If I were to ask you what the number one thing is that
you dislike doing, I imagine the answer would fly out of your mouth
quickly. So, go ahead, ask me the same question.
What’s that … you want to know what ranks high on my
dislike list? Without hesitation I'd say going to the dentist is probably the highest on that chart.
Let me tell you, it’s not always easy trying
to stay in good humor when someone is probing around in your mouth with hands
the size of goliath. Not really, but it
sure felt like it.
I have to tell you though, it wasn’t that bad. With a warm blanket draped over my body and
sun glasses to shield my eyes from the blaring overhead light, they took pretty
good care of me.
My appointment was coming to an end when I looked up at
the dental technician and said, “Tell me
something good that’s happening in your life.” She looked at me and with a
blank stare on her face sat back on her chair.
Welcome new friends this week from:
See if your city/state/country made the list.
New on DFB – Ireland; Netherlands; Haiti; Germany;
Vietnam; Colombia; Brazil; Turks and Caicos; Serbia; Curacao; Lebanon;
Nicaragua; Guatemala; United Arab Emirates; Italy; Madagascar; Portugal; Japan;
Hungary; Saudi Arabia; Slovenia; Mali; Nepal; Malawi; Sweden; Ukraine;
Bulgaria; Poland.
USA
– Danbury, CT; Highlands
Ranch, CO; Pasco, FL; Great Bend, KS; Bolingbrook, Carol Stream, Downers Grove
& Wheaton, IL; North Royalton & West Jefferson, OH; Brookings, OR; Reisterstown,
MD; Burnsville, MN; Independence, Mountain View, Sedalia, Smithton & Springfield,
MO; Timberlake, NC; Spencerport, Webster & Utica, NY; Beaverton & Newberg,
OR; Yakima, WA; Anita & Gettysburg, PA; Dumas, TX & Harrisonburg, VA.
I am so happy for your visit and hope that you come back
each week to participate in the weekly challenges. God has been faithful and we expect His favor
to abound in the lives of those who chose to be Discipled by Jesus on Daily
Favor Blog.
You are welcome to leave comments or prayer requests below. All are private. I would love to hear from
you and how Daily Favor has worked in your life. Contact me by leaving a message in the box at
the bottom of this week’s post.
Don't miss out on this week's challenge
(below).
Tell Me Something Good
“That’s pretty bad that you can’t think of anything.” The dentist said as he continued working.
With some questioning I prodded her thoughts then Missy conveyed that she
and her husband were in the middle of building a home.
For the next few minutes Missy almost seemed surprised
that she didn’t think of it right off the bat.
So many other pressing issues were happening in her life that they
seemed to overshadow the good things.
Sharing some of the details Missy explained that she was
discouraged about how long the process was taking, but hoped they would be in
their new home come late winter. Boy can
we all relate to being in a situation where things seemed to be taking the long
route to manifest?
To encourage our new dental friend, we told her to enjoy
every part of the journey because those are the things that will become great
memories. Although the building process
takes time and work, in the end it will be worth it. By the time we left, the sweet assistant was
her usual full of smiles self.
Faith, Finances and Family
For the past few weeks I’ve been inundated with messages
about people experiencing disappointment and discouragement. Hearing Missy’s story was just one of
many. People are finding that mixing
faith, finances and family has really been challenging and they’re calling out,
“Lord, I just need a break! I can’t do
this anymore!”
Well, I’m no different … I was reaching that point too
when I felt something had to give and it wasn’t about to be me. Making my plea for favor to the Lord He heard
me and granted my request. Not in the
way I expected, but through the peace of the Holy Spirit my anxiousness was
calmed and expressed itself in a most unusual way.
CJ’s Story
It was the Saturday before Election Day (November 8th,
2016) when my husband and I were at a political headquarters for the
county. There were only a few of us in
the building when a young couple arrived.
He knew exactly what he wanted – a candidate’s badge and a bumper
sticker.
Fulfilling his request the gentleman began telling his
story about the time he had spent in Iraq and Afghanistan for an eighteen month
tour of duty there. As he spoke of the
details and his current health issues, I was waiting for something good to come
of all this … but nothing did.
For the next hour CJ shared his health and ongoing health
concerns, but looking at him I could see he didn’t feel well. Then he began telling us about his three year
wait for a dentist appointment through the VA (Veteran’s Administration) program. My spirit became humbled as I thought about how
I had jested over going to the dentist just a few days ago.
In Need of Favor
The following Thursday I was talking to my husband about
CJ and the first thing that came out of his mouth was … “He is in need of favor!” Oh
my, I didn’t even see the situation that way, but he was right. Now where do we go from here?
Every time I am in a position that is compromising,
uncomfortable, challenging or traumatic I pray for those who are in a similar
situation based on the passage found in James chapter 5 verse 16b. For more than twenty years, I have “prayed for others that I might be healed,”
and given favor for a good outcome. I
even prayed that while sitting in the dentist’s chair.
Although things don’t always go the way I want
or think they should, God has given me something good to share with others in
times of discouragement.
The “Righteousness of God” Clause
What our beloved trooper doesn’t realize is that he can
have favor in his life regardless to what others are doing. The Bible tells us that the favor of God is a
gift for His children under the “Righteousness of God” clause. Let’s take a look at this from Romans 5:1-2
to show you how it works.
“Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared
righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp
the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance,
introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which
we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2 AMPC)
Notice that in the Greek form, the word grace is defined
as a “state of God’s favor.” What the author of Romans is telling us
is that because of what Jesus did on the cross, we have the legal right to live
in a continual state of God’s favor.
“Christ never sinned but God put our sin on Him.
Then we are made right with God because of what
Christ has done for us.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLV)
Christ took on Himself our unrighteousness, the
unfavorable part of mankind. In exchange
God gave us His Son’s Righteous favor that put us in “right standing” with Him,
restoring our relationship with the Heavenly Father.
“Right standing with Me means you have favor with God.”
Jesus Christ
Fay, how often do you have right standing with God? I have right standing with God every day
because of the Righteousness of Jesus.
So if I have right standing with God I should expect Daily Favor to show
up on a regular basis.
I believe that God surrounds me with His favor, I expect
it and it does manifest in some way, every day.
Goodness and mercy follow me and goes before me.
“The Holy Writings say, I believed, so I spoke. We have the same kind of faith as David had.
We also believe, so we speak.”
(2 Corinthians 4:13 NLV)
I speak what I believe in my heart. Like King David, the
favor of God shows up wherever I go because I speak it into my life every
single day, throughout the day. When it
does I let all those who are with me know it was His favor that I am blessed to
receive.
If you don’t believe in the favor of God it won’t be in
your heart, and you won’t release your faith through words so it can be
manifested in your life. Jesus told the unbelievers that what they were speaking wasn’t faith, because
lack of it was in their heart. (See Matthew 12:33-37)
“Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good
things?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
(Matthew 12:34 NKJV)
“… out of the fullness, the overflow, superabundance of
the heart the mouth speaks.” (AMP)
What Does Continual Favor Mean?
As believer’s in the works of Christ, we can live in and
expect God’s favor to show up on a regular basis, not just randomly. Over the years people have shared some good
things God has done in their lives once in a while, but they say it doesn’t
happen often. The reason for that is
that they don’t expect favor to occur so it doesn’t.
When favor from God became a revelation to me it started
showing up on a daily basis. What we
believe DOES manifest in our lives. Favor can come in all measures, from the
little things like getting a good parking space to great events when you
receive the desires of your heart.
On November 8th, 2016 we went to a local
political headquarters to watch the election. Only one person knew we
“might” show up, depending on how hubby felt.
When we arrived there was food that only a vegetarian would eat … Wahoo!
The night came to an end and I was given an entire untouched
veggie platter to take home, plus 2 unopened vegetarian friendly pizzas … over
$50 worth of food! Did I enter that
building thinking I would receive favor … yes!
No, not from food or anything in specific, but somehow God would show
Himself mighty because of who He is.
Another example of favor in a unique way was when my
hubby went to a fast food restaurant asking for a veggie taco. I wasn’t even
with him when this happened. The cashier motioned for him to come behind the
counter to see the other options they had that weren’t on the menu. How cool was that?
My point is that God allows favor to come to me because
of my faith in His abilities, not mans. He
will do the same for anyone who
believes in Jesus as their Savior and follows after Him. It is part of the salvation
package of being “discipled” by Christ, but sadly most Christians never use
their full benefits as children of God.
Like so many, the hurting soldier we met was relying on
“people” to make things happen for him. He didn’t realize that His trust should have
been in God to turn the hearts of man toward granting him favor for all his
needs.
This Week’s Challenge:
I have been blessed even in difficult times when things
didn’t work out as planned (recently at the dentist). It is God’s continual hand on my life that
keeps me going and causes me to speak daily of His goodness and mercy.
This week’s challenge
asks us to speak (share) the good things that are happening in our lives,
so that the favor of God will rest on us continually.
A way to help you become more aware of when favor is
manifesting in your life is to write it down at night before retiring to
bed. I don’t care if it’s a cup of
coffee, a stick of gum someone gives you or getting that prime parking space …
write it down and give thanks to the Lord for His goodness endures forever! If you can see God working in the smallest of
small things, you will recognize His hand on practically everything in your
life.
As the weeks go by your list will get longer and longer,
because you now expect it and so favor is more “tangible” to you. It will also become visible to others as the
abundance of your heart speaks good things about Daily Favor being manifested
in your life.
Maybe you’re experiencing awful circumstances at the
moment and don’t think there is anything good happening. Look deeper … there is. True Disciples of Christ know the good news
of salvation promises to turn situations around in our favor.
“… To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
(Isaiah 61:3 NKJV)
As Christians we need to share the message of salvation
and the favor of God to restore hope to the hurting. Hopefully the message we shared with that discouraged
soldier will resonate in his spirit causing him to seek the Lord for all His
needs and turn the hearts of man.
When we place our trust in God’s abilities there is
always something good to share, because of the continual state of Daily Favor
we enjoy.
If this article has encouraged or helped you, please
consider sharing it by using the social media icons provided at the end of this
post.
Until next time, expect to live in God’s
Daily Favor!
“Right standing with Me means you have favor with God.”
Jesus Christ
*Unless
noted, the names in articles are changed to protect the individual(s) privacy.
Note: Emphasis
is given in some scriptures to show clarity or understanding and is not to take
away from the inspirited Word of God.
When used,
the words satan or devil are not capitalized deliberately, because we give him
no place in our lives.
... and
yes the word "discipled" isn't a word used by the world, but that of
believers.
Disclaimer:
Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical
issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness.
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Scripture reference was taken from the New King James Bible Version provided by Bible Gateway.
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State of God’s Favor, Daily Favor Blog, Favor of God, Favored1, Discipled by Jesus, Discipleship, Christian Living, Presidential Election, God's Favor, Dentist, Righteousness, Kenneth Copeland, Family, Finances, Faith.