Finding Favor With God 10.20.11
King James Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: Finding Favor With God
Date: Thursday October 20, 2011
Chapters: Luke 1
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Hello My Friend/Guest,
“My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” - Proverbs 3:1-8.
The word favor means a kind act, any act of grace or good will, a gift or present; something given to us as an evidence of good will. Those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ find favor with God, those who allow Christ to live in and through them find favor with God and man. We must trust in the Lord with all our hearts, believing that He is able and wise to do what is best for us. While our human reasoning may think that something is good for us, God looks beyond the heart, mind, and flesh, to see exactly what it will do for us. It is promised that if we lean on His understanding that we will be prosperous, joyful, and happy, even through our afflictions, and that is finding favor with God and man.
The Gospel of Luke is the forty-second book of the Bible, the third book of the New Testament, the third book of the Gospels of Christ, and contains twenty-four chapters. The author of the Gospel is Luke and it was first aimed at reaching the Greeks, whom Jesus is presented as the perfect man. The timeline for these events took place approximately between 4BC and 33 AD. The purpose of this Gospel was to write an orderly account of the ministry of Jesus and to show all that He is the promised Messiah. What we are to learn from the book is that our mission is to be identical to that of Jesus, to reach all of the lost with the good news of the Gospel and to come to the realization that nothing is impossible for God. “And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” -Luke 18:27.
The Holy Spirit singled out Luke, the beloved physician, to give us this inspired Gospel, he also wrote the Book of Acts and was Paul's frequent companion. His devotion to Christ caused him to treasure the words that He spoke, as well as everything that concerned the Savior's life from His birth to His resurrection. “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” - Luke 1:1-4.
Luke addresses one specific believer, Theophilus, the name Theophilus, means follower or beloved of God. So, Luke is writing to all who are beloved followers of God. Luke is recording the things that he witnessed, learned, heard, and perfectly understood while these events took place in order to minister the Gospel for all to believe. He is instructing all believers, so, we are to be witnesses as well. All who have accepted Christ become ministers of the Gospel, however, very few actually go out and witness to people.
“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God...For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” - II Corinthians 4:1,2,5-7.
Before God sent Jesus it was important for Him to send a forerunner, someone sent in advance to announce His coming. That forerunner would be known as John the Baptist, “And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” - Luke 1:12-17.
Six months after Elisabeth conceived, Mary got a visit from the angel Gabriel, she would soon be blessed to carry the Son of God. “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” - Luke 1:26-31.
It was important that Jesus come to earth as a normal person would, to be born as a child, and of a virgin, if He would have been conceived like any other child He would have been given the sin nature that all of us are born with, which was passed down through Adam. This would have kept Jesus from being the sinless substitute for our sins. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.” - Romans 5:12-14.
It is also important to realize that Mary was not without sin, she was just like the rest of us, she was born with a sin nature, she sinned like everyone else does. However, what Mary did have that many lack was God's favor, her faithfulness to God and willingness to serve Him no matter what He asked pleased Him so much that he chose her to carry His Son. Now, don't expect God to bring anymore virgin births to pass, but what you can expect God to do is a great work in you when you are faithful and willing to go where ever He asks you to go. “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” - I Peter 4:14-18.
Today's Prayer: (taken from Psalm 31)
Dear God,
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;..My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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