Psalms 5:12 ‘For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.’
DAILY READING John 5:19-47; 1 Chronicles 20:1-22:1; Zechariah 8
Dr. David Yonggi Cho is the well known pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, which is believed to be the world’s largest congregation.
However at the beginning of his ministry, David Yonggi Cho started out as a very poor pastor, struggling to make ends meet. In his book, ‘the fourth dimension’, he records how he learned to take bold steps that began to lead to the rapid growth of the church. In 1969, he embarked on the construction of a church building that would seat 10,000 people costing $5 million. In the course of this project, Dr. Cho once wrote a $50,000 cheque that was post-dated to 31st December.
As the date approached, he tried all he could to gather even a small portion of the amount, but that proved almost impossible. When 31st December arrived, which was the day that the funds had to be deposited in the bank, he still did not have the money. As the evening approached, he paced around and prayed in desperation to God. If his cheque bounced, the newspapers would carry headlines saying that the pastor of a large church in Korea wrote a hot cheque. As he continued praying, he suddenly had the idea to go to the president of his bank and ask him to write a $50,000 cheque. Of course the idea seemed far fetched and outlandish; it was December 31st, almost 5 o’clock and the banks were about to close, he had no previous appointment with the bank president, he had no assets for collateral, nor had any paper work been done. It seemed indeed an impossible idea. However, Dr. Cho believed that the favor and grace of God could accomplish the impossible in his life. And so trusting God for a miracle Dr. Cho headed to the bank and went straight to the president’s office. When the secretary stopped him and asked him who he was, and if he had an appointment, he told her he was from the highest authority, meaning that he was from God. She however thought he meant he was from the President of Korea and so she ushered him past the line of waiting people, straight to the president’s office.
Confidently Dr. Cho told the bank president, that he was the pastor of a church with more than 10,000 members and he would give the bank 10,000 new bank accounts, if the president would do him the small favor of writing him a $50,000 cheque. Though the bank president seemed to hesitate at first, eventually he wrote the $50,000 cheque. Thus miraculously Dr. Cho was delivered from trouble. Indeed though it had appeared like an impossible situation, the unusual favour that surrounded Dr. Cho compelled the bank president to show him inexplicable goodness.
Psalms 5:12 says ‘For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.’
When you are clothed with God’s unusual favour men will be compelled to do you good. It is only by God’s Grace that we can be able to accomplish great exploits. And it is only by His favour that we can go forth to possess our possessions.
Psalms 44:1-3 says ‘For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.’
God is committed to giving His people favour and we are privileged to be His people by redemption. Indeed in God’s plan the set time to favour Zion has come. Just as God gave the Israelites favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so shall it be for us in this season. We shall not go empty. We are in the latter days, the era of supernatural favour in the body of Christ. As a result, there will be an unusual release of favour upon every child of God. Indeed by the grace of God we are set to become signs and wonders to our world.
PRAYER:
Father, I thank You for the unlimited grace and favor you have released to me today. Please help me to take the limits off my life and move in boldness to possess all You have ordained for me in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
QUOTE
The battle you are faced with today is a good warfare because God has already foreordained victorious end for you.