Philippians 1:7
Just as it is right for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of me with GRACE.
WHAT IS THE FAVOUR OF GOD? The word “favour” means something granted or given out of goodwill. In other words, you can’t buy it, you can’t earn it, and this is one of the reasons JESUS WENT TO THE CROSS. Because God chose to show us mercy, and because of the price Christ paid, we are now entitled to walk in God’s favour daily.
Psalm 37:3-4 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 will give you the desires of your heart.’
I believe this psalm is showing us how to feed on God’s faithfulness and favour because when we feed on it, it stirs our desires, and it’s only natural that they will be fulfilled. It’s a gift of love.
When you ask someone to do you a favour, what you are asking is, “Would you give me a gift of our friendship?” Because that’s what it is: a token of friendship. When we are dealing with favour, we are finding out how strong that relationship is. Favour draws on your compassion. Jesus has said, “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
Our relationship is so strong that if you ask me to do anything that will bring glory to my Father, I will do it.
FAVOUR is preferential treatment.
Proverbs 3:1-4
My son, do not forget my law, 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 favour and high esteem in the sight of God and man.
If we persistently keep declaring God’s favour over our life daily, we will start receiving preferential treatment from others.
The reality of this is what we were saying most of last year: start being persistent and declare God’s word over your life daily.
Favour gives us an advantage.
For instance, you may be selling a house or something. When we pray over it first and ask God for His favour, it changes things, bearing in mind that you already know and believe that you are a child of God. I remember selling a house several years ago, and after speaking to God, I put it on the market, and it sold way over asking price in one day. I also remember a pastor selling his house in Glasgow around a slow market time, and the same thing happened to him. God’s favour is with us daily; however, we must believe and receive.
I am not saying that we will go through our lives without hitting a few mountains on the way because we will. However, God has given us a spiritual strategy to stay above the circumstances: trust and obey Him and let Him fight the battles while we get on with what we must get on with in total peace, knowing that He is there.
Very often when people do not see their prayers being answered and the battle is taking a long time, they can tend to blame God, saying things like, “Why isn’t God listening to me? Why isn’t He doing something?” Well, God is not the problem; the problem is a lack of understanding. Most of the time, we experience delays in our prayers being answered because we do not have a right understanding of the favour of God. Without understanding, we will not be constant in confessing it. Favour, as I have described above, is free; we do not have to earn it, buy it, just believe and receive it. Have you ever watched a child who just loves their father? They expect him to sort things out and provide what they need. That’s how we are to be with Father God: just trust, love, and expect Him to sort out the stuff.
Sometimes when things happen, we don’t reach for the word and get into a place of self-pity or self-blame, and we also need to just move on from these things because we all have weak points. It’s rising above them that’s important, and Satan knows how to press your buttons.
Galatians 3:3-4
‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.’
29 and if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 4:7
Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
We are God’s kids, and we just need to receive what He has for us in a childlike way (Matthew 18:2-4), in other words, just accept what He wants you to have, amen.
Most of our hindrances are tied up in what we think we are and not in who we are in Him. Just ask Him to give you a revelation of who you are in Him.
Again, I repeat, without an understanding of who you are and His favour, we will not appropriate it and consistently confess it.
When we speak to that mountain, we are confessing divine favour to it and expressing our faith in the favour of God to move that mountain.
Several times we read in the gospels Paul declaring God’s favour over the church and the body of Christ. I believe he was trying to help his fellow believers get a revelation of God’s favour. He wanted them to understand that they didn’t have to be sick anymore, or poor, or live under their circumstances. And this was 2000 years ago, yet many Christians are still living the same way today.
Whether you need a parking place, or a new home, or a bill paid, or a health issue resolved, get a word from the Bible and start declaring in faith and favour GOD’S WORD OVER YOUR SITUATION EVERY DAY.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 states the blessings of God, and if you can speak them out over yourself as often as you can, they belong to you. The only way to get them inside your heart is to keep reading and speaking them over yourself. Then read all the curses and thank God you have been redeemed from them. And remember there is a price to be paid for disobedience. However, understanding the nature of God and the extent of the curses makes us realize how great it is to see what we have been redeemed from and that all the promises made to Abraham are ours to enjoy. (Galatians 3:8+9 in you all the nations will be blessed, so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing).
We do not do this consciously, but sometimes we stop being consistent with our confessions of faith for GOD’S FAVOUR, and perhaps it should be a daily habit in some form.
Here is a well-used scripture and it’s one of my favourites.
Zechariah 4:6: It’s not by might, it’s not by power, but by my Holy Spirit, says the Lord God.
Now many of us stop at this part; however, the next verse teaches us a very important lesson about the mountains in our lives. Let’s read.
V:7 who are you, oh great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain.
And He shall bring forth the capstone.
With shouts of grace, grace to it.
According to this, we are to shout grace or favour to our mountains.
When we declare and shout divine favour to the obstacles we face, we are speaking words of faith just as Jesus instructed us to do. We are expressing our faith in the favour of God to move the mountain.
Let us not forget who we are in Christ. AND WHO Jesus really is because He is the one who made the way for each of us.