Jesus grew in favor before God & man. And now we have the opportunity to do the same.
You don’t become a new person by changing your behavior. You focus on the person you already are in Christ and behave accordingly! This revelation of our new identity and ‘elevated status,’ is the cornerstone of our attack upon everything negative in our lives. The Father is joyfully, lovingly making war on all our negativity. All we must do is choose our side.
This faith, when mixed with loving-kindness and grace, elevates our heart above the negativity, the testing, the battle and the pressure of life, so that we discover the nature of God that is present for us in all things.
Father is joyfully obligated to His Son to give you elevated status “because” you are in Christ. This favor allows you to discover the real you as God sees you—giving way to more favor.
Remember. Jesus living in you has the full favor of God in Himself. His presence in you releases that same abundance of favor, trust and confidence!
Relax in God’s love and goodness—His favor on you.
Ask the beautiful Holy Spirit, your Helper, to open the eyes of your heart. We are practicing seeing ourselves, in Jesus, as the favored. It’s liberating. Peaceful. Joyful.
You are beloved. You belong to Him, now become captivated by Him. That’s the journey of growing in favor. To practice adoration, you must first know that you are adored. To practice favor, you must know that you are favored.
Don’t spend your energy dealing with a negative when you could practice being alive to God—in elevated, preferential favor.
Let’s take anger as an example. Instead of saying, “I really need to deal with my anger problem,” we think of what should replace anger [which you are already dead to in Christ] and we focus on an aspect of God’s nature instead. Our response then becomes: “Thank you! The Holy Spirit is teaching and leading me into gentleness and promoting that fruit of the Spirit in me.”
What if the real problem is not that you are displaying anger, but rather that you are resisting the grace to become gentle?
You don’t become a new person by changing your behavior [i.e. stop being angry!]… you focus on the person you already are in Jesus and you act accordingly.
Our favor allows us to fight from victory, not towards it.
It creates a space in our circumstances for us to stop, gather ourselves and move into the freedom of mind and confidence from an understanding of just who we really are in Christ.
As a devotional exercise, read 2 Kings 6:8-19. It’s the story of two men in the same circumstances but with two vastly different perspectives. One can only see the problem and is overcome by the negative. The other can only see God’s majesty and is able to step into freedom and provision. In this instance, both men mirror the New Testament context of old man and new man.
Favor is cultivated in celebration. Rejoicing, giving thanks moves us from weakness to strength, and creates a place of blessing and renewal.
Jesus has all the favor you need! Believe it. Practice it. And as you do, you will grow in it.
PS) The full teaching on Favor is available in the Favor Series on BrilliantBookHouse.com
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