Unmerited Favor (27 page)

Listen, my friend, Jesus was not murdered! He laid down His life willingly. He chose to be led like a lamb to the slaughterhouse. He had the power at any time to stop the soldiers who held Him. In fact, the men who had gone to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane fell to the ground when He said, “I am...”
⁹
Jesus had to wait for them to get up to arrest Him!

Jesus
chose
to be subject to the beatings, abuse and scourging. He
chose
to be crucified on the cross at Calvary. Through it all, you and I were on His mind. He endured every act of torture, so that He could wash away all our sins and reconcile us to God. How can we help but love and worship our Savior, who paid such a heavy price for our salvation?

While Jesus had favor with pretty much everyone, there was one group of people He did not have favor with—the self-righteous, self-seeking, legalistic Pharisees. Similarly, when you look at Joseph’s life, you will see that he had so much favor with his father Jacob that Jacob gave him an exquisite coat of exquisite fine linen. But Joseph did not have favor with his elder brothers. They were filled with such envy and hatred for Joseph that they threw him into a pit and sold him as a slave.

Unfortunately, the self-righteous Pharisees and the jealous “older brothers” are still around today. Their dependence is on their own flesh and they operate under the system of “deserved favor” based on the law. That is why they hate and envy people who walk under God’s grace, which is unmerited, undeserved and unearned favor. So don’t be surprised that you do not have favor with self-righteous people when you are walking in God’s favor. In fact, you may find that as you grow in the favor of God, some people will write terrible things about you, attempt to assassinate your character and drag your name through mud.

God’s favor is like a shield encircling you, protecting you from those who come against you.

Nonetheless, don’t worry about them. They are fast becoming a small minority. There is a revolution of the gospel all over the world as people are rediscovering the gospel that our Savior died to give us. Just focus on the Lord’s favor in your life and believe that indeed, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn.”
¹⁰
You don’t have to try to defend yourself because God’s protection surrounds the righteous. The psalmist says, “For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.”
¹¹
What a beautiful promise in God’s Word. God’s favor is like a
shield
encircling you, protecting you from those who come against you. Picture that for your own life and experience His loving protection!

Personalizing God’s Favor In Your Life

I used to think that among Jesus’ 12 disciples, John was the Lord’s favorite disciple and the one who was the closest to Him because the Bible calls John “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
¹²
I was under the impression that John had a special favor with Jesus, and always wondered what made him so special that he stood apart from the other disciples. Don’t you want to be known as the disciple whom Jesus loves? I do!

Then one day, when I was reading God’s Word, the secret of John’s favor dawned on me. The Lord opened my eyes and showed me that the phrase “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is actually found only in John’s
own
book! Check it out for yourself. You will not find this phrase being used in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is found only in the Gospel of John. It is a phrase that
John
used to describe himself!

Now, what was John doing? He was
practicing and personalizing the love that Jesus had for him
. We are all God’s favorites, but John knew the secret of accessing Jesus’ unmerited favor for himself. It is your prerogative to see yourself as the disciple whom Jesus loves, and to call yourself that!

When I started to teach that the secret of John’s favor lay in his personalization of God’s love, the people in my church literally stepped into a new dimension of experiencing God’s unmerited favor in their lives. I have seen how some of them really took this revelation and ran with it. Some of them customized the wallpapers of their cell phones to say “The disciple whom Jesus loves,” while others signed off their text messages and emails with the phrase.

As they kept reminding themselves that they are the disciple whom Jesus loves, they began to grow in the consciousness of the Lord’s love for them. At the same time, they began to grow in being favor-conscious! I have piles of praise reports on how our congregation members have been so blessed just by being conscious of Jesus’ favor in their lives. Some of them have been promoted, some have received spectacular increments to their paychecks and many have won various prizes at company functions and in other contests, including all-expense-paid vacations.

A brother from my church signed up for a certain credit card during a special promotion in which new applicants stood to win a range of prizes. There were probably hundreds of thousands of people who participated in this promotion, but this young man just believed that
he
was highly favored, and because of that,
he
would win the top prize.

For the believer, there is no such thing as luck. There is only the unmerited favor of Jesus!

The day of the draw came and true enough, this young man won the top prize—a stunning black Lamborghini Gallardo! When he wrote to the church to share his testimony, he enclosed a picture of himself smiling from ear to ear, posing with his brand-new Lamborghini. He said that he knew that he had won the car by the unmerited favor of God, and after he had sold off the car, he brought his tithe to the church, giving all glory and honor to Jesus. The world calls this “luck,” but for the believer, there is no such thing as luck. There is only the unmerited favor of Jesus!

How God’s Favor Rescued Me

I thank God for revealing the truth of God’s unmerited favor to me even when I was in my late teens. During my military service, which is mandatory for all male citizens in Singapore, something happened to me that really established me in the favor of God.

When I was undergoing jungle training, I was placed under a section commander who was known to be a sadist. He worked us to the bone. Each night, long after other sections had completed their training, he would still be pushing us with one exercise after another. The punishing regime battered our bodies, and this section commander would heap verbal abuse on us at the same time, crushing whatever esteem we had left in our sweat-drenched, aching bodies.

On one particular evening, the section commander forced us to charge up a hill over and over again until I really felt I could not take it anymore. I saw other sections already getting ready for bed while we were forced to continue the grueling exercise. After charging up and down the hill countless times, it finally occurred to my lightning-fast mind to call on Jesus. So gasping, I cried out for favor! Before then, I had never called upon God in this way, but God was just waiting for me to open my mouth to release His favor upon me. That night finally ended, but something unexpected was in store for us the next day.

The next morning, the section commander gathered us together. As we sat on the ground, looking uniformly exhausted, he told us this, “Last night, I had a dream. One of you appeared in my dream and when I saw this face, I felt something happen in my heart...and I realized that I have been treating all of you very badly. Do you want to know who I saw?”

He pointed his sun-browned finger right at my face.

From that time, the section commander went to the other extreme. When our section was alone with him, he would always tell us to relax and not train so hard. Instead of forcing us to complete hundreds of sit-ups, he now sat down with all of us, telling us story after story. We didn’t particularly care about the stories he had to tell about his father, his grandfather, and people from goodness knows how many other generations in his family, but we had absolutely no complaints. Military life was suddenly a breeze!

Anyway, soon after that incident, I was sent to several other military training programs, and did not see that section commander for almost a year. But on the last day of my military service, our paths happened to cross and he called out my name from afar. Knowing that he has hundreds of trainees each year who all looked the same (we all wore the same uniforms and had the same crew-cut hairstyle), I knew that it must have been
some
dream that he had of me. By that time, I was fully convinced that the favor of God works!

The more you are conscious of how precious you are to Jesus and how favored you are because of Him, the more you will increase in favor with God and man.

Beloved, I pray that you will learn to
personalize God’s favor
in your life. When you realize that you are not just a face in the crowd, but someone whom God—the Creator of all heaven and earth—is passionately in love with, you can’t help but want to live a life that glorifies your Abba. And the more you are conscious of how precious you are to Jesus and how favored you are because of Him, the more you will increase in favor with God and man. Get ready to see good success in your life as you become more and more Jesus-conscious. And remember, you are greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved!

Chapter 22: The Secret Of The Beloved

My friend, we have come to the last chapter of this book and before we close, I want to make sure that you know the secret of the beloved, which is to know that you are deeply, deeply loved by Almighty God. Knowing this truth will cause you to be established in the unmerited favor of God and to always carry a sense of favor-consciousness wherever you go.

All Christians probably believe that God has the
power
to bless, heal, protect, prosper and make someone a success. However, we know that not all Christians believe that God is
willing
to do all that for them. Matthew 8:1–3 records the story of a leper who came to Jesus for healing. He said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” The leper did not doubt Jesus’ ability to heal him, but he was unsure if Jesus was
willing
to heal
him
, a leper who was ostracized by all. In other words, he believed in God’s omnipotence, but was not sure if God’s heart was one of love and unmerited favor toward him. I am sure that you know believers who are like that. They may believe in God’s power, but they are unsure of God’s heart toward them. They know that God can, but they are not sure if He is willing.

This is one of the biggest tragedies in the church today. When these believers hear testimonies of believers being healed by the Lord, they are unsure if God is also willing to heal them. When they read praise reports of the Lord blessing others with promotions and financial blessings, they privately question if God is also willing to do the same for them. They wonder what these people
did
to get their blessings.

More tragically, they look at their own lives, imperfections and failings, and start to disqualify themselves from receiving God’s blessings. They think, “Why would God bless me? Look at what I’ve done. I am so undeserving.” Instead of having faith to believe God for their breakthroughs, they feel too condemned to be able to believe in God’s goodness and receive anything good from Him.

My friend, don’t be like that leper who completely misread Jesus! Let’s see how Jesus responded to him. This is important because it would be the same response that Jesus would give you if you approached Him today.

“I Am Willing”

Matthew 8:3 records that “Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying,’ I am willing; be cleansed.’” Can you see how personal Jesus’ ministry is? He did not touch every person that He healed. At times, He simply spoke and the sick were healed. But in this case, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched the leper tenderly. I believe that Jesus did this to heal him not just of his leprosy, but also of the emotional scars that he had received from years of rejection.

Leprosy was a highly contagious disease and the law forbade lepers from coming into contact with anyone. This means that for years, this leper had been shunned by everyone who saw his condition, even his own family members. He probably stank of decaying flesh and neglect, and his appearance must have been repulsive.

Whatever breakthrough you are believing Jesus for, He says to you, “I AM WILLING.”

But without flinching, Jesus touched him, giving him the first human touch he had since he contracted the disease. The Bible tells us that immediately, his leprosy was cleansed and the man received his healing.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.
¹
Whatever breakthrough you are believing Him for, He says to you, “I AM WILLING.” Don’t doubt His heart of love for you any longer. Stop being occupied by your own disqualifications and be completely absorbed in His love and grace (unmerited favor) toward you!

Come To Jesus As You Are

“But Pastor Prince, why would God want to bless me? My life is a mess.”

My friend, you are favored and accepted by God today because of
His
unmerited favor. He can take your mess and make it into something beautiful. Come to Him just as you are.

Years ago, one of my church members suddenly stopped coming to church for a long time. I met up with him to find out how he was doing and to see if everything was alright. He was very honest with me and told me that he was going through a lot of problems in his marriage, and that he was now addicted to alcohol. Then, he said this: “Let me get my life right, then I will come back to church.”

I smiled and asked him, “Do you clean yourself before you take a bath?” I could tell from his expression that he was taken aback by my question, so I told him, “Come
as you are
to the Lord. He is the bath. He will cleanse you. He will get your life in order for you, and He will cause every addiction to lose its hold on you. You don’t have to use your own efforts to clean yourself before you take a bath!”

I am glad to share that this precious brother soon returned to church and Jesus turned his life around. Today, he is happily married, blessed with a beautiful family and is one of my trusted, key leaders. That is what the Lord does when you come to Him as you are, and allow Him to love you into wholeness. He will make all things beautiful in your life.

There are many people today who are like this brother. They want to get their lives together by themselves before they come to Jesus. They are under the impression that they need to make themselves holy before they can step into God’s holy presence. They feel like they are being hypocrites if they don’t sort out their lives first before coming to church.

Nothing could be further from the truth. You will
never
be able to make yourself holy enough to qualify for God’s blessings. You are made holy, righteous and clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, and it is
His
righteous standing that qualifies you— nothing more and nothing less. So stop trying to clean yourself before you go to the Lord. Come to Jesus with all your mess, all your addictions, all your weaknesses and all your failures. God loves you just as you are. However, He also loves you too much to let you stay the same. My friend, when you come to Jesus, He becomes your “bath.” He will wash you clean, whiter than snow! Jump into the bath today and allow Jesus to make you perfect, righteous and holy in God’s eyes!

Highly Favored In The Beloved And Well-Pleasing To God

Ephesians 1:6 says, “to the praise of the glory of His grace [unmerited favor], by which He made us
accepted
in the Beloved.” It is not possible for us to make ourselves accepted. We are made accepted by the glory of the Lord’s unmerited favor. In the previous chapter, we learned that the word “accepted” in Ephesians 1:6 is the Greek word
charitoo
. Now, the root word for
charitoo
is
charis,
²
which means “grace.” So
charitoo
simply means “highly graced” or “highly favored.” In other words, you are highly favored in the Beloved!

Now, we know that “the Beloved” in Ephesians 1:6 refers to Jesus. If you read on, it says in the next verse that “In Him [ Jesus the Beloved] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace [unmerited favor].” Now, why didn’t the Bible just say that we are highly favored in Jesus or in Christ? (There are no insignificant details in the Bible.) Why did the Holy Spirit choose specifically to say that we are highly favored
“in the Beloved
”?

“Beloved” is a warm and intimate term that was used by God at the Jordan River to describe Jesus. The Bible tells us that when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, as soon as He came up from the water, “He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, ‘You are My
beloved Son
, in whom I am
well pleased
.’”
³
In these scriptures, you can see the triune God—God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This tells us that there is something very important for us to learn here.

God the Father spoke publicly and His words were recorded for you to know that to be “accepted in the Beloved” means that God is
well pleased
with
you
today. See yourself sandwiched right smack in the midst of Jesus, God’s Beloved. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see you in your failures and shortcomings. He sees you in Jesus’ perfection and loveliness! Because you are in Christ, God says to
you
, “You, _______________ (insert your name here), are My beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus is well-pleasing to God because He kept the law perfectly. You and I are well-pleasing to God because we are accepted and highly favored in the Beloved, who took all our sins and fulfilled the law on our behalf!

Always Remember That You Are God’s Beloved

Immediately after Jesus was baptized, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The devil came to Jesus and said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
⁴
Now, don’t forget that Jesus had just heard the voice of His Father affirming Him with the words “You are My beloved Son.” Years ago, as I was studying Jesus’ temptations by the devil, the Lord asked me, “Did you notice that the devil dropped one word when he came to tempt My Son?”

For the devil’s temptations to work, he cannot remind you that you are God’s beloved.

I had never heard anyone preach this before or read this in any book, but God opened my eyes to see that the devil had omitted the word “beloved”! God had just told Jesus, “You are My
beloved
Son.” But shortly after that, the devil came to Jesus, saying, “If You are the Son of God...”The word “beloved” is missing! The serpent had deliberately left out the word “beloved”!

The Lord then showed me that for the devil’s temptations to work, he cannot remind you that you are God’s beloved. The moment you are reminded of your identity as God’s beloved in Christ, he will not be able to succeed! It is no wonder that the devil wants to rob believers of their sense of being God’s beloved.

God Will Never Be Angry With You

A warning is issued in 1 Peter 5:8—“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about
like a roaring lion
, seeking whom he may devour.” I know that a lion roars to intimidate and to bring fear, but I used to wonder what kind of fear the devil tries to instill in the believer. But we must
let the Bible interpret the Bible
. We can’t base our interpretations on our denominational backgrounds or our experiences.

One day, I was reading Proverbs 19 when I came across verse 12: “The king’s wrath is like the
roaring of a lion
, but his favor is like dew on the grass.” Who is the king that this verse refers to? It is our Lord Jesus! So when the devil goes about
like a roaring lion
,
he is trying to impersonate the King. He is trying to make you feel as if God is angry with you. Every time you hear preaching that leaves you with a sense that God is angry with you, guess what? You have just been roared at! But know this, beloved: God will NEVER be angry with you ever again. He only has to tell us this, but He wanted us to be so sure that He
swore
in His Word that He would never be angry with us again. I want you to read these scriptures for yourself:

“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you
, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

—Isaiah 54:9–10

This passage in Isaiah 54 is right after the famous messianic chapter of the sufferings of Christ in Isaiah 53. Therefore, Isaiah 54 is spelling out the triumphs and spoils of His sufferings.

Do you know why God will never be angry with us again? It is because of what Christ has accomplished for us! On the cross, God poured out all His anger on the body of His Son. Jesus exhausted all the fiery indignation of a holy God against
all
our sins, and when all of God’s judgment of our sins had been completely exhausted, He shouted, “It is finished!”
⁵
And because our sins have already been punished, God, who is a holy and just God, will
not
punish us today when we believe in what Christ has done. God’s holiness is now on your side. His righteousness is now
for
you, not against you. You are His beloved, in whom He is well pleased!