100 Days Of Favor (36 page)

Today’s Prayer

Father, I ask for the same thing that King Solomon asked—an understanding or hearing heart. I want to be able to hear Your words of life and understand Your directions for my life, so that I can walk in Your wisdom. I want to be able to flow with Your Spirit, who guides me into all truth. ’Lead me to walk in Your wisdom in all things, so that I can live victoriously the life that You have given me and fulfill the calling that You have for me.

Today’s Thought

Having a hearing heart allows me to know and walk in God’s wisdom.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 83

Wisdom And Length Of Days

Today’s Scripture

Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding…Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. —Proverbs 3:13, 16

T
HE BIBLE PROMISES
something when you have wisdom: “Happy is the man who finds wisdom…
Length of days is in her right hand,
in her left hand riches and honor.” Unfortunately, for King Solomon, he only had the left hand of wisdom, which holds riches and honor. The Lord had said to him, “…
if
you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments…then
I will lengthen your days
” (1 Kings 3:14).

Because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, riches and honor, as well as length of days, belong to us!

For Solomon, who was under the old covenant of law, the blessing of length of days was a conditional one, which he could receive only if he was able to keep the law perfectly. However, Solomon failed to do so and he did not enjoy length of days, which is in wisdom’s right hand.

Today, because we are under the new covenant of grace, Jesus is at the Father’s right hand and He is our wisdom. And when we have Jesus, we can be blessed with the two hands of wisdom because of His finished work on the cross. This means that riches and honor, as well as length of days, belong to us! What an awesome God we serve!

Beloved, pursue Jesus and you will experience wisdom in every area of your life. You cannot try to earn, deserve or study to acquire God’s wisdom. It comes by His unmerited favor. His wisdom will give you good success in your career. It will cause you to succeed as a student, parent or spouse.

For instance, if you are facing some problems in your marriage, God will not just “zap” your spouse and make him or her do a moonwalk and come back to you! The same thing that drove your spouse away from you in the first place will just drive him or her away again. What you need is wisdom for your marital situation!

If you are faced with a crisis in your business, depend on the Lord for His wisdom. There are no “money problems,” only “idea problems.” Trust that the Lord will bless you with the wisdom from heaven to cause everything that you touch at your workplace to prosper. God’s wisdom always leads to promotion and good success.

Today’s Prayer

Father, I thank You that because of Jesus’ finished work at the cross, I am blessed with both the left and right hand of wisdom—riches and honor as well as length of days belong to me! I know that You want to bless me and my family with good success, and I thank You for making Your wisdom that brings this good success available to me through Your unmerited favor.

Today’s Thought

When I trust the Lord to bless me with wisdom, promotion and good success will follow.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 84

God’s Wisdom Brings You Promotion

Today’s Scripture

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” —Genesis 41:39–40

I
N
G
ENESIS
39:3–4, we see how when Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and that everything he touched prospered, Potiphar immediately promoted Joseph and placed him in charge over all the affairs of his house. Similarly, when Pharaoh saw that the Spirit of God was in Joseph and that there was none who was as wise and as discerning as Joseph, Pharaoh placed him in charge of the whole of Egypt (Genesis 41:38–41).

If you are caught in a situation where you don’t know what to do, it is time to humble yourself and ask the Lord for wisdom.

My friend, I want you to note this: Joseph
knew
that God was the source of his wisdom. When Pharaoh said, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it,” Joseph immediately replied, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:15–16). Joseph knew that his wisdom was a result of the Lord’s unmerited favor and would not take any credit for it. Clearly, here was a man who understood grace, and could be trusted with increase, promotion and more good success.

Observe the wisdom of Joseph in action. Joseph did not just interpret Pharaoh’s dream. He went on to advise Pharaoh on how to take advantage of the seven years of abundance to prepare for the seven years of famine that were revealed in his dream. Did you notice how Joseph’s wise advice led to the creation of a position of influence for himself? That is how the wisdom of the Lord operates. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.” Joseph knew that his wisdom was a gift from the Lord. He knew that he did not earn it and that it flowed from the Lord’s unmerited favor toward him.

The Lord’s ways are amazing. See the extent of Joseph’s promotion in Genesis 41. In the space of less than an hour, he rose from a lowly prisoner to the highest possible office in all of Egypt. That, my friend, is the unmerited favor of God! No striving, no self-effort, no compromises and no manipulation, just pure grace and grace alone made all the difference in Joseph’s life!

Remember that when the Lord is with you, you are a successful person. It may feel like you are in a prison now, stuck in a hopeless situation, cast away and forgotten like Joseph was, but the story is not over yet! The Lord’s promotion is around the corner. Whatever situation you are in right now, do not give up.

If you are caught in a situation where you don’t know what to do, it is time to humble yourself and ask the Lord for wisdom. The Bible says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). To ask the Lord for wisdom is to say, “I can’t, Lord, but You can. I give up on my own efforts and depend entirely upon your unmerited favor and wisdom.” As you receive His wisdom, riches and honor, as well as long life, will follow after you. Run to Him right now!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I acknowledge that any godly wisdom that I have today is a result of Your unmerited favor. I thank You that if I need more wisdom, all I have to do is ask You for it, and You will gladly give it to me. And because You are willing to give me more wisdom, I don’t have to strive, struggle and stress myself out to get ahead in life. Just a drop of Your wisdom and favor can cause me to be quickly promoted to a position of influence and power!

Today’s Thought

If I need wisdom, I can just ask God for it—He gives it liberally and without reproach!

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 85

Wisdom Makes You Value Jesus’ Presence

Today’s Scripture

Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. —1 Kings 3:15

L
ET
’
S SEE WHAT
King Solomon did right after he received wisdom from God in a dream. David had instituted worship at Mount Zion, not at Mount Gibeon. What were left in the tabernacle of Moses at Mount Gibeon were merely the physical objects, structure and form. It had the lampstand, table of showbread and altar of incense. But the most important furniture in the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, which had the presence of God, was missing.

When you receive God’s wisdom, you will want to receive even more from God’s Word and from the presence of Jesus.

King David had a special revelation of the ark of the covenant and had brought it back to Jerusalem and placed it on Mount Zion. We see that for some reason, Solomon was into tradition before he received wisdom. While he was sincere in seeking the Lord at Mount Gibeon, the Lord’s presence was actually at Mount Zion. The tabernacle of Moses only had the form, but the substance of the presence of the Lord was with the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem. But notice this: Once Solomon had received wisdom from the Lord, the
first thing
that he did when he awoke was to go to Jerusalem where he “stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.”