More Favor
My heart has been captured by another woman. Her name is Trinity. I can hold her in the palms of my hands. She is three weeks old. When I speak to her, or pray blessings over her, or sing to her, her eyes track my face like her little spirit understands perfectly what I am doing.
Lana and I have been experiencing one of life's most precious moments-- the joy of becoming grandparents! I am surprised the newspapers haven't shown up at our door to take pictures: "Most beautiful baby in the world born in Benton County, Arkansas." Trinity Shealyn Wood was born May 30th weighing six pounds and six ounces. Her mother Natasha, and her father, my son Scott, are both doing well. This is their first child, our first grandchild, and only the second female born into the Wood family in 75 years.
God is big into reproducing. Everything created by God that is alive has the built-in capacity to multiply. That includes His most wonderful creation, the Body of Christ. If we could get the religious contraceptives removed from the church, the supernatural life of Christ would naturally produce abundant fruit through all the Body's members, not just the professionals.
God uses quite natural methods to bring more of His life into the world. No test-tube babies. No lab experiments or clones. He uses love, serving, praying, good works, friendships, mercy, testimonies, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the power of the Spirit. The life of Christ is being reproduced and imparted, one soul at a time, through the community of believers in Jesus.
For nine months, I had been an expectant grand-father. I didn't realize it at first. My daughter-in-law wasn't "showing." That is so often the way of our spiritual fruit as well. We can be pregnant with God's purpose and not know it! We keep on being faithful, doing what God shows us to do, enduring discomfort, being Christ-like when it isn't easy, and then quite suddenly discover that our faith and good works have nurtured a birth in God. What joy!
God's way of inaugurating new seasons is often through the birth process. Processes always take time. Impregnation, gestation, labor and delivery. No instant babies. No delivery without pain. Jesus was a nine month baby. God is a God of process. Process is a word that requires perseverance, completion, patience, and remaining "pregnant" with God's word until the time of fulfilment arrives. Impatience (a work of the flesh) can abort the process and then we have to start all over again.
When Jesus was born, the angels rejoiced and announced "peace on earth to men of good will." His birth was attended by angels. But He was the Son of God, so He was special, wasn't He? Yes, indeed. But later Jesus said that all our children have angels who behold the face of the Father in heaven. Births are special events. Heaven bends low to examine with delight this new little human, full of potential, created in God's image with an immortal soul. God loves people!
We all arrive with certain talents on loan from God, certain gifts that are dormant awaiting activation, a destiny waiting to be discovered. These spiritual faculties come by grace as an unearned gift. Our part is to respond in faith as an act of obedience. The quickening of God's word through simple faith releases divine power inside us, enabling our human frailty to achieve extraordinary accomplishments, all thanks to divine grace. The least likely to succeed can become a mover and a shaker if God's hand of favor rests upon them.
During our time with our children here, I have realized what great achievements our own two adult children have made, thanks to their hard work and dedication, but also to divine favor. God is good!
Favor is not an accident. What is first given in small portions by sovereign grace may be increased greatly by the obedience of faith and through our persistent prayer. I know many millions of believers are praying the "Prayer of Jabez." That is good.
But I am also praying the "Prayer of Moses." "Now therefore I pray Thee, if I have found favor in Thy sight, let me know Thy ways that I may know Thee, that I may find favor in Thy sight." (Exodus 33:13 NASB)
Divine favor is initiated with God but is increased in our lives as we appreciate its value and seek more of it. There is a season of favor, and I believe we are now in it.
Seeking more favor has practical and tangible ramifications. Moses said, "Let me know Your ways so that I can know You." Knowing God is the process by which favor increases. God has certain ways. God's ways are not our ways. Usually, we are ignorant of His ways. The problem is that we don't know what we don't know. God says that the greatest is to be the servant of all, that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and we are to humble ourselves to be exalted. All of this is opposite from the world's ways. God's ways and thoughts are contradictory to our carnal ways.
Moses wanted to know God. He wanted more intimacy with God. He measured the degree of favor on his life, not by material blessings, but by his level of revelation knowledge of God. Intimacy with God by adjusting our thinking and adjusting our lives to confrom to His ways is the key to communion with the Lord. God likes to hang out with people whose ways are compatible with His ways and His nature.
I used to think that there were two major battle grounds in our Christian walk and ministry. I had concluded years ago that there was a battle over money and there was a battle for the anointing.
The devil thinks he owns all the money. Satan wants to channel money to godless entertainers, drug lords, mafia kingpins, corrupt rulers. But God wants to transfer the wealth from the wicked to the righteous, especially in these last days. Why? Because God wants to empower apostles and prophets to extend Christ's kingdom.
Wealth is a source of power. Satan is a thief. Satan wants Christians, churches, and businesses (those owned by believers) to be poor and to stay poor. Listen, God wants wealthy believers! Why? Because whoever controls the money controls the church... and the media, the universities, the government.
Let's not be naive about money. When Christians prosper and begin to partner with apostolic purpose (see Philippians 4:14-19), it boosts the expansion of Christ's kingdom to a new level of dynamic effectiveness.
The other battle I have recognized for a long time is over the anointing. By anointing, I mean the outbursts of God's powerful presence on a believer's life to undo Satan's works. There is in much of the church world a traditional religious mind-set against the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This prejudice is inspired by Satan in order to keep the church powerless and fearful. The devil doesn't care if churches believe in God's power, just so long as nobody experiences God's power.
The anointing breaks the yoke. The anointing enables believers to destroy Satan's works and set captives free. The devil doesn't want Christians to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. But millions of believers world-wide are being filled with the wonderful gifts of the Spirit and demonstrating God's power!
But I have changed my mind. I now believe that there is a third battle in our Christian walk, a battle over intimacy. This is the greatest battle of all. Perhaps this battle is somehow singularly important since it definitely relates to the first two battlefields.
When I speak of intimacy, I know we first think of the wonderful romantic love that develops between a man and his wife. This is truly delightful and a holy gift from God to humanity, ending our isolation, giving us companionship. Certainly the world, the flesh, and the devil all work to undermine true intimacy and destroy fidelity between husbands and wives. Covenant is meant to protect the bond of intimacy.
But there is a spiritual intimacy that develops between people and God when we learn to worship in the Spirit and walk in the truth. This is the intimacy of rest for our souls. It is based on faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, the unconditional and never-ending love of the Father, the limitless grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the constant communion of the Holy Spirit, and the New Covenant sealed with Christ's blood and afffirmed and explained in the Bible.
Intimacy means close communion, enjoyable fellowship, knowing one another, lowering the barriers to trust and experiencing genuine committed love. In intimacy, we unmask ourselves and disclose our inner feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, and desires. Intimacy takes time and trust to develop.
With God, our intimacy increases as we express to Him our heart-felt adoration, our deepest supplication, our longing for more of His presence and for manifested mercy for our loved ones. We move beyond confession, beyond prayer, into inner-court worship. Intimacy is the breathing out of vapors of love, acending upwards like incense to affect the atmosphere of heaven.
Someone has said that God has been inhaling the aroma of the church's corporate worship, and now He is getting ready to exhale the wind of Pentecost on the Body of Christ! Do it, Lord!
When I hold little Trinity Shealyn close to my face and love her, everything in me wants to protect her, to provide for her, to favor her with all that my life can possibly grant to her.
How much more does our Heavenly Father deeply desire to do the same for His precious family of faith, those who have believed in His Son Jesus and have honored Him? Will He not now honor us with more of Himself and with more of His precious treasure from heaven?
---------------------------------------------------------
For email contacts or for resource materials:
www.touchedbygrace.org
American address for contributions:
Touched by Grace, Inc.
P. O. Box 12749
Wilmington, NC 28405 USA
Lana and I have been experiencing one of life's most precious moments-- the joy of becoming grandparents! I am surprised the newspapers haven't shown up at our door to take pictures: "Most beautiful baby in the world born in Benton County, Arkansas." Trinity Shealyn Wood was born May 30th weighing six pounds and six ounces. Her mother Natasha, and her father, my son Scott, are both doing well. This is their first child, our first grandchild, and only the second female born into the Wood family in 75 years.
God is big into reproducing. Everything created by God that is alive has the built-in capacity to multiply. That includes His most wonderful creation, the Body of Christ. If we could get the religious contraceptives removed from the church, the supernatural life of Christ would naturally produce abundant fruit through all the Body's members, not just the professionals.
God uses quite natural methods to bring more of His life into the world. No test-tube babies. No lab experiments or clones. He uses love, serving, praying, good works, friendships, mercy, testimonies, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the power of the Spirit. The life of Christ is being reproduced and imparted, one soul at a time, through the community of believers in Jesus.
For nine months, I had been an expectant grand-father. I didn't realize it at first. My daughter-in-law wasn't "showing." That is so often the way of our spiritual fruit as well. We can be pregnant with God's purpose and not know it! We keep on being faithful, doing what God shows us to do, enduring discomfort, being Christ-like when it isn't easy, and then quite suddenly discover that our faith and good works have nurtured a birth in God. What joy!
God's way of inaugurating new seasons is often through the birth process. Processes always take time. Impregnation, gestation, labor and delivery. No instant babies. No delivery without pain. Jesus was a nine month baby. God is a God of process. Process is a word that requires perseverance, completion, patience, and remaining "pregnant" with God's word until the time of fulfilment arrives. Impatience (a work of the flesh) can abort the process and then we have to start all over again.
When Jesus was born, the angels rejoiced and announced "peace on earth to men of good will." His birth was attended by angels. But He was the Son of God, so He was special, wasn't He? Yes, indeed. But later Jesus said that all our children have angels who behold the face of the Father in heaven. Births are special events. Heaven bends low to examine with delight this new little human, full of potential, created in God's image with an immortal soul. God loves people!
We all arrive with certain talents on loan from God, certain gifts that are dormant awaiting activation, a destiny waiting to be discovered. These spiritual faculties come by grace as an unearned gift. Our part is to respond in faith as an act of obedience. The quickening of God's word through simple faith releases divine power inside us, enabling our human frailty to achieve extraordinary accomplishments, all thanks to divine grace. The least likely to succeed can become a mover and a shaker if God's hand of favor rests upon them.
During our time with our children here, I have realized what great achievements our own two adult children have made, thanks to their hard work and dedication, but also to divine favor. God is good!
Favor is not an accident. What is first given in small portions by sovereign grace may be increased greatly by the obedience of faith and through our persistent prayer. I know many millions of believers are praying the "Prayer of Jabez." That is good.
But I am also praying the "Prayer of Moses." "Now therefore I pray Thee, if I have found favor in Thy sight, let me know Thy ways that I may know Thee, that I may find favor in Thy sight." (Exodus 33:13 NASB)
Divine favor is initiated with God but is increased in our lives as we appreciate its value and seek more of it. There is a season of favor, and I believe we are now in it.
Seeking more favor has practical and tangible ramifications. Moses said, "Let me know Your ways so that I can know You." Knowing God is the process by which favor increases. God has certain ways. God's ways are not our ways. Usually, we are ignorant of His ways. The problem is that we don't know what we don't know. God says that the greatest is to be the servant of all, that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and we are to humble ourselves to be exalted. All of this is opposite from the world's ways. God's ways and thoughts are contradictory to our carnal ways.
Moses wanted to know God. He wanted more intimacy with God. He measured the degree of favor on his life, not by material blessings, but by his level of revelation knowledge of God. Intimacy with God by adjusting our thinking and adjusting our lives to confrom to His ways is the key to communion with the Lord. God likes to hang out with people whose ways are compatible with His ways and His nature.
I used to think that there were two major battle grounds in our Christian walk and ministry. I had concluded years ago that there was a battle over money and there was a battle for the anointing.
The devil thinks he owns all the money. Satan wants to channel money to godless entertainers, drug lords, mafia kingpins, corrupt rulers. But God wants to transfer the wealth from the wicked to the righteous, especially in these last days. Why? Because God wants to empower apostles and prophets to extend Christ's kingdom.
Wealth is a source of power. Satan is a thief. Satan wants Christians, churches, and businesses (those owned by believers) to be poor and to stay poor. Listen, God wants wealthy believers! Why? Because whoever controls the money controls the church... and the media, the universities, the government.
Let's not be naive about money. When Christians prosper and begin to partner with apostolic purpose (see Philippians 4:14-19), it boosts the expansion of Christ's kingdom to a new level of dynamic effectiveness.
The other battle I have recognized for a long time is over the anointing. By anointing, I mean the outbursts of God's powerful presence on a believer's life to undo Satan's works. There is in much of the church world a traditional religious mind-set against the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This prejudice is inspired by Satan in order to keep the church powerless and fearful. The devil doesn't care if churches believe in God's power, just so long as nobody experiences God's power.
The anointing breaks the yoke. The anointing enables believers to destroy Satan's works and set captives free. The devil doesn't want Christians to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. But millions of believers world-wide are being filled with the wonderful gifts of the Spirit and demonstrating God's power!
But I have changed my mind. I now believe that there is a third battle in our Christian walk, a battle over intimacy. This is the greatest battle of all. Perhaps this battle is somehow singularly important since it definitely relates to the first two battlefields.
When I speak of intimacy, I know we first think of the wonderful romantic love that develops between a man and his wife. This is truly delightful and a holy gift from God to humanity, ending our isolation, giving us companionship. Certainly the world, the flesh, and the devil all work to undermine true intimacy and destroy fidelity between husbands and wives. Covenant is meant to protect the bond of intimacy.
But there is a spiritual intimacy that develops between people and God when we learn to worship in the Spirit and walk in the truth. This is the intimacy of rest for our souls. It is based on faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, the unconditional and never-ending love of the Father, the limitless grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the constant communion of the Holy Spirit, and the New Covenant sealed with Christ's blood and afffirmed and explained in the Bible.
Intimacy means close communion, enjoyable fellowship, knowing one another, lowering the barriers to trust and experiencing genuine committed love. In intimacy, we unmask ourselves and disclose our inner feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, and desires. Intimacy takes time and trust to develop.
With God, our intimacy increases as we express to Him our heart-felt adoration, our deepest supplication, our longing for more of His presence and for manifested mercy for our loved ones. We move beyond confession, beyond prayer, into inner-court worship. Intimacy is the breathing out of vapors of love, acending upwards like incense to affect the atmosphere of heaven.
Someone has said that God has been inhaling the aroma of the church's corporate worship, and now He is getting ready to exhale the wind of Pentecost on the Body of Christ! Do it, Lord!
When I hold little Trinity Shealyn close to my face and love her, everything in me wants to protect her, to provide for her, to favor her with all that my life can possibly grant to her.
How much more does our Heavenly Father deeply desire to do the same for His precious family of faith, those who have believed in His Son Jesus and have honored Him? Will He not now honor us with more of Himself and with more of His precious treasure from heaven?
---------------------------------------------------------
For email contacts or for resource materials:
www.touchedbygrace.org
American address for contributions:
Touched by Grace, Inc.
P. O. Box 12749
Wilmington, NC 28405 USA
