“Celebrating Our Year Of The Lord’s Favor In Thanksgiving!”
“The angel went to Mary and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’..’Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.'”(Lk.1:28&30b).
Favor is simply defined as either, “approval, or liking for someone or something”, or “an act of kindness beyond what is due or usual.”
Favor is a show of grace. This does not mean that if you are favored life becomes smoothest for you.
When the angel announced to Mary that she was highly favored, Mary was greatly troubled. The angel had to reassure her not to be afraid.
Mary had all the reasons to be troubled. Favor comes with its own package of headaches and heartaches. The favor shown to Joseph by his father raised the jealousy of his siblings. It is favor that led Joseph into slavery and imprisonment in Egypt. However it was a tragi-comic story because the story ended in joy.
The Lord’s favor of Mary came with challenges. First was the stigma that she received from her community because she had a child out of wedlock. Joseph even had a mind to divorce her quietly because as a good man he “did not want to expose her to public disgrace”(Mt.1:19).
Our emphasis is that favor does not mean there will be no downpour of rain on your journey. Favor is that God will provide you with an umbrella and protection until you get to your destination.
Favor is not sailing the ship without storm. Favor is Jesus Christ being in your boat telling any storm, “Peace, be still!”
This year we celebrate the Lord’s favor because when we count our blessings and name them one by one, we can surely conclude that we have been highly favored.
We etered the year 2021 with the threat of COVID-19 all around us. COVID-19 is still very much in our midst and becoming more threatening. We have lost many souls to the pandemic, but we are still alive, just because we are highly favored.
I personally passed through the experience of catching the disease, but because of God’s favor I am here to testify. Many of you have had the same experience, but you are still alive with barely two months to end the year.
Those of us living in this place called North West have been through hell because of the protracted war. While some people sit in the comfort of tight security and say “everything is under control,” those of us who live the daily experience wuthout the comfort of chain armor protection know that everywhere around us things are uncontrollable!
We only enjoy each day while it lasts, but we never know when we are going to be caught in crossfire, or when we are going to be labelled blacklegs and hunted down, or when we are going to be framed up as supporting the boys and be incarcerated or killed. But for the monent we are alive because the Lord has favored us!
My friend, you and I have all the reasons to come before the Lord in joyful thanksgiving because we are highly favored. Count your blessings and name them one by one and you’ll be very thankful because you are highly favored! The Lord is with you!
Let us celebrate our year of favor with joy and thanksgiving to the Lord. The most important of all, Jesus Christ is still the Lord of our lives and our Saviour. He remains the greatest favor which the Lord has shown us! Let us rejoice and be thankful.
Sunday prayer: Thank you Lord for favoring me this year more than ever. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!