Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.
Proverbs 3:3-4 (NLT)
Last week, we learned that to obtain favor with God and people, we must be loyal, kind, respect God and believe in Jesus Christ. Today we will explore three more secrets to obtaining favor:
Be humble
Humility is having a deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness; modesty, and lowliness of mind. It is being aware that we are nothing without the grace of God upon our lives and therefore having total dependence on God. When we humble ourselves we will obtain favor from God:
Toward the scorners He is scornful, but to the humble He gives favor.
Proverbs 3:34 (ESV)
Seek God’s favor
God says we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our heart. Therefore as we develop a relationship with Him, we can, like the Psalmist ask God to shower us with His favor:
Remember me, O Lord, when You show favor to Your people; help me when You save them
Psalm 106: 4 (ESV)
Seek God’s Kingdom first
When we put God first in everything we do, and seek for the establishment of His kingdom here on earth, He gives us other things that we did not ask for including favor:
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33 (KJV)
Prayer
Dear Lord, please remember me when You show favor to Your people; help me when You save them in Jesus name.
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:11
1, God is alive and active
God is alive and active and desires to give fine things to those who ask. We serve a mighty God that desires only good for our life, including meeting all our financial needs.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
The key thing we must remember is that we must ask. Provided we ask in line with God’s will, God will grant us His promise to give good things to us.
2, God desires to give us good gifts beyond what any man could give us
God reminded us in (Matthew 7:11), that if man being evil at times can give good gifts then provided we ask, He can grant us much more. We are reminded that God operates from heaven. God is loaded with sovereign power and abundance. It is God’s will that we ask and expect to receive financial provision by faith, for when we do, God supplies all our financial needs (James 1:6).
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8
3, Faith is required in order to receive from God
We are told in the word of God the bible that God is the provider of every good gift (James 1:17). The key issue is that we must ask God to meet our need with faith. Provided we ask in line with God’s will, and with faith, God will meet our financial need. God warns us that it is faith that allows Him to meet our needs.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
Summary
God desires only good for us and supplies us with faith as a gift, as seen in (Ephesians 2:8-9) to receive all that God has promised us. We are all by God’s grace, given the faith required to get what we know we need financially, provided we are righteous before God and ask with faith, in line with His will. The measure of faith we need is small, as small as a mustard seed. All we need is a mustard seed of faith in order to receive what God has promised (Matthew 17:20).
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For the past six weeks we have been looking at the meaning behind the names of the seven nations that the Children of Israel were commanded to destroy before they could enter into the Promised Land:
And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites:
Joshua 3:10 (NKJV)
These seven nations though they were physical nations now represents seven types of evil spirits that we as believers in Jesus Christ must totally destroy and overcome before we can enter into our spiritual inheritance. In order for us to enter into our spiritual inheritance we must overcome fear, pride, carnality, small thinking, living for earthly pleasures, and rejection.
Today, in our final overcoming series we are going to look at how to overcome the spirits that entice us to focus on the things that can be seen and ignoring the things that cannot be seen.
“Girgashite” means, “clay dweller”, which refers to “dwelling on earthliness”. This type of spirit promotes a focus on earthly, temporal things, and produces a dislike for things that are “spiritual” and eternal. Girgashites or people infected with this type of spirit tend to focus on things that are visible. Whereas the Bible tells us to focus on things that are not seen:
While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18
How do you overcome focusing on things that are natural and not spiritual?
Be born again
When Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews came by night to speak with Jesus, Jesus told him that unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus being puzzled, asked Jesus how a grown up man can be born again. Jesus replied and said that you must be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:1-5). In other words, you must accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. When you believe in Jesus you are sealed with His Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). To be born of water is to go through water baptism which Jesus instructed His disciples to do (Matthew 28:19). When you are born again then, your spiritual senses come alive and you are able to discern things in the spiritual realm which cannot be seen with the naked human eye;
Ask The Lord to open your spiritual eyes so that you can see
We must pray like the Psalmist prayed and ask The Lord to open our spiritual eyes so that we can see wonderful things from His law (Psalm 119:18). You see, as you have natural eyes so you have spiritual eyes so if you are spiritually blind you need to cry out and ask The Lord to open your eyes so that you can see the things that He wants to show you;
Ask The Lord to open your spiritual ears so you may hear
Jesus in His letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation ended his letters by saying “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” In other words, we all have spiritual ears that must come alive if we are to hear things from the Spirit of God. Again if you find that you are spiritually deaf and cannot hear the voice of God, cry out and ask The Lord to awaken your ears so that you can hear as the learned (Isaiah 50:4);
Ask The Lord to give you His Spirit of wisdom and revelation
We must pray like Paul did that God will give us His Spirit of wisdom and revelation, Who will let us know truths about God and help us understand them, so that we will know Him better. It is the same Spirit who will open our minds to see His truth so that we will know the hope that He has chosen us to have (Ephesians 1:17-19);
Fasting
Fasting is a discipline that sharpens our spiritual senses so that we can tap into the divine power of God. Jesus expected His disciples to fast and He said that “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). When we abstain from food and feed on nothing but the Word of God, the Word nourishes, fuels and strengthens our spirits. In so doing we tend to focus less on the natural things that are visible and look at the eternal things that are invisible.
Prayer
Dear Lord, please help me to focus on the things that are eternal that cannot be seen and let me take my eyes off the things that are natural and temporary in Jesus name, amen.
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How to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Through Dreams
In the previous blog, we saw that only those whose names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life shall enter the promised land which is the New Jerusalem. Today we are going to look at those who the Bible says cannot enter into the promised land:
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death
Revelation 21:8 (KJV)
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:27
So, who cannot enter into the New Jerusalem?
The fearful
This refers to Christians who do not have faith in following Jesus. They are timid and fainthearted (cowardly) and fall short in following Christ as Lord. Being a follower of Christ requires courage and anyone who is cowardly will easily give up in the face of persecution however we know that:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
Unbelieving
These are those without faith and trust in God. The unbelieving refers to those who refuse to believe in the resurrection of Jesus, (John 20:27); or those who refuse belief in the gospel, (2 Corinthians 4:4; 2 Corinthians 6:14), or Christians themselves who depart from the true faith, (2 Timothy 2:18), or those without trust in God:
Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”
Matthew 17:17
Abominable
Abomination or abominable is something that is detestable, unlawful or repulsive to God. There are many things that are abominable to God:
These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans,Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren
Proverbs 6:16-19
From this list, we can see that the things God detests are very close to us. How many times have we had a proud look or sowed discord and disunity among our brethren?
Click here for a full list of what the Bible says about abomination.
Murderers
A Murderer is not just one who kill someone physically. The Bible says that if you hate your brother you are also a murderer:
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him
1 John 3:15
Whoremongers
A whoremonger is a male prostitute or a fornicator, i.e. anyone engaging in sexual immorality. The Bible tells us to flee from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18):
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV)
Sorcerers
Sorcery is the use of drugs, magic, spells and witchcraft:
There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (NKJV)
Idolaters
An idolater is a worshipper of false gods. It can be even a Christian who participates in the worship of another god (1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 10:7). We know that anything we place before God is an idol. A covetous man who is greedy of gain is also an idolater:
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God:
Ephesians 5:5
All liars
Anyone who believes and says things that are false, deceitful, untrue, wicked are all classified as liars. We also saw earlier that lying is an abomination to God:
You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man
Psalm 5:6
He that Defileth
Sin is spiritual filth and committing sin is smearing a person’s garments with spiritual filth. When Joshua the High Priest stood before the Angel, Satan stood at his right hand to oppose him because Joshua was clothed with filthy garments which represents iniquity (Zechariah 3:3). God had to command His Angels to take the filthy garments from him and God removed his iniquity and clothed him with rich robes (Zechariah 3:4). As Christians we are told to keep ourselves pure from the defilement of sin:
You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
Revelation 3:4
So, who cannot enter into the New Jerusalem?
The fearful
Unbelieving
Abominable
Murderers
Whoremongers
Sorcerers
Idolaters
All liars
He that Defileth
Prayer:
Dear Lord, please help me not to do the things that will prevent me from inheriting the Kingdom of God. Please give me courage and faith to serve You. Help me to stay away from things that You detest, and not to hate my brother which is murder in Your eyes. Please help me to avoid sexual immorality and all forms of sorcery. Help me to not place anything before You and to avoid the temptation to lie. Please help me not to defile my conscience or garments with sin but to live in love and purity. All this I ask in Jesus name, amen.
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In the past few weeks we have been studying the book of Joshua and learning about how God used him to lead the children of Israel into their promised land.
We have learned that as followers of Jesus Christ, our promised land is not on this earth, but it is the New Jerusalem which is coming down out of heaven from God.
Today’s scripture tells us those who will enter into the New Jerusalem:
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Revelation 21:2, 27 (NKJV)
What is the Book of Life?
In the New Testament the Book of Life refers to God’s list of those destined for eternal life. Believers are written in the Book of Life from eternity:
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is
Revelation 17:8
Who can enter the New Jerusalem?
Only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life can enter the New Jerusalem. The Bible tells us that on the Day of Judgment everyone will stand before God, both great and small and the books will be opened. And another book will be opened, which is the Book of Life. Everyone who is not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12, 15).
How can we be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
We can only be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life when we have washed our robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb:
Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”
And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb
Revelation 7:13-14
Why must we wear robes?
A robe is a long-fitting gown that is worn as a mark of dignity. A robe is worn by kings (Jonah 3:6), priests, and persons of rank: Mark 12:38; Mark 16:5; Luke 15:22; Luke 20:46; Revelation 6:11; Revelation 7:9, 13, 14. As believers in Jesus the Bible tells us that we are kings and priests before God:
And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen
Revelation 1:5-6
How do we wash our robes in the Blood of The Lamb?
Firstly in order to wash our robes in the Blood of the Lamb, we must believe that while we were yet sinners Jesus Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Before we accepted Jesus, our own righteous acts were like filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). Once we accept Jesus we exchange these filthy rags for the robe of righteousness as we develop a right relationship with God and we become the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour it is His Blood that cleanses us from all sin:
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin
1 John 1:7
Secondly we must repent from our sins knowing that the Kingdom of God is at hand:
Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
Matthew 3:2 (NLT)
Why white robes?
White represents purity. When we accept the death of Jesus on the Cross and repent of our sins and follow His way, it makes our garments white because our conscience is clear and our soul becomes pure:
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool”
Isaiah 1:18
To enter the Promised Land, we must do the following:
We must exchange our filthy rags for the robe of righteousness. In other words, we must have a right relationship with God which is through Jesus Christ;
We must wash our robes in the Blood of Jesus by believing that Jesus came to die in our place and that Blood cleanses us from all our sin;
We must make Jesus the Lord in our lives. Believe alone is not enough, because even the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19), we must completely surrender our lives to Jesus Christ and make Him Lord over our lives (Acts 16:31);
We must repent from our sins and turn to God because the Kingdom of God is near (Mark 1:15)
Prayer:
Dear Father, I come to You now in Jesus name. I want to make the New Jerusalem my eternal home. I repent of all of my sins and I know that You are faithful and just to forgive me of all my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Please help me to daily wash my robes and make them white in the Blood of The Lamb. Please write my name in the Book of Life and if there is anything in my life that will prevent me from inheriting eternal life please remove it with the Blood of Jesus, in Jesus name, amen.
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