Today we continue our series entitled, “Pursuing Grace-Based Success!”
Here are our foundational scriptures:
(Ephesians 2:8-10 ERV)
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.
9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.
10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
(1 Corinthians 1:30,31 NLT)
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
(2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV)
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
For the last few days we have also been looking at this verse:
(3 John 2, AMP)
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.”
Most of you know that I like to teach by both principle/precept and example. I have been giving you Biblical principles about the importance of having a prosperous soul. Today we will look at an example. It is the story of Mephibosheth.
Before David became King, he spent years on the run as a fugitive under King Saul’s regime. During that time, he developed a strong friendship with Saul’s son, Prince Jonathan. David and Jonathan were so close that they made a covenant with each other. They promised always to be there for one another and their respective families. When David finally became King, it did not come without a cost. Saul and Jonathan, we killed just before David took the throne. Although Jonathan was no longer alive, the covenant remained.
One day King David asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family? If so, I’d like to show him some kindness in honor of Jonathan.” One of the older servants was there and told David that Jonathan had a living son; but that he was lame. It was a sad story. When the word came to the palace that King Saul was dead, everyone scattered. Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, was under the care of his nanny. She grabbed the five-year-old boy and hurried to get out of the palace. In haste, she dropped the little Prince, and he was maimed in both his feet. He was carried to the land of Gilead, where he grew up in the city of Lo-debar. Interestingly enough, Lo-debar means “a place of no pasture,” or “a barren place.”
As soon as David heard Jonathan’s son was living in Lo-debar, he commanded his servants to get him. When Mephibosheth, who was once comfortable around royalty, came before King David, he bowed deeply, abasing himself, honoring David. David said, “Mephibosheth.” “Yes sir,” he replied. “Don’t be afraid,” said David. “I’d like to do something special for you in memory of your father, Jonathan. To begin with, I’m returning to you all the properties of your grandfather Saul. Furthermore, from now on you’ll take all your meals at my table.”
King David was giving Mephibosheth a tremendous blessing, but the former Prince was not ready to receive it because he no longer had a prosperous soul. Instead of accepting the blessing, Mephibosheth knelt down again and said, “Why should you care about me? I’m worth no more than a dead dog.”
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Don’t judge your future by your past; don’t let your history hold you back from your destiny.
— We serve a God who blesses us by grace. Grace is unearned, unmerited, and often undeserved. This being the case, we must continually be ready for what God says becuase ONE WORD from God can change our situation forever!
— All you need is ONE act of favor (or kindness) from God. ONE move from God on the chessboard of your life can change your trajectory from failure to victory.
— God is more than capable of blessing us, but in many cases, He requires us to LET GO of our past to LAY HOLD of our future. Mephibosheth almost messed up. David was freely giving him a tremendous blessing that would change his life forever, but his past so negatively impacted him that he almost rejected the future God was GIVING HIM!
— Learn from the life of Mephibosheth. Always be OPEN to whatever God wants to do in your life; however, He wants to do it!
2. God is not through with you.
Mephibosheth was born as an heir to the throne, and he was raised in opulence until one day, his life came [literally] crashing down. He woke up one morning an orphan, no longer an heir, and without the ability to walk. To make a bad situation worse, he was resigned to living in Lo-debar (“a place of no pasture,” or “a barren place“).
Like Mephibosheth, you may have experienced unpleasant and unfortunate events in life. But you are still alive. The fact that there is still blood flowing through your veins and air flowing through your lungs is evidence that God is not through with you. Keep believing. Develop a prosperous soul. Your latter shall be greater! Say, “Forward ever, backward never. The best is yet to come!“
3. It’s never too late for God.
While Mephibosheth lived in Lo-Debar, I am sure he and his friends reminisced about the “good ole times,” thinking it was too late for anything good to happen to them. But it was not too late for David to offer a turnaround to Mephibosheth, and it is not too late for God to provide you with a turnaround, either.
All you need is ONE WORD from God. And I want you to be ready when God speaks it. This series is about pursuing Godly success, and it has a great deal to do with your mindset. Live with this mindset: “I may not be where I want to be, but I am not where I used to be either. God is not through with me, so I will continually remain OPEN to what He wants to do in/with/through my life. When people read my life’s story, they will see the GRACE of God on every page!“
4. A prosperous soul keeps you ready to receive.
Wouldn’t it be a shame for God to offer you a breakthrough that will change your life forever, only to have you TURN IT DOWN because you can’t see yourself walking in that level of blessing? That’s exactly what Mephibosheth almost did. He was trying to REJECT what God was trying to RELEASE! Why? Because of his mindset.
Favor can do more IN A MINUTE than labor can do IN A LIFETIME. But if you have the wrong mindset, you won’t be OPEN to what God wants to give you. So please live your life with an OPEN heart. Always be OPEN to what God wants to do!
Mephibosheth did not have a prosperous soul, and he was not ready when his turnaround came. He was not mentally ready to receive. Are you? One Word from God can turn any seemingly hopeless situation around. If God approaches you today, ready to give you the breakthrough you have been praying for, are you ready to receive it? If you develop a prosperous soul, you will be. A prosperous soul is always ready to recognize God’s hand and receive His blessings by faith, knowing it came by God’s unearned grace.
5. God will honor the prayers of your ancestors.
Mephibosheth was blessed because of a covenant his late father made. Although his father was dead, the covenant remained.
I will talk more about Mephibosheth tomorrow, but here are some closing nuggets from this point for today:
— Jonathan was dead, but his covenant with David was still alive. Jonathan’s covenant outlived him. Similarly, you have parents or grandparents who have gone on to be with the Lord. But that does not mean that their prayers are dead.
— God will honor your prayers to the second and third generations. This also means that He is honoring the prayers of those who went before you.
— This series is about success. So I need to point out that a portion of your success may have nothing to do with you or YOUR relationship with God. It may simply come down to your parents and grandparents, the prayers they prayed, and the seeds they were able to sow (in faith).
— I am convinced that God spared me countless times, protecting me from all sorts of evil and violence in East New York, Brooklyn, simply because of the prayers of my mother and grandmother. Further, the missionary work we do in the Dominican Republic is in line with what my grandmother used to do. My grandmother, on my father’s side, was a praying woman. One night, I got up to use the bathroom (actually, to pee in a pot), and I saw my grandmother speaking to an angel. I saw this with my own eyes. This woman was used of God to feed prisoners in my hometown, and now our ministry is doing the same thing. We are continuing what she started. I did it because I thought it was in MY HEART to do it, until one day, the Lord pointed out the fact that it was in my bloodline.
— My point is that sometimes we sometimes enjoy blessings because of something someone in our bloodline said or did. That’s what happened with Mephibosheth. Just be open to receiving the blessing when it comes.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about grace-based success.
I am growing in grace by growing in the knowledge of You. Mephibosheth did nothing to earn or deserve the blessing David gave him. It all came to him by grace. All Mephibosheth needed to do was receive it.
But it was hard for him to receive it because he saw himself as a “Dead Dog.” I learn from his story and prepare myself to receive from you.
No matter what happens to me and no matter how difficult my past has been, I refuse to judge my future by my past. I refuse to allow my history to keep my from my destiny!
I develop a prosperous soul. My heart is open to receive. You can bless me richly, Father, because I am ready to receive the blessing with the level of grace and gratitude required to keep me humble.
I won’t allow the blessing to keep me from The Blesser. So here I am, Father, ready to receive. I LET GO of what’s behind me, and I am prepared to LAY HOLD of what’s before me. GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
