Finding Favor

 

    Some people are put in this world given favor by God to serve a purpose, some get favor for what they do, and some inherit favor by accepting salvation.  No one earns God's favor.  His favor is a blessing given in grace and goodwill.  God delights in the humble and obedient heart that seeks Him for love, guidance, and wisdom.  It is this heart that will receive His favor.

    Being favored does not change who you are at the core.  If you have fear, doubt, or anxiety then it only becomes more apparent.  It is in God's favor that you can learn to let go and remove from your life, but it does not mean that it will just disappear.  You are human.  You will have human responses to life.  You are not perfect.  Own that, face it, and go to God with all your perceived and true faults.  Let Him tell you what needs to change and change it.

    God will be patient with you if you need patience.  He will ignore request if you are just trying to buy time.  He knows you.  He knows what you need.  He will push when you need a push and He will be gentle when you have hit your point where you just can't go forward without Him.  These are signs that you have God's favor because you belong to Him.  He will give you what you need as you need it to do your assigned job for Him.

    You know you have God's favor as a Christian because it is sealed by the Holy Spirit.  He gives you spiritual gifts as God provides for your physical needs.  The Holy Spirit will help build you up to become someone that God will use.  He will help you let go of your insecurities, move past weaknesses, and stop comparing yourself to others.  Your path with God is designed by God just for you.  You are not in competition with anyone else, but your past self to be better today than yesterday (closer to God today than yesterday).   

    The Holy Spirit will build your confidence in God through God's Word, prayer life, and seeing God work in your life.  In return for being given all that God gives you, you give back.  You give your tithe, time, and abilities.  You prepare for service, present yourself to God, put down anything in between you and God, and pour our what He gives you onto other people.  You become a living sacrifice to be a true ambassador for God in this world.  In time you could be a person that you never thought you could be if you faithfully trust God.

Genesis 6:5-8, Judges 6:17-24, Psalm 5:11-12, 84:10-12, 90:13-17, Proverbs 3:1-4, 8:32-36,12:2, Matthew 6:25-27, Luke 2:52, John 20:28-29, & 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

God's Patience

 

    God is patient with all people.  He gives you the time to make decisions.  He tells you what He expects, but waits on you to decide if you will comply, how you will comply, or if you will comply in obedience.  You know He is patient because He could have destroyed humanity whenever He wanted.  He allows you to live in your sin.  He is longsuffering to show you what love really is and how you can be loved the way you were meant to be loved.

    God is patient because He has held back the judgment that the world is destined to endure.  He is giving everyone a chance to turn away from their sins and follow Jesus.  He is waiting to forgive those whom ask to be forgiven with true repentance in their heart.

    God's patience reveals mercy.  Maybe you have been enduring His correction to get you where you need to be and now He is giving you peace.  Maybe you are coming out of a trial and are finding healing from a long hidden emotional or spiritual wound.  Maybe He is giving you a time of rest after working diligently for Him for a long time.  His mercy for you is personalized according your relationship with Him and needs.  

    Mercy is not getting what you deserve which is different from grace where you do get what you do not deserve.  Once reveals how you fall short of God's standards and the other reveals God's unconditional love.  You see this in your life.  It is revealed in your prayer life and walk with God.  The closer you lean into Him the more clearly you can see it.

    It is ignorant to call God impatient, intolerant, or uncaring.  It is fooling to demand that God meet you at your level and be okay with your lifestyle.  God is not going to change who He is for you.  He is showing you that your life is better if you change to His standard.  He is good because He gives you time and all the chances to live a life of faith following Jesus.  He is patient because He restrains His power.  He does this because He loves you.

    God wants you to understand what patience really is.  Patience is an active use of strength in the spiritual world. It is not just waiting.  It is actively choosing not to act and to restrain what you could do.  It is proof of strength, not weakness.  It is also a gift of the Holy Spirit where some people can have a supernatural ability of patience to face trials and help the church grow and develop.  

    Pray that you are able to see God's patience in your life.  Ask Him to help you be patient when you are spiritually ready to go through trials.  Patience is active which means it has to be worked out.  To workout active spiritual aspects means you have to go through things.  It is important that you do pray to have them and to build them up, but the timing is not always right.  If you are spiritually beat up, then allow God to give you rest and heal you so you can be strong enough to endure.

Exodus 34:5-7, Numbers 14:17-19, Judges 6:17-40, 7:9-11, Psalm 86:14-17, Isaiah 30:18, Romans 2:1-4, 9:20-24, 15:5-6, Galatians 5:22-23, Colossians 1:11-14, 1 Timothy 1:15-17, 2 Peter 3:8-10

Unseen Blessing

 

    God is trying blessing His people all the time.  Sometimes you get so busy in your life that you don't see what He is doing.  Sometimes you reject the blessing because you don't feel worthy, unaware that it is a blessing, or some other hang up.  Some times you loose your blessing because you choose sin over God.  Whatever the reason you may not have a blessing comes down to you and your choices.

    Blessings are divine gifts, spiritual favor, and hidden protection given by God.  His blessing are outside of the physical world, but impact it directly.  God works behind the scenes for the good of His people.  He offers grace, eternal reward, and daily preservation.  Many of these are not big moments.  They are in the details.  They are little things that make life better.  Pray that you recognize God's blessings and do not overlook them.  Pray that you accept them and stay where you can keep them.

    God's blessing can be seen in everyday life or in the miracles.  Gideon defeated the Midianite army of 32,000 with 300 men.  David defeated a scary giant with a stone.  Jesus fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish.  Life is full of scary giants and impossible moments, but this is when God can really shine in your life if you let Him.  If you let Him, then you are blessed and those around you that get to watch your story happen.

    God is the resource for all that you need, but He gives up and beyond that because He loves you and is generous.  He gives you the Holy Spirit for comfort and good counsel.  He gives you people in your life to make it fulfilling.  He gives you purpose.  He also supplies all that you need to live this life that He has given you.  

    God has blessed you with His Word, the Holy Spirit at salvation, the armor of God, strength, boldness, and more.  This is not insignificant.  He has provided you everything you need to overcome your sins.  You have a mind to think and make decisions.  You have free will, so you can never say you were forced in choosing Him.  He has blessed you with the ability to hold onto peace.   He has blessed you with love and a future.   He has blessed you with the ability to love.  You are blessed with relationship and the ability to have one with Him.

    Your entire life is a blessing.  You are a blessing.  You are not disposable, but it is your choice to be empowered or not.  The freedom that God has blessed you with is a choice.  He has blessed you with the ability to have wisdom that comes with knowing who He is.  He is truth that gives understanding through the Holy Spirit.  You are blessed with faith that cant be seen.

Judges 3:9-11, 6:14-34, 11:29-31, 14:5-20, 15:14-16, 2 Kings 6:16-17, Psalms 103:1-5, Luke 9:1-6, Romans 4:20-25, 1 Corinthians 2:6-9, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Galatians 5:16-18, Ephesians 1:3-8, Philippians 4:10-14, 1 Timothy 1:12-14, 2:1-7,  2 Timothy 4:16-18, & Hebrews 11:1-2

Let Go

 

    Letting go is one of the hardest acts of faith.  Letting go of control feels unnatural, but it is the only thing to give you real peace in life.  You have to trust God to have control over all the aspects you don't know about.  When you do, your part becomes simpler.  Trying to control everything steal joy, time, and bring unneeded anxiety into your life.

    Gideon rallied a powerful army for God, but God had him remove almost all his warriors.  He was left with only 300 to leaving about 1000 opponents to each Israelite warrior.  Gideon did this on faith.  He had already seen God provide, so he was confident in God in this.  God wanted it this way, so that there would be no doubt who brought the victory.  Gideon had to let go of potential pride, fear, and doubt to allow God to lead.

    God is bigger than anything you define as big.  Your problems are big to you, but they are not even problem to God.  Trust Him to handle it.  I promise He will do a better job with it than you would on your own.  He will protect your heart, soul, and mind if you allow Him.  He will protect your body and keep you alive until the moment it is your turn to go home.  He has whatever is bothering, scaring, or hurting you.  He has not left you alone to face it solo.

    You may feel exposed, vulnerable, scared, and defeated, but God is working in the background.  You will be victorious to glorify His name as long as you don't get in your own way.  He is trying to give you blessings.  Are you accepting them or missing them because you are too focused on the problem and not Him?  Are you faithful enough to keep the blessings or do you self-sabotage what He is giving you?   This is something you need to pray over in your life to see what you refuse to let go and how it is affecting your life.

    Letting go is hard.  It does not feel right.  You are called to walk in faith not feelings.  When you do you become strong.  Life becomes less chaotic in your head.  Your feelings direct you to notice things, but they don't control you.  They have a real purpose, but your mind and soul are what need to be in control of your decisions.  It is a decision to allow God to be in control and stop obsessing on things you can't control.  If you refuse to let go of what God has called you to let go, then you are sinning against God and it will put distance in your relationship with Him.

    Everyday has new challenges and concerns.  This is why you need God every day.  The sooner you get with God in your day the better your head space will be and your decision making process.  Letting go may just be your ministry.  When you master it, you are able to help and encourage other people to learn how to let go and the benefits.  That does not mean you won't have your days where things get to you and you struggle.  It means that letting go becomes a part of your daily life because you understand that He is your only real security.

Judges 7:7-16, 1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 46:8-11, 55:20-23, Proverbs 3:5-6, Philippians 4:6-7, & 1 Peter 5:5-7

Refinement

 

    God will put challenges in your life to stretch your faith, show other people the way, or redirect you.  Sometimes the trails are more than you can handle.  These trails are refining you.  Gold and silver have to go through heat that will break down the elements to get to its purest form.  Your gold is your heart and soul.

    Refinement chips away at what you hold onto instead of turning to God.  It will chip away at your finances, relationships, work, pride, appearance, hormones, and anything else that weighs you down in life.  When you endure and allow God to work in you though this process it is making you more your truest holy self.  You are becoming more like Jesus and when the day comes you can face God in confidence.

    Refinement that comes from God will whittle down your life to make it simple, so you can rebuild it to be the life God designed for you.  When life gets hard remember that God is with you.  Instead of panicking thank God for what He is doing in your life and lean on Him more.  Trust His process as it gets hard.  Life is not about always being happy, but refinement can produce joy.

    During the refinement process listen for God's voice.  Refinement is not an easy process.  It is painful, but when you get through it your soul will be more beautiful.  You will be unhindered by what you got through.  Fear can be removed.  Going through a little pain now is so much better than an eternity of pain or a lackluster Christian life.  You have to be refined to be a Christian that lives out your purpose in life.  You have to overcome fear to be used by God.

    Refinement can be struggle, disappointment, rejection by people, being overlooked, attacked, helplessness, terror, persecution, and facing impossible situations.  The purpose is for you to see your need for God in every situation.  You need God in every phase of life.  When you do, you get deliverance, discovery of truth, blessings, and victory over what you faced.  Commit yourself completely to God so that you do not hinder your process.

Deuteronomy 20:8-9, Judges 7:1-6, Job 23:10-17, Psalm 66:8-12, Proverbs 17:3, Isaiah 48:8-11, Zechariah 13:7-9, Malachi 3:2-4, Luke 21:34-36, Romans 5:3-5, Philippians 1:3-6, Hebrew 12:10-11, & 1 Peter 1:6-7

You Get What You Give

 

    A principle of God's is that you get what you give.  Jesus basically said that you sow what you reap.  If you are generous, kind, and loving, then you typically get that in response.  If you are angry, bitter, or have a bad attitude, then you typically get negative attitude back.  If you live a life of faith, then you will see God working in your life.

    God wants a personal and intimate relationship with you, but you have to want it too.  What you put into your relationship with God will be reflected in the kind of relationship you have with God.  If you feed humility, then you will remember all the blessings that God has given you.  If you feed pride, then you get spiritual amnesia.  Pride wears down faith.  This is why arrogance will make you fall and probably humiliate you.

    If you allow God to work in your weakness, then you are more apt to stay humble and be a working agent for God.  When you are humble, you notice when opportunity is knocking and obey God's commands.  You see yourself in a healthy perspective.  You are not prideful, but you don't beat yourself down either.  You know who you are, where you stand with Jesus, and you work toward your purpose with confidence (not arrogance or pride).

    When you rely on God you find strength.  You see victory in life.  You have purpose that people cannot take away.  It is only when you stop relying on God that you begin to fail, stumble, and fall to pride.  Hidden pride destroys relationships and makes life more difficult.  Thank God for your weaknesses in life that cultivate you into a stronger warrior for Him.  Pray over your hard relationships, times, and difficulties in life to see if they are rooted in pride or a weakness to be used by God.

Judges 7:1-3, 8:13-22, Psalm 103:1-5, Proverbs 11:25, 19:17, 30:7-9, Luke 6:37-39, 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, & Galatians 6:7-10

Key to Strength

 

    God is the key to true strength.  You may not be physically strong, but if you are spiritually strong and follow Jesus faithfully, then you can do anything.  God helps you through the impossible.  He gives you courage to face fear, persecution, and pain.  He gives you the Holy Spirit which is your inner power to see past all the obstacles and distractions to what could be and what needs to be done.  God makes you stronger than you know.

    Strength takes daily exercise.  It does not matter if it is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.  If you want to be physically strong, then you have to lift weights, do mobility exercises, stretching, drink water, and eat healthy.  You have to prioritize your health.  Mental and emotional strength requires controlling your thoughts and taking steps daily for self-control.  Spiritual strength comes by spending time with God in His Word, prayer, and walking in faith.  Take what you learn everyday and apply it to your day.

    Life can be scary.  You may feel fear, overwhelmed, intimidated, exhausted, inadequate, and weak.  You need to acknowledge the feelings to figure out how to move past or work through them.  Ignoring a problem does not make you strong.  It makes you weaker.  Feelings that control you paralyze your progression in the life you are trying to build with God.  God commanded you to be strong and courageous in your obedience to Him.   Do not allow feelings to discourage you from your calling.

    Embrace your weaknesses.  It is in your weakness that God can shine in your life.  He can use them so much better than your strengths.  They allow you to be open to Him and the key to His strength.  You need God to be strong.  When you obtain God's strength you gain confidence in what you are doing.  You may never get stronger in that area, but the strength that God provides overshadows your weakness.  You are not a victim. It is an opportunity to be more, not less.  It is a part of your testimony.

    You may be the underdog.  You may be the runt.  That is okay.  It is always an amazing story when the underdog becomes victorious over the obviously stronger opponent.  The runt has to fight to survive, so it normally becomes stronger than those around.  Moses, and Pharoah, Gideon with the Medianites, David with Goliath, Esther and Human, and the list goes on.  The element that they possess that their opponent does not is that they trusted God.  

    In life it may look like there is no way, but God will make a way if it is a part of His plan.  His way will be obvious and grand after the fact, but if you don't trust Him then you could get destroyed.  Practice focusing on God with the little distractions and when the big things come it will be easier to focus on Him instead of the problem.  You have to practice faith to have strong faith.  Focus on God instead of searching for the key.  God will unlock and open the door for you.  You just have to be watching and ready to move.  The joy in trusting the Lord is your strength.

Joshua 1:6-9, Judges 7:7-13, 8:10-12, Nehemiah 8:10, Psalm 46:1-3, 73:21-26, Isaiah 40:26-31, 41:8-10, Luke 9:12-17, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, & Philippians 4:10-14