100 Days Of Favor (19 page)

Now that you know that your sin debt has been completely cleared and settled by Jesus on your behalf, don’t expect God to deal with you according to your sins. When something negative happens, don’t imagine that God is coming after you because of what you did in the past. Instead, take God at His Word and expect to enjoy the benefits of the heavy price Jesus paid at the cross for you. We sowed nothing good, but through Jesus, we have reaped every good blessing. That, my friend, is called unmerited favor. And you honor what He has done for you by thanking Him and expecting these blessings to manifest in your life every day.

Today’s Prayer

Father, Your word is true: ALL the sins that I have and will ever commit have been forgiven by You because of Jesus. He took every one of my sins at the cross and was punished to the full. Therefore, I know that I am righteously and justly forgiven. My forgiveness is based on the sure and perfect sacrifice of Jesus. Thank You for extending such unmerited favor to me!

Today’s Thought

ALL is forgiven because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 43

God Is Satisfied With You

Today’s Scripture

…He made us accepted in the Beloved. —Ephesians 1:6

W
HEN
I
WAS
a teenager, I used to belong to a Christian fellowship group. We would sing this song which you may be familiar with. It went like this: “Is He satisfied, is He satisfied, is He satisfied with me? Have I done my best? Have I stood the test? Is He satisfied with me?”
¹
Let me just say that 10 out of 10 times when we sang this song, I would always believe that God was
not
satisfied with me. When we look to ourselves, all there is to see is the inadequacy and futility of our ability and performance. In and of ourselves, we will never meet God’s standard for Him to be satisfied with us. We will always fall short!

God will not punish the believer again, not because He has gone soft on sin, but because all our sins have already been punished in the body of Jesus.

You can imagine how condemned we felt each time we sang this song. After all, we had never been taught that God was satisfied with His Son’s sacrifice at the cross, and we did not understand what the new covenant of grace was all about. We were young and zealous for God, but defeated by our lack of knowledge.

With all due respect to the songwriter, whom I believe had the best intentions when he wrote the song, this song is not based on the new covenant of God’s unmerited favor. It negates the cross and places the emphasis back on you—what
you
must do, what
you
must perform and what
you
must achieve for God to be satisfied with you. But the question to ask today is not if God is satisfied with you. The question that we need to ask is this: Is God satisfied with the cross of Jesus? And the answer is this: He is completely satisfied!

At the cross, our acceptance is found. There, Jesus cried out with His last breath, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) The work is complete. The full punishment for all our sins was exacted on Jesus at the cross. God will not punish the believer again, not because He has gone soft on sin, but because all our sins
have already been punished
in the body of Jesus. God’s holiness and His justice are now on your side! Today, God is not assessing you based on what you have or have not done. He is assessing you based on what Jesus has done. Is God satisfied with Jesus today? Yes, of course He is! Then, to the same extent that God is satisfied with Jesus, He is satisfied with you.

God’s own Son had to be crushed at Calvary for this blessing to become a reality in your life. The gift of His unmerited favor and His righteousness is only a free gift for you today because the full payment for this gift was exacted upon Jesus’ body. The cross made all the difference! Don’t let anyone hoodwink you into thinking that you need to pay for your own sins. Don’t let anyone deceive you with the lie that your eternal salvation in Christ is uncertain and shakable!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I thank You that Your holiness and justice are now on my side because of Jesus’ sacrifice for me. I thank You that You are not assessing me based on what I have or have not done, but You are assessing me based on what Jesus has done. And because You are fully satisfied with Jesus, You are fully satisfied with me today!

Today’s Thought

To the same extent that God is satisfied with Jesus, He is satisfied with me.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 44

You Have Been Forgiven Much

Today’s Scripture

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. —Luke 7:47

L
ET’S LOOK AT
Luke 7:36–50 to see what Jesus said about the forgiveness of sins. Simon, a Pharisee, had invited Jesus to his house. While Jesus was seated at the table in Simon’s house, a woman came to Him. She began to weep and she washed His feet with her tears. Then, she wiped His feet with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with fragrant oil.

You will only love Jesus much when you experience His lavish grace and unmerited favor in forgiving you of all your sins—past, present and future.

When Simon saw this, he said to himself, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” Even though Simon did not speak aloud, it is interesting that Jesus answered him by posing this question to him: “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he
freely forgave them
both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” Jesus said to him, “You have rightly judged.”

Then, Jesus turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

The woman loved Jesus
much
because she
knew
that she was
forgiven much.
In actuality, no one has been forgiven little. We have all been forgiven much. As for this woman, she knew it. So the most “dangerous” thing about this doctrine of complete forgiveness of sins is that you will fall in love with Jesus and end up effortlessly fulfilling the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:36– 38). Hallelujah!

If you
think
that you have been forgiven little, then you will love little. But when you
know
the truth of how much you have been forgiven, you will love Jesus much! Knowing how much you have been forgiven is the secret to loving Jesus! In other words, you will only love Jesus much when you experience His lavish grace and unmerited favor in forgiving you of all your sins—past, present and future. But His grace is cheapened when you think that He has only forgiven you of your sins up to the time you got saved, and after that point, you have to depend on your confession of sins to be forgiven.

God’s forgiveness is not given in installments. Don’t go around thinking that when you confess a sin, He forgives you only for that sin. Then, the next time you sin, you need to confess your sin again for Him to forgive you again. Such is the kind of belief that cheapens His grace. And the result of this is that because you think that He has forgiven you little, you will end up loving Him little, and deprive yourself of running to Him and seeing Him help, deliver and prosper you.

Beloved, with one sacrifice on the cross, Jesus blotted out all the sins of your entire life! Don’t cheapen His unmerited favor with your own imperfect efforts to confess all your sins. Accord this gift that Jesus has given you the value that it deserves by fully receiving and experiencing His unmerited favor today!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I thank You that I am forgiven much. In fact, all my sins of my entire life have been forgiven, wiped out once and for all by the eternal blood of Jesus. Therefore, today, I look forward to receiving Your unmerited favor and every good thing You have sent my way!