“Whether you are a seeker trying to find the Way in life, a doubter wondering whether God cares about you, or a believer bewildered by hard times or struggles, this book is for you. I was blessed reading this book and I believe you will be too.”
Deeply rooted in biblical theology, this book is filled with practical everyday illustrations and applications drawn from decades of Dr. Foster's Bible ministry in poor, rural Mozambique, and demonstrates great cultural understanding of the cultural and socio-economic contexts that African Christians may find themselves in today.
It explains why we need to trust in God, even when life is hard and things don't seem to go our way, and why an understanding rooted in a covenant relationship with God is key to unlocking the true blessings and riches of Christ's kingdom in our earthy experience.
This book supplies a much needed perspective in contemporary African Christianity, where people often feel driven to seek spiritual protection, power, and healing from ancestral spirits, spiritualists, and traditional deities, and where the tremendous appeal of material wealth, prosperity and worldly success can overshadow the true meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is a healing balm for spiritual wounds inflicted through the hardships of life, and great restorative medicine for the Christian soul!
All of us, deep down in our hearts, long to be favored. As human beings, we are desperate and hungry for special blessings in our lives. Dr. Stuart Foster from the Scriptures and from his rich life experiences, both from the ups and downs, shares with us that those who are “IN CHRIST” are already “HGHLY FAVOURED” by GOD! One of the ways that the enemy tries to rob the joy and fulfillment of God’s people and put them into discouragement and hopelessness is by making them blind to this great truth that we hare highly favored by God in spite of what is happening in our lives. In Christ, God has entered with us in a covenant that is unconditional that “He will be our God and We will be His people!”
Are you struggling with the question of belongingness? Do you feel unsatisfied with life? Do you have many “WHY” questions in your life? Then, “Highly Favored” is for you!
Let this small book that answers the cries and puzzles of many people help to show you the big purpose that God has for your life by letting you know the BIG STORY that God is writing and where you are already part of it! .
Highly Favoured is an exploration of God’s relationship with his people for all time through the lens of God’s covenant. Like a bright light, this book leads the reader out of a prosperity gospel mindset and into the assurance of a life-giving relationship with God rooted in covenant promise: “ I will be your God and you will be my people.”
He also makes a case for biblical lament, showing how God’s servants in the Bibble cried out to Him using the covenant language “My God”.
Whether you are a new believer or a long-time follower of Jesus, reading what Foster has to say about God’s favour will change the way you view suffering in your life and the lives of godly people around you.
Foster’s many years translating the Bible from its original languages into the Lomwe language of Mozambique gives him deep knowledge of God’s Word. He combines this with practical insights and personal experiences that will enrich any reader who truly seeks assurance of God’s favour.
Many Christians in Africa tend to fantasize with a big God on Sunday and dine with small gods Monday to Saturday. It would appear the big God has wealth and prosperity but is hard to reach when they are in trenches of ordinary life without the help of small gods. In Highly Favoured, Stuart Foster elucidates who the Christian God of the Bible is. He is the God of all of life and in all circumstances or not God at all. Believers have a privileged and rock-solid relationship with God, grounded in a binding covenant to be their God and the believers his people. A relationship that is exclusive, secure, demanding, and purposeful. The paradox is that the small gods separate you from God and God is always with you when you go true pain and suffering as he is in wealth and health. This is a great book for understanding what it means to be a Christian.
In this well-researched and carefully- written book, Rev. Dr. Stuart Foster provides a sound biblical interpretation of what it means to have the favor of God. The topic of “God's Favor,” is a frequent preaching and teaching subject in Africa that is often misunderstood, particularly among Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. In Highly Favoured, Foster engages the topic in a fresh and balanced way that is both faithful to scripture and meaningful to contemporary audiences, particularly in the global south. I highly recommend this book.
Having been involved in theological education for decades, I recommend this book very highly.
Rev Dr Stuart J. Foster is authoritatively qualified for the views he expresses in his book. His testimony of suffering and longstanding service in Mozambique shows he is a true missionary who has given his total life to Christ and incarnated into an African culture.
The author calls Christians to a journey of discovering our unlimited privileges in the covenant made in Christ Jesus. He clearly explains the marks of the covenant, which are hardly ever taught in most of our churches. As he explains them, the Bible passages used in the text become clear, alive, and powerful.
Today, some televangelists and preachers propagate the gospel of “name and claim it”, that once one is in Christ there is no more suffering now. But Dr Foster gives a balanced teaching about suffering, including a reminder that even Christ suffered as our example.
The book calls us all to stop depending on dead ancestors. We must trust in Christ because we who are born-again believers, God’s people, now live in Christ, the Wisdom of God and the Hope of Glory.
You can read this book without a dictionary, teacher, or professor to help you understand it. Churches and secondary schools should get this book. It is a masterpiece for family development and discipleship.
I also recommend this book to seekers and backsliders. Welcome to the journey of self-discovery and renewal of God’s covenant with you. Get the book and you will never be the same.
Dr Foster has dug the well from which many will drink to eternity. May God bless him and Oasis International for making this book available to the world.
Shalom!
Stuart Foster writes as one who has traversed many situations and lived experiences that have filled him with a passion to share his discoveries with audiences near and far. Here he beautifully retells God’s great story, which transcends the traditional and the modern, focussing on the book’s main theme—God’s favour.
Life in contexts such as poverty, conflicts, and war can be terrifying and uncertain. Misfortune can seem to come from all over the place, whether from ancestral curses or our own self-created trials. People often wrongly seek to solve these dilemmas through human practitioners, who promise success through their rituals, or ancestors long physically dead. Born in Zambia to missionary parents and now living in Mozambique, Foster gives illustrations from his daily life in Africa of how people continually search for blessings and favour from unproductive sources. Examples such as the woman who can’t find her bank card or the headmaster consulting a diviner across the river demonstrate that many Africans still search for blessing in the wrong contexts of African Traditional Religions. Even Christians who do not always rely on their faith in Jesus in times of crisis.
The truths of this book show that “traditional” world views do not alleviate poverty and suffering, and the promises of modernity and politics have not improved people’s lives. Instead, the solution is found in God and God alone. His favour is enough for all. God’s great story and covenant with us is the only way to access the blessings found in Jesus Christ.
Stuart Foster’s book is both simple and complex. Simple, because he touches themes and relevant questions that one can find appropriate and relevant in many different cultures. Complex, because these are questions that the church in Africa is still working to explain, such as ancestors, curses, syncretism, and divination. This work underlines the need to deepen our understanding of these themes as we reflect on our relationship with God. For instance, Foster tackles the question of using intermediaries in order to access blessing, a problem that will remain as long as the priesthood of believers hasn’t fully taken root in the Church. Foster’s work motivates us to accept God’s high favour in our lives and embrace the grace that comes with it, building a foundation for the church and believers around the globe to grow upon.
My description, without a doubt, simplifies Stuart Foster’s presentation. I hope you will read the text for yourself and discover God’s high favour.
Written out of the heart and even pain of Africa, this book is especially for all of us who are sons and daughters of Africa. Whether you are a seeker trying to find the Way in life, a doubter wondering whether God cares about you, or a believer bewildered by hard times or struggles, this book is for you. The author is showing us here that God has made a Covenant or Promise to us saying: “I want you to be my Covenant People and I promise to be your Covenant God and show special favour, provision, and blessing to you.” It shows too how you have nothing if you are disconnected from God, but how through Jesus you have everything if you are connected. This is wonderful Good News. I was blessed reading this book and I believe you will be too.