Pursue God’s Favour

Transcript

Greetings and in Jesus Name. Welcome to this amazing new day.
I hope that you are doing well in your walk with God. That you are going growing in your relationship with the Lord. That you are understanding about the things of God and the ways of God, continues to increase every passing day.
One thing that you can never miss out in life is to understand the purpose with which you have been created. The reason why God has placed you in your particular city, in your particular spiritual and physical context. The purpose God has in His mind for your homes, your jobs, your ministries. When you understand that it gives a clear definition, a clear purpose and motive to everything that you do in life. And when you live your lifes devoid of your purpose, you are living your life devoid of God’s control and Lordship in your life.
When you study in scriptures about the Kingdom of Israel which later got split into Israel and Judah. And how Kings and Prophets and Priests have lead these two nations in the ways of God and sometimes away from the ways of God. You might understand that the primarily problem there was that they have forgotten the purpose with which God have placed them in Canan. Yes, God wanted them to be blessed and God wanted their welfare. And yet at the end of the day, if all the blessings and the provisions and the welfare that God wanted to give them it didn’t brought glory to God. Than all of it was worth nothing. These guys they ended up giving all the glory to the pagans gods, to false prophet and baal and asherah. They even imitated the cultures and practices of all the other pagan countries that was surrounding them, in order to please them. And in order to just be like everybody else in the society. And the bible says, God was very upset with them. God was very angry with them. God was not angry with pagan nations. But God was angry with the Israelites. Because those were the ones who have the purpose of God over their lives. Those were the ones who had a revelation of who God is.

In 2 Kings 24:20
“The Lord became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight.”

This is a very heartbreaking statement . (That he banished them- meaning that God removed them out of the cities and nations)
God sent them into exile. This was the land which God have given them so that they could now build an altar there. So that they could now worship the Lord the God of Heaven. So that they could now elevate and exalt and adore the one true God. That place had to become the lighthouse for the nations around them and instead of that when these guys started giving glory to anything and everything except Yahweh. This place became so defiled. It was no longer accomplishing its original purpose.
And that is why the bible says, the God, He banished them from his sight. In other words, he banished them from the nation. He sent them into exile far away from the riches of that temple and the presence of God and the glory of God.
And the more dangerous part of this story was that, those guys who left the city of Jerusalem and Judah they was more blessed in Babylon than they was blessed in Jerusalem and in Judah. Because Babylon was the wealth capital, the commercial capital, the political capital of the entire known world at that time. And there was definitely more job opportunities, better paying, better houses , better technology in Babylon than in Jerusalem and Judah. And when they was in Babylon their life became so comfortable and so convenient that some of them they didn’t even wanted to come back home, even when the Emperor Syrus made a decree of allowing them to go back to Jerusalem and Judah and to rebuild their homes, the temples, the cities and the nations. That is how much this guys was blessed in Babylon. So somebody who was just carnal or who was just led by physical opportunities and blessings. They was not seeing this exile as punishment. They would see that they had a better car now , a better house now, a more favourable company to work in and all the convenience of life. And they might think God is actually blessing them.
But the key scripture here is that the Lord became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight.
Principle – The best and the greatest and the most valuable blessing you can have in your life is the presence of God.
If you don’t have that, then everything in your life is pointless. If you don’t have favour with God. If you don’t have right understanding with God then it doesn’t matter how blessed your marriage is.. It doesn’t matter how well paying your job is. So we need to redefine, what really true success is. It is not just your physical circumstances. It is not just your emotional well being.

• Success is finding Favour with God!!

• Success is the Lord smiling at us.

• Success is bringing pleasure and glory to God.

• Success is living in the plan and purposes of God. Even if it means to live in the Jerusalem and Judah were the walls was broken down, than to live in Babylon were there was good security, good food and provisions.

May you never be satisfied by living outside of God’s will for your life. There might be times where God would discipline you and disconnect you from your purposes for a season . But may you never be satisfied living that way. May you always keep looking for ways to get back into the center of the will of God in your lives.

Prayer :
Father we thank you for this beautiful day that you gave us. We thank you for your grace that led us. Your grace that provided for us. Never do we wanted to take this grace for granted. Never do we want to honor and celebrate our blessings more than the one that gives us the blessings. We want to see you as the ultimate blessing in our life. There can be no fruitfulness in our life if we are disconnected from the wine which is you. So help us to trust in you all through this coming seasons of our life and to lean on you Lord . And to gain your favour and to run after your pleasure and to live for your purposes in our lives. We thank you for speaking to us. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.