January 2020

Dear Friends –

God promised, through Jesus uttering those words above, that a time of miracles had come… a year of the Lord’s favor. Can you imagine being a listener in the Synagogue that day they first heard those words spoken centuries ago… what hope and joy they must have given to desperate souls that had long been praying for release. And yet, centuries later, how many of us really understand that those words are still very relevant and absolutely positively true for each and every one of us Christians that proclaim Almighty God, Our Father… the Lord’s favor is ours, not just for a year but always... as long as we choose to remain His child. Anytime, anywhere and for any reason, we can go to Him and ask for His help in being released from enslavement of one kind or another, in being helped to cast off the chains of oppression inflicted by all sorts of wrong authority, and especially that He would please increase our ability to believe in Him and see Divine Providence working in our lives at all times… always to desire and recognize His favor.

The normal analysis of scripture by Church Fathers is to emphasize a supernatural interpretation of events, presenting a more figurative picture to the literal occurrences. When Christ cured the blind, emphasis was placed on those blind to God’s truth being given spiritual vision to know and understand Him; while lepers were cured of a horrific disease, they were more so symbolically eradicated of the deadly sins that were quickly eroding their life to eternal death; and where demons were extracted, that was the penchant of devilish ways controlling every aspect of their self-absorbed life being thoroughly removed. While the supernatural cures are definitely more significant, because they are the ones that help us attain heaven, let us never forget that Jesus actually did the literal… He did give sight to the blind, He did give hearing to the deaf, He did make the lame walk and so much more and all in the natural. Besides the bodily cures He administered, recall the time Jesus stopped the wind and sea from violently tossing the Apostles’ boat around… think on the tremendous power that He has which can control all the elements of nature… that should just amaze and overwhelm us! And what about the time His extreme unhappiness with the barren fig tree made Him put it to death, instantly! In the natural or supernatural, Almighty God has the miraculous power over all of His creation… so when The Bible repeats time after time, “Nothing shall be impossible for God,” why is that so hard for us to believe?

Certainly, we don’t see instant miracles happen today as they did when Jesus walked the earth, but non-the-less, miracles do happen everyday but in hidden ways seen only by His children that recognizes that He often works through the normal course of events; behind the scenes, He masterminds an occurrence of Divine favor. Never hesitate to ask your Heavenly Father to favor you with His powerful abilities in the natural as well as the supernatural. This time of year as the calendar rolls over to a New Year, our minds are abuzz with new hopes, desires and resolutions; we are ready to say goodbye to bad habits, goals set aside, and misfortune of one kind or another we never want to revisit, so we slam the door closed on the old with great expectations for a new beginning. However, examine those failures and determine whether or not you were trying to accomplish them on your own merits and without God’s help… perhaps another try this year, but this time with much prayer for His intercession. You want success to quit smoking, lose weight or anything else, natural or supernatural, ask and you will receive… He would love to give you, a year of His favor!