Unmerited Favor (3 page)

You see, my friend, you can’t go by your feelings. You go by the truth and the truth is this: God promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
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So the best time to practice His presence is precisely when you
feel
like Jesus is 100,000 miles away. Remember that feelings aren’t based on truth. God’s Word is truth!

Anyway, soon after I graduated from high school, I took on a part-time job to teach in an elementary school where I was placed in charge of a class of 10-year-olds. I remember one day, when I was practicing His presence, I knelt down in my living room and prayed, “Lord, I just thank You that You are always with me.” As I was on my knees, the Lord told me to pray specifically for one of the girls in my class who had been absent from school that day.

Now, it is very common for kids to miss class now and then for various reasons, and I had never been led by the Lord to pray specifically for any of them. This girl was the first! The Lord told me very clearly to pray for His protection to be over this girl and to cover her with His precious blood.

The next day, there was a big commotion in the school and I found out that the girl had been kidnapped by a notorious serial killer that very afternoon that the Lord had told me to pray for her. The killer, Adrian Lim, had kidnapped several children to be offered up as sacrifices to the devil. He believed that Satan would give him power when he offered the blood of these children to him.

Over the next couple of days, this girl from my class was all over our national media because she had been miraculously released. Sadly, she was the only girl released. All the other kidnapped girls had been brutally murdered.

When she returned to class, I asked her how she came to be freed. She told me that her kidnapper was “praying” over her when suddenly he stopped and told her, “The gods do not want you.” She was quickly released that evening. Of course, you and I know why the “gods” didn’t want her—she was covered and protected by Jesus’ blood!

Listen to what I am saying here. In America today and around the world, the devil is trying to destroy a new generation because he is afraid that the young people of the new millennium are going to take over the world for Jesus. That is why we have to cover our children with Jesus’ protection.

I am sharing all this with you because I want you to see the importance and power of practicing His presence. As a teacher during that time, my class was my responsibility, just like my congregation is my responsibility today. Think with me: How in the world, with my finite knowledge and intelligence, could I have known that one of my students was in grave danger? It is not possible! But because the Lord, who knows all things, was with me, He made me a successful teacher.

Similarly, whatever role or vocation you are in, whether you are a schoolteacher, business leader or homemaker, I want you to know that Jesus is with you and He wants to make you a success. Now, remember, all this happened to me before I became a full-time pastor, so please don’t think that this unmerited favor from Jesus is only for pastors. Beloved, His unmerited favor is for you. The Lord Immanuel is
with you
.

Whatever role you are in, Jesus is with you and He wants to make you a success.

You see, it is not us; it is Him. If Jesus is with us, He will give us success in all that we do and cause us to have good results in every area of our lives to the glory of God. If God can do it for Joseph, a young man sold into slavery, He can do it for you! Let this be your reality:

“The Lord is with _______________, and I am a successful person.”

As you become conscious of how Jesus is with you, you’ll see Him leading you to success in all that you need to do!

Chapter 2: Everything You Touch Is Blessed

By now, I hope you can see that God’s definition of success is contrary to the world’s. The world looks at
what
you have, while God sees
who
you have. The world’s system is based on what you have done, while God looks at what Jesus has done on the cross for you. It sounds simple, but don’t dismiss it just because it’s simple. The gospel is simple, and it takes theologians to complicate it!

You can make a choice to live your life depending on yourself to merit, earn, accomplish, fight for and accumulate wealth and success according to the world’s definition, or you can make a decision today to live your life depending wholly and completely on Jesus, His merit and His accomplishment on the cross for your every success. It essentially comes down to the question of dependence. Who are you depending on today—yourself or Jesus? Do you want to fight for yourself, or do you want Almighty God, the Creator of the heavens and earth, to fight for you?

You see, when you depend on yourself,
you
carry all the stress, burdens and anxieties that your circumstances may present you. But if your dependence is on Jesus for every success in your life, the Bible records a beautiful promise for you: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
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When Jesus is your source of success, there is no stress and God’s peace will garrison your heart and mind. The word “peace” in Hebrew is
shalom
. Its meaning includes peace, prosperity, health, completeness, soundness and safety. What a powerful fortress we have in Jesus!

In A Crisis? Jesus Can Rescue You

My friend, the circumstances around you may appear bleak. Your bank account may have dried up. You may have lost your source of income due to corporate restructuring and you may have no idea how you are going to pay next month’s rent. Perhaps your home may be up for foreclosure soon. You may be mired in credit card debt, and the friends that you once trusted may have disappointed you. Maybe you have just received a devastating medical report. The whole world seems to be crashing down around you, and you feel crushed, frustrated and disappointed.

Now, what can you do? Beloved, now is the time for you to turn away from yourself and look to Jesus. In your frustration, you may be wondering, “What can Jesus do for me? Can He rescue me from the crisis that I am in?” The answer is sure—yes, He can! That’s what He did for Joseph and He can certainly do the same for you!

Joseph—The Apple Of His Father’s Eye

Let’s continue to draw powerful truths from the life of Joseph in the Bible. His story begins in Genesis 37. His father made no secret about the fact that he loved Joseph more than all his other children, and made an exquisite tunic of many colors that was given to Joseph only. The Hebrew words for “tunic of...colors” are
kethoneth pac
. The phrase means a coat of pieces of various colors. The coat is a long tunic with sleeves worn by young men and maidens of the better class, a dress of distinction.
²
Thus, this tunic was distinct from the ordinary laborer’s garb worn by his older brothers. Joseph’s tunic was not woven out of the coarse linen used for normal clothing, but was skillfully woven from fine, high-grade linen. Why is this important? It is important because it did not only mean that Joseph had better-looking clothes compared to his brothers, but it also meant that the tunic was a sign to all that Joseph enjoyed a higher status in his father’s eyes.

This fine linen tunic set Joseph apart from his brothers in terms of their responsibilities in the family. It meant that unlike his brothers, Joseph did not need to work in the fields and tend the flock. All he had to do was to attend to his father and bring his father pleasure. What an awesome job description! That is why we find that Joseph was mostly by his father’s side while his brothers were laboring under the sweltering sun.

Joseph’s tunic, therefore, speaks of a special position of favor and rest with his father. It is no wonder then, that every time Joseph’s brothers saw him wearing this tunic, they were reminded that their father loved Joseph more than any of them. Filled with jealousy and envy, they hated Joseph and could not speak peaceably with him. Furthermore, Joseph shared with his brothers the two dreams that he had received from the Lord and these dreams only exacerbated their hatred toward him. They ridiculed his dreams angrily and mocked him saying, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?”
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Joseph Betrayed By His Brothers

One day, as Joseph’s brothers were out tending their father’s sheep in the fields of Dothan, they saw Joseph approaching from a distance and waving innocently at them. They knew that he was sent by their father to check on them, and they burned with resentment as they recalled how this little squealer brought a bad report to Jacob the last time he had come to spy on them.

Overcome with rage and compounded jealousy toward Joseph, his brothers conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”
⁴

Bright-eyed and unsuspecting, Joseph headed toward his brothers, ready to embrace them. Without warning, his brothers seized him and violently stripped him of his beautiful tunic. Struggling frantically all the while, he was dragged toward a nearby pit and shoved into its cavernous depths.

Any notion that his brothers were perhaps playing a prank on him dissipated from Joseph’s mind when they returned awhile later, only to heave his gagged and bound body into the hands of a gang of Midianite traders on their way to Egypt. The next time we see Joseph, he is trussed up in ropes and sold like a piece of meat in an Egyptian market.

It’s Not The End When The Lord Is With You

Do you know of anyone who is in a worse situation than Joseph was at this point? His whole world appeared to have collapsed around him. Just a few days earlier, he was in his father’s embrace but now, his own brothers had betrayed him. All that he owned had been stripped from him. He was reduced to nothing more than a slave in a foreign land.

It is not what you have. It is who you have  that makes all the difference.

Was this the end of Joseph? In the natural scheme of things, it sure looked like it was. But even with the odds stacked up against Joseph, the Lord was far from finished. We learned in the previous chapter that even in this dire situation, the Lord was with Joseph, and at this dark and bleak juncture in Joseph’s life, the Lord called him a successful man! Remember, it is not what you have. It is
who
you have that makes all the difference.

“How can the Lord make a young slave with not a single cent or possession to his name succeed?”

Well, let’s continue with Joseph’s story. Genesis 39:3 tells us, “
And his master [Potiphar] saw that the Lord was with him [ Joseph] and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand
.” This is a powerful statement and it offers a promise that you can believe Jesus for, in every area of your life. Can you imagine every project, assignment and even errand that you undertake becoming prosperous? Your hands become hands of blessing. You touch your family members and they are blessed. Your company may be struggling to manage a difficult project, but once it is placed in your hands, the project becomes blessed. You become a blessing waiting to happen to someone, waiting to happen to something, everywhere you go!

God’s Presence In All That We Do

Now, how will this happen? The Lord Jesus will make it happen when you depend on Him in the same way that Joseph depended on Him. Joseph had nothing. He could not trust in his skills or experience (he had never been a slave), nor could he trust in his natural connections (his father was out of the picture because he believed that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal). All Joseph had was the Lord’s presence, and he depended on the Lord to manifest His presence, His power and His glory through him!

When God’s presence is made manifest in your life, that’s when His glory shines forth through you.

That’s what you and I need—a manifestation of His presence in everything that we do! You see, it is one thing to have His presence (all Christians have His presence because they have accepted Him as their personal Lord and Savior), but when His presence is
made manifest
in your life, that’s when His glory shines forth through you!

Even Potiphar, A Heathen, Could See It

Don’t forget that Joseph’s master, Potiphar, was not a believer in God. He was an Egyptian who worshipped idols. Yet, when the manifested presence of the Lord shone gloriously through the work of Joseph’s hands, even this unbelieving heathen could see the tangible results of the Lord’s special anointing, power and blessing upon Joseph’s life. Potiphar marveled and could not but acknowledge that the Lord was with Joseph, and that “the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.”

Now, isn’t it interesting that Potiphar did not merely conclude that Joseph was a good worker? Instead, Potiphar could see that it was not Joseph’s skills, but rather, his God who was prospering all that Joseph set his hands to. Genesis 39:3 tells us that “the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.” This could not have been “spiritual discernment” on Potiphar’s part—he was not a believer and had no spiritual discernment when it came to the things of God. So this tells me that Potiphar must have witnessed tangible results that were really out of this world. He must have seen results that were so spectacular that he knew they were beyond that of an ordinary human being!

Perhaps Potiphar ordered Joseph to dig new wells for his household and every well that Joseph dug yielded water even in the midst of a drought. Perhaps the field that Joseph tended yielded crops that were shockingly bigger than the crops in the surrounding fields. Perhaps Potiphar saw how Joseph called upon his God when the children in the house were suffering from some epidemic in the land, and they were all healed. Whatever the case was, Potiphar knew that the prosperous results he had witnessed were not a result of Joseph’s natural abilities. They had to be due to the fact that the Lord was with Joseph, and God made all he did to prosper in his hand. Isn’t that beautiful?

Desire To Have The Jesus-Kind Of Results

My personal prayer and desire for my ministry is to have the same kind of results that Joseph had. In everything that I do, I want people to see Jesus and Jesus alone! When I pray for a sick child, I certainly do not want the results that my own hands can produce. If the results are what Joseph Prince alone can produce, I can guarantee you that the child will remain sick. No, I want the results that only Jesus can produce! When I preach about Jesus and His finished work, my prayer is that my church congregation and those who are watching our broadcasts around the world would hear not what
I
have to say, but rather, what
Jesus
is speaking to their hearts through me.

Desire the results that only Jesus can produce!

I am but a vessel, and my words alone have no power. But at His Word, sinners get born again and are saved for all eternity. Sick bodies are healed. Demons flee, marriages are restored and families brought together. Debts are supernaturally cancelled, fears disappear in His perfect love, hearts are encouraged, hope is restored and joy is renewed. Now, THAT is the Jesus-kind of results that I want, and by His amazing and unmerited favor, we have seen all these blessings happening in our church week after week!

Not Our Doing But God’s Unmerited Favor

Sadly, the world and even some Christians do not understand what it means to depend on Jesus. For instance, some people think that Joseph Prince somehow grew New Creation Church from 150 members to more than 20,000 members today because of some clever strategy or comprehensive 10-year growth plan. A senior Christian pioneer in my country once asked me what I was doing to grow the church. I replied that it was all by grace— Jesus’ unmerited favor. He replied, “Yes, yes, I know that it’s by grace, but really, what are you doing?”

When you stop doing and start depending on God’s divine favor, you will begin to experience the Jesus-kind of results.