place where we are to receive this provision is in the inner man. The power by which we receive this provision is given through a Person --- the Spirit of God.

We all need strength. And the place that we need this strength is in the inner man. That is the seat of influence and also the seat of feebleness in our lives. But we need strength beyond our own. We need to be strengthened with power beyond human power. The word translated power is the Greek word dunamei. From dunamei we derive our words dynamic and dynamite. Both of these describe the power of God which we so desperately need. This is not a human power, but a divine power imparted to us through His Spirit. It is only because the Holy Spirit is welcomed and received in our lives that we will receive this power. This calls for an openness, a humility, and a receptivity on our part. God wants you strong.

When you welcome His Spirit you welcome His favor. When you welcome His favor - God will give you inward strength!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 24-The Privilege of Favor!

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." [Ephesians 3:17-19]

Now in verse 17, Paul prays for our fellowship with Christ. It's interesting for us to note that God wants us more than merely saved. This prayer is that Christ may dwell in your hearts. In other words, Christ desires to settle down and be at home in our hearts. In fact the word translated dwell is a compound form of two Greek words, kata (down) and oikos (house). Christ wants to settle down in our house. He wants to dwell in our hearts through faith.

Paul continues in verse 17, where he prays that we might comprehend and know the love of Christ. The word for love here is agape. This is God's love. We are to be rooted and grounded in love. God desires that our roots run deep and that our foundation be strong. We are planted in love. And from that perspective we can comprehend and know the love of Christ.

When he prays that we might comprehend this love, he is praying that we might understand it by experience. He prays that this comprehension might bring us to a place of understanding by experience the breath and length and height and depth of this love. The only way we can begin to understand this is to experience it for ourselves.

The favor God's love is known only by experience. The size of God's love is so immense it reaches to all people, nations, sins, needs, cares, situations. The length of God's love is eternal. It existed before time, it is never ending, it is unconditional, and it is boundless. The depth of God's love is unfathomable. It caused God to stoop as low as a man is. He reached down to us. The height of God's love is infinite. In His love we ascend with Christ in victory, joy, truth, character, and love. Measuring God's love is impossible. We are attempting to measure the immeasurable.

Paul also prays that we know the unknowable. He prays for us to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. Once we have encountered this love, we will be forever amazed by it. It is literally indescribable. The final petition is found in the later part of verse 19, where Paul prays that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Paul is praying that we might be filled with God. He is really praying that we might contain the uncontainable.

This is the privilege of favor for the believer. Knowing what cannot be known, measuring what cannot be measured and containing what cannot be contained. We have been created to be containers of God. He desires to pour His life into us and fill us to the full. This is the mystery of the Gospel of Christ. That Jesus through the privilege of His favor dwells in human beings. And the greatest need for the Christian is to be filled to capacity with Christ.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 25-When Brooks Dry Up!

"And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up." [1 Kings 17:7 (KJV)]

When God sends the supernatural blessing of His favor it must be mediated through a natural expression. Whether He uses people, places, or things - favor is arbitrated through what God has already created. A blessing doesn't fall out of the sky into our laps - God uses something or somebody to bless us. It's a wonderful assurance to know and to experience the power of God's favor working on your behalf. For He can cause anything and anybody to work in your favor.

But at some point all of us face moments in our lives when we must recognize the painful truth that God will allow that which has been a blessing to no longer bless you.

· The job you once longed to have now is a burden for you to go to daily because it does nothing more than barely meet your financial needs.

· You struggle to care for an aging parent as your roles now are reversed. It seems to you that the mom or the dad that you once knew is gone and day by day you struggle with mixed emotions as you meet their needs.

· You faithfully give to the church and the different causes; you are noted for being a generous man or woman, but a medical crisis causes you to lose all you have and you have no hope for paying it off that debt.

· Your regular medical checkup reveals that your body isn't in the shape that it once was and the doctor relays the words to you CANCER in the prime of your life.

· Your spouse informs you that after years of marriage that he or she doesn't love you anymore and wants a divorce.

The passage of scripture reveals the same human dilemma in the life of the prophet Elijah. In the face of a national drought, God directed the prophet to find relief beside a stream of water where he would be taken care of through the favor of the Lord. Yet the steam of life giving water that God directed Elijah to ran dry! Imagine how Elijah must have felt as he watched that stream grow smaller each day. One day, it's sound wasn't as loud as it had been the day before. As the days passed, the little brook began to get narrow. Then, one day it was all gone! Nothing was left but a dry, cracked stream bed. That which had formally been responsible for giving and granting elements that sustain life is now the cause for taking and preventing life from carrying on. I'm sure his question was the same as ours is in these situations: Why Does God Allow This To Happen?

We can only trust that God knows when we don't and that its working for our good.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 26- A Sufficient Source of Supply!

"And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." [1 Kings 17:4 KJV]

Our Lord is so powerful that He can cause anything and anybody to work in your favor. But at some point all of us face moments in our lives when we must be acquainted with the fact that God will allow that which has been a blessing to no longer bless you. Why Does God Allow This To Happen?

He primarily allows this So We Will Never Confuse The Source With the Resource!

One of the best ways we draw closer to God is to begin to know the many facets of how He refers to Himself. When He says "I have commanded" it brings to mind what Abraham discovered in Gen. 22:14. God is known to His children as Jehovah Jireh - The Lord Will Provide. It is important for us to understand that the source for everything is God Himself. James 1:16-17 tells us ". don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. [NLT]

The human dilemma reveals that it is possible that we can end up worshipping the provision instead of the provider. So, God sometimes allows the stream to dry up so we won't become guilty of trusting the brook more than we trust Him. We are to learn to look to the Lord and not to His gifts. So that even when the gifts are gone, we can still trust Him by faith to be our source and supply!

See here that God suspended the laws of nature to meet the need of His child. God used a bubbling brook and some ravaging ravens to feed Elijah while he was stationed at Cherith. Ravens are scavengers by nature. They feed off the flesh of the dead and are not known to be naturally nurturing to their young. Yet, God used them to bring life sustaining food and to take care of the prophet when he needed it the most. Never forget that God knows what you need! If He has too, He will move heaven and earth to see that your need is met. He knows where you are and He knows where the provisions you need are. He will direct your path to the place where He can meet your need.

The prophet was completely alone in that remote location, entirely dependent on God's providence. Day after day he learned that God was in control of nature and met his basic needs. True, it wasn't luxurious living, but God hasn't promised that to his children. The apostle Paul knew this to be the case; he wrote to the church at Philippi, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" [Philippians 4:19 KJV]; Take note that he said "need" not "luxury". In all circumstances, God is our sufficient source of supply.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 27-He's Preparing Me!

^"The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. [1 Kings 17:6-7 NIV]

Of all the lessons that we can learn from these verses, one of the most powerful is that we must never overlook the power of the hidden life. It was in this place, hidden away from public view that Elijah became a man of God. It was here that he learned to trust God totally. It was here that Elijah was forced to learn to lean on the Lord. You see, before we can ever give out, we must first take in. Before God can pour anything out of our vessels, He must first put something in them.

We all need to learn the value of the hidden life. You see ,there is a part of us the world sees and a part of us they do not. It is that part that is hidden from view that people do not see that defines us. It is that time spent alone, in the presence of God that can make us great for His glory. How much time are you devoting to the hidden life?

Of course, there are times when we think God should use us more than He does. However, when He hides us away from the eye of the world, His plan is to grow us up in private so that He might display us for His glory in His time. A life that is lived in solitude, before the Lord is a life that will one day be used to bring Him great glory. God wants us to come to the place where we are found faithful in the hidden life. When we are found faithful there, He will expand our sphere of influence and bring us out of hiding. That is the nature of Cherith! It may mean being passed over. It may mean being left out. Never forget, though, that God knows where you are. If He has sent you to Cherith, He has hidden you away so that He might reveal you in His time!

God's concern is that We Won't Confuse A Place of Preparation With A Place of Permanence. He doesn't want us to rest in a place meant for Recovery. Elijah's experience at Cherith was a preparation for a more demanding test of faith just around the corner. So is yours.

Rev. Darryl Coley sang about it best years ago:

He's preparing me for something I cannot handle right now,
He's making me ready just because He cares.
He's providing me with what I need, to carry out the next matter in my life.

He's preparing me, He cares for me,
Preparing me for everything that comes in life!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 28-He's Transitioning Me!

And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. [1 Kings 17:8-9 KJV]

It's interesting to note that the Hebrew word Cherith means "to cut off or to cut down". God had cut off Elijah from public view so that He might prepare his character properly for the next move in his life. In contrast to this, the Hebrew word translated Zarephath means "refining"; and God was certainly putting his servant through the refining fire of the furnace of faith. Imagine Elijah's feelings when he discovered that God was leading him to a widow so poor that she was about to prepare her last meal. But God's commands are never wrong; for when the widow put God first (by obeying Elijah's commands), God provided for her, her son, and her Elijah as well.

One of the hardest lessons the child of God will ever learn is that God must send you through certain experiences before He will use you for His glory. Not only must He hide you away in personal and private preparation of Cherith, but He must commission you to the refining and purifying of Zeraphath. Just as the silversmith heats the silver and skims off the dross until he can see his image in the silver, so God will work in our lives to bring us to that place where His image is seen in us.

When the Lord sends us to a difficult place in life, there is the tendency for us to want to be somewhere else. After all, who likes pain? Who likes sickness? Who likes financial trouble? Who likes to struggle? What we must learn is that if God sends us to a Zeraphath, He knows what He is doing. The only place for us to be is where God sends us! If we find ourselves in a difficult situation, we can do not better than to submit to it as the will of God for our lives and learn to trust Him while we are there.

God allows brooks to dry up in our lives To Transition Us From One Time Of Testing to Another. God's plan for Elijah was relocation--with a new ministry and a different source of supply. Elijah was going to be transferred from his private hide-away at brook Cherith to the town of Zarephath over 100 miles away. Yet in many ways this new location was "the pits" compared to the quiet and peaceful camp at Cherith. Elijah was going to have to live in very humble surroundings in the home of a poor, Gentile widow. And his ministry would be limited to one woman and her household for the next three years. He would have to tolerate a little kid that wasn't his running around the house all day, and there would be no other believers nearby for fellowship, because Zarephath was Jezebel territory, steeped in Baal worship.

But Mt. Carmel was just around the corner. Carmel means "fruitful land". Carmel would be the place where Elijah would defeat 450 prophets of Baal and show to everyone how awesome God really is. This allows us the hope of knowing that after the testing of the experiences of life that refine our character - we shall be fruitful and productive in our faith, accessing the favor of God's grace.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 29-Arise and Go!

"Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon. [1 Kings 17:9 KJV]

Nestled in this verse is a glimpse of the directive necessary to follow for anyone transitioning in the favor of the Lord. This verse has three commands: "arise," "go," and "stay." After these are a promise of provision and within each there are tests for Elijah: tests of faith or trust, of obedience, of availability and commitment, a test of vision for what God was doing in his life, and a test of contentment.

Initially God commands Elijah to "Arise." This is not just a physical phenomenon but a spiritual reality. Arising gives the connotation that one is resting in slumber and therefore not fully awake and aware. Before we can move on in the will and favor of God, we must first lift up our mentality and our desires to that of the one who is calling us higher. To do what God wants we must desire what God desires. So we must arise. Arise from zones of comfort and step out on faith. It means to wake up from our apathy and sluggishness and get involved in God's will for our lives. Too often Christians simply sit and do nothing because they are not using what they know in faith. Eventually we begin to sulk, and sour because nothing is produced in our existence. However God wants us to sit and saturate ourselves in the Word, but then, by faith to strive for Him in the power of Christ [Col. 1:29]. There were once three lepers who sat visionless at a gate of Samaria until one said "Why sit we hear until we die.so they rose up and went."[2 Kings 7:3-5] The Prodigal Son said to himself after the world let him down "I will Arise and go to my father". No wonder the Lord the man sick with the palsy to rise, take up his bed and walk. Following the Lord in obedience is the outcome spiritual awakening.

The second command reveals the natural outcome of the first: "get thee to Zarephath." "Get thee" is a Hebrew word halak which means "to go, walk." In this case, it carries the idea of traveling or journeying, which included hardships and danger. "Go" is an action word involving our will and commitment. It means that we move from just an idea of change and apply our action to achieving it. This means accessing our availability to go wherever He wants us and involving our dedication to His direction and not our own. Remember, God's will usually test us in our faith, our vision for what He is doing, our love, availability, values, commitment, and involvement.

I am sure when Elijah heard these commands his heart leaped, and perhaps he thought, "Whew, just in time Lord, but that's sure cutting it close!" The water in the stream had ran out. As this was going through his mind, he then heard, "to Zarephath." We learned already that this metaphorically meant "to refine by means of suffering." Zarephath would be a test but Elijah was safe in the will of God. God will never lead you where His favor cannot keep you!

I pray that the power and presence of the risen Savior resonate in your spirit and release in your life the kind of favor that proves to the world around you that Jesus is walking the airways - and those who yet pray can still expect miracles!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 30-The Call To Stay!

". and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee." [1 Kings 17:9 KJV]

Elijah was told to leave the dried up brook and to find relief in the home of a woman he had not yet met. And on top of that he heard the Lord say to him "and dwell there." The Hebrew word for this verb is yashab, and it means to "live, stay or abide". It gives the connotation of a long term commitment and not an overnight stay. Elijah, I'm sure, was to be disappointed at this word. For the next three years Elijah would have to stay in the home of this unknown woman who was too poor to take care of her son and herself. The mere fact that he would now be resident in the house would automatically change the dynamics of the home. As God's prophet he would be esteemed and looked up to by them by virtue of his calling. And the law mandated that prophets were to be received and taken care of by the people of the land. Yet because of their situation and the famine in the land Elijah would also have to take on the responsibility of head of household without the benefits of a husband. This had to be a tremendous challenge to his commitment, trust and vision as a man of God who was seeking to serve the Lord.

Most of us are familiar with the language of God's "call" upon a man or woman's life. It is awesome how the Lord will make know to a human being His desire and design for their living. It is this "call" that is sustaining and comforting when a person must go to new places and greater heights in ministry. We are reminded of the "call" of Abraham in Genesis 12 when was summoned to go to a place promised only by the Lord. Based only on this "call", ".By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. [Hebrews 11:8 KJV]." The commission of Isaiah is well know by many as found in chapter 6 of his prophesy. It contains the common verbiage used by preachers and other ministers today to confirm God's leading into a new venture of service for Him: "Lord here am I send me!" What makes the "call" of God exciting for us is the prospect of doing something new and leaving something old. The human spirit in all of us for the most part embraces leaving monotony behind and chasing after an occurrence that has not hitherto been experienced.

But this is not the fullness of God's call upon a human life.

In addition to a call to go or a call to leave more often in our lives God calls us to stay. This call embraces the faithfulness of the human spirit and the wherewithal to maintain that which one has begun. Some people want to leave situations they have begun simply because life is difficult and blame God for this desire to escape. But the Lord would never have us shirk our commitments merely for an opportunity to advance our personal zone of comfort. God's "call" is not only to go but also to stay and to finish strong.

In the midst of your assignment from the Lord see the grace of His favor that compels you to stay until the mission is accomplished and not a moment before. It is in this way that God gets the glory. For when others have left their post and you have seen it through - you know there was something that would not let you leave His work undone. That something is God's "call" to stay.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 31-King of The Sheep!

".behold, he keepeth the sheep." [1 Samuel 16:11 KJV]

We have read from time to time those wonderful Bible passages that speak of our future. We love to hear how God is working all things out for our good, and He knows the thoughts that He has for us, and things of this nature. For they are true. But the same things that can encourage us can at times cause us anxiety. For the reality of our lives tell us we have not yet arrived to the place of God's promise and purpose. Though it is true that God has willed, authorized, and ordained for it to happen, it is not yet realized.

God's purpose is to make something great out of you! Yet the truth of the matter is that God's favor does not always manifest quickly. Though He has the power to turn things around overnight, seldom if ever does God's process provide an immediate transformation. If we are honest we will have to admit that many of us even though we are in the favor of the Lord are still living with situations now that we truly believe will not always be existent all of our lives. If we are indeed more than conquerors, then we cannot always be subject to debt, be the victim of awful relationships, bound to sickness, or continually one step away from victory. At some point what God has promised and our lives must connect and His word will prevail.

In the Old Testament, the only class of people socially lower than shepherds was lepers. It was not a preferred occupation of choice for those of royal or peasant heritage. Yet that is the unlikely place where we find a newly anointed king. While David had already been anointed to be the next king of Israel; Saul was still allowed to occupy the throne until his successor was fully trained. God had David on a path that would lead to greatness- but it wasn't an overnight journey. Rather instead David would endure many years of difficulty and testing, and we find that it was not the end result of being a king that was so important as the journey that molded him along the way.

Upon David was the anointing to be the king yet "he keepeth the sheep". The promise of the Lord's favor had not yet become visible. What do we do while we are waiting on the favor of the Lord to manifest in our life?

Trusting in God daily in our journey we can begin to deal with this dilemma.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 32-Grow Where You're Planted!

"Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep."

[1 Samuel 16:19 KJV]

After David was anointed, he was summoned to the Kings palace to play the harp, because those who are in the Lord's favor find that their gift will make room for them. Yet although he was called to Saul's court, he did not stay there permanently. 1 Samuel 17:15 tells us "But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem."

There can be little doubt that day blended into day as David went about the monotony of keeping his Father's sheep. Countless days, endless routines, the same things day in and day out. This is what marked the life of David even though God's plans were to one day make him great. However, it was in this monotonous routine of life that David learned to be a man of God. It was there, alone on those mountains, doing the same things day after day that David learned the priceless lessons of faithfulness. David applied himself to the task of giving his best during the mundane times of life. Then, when God promoted him, he did not have to learn to be faithful; he already knew how. He did not have to learn responsibility; he had already learned that lesson. God used the unending repetitiveness of the routine to shape David for greater things.

The same is true for us. Often day blends into day and we see our lives as nothing but a boring, monotonous existence. What we fail to see is that God is working, even during the routine times of our lives. As life unfolds, day upon changeless day, we learn to be faithful in the little things; we learn to be faithful to God. As we learn faithfulness in the seemingly insignificant areas of Life, God will expand our level of responsibility. Matthew 25:21 tell us "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." When life seems like grind, just keep walking faithfully with God; He is preparing you for greater things.

Sometimes we can be so busy looking at the outcome that is promised that we overlook the process necessary to reach the goal. A pre-med student can't focus so much on wearing white coats and making big money that they don't learn the fundamentals of biology 101. David learned what he needed to know about being a king by being faithful to his shepherds calling. When it came time to fight Goliath, he used the faith and tactics he gained from experiences while protecting his father's sheep to empower him to victory over the giant.

So today I encourage you to remain faithful in the little things. For, in the final analysis, the little things are the foundation of our lives. Keep praying, even when it looks as if that He isn't hearing. Keep going to church, even when it seems nothing much is happening. Keep giving, even when it gets tight financially. Keep living for Jesus, day in and day out, refuse to turn back or waiver from following him. In His time, He will bless you and reward you for being faithful during the routine times of life. Grow where you are planted.

Blessings!

WDB

Day 33-An Attitude of Royalty!

"And David came to Saul, and stood before him.and he became his armorbearer." [1 Kings 16:21]

The spiritual consequences for not knowing what you look at when you peer into the human heart can be disastrous. Though people look at the outward appearances, God looks at our heart. We are told in the scripture that David had a heart after God, meaning that at the end of the day he sought to please the Lord as best he could. Even though he would fail miserably in some significant areas, what allowed him to overcome his issues was the attitude of his heart.

More than anything our text today teaches us that in his heart David respected the destination of his call. He acted in such a way that the favor of the Lord manifested in him finding favor with Saul. The result of this was Saul himself making David an armorbearer. What is even more significant is that David didn't use this opportunity to work against the King but for the King. He knew that ultimately the Kingdom would suffer if the King did and did not choose to sow seeds of rebellion. David somehow understood that he couldn't pull Saul down and lift himself up at the same time. It would be an unkingly attitude to do that and it wasn't a part of his heart. He trusted God to elevate him when he was ready. Because even though he was anointed he wasn't yet prepared.

There was much he needed to learn before he could take full control of the office he was anointed to occupy. What better place to learn than in the court of the King himself. David determined to be available to God, understanding that the kingdom was bigger than any individual. There are things that are bigger and more important that our personal achievement and promotion. In the Kingdom of God, the Lord wants servants with a royal attitude.

There were some things David did not do because it was not a part of the attitude and character of kings. His ability to grow where he was planted was subsidized by an attitude of royalty. He didn't have to promote himself because God had already anointed him. Therefore he could trust God to bring to pass the fruition of his anointing in God's time. Until then he would serve the Lord with gladness in any area of service.

I believe this attitude of his heart is the trait that made David so appealing to the Lord. It made him easy to make and mold. God is not interested in your abilities, whether you are experienced or qualified- He can give you those things. As a matter of fact, very often the very things you think you have to offer God can get in the way of something He may be trying to do through you. God is interested in the attitude of your heart.

It takes a mature spirit to know that they are somebody even when their occupation, or pay does not reflect this. It takes a attitude of royalty in a person's heart to know that they are saints, righteousness, more than conquerors, and everything else that the bible uses to describe the essence of a anointed believer. I wonder if your attitude reflects God's anointing or does your heart still embrace another definition of who you are?

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: [1 Peter 2:9 KJV]

Blessings!

WDB

Day 34-Get Started Now!

" And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him" [1 Samuel 16:23]

King Saul summoned David to stand before him and David was told to play his harp for the king. And when he did this the "evil spirit" or demonic mood that Saul was vexed with for the moment left. It could have been the case that David may have thought and said "Play for you?!" Who do you think I am? You've got to be kidding! I'm the new king- you should be playing for me!" But David didn't do this. Instead, he humbly accepted this place of service and was faithful to do it. He gave his best in this small place of service, knowing that he had been chosen to replace Saul, and patiently awaited God's timing.

Delivering the oppressed was one of the responsibilities and duties of those in the royal office. Kings were to use their power to help those in need not to hurt them. So in assisting with the deliverance of Saul from the oppression of the adversary, David was actually doing the work of a king. Additionally, he was helping the kingdom too, for a oppressed king would oppress the people. So keeping Saul in a good mood helped the people of Israel as well. All of this was done before the title came.

Notice that verse 18 shows his resume: .cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him." But verse 16 shows what they hired him for ".seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp." As you grow where you are planted and have an attitude of royalty, know that even though you may not be appreciated for all you can do, as you do what is needed now, it will open the door for more of you to be exposed. Find your place of service- make yourself, your character and your talents, available to God and be humble enough to be used by Him in even the most insignificant ways, because if you will be faithful in the small things, then God can trust you with the bigger things.

I want to encourage you today to not wait until you get a title to begin doing the work of your anointing. Titles are given to people who have already demonstrated their commitment and competence in the assigned area. You don't need to be called a missionary in order to witness and show hospitality to strangers. You don't need to be a choir member to sing a new song. You don't need to be a preacher to tell somebody about how good the Lord is, and that God can save and deliver. You don't have to be in charge in order to take charge and bind on earth what shall be bound in heaven.

Whatever opportunity God gives you, whether in church or in your marriage or any other place for that matter, trust God and He will move you where you need to be tomorrow. Get started with the work now!

Blessings!

WDB

Day 35-They Just Don't Get It!

"These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. [John 12:16 KJV]

It's frustrating for an instructor to face the fact that the effort and energy of teaching has not resulted in the student learning the lessons of life that should have been learned. Some of the time in this scenario, the teacher may be the one to come under scrutiny and fire, as others begin to examine the methods and style that is used to communicate the needed information. But most of the time the focus is upon the student himself, for unless there is a developmental problem detected in the person's mind, there must other correctable reasons why the learning hasn't taken place. Some are easily distracted by peers, others don't complete assignments, and still others may not show up at appointed times of testing. Whatever the case maybe the fault for not getting the message or the lesson is usually held at the responsibility of the one being taught.

We are all on some level spiritually ignorant. And our text today emphasizes this reality. After 3½ years of personal training and discipleship from the Master Himself we are informed that when Jesus came into Jerusalem in His triumphal entry, His disciples did not understand its meaning. We should not be surprised by the failure of the Jews to grasp what is going on. But why do our Lord's disciples not understand. They had been there to observe every miracle he had done. They were handpicked and called by Jesus to participate in the ushering in of the Kingdom. They saw demons flee, eyes open, limbs straighten, and dead bodies get up. They were privy to extended divine revelation after crowds had gone away about the message and the method of the Master's assignment. And yet when He enters Jerusalem fulfilling prophesy spoken by Zachariah, they don't know what going on. After all this time they still don't get it.

I would venture to say that if those who walked with Jesus personally had troubles grasping what the Lord was doing what does that say about us? Certainly we who have never seen Him visibly nor heard Him audibly as well have difficulty discerning the move of God in our lives. Just what is God up to?

Praise God that even though we have not gotten some lessons in life doesn't mean we cannot. It is never too late to learn what the Lord wants us to know - particularly what He wants us to know concerning Him. We can still get it.

Blessings!

WDB

www.destinychristianchurch.org

Day 36-Distacted By A Donkey!

"Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: "Don't be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey's colt." [John 12:14-15 NLT]

When Jesus enters Jerusalem fulfilling prophesy spoken by Zachariah, the disciples don't know what going on. After all this time walking with Him ,they still don't get it. Why is this the case?

As the people were welcoming Jesus as their King, they began to shout, ?Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!'" (verse 13). The disciples were obviously eager for our Lord to establish His kingdom quickly, as are the people. They were very aware of the opposition to Jesus, and of the dangers which faced them in Jerusalem. Yet as they accompanied Jesus to Jerusalem with fear and trepidation imagine the shock it must have been to see what appears to be the entire city of Jerusalem welcoming Jesus (and them!) with open arms. I can see Peter and John giving each other a "high five" sign of victory. At last, they've truly arrived. This kingdom is here!

But what's with the donkey?

The disciples were expecting something else. They were looking for a conquering hero victorious over the national oppression from the Roman government toward Israel. But this is not what happened. He did not ride a war horse or carry a sword or wear a crown. Nor did He ride in a wheeled vehicle, as did many kings. His manner of entry fulfilled Zechariah's prophecy which contrasted Jesus' coming with the coming of Alexander the Great. Presidents and dignitaries ride in motorcades not on donkeys. But Jesus' riding into the city on a young donkey was a sign of peace not a declaration of war.

This was hard to accept.

Many times we don't quite grasp the move of God in our lives because we are distracted. For the things that are hard to accept that come along with following Jesus can often disrupt our attention to what He is doing in our lives. The reality is that Jesus has some difficult demands for disciples to fulfill. We all love to answer the call to come to the Lord and to be forgiven of our sins, and given a new lease on life. But there are also requirements that those who are born again are called to keep. And we don't like them. None of us have a desire to: Love our enemies, do good to haters, bless those who curse us, pray for our abusers, give to beggars, let thieves keep that they have taken, offer the other cheek to those who hit us. Yet this is exactly what the Lord requires. This is hard for us because it goes against the natural and typical response resident in every human being.

But disciples are called to live at a higher level. Take time today to take your eyes off of the distractions and disruptions caused by the burdens of life and focus on the Lord who rides to bring you peace. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.[ John 14:27 KJV]

Blessings!

WDB

www.destinychristianchurch.org

Day 37- An Incomplete Vision of the Savior!

"His disciples didn't understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy..." [John 12:16 NLT]

The crowd all shouted Hosanna which means Lord save! Yet, they only saw Him without his glory. Their vision of Him was incomplete and based only in a fleshly understanding of Jesus. They understood only what they could see and had no revelation. Even the disciples, though close to Jesus and participants in these events, did not understand them. They lacked the perspective of the Cross and the Resurrection (when He was glorified). Thus they were unaware that Zechariah's prophecy had been written about Him. Their faith was weak and was only based on what they knew at the moment.

The intent of the Old Testament prophets were two fold. One they were to forth tell or deposit into the world the mission of Christ. Their words would make way for the One coming after them that would is the Word incarnate. Two they were to foretell or forecast the ministry of Christ like a meteorologist does the weather except with total accuracy. Both are needed in order to understand what the New Testament is all about, for the prophetic word is the backdrop of the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord. Without its knowledge and revelation, one is left to their own devices in interpreting the mission and ministry of Jesus and the product becomes a low Christology. We are often too prone to judge spiritual things merely by human standards.

Here the crowd here is welcoming Jesus only as a political deliverer, as the One who will throw off the shackles of Rome. These people wanted Jesus to be their king, but in the same way (and for the same reasons) that the Galileans wanted Jesus to be their king after He fed the 5,000 (see John 6:15). What they were shouting came from words written in the Psalms. Were they to understand the words correctly, they would realize that Jesus would be their King, but His reign would be spiritual and not political. They needed to read and to understand the verses which immediately precede the words they are shouting from Psalm 118: "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing; It is marvelous in our eyes" (vs. 22-23).

As the Lord's favor is manifested in your life, hold onto and remember every word of prophetic utterance that has entered you life through the Scriptures. Now is not the time to depend solely upon your own view of your circumstance and situation. For the life of the believer is in all ways couched within the parameters of prophesy. Your victory has already been secured by the forth telling and foretelling of His Word. It's up to you and I through the power of the Holy Spirit, to remember this when we are going through the rough places of our existence. God will do what He said He would do.

Blessings!

WDB

www.destinychristianchurch.org

POSTED BY: WDB AT 09:43 am | Permalink | E-mail this