God’s Favor Can Be Yours! (Part 1)

Greetings! There is so much to share about the favor of God, that this will be the first part of a two part teaching. God is so wonderful! We are amazed by His love, provision, and blessings when we realize everything He has done and provided for those who love and accept the sacrifice He made for all of us! Open your mind, heart, and spirit to His Word today. Eric

As humans, we were created to live in communion and fellowship with each other, starting with being born into a family and establishing interpersonal relationships with one another. As we grow and mature, our circle of family, friends, and acquaintances with whom we interact increases.

Certainly, we desire to have favor with those we encounter, such as our parents, siblings, teachers, classmates, employers, doctors, and those we conduct business with, such as realtors, or car salesmen.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines ‘favor’ as: friendly or favorable regard and approval or support. Merriam-Webster adds: to give support or confirmation to; to afford advantages for success; a gracious kindness for and; to treat gently or carefully.

Obviously, to live a happy and successful life we must have relationships in which mutual favor is demonstrated.

My question for you today however, is, “Do you want to have God’s favor?“

In our post, we will look at what it means to have God’s favor, who gets that favor, and why. We know and understand that God created every person who is in existence and yet we see those who do not have the favor of God on their lives. My goal is that by the end of the two posts we will have regarding this subject, those who have not or do not experience God’s favor will understand what it is, how to gain it, and make the decision that will be necessary to change their circumstance.

“The favor of God can be described as “tangible evidence that a person has the approval of the Lord.” “God delights in that person.” according to gotquestions.org. Justin Holcomb, in christianity.com stated, The favor of God “can be described as a divine kindness, or an act of true compassion on the part of God Himself toward the needy and underserving human recipients.” “Often, in Scriptures, this act of God toward unworthy men or women is referred to as God’s grace - which is the unmerited favor of God.”

Peter said, “In truth God is not one who is a respecter of persons, or one who discriminates or is one who is partial. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:34 and 35). Paul also stated that “there is no partiality or favoritism with God.” (Romans 2:4). These verses, in context, refers to God’s impartiality regarding salvation which He offered to both the Jew and Greek (Gentiles). God’s wish is that none would perish. (2 Peter 3:9).

So, we see that the favor or grace of God is given to all who would come to Christ and accept Him as Savior and Lord.

Sadly, we often see those who aside from that initial encounter with God’s favor have no desire to enter into a more personal, intimate, and dynamic relationship with God. Those are the people who, fifteen years after their salvation experience with God, have nothing more to say than, “Fifteen years ago, I accepted Christ as my Savior.”

2 Chronicles 16:9 reveals, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. ‘Loyal’ in the Hebrew means, fully devoted. In Strong’s, hazaq, the Hebrew for ‘strong’ means strongly support. God is looking for totally loyal people whose hearts are fully devoted to Him so that He can strongly support them.

If you desire to see the favor of God operating in your life, you cannot have a relationship with Him that can only say, “I went to the altar and accepted Christ, I won’t go to hell when I die now, so I am okay.”

Take note that God is looking at the heart of these individuals. He is also not just looking for those who become a part of every committee they can find, have a perfect attendance ‘record,’ or attend a ‘particular’ church. (If that is what they are putting their confidence in.)

He is looking for someone who’s heart is fully loyal or devoted to Him!

King David is a prime example of this for us. The following scriptures reveals why God chose David to be King. 1 Samuel 16:7, 11 and 12 (NIV), “But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." ... 11 So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" "There is still the youngest," Jesse answered. "He is tending the sheep." Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives." 12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; this is the one." In verse 7, ‘looks’ means: inspects, considers, and perceives. ‘Heart’ in verse 7 means: inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, and understanding. The Lord knows and understands every thing about you. He sees what is in your heart, mind, and soul.

Acts 13:22 (NIV) reveals, “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'

Why was this man, David, who had an affair with a married woman, had her husband moved to the front lines of the battle so he would be killed, be called a man after God’s own heart? Was he perfect? NO! None of us are. However, David was a man, who despite his shortcomings, failures, and sin had a heart devoted to God. His heart (inner man, mind, soul, and understanding) lined up with God’s heart. God knew that David would do everything He wanted him to do.

Acts 1:24 (NIV) states, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart.” Then, 1 Thessalonians 2:4 reveals, He “tests our hearts.” ‘Tests,’ dokimazo means: to test, examine, prove, and scrutinize to see whether a thing is genuine or not. You see, sometimes we can fool the people around us by what we say or how we act when we are around them, but we will never fool the Lord.

God creates us in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), has a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), and endues us with certain qualities to fulfill His purpose for us. (Hebrews 13:20,21). However, we have to obey and submit to the call and purpose He has for our lives. In Isaiah 6:8 the Lord said, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? “And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Matthew 16:24 (NKJV) reads, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” ‘Deny’ means, to forget oneself, lose sight of oneself and one’s own interests. ‘Take up his cross’ stauron in the Greek means: one who on behalf of God’s cause, does not hesitate cheerfully and manfully to bear persecutions, troubles, distresses, recalling the fate of Jesus and the spirit in which he encountered it. (Strong’s). ‘Follow’ (akoloutheo) is to cleave steadfastly to one, conform wholly to his example, in living and if need be in dying also.

God uses those whose hearts are sold out to Him!

Psalm 112:1 (Amplified Bible), “Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!) Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who fears the LORD [with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with obedience], Who delights greatly in His commandments.”

Psalm 119:2 (Amplified Bible), “Blessed and favored by God are those who keep His testimonies, And who [consistently] seek Him and long for Him with all their heart.”

Psalm 5:12 (Amplified Bible), “For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as [with] a shield.” ‘Encompass” atar, means to encircle as with a shield, with favor. ‘Favour, ‘ ratson means: good will and acceptance. What an amazing verse! If you live a righteous life, God will pour out so much favor on you that it will encircle you like a shield with His good will and acceptance!

Before we go further in this study, there is something I believe is important for you to know and understand.

Even when we have God’s favor upon us, we will face hardships, reproach, and suffering. We must remember that when we enter into relationship with God, we enter a battlefield against the enemy of God, whose whole desire for you, as it was for Jesus, is to come to you to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10).

Let’s look at Moses. Hebrews 11:24-27a (Amplified Bible), “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 because he preferred to endure the hardship of the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of the Christ [that is, the rebuke he would suffer for his faithful obedience to God] to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt; for he looked ahead to the reward [promised by God]. 27 By faith he left Egypt, being unafraid of the wrath of the king…”

John 16:33 (NKJV), “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

2 Corinthians 6:4-10 (NKJV), “But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, 5 in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; 6 by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, 7 by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”

1 Peter 2:19 and 21 (NKJV), “For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ... 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:”

When we face these hardships and trials, we have the promise of God that He will never leave nor forsake us. He will walk through it with us. And when we are in relationship with Him and walk in His favor, we will win because we have the guarantee of eternal life with Him that no man can take away from us.

Next time, we will look at a few of the other individuals mentioned in the Bible, who walked in the favor of God, and see how He was able to use them.

We will discover how we can become one of God’s favored ones, beyond our salvation experience.

With His favor:

We have peace in our spirits because our sins are forgiven. Romans 4:7 (Amplified Bible), “BLESSED and HAPPY and FAVORED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS ACTS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED UP and COMPLETELY BURIED.”

We have confidence in Him. Proverbs 14:26 (NKJV), “In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.”

He equips and rescues us in our struggles. Psalm 34:15,17-19 (Amplified Bible), “The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous [those with moral courage and spiritual integrity] And His ears are open to their cry. ... 17 When the righteous cry [for help], the LORD hears And rescues them from all their distress and troubles. 18 The LORD is near to the heartbroken And He saves those who are crushed in spirit (contrite in heart, truly sorry for their sin). 19 Many hardships and perplexing circumstances confront the righteous, But the LORD rescues him from them all.”

Hallelujah! As you seek and receive His favor, put this Word deep in your heart, so you know that He will hear your cry and meet your need!

Do a heart check on yourself. Are you fully devoted to Him?

NIV New International Version

NKJV New King James Version