It is by Grace

Sunday 26 November
READ: Rom. 11: 5 – 6   
MORE LESSON: Rom. 9: 15 – 16

A highly respected servant of God once told us that if God were to make a choice based on qualification, it shouldn't have been him. All of us were stunned because we actually saw him as a person that was high in the esteem of God and man. But he told us that his mother was not the first wife in his father's house, and so by biblical implication, he was born in adultery. If God was to choose by human qualification, He wouldn't have chosen him. He also said that he borrowed shoes to graduate in secondary school. So if God's election was to be by a good financial  background, he would not have qualified. He is great and highly placed today by the grace of God.

I have also found that the highest qualification of man does not impress God. It is only who He decides to have mercy on. Being chosen and distinguished by God does not leave room for human pride; it is not the making of man. It is by the election of God's grace (Rom. 11: 5 -6). No man should take credit for the work of God in his life because he can’t pay for it, neither is it because of his capacity; it is the gift of God. Today, be like-minded, that whatever God is doing through you or has given you, you should not brag about it. After all, ...who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1 Cor. 4:7 (NKJV).

It is foolish for a man to go around in pride because God is using him. God's power and grace on any man is a gift that  God put there. Some people are proud of being 'Men of God', forgetting that the man is not important, it is the God behind the man that matters. Take the God away, and the man becomes nothing. Today, whatever God has helped you to achieve or is helping you to do, I want you to maintain a humble posture and not see yourself as more spiritual or better than others around. Recognise that it is only by His mercy and grace that you are who you are. It is because God delights in you that He elected you to stand in that place. Do not give in to pride because if you do, the delight of God will be turned away and that favour will be removed and you will realise that on your own, you are nobody. I pray earnestly that God will never move His grace from your life, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that grace will lift you above every high standard, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray that God will not forbid His grace from increasing in your life, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God to help you live a life of humility, in Jesus’ mighty name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
As the Lord ordered the release of the donkey (Mk 11:1-10) because he needed it, so I declare my own release today from everything tying me down because the Lord needs my life for His glory, in the name of Jesus.