I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. Romans 8 :18

PRAYER INTENTION

We pray for God's mercy to help us to make meaning of sufferings that are favour oriented.

FAVOUR AND GRACE MAY NOT BRING LAUGHTER AND CELEBRATION AT FIRST SIGHT...- 2

• Moving on, Jesus full of favour and the Holy Spirit, wept in John 11:34-35. Jesus has just learned of the death of His friend Lazarus. “ Where have you laid him? ” He said. “ They said to him , ‘ Sir, come and see.’ And Jesus wept. ” JESUS will weep again in Luke 19:41 over Jerusalem. Grace and Favour weeping.

• Several times during his ministry, they tried to hurl him off a cliff, stone him, trap him, kill him and this was the one who was full of favour and the Holy Spirit.

• Let us fast forward to Gethsemane. Jesus’ agony is at the peak of His sorrows (Luke 22:39-46). On the cross he will take on Himself the whole weight of man’s sin and suffering as a result of the fall. It was at Gethsemane that the full dread of this event filled Jesus. And he prayed not once but 3 times. Herh, three times, grace and favour is repeating the same prayer...

• The man-God full of favour, grace and the Holy Spirit is betrayed with a Kiss. It is striking that the agony is immediately followed by Jesus betrayal by Judas. The betrayal is of the deep piercing kind that comes when someone who was formerly an intimate friend turns against you . As Jesus puts it, “ Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss ?” (Luke 22:48). Jesus will go on to experience ever widening circles of betrayal by his own people. First, His disciples flee after Gethsemane. Their abandonment is driven home by the betrayal of Peter, which Jesus personally witnesses (Luke 22:61).

Next, the chief priests, his own people and elders reject him. Grace and favour betrayed, by the whole system, small betrayal then you want to give up...

• Then finally, Jesus, full of favour and the Holy Spirit is abandoned on the Cross. A-bandoned. Jesus is truly ‘ broken ’ on the cross. In terms of His interior distress, the decisive moment is when He cries out to God the Father, asking why He has been abandoned (see Matthew 27:46). Have you ever cried to God asking him why He has abandoned you? To feel abandoned by God when one has known Him is certainly the worst imaginable spiritual torment. Many of us have experienced this to some degree as a result of betrayal or sin or dryness in our devotions or an onslaught of doubt. Jesus too has been here.

• Hear me when I tell you that you should beware when God announces favour on you, because it almost always doesn’t look like it in the beginning.

Let us take a look at another person in scripture and what happened to her when God announced to her through an angel that “ Hail Full of grace, you are highly favoured ” (Luke 1:28). At one point Elizabeth will even tell her- “ You the most blessed among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb- how come the mother of my Lord will come to visit me .”

The moment she was told “ Mary you are highly favoured, " it was trouble that followed her till she died. First of all she gets pregnant out of wedlock, today we look back and see the possibility and laugh about it, but you hold on and see what we do to ladies who get pregnant out of wedlock in our society, we look at them like they are the worse of sinners.

Just imagine you today, your wife, your girlfriend, your sister, and your friend gets pregnant and says no man is responsible. Can you imagine how you would have reacted, that is how they reacted to Mary back in the day.

It would have been more polite for Mary to say she didn’t know what happened, but for her to say I swear am still a virgin? For God’s sake, people are already angry at you for getting pregnant out of wedlock and instead of managing the situation by silence you say God is your witness and you are still a virgin. Who can take that?

No wonder Joseph wanted to call it quit. Can you begin to understand by Joseph would want to divorce her secretly, this was too much to handle.

And God calls all of this trouble, this catastrophe- FAVOUR? A responsible CARPENTER, a responsible man is about to call off your marriage, wedding and God calls it favour? Your job is about getting terminated, you just lost a loved one and God calls it favour?

Your marriage and family life is almost at stake and God says relax my child, you on the road of favour- you are going through the process of FAVOUR.

Listen, could it be that you think you are going through problems, but God calls it FAVOUR because he is using it as a spring board to launch you into your promise land?

Then Mary, who is full of favour and grace goes into the temple to present her son only to be told by the Prophet Simeon that sorrow, like a sharp sword will pierce and break her heart and the child will be the rise and fall of many. That this child is chosen by God for the destruction and salvation of many and he will be a sign from God which many people will speak against. (Lk 2:35).

Can you imagine and here was Mary full of grace and favour. Mary shudders and holds Jesus close to her breast, as Joseph gently leads her out of the temple. Although Joseph is deeply shaken, his primary concern is for his wife and son. They return to Nazareth in silence, where Mary ponders these things in her heart.

Then next Mary who is full of grace and highly favoured has to seek refuge in Egypt. Full of favour and Grace now a refugee, how? “ The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him ’” (Mt 2:13).

Joseph hastily awakens Mary and relates his dream. She feels the sword’s sharpness as Simeon’s prophecy echoes in her heart. There is no time to worry—only time to pack a few essentials—as they prepare to flee to Egypt under cover of darkness. The lengthy journey across the desert wilderness frightens Mary, but she never voices her fears to Joseph. However, she can’t help but think, Will there be enough food and water? How will we weather the excessive heat? What if the donkey stumbles? What if . . . ? The “ what-ifs ” could have paralyzed a person of little faith. But Mary continues to trust that God will take care of her little family’s needs.

Can YOU begin to imagine the hardships that the Holy Family of Jesus endured while in exile? One thing is certain: nothing can sway Mary’s trust in God. She never questions. She ponders, letting the things she doesn’t understand simply be there in her heart, in complete conformity to the divine plan.

Hear me when I say to you that- Favour, Grace, Mercy, they don’t always evoke laughter at first sight- we continue to pray for the spirit of discernment….

TO BE CONTINUED...

Shalom and God bless you.

#monkreflections

💥Grace&Favour⚡

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥