100 Days Of Favor (14 page)

Today’s Scripture

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. —Isaiah 53:5

I
F YOU HAVE
not watched
The Passion Of The Christ
directed by Mel Gibson, I encourage you to get the DVD and watch all that Jesus has done for you on His road to the cross. Observe the anguish that He endured in the garden of Gethsemane, where He prayed in preparation for the ordeal that He knew was to come.

Our righteousness is a result of Jesus’ work and we can only receive His righteousness through His unmerited favor!

See how your King was taken by ruthless Roman soldiers, who mocked Him and rammed a crude crown fashioned from thorns onto His head. Look at how your Savior suffered lash after lash from whips designed to inflict maximum pain—whips laced with broken glass and hooks, so that every stroke ripped off flesh from His already lacerated back.

In one scene, Jesus collapsed from the blows, and I screamed in my heart, willing Him to stay down so that His tormentors would relent in their vicious assault on Him. But He did not stay down. With you and me on His mind, He clung on to the beating post and dragged Himself up to receive the full measure of the scourging, knowing that it is by His stripes that we are healed.

His agony did not end when the hardened soldiers grew tired of flogging Him. The soldiers shoved a heavy cross onto His completely bloodied back, forcing Him to carry the splintered planks toward Golgotha. After barely surviving such vicious treatment, it was no wonder that Jesus fell under the weight of the cross after staggering part of the way, and the soldiers had to force a passerby to help Him carry the cross. Our Lord was then stretched out over the cross and huge, long nails were hammered cruelly into His hands and feet.

Did Jesus endure all this for nothing? Was this all in vain?

That is precisely what Christians who insist on trying to earn their own righteousness through the law are saying.

Let me quote Paul so that you can see for yourself what I mean:

I do not frustrate the grace [unmerited favor] of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

—
G
ALATIANS
2:21,
KJV

My friend, do not frustrate the grace (unmerited favor) of God in your life by looking to yourself and trying by your own efforts to make yourself righteous before God. We cannot earn God’s favor and acceptance. We can only receive righteousness as a free gift from God. God’s righteousness is free for us, but it cost Him dearly. He paid for it with the blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. It is a gift that can only be given freely not because it is cheap, but truly, because it is priceless!

“But Pastor Prince, how can I, who did no right, be made righteous?”

Well, answer me this first: How could Jesus, who knew no sin, become sin on the cross for us?

You see, Jesus had no sin of His own, but He took upon Himself all of humanity’s sins. On the other hand, you and I had no righteousness of our own, but on that cross, Jesus took upon Himself all our sins, past, present and future, and in exchange, gave us His perfect, everlasting righteousness. Now, is this righteousness that we have received a result of our own works or
His
work? It is clear that our righteousness is a result of His work and we can only receive His righteousness through His unmerited favor!

Let me give you the clearest definition of grace (unmerited favor) in the Bible:

And if by grace [unmerited favor], then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace [unmerited favor] is no longer grace [unmerited favor]. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace [unmerited favor]; otherwise work is no longer work.

—Romans 11:6

Do you follow? There is no middle road. You are either righteous by God’s unmerited favor or you are trying to merit righteousness with your own works. You are either depending on Jesus or you are depending on yourself. Because Jesus has paid so dearly for you to have His own righteousness, you can cease from your own efforts to be righteous in God’s eyes to earn His favor. See yourself the righteousness of God in Christ and expect the blessings of the righteous to manifest in your life!

Today’s Prayer

Father, help me to always look to Jesus, who suffered a great deal for me and died for me, so that I could have His righteousness as a free gift. I fully expect all the blessings of the righteous to flood my life today.

Today’s Thought

Am I depending on Jesus or am I depending on myself and my works to be righteous before God?

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 31

God Will Never Be Angry With You

Today’s Scripture

“
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

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. We must
let the Bible interpret the Bible.
We can’t base our interpretations on our denominational backgrounds or our experiences.

God will never be angry with us again because of what Christ has accomplished for us!

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.

Today’s verses are from Isaiah 54, which 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!” (John 19:30). 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 because of Jesus’ finished work!

The next time the devil tries to rob you of your sense of being beloved by making you think that God is angry with you, just ignore him. Ignore him when he says, “How can you call yourself a Christian?” You are a righteous, accepted and beloved child of God! When you believe this, you will have the confidence to face every challenge with boldness, knowing that you have God’s unmerited favor on your side!

Today’s Prayer

Father, thank You for Your Word that tells me that You will never be angry with me again. Because Jesus bore the judgment of all my sins in His own body at the cross, I stand righteous before You, totally accepted, favored and loved by You. I am empowered by Your perfect love to reign over my circumstances today!

Today’s Thought

Because of what Jesus has accomplished at the cross for me, God’s righteousness is for me, not against me!

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 32

What’s Your Response To The Voice Of Accusation?

Today’s Scripture

In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. —Isaiah 54:14

I
T IS IMPORTANT
for you to be established in the righteousness of Christ, because it will determine how you respond to the voice of accusation when you are believing God for big things, and trusting Him for answered prayers.

Right believing always leads to right living.

“Who do you think you are?”

“Don’t you remember how you yelled at your spouse this morning? Why should God give you favor for your important presentation at the office today?”

“Look at how easily you lose your cool on the road. How can you have the cheek to expect good things to happen to you?”

“You call yourself a Christian? When was the last time you read your Bible? What have you done for God? Why should God heal your child?”

Do these accusations sound awfully familiar? Now, how you respond to this voice of accusation will expose what you really believe. This is the litmus test of what you believe. This is where the rubber meets the road! A person could think, “Yeah, you are right. I don’t deserve this. How can I expect God’s favor to be on me for my presentation at the office when I was so harsh with my wife this morning?” Now, that’s the response of someone who believes that he needs to earn his own righteousness and place of acceptance before God. This person believes that he can expect good from God only when his conduct is good and his own checklist of self-imposed requirements are met to the hilt.