As I was spending time in the Word this morning, I came across this verse and thought of you:

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

That sounds like favor to me and I prayed this verse over our church, what my good friend Pastor Ryan Brooks calls, “The newhope Nation.” :-)

On Sunday, we will continue to drill down and explore the favor of God. I want to personally thank each of you for your engagement and hunger for this particular subject. Part of receiving favor is indeed inextricably linked to how much we hunger and thirst for God’s blessings. (You might want to read that again) I think of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus declared, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Keep hungering, thirsting, learning, desiring, and pursuing His righteousness and I believe you will find favor!

During January every year, our nation remembers the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you are like me, you think of him far more than just during the month of February. He had his own story to tell about listening to the voice and experiencing the favor of God. He had gone into the ministry mostly because his father was a pastor and he always did what Daddy King wanted him to do. Martin wanted a quiet life as a professor, possibly President of Morehouse College in Atlanta someday. He did not intend to be a national civil rights leader.

Through an odd turn of events, as a young pastor, he was thrust into the forefront of the Montgomery bus boycott. He came home late one night, tired, and frightened. The phone rang. An angry voice on the other end said, “We’re gonna get you, Nigger!” Martin Luther King stood in his kitchen, frozen in fear.

He wanted to call Daddy King for reassurance and advice. But Daddy King was not there. Then he said it was like a voice. “Martin, you do what’s right. You stand up for justice. You be my drum major for righteousness. I will be with you.” That sounds a lot like Isaiah 41:10 above. He had heard his name called. He knew what God wanted. His life was forever changed and through his life, so was the world! Even though his life was cut short, I consider his life one marked by the favor of God!

I love that story because it points out two incredibly important points. First, those who walk in the favor of God always make our world a better and more Godly place! Secondly, we have a tendency to think that favor promises us an easy life with no hardships, pain, suffering, and/or death. However, you must know, beloved, favor often requires sacrifice. Yes, it is the blessed life, but often that blessing comes with a price. In the end, the price is always worth it because God receives all the glory and honor for a life of favor that is well lived and Christ honoring!

I hope that doesn’t scare some of you from engaging this particular topic. Nevertheless, for the Favor Finders out there, who aren’t afraid of paying a price to experience God’s ultimate blessings, I look forward to Worshipping with you this Sunday!

Favor is an incredibly popular topic in the Bible. Believe it or not, it is also a very popular topic in our culture, even if not called by that word. The reason being is because each of us want to live a blessed life or a life that evidences whatever we define as favorable, be that financial security, relational happiness, vocational success, personal purposeful or otherwise. While we may not think in terms of “blessing” or “favor,” we certainly live in its shadow, so much so that unless you are some sort of masochist, you are constantly making decisions in light of how to procure blessing for yourself. Think about it:

* You choose the college major based on how much “job blessing” you think it will help you procure after you graduate.

* You choose the person to marry based on how much “relational blessing” you think you will experience throughout life.

* You invest your money in various stocks, bonds, and deals based on how “financially blessed” you think those investments will make you. And the list can go on and on.

In many ways our entire country is even founded on the idea of having the opportunity to live a blessed or favored life. After all, is not Thomas Jefferson’s statement in the Declaration of Independence one of the most famous and seminal in our country’s history?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Poet, Hafiz of Persia said it best when he said,

“When all your desires are distilled, you will cast just two votes: To love more, and be happy.”

The question then, for our lives as believers, becomes, not just, “How do I truly get favor?” but rather, “What does real blessing and favor look like?” Is it really just being financially secure or vocationally significant for example? If so, why have some of the most successful and seemingly “blessed” people of all time said things like:

1. “The care of $200 million is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.” – W.H. Vanderbilt

2. “I am the most miserable man on earth.” – John Jacob Astor

3. “I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” – John D. Rockefeller

4. “Millionaires seldom smile.” – Andrew Carnegie

5. “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.” – Henry Ford

6. “I have attained everything that ‘they said’ one would need to attain to be happy – money, fame, pleasure, romance, success, and I am still not happy.” – Angelina Jolie

7. “I don’t handle fame well. Most actors on most days don’t think they’re worthy. I have no idea where this insecurity comes from, but it’s a God-sized hole. If I knew, I’d fill it, and I’d be on my way.” – Shia LaBoeuf

Beloved, here’s the deal, God is the one and only source that truly helps us tap into the ultimate favor that we are all so tirelessly searching for in the first place! Here’s a verse to think about over the weekend:

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

We tend to focus on the promise of God giving us the desires of our heart. Make no mistake about it, the key to experiencing the desires of your heart is delighting yourself in the Lord. The truest desires of your heart always come down to searching for and trying to experience God’s Favor. This is because, of course, He put the desire in you, in the first place!

All of this is why I am so stinkin’ stoked about this Finding Favor series! I was totally blown away last week at the level of engagement and the number of people who said to me, “I have never heard this topic discussed in the church.” Well, that is good news because favor is our focus during all of February!

I am praying you find and experience favor all the days of your life!

Peace and much love!