In 2009, I was seeking God over the Thanksgiving holiday about His direction and vision for the following year. He impressed upon me that 2010 is the year of the Lord’s favor. It is easy to say these words and give out this prophetic utterance because we know God is a good God. It is another thing for this to become a reality in our lives. Prophetic words are neither absolute nor automatic. The faith of the recipient must be involved. There must be a response of faith to a prophetic word if that word is to come to pass in an individual’s life.
In Luke 1, Mary hears the prophetic word from the angel Gabriel and responds in her faith. Had she responded to the angel’s prophetic news with, “Be it NOT unto me according to your word,” Deborah, Sarah, Hannah, or Muriel – whichever maiden responded favorably – would have become the blessed virgin, not Mary.
After hearing the prophetic utterance for 2010, my mind referenced Psalm 5:12, “For You O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as a shield.” As I meditated on this verse and the Lord’s prophetic utterance for the year, I asked myself some hard questions:
These questions led me to study the word favor in the Bible which brought me to a new revelation. In the New Testament, favor and grace are the same Greek word. Strong’s 5485 “charis” means grace, graciousness, favor, and divine influence upon the heart.
The light began to dawn on my mind: That’s why the most popular definition of grace is unmerited favor. That’s the kind of favor the Lord wants you and me to walk in – favor without merit.
Favor not based on the merit of our hard work or excellent (or otherwise) performance. So many times in the past I have connected any favor I expected or received to something I had done. This is not God’s favor and that’s why it is amazing grace!
When my two granddaughters, Addie and Madilynn, had a dance recital at the Will Roger’s Coliseum, there were 200 girls who participated in the recital. There were 50 dances scheduled on the program, and Addie and Madilynn were only in two of them, #8 and #44. That meant we had the privilege of watching 35 other performances between their first and second dance! We ended up watching all 50 dances that day because our girls were involved in a presentation at the end, but we only took pictures and videos of two – #8 and #44.
We appreciated all the efforts of the 198 other girls, but there were only two we favored without merit – Addie and Madilynn. We enjoyed most of the other dances, but only two of them lit up our hearts. Addie and Madilynn’s performances gave us great pleasure even though both of them made some mistakes. Their good performance didn’t increase our favor of them and their mistakes did not diminish it. This favor of these two precious girls came from imperfect human sources – Janice and me.
You and I have the same kind of favor with God, except it is infinitely more secure than any favor we receive from some human source. It is unearned, undeserved, and unconnected to our works, efforts, or performance.
Genesis 37 tells the story of Joseph, a spoiled tattletale, who was not discriminate or wise about sharing his dreams. But God was in covenant with him. He was thrown in a pit and left to die, but God gave him favor with Rueben and Judah, and his life was spared. He was sold to merchants who in turn sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah.
Joseph found favor with Potiphar, and he left all he had in Joseph’s hand. The Lord blessed Potiphar’s house for Joseph’s sake (Gen. 39:4-6). Then Joseph was thrown in jail for something he didn’t do, yet he found favor with the keeper of the prison (Gen. 39:21-23). After interpreting a dream that revealed the restoration of one of the prioners, Pharoah’s butler, Joseph was forgotten. Yet eventually the butler remembered him, and Joseph found favor with Pharoah and became ruler over Egypt under him.
When God favors us, He will produce favor with all kinds of people in all kinds of places – even in the most difficult and hard circumstances. God’s favor is unmerited; it is unconnected to our works, effort, or performance. We receive His favor because He is in covenant relationship with you and me.
Think about it: God loves everybody, but He favors you and me. It is time to start expecting it! The Bible says:
“For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12).
“…His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
“You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time has come” (Psalm 102:13).
It is time to stop expecting rejection and start expecting favor because God’s favor is on you – unmerited, undeserved, and unearned. It is unconnected to your performance, your efforts, or your works.
The favor of God is on your life because you belong to Him. He is snapping your picture, and giving you favor and influence with men, working out good deals for you because He loves you!
To learn more about the favor of God, watch Greg’s series, “A Heart Established in Grace.”
Today’s reading: I Corinthians 8, 9, 10, Proverbs 8 I Cor. 10:11-14 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon
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