And they,
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Praising God, and
having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such
as should be saved. Acts 2:46-47
As we begin the second half of this
year of Divine Appointment, I want to first thank the Lord for faithfully
keeping us through the first half of the year in spite of the plague that has
brought sorrow to the world through disease and deaths. We are not here today
because of our righteousness but because of the mercy of God.
On this note, I welcome you to the
month of July 2020 which the Lord has graciously labelled for us our month of divine favour. In our text
scripture above, we learn that the early Church continued daily with one accord
in the temple and breaking bread from house to house living in the joy of the
Holy Spirit and having favour with all the people. God thus increased them by
adding to the Church daily such as should be saved. In Romans 8:28, we learn
that all things work together for good to them who love God and are called
according to His purpose. It cannot be denied that the early Church fathers loved
God and were called according to His purpose. Their love was demonstrated in
their passionate desire to always spend time together with Him. At first they
moved together and had all things in common. But later due to the persecution
of man, they were scattered abroad where they continued to let their light
shine so that men like Phillip took the gospel to Samaria and brought salvation
to the Samaritans so much so that it went on record that this resulted in great
joy among the people. To solidify their joy, they sent for Peter and John who
ministered the Holy Spirit to them for the continuity of the work. This was how
the gospel continued to spread until the Holy Spirit called more people like
Paul and Barnabas and used them to spread the gospel in supernatural and
spectacular ways that beat the natural understanding of men. On some occasions
people called them gods in the likeness of men. In another development, they
preached the gospel diligently in Asia Minor that in the space of 24 months,
the entire Asia Minor heard the gospel. This was all due to the favour of God
that granted them access into the hearts of men and transformed men’s hearts
from darkness to light. See Matthew 5:14-16; Acts 8:3-8, 14; Acts 13:1-12; Acts
14:8-18; Acts 26:14-18 and Acts 19:8-10.
From the foregoing, I believe that
whereas this period of lockdown [a persecution of sickness] may have brought
about a time of confusion and lack for many who do not know the Lord, it should
be seen as a period of opportunity for those who were prepared ahead because of
the favour of God to reach out in love to the lost and needy around them and
share the love of God. This can be done through sharing your food with those
who lack because of the inability to sustain their families because they could
not go out to work daily as a result of the pandemic situation. More
importantly, it is an opportunity for people at home together to pray together
making requests before God for mercy and the manifestation of His perfect will
of birthing more souls into His Kingdom.
As we do this, God will answer our
prayers and raise more labourers as He did Barnabas and Paul. We would see the
unprecedented move of God that would birth the end time harvest of souls like
we have believed for in decades. The earth would be filled with the glory of
God like the waters cover the sea. See Acts 4:23-31; Acts 4:34; Isa.11:9;
Hab.2:14 and Isa.2:1-3.
In light of the above, this month we
shall be learning how to attract God’s favour by looking at thee series: Attracting Divine Favour. Meanwhile, I
want you to understand that the access to divine favour is the new birth
experience. When you hear and believe and obey the gospel by getting born
again, you are born into God’s family because the bible teaches that as many as
receive Jesus Christ, God gives the power to become the children of God. See
John 1:12. If you want to receive Him today, you can do so by saying the
following prayer in faith and the Holy Spirit will birth you into God’s family
and you can begin to attract and keep God’s favour:
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.
Congratulations! For more information and
resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website
at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our
blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com
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email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.
