100 Days Of Favor (26 page)

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.”

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.

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!

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus, Your grace saves the worst of us. No matter how messed up my life is, You can turn it around and make it beautiful. I come to You just as I am today, with all my faults and failings. I thank You that You have made me righteous with Your blood and that You are washing me with the water of Your Word and loving me into wholeness once more. Your unmerited favor in my life will remove every addiction and sickness, turn my mourning into rejoicing and fill my heart with Your robust peace!

Today’s Thought

No one cleans himself before taking a bath. So I’ll come to Jesus—the bath—just as I am.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 61

Won Over By God’s Grace

Today’s Scripture

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. —Romans 6:14

A
DEAR SISTER
from my church wrote to share about how the Lord had thoroughly transformed her life. She used to frequent nightclubs and pubs regularly, spout vulgarities, take drugs, stay away from home, and get involved in illegal activities such as theft and peddling pirated software.

It is vital for you to receive the gift of no condemnation because that is what will give you the power to overcome your weaknesses, destructive habits and addictions.

During this time, she was often depressed and even entertained thoughts of suicide. Finally, she hit rock bottom and felt that everything in her life had gone wrong. She could hardly convince herself to live on. It was during this period that her sister brought her to New Creation Church and she was impacted by the gospel of grace. This is her testimony:

I was introduced to grace for the first time and
I learned that God does not despise or condemn delinquents like myself
…I was amazed as I began to see Christianity from a new light for the first time.

To cut a long story short, I challenged the Lord one day to prove His existence and love for me and He did just that. Within a span of two weeks, I was completely won over by Jesus and gladly accepted Him into my life. As what people always say, the rest is history.

I would like to testify that it was GRACE and not the LAW that drew a great sinner like me to God. Over time, the Lord transformed me from a delinquent into a lady who is so in love with Jesus! He did not modify my outward behavior immediately when I was still a baby Christian. Instead,
He poured His love and grace abundantly into my life, which eventually transformed me from the inside out.
Grace may not produce immediate results, but the fruits are sure and permanent!

Just when my family members had given up their hopes on me, my Daddy God did a miracle by changing me effortlessly from within into a new person! Everyone around me marveled at the change when they saw the works of God in my life. I am a walking testimony of God’s existence and grace! Hallelujah!

Praise the Lord, isn’t this an awesome testimony? This sister was rescued at the lowest point in her life because she realized one powerful truth—God does not despise or condemn her. He LOVES her and it was this revelation of His love and grace (unmerited favor) that turned her life around completely!

Beloved, it is vital for you to receive the gift of no condemnation because that is what will give you the power to overcome your weaknesses, destructive habits and addictions. If you believe that God condemns you for your failures, would you run to Him for help?

Look at how Jesus gave a sinner the power to sin no more. He defended the woman who was caught in adultery. He looked tenderly into her eyes and asked her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (John 8:10–11).

You see, the Ten Commandments, in all their pristine holiness, cannot make you holy and cannot put an end to sin. The power to stop sin from destroying your life comes from receiving the gift of
no condemnation
from Jesus. Your Savior, who has fulfilled the law on your behalf, says to you, “Where are those who condemn you? NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU. Now, go and sin no more.” This is grace, my friend. This is His unmerited favor! The law says that God will not condemn you only
if
you stop sinning. However, Grace says, “I have taken your condemnation on the cross.
Now,
you can go and sin no more.”

Romans 6:14 says that “
sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace [unmerited favor].”
If you are still struggling with sin, it is time to stop depending on the law. Fall upon His unmerited favor like the apostle Paul did. When you know that Christ has made you righteous apart from your works, and that He has perfected you by His unmerited favor, that will give you the ability to overcome every sinful temptation, habit and addiction in your life!

Right now, when you reach out to your Savior Jesus, God sees you as perfect in Him. He does not condemn you for your past, present and even future mistakes because all the mistakes that you will make in this life have already been nailed to the cross. You are now free to sin no more, experiencing victory and success over every sin and bondage in your life!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I thank You that I have the ability to overcome every sinful temptation, habit and addiction in my life because of Your abundant grace and gift of no condemnation. Thank You for showing me that it is Your grace, and not the law, that transforms me from inside out. Only by Your unmerited favor and not my efforts am I changed from glory to glory. I receive Your gift of no condemnation anew today and thank You for victory over every sin and bondage in my life.

Today’s Thought

Knowing that Christ has made me righteous apart from my works gives me the ability to overcome every sinful temptation, habit and addiction in my life!

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 62

Continue In God’s Grace

Today’s Scripture

…Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? —Galatians 3:3

H
OW WERE YOU
first impacted by Jesus? Was it through the law or was it His grace in your life that touched your heart? We all began our relationship with the Lord because we were impacted by His love and grace. Let us then continue in that grace.

Don’t start with grace and end up with the law. Don’t start with the new covenant, only to turn back to the old covenant!

Paul warned the Galatians against turning back to the law after beginning in grace. He said, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace [unmerited favor] of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to
pervert the gospel of Christ
” (Galatians 1:6–7). Paul takes this very seriously. He calls any gospel apart from the gospel of grace (God’s unmerited favor) a
perversion.
Attempting to be
justified
by the works of the Ten Commandments is a perversion of the gospel of Christ.