What are the grounds or foundations of favour?

ByPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
Peace and grace from the Lord be multiplied unto you today!I would like to continue our talk on the power of God’s favour.So far we have talked about what favour is and what it does for us. We also saw that favour is the heritage of every believer in Christ. Today we will talk about the foundations of favour.
Every builder knows how important the foundation of a building is. The weight of the building rests on the foundation, and if something is wrong with it, then the consequences can be devastating. In spite of the fact that favour is the heritage of all the children of God, yet favour depends on certain conditions or grounds to function. We need to consider this foundation otherwise, we will have a serious crisis or disappointment in an attempt to claim or walk in our heritage of favour. So, what are the grounds or foundations of favour?«For You, O Lord, will bless the RIGHTEOUS; with favour You will surround him (the RIGHTEOUS) as with a shield» (Psalm 5: 12).
From the above Scriptures, we can establish that it is righteousness that qualifies a person for receiving blessings and God’s favour.The foundation for favour is righteousness. This might raise a question in your mind: aren’t we all righteous in Christ? Yes, every believer is righteous in Christ. However, when we read the Bible, we see the difference between our legal status in Christ and our practical position.For example, in most of the writings of Apostle Paul we find that he devoted much of his time showing us what our new legal position in Christ is. Yet, after that he always called us to live according to this new position. If we being righteous through faith in Christ do not live according to this new status, then we are not qualified for God’s favour.Let’s imagine that a person committed a terrible crime but was acquitted because someone else took the blame for it. Would it be right to show favour to this person if he continues to commit crimes? I don’t think so. That is exactly the situation with believers who call themselves righteous, but still continue in their sinful lifestyle. Favour does not belong to these kind of people.
«A good man obtains favour from the Lord, but a man of wicked intentions He will condemn» (Proverbs, 12: 2). «Fools mock at sin, but among the upright there is favour» (Proverbs, 14: 9).
Those who mock or laugh at sin are called by the Bible fools, not righteous. Only the righteous are qualified for the favour of the Lord. We will continue tomorrow.Be blessed! Pastor Rufus Ajiboye

Similar Posts

  • Follow me and I will make you!

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    Do you know that you are not all you could be yet? Only the Lord knows who you are created to be and He wants to make you become who you are really created to be. That is why He said “I will make you”.Peter and His brother were created to be Fishers of men, but they did not know that until they started to follow Christ.The bible said they straightway left their nets, and followed him. Their destiny was changed that very day. That was the point the Lord began to make them into who they were created to be.

  • God’s purpose for the earth and the role of people in it III

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    «Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! ’» (Matthew, 7:21-23).

  • How do we know if we have the fear of God in our lives?

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    The first way to know this is to understand that the fear of God expresses itself in a hatred of evil.“To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech” (Prov. 8:13) (see also Prov. 3:7; 14:16; 16:6; 23:17; Job. 1:1,8; ; II Cor. 7:1). This is just the opposite of the wicked (Eccl. 8:13—”Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow”). (see also Prov. 1:29; Ps. 36:1-4. ).

  • All true ministry begins in the presence of God II

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 2 minutes
    Today I want to continue our talk on starting ministry in the presence of God. Yesterday we saw the example of Lord Jesus Christ Himself, but today we are going to see the example of prophet Isaiah. The classic example of prophet Isaiah is another strong illustration that shows us how effective ministry must begin in the presence of God

  • What is compassion?

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    We must understand that Jesus’ disciples were not perfect; quite the opposite, they are ordinary people with „character issues”. Jesus did not wait until they become perfect, but sent them out to serve people. He did not have anybody else to send; so He worked with what He had. And He is calling us to do the same today; it applies to every one who considers himself to be His disciple. Jesus desires for God’s children to be filled with compassion and to help people allowing God to touch all the people around them with His love.If we see someone perishing physically because of some illness, we do everything to save him. We often do not realize that unsaved people are spiritually ill, that they are perishing and need salvation. We must do everything in our power to save them. So our hearts need to go out to them with love and compassion.