Introducing Jehovah Jireh - #6
Truth No. 4: While hard work is good, it is not the best way to receive from Him!
Hard work is certainly good. It is the ethical way to be blessed. Sweat through any mountain and it will give way. Put your biceps against any challenge and it will be moved. After expending strength, sweat and grit, you will be rewarded with the prize of success!
This model of getting blessed has ample support in the Holy Writ. It was the order God Himself instituted after the fall of man! In Genesis 3:17 – 19, God pronounced this verdict on mankind, following the repudiation of His original plan that Adam and Eve would simply live by His Grace:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.”Running through the book of Proverbs are various passages which extol diligence and hard work. Those who are diligent will stand before princes and kings, not mean men!
Beyond hard work, there is another surer route to the top. It is the way of “favour”. The way of favour is paved by grace or the unmerited goodness of God. Favour gives you what you are unqualified for; favour takes you beyond your natural capacity; favour causes men to give you a job or rise first before even asking for your credentials. Favour is what we need saints, to tap into the best that Jehovah Jireh has to offer!
The favoured one has no business investing time, effort and money on cosmetics in order to locate your Adam. Adam will come even from the ends of the earth to find you! The one clothed with favour will scale walls and run through the proverbial troop, without a scratch!
Favour is the portion of the redeemed of the Lord. In Galatians 3:13, 14, the Word states that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law so that we will walk in the realm of the covenant blessings Abraham enjoyed with God stated in Genesis 12:3 and Genesis 22:18. The Seed God spoke of in both Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 22:18 is Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:14 asserts boldly that on the Cross, He wiped away every ordinance which was contrary to us and against us!
If you have never walked in favour before, it is not God’s fault. Ignorance of your covenant right in God is one of the things which will make a saint to suffer needlessly in the area of the body and finances, though the spirit and soul will be saved for eternity! Hosea 4:6.
Jehovah Jireh is waiting to clothe you with favour! Are you ready for this new breath of fresh air, a season when you will find favour with God and human beings?
- Secondly, go out of your way to show mercy to people – even those who do not deserve it! Proverbs 3: 1-4
Truth No. 5: The best place to meet Jehovah Jireh is on the Mercy Seat rather than in the
- Thirdly, begin to also bless the poor for in so doing, you are lending to God who will repay you! Proverbs 19:17; Psalm 41: 1-3.
Many good Christians fail on one stumbling stone: they are fond of looking for Jehovah Jireh inside the
The Ark of the Covenant which God asked Moses to build was an exceptional piece of divine furniture. Let us get a picture of this precious asset in Exodus 25: 10 – 22 and Exodus 37: 1 - 9.
The
Let us break this down to glean some timeless truths about how Jehovah Jireh deals with sons of men:
- The mercy of God is higher than His judgements. As James 2:13 puts it, Mercy rejoices against Judgement! Saints, on our own basis, none of us is pure before God. It is His gift of righteousness that we wear like a robe which makes us right in His sight! We should never lose sight of the fact that we came into the Kingdom on the basis of His unmerited favour and are sustained by same. When needs come our way, let us also learn to approach the Throne of Grace, even the ultimate Mercy Seat with humility, counting on His compassion and caring heart.
It is significant that the place from where God rules the universe is called “The Mercy Seat.” That is where we are urged to come boldly to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need! Hebrews 4:14-16. Let us not forget the spiritual dictum in Romans 9:15: “I will have mercy on whoever I wish to have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” God also states explicitly in Romans 9:16: “So then, it is not of Him who wills or who runs, but of God who shows mercy!” Understanding and walking in this truth will redefine the attitude of saints to the various quests of this present life.
Is it not this God who picks people like Joseph from the dungeon and installs them in palaces of Kings? Is He not the one who picked the ruddy faced, clearly unqualified youth (in the eyes of parents and siblings,) David, out of the backside of the wilderness to become King of Israel? What of the unqualified Moses? The tempestuous Peter? The murderous Saul who was, as Paul, to become the most outstanding vessel in pushing the cause of the very gospel He despised?
When all else seem to have failed; when you do not seem to have the right credentials or connections for that job, marriage or business, why not celebrate your emptiness so that Jehovah Jireh can fill you up with His own glory which settles everything?
- To approach God out of a sense of entitlement because we kept away from certain sins that loom large in the mind of saints is to be legalistic with God. This is why many “good” Christians who pray well seem to struggle with receiving blessings from God!
Saints, let us cease to be legalistic with God, for by the deed of the law no one can be justified! Let us chuck the spirit of religion in the bin and hold God in the reverence and love that is His due. Legalism does not hold water with Him!Truth No. 6: Jehovah Jireh has committed Himself to those who will pray in faith!
Saints, what we want to share here may seem paradoxical to one of the issues we discussed in Truth No. 2 that prayer cannot change the express will of God. Paradox is the way of Jehovah Jireh! Who has known His mind to be His counsellor?
In His own Word, God states that He gave this very piece of real estate called planet earth to man as an inheritance! Genesis 2:15; Psalm 115:16. For that reason, God, who exalts His Word above His own name, has a track record of doing things on earth in partnership with mankind! This is one of the reasons why God had to be incarnated as a human for the sake of redeeming mankind!
Saints, that is why God looks out for praying men and people who trust Him. He gives such people a sneak peek into what lies ahead and recruits them to mid-wife that which He had purposed! Ezekiel 22:30.
In Genesis 18, we see a demonstration of this divine principle. In verses 16 -19, God mused about Abraham as a reliable vessel and faithful companion on earth. In verses 20-21, God informed His friend that the cup of
Let a holy company of men and women of faith and prayer arise in these last days to pave the way for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to do what He has already purposed to do, according to the good pleasure of His will!
Let us intercede that God shall be revealed to the elect remnant as Jehovah Jireh so that they stop fretting and trust Him for all their needs and be thus delivered from the entrapments of the world around! 1 John 2:15-17; 2 Cor. 6:14-18.
Let us also intercede that as many as are ordained for salvation shall connect to His grace and mercy.
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