Dear Ones, over the past few weeks, over forty percent of our subscribers were frozen out of their Living Waters articles by a glitch at Injesus. If you were on AOL or YAHOO you didn’t get anything from us. Sorry! We missed you! And with many phone calls to our friends at NetAtlantic, we finally got this resolved. If you want to see what you missed please go to our home page at lightbearers-ministries.com.
While you are there you can check out our new interactive map to show all of our schools of ministry around the world, bless God forever!
Finally, next week I’ll be in Benin West Africa to celebrate the graduation of our students there and celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Four Square Movement in that part of the world. There will be a Living Waters article next week as well, Lord willing. Love you all!
FAVOR
…I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works… Rev 2:23 NKJV
The Lord searches the hearts of every sentient human being to give to them according to their works. Every one, everywhere, in every culture, tribe and nation, whether they are ‘reached with the Gospel’ or not, has their minds – souls and hearts – spirits examined by the Lord Jesus that He might give to them according to their works. Nobody gets missed.
You may say, then why do we need to go and preach the gospel? First response – we are commanded to! Through preaching the gospel we become like our Lord, and in partnership with Him, in that just as He seeks that one lost little sheep…so do we! In preaching and proclaiming the gospel we declare to all created things the greatness of our God, the true and only Master of the universe (Eph.3:10). But where the Church doesn’t, won’t or can’t preach, the Lord Himself is still reaching out to the hungry ones.
So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Ezek 22:30-31 NKJV
When you realize that the Lord searches the hearts of everyone, that He gives everyone the chance to know Him, every single sentient human being, then you realize that He sends no one to hell. They send themselves because they refuse to know Him and respond to His call upon their lives. He knows everyone, inside and out, freely makes Himself available to them, and therefore He can be a just Judge.
I humbled myself with fasting; Ps 35:13 NKJV
What does He search for? What does He desire in you and me, that He might pour out His perfect will upon our lives? This is not about sin because sin is a foregone conclusion (yeah – you and I have, yeah – you and I do, and yeah – you and I will); besides the fact that for the born again ones He has clothed us with His righteousness, making us pure and holy, sometimes in spite of ourselves.
He searches for those who will empty themselves of all other agenda and seek Him, inquire of Him, look to Him. At the root of sin is the desire to be independent of God, to do things my way. Our purpose is to say NO when He says NO, to say YES when He says YES, to stop when He stops, and to go when He goes, to think His thoughts and hold His attitudes about everything. Those that can do this position themselves for the exceeding abundant favor of God!
What does the favor of God look like? It’s like when the impossible becomes possible, when Heaven falls like rain, like the dawning of a new day. It’s like when God speaks and your heart shudders and a new vision of what’s possible appears before your eyes, and nothing is ever the same again, and you just can’t go back to the lesser. The favor of God gets ahold of you and the passion of God lights a fire in you and you will keep walking until the miracle comes. And, it does come! That’s what it looks like!
Most of us it seems dwell comfortably well within the limits of what we think is possible. Mediocrity is a subtle but deadly trap. We can never imagine anything else. For such people the grace or favor of God is not necessary. But for those who hunger to see all that God would do for the world, who hunger to see Heaven come to earth, for His perfect will in their lives, for them favor is an absolute necessity, like air to breath, and they will pursue it with all of their hearts.
The pursuit of favor is about positioning ourselves in the will of God. Look at these positioning verses…
I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people. Ps 35:18 NKJV
In my early morning devotions I have learned to sense how much the Lord loves and appreciates the praises of His people. Thanksgiving is the language of favor!
By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. Prov 22:4 NKJV
Have you ever asked the Holy Spirit to take everything out of your soul that hinders your growth in humility? That is what my dear friend Dale calls a ‘gut scrub.’ True, heartfelt humility is perhaps the preeminent characteristic in the positioning for grace. True humility is never talked about by the humble one, its simply demonstrated. The fear of the Lord is the settled surrender of knowing He is God and I am not God.
He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend. Prov 22:11 NKJV
Favor comes so many times through with whom the Lord brings us into relationship. The key in all relationships is to be a giver, one who shares grace, who has grace on his lips, which comes out of a pure heart. You are not there to receive, but to give!
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…Eph 3:20-21 NKJV
The Holy Spirit in man’s spirit creates a bubbling ‘favor factory!’ If we would just take the empty moments of our day, those times ‘in between,’ and use them by releasing rivers of life in tongues we would see such great favor! The words ‘according to’ tell us that the exceeding abundant favor hinges upon that release of the power of God in our lives. Do you see it?
Favor is what is required in our lives. Jesus said, Without me, you can do nothing…nothing at all. Positioning ourselves for favor should be such a daily pursuit that it becomes a lifestyle. When it does, favor will become your life story. Love you!
Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business!