The Favor of God

Over the next several days, let’s talk about favor and what it means to us as God’s children.

The message on favor can turn your life around from one of defeat and failure to one of expecting good things to happen to you.

This message is especially for people who always seem to have bad things happening to them and people not liking them. We draw to ourselves what we think and what we feel. Once we have had bad things happen to us, we tend to continue in a negative mode toward everything, with disappointment and hopelessness being our companions. Speaking God’s goodness and His favor will bring you out of that mode into one where you are receiving preferential treatment.

We get what we expect. It is satan’s job to ruin our expector and turn it from one of expecting good to expecting bad things to happen in our lives. Although it may not be something we consciously think we are doing, most of the time we are treated the way we expect to be treated and things happen to us the way we expect. Of course, there will always be negative things going on in the world and you will find people who may not treat you well, but that should be the exception and not the norm in your life.

Examples of negative expectations: I never get a good parking space when I go shopping. No matter what line I choose at the store, it always takes forever. Every time I go for a job interview they turn me down for someone else. My husband will always be this way. My marriage will always be ho hum. And on and on. Sow negative thoughts and you will meet people who are nasty and do things wrong in your life.

People who expect favor would say and think: I thank God that favor goes before me right now and prepares me a parking space right next to the door. Today when I go shopping, they will open a line up for me because I have favor. In my next job interview I am favored and they hire me. I have favor with my husband and he does things for me because I have favor with him; he enjoys our relationship because we are favored with one another. Sow positive thoughts and you will meet people who go out of their way to help you and be nice to you.

I must tell you of an incident I had with favor a number of months ago when I was focusing on being favored. I was standing in a line at a store. The Lord spoke to me and told me that if I would not complain (as I normally do) that He would show Himself strong on my behalf. A cashier showed up, came over to my cart and told me to come to her register. She opened for me, rang up my order and then when I left, she shut down her register. Now, that is FAVOR with a capital "F". You see, God can do anything, if we allow Him by opening the door with thanksgiving and praise.

Favor doesn’t guarantee you’ll never run into a negative situation or never meet someone who is sour and grumpy. But what favor does is cause you not to allow that incident to set up a pattern of expecting it all the time. Favor says that the person must be having a bad day and speaks goodness and blessing into their life. In other words, you don’t pick up negative expectations for everything else in life, based on experiences you have that may not be exactly pleasant.

Today, make a deliberate, conscious effort to see yourself being highly favored by all the people you meet. If things don’t go as you thought they would, don’t get “down in the dumps” about it. Say to yourself: That is just a temporary thing. Life is good. I am blessed of the Lord, and His goodness is following me all the days of my life.