Igniting God's Favor
If you love God you have His favor on your life. The closer you become in fellowship and your personal relationship with God, He increases the favor and blessings over your life. You can’t separate the blessing of God from the favor of God. If you study the Bible closely you’ll notice you can’t have one without the other. When the blessing comes, so does the favor. If you have the blessing of God on your life, then you also have the favor of God on your life. But what exactly is the favor of God?
God's Favor Means Opportunity
God's favor is empowerment to prosper, to succeed, to multiply, to increase, to excel, and to rise above what attempts to hold you back or keep you down. Please read that again. This includes every aspect of our lives! To succeed and excel! What are your dreams? Be close to your heavenly Father and His word says He will grant us the desires of our hearts. We read in 2 Corinthians 9:8, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work."
God's Favor Ignites Answered Prayers
I love this scripture from Psalm 84:11. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord bestows grace and favor and honor; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly." Being close to God and having His favor on your life means God longs to answer our prayers and bless us even more. Being close to God does not mean we have to be perfect. We mess up. We sin. And we quickly ask God to forgive us when we go astray if we are wise. That keeps us connected. When you pray, attach scripture to your prayer to remind God of His promises to us. For example, "Dear God, your word says that you will bring healing to my body and I ask you to touch me and make my body well." Reminding God of His promises stirs God's heart.
God's Favor Allows Us to Be Content
In our chaotic world there are countless scenarios to upset our peace. We sometimes become fearful of so many things and replay in our minds worse case scenarios. Isaiah 41:10 tells us, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." When we are fearful of meeting our needs financially, we can be comforted by Philippians 4:19. "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." When we worry over things we cannot even control, we are burning daylight and making ourselves sad. Being content is a choice.
God's Favor Creates an Exciting Journey
In Psalm 90:17 we read “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands..." God's favor has been with me much of my life. I am very fortunate to have had a career of leading seminars, writing, and speaking. You see, with some college and no degree, on paper I'm not qualified for all the things that I've done. But God wrote my credentials and sent me around the world helping people improve their lives. Jeremiah 17:7 says, “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him." When you walk closely with God, it is an adventure! In Fact... Some days I ask God to bring me an adventure or a chance to make a difference. He always does. Hold on to Jesus... It's a wild ride!
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.” ~ Psalm 33:6
