The favor of God? Bring it on, right?! Who doesn't want the favor of God in their lives? We daydream about what the favor of God would look like - basically, all of our prayers being answered.
We'd really like a lot of those answered prayers lined up like crayons in a box, wouldn't we? Right where we can grab them and color our lives the way we want them to be. We are encouraged by scriptures such as Deut 28:2 "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God"
"Sign me up!" we shout as we jump up and down like children before the throne of Father God, "Overtake me with those blessings!"
God loves us and probably enjoys blessing us more than we enjoy being blessed. Personally, I think He looks for opportunities for His favor to leak from the heavens and soak into our thirsty lives. Sometimes life is hard and His favor nurtures and renews us. He knows that.
He also knows how much we can take before our "stripes" start to unravel. (see photo) Our identity takes a hit and, if we aren't careful, our understanding of who we are in Christ begins to fall off our lives.
The reality is that extreme favor from God can cause unexpected changes that throw our lives off balance. We get so excited about the opportunities His favor brings we can hardly contain ourselves! What once kept us grounded gets downsized so we can accommodate what is happening. (Let me whisper this next sentence so God won't hear...) We really want to be in control of the "overtaking" that is upon us. It makes us feel safe and success should be a nice safe experience, shouldn't it?
It has been said that success is sometimes more difficult to navigate than a time of trials. During a time of "overtaking" favor it is important to remember love. Yes, love. What's love got to do with it? Everything.
In Luke 10:27 Jesus said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself." This scripture creates a plumb line we can live our lives by. It creates an alignment that brings order and harmony.
Love brings us back into balance. We spend time with the people we love and spending time with God says "I love you" to Him. It also reminds us that He loved us first. Our heart responds to that truth when we draw near to the One who made us in His image. It is impossible to "hurry up" and love Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind. Most of the time He won't respond to that approach and you'll feel as if your prayers are hitting the ceiling. It takes time. Slowing down and focusing on Him puts things in order and creates balance.
In our fast-paced culture the second part of the above scripture is more difficult to accomplish. Love my neighbor as myself - now, just try a "git 'er done" approach with that and see how far it gets you! Our "neighbors" don't feel loved when we are impatient, disrespectful, demanding, deceptive or self-focused (all side effects of a life out of balance). A loving relationship with anyone responds to the fruits of the spirit Gal 5:22-23 "... love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control..."
So...how much supernatural favor can you take before the "stripes" that identify you start to unravel? Depends on how much you operate by love.
Position and prepare yourself for supernatural favor. God will give you all you can take!
RSS Feed
