The Favor Of God
At the conference we went to last week, Mark Batterson talked alot about the favor of God. So, that prompted me to ask, “Does my life have the favor of God? Does our church have the favor of God? And if those statements have a YES on the end of them, what is holding me back from doing ANYTHING for His glory?”
Go to www.BibleGateway.com and type in “favor of God”. Read some of the chapters that talk about the favor of God. The reality is that, while God does not show favoritism in His love, He does “hand out” favor in our endeavors. It’s really a very deep and profound thought.
Below are some verses I pulled out. Basically from these particular verses, favor is something you can grow in, it is bestowed on those whose walk is blameless, and Nehemiah wanted God’s favor based on his service to others for God. All interesting points to ponder…
Nehemiah 5:19
Remember me with favor, O my God, for all I have done for these people.
Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
Luke 2:52
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Although I don’t quite have this topic all figured out, I am committing it to prayer. My prayer is that my life would be filled with God’s favor. That His favor would be on my children, on my marriage, and in my church. I am partnering that prayer with helping me to live a BLAMELESS life. I not only want God to give me favor, but I want to represent Him well as I live out my Christian life. Sounds like a dynamite combination!
“Favor of God”, is an amazing thought! When I first thought about God’s “favor” in my life, MY thoughts immediatly turned to, “I don’t deserve favor, for I know who I am and my struggles in life, and don’t deserve Gods favor. I have giants yet to battle from the past, therefore I can’t expect God’s favor.”
It was just a fleeting moment that that hit me, but then, the Holy Spirit reminded me that we receive God’s favor, not because we are perfect, or have somehow arrived, but totally because of His provision, His Grace and Mercy at the cross. God has forgiven us before we even asked because He knew we would indeed fall at His feet and accept His provision. The enemy soooo wants to confuse us into thinking “we” make it all happen, when in fact, God has already taken care of our sin, past, present and futrue. His lovingkindness wants to bless us, to give us favor in our lives because, if we have personally accepted Jesus into our lives (for me it was at age 19, at the beach, 1970) we are HIS workmanship, His friend. He simple wants us to walk and talk with Him daily, as He did with Adam and Eve in the garden!
We must not let the enemy decieve us, though he is always trying too!
On a side note: You talked about the power of North Creek Churches ministry being during the week in home group settings. About 6 weeks ago I felt led to ask our home group to pray for my company for “favor”.
It was not but a few days I don’t think before my phone for my business started ringing. Better yet, I seemed to be getting every job I gave estimates on. It has allowed me to bless others with work too, and ours is finally doing good again after almost a year! God’s “favor”, is to those not perfected yet, but to those whom love Him, and are called according to His purposes!
Thanks for sharing! We love what we see God doing through North Creek Church!!! Our entire family is blessed!