Understanding God's Favor Pt 1, Is it the most misunderstood concept of our times?

#favorofgod #theology #christianliving #edification #encouragement #christianity #spirituality #prosperity #spiritualgrowth #personalgrowth #growth #inspiration #inspirationforliving #wisdom #wisdomforliving

Yes, the title is a bit provocative, but then again, so is the subject, isn't it?

Whether you're a new Christian, coming into your respective church fold for the first time, and trying to wrap your brain around this strange new jargon, or whether you're a seasoned saint who has heard this term and thinks that you have this truth, idea, and concept down cold, you have undoubtedly heard the subject preached, or at least heard it mentioned with regularity from the pulpit, podcasts, or simply from other Christians even in casual conversation.

But, today, my mission and endeavor here is to unpack what the Bible really has to say about it, as well as to explore what the average Christian, and even preachers at large seem to mean when using it, as it has become such a highly used word in our common parlance nowadays.

Let's start with the first book of the Bible, as we see in Genesis 6: 5-8 of the New Living Translation, the following passage:

5 "The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8 But Noah found favor with the Lord.""

It is interesting to note that the King James version of the very same passage of Scripture says that "Noah found grace in the eyes of The Lord."

Grace and favor are repeatedly used in and throughout the Bible almost interchangeably.

Then perhaps by looking at Grace it will help us learn at least one aspect of favor.

In Ephesians 2:8-9 we see one of the best, and most widely used expositions on grace that the Bible has to offer:

"For it is by Grace that you have been saved, and not of works, lest any man should boast."

So there you have it, Holy Scripture itself, ending all arguments on how this grace has been attained, "God saves us by His grace when we believe!"

However, since scripture is multivalent, or multi-faceted, it is important that we also take heed to these words also found in the Bible and carefully obey them, as 2 Timothy 2:15 plainly tells us to:

15 "Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth."

As seen in the above passage, let's make sure that we don't 'proof text' or pull one or two scriptures out of context to try to get them to say what we want them to, to justify our thinking, or our own agendas.

No, let's instead be careful to "rightly divide the word of truth." KJV As 2 Timothy 2:15 instructs us to.

At first, all we need to do is simply read the following verse of the earlier citation from Ephesians Chapter 2, to give us a bit more context.

Let's look at it again, only this time we will read through verse 10:

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

Hmmm. Interesting. So as we read the following verse, it definitely begins to give us more context.

Yes, in terms of our initial justification, or for what it takes for us to be saved, we can only be in a posture of total humility before God, and total surrender before Him, as we can merely make the decision to believe in our hearts that Christ died for our sins, and receive this precious, and unmerited gift and favor, by grace through faith, as there is absolutely nothing that we ourselves can do in our own strength to earn it, or make it a reality.

However, having now received this gift of salvation by the aforementioned grace through faith, we are made "new creations" in Christ Jesus, (2 Corinthians 5:17,) and are given the power necessary to do the good works that God has preordained for us to do before the foundation of the world!

"Why is this worth mentioning?," You may ask.

It is worth mentioning simply because there are different types of grace and favor that God bestows upon us, and although there is nothing for us to do but believe and receive to acquire the first kind that makes initial justification and salvation possible, OBEDIENCE is required to acquire the subsequent kinds!

Yes, it is one of the many great paradoxes of the Christian faith, and it is again, more than worth a second look if we are to continue to renew our minds concerning this aspect of what God desires for us, that we might acquire it not only for ourselves, but to simultaneously allow Him to work through us with increasing power and effectiveness if we are to indeed live out "the new commandment" that Jesus gave us, and fulfill the great commission that He plainly prescribed for us who follow Him as well.

Yes, that's right I mentioned the dreaded "O-word," obedience! Lol

If there are any who have doubts about its importance, particularly as it relates to favor, then let's look at our ultimate model, the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ himself.

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3

13"Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?”

15 But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him.

16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

As We can see from this stark and powerful biblical story, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing by insisting that John baptize Him, for he knew that the favor of God would not rest on Him if He wasn't obedient to, as he himself put it, " . . . what God required!"

So then if our Savior, who unlike us was without spot, sin, or blemish insisted on this level of obedience, who are we then, not to ourselves!?

As we continue on in this vein of "rightly dividing the word of truth," let's cross reference the above account of Jesus' obedience and baptism with two other instances, both found in the Gospels, where He himself again described this all important aspect of obedience to God's will in our our life, or "what He requires," of us.

Most of us know this next story, but for those who don't let's take a quick look at the gospel of Matthew, chapter 4.

Yes, that's right! It's the famous story of Jesus, who being led by The Holy Spirit, is brought into the desert to square of with the devil.

This chapter is then characterized by the devil repeatedly trying to to twist and distort scripture to lure Jesus into an act of disobedience, so that he could thus relegate Him to sin, and rob Him of his power and authority.

(Spoiler alert, Jesus wins!!! Thank You Lord for the victory! 🙏🏼🙌🏼👏🏼 Just had to take a Praise break right there 😄❤️)

Back to the story;

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b

It is more than interesting to note how Jesus responds here: "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Powerful, to say the least! But, what is He speaking about, spiritual, emotional, and mental sustenance? Sure, those are all very important parts of why we need to "live on every word that comes from the mouth of God," yet there is one more absolutely critical element that Jesus highlights, using very similar language, in a different part of scripture.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 4, we read one of the most compelling, and well known stories involving Jesus ever recorded in the Bible, that of His intentional journey through Samaria, only to have a preordained encounter with a Samaritan woman, who most of us have come to know as "the woman at the well,"

Jesus first of all breaks some of the common Jewish regulations of that day just by choosing to have any involvement with the Samaritans whatsoever, as they were considered inferior half-breeds, and pagans at the end of the day by any self-respecting israelite. Then Jesus proceeds to prophetically "tell her everything that she has ever done," by declaring to this woman who He has never even met, (in person,) that she has had four different husbands, and is currently living with a man that she is not even married to. She is so shocked and surprised as this level of a word of knowledge from Jesus, that she declares him to obviously be a prophet. Jesus then reveals to her that sure He is that but so much more, He is the long awaited Messiah, and the Savior of The World! The woman then shares her testimony with her whole town, and many come to faith in Jesus, and subsequently salvation, Praise God for that!

However, it's what happens after that that I would like to focus on, as we take a look at the subsequent chapter following this famous story, beginning with verse 27,

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

27 "Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Here we have the disciples, (representing a type of you and I,) who innocently enough, express their concern for Jesus' physical well being. On its face, there is nothing wrong with that all, except for the fact that they don't know what they don't know.

What do I mean by that? Well, they like us, are too ignorant and blind at the moment to see the bigger spiritual picture of God's will, and are ultimately far too preoccupied with their immediate physical and earthly needs, first. They are unable in this instance to distinguish between the good, and the best, because they can't even see what the best is, until Jesus shows them, that is. And don't we need Him to show us the best in our daily lives as well?

Jesus then famously, and powerfully remarks, "I have food that you know not of." The disciples then comically think that he is speaking literally, "Did someone bring him food,?" They asked one another.

Jesus, then ever loving and patient with their ignorance replies, MY FOOD IS TO DO THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME AND FINISH HIS WORK."

Wow.

Let that wash over you a bit.

If we then cross reference this passage with the aforementioned story from Matthew chapter 4, we now see far more clearly what Jesus was referencing when He spoke to the devil, and rebuked him by saying, "man does not live in bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

As we flip back now again to John chapter 4, we read one more time, Jesus, not coincidentally by any means, staying with the food analogy and outright declaring that, "my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work."

He was subjugating his earthly desires, for food or otherwise, and making them be obedient to God's will for His life, because He knew that He would share in His father's glory, and that the result and reward of that obedience would be INCOMPARABLY better than anything of this world that he could ever have or experience!

And so it is that we see God's PURPOSE, facilitated through our willingness to be obedient and to take action based thereon, that this greater level of favor is released to us, and able to rest upon us, as The Heavenly Father's vessels, and agents of reconciliation and salvation in this fallen world.

Jesus strongly emphasizes the above in His closing explanation and statement to the disciples at the end of John chapter 4:

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

"I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest," said Jesus to his disciples, and as He still says to us today.

It was a summarization of not only what He meant by His food analogy in his response to them, but it was also a description of what He just got done doing in his interaction with the woman at the well; to seek and save all who are lost, by sharing who He was with them, and offering the opportunity for personal relationship with Him.

Let's now turn to our 'stretch run,' and thanks so much for hangin' in there with me, and with this article, as we make our way to another all important aspect of its conclusion.

The second point of focus that needs to be addressed here, is that of The favor of God as it relates to, wait for it, . . . Still waiting . . . Umm, still waiting, . . . 😂

Ah, there we go, yes, money!

To say that this is a loaded topic, rife with different schools of thought, assumptions, and all kinds of implications would be an understatement to say the least.

However, once again let's subject it to this same eternally tried and proven litmus test: let's design a simple, and yet very thorough treatment of this topic, as it pertains to God given favor, using a responsible cross referencing of relevant scriptures, coupled with the wisdom and common sense that come from our ever valuable life lessons.

"How is money itself, different from the love of money," you may ask. It's a valid question, and a good one, and at first glance it may seem like just semantics, to the undiscerning, and untrained eye.

However, I would like to submit to you our previous watchword, PURPOSE, as our distinguishing guide in this matter, to help clarify for us what the difference actually is from a scriptural perspective.

In John chapter, we see that Jesus does indeed say, that if we "ask anything in his name, it will be given to us."

Unfortunately many of us have wasted an awful lot of time, foolishly asking for things like a new Ferrari, or a mansion, or a million dollars, or maybe even that one of our enemies, or someone who wronged us would die.

So then, given the fact that probably millions, or even billions of us human beings on this earth have asked for a bevy of these selfish, and immature requests, and have not had them answered by God on our behalf, does that make Jesus a liar?

The simple answer is, of course not. But some may still say, but he said "ask anything in my name, and it will be done for you."

Once again we see the danger of a strict biblical literalism run amuk. So let's provide some context, and color, to hopefully clarify this passage, and with it our understanding of how we ought to Pray and to live in this context.

It is in providing more context to the word name, as in what Jesus means when he says, "whatever you ask in my NAME," it shall be done for you, that our answer lies.

What the Bible is truly referring to when it says "the name of Jesus," isn't just some incantation that we can superstitiously say at the end of any request, and poof!, it magically happens.

No, instead what the phrase "name of Jesus" is really referring to is the NATURE, and CHARACTER of Jesus.

Now let's reread the passage, substituting the word name, with one of these new words that will act as a sort of translation and watch how the meaning of that passage, with a whole bunch of new implications will completely change it's meaning.

"Whatever you ask for in conjunction with my NATURE, or CHARACTER, it will be done for you."

Wow! Suddenly an entirely new context has been established, and perhaps hopefully a conviction of truth with it, that may stop some of us short of asking, at least so readily, just for selfish or purely materialistic things that are only for ourselves that we think will make us happy.

As our minds start to become renewed to this newfound reality, and are armed with an increasingly clearer vision of what Jesus is saying here, we start to understand why perhaps certain prayers are answered and others may not be.

God is love, and if love is real, or the possessing the least but of maturity, it will act on behalf of the other, for the good of the other, knowing he or she who is giving genuinely of themselves will not only be taken care of, but more than rewarded by God, in a way that is many times, far better than each of us could have ever thought to even ask for!

In Matthew 6:33, the classic biblical text on First things First, or the priority of God's Kingdom, Jesus gives us a clear treatise of the very same spiritual process mentioned in the above paragraph.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you."

In two different verses of the same chapter, (Matthew chapter 6,) our Lord simply says that "your father knows that you have need of these things," and that "it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom,."

It is of prime importance here to notice that Jesus says "seek ye first the kingdom of God," and that He doesn't say, "seek ye ONLY the kingdom of God."

He actually goes on to say, "look at the lillies of the field, not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of these!" And, "Look at the birds, they don't worry about being fed, because your Father feeds them, and aren't you more valuable than they are?"

So there you have it: God doesn't condemn us for having the very needs He Himself created us with! He knows that we have legitimate needs, and desires because He put them there!

He is only against us trying to meet those legitimate needs and desires for food, clothing, shelter, sex, companionship, accomplishment, etc, through our own ILLEGITIMATE MEANS, which is the very definition of sin itself.

So God isn't trying to beat us up, or spoil our fun. No, what He's doing is epuipping, and empowering us to establish a spiritual boundary that will act as a hedge of protection against allowing our unregenerate minds to, along with our self-centered and distorted desires of the flesh, take over and try to rule and reign against His ways as though we are trying to play God ourselves. Needless to say this is a position that we were not created for, and therefore we will eventually find ourselves suffering all sorts of repercussions in all sorts of areas in our beings and lives as we find that each of us is unable to bear the weight of such a lofty office, as there is only One who is worthy of the throne, and as we are obviously not the ones worthy, and are woefully inadequate to the task of King of the universe!

Let's look at two more passages of scripture that flesh out some more context concerning God's intended use for money, and prosperity.

In 3 John chapter 2 KJV, we will see a simple, and concise, yet powerful statement along these lines:

"Beloved, I wish above all things that you mayest prosper, and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth!"

This John the apostle, referred to in scripture again and again as "the disciples whom Jesus loved," and the one who laid his head on the chest, or heart of the Lord who is giving us a very important, and Holy Spirit inspired message, and his credibility as a chosen apostle of The Lord speaks for itself.

But again, context is key, and what's of supreme interest to us to note here in this passage, is that that John says, " . . . I wish above all things that you may prosper, and be in health, EVEN AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS." That is an incredibly important specification, and place for him to lay emphasis to say the least.

Anyone with keen discernment, or eyes to see can recognize immediately that John is simply reiterating in different language what our Lord Jesus said in the previous passage of Scripture: "seek ye first the kingdom of God in all His righteousness, (or God's ways of doing things,) and all of these will be added unto you."

Another way that they might express this all important point in our common language nowadays, might be, Yes, God wants to Bless every area of your life, but He wants to do it His way, not necessarily yours, and He can only do it His way with you cooperating with Him and keeping the development of your personal relationship with Him first in your life!" So, "keep your eyes on Him first and trust Him to provide for you what you need, and don't obsessively worry about it, God loves you and wants to take care of you!"

In our final scriptural passage, we have Paul the apostle admonishing us along these lines as well, only fleshing out a slightly different facet of how to follow God's righteousness, or "right-use-ness," concerning material gain.

In 2 Corinthians 9:8 of The New Living translation of scripture,

Paul under the inspiration of The Holy Spirit instructs the Church at Corinth, and by extension us:

"And God will generously provide all that you need. Then you will always have everything that you need, and plenty left over to share with others."

There you have it, God does desire to prosper us, but only in His context, according to what He sees we have need of, and to supply us to do the work that He has assigned for us.

If, for example, you are starting a Christian television station, then of course, you are going to need a lot of money for a facility, a studio, cameras, and not to mention to pay a plethora of employees.

If you are a missionary, well you will definitely need financial support as well, but probably not nearly as much considering you are just one person, but who is still called to do some extraordinary work that is of EQUAL importance.

However, if you are starting a ministry, whether it be a church or anything else, and are continuously soliciting funds from the people of God in Christ's name, only to syphon far more than is required for your salary or to live comfortably on, only to make your life more lavish, or extravagant at the expense of hard working people who expect that money to be put to good KINGDOM use, then you are ABSOLUTELY IN THE WRONG!

So the condition of your heart and the call of God on your life are here of supreme importance. But remember, "God is not mocked, whatsoever a man, (or woman,) sows, that shall they also reap!"

God is on the throne, and there will be a judgement day, rest assured, and we can definitely take some solace in that fact.

So then, any theology which suggests that God doesn't want to meet your needs, is in error. And likewise, any theology that suggests that The Lord is merely a glorified Santa Claus is EQUALLY ERRONEOUS! That type of selfishness will be condemned on judgement day, and even today is frankly irreverent, and actually offensive to God.

Once again, "the virtue is in the middle of two extremes."

To summarize, if there were two watchwords that I would use to characterize the nature of the favor of God, from the perspective of how we acquire it and continue to grow in it, I would choose these two words: PURPOSE, and STEWARDSHIP!

Once we decide to begin to surrender to the will of God for our lives, we start by simply confessing of our sins, and beginning the process of repenting of them - we come to Faith in Christ's redemptive work on the cross on our behalf, and invite Him to be our personal savior, and the Lord of our lives.

We continue to try to nurture this personal relationship by committing to spending time with Jesus daily, through prayer, meditation, and reading and studying the Bible.

We also commit, hopefully, to regular attendance at a church that seems to resonate with us, a place where we feel The Holy Spirit bear witness to ours that this is where I should be.

A place where we can sit under good preaching and teaching on a weekly basis, where we can freely, passionately and wholeheartedly worship Jesus, and a place where we can hopefully make like-minded friends, whose companionship, love, and support can encourage us, as we encourage them in edifying conversation, by example, the joy of shared mutual interests, and even a listening ear when times are tough.

And as we empowered, by God's Grace, to grow, "from faith to faith, and glory to glory," we become more aware of His word and it's application in our lives, and the unshakable convictions based thereon that

we have acquired through our own experience, knowing that as our Lord and Savior said, "He who has been faithful in a few things shall be made ruler over many."

So as God enlarges our spiritual stature and perhaps even our financial stature to whatever degree, may we always look, as Paul the apostle admonished us to the following words:

2 Corinthians 9:8 AMP

"And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be, self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]."

Prayer and Reflection:

Heavenly Father, may we continue to earnestly and sincerely put our best feet forward on the path that You have set before us, continuing to trust in You, and walk with you, ever thankful for all of the blessings that you have bestowed upon us, inside and out!

Lord, may we also continue to be obedient and allow your all supplying Grace to flow to us, providing us with more than what we need so we can continue to eagerly participate in Your life and nature, which is to love you with all of our hearts and souls, and love our neighbors as ourselves, not just with our words, but through action as well,

In Jesus' Name we Pray, Amen! 🙏🏼

I hope and Pray that this article was not only informative but also encouraging to you as it was to me, as I studied this important topic at depth!

May God Bless you richly!

Your friend and brother in Christ,

- Neil Vandenbergh