The Favor of God Read online

  For I have eaten ashes like bread,

  and mingled my drink with weeping,

  because of Your indignation and Your wrath;

  for You have lifted me up and cast me away.

  My days are like a shadow that lengthens,

  and I wither away like grass.

  But You, O LORD, shall endure forever,

  and the remembrance of Your name to all generations.

  You will arise and have mercy on Zion;

  for the time to favor her,

  yes, the set time, has come (Ps. 102:9-13).

  Notice that although this man was initially overwhelmed by his adversity, in the midst of his cry to God he remembered that he was entitled to God’s favor. The reason he knew he was entitled to favor is that he was a covenant man, and in declaring that the set time for God’s favor had arrived, he became a solution-minded covenant man.

  When we choose to enter into covenant with God, we no longer have to fight our own battles; His favor will enable us to attain victory over every situation and circumstance. We see this truth powerfully articulated in Psalm 44:3: “For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them.”

  WHEN WE CHOOSE TO ENTER INTO COVENANT WITH GOD, HIS FAVOR WILL ENABLE US TO ATTAIN VICTORY OVER EVERY SITUATION AND CIRCUMSTANCE.

  God’s people did not experience victory because of their own might, their own strength, or their own power. The land for which they had believed—the land that had been promised to them by God—became theirs because of God’s favor.

  I’m not saying that just because we are in covenant with God, we will never have to fight a battle of faith. I’m not a novice: I know how to believe God, I know how to walk in faith, and I know how to overcome adversities. Yet there have been times when I’ve been through lengthy battles that I should have won long before I did. My problem was that I had let the revelation of God’s favor slip. Others who find themselves engaged in long-term struggles may simply not yet have received this revelation.

  Often, when the battle is long, and people do not see their prayers being answered when and how they want them to be answered, they blame God. I’ve been asked, “Brother Jerry, why isn’t God listening to me? Why isn’t He doing something? What’s the problem?”

  My answer is always, “God is not the problem. The problem is a lack of understanding.” Most of the time, the reason we experience delays in our prayers being answered is that we do not have a right understanding of the favor of God. Without an understanding of the favor of God, we will not appropriate it and confess it on a consistent basis.

  What Is the Favor of God?

  In order to understand the favor of God, we first need to know the meaning of the word “favor.” The term has four main definitions.

  DEFINITION #1:

  SOMETHING GRANTED OUT OF GOODWILL

  In other words, the favor of God is granted out of His goodwill toward us. It’s not something that can be bought, and it’s not something that can be earned. In the most profound demonstration of this kind of favor, Jesus willingly went to the cross in our behalf—not because we deserved to be saved, but because God chose to show us mercy (see Rom. 5:8). Because of the price Christ paid, we are now entitled to walk in God’s favor from day to day. Many times, this kind of favor is manifested through God giving us the desires of our hearts.

  For instance, I have always loved baseball. I love to play it and I love to watch it. As a kid growing up in Louisiana in the 1950s, my favorite team was the New York Yankees. My favorite player was Mickey Mantle; he was my idol. My glove had to be a Mickey Mantle signature glove, my Louisville Slugger had to have Mickey Mantle’s name on it, and my baseball uniform had to be number 7. I’m telling you, I loved Mickey Mantle.

  I remember sitting with my dad in front of our black-and-white television, eating popcorn and watching the Yankees. Now and then, there would be a shot of the people in the stands, and I remember one particular time when I saw a little boy about my age sitting there in Yankee Stadium wearing his Yankee cap. I thought he had to be the luckiest kid in the world, because he got to watch Mickey Mantle knock the ball over the fence. Left-handed, right-handed—it didn’t make any difference; Mickey could hit them out of the park either way. Then there were Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, and, of course, Yogi Berra. Oh, how I dreamed of going to New York to watch the Yankees play! But for many years, it seemed like this Louisiana boy’s dream would never come true.

  Decades later, in the summer of 1994, I was in Canada prior to attending a scheduled meeting in New Jersey. I had a couple of free days before I was to preach, so I flew into New York City to spend time with some friends at their home. After having dinner together Friday evening, they asked if there was anything I would like to do the following day.

  “Yes,” I said, “I want to go see the Yankees play.” Then I told them about my childhood dream of seeing Mickey Mantle in person at Yankee Stadium. Of course, by then Mickey Mantle was no longer playing ball, but I still wanted to watch the Yankees play.

  “I don’t even know if they are playing tomorrow,” my friend told me. “They may be on the road, but I’ll go check and see.”

  A short time later, while I was in the guest room unpacking my bag, I heard the sound of someone running in the hall; after a few more seconds, my friend and his wife appeared at the door. “Brother Jerry,” he said, “you beat anything we’ve ever seen.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  He explained that he had just called a man he worked with—a Yankee fan whose season tickets were on the front row of the box seats located right over third base. “The Yankees are in town tomorrow, and my co-worker wants you to be his guest for the game.”

  I smiled to myself as I thought about the favor of God. But then my friend added, “And guess what? It’s Old-Timers’ Day, and Mickey Mantle is going to be there!”

  I went to sleep that night thinking about the goodness of God and thanking Him for getting me a ticket to see Mickey Mantle in Yankee Stadium.

  The next day, as I sat in the box over third base with my Yankee cap on my head, it was 1957 again and I was that little boy at Yankee Stadium. So many of the old-timers I grew up watching on television were there in person: Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, and my own hero, Mickey Mantle. It was a day I will never forget, because it was a day on which God favored me with His goodwill and fulfilled a deep-seated desire of my heart.

  But this story doesn’t end with my watching the Yankees play and getting to see the old-timers. Mickey Mantle was living in Dallas, Texas, at that time, and about a month later, on a flight to Detroit, we wound up sitting right next to each other.

  Some people have said that was just a coincidence, but I call it favor. The Word of God says, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:3-4).

  When we feed on God’s faithfulness and favor, it is only natural that the desires of our hearts will be fulfilled—including those desires we have held close since childhood.

  DEFINITION #2:

  A GIFT BESTOWED AS A TOKEN OF REGARD, LOVE OR FRIENDLINESS

  Have you ever asked someone, “Would you do a favor for me?” What you’re actually asking is: “Would you bestow a gift or a token of our friendship?” That’s what a favor is—a token of friendship.

  Not too long ago, a Christian businessman who also happens to be a friend of mine approached me after a worship service. He said, “Brother Jerry, I really need for you to pray over my business. It’s falling apart, and to be honest with you, without God’s supernatural intervention, I’m going to lose it.”

  I had known this man for a number of years. He was a tither in his church, and he supported a number of ministries. He went on to tell me that it wasn’t just his business that was at st
ake; his home and all of his personal property were also at risk.

  “Brother Jerry, I know that God gave me this business, and He has blessed me and my family through it. This is an all-out attack of the devil.”

  When my friend said that, the compassion of the Lord Jesus began to rise up in me. I took his hand and heard myself pray in an unexpected way. I said, “Lord Jesus, as a favor to me, intervene for my friend.”

  I can’t think of a time I had ever prayed like that before. I usually begin my prayers with “Father, in the name of Jesus,” and then I quote the Word—but not this time. All I did was ask the Lord Jesus to do something as a favor to me.

  Three days later, I got a call from my friend. When I answered the phone, he exclaimed, “Man, I’m telling you, I don’t know what you did or said, but God came through with a supernatural breakthrough!”

  When I asked the Lord why He had moved so quickly in behalf of my friend, He said, “Because you asked me for a favor.”

  Then I asked Him, “Do I really carry that much weight with You?”

  “You don’t realize it, but you have that kind of favor with Me. Wouldn’t you do the same for Me if I came to you and said, ‘Jerry, I need a favor’?”

  ANY TIME WE ARE DEALING WITH FAVOR, WE ARE ACTUALLY FINDING OUT HOW STRONG THE RELATIONSHIP IS.

  That’s when I realized that any time we are dealing with favor—whether with God or with fellow human beings—we are actually finding out how strong the relationship is. When one of my daughters comes to me and asks for a favor, it really gets my attention and draws on my compassion. If I have the means and the power to do what is asked, I will do it—as a token of my love for my daughter.

  Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14). In other words, Jesus is saying, “Our relationship is so strong that if you ask Me to do anything that will bring glory to My Father, I will do it.”

  Learning this powerful truth about God’s favor and the strength of my relationship with Him has changed my prayer life, and it will change yours as well. We can walk in the assurance that “the LORD will give grace [favor] and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Ps. 84:11).

  DEFINITION #3:

  PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT

  We’ve already discussed the fact that we have the favor of God; according to His Word, we also have favor with man: “But let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man” (Prov. 3:1-4).

  I have found that when I consistently declare God’s favor over my life, I receive preferential treatment from all kinds of people.

  When I was in high school, I loved working on cars; my ambition was to own my own business and spend the rest of my life on a racetrack somewhere. I also dreamed of going to the Indianapolis 500, but that was another youthful longing that went unfulfilled—until several years ago.

  I got a call from a friend of mine who is a deputy sheriff in Marion County, Indiana. He was planning a special meeting for people who lived in Indianapolis’s inner-city housing projects—an area struggling with high rates of crime, drug use and prostitution—and he wanted me to participate in the gathering. Of course, I agreed to go, and as it turned out, we had a great meeting.

  Afterward, my friend said, “Brother Jerry, I want you to come with me to the sheriff’s office, because there’s something we want to do for you.” So we got into his cruiser and off we went; I had no idea what they had planned, but it was fun getting to ride in the patrol car.

  When we entered the building, I was asked to go into a small room and stand in a certain spot so that they could take my picture. Then my friend told me to wait for a few minutes, and he would be right back. I thought, Dear God, what have I done?

  In a little while, my friend came back to get me. He escorted me to a room where the sheriff and several other high-ranking members of the department were waiting. To my surprise, they presented me with a photo ID card (featuring the “mug shot” they had taken earlier) and a badge. The sheriff said, “We just want you to know how much we appreciate your coming here and helping us in the inner city. As a token of our appreciation, you are now an honorary deputy sheriff in Marion County, Indiana.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief that I was not under arrest, and then I thanked him.

  “We want you to understand that the title of honorary deputy sheriff entitles you to certain privileges,” the sheriff explained. “Is there any place in Indianapolis that you would like to go?”

  Without hesitating, I said, “Yes, sir, there’s something I’ve been wanting to attend since I was a kid—the Indianapolis 500.”

  The sheriff said, “Well, we can make that happen. We’ll pick you up in a squad car and take you right into the gate; you won’t have to fight the crowd. Just show your badge and you can get into anything you want to get in.”

  I would have been totally happy just being in the stands somewhere and hearing the roar of engines, but God does exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think.

  The following Memorial Day, just as they had promised, they picked me up in a squad car and drove me to the Indy. With more than half a million people already there, the crowd was pretty intimidating. But the sheriff drove me right up to the gate leading to the garages, where the cars and drivers were.

  I stepped out of that squad car, walked up to the gate, and showed the guard my badge. He let me through the gate, and I went straight to the garages, where I got to meet the drivers and watch their teams tune the engines before the race. But there’s more. I didn’t get to go to the Indy just once; I’ve been many times since that first race I attended. I have met the drivers, I’ve been allowed to sit in the cars, and I’ve been right there with them up until a few minutes before hearing those famous words: “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

  Two very special photos taken at the Indy hang in my office: One shows me putting fuel in Mario Andretti’s car, and in the other, I am shaking hands with A.J. Foyt. Each time I look at those photos, I am reminded of how the favor of God produces preferential treatment for those who love the Lord.

  DEFINITION #4:

  ADVANTAGE

  Having an advantage means having something working for us that others do not have working for them. For believers, that something is the favor of God.

  When my wife, Carolyn, and I bought our first home in Fort Worth, we experienced just this kind of favor. It was 1974, and we had been renting a house while I worked as an associate minister for Kenneth Copeland prior to launching out into our own ministry.

  Before we moved to Fort Worth to work for Brother Copeland, Carolyn and I had owned several homes in Shreveport. We had good credit and funds from the sale of our last house available for a nice down payment, but as far as a lender was concerned, launching a ministry was the same as starting a business, which meant we didn’t qualify for a home loan.

  We had learned how to live by faith, and we knew God would meet all of our financial needs. But the mortgage company wanted something more specific regarding where our support would be coming from. They also said we would need a co-signer. In other words, they were probably not going to loan us the money.

  Carolyn and I had found the house that we knew God wanted us to have, and we informed our realtor that despite what the mortgage company said, the house would be ours. When he called a few days later to tell us that the seller had accepted a contract from a couple that was qualified for financing, I told him, “I am not moved by what I hear.” He asked what on earth I was talking about, and I told him that according to Mark 11:23, I could have whatever I said, and I was saying that the house was going to be mine. I’m pretty sure he had never worked with a client quite like me.

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p; Even though there was a contract on the house, and the other couple was well qualified, Carolyn and I continued to believe that somehow it would be ours. We would drive by the house and talk about what a wonderful time we were going to have raising our kids there. If our realtor had known we were doing this, I’m sure he would have thought we were nuts.

  Then, just a few days before the other couple was scheduled to close on the house, our realtor called again. “Mr. Savelle, I don’t understand what just happened, but the other couple has decided not to take the house. All I know is that they said they felt like it wasn’t meant to be theirs. I don’t know what you and your wife have been doing or saying, but apparently this really is your house.”

  “I’ve been trying to tell you that for two months,” I said. “The lease is up in two weeks on the place where we’ve been living; you and the mortgage company need to get to work on our new place.”

  The day before we had to be out of our rental house, I called the realtor to let him know we were prepared to move into the new house the following day. He said, “You can’t move into that house. You don’t have loan approval, nothing’s been signed, and it’s not yours.”

  “Well, Carolyn and I believe that we’ll be moving out of here and into that house tomorrow,” I said, “so you’d better get busy.”

  Later that evening he called again. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” he told me. “I just got the owner’s approval for you to go ahead and move in tomorrow.”

  That’s just what Carolyn and I did, and we didn’t give another thought to the paperwork or the mortgage company’s requirements or what anyone told us we could or could not do where buying that house was concerned. We knew that was the house God wanted us to be in, which meant we had the advantage.

  I want you to know that God changed all the rules and all the policies, and we finally bought that house. We worked on it, and Carolyn did such a good job putting her touch on it that some people came along about four years later and fell in love with the place. They decided they just had to have it, so we sold it to them and doubled our investment.