Favor
"And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me." Nehemiah 2:8 (NLT)
Nehemiah took on the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding Jerusalem's walls. Extraordinarily, Nehemiah wasn't a political, religious, or military leader; he was a cup bearer. Yet he experienced God's favor. Here are some thoughts why Nehemiah experienced the favor of God (taken from Nehemiah 1-3):
• He prayed: prayer recognizes that favor comes from God. In Jewish culture the recipient of favor and blessing would be on his knees. The giver of the blessing would stand over the recipient and place his hand on the person. When we pray we "bend our knee" and recognize that favor comes from God who is stronger and higher than us. Nehemiah's prayers also came with a deep realization of his own sinfulness followed by repentance.
• He was scared: Nehemiah says he was "badly frightened." I don't know too many men who would admit that. Approaching the king Artaxerxes could mean death for Nehemiah. Protocol demanded that one must be summoned to have an audience with the king. Breaking protocol meant death. I think favor and fear go hand-in-hand. That is, we ask for favor because the situation is fearful. If you think, How is this going to happen? or Failure seems just around the corner or I don't know how this will turn out, then let the fear you feel prompt you to pray for favor.
• He asked: Nehemiah asked for favor from God (1:11), but he also needed to ask Artaxerxes for favor to be released to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. Favor means we take action. Nehemiah didn't sit back and wait for God's favor. He needed to ask the king. Asking for favor is the first step in a series of action steps we need to take. We ask for God's favor in prayer, we experience God's favor by taking action.
• He wasn't about "me": Nehemiah experienced God's favor as he set out to rebuild Jerusalem's walls. I think we experience God's favor when there's a greater cause. Favor comes into our lives to bless others, it goes beyond a "bless me" mindset.
• He told others about God's favor: Nehemiah wasn't bragging, he was celebrating. However, notice how his testimony inspired others to get involved in the work. Favor is attractive. Favor will attract people to the mission. Using favor to attract people to oneself is offensive to God and is idolatrous. Celebrate the "wins" in life to show how great God is.
Caesar’s palace
Philippians 4:22, "And all the other Christians send their greetings, especially those who work in Caesar's palace."
This thought hit me when I read this verse: We need more and more Christians in Caesar's palace. It's a good thing to desire that those in leadership and positions of influence be Christ-followers, but it seems that God more often uses the ordinary person - the person who works in the palace - to bring Kingdom influence.
The current term for palace workers is marketplace ministers. So, wherever you work, that is your ministry platform. We need more palace workers who work for The King.
I love you
Jeremiah 2:25, “I have fallen in love with these foreign gods, and I can’t stop loving them now!”
There’s a common philosophy that if you love someone, or something, then your love makes it OK. That is, love becomes the highest good. In the verse above, Judah justified turning away from God because of her love for other gods.
Practically, this philosophy is often seen in sexual relationships, both hetero- and homo-. People will justify going outside of God’s parameters for healthy sexual relationships based on the love they feel for the other person. “I love him/her, so it must be OK.”
GOD IS LOVE AND HE WANTS ME TO BE HAPPY
You will often hear people say that God is love, therefore, he wants me to be happy. In other words, Why would a loving God deny (forbid) the love I have for the other person, regardless of what his word says? “I know the Bible forbids adultery, but I love him so much, he makes me happy, and he “completes” me, so it must be OK to divorce my husband and leave my kids.”
This kind of thinking makes our love the ultimate measure of morality. And since love is subjective, that measuring line will move with each person. What’s important to remember is that GOD is love. His love is perfect, our love is imperfect. In fact, our hearts our deceived, darkened, and easily led astray.
God’s ultimate goal is not our happiness, it’s our salvation. Yes, salvation from sin, but more specifically salvation from looking to people and things for our salvation, which is idolatry. Love is a good thing, but when we turn it into an ultimate thing, it becomes an idol.
When we truly begin to realize what God did for us through Jesus, the direction of our love begins to shift off of ourselves and what we want, and begins to shift more and more to God. That God did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves in offering salvation through Christ alone, by his grace alone, through faith alone, begins to fill us with love for God which shows itself in obedience.
In the end, it’s not about my love, it’s about HIS love.
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