Unmerited Favor (25 page)

Today, the same gospel of grace that we preach every Sunday in our church is being broadcast into millions of homes across America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. We started as a little church in Singapore that nobody had heard of, but God’s unmerited favor has blessed us to become an international ministry that is impacting the world with the good news of His unmerited favor. We take no credit for it because this wisdom is from Jesus, and our boast is in Him and Him alone.

The Spirit Of Wisdom

We have talked about how wisdom is the principal thing, but do you know what the “spirit of wisdom” is? Look at the prayer that the apostle Paul prayed over the church in Ephesus:

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him
, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

—Ephesians 1:17–19

Are you getting this? The spirit of wisdom and revelation is in the
knowledge of Jesus
! The more you know Jesus and have a revelation of His unmerited favor in your life, the more you will have the spirit of wisdom. I challenge you to pray this prayer for wisdom on a regular basis because when you increase in the knowledge of Jesus, He will surely lead you to good success in every aspect of your life.

The more you know Jesus and have a revelation of His unmerited favor in your life, the more you will have the spirit of wisdom.

Note that when Paul was praying this prayer for the believers in Ephesus, they were already filled with the Holy Spirit. But Paul still prayed that God would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in their knowledge of Jesus. It is one thing to have the Holy Spirit inside you, but it is another thing to let the Holy Spirit inside you flow as the spirit of wisdom and revelation. When the Holy Spirit leads you in the wisdom of Jesus, there will be no impossible situation, no insolvable problem and no insurmountable crisis. The wisdom of Jesus in you will help you to successfully navigate all your trials and cause you to prevail over all your challenges.

The Secret To Solomon’s Wisdom

Let’s take a look at the life of Solomon. When Solomon became king, he was only a young man of about 18 years old and had big shoes to fill as David’s successor to the throne. Solomon was not filled with wisdom when he first ascended the throne, but he was clearly very earnest. He went to Mount Gibeon, where the tabernacle of Moses was, to offer a thousand burnt offerings to the Lord. At Mount Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”
¹⁹

Now, think about this for a moment. What would you have asked for if you were in Solomon’s position? Solomon did not ask for riches. Neither did he ask to be honored by all men. Instead, he told the Lord, “...give me
wisdom and knowledge
, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?”
²⁰
The Bible records that Solomon’s request “pleased the Lord”
²¹
and the Lord replied, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches or wealth or honor or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life— but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king—wisdom and knowledge are granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like.”
²²

The Book of 1 Kings tells us that Solomon told the Lord, “Therefore give to Your servant an
understanding heart
to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
²³
So when Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge, he was asking for an understanding heart. Let’s go deeper. The word “understanding” here is the Hebrew word
shama
, which means “to hear intelligently.”
²⁴
In other words, Solomon had asked for a
hearing
heart—one that hears from and flows with the leading of the Spirit of God, who leads us into all truth.
²⁵
You need a hearing heart for God’s wisdom to flow through you in every aspect of your life!

I believe that the same request that pleased the Lord then pleases Him today. God is pleased when we ask Jesus for wisdom. To ask Him for wisdom is to put ourselves in a posture of trusting and depending on His unmerited favor. Only the humble can ask Jesus for wisdom and a hearing heart. Although Solomon only asked for wisdom, the Lord added “riches and wealth and honor” to him. Too many people are chasing riches, wealth and honor, not realizing that they come through the wisdom of Jesus. Even if someone were to come into sudden wealth, without the wisdom of Jesus to manage it, the money would be squandered away. But with the wisdom of Jesus, you won’t only be blessed, you will also be able to hold on to the blessings in your life. Jesus makes you safe for good success that produces lasting and abiding fruit from generation to generation.

Jesus makes you safe for good success that produces lasting and abiding fruit from generation to generation.

Coming back to Solomon, let’s see what he did right after receiving wisdom from God. David had instituted worship at Mount Zion, not at Mount Gibeon. What were left in the tabernacle of Moses at Mount Gibeon were merely the physical objects, structure and form. It had the lampstand, table of showbread and altar of incense. But the most important furniture in the tabernacle—the ark of the covenant, which had the presence of God—was missing.

King David had a special revelation of the ark of the covenant and had brought it back to Jerusalem and placed it on Mount Zion. We see that for some reason, Solomon was into tradition before he received wisdom. While he was sincere in seeking the Lord at Mount Gibeon, the Lord’s presence was actually at Mount Zion. The tabernacle of Moses only had the form, but the substance of the presence of the Lord was with the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem. But notice this: Once Solomon had received wisdom from the Lord,
the first thing
that he did when he awoke was to go to Jerusalem where he “stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.”
²⁶

Wisdom Makes You Value Jesus’ Presence

How can you tell if somebody has received wisdom from the Lord? The first thing that he will do is value the presence of Jesus! Once Solomon was inundated with God’s wisdom, he left the formal structure in the tabernacle of Moses and went to look for the Lord’s presence in Jerusalem. After receiving wisdom and a hearing heart, he valued and treasured the Lord’s presence. In the same way, when you receive God’s wisdom, it will not draw you away from church. Instead, it will cause you to want to receive even more from God’s Word and from the presence of Jesus.

“Pastor Prince, what is so significant about the ark of the covenant?”

The ark of the covenant is a picture of Jesus. It is made of wood, which speaks of Jesus’ humanity,
²⁷
and it is overlaid with gold, which speaks of Jesus’ divinity.
²⁸
Jesus is 100 percent Man and 100 percent God. In the ark are three items: The stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, which had budded, and a golden pot of manna. These items represent man’s failure and rebellion against God’s perfect law, His appointed leadership and His provision, respectively.
²⁹

Now, look at God’s heart for His people. He gave instructions that these symbols of man’s rebellion be placed inside the ark and covered with the mercy seat! The mercy seat is where the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the offering to cover all the failings and rebellion of the children of Israel.

The three items in the ark of the covenant are the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod which had budded and a golden pot of manna.

The ark of the covenant is but a shadow. Today, we have the substance of the finished work of Jesus at the cross, where the blood of God’s own Son, not the inferior blood of bulls and goats, was shed to blot out
all
our sins, failings and rebellion
once and for all
!

It is no wonder that in battles in which the children of Israel
appreciated the value
of the ark, they emerged victorious. In the same way today, it is a clear indication of God’s wisdom upon your life when you value and appreciate the person of Jesus and what He did for you at the cross. And because the true ark of the covenant is with you all the time, you can’t help but be triumphant, successful and victorious in any battle that you may be in. Solomon realized this and immediately pursued the presence of the Lord after he awoke from his dream. My friend, go after the presence of Jesus in your life. He is your wisdom and victory over every battle today!

The high priest sprinkles the blood of the offering on the mercy seat to cover all the  failings and rebellion of the  children of Israel.

Wisdom And Length Of Days

The Bible promises something else when you have wisdom: “Happy is the man who finds wisdom...
Length of days is in her right hand
, in her left hand riches and honor.”
³⁰
Unfortunately for Solomon, he only had the left hand of wisdom, which holds riches and honor. The Lord had said to him,“...
if
you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments...then
I will lengthen your days
.”
³¹

For Solomon, who was under the old covenant of law, the blessing of length of days was a conditional one, which he could receive only if he was able to keep the law perfectly. However, Solomon failed to do so and he did not enjoy length of days, which is in wisdom’s right hand. But because we are under the new covenant of grace today, Jesus is the Father’s right hand and our wisdom. And when we have Jesus, we can be blessed with the two hands of wisdom because of His finished work on the cross. This means that riches and honor, as well as length of days, belong to us! What an awesome God we serve!

Beloved, pursue Jesus and you will experience wisdom in every area of your life. You cannot try to earn, deserve or study to acquire God’s wisdom. It comes by His unmerited favor. His wisdom will give you good success in your career. It will cause you to succeed as a student, parent or spouse.

God’s wisdom always leads to promotion and good success.

For instance, if you are facing some problems in your marriage, God will not just “zap” your spouse and make him or her do a moonwalk and come back to you! The same thing that drove your spouse away from you in the first place will just drive him or her away again. What you need is wisdom for your marital situation!

If you are faced with a crisis in your business, depend on the Lord for His wisdom. There are no “money problems,” only “idea problems.” Trust that the Lord will bless you with the wisdom from heaven to cause everything that you touch at your workplace to prosper. God’s wisdom always leads to promotion and good success.

God’s Wisdom Brings Promotion

In Genesis 39:3–4, we see how when Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and that everything he touched prospered, Potiphar immediately promoted Joseph and placed him in charge over all the affairs of his house. Similarly, when Pharaoh saw that the Spirit of God was in Joseph and that there was none who was as wise and as discerning as Joseph, Pharaoh placed him in charge of the whole of Egypt.
³²
But you need to note this: Joseph
knew
that God was the source of his wisdom. When Pharaoh said, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it,” Joseph immediately replied, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
³³
Joseph knew that his wisdom was a result of the Lord’s unmerited favor and would not take any personal credit for it. Clearly, here was a man who understood grace, and could be trusted with increase, promotion and more good success.

Observe the wisdom of Joseph in action. Joseph did not just interpret Pharaoh’s dream. He went on to advise Pharaoh on how to take advantage of the seven years of abundance to prepare for the seven years of famine that were revealed in his dream. Did you notice how Joseph’s wise advice led to the creation of a position of influence for himself? That is how the wisdom of the Lord operates. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.” Joseph knew that his wisdom was a gift from the Lord. He knew that he did not earn it and that it flowed from the Lord’s unmerited favor toward him.