Receive God's Favor
by Rita Langeland
Are you aware that God desires to favor you with His blessings? We find these words of promise in the book of Isaiah 30:18 - Therefore, the Lord longs to be gracious to you... The word "gracious" used in that verse means “to show favor” according to the Hebrew dictionary. In essence, this verse is saying, Therefore, the Lord longs to show favor to you...
If someone shows favor toward you, it means that they view you with high regard, treat you with special consideration and have delight in you and your interests. Such a person will go out of their way to help or assist you. This is God’s desire toward everyone who is in a love relationship with Him.
In Psalm 5:12 we find these words: For You, O Lord will bless the righteous, with FAVOR You will surround him as with a shield. Can you see in this verse that you have a promise from God of His shield of FAVOR surrounding you? You can not “earn” the favor of God, it is a gift that comes when you are born-again and given the righteousness of Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21)
You will not enjoy the benefits of any promise of God that you do not know about or understand and claim for your own life. It is similar to having an insurance policy on your car. You will only take advantage of the benefits that you know about. If your policy covers auto theft, but you never make a claim when your car is stolen because you think your policy only covers damage from an accident, you will never obtain that benefit, even though it belongs to you.
Take God at His word. He promised that His favor would surround you like a shield in your life. Are you experiencing God’s favor everywhere you go? Let us consider an example of how God’s favor can change life’s circumstances, even when a person is facing great difficulties. (And that is certainly when you could use an abundance of God’s favor!)
Joseph is one of the most outstanding characters in the Bible. His story of being favored by his father Jacob, yet hated by his older brothers is an amazing one. His brothers threw him into a pit and plotted to kill him. But at the urging of one brother, they instead sold him into slavery. Joseph’s experience after being sold as a slave to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officers in Egypt, demonstrates the power of God’s favor on a person’s life.
But the Lord was with Joseph, and he (though a slave) was a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to flourish and succeed in his hand. So Joseph pleased Potiphar and found favor in his sight, and he served him. And his master made him supervisor over his house and he put all that he had in his charge. From the time that he made him supervisor in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake.
Genesis 39:2-5 (Amplified)
Allow me to make these observations of the results that Joseph experienced through the favor of God on his life:
- He prospered and became successful though he was in very distressing personal circumstances (slavery)
- His boss noticed that the Lord made everything Joseph touched to flourish
- He had favor in his boss’s eyes
- He received promotion
God’s favor will cause you to prosper, to be successful in your given occupation, to have others take note that the Lord is with you and bringing you success, it will give you favor with your boss and cause you to be promoted.
But take note of Joseph’s attitude in the midst of his difficult situation. The scripture tells us he pleased his boss and he served his boss. You must work in cooperation with God’s favor. If Joseph had been bitter, resentful, complained about his circumstances and resisted his boss’ instructions because he was in slavery, God’s favor would not have operated in his life. We must cooperate with the Spirit of God in every situation we face. If we maintain a clear conscience, walk in love, remain free from bitterness and show grace and favor toward others, we will be able to receive the free-flow of God’s favor in our own lives. In Luke 4:18-19 we find Jesus’ declaration about Himself:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me to preach the Good News to the poor, He has sent me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed and broken down by calamity). To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord (the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound).
Jesus declared that He was announcing the day when the free favors of God profusely abound (Amplified Bible). Jesus came to bring us into right relationship with God through His death and resurrection. And then, once a person has entered this love relationship with God, he or she can receive the free favors of God in this life on the earth. His favor will “put you over” in life. It will give you success when failure seems imminent. It will cause other people to treat you favorably when all expectation or prior experience would have predicted the opposite. God’s favor is a powerful weapon in the circumstances you may be facing right now.
How do you “make a claim” for God’s favor to operate in your life? Like any promise of God, first you must accept His word as true. Take the promise found in Psalm 5:12 and pray: “Lord, I thank you that Your Word is true. I accept the truth that Your favor surrounds me like a shield. Now I will go forth believing and expecting that Word to come to pass today in my life. Thank You for giving me favor with others. I thank You that Your favor causes me to have success on the job today. I thank you that Your favor opens doors for me, gives me favor with clients, creates opportunities for promotion and causes others to notice Your hand of blessing on my life.”
It is important in this case to pray out loud so that you are making a declaration of your faith in God’s Word. It will encourage your own heart to hear yourself speaking by faith. Plus the devil can’t read your mind, so if you pray quietly in your heart he won’t be able to hear you using the weapon of God’s Word. And I like to let the devil know he’s “done for” when it comes to my personal circumstances!
If you are trying to sell a house pray: “Lord I thank You that Your favor on my life gives me favor with buyers and causes them to look favorably upon me and my house and brings me a favorable offer because of Your lovingkindness toward me!”
If you are having problems in a relationship, be sure to declare God’s favor over that particular situation. Pray: “Lord, I thank You that Your favor surrounds me like a shield and that it gives me favor with others especially with (name the person) and I can count on Your favor working in this situation. Help me to show grace and favor to that person as You have shown it to me.”
If you are looking for a job pray: “Lord, I believe Your favor surrounds me like a shield and therefore I have favor with employers and at every interview. Thank you for giving me favor in the eyes of others even to the point of bringing my application to the top of the stack!”
God wants to favor you today, but you must put in a claim for this precious promise...by believing the truth of His Word and then declaring it and expecting to see it come to pass in your life.
God’s favor is for you… just receive it!
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