The Pathways to Favour

Call To Prayer 

Title: The Pathways to Favour

By: Daniel Peter

Date: 16.08.2023

 “Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  James 4:5‭-‬7 NASB2020

God loves each member of the body of Christ equally, but we are not all equal in the kingdom, for God elevates one over the other. The differences between people in the kingdom is the amount of grace (favour) they have been able to attract. So, gaining the understanding on how to grow in favour is an engagement we should take seriously.

James writing on this mentioned that “... God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6 NASB2020)“, making humility the means by which we attract more grace (favour) from God. Humility as a concept is expressed in several ways. And from my observation in this matter, some are humble in certain areas but are not in other areas, depending on their knowledge of God. Therefore, learning humility is akin to growing in your knowledge of God, which is also growing in grace (2 Peter 3:18).

The first lesson of humility is “submitting to God”(James 4:6-7). We submit to God when we choose to obey Him (His written and spoken word). This was what Jesus Christ demonstrated when He humbled Himself and obeyed God by dying at the cross of Calvary, despite it was against His will (Luke 22:42, Phil. 2:4-11). Christ attracted the grace (favour) for exaltation because He humbled Himself by being obedient, we attract same when we follow His example. Again, service is an expression of humility. This was what Jesus Christ demonstrated in John 13: 1-17 when He washed the feet of the disciples, despite He is their Lord and Master. As we choose to serve the brethren, grace (favour) is attracted to us.

Other ways we attract grace includes fasting and prayer (2 Chro. 7:14), giving joyfully and sacrificially (2Cor. 9:7-8), thanksgiving (1 Thes. 5:16-18), listening (Luke 8:16-21), and faithfulness (Gen. 41: 37-44) etc.

Prayer Point

Let’s thank the Lord for the word today. Let’s also ask Him to help us learn humility so we can grow in grace and knowledge of God.