DIVINE FAVOUR

₦Sermon 45
                             DIVINE FAVOUR

                              “May the LORD show you his favour and give you his peace” Numbers – 6:26

                              Bible Reading: Numbers 6:24-26, Gen. 12:1-3, 1 Samuel 16:11-13, John 5:2-9

I praise the name of the Most High GOD for bringing us together today to commune with him in his glorious splendor. Hallelujah!

Brethren, I really want to bless the name of God for HIM to bless His Word. We pray that may his word to night bring hope and comfort into our mortal souls. Amen.
I want to tell you that favour does not come from any man unless God endorses it and that is what it’s called “Divine Favour”. Any favour from a man is by God’s will. The divine favour is a deed done voluntarily to somebody by God. God has looked at the situation of Israelites, their conditions and has seen that they need to be blessed. He spoke to Moses to tell Aaron and his sons – the priest to bless Israelites. This really suggests perhaps that the Israelites have struggled to be blessed but it seems that the blessings were not coming. Thus, we don’t struggle for blessings. Blessings come to us when God has endorsed it. The blessing Aaron and his sons proclaimed to Israelites were initiated by God. It is God through his Holy Spirit that tells us what to pray for and such prayers are always powerful and prophetic.

May the LORD bless you and protect you – Numbers 6:24: A man who is not under the coverage of God is always prone to destruction and disasters. Such a man needs a divine favour so as to be protected against deadly sickness, academic failures, spiritual attack and untimely death.  I pray that God will grant you his protection in Jesus name. At our work place, enemies and Satan are fighting very seriously against the children of God. Some do try to take you away from your position by trying to poison you or to attack you spiritually but God has clothed you with his spiritual armor as to protect you from your enemies. Do you frequently fall sick and fear that you have no protection? Believe in Christ today, the divine favour will locate you. Amen.

When you are being protected and realize that God’s favour has come upon you, God will smile on you for his second blessing: May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you – Numbers 6:25. He will be happy that his blessings have reached you. He will be happy to bless you more and you will always be favoured by Him.

Abraham was singled out by God to leave his father’s family and country to sojourn in an entirely strange land. He was nobody by then and because of a divine favour, he was blessed to be the father of many nations, blessed to be a blessing to others and God even promised to bless those who bless him and curse those who treat him with contempt – Gen. 12:1-3. All these blessings came when Abraham did not expect it. It may come to you perhaps at a time when all hope is gone. As child of God, a divine connection will come in your way and it has been designed by God in such a way that you will be a blessing to other people. There are so many of us that have received the divine favour just like Abraham, but we don’t use the blessings to bless others. We need to use our blessings to bless others and above all, our neighbours and those in the same faith.

Also, some people are regarded in a society or family as the least to have any inheritance. They seem to have been forgotten by their parents, friends and brothers just like what David says: “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close” Psalm 27:10. I tell you that he who called you out from your mother’s womb says he knows what you will be in future.

Now see how divine favour works, see 1 Samuel 16:11-13, David who was a great shepherd was at wilderness tending to his father’s sheep while Samuel who was sent by God to anoint one of Jess’s son wanted by a mere human look to anoint somebody else  contrary  to the will of God. God said to Samuel: “No, Eliab is not the one I want you to anoint. Don’t look at his countenance or height of his stature; because I have refused him; for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but he LORD looketh on the heart, verse 7. Thus, nobody can bribe out your divine favour and nobody can take what belongs to you to give to another person. The blessing that God has packaged for you will surely come to you. David who was not at home was sent for and immediately he came before Samuel. God revealed to Samuel that David was the one. When Samuel was warned by God that he shouldn’t look at human countenance or height of stature he became restless to find out the right son of Jesse and this has caused him to suspend the sacrifice. Thus, heaven will not rest until you are blessed. The anointing that was bestowed on David was that of divine power and ordination to rule the Israelites with the fear of God. It was a divine favour to be king and to rescue God’s people from their enemies. Such a divine favour will equally come to you for you to rule your enemies with the fear of God and such a divine authority will be given to you to rescue your family from any human and spiritual oppressions.

Also, when people feel that you are nobody, God will speak for you that you are somebody. It does not matter the days of your sufferings or how long you have been in a terrible situation but one thing is clear, at the appointed time for God to show mercy to his children, you will be the first in his list because you are a candidate of heaven.

A man who had been at the pool of Bethsaida for thirty-eight years was healed by Jesus Christ who has every power to show favour even to those that do not merit it. The scripture records that the man did not request for Christ to heal him. It was by the mercy of God that he was made whole. Christ asks: “Wilt thou be made whole?” — John 5:6. This question seems to have reminded the man as something impossible to do since he did not know who Jesus is (verse 13 of John 5) and besides God has given them an only place where the first among the sick ones would go when the angels bubble up the water to be healed. Christ did not want to hear him narrate all his woes because he knows everything the sick man was passing through in life. He knows everything about the man, his condition and terrible sufferings. He said to the man: “Stand up, pick up your mat and walk”. Thus, what seems impossible to you, God will make it possible for you. That sickness that seems that it has no remedy, God will take it away from you. The question is; do you need to be made whole? Do you need to have divine favour? I pray that from now till next year, divine favour will reach you in the name of Jesus, Amen!  

In the book of 2 Kings 5:1-14, we see how leprosy was disgracing and embarrassing a solder called Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram. Naaman was highly respected and was rich but leprosy became a deterrent that did not allow him to have the rest of the mind. But a day came a Hebrew servant girl who attended to Naaman’s wife said to her mistress that in their place, Israel, there was a prophet that would pray for the healing of the master’s illness. Notwithstanding of what Naaman said and later obeyed the word of Elisha, God showed him his favour. He was asked to wash himself in Jordan River, dip into it seven times. The scripture records as Naaman obeyed the word of Elisha, the Prophet of God, he was made whole, his flesh rejuvenated like the flesh of a new born child and he was clean. I pray that those who are in the same condition of Naaman, those who suffer from the disease called Ebola Virus; they will be made whole in Jesus’ name, Amen.    

———— Meditation Point—————
LORD I need your divine favour and connection this year. “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come”— Psalm 102:13, KJV.  Indeed my own favour has come in Jesus name, amen!