100 Days Of Favor (11 page)

Today’s Prayer

Father, I thank You that You are for me and not against me. You are interested in my success and because Your unmerited favor is upon me, I do not have to resort to apple polishing, backstabbing and all kinds of compromises just to get ahead in life. Today, I rest in Your love and Your good plans to set me up for success.

Today’s Thought

God alone is the source of my success, favor and blessings.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 23

You Can Never Forfeit The Presence Of God

Today’s Scripture

…For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” —Hebrews 13:5

T
HERE WAS A
time under the law in the Old Testament where God would be with you only when you were in complete obedience. But when you failed, He would leave you. Today, however, you and I are under a completely different covenant and God will never leave us. Why? Because of what Jesus did on the cross. At the cross, He became our burnt offering. He bore our sins and carried our punishment. God’s judgment against our sins fell upon Jesus, who was forsaken at the cross by His Father so that today, we can have God’s constant, unceasing presence in our lives.

When you are doing right, He is with you. Even when you have failed, He is still with you!

Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” so that you and I will know exactly what happened on the cross (Matthew 27:46). That is where the divine exchange took place. At the cross, Jesus took our sins and gave up the presence of God, while we took Jesus’ righteousness and received the presence of God that Jesus had. God’s presence is now ours for eternity. What a divine exchange!

Take a look with me at what the Bible says about our inheritance in Christ: “…For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6). What confidence we can have today! Do you know what “never” here means? It means that when you are up, He is with you. When you are down, He is with you. When you are glad, He is with you. When you are sad, He is with you. When you are doing right, He is with you. Even when you have failed, He is still with you! That is what it means when Jesus said that He would
never
leave you nor forsake you!

In case you are still not convinced, let me show you what it says in the original Greek text. When God said, “I will
never
leave you
nor
forsake you,” a “double negative”
¹
is used to convey the strongest sense of “never” possible in the Greek language. The Greek words
ou me
are used, which in essence means, “never never” or “never ever.” And this double negative appears twice in this one statement from the Lord.
Ou me
is used for both “never” and “nor.” In other words, God is saying, “I will never never leave you and I will never never forsake you!” The Amplified Bible brings out the strength of what God really meant:

I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

—
H
EBREWS
13:5,
AMP

Wow, that is what Jesus has done for us! He has given us the constant presence of God! My friend, settle it in your heart once and for all—God will
never
leave you! God will
never
forsake you! And if you hear anyone telling you that you can forfeit the presence of God, stop listening. Don’t let that person rob you of the certainty of God’s presence in your life. When God says “never ever,” He means “never ever,” and our God cannot lie! This means that Jesus, your prosperity, peace, provision and wisdom, is always with you. You cannot help but prosper!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I am so glad that I have Your constant, unceasing presence in my life because of the divine exchange at Calvary. Whether I am up or down, happy or sad, have done right or done wrong, You are with me. Your help, protection, provision, strength and shalom are on my side. I have nothing and no one to fear. Thank You!

Today’s Thought

God will never ever, in any way, in any degree, leave me helpless or forsake me!

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 24

Bring Jesus Into The Picture

Today’s Scripture

So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. —Exodus 15:25

W
HEN YOU STUDY
your Bible knowing that the Lord is with you, you will be amazed at how God’s Word comes alive. That is how I read the Word. I don’t study it just to prepare for messages to preach on Sundays. I come to the Word to drink of the living waters from Jesus. I am conscious that Jesus is by my side, teaching me, speaking to my heart, and I can tell you that we have the best conversations during these times and I always come away from such times feeling refreshed and energized.

Jesus makes everything beautiful in your life.

Reading His Word has become a great personal time of intimacy between Jesus and me. I get completely lost and absorbed in His presence until I lose track of time. I can’t tell you the number of times when I had looked up at my clock after digging into His Word and realized that it was already five in the morning! You know what it’s like when you are enjoying a steaming cup of latte in a café with friends that you love, and you are having so much fun, laughing and sharing, that time just seems to disappear? Well, you can enjoy Jesus’ presence in the same way!

Once you are conscious that Jesus is with you, reading the Bible no longer feels like a chore or duty. You won’t catch yourself watching the clock going tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…and feeling as though an eternity has passed even though only five minutes has lapsed! That is what a chore feels like—as if time is standing still and you can’t wait to get it over with. Bible study divorced from His presence is a dead work. But when it is like catching up with your best friend, there never seems to be enough time!

So see the Lord in the midst of everything that you do and learn to bring Him into the picture. He makes everything beautiful in your life. When you look at your past, the scars of yesterday may still be throbbing in your memories. Perhaps you were sexually abused as a child or you were emotionally hurt by someone you trusted. As you look back now, you may still feel angry, frustrated and disappointed all at the same time, and the hurt still pierces your heart. But in the midst of your pain, I want to challenge you to start involving Jesus. See the Lord holding you, gently healing your wounds. Jesus is right there restoring you, putting courage into your heart and taking away all the sense of shame and guilt.

Beloved, He wants you to know that your past will not determine the future that He has for you. Once you involve the Lord and put Him into your bitter waters, He will turn the bitterness into sweetness. That is what the Lord did for the children of Israel. When they came to a place called Marah, they could not drink its waters because they were bitter. Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree, which Moses cast into the waters. When he did that, the Bible says that “the waters were made sweet.”

Why did the foul-tasting, undrinkable waters become refreshing and sweet? The answer lies in the tree that was cast in. The tree is a picture of the cross on which our Lord Jesus hung, bearing every broken heart and every sting of betrayal. When you bring Jesus into your situation, He can cause every bitter experience to become sweet! Talk to Him and allow His presence to restore you to wholeness today!

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus, I invite You to heal me of every bitter experience that I have had. Thank You for bearing every hurt and every sting of betrayal at the cross for me. I ask that You do a deep work in me to remove the hurt and pain I feel whenever I recall these bitter experiences. Please replace every negative emotion in my heart with Your love, peace and joy.

Today’s Thought

My heart may have been badly broken, but Jesus is right now holding me, healing my wounds, restoring me and putting courage, peace and joy into my heart.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 25

Practice Jesus’ Presence And ‘Smell’ Like Him