Unmerited Favor (5 page)

My friend, the unmerited favor that you have with the Lord will overflow and lead to favor with the people around you. In your career, when Jesus causes everything that your hand touches to prosper, you will receive favor from your boss, and that will lead to accelerated increase and promotion. Believe that because
you
, child of God, are in the organization, your organization will thrive and be blessed. The Lord will bless the organization that you are in for your sake.

The Difference Between God’s Unmerited Favor And Favoritism

We have seen that Joseph was a successful man because the Lord was with him, and because he depended on unmerited favor from God. It is also important for you to recognize that there is a significant difference between
God’s unmerited favor
and
favoritism
.

God’s unmerited favor is based entirely on Jesus’ merit, and we received it through His finished work at the cross. We did nothing to deserve His favor. It is completely unmerited. Favoritism, however, stinks of self-effort. Individuals who rely on favoritism for promotion have to resort to apple polishing, office politics, manipulative tactics, backstabbing and all kinds of compromises just to get what they want. They use all their efforts to open doors for themselves, and in the process, they lose themselves.

God has a higher and better way for you. It hurts Him to see His own precious children groveling like sycophants just to get ahead in life. If a door closes, so be it! Believe with full confidence that God has a better way for you. You do
not
have to depend on favoritism to keep opportunities open for yourself when you have God’s unmerited favor on your side!

That was how Joseph operated. He depended on the Lord for his success, and not on favoritism, which would have required him to compromise his beliefs. When Potiphar’s wife kept trying to seduce Joseph to sleep with her, Joseph stood his ground on the firm foundation of unmerited favor. By the way, I believe that Joseph faced a real temptation. Don’t forget that Potiphar was a high-ranking officer. He was the captain of the guard, and a man of position, influence and wealth. As a man of the world, he would not have married an ugly woman for her inner beauty and would certainly not have married an 80-year-old grandmother! He would definitely have chosen a young, beautiful woman to be his wife, and she was possibly one of the most beautiful women in the land.

So there is no doubt that she was a real temptation to Joseph, and that is why Joseph had to run! This woman didn’t just tempt Joseph once. The Bible tells us that “she spoke to Joseph day by day,” enticing him to lie with her.
¹²
But Joseph refused, saying, “There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he [Potiphar] kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against
God
?”
¹³

From his words, it is clear that Joseph knew the source of his success, favor and blessings. He did not see giving in to Potiphar’s wife as a great wickedness and sin against
Potiphar
alone, but against
God
too. He knew that every blessing that he had experienced was a result of
the Lord’s
favor on him. He knew that it was not Potiphar who promoted him from a lowly slave to become the overseer of Potiphar’s entire estate. It was the Lord!

Have A Living Relationship With Jesus And Walk In His Ways

Now, this is really beautiful. People sometimes ask me, “Pastor Prince, if you don’t teach the Ten Commandments to your church, what is going to govern them?” My friend, the Lord Himself will govern them! Look at the life of Joseph. He lived many years before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Yet, he could look at Potiphar’s beautiful wife, who was throwing herself at him, and say, “How...can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

All this took place long before there was a commandment that said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
¹⁴
The question is, who taught Joseph? Who taught him that adultery was a great wickedness against God? Think about it. He was a young, red-blooded man who was far away from home, and he knew that sleeping with Potiphar’s wife would have given him many other perks, if he wanted to depend on favoritism. He could have been bitter with God and with his brothers, who had betrayed him. He could have chosen to take full advantage of the situation that was presenting itself to him, since it appeared as if he had been abandoned by the only people that he cared about. Nobody was around and nobody would know. But guess what? Joseph had a relationship with God. He had a relationship with the King of kings. He knew that the Lord was with him every step of the way and that the Lord had not forsaken him.

Knowing that Jesus is your success makes you safe for success!

You see, we cannot have a relationship with the law, with two cold tablets of stone, but we can have a living relationship with Jesus, and He will put His laws upon our minds and write them on our hearts,
¹⁵
causing us to walk in His ways that lead to life. Joseph had no Ten Commandments governing him. All he had was a living relationship with the Lord. He knew that Jesus was His success, and that made him safe for success!

Chapter 4: Success Beyond Your Circumstances

The presence of Jesus is all that you need. It is exciting to enjoy His presence daily in everything that you do. The Bible records the story of a group of friends who broke through the rooftop of a house, so that they could bypass the crowds that were blocking their way to Jesus, and bring their paralytic friend before Jesus to be healed.
¹
I love that “whatever it takes” spirit to be in the presence of Jesus. But you know what? Today, we don’t have to climb mountains, swim vast oceans or even break through rooftops to be in His presence. Right where you are, Jesus, your Immanuel, is with you!

There is a powerful rhetorical question in the Bible and I encourage you to memorize it:

If God is for us, who can be against us?

—Romans 8:31

It is unfortunate that there are still some believers today wondering, “Is God really for me?” Well, my friend, the Word of God does NOT say “
maybe
God is for us” or “
hopefully
, God is for us.” It simply says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Indeed, when God is for you, what opposition can succeed against you? When God Himself fights for you, defends you and vindicates you, what adversity or adversary can stand against you? There are none! Hallelujah!

“But Pastor Prince, how did God come to be on our side? Even though I am a Christian today, I still fail and fall short of God’s holy standards. I still lose my temper on the road now and then, and from time to time, I still get angry with my wife and kids. Why should God be on my side when I fail? Don’t you know that God’s holy?”

Great question. Let me tell you why. The answer is found at the cross. The blood that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shed on the cross put God on your side. Today, God can be
for
you even when you fail because Jesus’ blood has washed you whiter than snow!

Have you seen Cecil DeMille’s movie,
The Ten Commandments
, or the animation,
The Prince Of Egypt
? Do you remember what happened on the night of the Passover? The children of Israel put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. What did the blood do? The blood put God on their side! None of the families who had applied blood on their doorposts had to fear the death of their firstborn children.

God is for you today because of the blood of the perfect Lamb—Jesus Christ.

Now, think about this for a moment. Were the firstborn children of Israel spared that night because of their perfect behavior and conduct, or were they spared because of the blood of the lamb? Of course, it was because of the blood of the lamb!

In the same way, God does not bless you, as a new covenant believer, based on your perfect behavior and conduct. He is
for you
today because of the blood of the perfect Lamb—Jesus Christ. That is why as believers today, we don’t have to fight for ourselves. I like to say it this way: “If God is for us, who can come successfully against us?” Always remember that God is on your side today because of Jesus’ blood. His holiness and righteousness that men are afraid of are now on your side because of Jesus’ blood. His unmerited favor is on your side and all of heaven’s resources are yours because of Jesus’ blood! Now, who can come against you? No sickness, no disease, no creditor, no evil accusation, no gossip—no weapon formed against you, can come successfully against you!
²

You Can’t Earn God’s Favor Because It Is A Free Gift

“Well, Pastor Prince, Jesus is with some people because they do a lot of good. I don’t do much good for God or for others, so how can Jesus be with me?”

Some people believe that doing a lot for charity or performing acts of kindness will put God on their side. Somehow, they have this idea that if they have donated significant amounts of money to the poor or volunteered their time to serve in church, all these doings will put them in favor with God and cause Him to be on their side. My friend, let us speak openly about this. God is not with you because of what you do or don’t do, or because of what you have done or not done. That kind of thinking still places the focus on
you
. God’s love for you is unconditional. He is about relationship, not rules.

On the other hand, legalism is all about rules you need to keep and how often you should do something. It is all about you, you, you doing or not doing something in order to earn God’s favor and get Him on your side. Christianity becomes a life of legalism for Christians who believe that if they spend a lot of time reading the Bible, praying, fasting or volunteering their time in church, they will gain increased favor with God. They think that all their works will cause God to be on their side and answer their prayers.

But do you really think that you can twist God’s arm with your good works? Let me ask you: Does God answer your prayers because of your merit or Jesus’ merit? Is He on your side because of your merit or Jesus’ merit? Come on, it’s important to get these foundational truths right and not slide in and out of trying to
deserve
God’s favor when He wants us to
receive
everything through His unmerited favor. Am I saying that you shouldn’t read the Bible, pray, fast or serve the Lord in church? No, a thousand times no! All that I am saying is that when you do these things, do them from a heart that
wants to
, and not from a heart that
has to
because of legalistic obligations.

Think with me for a moment. Would you like your spouse to spend time with you because he or she wants to, or because he or she
has
to? Do you think that our loving God is any different? Jesus is not interested in works driven by a sense of legalism. He is interested in you wanting to spend quality time with Him in His Word, so that He can talk to you, encourage you and impart the necessary wisdom to you for the day. It is not about you fulfilling a daily Bible reading quota, accumulating sufficient prayer minutes or fasting long enough in order to qualify for Jesus’ blessings. Absolutely not.

If you do all that, it should be because you have an abiding revelation that Jesus’ presence is with you, an understanding that His unmerited favor is toward you and a certainty that He is on your side. And out of that overflowing abundance of appreciation for His love that you are undeserving of, you desire to hear His voice and seek His face. You begin to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. You begin to acknowledge Him in all your ways and allow Him to direct your paths.
³
Isn’t it amazing how man, blinded by his self-efforts, can turn something so beautiful, like spending quality time with Jesus, into a work?

The presence of Jesus in your life is a free gift from God. There is no number of good works that you can perform to merit His favor.

My friend, God is
with you
today because of His precious Son, Jesus. For God so loved the world, He
gave
His only Son, and His name is Immanuel. God
gave
us Jesus. The presence of Jesus in your life is a free gift from God. There is no amount of good that you can do to earn the presence of Jesus. There is no number of good works that you can perform to merit His favor. His presence in your life is a free gift. Now, because you did
nothing
to deserve His presence in your life, there is
nothing
you can do that will cause His presence to leave you. Once you have received Jesus into your heart, He will never leave you nor forsake you!
⁴

“But Pastor Prince, when I fail, doesn’t Jesus leave me?”

No, Jesus is right by your side to encourage you and restore you to wholeness. You may say, “But I don’t deserve it!” That’s right. That’s what makes it His
unmerited favor
in your life. There is a beautiful psalm that says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand.”
⁵
When you fail, Jesus is there to uphold you. Unlike some of your so-called “friends,” He does not just take off. You can count on Him. He is a faithful, dependable and trustworthy friend. Even when you have failed Him, He is right there with you, ready to pick you up and restore you to wholeness. Amen! The Bible talks about a friend who “sticks closer than a brother.”
⁶
That’s Jesus!

The Divine Exchange

There 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.

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.
⁷
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!

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

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?’”
⁸
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”
⁹
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!]

—Hebrews 13:5, amp

Wow, that is what Jesus has done for us! He has given us the constant presence of God! My friend, you need to 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!

Don’t Evaluate God’s Presence And Unmerited Favor Based On Your Circumstances

Now that you know that God’s presence in your life is a guaranteed constant, I want you to recognize that you cannot evaluate God’s presence and His unmerited favor in your life based on your circumstances. To help you understand what this means, let’s continue our study on the life of Joseph and pick up the story from where we left off in the previous chapter.

Joseph has just refused the advances made by Potiphar’s wife, and as the common saying goes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”! So she maliciously accused Joseph of attempting to rape her, brandishing as “evidence” the garments that Joseph had left in her hands when he fled from her. When Potiphar heard his wife telling her version of the story, his anger was aroused and he seized Joseph, stripped him from the place of authority he had given him and threw him into prison.