The Blessed and The Cursed 2
God is not good or bad; He is God. Whatever He says is the truth, is your truth and your good. He made heavens and earth for His pleasure. He has a purpose in mind — a plan. He knew Adam would fall short, so before the foundation of the earth, the Son of God was crucified. Everything henceforth was structured in a way to ensure Jesus was born. God wanted a man He could call His friend and build a nation through Him. He found Abraham, and Abraham ran with His covenant, he believed Him and judged Him faithful even though all they had was a relationship as friends. God at a time ate with Abraham, so you have to consider how strongly he built intimacy with the Father.
Sarah could not wait so he gave Abraham Hagar her maid to sleep with her and produce kids since Sarah will claim the slave and the child. He did, and they had Ishmael. Hagar started disdaining her mistress, Sarah dealt with her, an angel came to Hagar and told her to go back to her mistress, the angel then delivered God’s promise to her and the generation in her womb. God never wanted Abraham’s legacy and his image destroyed in the strange land, he was a man of influence. An angel had to clean up the mess. As wealthy as Abraham was, his maid should not be treated that way, even though the child she carried was not God’s promise to Abraham. God had to tell Abraham to walk and be perfect, that action was almost an act of unbelief, but God knew he did it to satisfy his woman and be at peace. He must not have that kind of record in the land, God went ahead to reiterate His covenant to Abraham and reassured him. God was very clear, Ishmael was not the child and will never be the promised child. The destiny of the world was hanging on Abraham, Jesus must be born. After childbirth, Hagar still misbehaved greatly and Sarah had to send her packing with Abraham’s approval. The angel of the Lord had to come again and clean up the mess. Despite the circumstances and seemingly an act of unbelief from Sarah, God never hated Ishmael who was never promised to Abraham, the will of man brought Ishmael not the will of God. He gave Ishmael a covenant to be a great nation and he is indeed a huge nation today.
Abraham willed his properties to only the promised child, Isaac and gave just gifts to other children. You will think that was evil? No, Isaac was carrying a covenant hinged on the eternal plan of God. It was not about good or evil it was about the righteousness of God that must be born in a lineage. The rest of Abraham’s offspring never suffered.
Isaac had two kids, one must carry on with the covenant and God chose Jacob it was not about good or evil, it was about His agenda. It does not matter if you like it or not. He created all things for His pleasure. On Esau and Jacob, let me share a story with you. A close brother of mine had parents who gave birth to 9 kids. As was the practice in those days, the parents went to a herbalist to check their destinies, I once read from Afe Babalola that they did this for him too. The herbalist told them that this my brother is the one with a glorious destiny. From that day onward, his parents channelled all their energy and resources toward him. They sent him to Covenant University to study a fantastic course. The hope was that when he makes it after university, he would help his siblings, who seemingly do not have a ‘glorious destiny’. The rest were never sent to school. This was the case with Jacob and Esau, the mother went to consult and she was told that Jacob is the glorious child, hence the preferential treatment she gave him henceforth. You can read it right there in the Bible. Many of us ignore putting the Bible in context, and these were humans who lived in the world system. Esau and Jacob’s case was not God loathing one and God loving another. God made a choice that one man should carry on with His eternal purpose. Esau later got married to one of the offspring of Ishmael. He went on to do well for himself. Now consider, a scenario in that God hate someone, do you know how miserable your life will be? Many of you consider money and influence as living glorious lives, and many spend years in church asking God for what Esau did flawlessly. When it comes to morals, Esau stood out more than Jacob. Jacob was a shrewd man, a cheater. He was what you will consider a corrupt guy, yet despite the treatment melted to Esau, he never wished Jacob evil when they met 27 years later. Of course, his anger was hot against his brother the last time he cheated him, it died down and was not bitter. Couldn’t you guys see how fearful Jacob was for his life when he was about to meet him? He almost died. He became paranoid and formulated all sorts of strategies. Yet this man met him with grace. Does that look like someone whom God hated? Do you know what it means for God to hate someone?
On mercy, again, God has an agenda and He was not unapologetic about it. When He decided that the earth was too polluted, he deployed water. He made a promise with a rainbow, a symbol of one of the elements in the throne room, as a covenant, and blessed the earth again for Noah and his household. That was mercy. Whatever He does is just. When the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah reached out to His throne, He had to do another cleanup. In these two accounts, the ones that chose to align with His eternal plan walked in His mercy effortlessly. They never prayed for it or cried for it. They simply made a choice. When Rahab the harlot who was supposed to be killed with the godless nation aligned herself with the Israelites, she was saved. She was not only saved from destruction, but she became one of the progenitors of the human race of Jesus. The moment you pick the Lord’s side, you are righteous, and mercy is an automatic process for you. David understood it, he said goodness and mercy will always follow him, it is following me too perpetually. David was not only speaking for himself but he was also prophesying about the future. Let me show you; all events in the old testament were carefully engineered by God in partnership with men to bring Jesus into the world. When Jesus resurrected, He was given a throne in the throne room. The seat in the throne room is called the mercy seat. If you believe you are in Christ as Jesus reveals to you and you are seated in Him at the throne room even a joint-heir with Him, can’t you see that you are now in the eternal plan of God? Can’t you see that you are seated in Christ on the mercy seat? You are a perpetual recipient of His mercy. It is the order of the day for you, no wonder the Scriptures say God’s mercy is renewed daily upon us. Today is another day, it is a fresh dew of mercy for you, it is your abode in Christ Jesus. So, since you are a perpetual recipient of His mercy and you are seated in Him on the throne of mercy, go all out and dispense God’s mercy to the world. Do it in your daily affairs. Practice Christ. Live Christ. Do Christ. You do not beg or cry for mercy anymore, it is the order of the day in your life. Hallelujah!
Your confession henceforth is thus: “Father, thank You for the gift of Christ. Thank You for making me one with you by Your Spirit in me. Thank You because I am seated in Christ in heavenly places far above principalities and powers. Thank you because your goodness and mercy are the order of the day in my life and I am a perpetual recipient of your mercy. I am mercy personified. I declare that I dispense the verities of your Kingdom to my world. I dispense mercy in my daily affairs. I am empowered with heavenly resources to be a blessing to my world every day. Grace, mercy, and truth flow out of me to my world, and I am an eternal blessing to the Body of Jesus Christ, to my world, and to future generations. Gloryy.
