We've been talking about finding favor and sometimes the best way to increase God's favor in your life, is to increase your awareness of the favor you already have. I said last week that God doesn't give us His favor for our convenience, but for His purpose. It's a critical distinction.
I have three points that will help you to learn how to walk in the favor of God. It's one thing to find God's favor, it's another thing to walk and live and flow in it. It's kind of like, when you're in the market for a new car and you've got a certain kind of car you want in your mind and now all of a sudden, all you see if you want a Honda Accord is Honda Accords everywhere! Or if you want a Jeep, all you see is Jeeps everywhere, because you're in the market, now your eyes are opened to see that car everywhere.
I want to encourage you to get in the market for the favor of God during this series. And today, I'm going to help us to train our eyes to see God's favor, to discover the pockets of favor that already exist and to thank God for them.
There's nothing fair about God's favor. There was nothing fair about the cross, He took your place. And so, our response to God's favor is to say, "God, show me how I can take the favor you've given me, the blessing you've given me, the influence you've given me, the money you've given me, the skills you've given me; and now, be a channel of Your favor for others, because God doesn't give you His favor for you, He gives you His favor for your purpose so it can flow through you, not just to you.
We said last week that the favor of God is the guarantee of His presence and the provision of His power to accomplish His special purpose in and through our lives.
You know if we're going to find God's favor, first we've got to know what we're looking for. I want to encourage you to note today that God's favor can be found even in your most difficult circumstance; even in the worst doctor's report you could ever receive, even when the marriage is not only falling apart, but has fallen apart and it feels like your life is over. Even when you're so lonely that you don't even feel like God is with you, let alone that He likes you and is for you. If you'll learn how to perceive God's favor, I believe you can receive God's favor no matter what you're going through in your life.
The first of three points I want you to write down Number one, I want you to write down the word:
1. Expect.
I want you to write this phrase, 'Frame your world with favor.’
Last week, I mentioned two Bible characters, Moses and Mary, who found favor with God. And I could have talked about a lot of different Bible characters.
So, let me give you three Scriptures. I'm going to just read them real briefly. Here are some Scriptures where God promises favor to His people. In Leviticus 26:9, God says: I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers and I will keep my covenant with you.
Psalm 84:11: For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord bestows favor and honor...
Acts 2:47 They were praising God...they enjoyed the favor of all of the people and the Lord added to their number daily, those who were being saved.
I'm just telling you that when you're in the market for it and you're looking for it, when you expect it, there's a different vocabulary you use when you wake up in the morning. You don't talk about, "I wonder what's going to go wrong today!" You start talking about, "I wonder how God's going to be good to me today! I wonder how God's going to take that challenge that I'm facing and use it to show how great He is today, because I've got that favor of God! I'm walking in the favor of God today!" Favor should be the primary frame of reference for the child of God.
Number two, I want you to write down the word recognize.
2. Recognize
Open your eyes to opportunity.
I want to encourage you to open your eyes to the opportunities God has already placed around you. God will give you the favor you need for the season you're in to do what He's called you to do.
What you have to do in your life is learn to see, "God, what is the favor you want to give me in this season?" It's amazing to look back over my life and say, "You know, God was there for me every step along the way, giving me the favor that according to His wisdom, He knew I needed in that season." And when I look for God's favor in the season I'm in, I realize that He's been there every step along the way, if you'll open your eyes to the favor of God.
Number three, and I'll close with this;
3. Respond.
And underneath that I want you to write this phrase: Give yourself to obedience.
Give yourself to obedience. Now, I told you this message was called, 'Walking in the Fog'. If you look back on your outline, if you were obedient and wrote everything down I told you to, those little phrases I told you to put under those three words, if you look back at the first letter of each of those phrases, on number one I said:
1. Frame your world with favor.
2. Open your eyes to opportunity.
3. Give yourself to obedience.
You know, although you can't produce or achieve God's favor, you can position yourself to receive it. And favor isn't just a matter of luck. It’s like pitching.
In baseball, they teach you when you're a pitcher; don't try to place your pitch. Meaning, you don't sit there and try to get it to the right spot. You actually just get so comfortable in your form and you throw the ball so many times, that when you rock back and throw it, the ball goes where it's supposed to go because you did what you were supposed to do. God's favor is like that, you don't live trying to manipulate circumstances, you live believing God for miracles and positioning yourself to receive those miracles through being where He's called you to be, becoming who He's called you to become, and doing what He's called you to do.
So, the commitment to favor isn't just, "God, send me Your favor", it's "God, I'm making a commitment to be in the place where your favor is falling. I commit myself to obeying you, to positioning myself; Your favor has provided me with opportunities and now I will position myself to seize them through obedience."
There is somebody here today that God is calling to take a simple step of obedience. It doesn't seem like much right now, it's not some huge favor story that you could tell in front of 100,000 people, it's just not that exciting. But maybe there's something that God wants to you to do. I made a decision to walk in the favor of God, I'm not going to walk around any more days just circling around wandering. I've made a decision, "God, wherever Your favor is, that's where I want to be no matter what it costs me."
Father, I pray for each and every man, woman, boy and girl everywhere in the world to obey you simply now to find Your favor. In Jesus' name.