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Second in a series on divine favour
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As we begin this morning, let me direct us to Luke chapter 2, verse 52. The Bible states that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. When Scripture says He "increased" in favour, it means He started from a certain level and moved to another—suggesting that favor can grow and develop in our lives.
Last week we began a series on favor. I described favour as receiving or getting something we do not necessarily work for. Favor means to enjoy special privileges and to gain an advantage over others. This year has been declared a year of open doors, and favor is one of the key things that causes doors to open for people.
God connects us to destiny helpers through divine connections, and it is favour that will enable them to embrace us and help us. So it is very important for us as Christians to understand that favor is essential in our lives.
Last week I emphasized that God can simply choose to favor a person—that you cannot work for it; God determines as He pleases. This week I'm going to talk about keys to divine favour, which might seem to contradict what I said before. However, I want to bring clarity: while God can sovereignly choose to favor someone, there are also certain actions we can take that open the door to receiving His favor.
Just as negative actions lead to disfavor, positive actions can lead to favor.
In the book of Esther chapter 1, the Bible tells of Queen Vashti, who enjoyed great privileges as queen. She made feasts and enjoyed the privileges of her position. But when King Ahasuerus sent for her to display her before his guests, she refused to come.
That single act of disobedience led to disfavour. Esther 1:19 records the king's decree: "If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she is."
Her disobedience resulted in her removal from the throne. This negative example shows us that our actions have real consequences for the favor we receive.
Let me explain something important: as Christians, our default position is to enjoy God's favor. That is where we should naturally be. But many people have moved away from this default position because of their actions, decisions, thoughts, and words.
Consider a good parent. A parent's desire is to show favor to their children, to give them special privileges and the best in life. But when a child misbehaves or fails to do their homework or neglect their chores, the parent removes certain privileges—perhaps taking away their phone or restricting their television time. The child is still their child, and the parent still desires to give them the best. But those privileges are removed because of the child's actions.
It is the same with our relationship with God. We move away from our default position of favor through our own choices and actions.
One of the things I've discovered is that our level of understanding can determine the benefits we enjoy as Christians. Sometimes we don't have enough understanding to enjoy the benefits that should be ours.
The Bible states in Psalm 111:10 that understanding is a wellspring of life. A wellspring brings forth water, brings forth life and sustenance. Understanding is meant to bring life and make a difference in our lives.
Psalm 113:15 states that "good understanding gains favor." When you have understanding of certain things, it opens a doorway for you.
I remember when I was in secondary school, I struggled with mathematics. But when my elder sister began coaching me and I understood certain formulas, it opened a new world to me. My ability to solve problems moved to another level. It is the same with our Christian life and spiritual matters. The level of understanding we acquire opens a doorway to greater things.
Sometimes we don't realize that our actions in one area of life affect another area that seems totally unconnected. For example, someone might be praying for a financial breakthrough while lacking integrity. They may not link these two areas, but financial breakthrough and integrity are quite connected. God might be withholding that breakthrough because He does not want that person to be a reproach to His kingdom.
Here's another example: Sometimes when someone offends you at work or at home, you flare up and give them a piece of your mind. But the way you treat that person—because they are a child of God—is connected to how God treats you. The way you've spoken to them, the way you've treated them, the way you've made them feel—you might not realize it, but it is connected to the level of favour you receive from God.
When people cannot control their temper, certain things are withheld from them. Sometimes they cannot even reach a certain level in their life.
One of the most important things that can lead to divine favour is when our life is pleasing to God. We should strive to ensure that our ways, our thoughts, our conduct, and everything we do is pleasing to God.
When I talk about pleasing God, no one can know your heart but God. Let me give an example. Suppose you've been married for 25 years and you have a difference of opinion with your spouse. You decide to stand your ground and not budge. You go into your study to pray or read the Bible, and the Holy Spirit begins speaking to you. But you refuse to change your mind.
However, when your ways are pleasing to God, even though you feel you're right, because you want to please God, what do you do? You go and apologize or make peace. That's what it means for your ways to be pleasing. Nobody around you sees your heart at that moment. But God does. And whether your ways are pleasing to God depends on your response to what He tells you.
Esther is someone who enjoyed favour throughout her life. The Bible states in Esther 2:15 that "Esther obtained favour in the sight of all who saw her."
One of the things that led Esther to become queen was that she pleased the king. In Esther 2:1-4, after King Ahasuerus remembered Vashti, he sought a new queen. The decree stated: "Let the young woman who does what pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti."
So for Esther to become queen, she had to please the king. Esther 2:9 tells us: "Now the young woman pleased him and she obtained his favour." Usually, when you please a person, you obtain favour from that person.
This is a profound truth: anytime you please someone, it opens the doorway for favour in your life.
When you look at how Esther pleased the king and how she pleased those around her, we see the power of her conduct. If Esther could obtain favour from the king because she pleased him, then you can be certain that favour awaits us when we please the King of Kings in the name of Jesus.
When I talk about pleasing God, I'm talking about a way of life. It means our willingness to align ourselves with God's will for our lives. It means being willing to do God's will, praying: "Lord, in my life, let Your will be done, not my own will, not my own ambition."
Many people mouth these words, but their actions do not align with them. Pleasing God is about a willingness to obey His instructions, even when it will cost us—sometimes our pride, sometimes our ego.
The Bible states in Matthew 3:17: "A voice came from heaven saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" My prayer is that the Lord will say this concerning each of us: "This is My beloved son, this is My beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased."
Psalm 5:12 states: "For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous with favour. With favour You will surround him as with a shield." I love this—it's as if favour is like a cloak around us.
God blesses the righteous with favour. Who are the righteous? We are righteous in Christ. Through Jesus Christ, who died for us and washed away our sins, we have been made righteous. Which means that favour is your portion as a Christian.
You can also ask and pray for favour. In the book of Nehemiah chapter 2:4-8, Nehemiah went to the king and prayed: "So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king, 'If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favour in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah.'"
Notice that he prayed and made his request. The Bible tells us that it pleased the king to send him. And in Nehemiah 2:8, it says: "The king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me." The good hand of God upon him means the favour of God upon his life.
Nehemiah made a request and prayed, and based on his prayer and request, the king granted him favour. There are times when we need to pray for favour. When you're going to see your boss, when you're going to meet a difficult person, when you're going for an interview—ask God: "Lord, as I go, let Your favour surround me as a shield. Lord, prepare the heart of the person I'm going to meet. Let them receive me not just as a person, but as Your servant, as Your child. Let them see the glory of God upon my life." You can ask and pray for favour.
This teaching is mainly for married people, though it applies to our relationships in general. Proverbs 18:22 states: "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord."
I like the NLT version, which says: "The man who finds a wife finds a treasure and he receives favour from the Lord." The man finds a treasure, which means treasure brings favour from God into that man's life.
Now, how do you treat a treasure? You treat it as something precious. You care for it very well. But sometimes husbands don't understand this, and they treat the treasure God has given them with disdain and harshness. They expect to receive favour, but the minute we don't treat our spouse well, it means we're not taking proper care of the treasure God has given us.
I'm saying to the men: your wife is a treasure. For you to continue enjoying God's favour, treat her like a treasure.
This connects back to something I mentioned earlier: sometimes we don't realize that our actions in one area affect another area that seems unconnected. The way we treat our spouse determines the level of favour that comes into our lives.
First Peter 3:7 supports this: "Husbands likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered."
Notice: your prayers may not be hindered. When a man is not dwelling with his wife with understanding, his prayers can be hindered. His prayers will be in vain, as if they bounce off a bronze ceiling.
Understanding in marriage is something we learn every day. You think you've understood your wife, and then you discover there are still parts yet to be revealed. Women are like "precept upon precept, line upon line." In marriage, you never graduate. You start a course, you graduate, and you know you've mastered it. But in marriage, you discover another side, another understanding. It's like when astronomers discover new stars and new planets. You think you've discovered all the planets, all there is, and then suddenly—where did this new planet come from? It's the same with understanding your wife. Even after 25 years, you're still discovering new things.
One of the key things that will attract favour into our lives is honour. Honor attracts favour.
Let me illustrate this with the example of the Shunamite woman. In 2 Kings 4:8, the Bible says: "Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat."
The woman said to her husband: "Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God who passes by us regularly. Please let us make a small upper room on the wall and let us put a bed for him there and a table and a chair and a lampstand, so that whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there."
This Shunamite woman perceived that Elisha was a holy man of God, and she decided to honour him. She made him comfortable, provided a room, a bed, a table, a chair, a lampstand. Whenever he came to town, he would be very comfortable. I can imagine she prepared food for him regularly as well.
What you discover is that the way she honoured this man—the prophet Elisha—stirred something in Elisha's spirit. The Bible tells us that Elisha called her and said: "What can I do for you? Do you want me to go and speak to the commander? Do you want me to go and speak to the king? Do you want me to do this or that?"
She said: "No, I dwell amongst my people."
But then Elisha discovered that she did not have a child. He made a prophetic utterance and released a word into her life—and this was because of the way she had honoured him. She had not come asking. It was honour that attracted the favour. She did not come requesting anything. But because of the way she honoured the prophet, it attracted favour into her life.
Sometimes the favour is not even directly from the person you're honouring. Rather, because you have so honoured that person, God Himself will release favour into your life.
Now imagine: if honouring a prophet attracts such favour, what kind of favour will we enjoy when we honour God?
In Malachi 1:6-9, God speaks through the prophet: "A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am the father, where is My honour? And if I am a master, where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name."
God is saying to us: "If you truly say that I am your Father, where is the honour you show to Me?"
What do we mean by honouring God? We need to honour God with everything concerning us. Let me start with finances. Some people give to God what they would give as a tip to a waiter—the remnant, the leftover. But when you honour someone, you give them the best.
If you were to have the president of the United States come to your house, there's a way you would lay the table. There's a way you would prepare for that visit. Why? Because you understand the office they occupy, and the honour you show would mean giving them the best you have.
God is saying to us that He requires the best from us. Sometimes people think they are doing God a favour by giving in church or coming to church. Let me help clarify this.
If you normally come to church in the middle of praise and worship, do you honour God? Will you have an appointment with an important person and arrive late? How would you prepare for an interview with an important person? You'd prepare, and you'd arrive 10 minutes early. Yet we say we honour God while routinely coming to church when everything has already started.
It's not just about finances. Honouring God includes the time you spend with Him. Some people—I mentioned this in the first service—when they're trying to sleep, they remember they haven't prayed. Some have even turned the Bible into their sleeping pill. They pick it up when they can't sleep, thinking it will help them sleep. Is that truly honouring God?
When you honour God and give Him the best of everything you have with your time, your finances, your conduct—you will discover that it attracts favour into your life.
Think of Solomon. There was a time when Solomon sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings, probably the best he had. The Bible tells us that God appeared to him and gave him a blank check, saying: "What do you want?" That is the result of honour. God responded: "For you to have honoured Me this way, what can I do for you?"
Finally, sacrifice attracts favour into your life. Sacrifice means doing something that is not convenient for you.
In Genesis 22, God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. The Bible tells us that Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only son, the one he loved most. Sacrifice is not about releasing what will not pain you. Sacrifice is about releasing what you will feel.
Consider the widow who gave her mite. When Jesus commended her, He said that what she had given was much more than what others had given. Why? Because she gave out of her lack. That is sacrifice. Others may have given a thousand times more than she gave financially, but Jesus commended what she gave because of the sacrifice it represented.
Genesis 22:15 records what happened after Abraham was tested: "Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, 'By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'"
What did Abraham do? He was ready to sacrifice. And notice what followed: blessing and multiplication. Sacrifice attracts favour. When you're ready to sacrifice for the Lord, you discover that it attracts favour into your life.
This morning I have shared with you some of the keys to divine favour—some of the things that can lead to divine favour in your life. These are the ways we can open ourselves to receive and maintain the favour of God.
