Thursday, January 19, 2012

Obtaining the King's favour

Uni-verse 301/10,000 For better through verse Nehemiah 1 v 11
Obtaining the king’s favour
Neh 1:11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer

We are all called to be servant leaders. As servant leaders, we often need the “ king’s favour”, implying the favour of persons in higher positions of influence or authority who can grant or facilitate what we desire for the Kingdom of God, for ourselves and for the people of God. In the corporate context, it could mean the boss’s favour. When we beseech the Lord to grant us grace to find such favour in the “king’s eyes”, He will cause it to happen even as Nehemiah found favour with King Xerxes in the Persian empire. He will prosper us in our way as He is Jehovah Shalom.

When we come to think of it, we are each a cupbearer to the king, in the sense that on account of our intimacy with God, we are in a position to influence the life, career and decisions of the king through our prayers. We can influence the policies of governments towards the poor, towards the children of God and such other matters through focused prayer. We can influence world and national events. We can influence Obama in White House through the combined effect of our prayers.
Nehemiah was not alone in praying. He had a back up of prayer warriors praying on the same lines. Their common quality was that they desired to fear the Lord. They were not motivated by selfish ambition but desired to be used of God, by God and for God. It is interesting that a good number of readers of the Uni-verse have formed a prayer group called Hedge to pray for each other’s needs and for others. In my personal walk, I have found amazing answers to prayers over the past twenty or more years in which the Lord turned the “king’s eyes” to look with favour upon my requests. Once in the middle of a conference, when some adversaries were conspiring to destroy a movement that I had started, I cried out in my heart to the Lord, “ You who can change a river’s course, who can easily change a ruler’s heart and mind, please let my plea find favour..” The one who is called Lord Amen caused it to so happen. After all, He is the Eternal King all mortal kings look to even as a cupbearer looks to the king.


Prateep V Philip

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