GOD'S FAVOUR - PART 2

SATURDAY 05 MARCH 2022

In the book of Luke chapter two, an angel brought the good news of Christ's birth to the shepherds in the field, saying "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared and joined the angel to praise God for the good news. Let's find out more!

Reference: Luke 2:14 New International Version (NIV) "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!"

When we study the chapter properly, what we can observe is an angelic proclamation. If we are mindful of angelic utterances, we can identify that they are divergent and praiseful in language and spiritual dimension. They often start with praises to God because that's their familiar language in heaven. This is evident in the above verse, "Glory to God in the highest!" And it was noted in the previous verse that, "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying... "Glory to God in the highest" (Verse 13). This means that their praise and worship manner is worthy of notice.

Now watch this: After praising God and lifting Him far above all things (notice the term, "in the highest"), their next speech was to introduce Christ's birth by saying, "peace to men on whom His favor rests!" Beloved, this is indeed the life Jesus came to bring - life of favour. As we grow in the Lord, we begin to grasp the timeless truth that favour is not something He actually waits to gives us when He feels like; it is God Himself manifesting His good pleasure in our lives through Christ. And we can live this favour as a reality so long as we consecrate ourselves to God. Beloved, do not let anyone spoil your "life of Christ" experience by telling you that you lack or need favour as a Christian. Favour is a Person and that is "Christ in you" which means that as you bond with Christ, favour becomes the outward outcomes of your life.

Understand this: Christ Himself is the realistic paragon of dignified favour and there is absolutely nothing to add to His glory and presence in your life. He is the full package and power of positive influence anybody can ask for. In a nutshell, Jesus is a bundle of gracious energy uncommonly evident in our inward man. His Word exerts the triune power of good and seasoned conversation you can indulge in or experience as you meditate on it, which is majestic favour. To think and speak right in accordance with the Word is a function of divine favour. When we understand how the favour of God works in our lives and remain conscious of its recognition, the understanding changes everything about us. This is because as we face life's situations, we have a predetermined inward awareness that we are one with favour, not that we are looking for or expecting favour.

Christ, the embodiment of favour is internally positioned in us and we function in an inextricable union with Him. Simply put, divine favour is apportioned to our existence on earth. Even when we encounter seemingly difficult challenges, we now see favour handling them. All we need at such times is to learn to take our faith position in order to experience divine favour at will. And so adversities become an adventure, as we walk by faith and keenly watch out for how the Spirit of favour expresses itself in our lives so as to enable us glorify God in such situations.

The favour of God in our lives is not based on works, rather it is revealed "from faith to faith". In other words, it is through a continuous growing faith that a righteous person experiences favour. That means, we can heap favour upon favour because walking by faith pleases God and favours the righteous enormously. Divine favour, then, is more of the One who is at work in us manifesting Himself through us because our faith is dependent on Him. Colossians 2:10 (NLT) reads, "So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority." This Scripture sums up the mystery of divine favour in our lives which makes us complete. By paraphrasing it, we can experience the fullness of favour in Christ because of our union with Him. This can also imply that Christ holds the superior authority we can ever think of or consider when it comes to expressing favour.

As we recognize that we are already filled with untold and established favour because we are complete in Christ, we can rest in the truth that Christ in us has simply become our "all-round favour" in His unique ways of expressing Himself in our lives and in any of our circumstances. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Proverbs 12:2; Jeremiah 32:41; Psalm 89:17; Acts 7:36.

Exuberant Declaration: The favour of God indwells me and has made me His permanent address on earth. Therefore, I'm full of Christ's unfailing love and faithfulness, enjoying His goodness on a daily basis. As I behold His glory in the Word, I increase in favour and it renders my life entirely and supremely blessed. I'm in continual possession of every good and perfect gift from above which cannot be quantified because the God of hosts is forever gracious to me. Evidently, my life is characterized as pleasing God, having been set apart for His glorious and eternal purpose. Blessed be God!