And Enjoy Greater Prosperity

Could you use more favor in your life?

In case you hesitated when you answered that question, let me assure you: the correct answer is YES. 🙂 Carrying a mantle of favor is essential for all of us if we want God’s best for our lives.

What is favor?

According to Dictionary.com, “favor” is “something done or granted out of goodwill, rather than from justice or for remuneration; a kind act … friendly or well-disposed regard; goodwill … the state of being approved or held in regard … excessive kindness or unfair partiality; preferential treatment…” (emphasis mine).

When you have favor, people do things for you out of goodwill–not just as a reward for what you do. Favor brings you into approval rather than rejection or being forgotten. When God pours out His favor on you, it’s like He’s kissing you, His child–and His kiss remains on you for all to see.

Favor is the visible, evident kiss of God on your life, and it brings marvelous results.

Favor is something God drapes over you like a mantle, and it will change your life. When I started praying for favor, freaky things happened:

• Opportunities started coming my way that had gone to other people in the past.
• I started getting little bonuses at work that I rarely received before–bonuses that were completely separate from our normal pay structure.
• People that I would ordinarily ask for advice started asking ME for advice.
• This blog started growing more and more.
• I began to have articles published in unexpected places.
• New relationships began coming to me that I didn’t anticipate and didn’t try to make happen.

The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti” (Esther 2:17).

Esther was an ordinary Jewish girl. She was stolen from her family and forced into the pagan king’s harem, forced to “try out” to be queen.

Think about that. It couldn’t have been anybody’s idea of a good time–especially not for a Jewish girl, who prized her religious upbringing and her purity. Yet the Lord gave her favor, and in one day she went from being a harem tryout to becoming queen of the Persian Empire.

So what will favor look like in YOUR life?

Favor is a game-changer:

• Favor can elevate you from being invisible (and feeling forgotten) to being in command, overnight.
• Favor brings you relationships with key people you would never otherwise know.
• Favor brings you opportunities that are far over your head to get for yourself.
• Favor brings you material blessings you don’t deserve. God simply heaps them on your head, because you have favor.
• Favor will protect you when and if you mess up.

Having favor on your life means you walk around with all the tangible, demonstrable blessings that go with being a son or daughter of the Most High God. Things just WORK out for you. You’re blessed and keep getting more blessed. There’s a holy flow in your life, all because you have the favor of God.

And you can have favor with God and with people if you simply ask God for favor.

Check out what it says in Psalm 5:11-12:

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;
Let those also who love Your name
Be joyful in You.
For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.”

If you have made Jesus Christ the Boss of your life, that means you’re righteous. You’re in right standing with God.

And if you’re in right standing with God through Jesus, God will surround you with favor as with a shield. Why? Because Jesus had favor, and we’re supposed to become just like Him. That means we need favor, favor, and more favor too.

Luke 2:52 tells us this:

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

So are you ready to become more like Jesus and increase in life-changing favor? If so, pray this prayer with me:

Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ Name, I want to thank You for who You are and for everything You’ve done in my life. You have been so gracious and merciful to me. I didn’t deserve any of it, but You have saved me, healed me, provided for me, comforted me, encouraged me, called me, and adopted me as Your child.

So now, Father, in the Name of Jesus, I ask You for favor… EXTREME favor. Father, I ask You specifically for favor with        (insert names here)    . I ask You for favor in    (insert situations here)    and in every other circumstance I don’t even know about yet.

Father, I am not asking for favor because I deserve it. I know I don’t deserve it in my own natural flesh, but “my natural flesh” is not who I am anymore. You have made me Your child through Jesus Christ. So Father, I’m asking for favor because I belong to You. 

Daddy God, Your Word says that You will bless the righteous and surround them with favor as with a shield. You said that I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Therefore, Father, I am standing on Your promise that You will also surround me with favor. I thank You, Father, that I have received, and You have given me the favor I’ve asked for.

And finally, Father, in the Name of Jesus, please teach me how to carry Your favor well. Help me always to walk worthy of the divine calling to which I have been called. Let my behavior be a credit to Your call on my life. And I ask that the favor You have given me would increase daily. Make me more like Jesus, who increased in wisdom, in strength, and in favor with God and man.

Thank You, Father, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Post by Jamie