Enemies of Divine Favour

Messages for January 2017: Our Month of Divine Favour

Message for Sunday the 29^th of January 2017

Theme: Understanding How Divine Favour works

Topic: Enemies of Divine Favour

Introduction: As great as divine favour is, if certain enemies are allowed, they would make it ineffective and therefore as though it does not exist. For instance, it is the birthright of every righteous person to operate divine favour. We also established that there are two kinds of righteousness namely the imputed one which is the result of faith in Christ Jesus and the other one which is a result of living the godly life. Now if one relies only on the imputed righteousness and experiences divine favour, the favour would be short lived if the person does not do righteousness.

Therefore, to avoid this kind of situation, we must pay attention to the following attitudes which are most likely to cause one to lose divine favour if not addressed: 

1.     Sin: The definition of sin is to miss the mark. In other words, when we disobey God in any way, we are said to miss the mark. The word of God is his instruction to us on how we are expected to live our lives. However, we tend to want to do things our own way just like Adam and Eve did in the beginning. When we live this way, we are living in sin. The result of living in sin is that we strip ourselves of divine favour which is the platform from which we can enjoy any benefits from God. For instance Cain and Abel’s experience in Gen.4. Abel was favoured because he did what was right before God but Cain lost his place and the presence of God and became a vagabond and fugitive instead of favour from God. All his rights as first born were lost as a result and he ended up becoming irrelevant when he could have been somebody. See Heb.11:4 and Gen.4:10-14. Also, Judas Iscariot lost his place as one of the Apostles of the lamb to sin. See Mt.19:28; Lk.22:30 and Rev.21:14. The Lord Jesus Christ was able to secure and maintain His place because he loved righteousness and hated wickedness. See Heb.1:8-9. Thus the blessing for living a righteous life cannot be overstated.

2.     Ignorance: Another enemy of divine favour is ignorance. Of ignorance, God had this to say to the children of Israel in Hosea 4:6 “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I have also rejected thee that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” When people do not pay attention to learning the word of God to the point of gaining understanding enough to be able to live in the way God wants them to, they would not be able to exercise the favour of God which is supposed to be their inheritance in Christ. To this attitude, God views ignorance as a state where one has rejected knowledge. It is often said that ignorance of the law is no excuse. This is true of the word of God as well. When we are expected to have knowledge in any area of our lives and we do not, we would be treated by God as rejecting knowledge. See Heb.5:12 and Ps.82:5-7. The devil is known as the power/prince of darkness [Lk.22:53 and Acts 26:18]. The word translated darkness. Anyone who is ignorant in any area of life is said to be in darkness in that area. As a result, such a person comes under the jurisdiction of the prince of darkness. The only way out of this is to be enlightened. John 1:5 makes us understand that whenever one is enlightened, darkness cannot comprehend the enlightened.

3.     Fear: We are told in 2Tim.17 that God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Fear is given to whoever has it. It is not original with us. When fear is present in any life for any reason, it was not given by God but by an evil spirit and can therefore be cast out. If fear is not dealt with, it can rob one of the ability to take the favour that God has given to one. This explains why many people do not attain to their maximum potential because they were prevented by the spirit of fear from taking the necessary step to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them by the favour of God. For example many of the children of Israel could not enter the Promised Land because of fear resulting in unbelief. See Num.13-14, 1Cor.10:1-5 and Ps.78:9-11.

4.     Carnality: This is a mindset that is essentially selfish. It is a state of mind that makes a believer reason like an unbeliever. The result is that the said believer will suffer the same fate as the unbeliever because the quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our mindset. This kind of mindset cannot obey the new commandment that Jesus has given to His Church [Jn.13:34-35]. In Romans 12:2 we are told to not conform to this world but to be transformed from it by the renewing of our minds. Thus if our minds are not renewed they would be carnal. Carnality makes one an enemy of God and prevents the person from walking in divine favour. See Rm.8:5-9 and Gal.5:16-17. Another evil of carnality is that it keeps people in a state of perpetual baby Christianity and therefore prevents them from benefiting from the faith as they should like walking in divine favour with ease. See 1Cor.3:1-3 and

5.     Disobedience: This is another description of sin. The difference is that in this case, the person in question does it willfully. Sin could be transgression which is normally inherited or actual commission or omission of divine demands. For instance when we hear God telling us to do or not to do anything and we fail to as He says, it is disobedience. For every disobedience there are consequences depending on the magnitude of it from God’s perspective. For instance, the disobedience of Saul in 1Sam.13 cost him his throne and perpetuity as a king. On the other hand, David’s disobedience in 2Sam.13 robbed him of a peaceful home and reduced the sphere of his influence through his posterity.

More could be said on this but for want of time and space. However, the issue of the enemies of divine favour can be resolved through genuine repentance. In addition, there could be disfavor as a result of the rejection of the free gift of salvation to mankind as related to us in John 3:16-19. In the case of the latter, we can be set free by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord by faith. Should you desire to do so now if you are yet to do it, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

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