Does Favor Follow You?
Even though both of my children were raised in church, neither of them is currently in church. That being said, I know they still hold truth in their hearts, as I see sometimes through their actions and speech. So, I trust that God is faithful to His word, that He began a great work in them and will not stop until it’s completed.
My kids grew up hearing about favor, a concept we learned early on from Pastor Jerry. Pastor likes tongue twisters and says “favor follows those who favor the Father.” He would illustrate that by telling us about his kids; whoever was loving towards him, obedient and helpful…that’s the child who captured his attention…and his money. That’s how it is with our heavenly Father too. The bible says God has no favorites, but Psalm 84:11 says, “The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” So, He loves ALL His kids, but to those who have relationship with Him, those who strive to live righteously, He bestows favor and honor.
When you recognize that every good and perfect thing comes from God (James 1:17), you should have a hard time calling unlikely or untimely blessing good luck. You can’t say “that was a close call,” or “we got lucky” when a tree falls and doesn’t damage your house. The reason I mentioned my kids above is because this is exactly what happened to my son last week. He lives in an older subdivision with large, old trees. We had some very strong winds blow in from a cold front and very huge oak tree on his neighbor’s lot fell, crushing his neighbor’s house, their dividing fence, and landing in Travis’ back yard. It took out a metal canopy over a porch area, and a small soffit area of his roof. Had the tree fallen over a few inches further to the left, it would have taken out the back of their house, where his office is, exactly where he was sitting when the tree came down. I immediately took the opportunity to remind him and his wife about favor, how God was watching over them and their property, minimalizing their damage. He told me they’d been wanting to remove that overhang anyway, that they were just waiting for a push to motivate them to do it! I laughed…there’s your push!!
Some people are so blind to the goodness of God, they wouldn’t recognize favor if it stared them in the face. But I choose to see favor all around me…an unexpected check in the mail, finding good deals, being diverted around calamity…whatever! You’ve probably heard the saying, when you recognize the remarkable handiwork of someone, “I see his thumbprint all over that!” Well I see the thumbprint of God all over my life. If something good happens to me or my family, I praise God and claim it as favor! You should try it!