Nov 7

Written by: glendajoy
11/7/2008 9:42 PM

I have heard of the concept of favor for years. It has always seemed a bit intangible to me. But, I can honestly say for the last twelve months, I have experienced favor first hand.

Just like so many times in my life, particularly my spiritual life, I experience something, and later I learn what it is called. So it has been with favor.

Doors have opened at exactly the right time, with the right people. I have known what it is like to be warmly received by many people who were complete strangers to me. We come to expect a warm welcome, and an open door when we feel like we have worked for it and earned access. But when it comes with no effort, to be totally honest with you, it is a little bit scary.

You might be tempted to think- Do they think I am someone else? Do they believe I possess gifts I don’t have? It all feels a bit strange, and especially if you are in unknown territory where you have not gained a personal confidence.

I have also experienced favor in what I would consider a domino effect. Meeting one person at a certain time, opens the door to another person, which opens the door to an opportunity that you could not orchestrate even if you tried.

It is at times like these that I feel such confidence- not in myself- but in a process that is opening the way for me to walk along a certain path for a purpose. I am much more accustomed to climbing over obstacles that sit like boulders in the path I want to walk on: an effort and a labor, and usually an exercise in futility.

But, not so with favor. Doors open like the ones in a store that you don’t even have to push. You walk toward the door and the it automatically opens so you can gain what seems like effortless access. Your part?  Walk towards the door, even if you cannot see how in the world it can open for you.  It is not for us to begin to believe how great we are, but to humble us to be keenly aware of how very great the God is who grants favor! And, it is important to remember:  favor is given for a season, and for a reason.  You are granted access for a greater purpose than yourself, or your agenda.

In the past, I have had brief moments of enjoying favor with people, but never in a sustained manner. And I can tell you this. When you experience favor on a consistent basis, it revolutionizes the way you see yourself. Your thinking changes from ‘Why is everything so hard’, to ‘Wow, if that is possible, what else is possible? What else can I do that I didn’t know I could do?’ You begin to believe what favor is trying to teach you. You are so much more than you think you are. God has designed each of us, gifted and equipped us with so much more than we ever access. We are bundles of untapped potential! If we only knew what God had deposited deep inside us, it would transform our daily lives! We would walk different. We would see ourselves different. We would be different. I think this may be one of the applications the scripture is explaining when it says that believers in Jesus will be 'a peculiar people'. Peculiar, because of how we live differently than others, but not because we are religiously weird or peculiar in a negative way. For example, the Bible says the righteous will thrive during times of famine. Now, that is a good kind of peculiar. They lay hands on the sick and they recover health. That, also, is quite peculiar. They can raise the dead in the name of Jesus.  How's that for peculiar?

The way I look at it, is that God has placed an enormous inheritance for me from The Bank of Heaven into my local Earthly Branch. It is there, whether I ever access it or not. It is my inheritance from my Heavenly Daddy. The question is not- ‘Do I have it?’ The question is ‘Will I gain access to what has been given to me?’. Which leads us to another question. ‘What has God given me?’.

Favor is one of those treasures we have already been given, even if we never lay hold of it. One of my favorite places in the Bible is when God told Joshua that He had given the children of Israel the promise land, and then He said ‘go and take possession of it’.  Well, if He had already given it to them, why did they have to go and possess it? Because an action on their part was necessary to access the inheritance.   

If you had a wildly rich uncle who lived a long, full life and died and left you a zillion dollars, you would be rich on paper. But, if you never took possession of that inheritance, you could live everyday as if you were poverty stricken, with a diet of (what my friend calls) dirt sandwiches. Why? Because you never took possession of what had been provided for you. Not talking name-it-and-claim-it prosperity gospel here. I am saying we need to know what we have inherited before we can gain access to it.

How sad is that? To have a vast inheritance, but to live like you didn’t have two nickels to rub together. I have this thought that sitting on the shelves of a vault in my local branch of the Bank of Heaven are all sorts of treasures that make up my inheritance as a believer in Jesus. Physical healing, deliverance from the oppression of the enemy, spiritual and financial provision, and all sorts of other great stuff; along with the weapons I need to defeat the enemies that are usurping my inheritance. Every day of my life, I want to get out my Bank of Heaven Holy Access Card and make withdrawals for whatever I need.  I want to be willing to fight for it.  I want to take possession of my inheritance, and enjoy it. The reason someone leaves a will is to make sure their beneficiaries have the opportunity to access what is being passed down to them. So, it is God’s will that I make a claim on the inheritance He has deposited for me.

May His will be executed on earth, as it is in Heaven! And may all of his beneficiaries (including me) both access, and enjoy what He has set aside for them!  If you belong to Jesus, get out your card and use it, for goodness sake!

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