The Powerful Force of Favor
I believe that favor is the greatest reward a person could ever receive from the Lord. Favor is better than money. While money cannot buy you favor, favor can definitely bring you money. Favor is better than fame. While fame cannot bring you God’s favor, the favor of God can absolutely bring you respect from key individuals and cause you to stand out within large groups. Favor is better than life. In fact, King David wrote, “Thy lovingkindness is better than life” (Psalm 63:3, KJV).Favor will determine the level of your income. Favor will deepen your important relationships and the friendships you forge as you associate with the right people. Favor will flood your life with joy, with happiness, with passion, and with a sense of purpose and significance. Favor will intensify your worship and enhance your intimacy with the Lord. Favor also will ward off the enemy and neutralize his relentless attacks against you. Favor will cause you to regain in a day what Satan has stolen from you over the years.
Just think about this for a few seconds. The Bible tells us that Satan has three “jobs” in this world. His jobs are “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10, KJV) all that God has birthed in your life. So if you can think for a moment about those areas in your life that have “died,” if you can think about those things and opportunities that your accuser has stolen from you, and if you can recount all the relationships and the innocence that the devil has destroyed in your life, you should take heart that God’s favor is available to “restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm” ( Joel 2:25, KJV).Favor can change a medical report. We see this in the Bible. Because Sarah was barren, she could not give Abraham the son that God had promised to him. As Sarah grew older and as the years accumulated, the possibilities for her to become a mother diminished with every passing day. Then finally, at the age of 90, when the medical reports merged with the physical realities of Sarah’s age and it looked as if God’s promise would go unfulfilled, the Bible tells us that “the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him” (Genesis 21:1-2, KJV ).
Favor is a seed that can be sown.
The apostle Paul said, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7, KJV). So you have the ability to sow favor into the lives of others just as God has sown favor into your life, and you have a right to expect favor to come back into your life as the appropriate harvest for the favor you have sown. Favor, therefore, is reciprocal. It is part of the ongoing cycle of spiritual life.
Whether we are talking about God’s favor medically, relationally, financially, or spiritually, we cannot always expect a return on investment immediately.
The farmer who sows seed and faithfully works that seed while it is in the ground has a perfect right to demand a return on his investment. He has a right to expect the seed to grow and produce crops. Likewise, the financier who sows his money into an investment portfolio and who patiently waits for those investments to mature has a perfect right to anticipate a return on his investment as well. He has a right to expect his money to grow and to produce more money. In time, the faithful man or faithful woman will always reap what they sow, and they will reap more than they sow. But they also will reap after they sow, so they may not reap right away. The reward comes after the effort. The prize comes after the race. The victory comes after the battle. And God’s favor comes on the backside of faithfulness.
Never give up! The favor of God is there for you! It can affect a major change in your life in a single moment of time. Your job as a believer is to keep believing and keep trusting God and keep doing what is right while you pray for God’s favor.
The favor of the Lord is your heritage as a child of God.
It is your birthright, part of the richness and wealth of the Christian life. But like anything worthwhile, God’s favor is sometimes delayed, and that is why you must persevere and never doubt its eventual manifestation in your life. Don’t give up if the harvest you have worked for doesn’t arrive to- day or tomorrow. Don’t give up if it is delayed by new trials or by setbacks. Keep sowing good seed and keep asking God for new places to sow, for although “weeping may endure for a night…joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5, KJV). The favor of God is your promised reward.
Because I believe what I am telling you, my wife Christine and I try to sow something every day. Why? Because we want to reap something every day! Sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t, but we can say with certainty that we always eventually reap what we sow and we always eventually reap more than we sow. God is good, and He honors His Word. He showers His favor upon us in ways too numerous to recount. He enriches our lives in every way imaginable. We live in God’s favor, and we enjoy God’s favor. And, in response to God’s favor on our lives, we look for more opportunities to sow favorably into the lives of others.
How can you sow favor in such a way as to perpetuate God’s favor in your own life? Just look around you. Open your spiritual eyes and look for legitimate needs that you have the ability to meet. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to meet financial needs, especially small ones. It doesn’t take a lot of ingenuity to meet emotional needs, particularly the simple ones. It doesn’t take a lot of work to meet needs for significance, acceptance, or encouragement. It doesn’t take a lot of creativity to just roll up your sleeves and help someone move or finish that new addition to their house. So start sowing. Call forth the favor of God upon your life by sowing into the lives and work of others.