Blog in Audio:
Greetings,
What does it mean to have the favor of God upon your life? We often think of favor is a form of blessing that gives us good things from God in our lives. I don’t believe that this is the favor of God. I believe the favor of God involves having a part in God’s purposes in the earth. Mary found favor with God when she became pregnant with Jesus by the conception of the Holy Spirit. That made her a young girl, unmarried, yet pregnant in a time and a culture where this kind of circumstance would be a shame in your life, not a blessing. Being a pregnant single girl would not make her popular in her community with good connotations. It would no doubt make her popular, but her popularity would likely be spoken of in various groups of gossip in the community. She was blessed to see the birth of the begotten Son of God, but had to also witness the conflict her son Jesus had to endure in His life. The favor of God upon Jesus brought Him to a place of trouble, persecution, rejection, and ultimately crucifixion upon the cross. So, what does it mean to find favor from God? The favor of God on Mary seemed to invite trouble. The favor of God upon Jesus seemed to invite the greatest trouble of all time. I don’t believe that the favor of God grants us an easy life. I believe it is likely the opposite in many ways. I believe that God’s favor makes us part of the will of God for His glory in our generation and in the earth for the generations to come. This makes us popular with God and ministering spirits of light, but it also makes us eligible for persecution from anything that opposes God’s will in the earth. When God is with us, it is not the enemy that opposes us. The opposition of spiritual influences of darkness is an opposition to the light of Christ in our lives. It is an opposition to the purpose and will of God for greater things than merely ourselves. For this reason, we must be strong in God’s Spirit and strong in His Word in our path of standing in life. What we carry is not for ourselves, but for others in our world and for the future generations.
Favor with God will give us favor with men, but that favor will not be a favor for the will of ourselves or the will of other people. It will be a recognition that we carry a blessing of God’s goodness and will for men. It is not an approval of our self-seeking way. It is an approval for embracing a God-seeking way that brings God’s influence of life into our world. It is a blessing, but not a blessing to exalt humanity. It is a blessing to exalt God in the midst of humanity that will enable Him to bring an abundance of life to be transformed in our ways from being people who live for ourselves to become people who live for God’s glory in all things. It is a good thing to find favor with God so that we can live our lives for a greater purpose than ourselves.
As leaders, we must set an example to those we lead of being people who live with the favor of God upon our lives. In this, we must never confuse God’s favor with personal success or personal satisfaction. We must live to be significant, not merely successful. To live for success is to live for the importance of ourselves in some way. To be significant is to live to bring greater value to others by bringing the greater values of God into our world in a way that empowers others to willingly receive God’s favor upon their lives. This will invite opposition, but it will also invite the overcoming power of God’s grace to manifest in the testimony of our lives that will inspire others to find God, know God, and live for His will in the earth.
I do believe that God has loosed another measure of favor and we must stay in His path of increase. We must say yes to God’s favor, not merely our personal desires in life. The favor of God will empower us to bring life to others. The path of destiny is not a path of personal desires, it is a path of hearing God’s voice and waking forward in response to all that He says. It is a path of faith that demonstrates God’s love and brings increased hope. We are called to be obedient to the faith for supernatural demonstrations of our Father’s will.
Romans 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— 27 to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
Our path of destiny is about a relationship with God that is made manifest by faith. That faith is faith by and towards the One who is wise. It is not determined by the natural circumstances of our lives but by the supernatural ways of God at work in and through our lives.
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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