Hosanna Restoration Church

Noah received special favor from God so that he and his family could rise above the coming destruction. The day of deliverance was just a little ways in the future, and there was a lot of work during the preparation, but when the flood came they rose easily above it. The Bible says that on the day of the flood all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and heaven opened up.

It seems to me that Jesus was the manifestation of the flood of God’s grace. He was the picture of a man walking the earth continually drawing on God’s special favor and blessing and then in the end the picture of grace that saved us all. He did not deserve to die and we did not deserve to have Him die for us. Still, here we are. We have received the unmerited favor; now are we willing to walk in the special favor? Will we allow it to flood our lives and take us where God wants us to be?

As I considered this, I thought of the way oil company’s look for a place where there is a trickle. I remember on the Beverly Hillbillies when Jed Clampet shot, and up through the ground came a bubbling crude. People rushed to them to get the rights to turn that bubble into a gusher and made those hillbillies rich. Scripture says the blessing of the Lord makes us rich. I want a flood of that!

From the beginning, satan has done his best to stop the favor of God. He hates everything and everyone who dares to draw on what God has for us. He practices deceit and destruction in order to cut off of every trickle before it can become a flood.

Our understanding works like valve in our lives. We can either throw the valve wide open and allow the grace of God to flow into and through our lives, or we can close it down tight and maintain things just as they are.

There are countless numbers of people who have closed the valve even before they received the unmerited favor of God. These are the people who hear the truth, but make the effort to resist it and are never cleansed by the water of the word.

At different stages of our walk with God we come to places where greater understanding begins to trickle into our lives and at each place we can open up for the flood or close that valve.

Paul prayed that we would have the power to understand the greatness of God’s love for us. It takes power to fight through the resistance that the devil throws into our path. It is my desire to ride on the flood of the grace of God. I pray that we all will throw open the valve that Jesus has provided and begin to walk in the same favor and blessing that He did. After all, if any person is in Christ, they ought to walk like Him.