100 Days Of Favor (8 page)

Have you seen Cecil DeMille’s movie,
The Ten Commandments,
or the animation,
The Prince Of Egypt?
Do you remember what happened on the night of the Passover? The children of Israel put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. What did the blood do? The blood put God on their side! None of the families who had applied blood on their doorposts had to fear the death of their firstborn children.

Now, think about this for a moment. Were the firstborn children of Israel spared that night because of their perfect behavior and conduct, or were they spared because of the blood of the lamb? Of course, it was because of the blood of the lamb!

In the same way, God does not bless you, as a new covenant believer, based on your perfect behavior and conduct. He is
for you
today because of the blood of the perfect Lamb—Jesus Christ. That is why as believers today, we don’t have to fight for ourselves. I like to say it this way: “If God is for us, who can come successfully against us?”

Always remember that God is on your side today because of Jesus’ blood. His holiness and righteousness that men are afraid of are now on your side because of Jesus’ blood. His unmerited favor is on your side and all of heaven’s resources are yours because of Jesus’ blood! Now, who can come successfully against you? No sickness, no disease, no creditor, no evil accusation, no gossip—no weapon formed against you, can come successfully against you (Isaiah 54:17)!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I thank You that You are on my side and You are for me today because of the blood of Jesus shed for me. Your holiness, righteousness and favor are on my side and all of heaven’s resources are mine not because of my goodness, but because of Jesus’ blood alone. Help me remember that because His blood avails for me forever, You are forever for me and for my well-being.

Today’s Thought

If God is for me because of Jesus’ blood, then no one—nothing—can come successfully against me.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 16

There Is Just Something Special About You

Today’s Scripture

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. —1 Peter 2:9

I
T IS THE
Lord’s manifested presence, His glorious power working in your heart and through your hands that will cause everything you touch to prosper with the Jesus-kind of results. In fact, even your harshest critic will have to conclude that the Lord is with you and is prospering the work of your hands!

Because Jesus is with you, expect good success in everything that you do!

Beloved, stop looking at your outward circumstances or the position you are in. Whether your employer is a believer or not, Jesus can make ALL that you do prosper when you depend on His unmerited favor in your career! And believe me, when that begins to happen, your employer will sit up and notice that there is something special about you. You will stand out in a crowd! Remember that the same Lord who was with Joseph is with you today. His name is Jesus and because Jesus is with you, you can expect good success in everything that you do!

For example, when you are placed over a sales project, believe that your sales team will hit record levels of sales never achieved before in your organization. When you are overseeing the finances of a company, believe that you will find legal ways to help your company save on operating expenses and increase its cash flow like never before. When you are placed in a business development role, believe that Jesus will cause doors that have always been closed to your company to be opened to you because of His unmerited favor upon your life. Perhaps your company is just a small IT start-up in the Silicon Valley, but for some reason, all the big boys in Microsoft, IBM and Oracle like you. They can’t put their finger on it, but there is just something special about you that makes them compete to find ways to collaborate with you, leaving you spoiled for choice!

Perhaps you are a homemaker. You can also expect Jesus’ presence in your life to give you favor with your children. Instead of constantly resisting and arguing with you, they will find you and your words irresistible. God can increase your influence over them.

My friend, that’s the unmerited favor of God in action. In the natural, you may be unqualified and inexperienced, but remember that all your disqualifications exist in the realm of the natural. You, beloved, live and operate in the supernatural realm! The Lord Jesus is with you 100 percent. You are a successful person in the Lord’s eyes and as you depend on Him, He will cause everything that your hands touch to prosper.

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus, I thank You that I have favor with my bosses, colleagues and clients because You are with me. And because of Your presence in my life, I know that I cannot help but excel in my projects and assignments. I choose not to be mindful of my lack of qualifications and experience. Instead, I expect to see good success in my relationships with people and in everything that I need to do today.

Today’s Thought

I am special because Jesus is with me!

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 17

Without Jesus, We Cannot Without Us, He Will Not

Today’s Scripture

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. —John 15:5

I
N MORE THAN
two decades of ministry, I have learned this from the Lord:
Without Him, we cannot. Without us, He will not.
What this simply means is that we need to recognize the fact that if we do not depend on Jesus, there can be no real, long-lasting and abiding success—without Him, we cannot. The Bible tells us that unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain (Psalm 127:1). Believers who want to experience His success need to recognize this truth and begin to depend on Jesus and Jesus alone.

If we do not depend on Jesus, there can be no real, long-lasting and abiding success.

There are some believers who may not articulate it, but in their hearts, they believe that without Jesus, they can still succeed. By believing and acting on this, they fall from the high place of God’s grace (His unmerited favor) back into the law, back into trying to merit and deserve success by their own efforts. God’s Word tells us, “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace [unmerited favor]” (Galatians 5:4, NLT).

These are strong words of warning. Once you start depending on your own merits and efforts to deserve God’s favor, you are back under the system of the law. You are cut off from Christ and have fallen from the place of having His unmerited favor work in your life. Don’t misunderstand me, Jesus is still with you (He will never leave you nor forsake you [Hebrews 13:5]), but by depending on your self-efforts, you effectively cut off His unmerited favor in your life.

So what do I mean when I say, “Without us, He will not”? Well, Jesus is a gentleman. He will not force His unmerited favor and success down your throat. He needs you to allow Him to work in your life. He waits patiently for you to trust Him. He waits patiently for you to depend on His unmerited favor, the way Joseph trusted and depended wholly on the Lord’s presence, until His manifested presence took over, and His glory radiated from everything that Joseph touched.

Beloved, let’s learn quickly that without Jesus, we cannot succeed, and if we choose not to respond to His unmerited favor, He will not force it on us. God’s unmerited favor is ever-flowing toward us and Jesus is waiting for us to come to the end of ourselves. He is waiting for you to stop struggling in your own attempts to somehow “deserve” His favor, and just depend on Him. So in the areas that you are still depending on your own efforts to succeed, start resting in Jesus’ unmerited favor and begin experiencing His manifested presence and glory upon everything you touch!

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that without You, I cannot experience good and long-lasting success. Please increase my capacity to receive Your unmerited favor that is ever-flowing toward me. Today, I choose to depend on Your unmerited favor. I want to experience Your manifested presence and glory in everything I touch.