Unmerited Favor (7 page)

A few years after Wendy and I got married, an incident happened that I will never forget. I was on my way home one day and I had stepped into a cramped elevator. A group of ladies squeezed into the same elevator as it stopped on another floor and boy, their perfumes were so thick and overpowering they must have been wearing Chanel No. 1,000!

You cannot be in the presence of the Lord without His glory, His majesty, His beauty, His power, His love and  His peace rubbing off on you.

Anyway, almost dizzy from near-suffocation, I got home and kissed Wendy with my usual “Hello darling, I’m back.” Then, she looked at me and said, “That’s a female fragrance. I know that fragrance.” I told her, “Listen, darling, listen...honestly, just now...” And that’s why it’s so important to have trust in your marriage!

I am sure that you have experienced something similar before. Have you ever walked through a restaurant or some other place that is filled with smoke? You may not smoke, but your hair and clothes become infused with the smell of smoke by the time you get through the place. In the same way, you cannot be in the presence of the Lord without His glory, His majesty, His beauty, His power, His love and His peace rubbing off on you. You begin to “smell” like Jesus, be powerful like Him and be filled with peace like Him! No wonder Acts 4:13 records this about Peter and John: “Now when they [the rulers and elders of Israel] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that
they had been with Jesus
.”

Practice The Presence Of Jesus In Your Career

Wherever you are, whatever it is that you do, with the Lord’s presence and His unmerited favor covering you, there is no way you will not be a success. When I started working in my early twenties, I kept on practicing the presence of Jesus and in a short time, I became the top salesperson in my company. I not only closed the biggest deals for my company, but I also secured the greatest frequency of sales transactions.

I started as one of the lowest-paid employees in the company, but the Lord consistently promoted me, and gave me different income streams from within the same company until I became one of the highest-paid employees in that organization. Please understand that I am not sharing this with you to put a feather in my cap. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that all the successes that I have experienced in my professional career are a result of Jesus’ presence and unmerited favor in my life.

I shared with you about my professional career (before I entered full-time ministry) so that you will not walk away thinking that I have personally experienced good success from the Lord only because I am a pastor. No. Like I mentioned earlier, whatever vocation you are in, you can experience the presence of Jesus and His unmerited favor, and
He
will make you a success!

Whether you are a chef, driver or consultant, it doesn’t matter. God is on your side to bless and make you a success. Of course, you understand that I am referring to only morally upright professions. You cannot depend on God’s unmerited favor if you are in an industry that requires you to compromise on your Christian morals. If you are involved in a morally corrupt industry or a job that expects you to lie, cheat or deceive, my advice to you is to get out! You do not have to depend on a job that puts you in a morally compromising position for your income. God loves you intimately and He has something so much better in store for you. Trust Him.

God is here to save you from destroying yourself. He wants to give you good success and He loves you too much to see you remain in a job that forces you to compromise. The Bible says, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold.”
⁸
God has a higher way and better plan for your life!

Practice Jesus’ Presence By Thanking And Appreciating Him

There are Christians who know in theory that Jesus is with them, but they do not actively practice His presence. For me personally, one of the best ways to practice the presence of the Lord is to thank Him all the time. You can give thanks to Him for everything. Just say, “Lord, I thank You for this beautiful sunset. I thank You for Your love and for surrounding me with good things and good friends.”

There is no limit to what you can thank Him for since every good and perfect gift that we enjoy today comes directly from Him.
⁹
Even if you have had a rough day at work and you are facing a seemingly impossible challenge, you can practice His presence. The moment you realize that your heart is heavy with worry and your mind is plagued by anxiety, share your challenge with Jesus and thank Him that this problem is not bigger than His hands. Begin to surrender it to Him and depend on Him for His strength, power and peace.

As you do that, you are already practicing the presence of the Lord. And as you honor His presence and behave like He is indeed with you, He sees it as faith in Him and intervenes on your behalf for your success in whatever situation you may be in.

It is sad when Christians behave like some husbands who bring their wives to a party, only to ignore them completely. Their wives could be right there with them physically, but these guys are so engaged with their own friends, talking about the stock market, economy or latest game on television, that their wives might as well not be with them.

Ladies, do you know men like that? Now, men who are reading this book, I know you are not like that, so don’t get offended, all right? I know you cherish and love your wife. What I am trying to illustrate is that just because someone is with you physically, it does not mean that the person feels appreciated by you. Appreciation only occurs when you start acknowledging the presence of that person.

What I like to do is to look at Wendy across a room crowded with people, and when our eyes connect across the room, it is as if the rest of the people fade instantly into oblivion, and only Wendy remains. I want her to know that I appreciate her for coming along with me to that dinner event or meeting. I am not claiming that I am sensitive to Wendy all the time, but there are moments, and I do want to make it a point to make her feel special. She is special to me, but to actually appreciate her and to make her
feel
special is something else all together. Anyway, like all husbands, I am still growing in this aspect.

What you appreciate appreciates in value in your eyes.

Now, what does the word “appreciate” mean? It means “to increase in value.” If you appreciate someone, the person increases in value in your eyes. My friend, the Lord is already with you, so start to practice His presence. Begin by thanking Him, appreciating Him and increasing His value in your eyes.

What did David mean when he said, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me...”?
¹⁰
Can we make God bigger? Of course not. The Lord is already very big. But the problem is that sometimes, our concept of Him is way too small. It reminds me of the story of a boy who was playing by the seaside. He was happily running back and forth between his sand castle and the sea, pouring pail after pail of water into the moat that he had dug around his sand castle. When it was time to leave, his little face clouded over and he tugged at his mother’s sleeve worriedly. “Mummy,” he said, “I think that the sea might be running out of water because I took so many pails of water from it.”

Whether we are aware of it or not, that’s how we see God sometimes. We are afraid to draw from Him, not knowing that His resources are endless. We become like that little boy who feared that he would dry up the ocean with his little plastic pail. So David said, “Hey brothers, come on, let us magnify the Lord. Let’s make Him bigger in our hearts, in our minds, in our consciousness. Come on, magnify the Lord with me!” We cannot make the Lord bigger than He already is, but we sure can make Him bigger in our consciousness by being more and more aware of His presence with us.

Know Your Commander In Chief

It is interesting when you listen to how some Christians talk. You may hear them talking about what the devil did to them, how they got really mad at the devil and how they spent a whole night rebuking the devil. Such Christians may also go around town telling people what the devil has been telling them, but you will never hear them talking about what
the Lord
has been telling them. Guess what? They are tuned in to the wrong frequency!

Instead of magnifying Jesus and His presence and being conscious of Him, they are magnifying the devil and being more devil-conscious than Jesus-conscious. It’s really sad! They are always talking about warfare and the devil. Do you know that the best warfare to engage in is to magnify the Lord Jesus in your life? The Bible declares, “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered...”
¹¹
Amen!

Recently, I had a conversation with a medical doctor about spiritual warfare. She said to me, “When there is a condition in your body, you must know what the correct medical name for it is so that you can pray against it accurately.” Then, she told me somewhat smugly, “As someone who’s been in the army, you should know this: The most important military strategy is to know your enemy.”

I smiled at her and said, “Actually, I believe that the most important military strategy is not to know your enemy, but to know your commander in chief and his directives for you.”

My friend, do you know your commander in chief, Jesus Christ? Do you know with full assurance that His presence and unmerited favor is with you? Start practicing the presence of Jesus in your life today, and see what a difference He will bring to your situation!

Chapter 6” Your Right To God’s Unmerited Favor

There is no doubt that all believers want to experience God’s unmerited favor in their lives. All of us want to experience success in our marriages, families, careers as well as ministries. We all want to enjoy God’s best and richest blessings. We want His provision, health and power flowing mightily in our lives, and we know that all these blessings are wrapped up in God’s unmerited favor. When His unmerited favor is on your side, nothing can stand against you. But if His favor is unmerited, how can we qualify for it? If we cannot earn, deserve or merit it, how can we be confident that we have His unmerited favor?

Down through the corridors of church history, there have been many quality writings on how believers can experience the favor of God. We have been taught how to think big, be positive and to expect preferential treatment. I give thanks to God for Christian ministers and writers who are challenging believers to expect God’s favor in their lives today. I have been very blessed by such ministries that bring tremendous hope and encouragement to the body of Christ.

We need more new covenant ministries like these all around the world, ministries that are full of the person of Jesus, exalting the cross and lifting up the finished work of Christ. We need ministries that remind believers that God is no longer angry with them because of their sins and that all their failings—past, present and even those in the future—have been perfectly nailed and judged at the cross. We have had enough of ministries that are based on the antiquated law, that represent God inaccurately as someone who is harsh and angry.

One of the key things that I desire to do in this book is to build upon the existing teachings on favor and to give believers a firm foundation on
why they have the right to God’s unmerited favor
in their lives today. Do you know the answers to the following questions?

Why can you expect good to happen to you?

Why can you enjoy God’s unmerited favor?

Why can you ask God for big things?

Your Righteousness In Christ Is Your Right To God’s Unmerited Favor

Beloved, your answers are all found on the Mount of Golgotha, the place of the skull. It’s the place where the sinless Man became sin, so that you and I can become the righteousness of God in Him. His righteousness is
your right
to God’s unmerited favor.

You can expect good...

You can enjoy God’s unmerited favor...

You can ask God for big things...

...because you have been made the righteousness of God through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross!

Don’t just take my word for it. It is important that you read and know the Scriptures for yourself:

For He [God] made Him [ Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [ Jesus Christ].

—2 Corinthians 5:21

Your righteousness in Christ is the sure foundation on which you can build your expectations to receive God’s unmerited favor. God sees you through the lens of the cross of His Son, and as Jesus is today deserving of blessings, peace, health and favor, so are you!
¹

The Right Definition Of Righteousness

There is a lot of misunderstanding over the definition of “righteousness” today. Many believers associate righteousness with a list of things that they have to do, and if they fulfill this list, they feel “righteous.” Conversely, when they fail in terms of their actions or behavior, they feel “unrighteous.” But this is the wrong definition and understanding of righteousness.

Let’s go back to what the Bible has to say. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:21 again. We are not righteous because
we
do right. We
became
righteous because of what
Jesus
did for us at the cross.

“Righteousness,” therefore, is not based on
our
right doing. It is based entirely on Jesus’ right doing. Christianity is not about
doing right
to become righteous. It is all about
believing right
in Jesus to become righteous.

Do you realize that we have been conditioned to associate being blessed with doing right? Most belief systems are based on a system of merit whereby you need to fulfill certain requirements—give to the poor, do good to others and care for the underprivileged— to attain a certain state of righteousness. It all sounds very noble, self-sacrificial and appealing to our flesh, which likes to feel that our good works have earned us our righteousness.

But God is not looking at your nobility, sacrifices or good works to justify you. He is only interested in Jesus’ humility at the cross. He looks at His Son’s perfect sacrifice at Calvary to justify you and make you righteous! Attempting to be justified by your good works and trying your best to keep the Ten Commandments to become righteous is to negate the cross of Jesus Christ. It is as good as saying, “The cross is not enough to justify me. I need to depend on my good works to make myself clean and righteous before God.”

There is a beautiful verse in the New Testament where the apostle Paul says, “I do not frustrate the grace [unmerited favor] of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
²

My friend, let us not take this verse lightly. Consider carefully what Paul is saying here. He is effectively saying that if you are depending on
your
good works,
your
doing and
your
ability to keep perfectly the Ten Commandments to become righteous, then Jesus died for nothing! That’s what “
in vain
” means—
for nothing
!

Your Righteousness Is Freely Given, Not Earned

If 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.

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. 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.
³

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 again 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.

—Galatians 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!

Our righteousness is a result of Jesus’ 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.

The Voice Of Accusation

Perhaps you are wondering, “What’s the big deal? Why is how I became righteous so important? Isn’t this stuff for theologians and Bible school students to figure out?”

We are coming to the exciting part. This is important because while you are trying to believe God for big things and trusting Him that your prayers will be answered, you will be hounded by this voice of accusation:

“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.

He would probably storm into his office, still seething with anger at his wife. Worst of all, he feels cut off from the presence of Jesus because of his anger and thinks that he does not qualify to ask for God’s favor for his presentation. He steps into the boardroom disheveled and disorganized. He forgets his points and fumbles, causing his company to lose that major account. His bosses are disappointed with him and give him a huge tongue-lashing. Frustrated and shamed, he drives home like a maniac, sounding his horn at every car that does not move the instant the traffic lights turn green. When he gets home, he is even more upset with his wife because he blames her for putting him in a foul mood in the morning, for his terrible presentation and for the loss of the major account! Now, it is all HER fault!

Now, see the difference if this person thinks, “Yeah, you are right. I don’t deserve to have God’s favor at all because I lost my temper with my wife this morning. But you know what? I am not looking at what I deserve. I am looking at what Jesus deserves. Even right now, Jesus, I thank You that You see me as perfectly righteous. Because of the cross and Your perfect sacrifice, I can expect God’s unmerited favor in my presentation. Every one of my shortcomings, even the tone I used this morning, is covered by Your righteousness. I can expect good not because I am good, but because You are good! Amen!”

See the amazing difference? This person is established upon Jesus’ righteousness and not his own right doing or good behavior. He goes to work depending on the unmerited favor of Jesus, and he aces the presentation and clinches a major account for his company. His bosses are impressed by his performance and mark him for the next round of promotion. He drives home with peace and joy, feeling the Father’s love and favor. Consequently, he is more patient with other drivers.