The Favor of God Read online

  When we have the favor of God on our lives, we’ve got an advantage. We’ve got something on us, around us and with us that others don’t have. Life gets more and more exciting every day when we understand that we have the favor of God, because we begin to expect it everywhere we go.

  God’s Purpose for Bestowing Favor

  We know that everything God does for us is motivated by His deep and abiding love for mankind, as this familiar verse tells us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Through the sacrificial blood of God’s own Son, Jesus, we have been redeemed—and through our faith in Jesus, we are eligible to inherit every promise God has made in His Word.

  Let’s take a look at some of the earliest promises of God recorded in the Word and see what His favor is intended to produce in the lives of those who obey Him:

  Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:

  Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

  Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

  Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

  Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

  The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

  The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

  The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your

  God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them (Deut. 28:1-13).

  God’s purpose in bestowing favor hasn’t changed since Moses spoke these words many centuries ago. God bestows favor for our success. He wanted His people to be successful then, and He wants us to be successful now.

  GOD BESTOWS FAVOR FOR OUR SUCCESS. IT MAKES HIM LOOK GOOD—PARTICULARLY WHEN WE ATTRIBUTE OUR SUCCESS TO HIM.

  God has a motive for wanting us to be successful: It makes Him look good—particularly when we attribute our success to Him. When someone asks, “How did you get that promotion?” or “How did you become the salesperson of the year when you don’t have nearly as much expertise as some of the other people in this company?” we have an opportunity to tell them about the favor God has shown us—and wants to show them.

  God’s favor on a person’s life is there for the primary purpose of bringing the person success so that God will become attractive to somebody else. We just read, “Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD” (Deut. 28:10). The passage goes on to say where this will happen: “in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you” (v. 11).

  So, we see that not only does the favor of God on our lives bring Him glory and honor, but it also enables us to take possession of the things God has promised in His Word. Remember what we read earlier 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.”

  The favor of God on our lives enables us to do what we cannot do on our own; it enables us to do supernatural things. We could say that the favor of God is what causes God’s “super” to be added to our “natural”—and as a result, the supernatural takes place. As I’ve discovered over the years, that favor can produce what money can’t buy.

  I could not accomplish all that God has called me to do, both in the United States and around the world, without an airplane. I’m happy to report that over the course of the past 40 years, our ministry has owned several airplanes—and on more than one occasion, God has used those planes to teach me (and others) valuable lessons about His favor and provision.

  At one point, I was believing God for a particular jet that cost $1.5 million. Someone who was part of our ministry at the time asked, “How in the world do you ever expect to get that jet, when you don’t even have $100 in the aviation account?”

  Welcome to the ministry, I thought. Truth be told, I’ve never had the money in the account when God told me to do something. Not one time has God ever instructed me to do this or that—to build something, or to stretch and expand the ministry in some fashion—and then asked me, “By the way, Jerry, how much money do you have?” When God instructs me to do something, I know the money will come; my job is to believe Him for it.

  I turned to the individual who had asked how I expected to get the jet and said, “I’ll get that jet the same way I got every other airplane this ministry has ever owned: I’ll sow and reap.”

  I’ve only ever bought one airplane in this ministry; the others have been given to me. And the one I bought was my fault. I thought it was taking God too long to get it to me, so I decided to help Him out.

  I had received a call from a man who told me he had an airplane he thought I should have, and he was willing to let me have it at wholesale. He invited me to meet him at Meacham Field in Fort Worth so that we could talk about it.

  I was desperate for an airplane at that time, so I jumped at the opportunity. When I got to Meacham Field and saw the plane, I thought, Oh yeah, this is the one; and for the price he’s asking, it just has to be God. Never mind that God had already told me He never wanted me flying an airplane that had debt on it.

  Despite the fact that I didn’t have the funds on hand to pay for that plane, I agreed to buy it—and I borrowed the money. My reasoning was, God is taking too long. I need it now, and I can believe for the money after I get the airplane. Besides, I figured the note wouldn’t be all that much, because the price of the airplane wasn’t all that much.

  I got the airplane, and for the entire time I owned it, making that monthly payment was the hardest thing I’d ever done. One day I asked the Lord, “Why aren’t You helping me here?”

  He said, “You produced this Ishmael. I didn’t.”

  “Well, what can I do about it?”

  “If you’ll believe Me to pay it off, and if you’ll sow it and give it away, I’ll bless you with the airplane I want you to have.”

  I said, “If I can believe for the money to pay it off, then I’ll just keep it, thank You.”

  “No, it won’t work that way,” He said.

  I decided that if I wanted to get out of the mess I’d gotten myself into, I’d best do exactly as God said. When we take matters into our own hands, as Abraham once did, we almost always get into trouble. Anything born of the flesh as the result of our own scheming is an Ishmael; Isaacs are born of the Spirit according to God’s design (see Gen. 16–17). That airplane was an Ishmael to me.

  Once I believed God for the money to pay it off so that I could then give it away, the funds came quickly. When I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do with it, He told me to give it to
Happy Caldwell, the pastor of Agape Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. That’s exactly what I did, and that plane turned out to be a blessing to him. It had been an Ishmael to me, but it was an Isaac to Happy.

  As I mentioned before, that was the only airplane this ministry has ever purchased. Every other one has been given to us—including the $1.5 million jet that God did, in fact, supply.

  The favor of God on our lives brings about things that seem impossible from a human perspective—and it guarantees victory, no matter how much our adversaries oppose us. I love the Scripture verse that says, “By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me” (Ps. 41:11 KJV). When we are consistently declaring and walking in the favor of God, it is impossible for the enemy to prevent us from succeeding in the things that God has called us to do.

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  GETTING A REVELATION OF FAVOR

  My grandson, Mark James, once accompanied me on a trip to London. When we got to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on a Sunday afternoon, the place was a madhouse. The long line leading to the check-in counter snaked its way through row after row of roped stanchions. As if that line—which extended all the way to the entry door of the terminal—wasn’t bad enough, once travelers made it through check-in, they had to go through the security line, which was even longer.

  We had arrived the required two hours before an international flight, but my experience flying all over the world told me that it would take us at least an hour to check in and then another hour to get through security—plus the time it would take to walk to our gate. Humanly speaking, there was a good chance we were going to miss that flight—but I knew there was more to the picture than what we saw in front of us.

  I had been confessing the favor of God over our journey since we’d left the house, and I fully expected that I would now experience that favor at the airport. “Mark James,” I said as we stepped into line, “you just stand right here with the luggage for a moment; I’m going to walk up there to the counter and see if my executive travel card will help us with this process.”

  I held my British Air Travel Club card in front of me as I walked toward the front of the line—and before I even got to the counter, one of the employees said, “Sir, come over here, please; I can take care of you.”

  I called for Mark James to bring the luggage, and we got right through that line—and the next one. On the way to our gate, I smiled, looked at my grandson, and said, “Now that’s the favor of God.”

  The Lord had spoken to me a number of years before, instructing me that every time I experienced the favor of God, I was to say it out loud right then. He explained that the more I became aware and expectant of His favor, giving Him praise for it the moment I experienced it, the more His favor would manifest. I have found this to be true in situations both large and small—including things like finding a front-row parking spot at a heavily congested shopping mall. God appreciates people who demonstrate an attitude of gratitude. I can assure you that those who are grateful for what God has done for them will see more of the favor of God on their lives.

  Mark James and I experienced the favor of God in a variety of situations while we were in England. Each time, I declared, “That’s the favor of God, son! We have favor with God and with man.” It wasn’t long before he began saying it, too: “Papa, that was the favor of God, wasn’t it?”

  I was thrilled to watch my grandson get his own revelation of the favor of God on that trip, just as I have been privileged to witness many others do throughout the years I’ve been teaching about God’s favor. Getting a revelation of the favor of God is a powerful and transformative experience; it has the potential to change every negative circumstance and situation that a person faces.

  It is important to note that the revelation of God’s favor comes first through a revelation of Jesus Christ. The Word of God says, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:13). The Amplified version of this verse says, “Set your hope wholly … on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you.”

  Notice that the New King James text uses the word “grace,” which the Amplified translates as “divine favor.” The Hebrew word for grace is chen, which is defined as “favor, kindness and graciousness.” When we translate chen as “divine favor,” Scripture takes on a whole new meaning. Try it for yourself: As you read and study God’s Word, anytime you see the word “grace,” stop and translate it as “divine favor,” and then take some time to meditate on that verse. Doing so will change your life as you discover that the revelation of God’s favor always produces blessing.

  Moses understood the connection between favor and blessing. Before he died, he blessed each of the tribes of Israel, making the following declaration over Naphtali: “ O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full of the blessing of the LORD, possess the west and the south” (Deut. 33:23). Notice the connection between favor and the blessing of God, which ultimately enabled the tribe of Naphtali to possess the land that was to be theirs.

  God’s favor on a person’s life will produce blessing. What’s more, God gets great pleasure out of being able to demonstrate His favor in our behalf: “Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, ‘Let the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant’ ” (Ps. 35:27).

  GOD’S FAVOR WILL PRODUCE BLESSING. HE GETS GREAT PLEASURE OUT OF BEING ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE HIS FAVOR IN OUR BEHALF.

  As we take the time to translate the word “grace” as “divine favor” and to meditate on what the Word is saying to us, we will begin to experience the continuous blessing that the revelation of God’s favor brings into our lives. One person who experienced such a revelation was the apostle Paul. Consider what he wrote in his letter to the Corinthians:

  And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

  Paul says that a messenger of Satan was sent against him. When he went to God about it, God said, “My grace is sufficient.” In other words, God’s divine favor was a sufficient force to be used not only against the enemy, but also, according to Paul, against infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions and distresses.

  There is more than enough of God’s favor to meet every need that we have. In times when there seems to be no way out of a situation, and we wonder what we are going to do, we can declare, “God’s divine favor is sufficient for me!” When the favor of God shows up, circumstances change and destinies are altered.

  We Are Destined for Victory

  Perhaps you recall the story of Joseph from the Old Testament. Joseph’s destiny was fulfilled by the favor of God. When his older brothers became jealous of Joseph, they sold him into slavery. He was taken to Egypt, where the captain of Pharaoh’s guard purchased him. Then the story takes an unexpected turn:

  The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful 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 he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Jose
ph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate (Gen. 39:2-6).

  Now here’s a man who is supposed to be a slave, and his master has turned everything over to him. Joseph’s master doesn’t even know what all he possesses, but he knows that Joseph does. That’s pretty extraordinary trust! Because the favor of God was upon Joseph, the house of the Egyptian was blessed, and Joseph flourished in a difficult situation. Joseph’s destiny was altered because of the favor of God.

  But then the plot twists again. The Bible says that Joseph was a handsome man—so handsome that his master’s wife took notice of him. Although she tried continually to seduce him, Joseph’s integrity would not allow him to compromise.

  So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.

  But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.…

  So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”

  So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined (Gen. 39:10-12,16-20).