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What do I know about faith and favor?
I’ve been told that I have great faith and favor on my life.
I believe God’s Word is true!
I believe God knows what I need even before I ask Him. Sometimes in our humanity we may wonder if God really knows because things aren’t happening as quickly as we would like them to. His timing is not our timing.
All of the major events in my life have come from having faith and favor; from meeting my husband, purchasing the home we live in, promotions and movement on my job, starting my own profitable business, and so on.
I’m going to share with you what I believe a few key things are to building your faith and walking in the favor of God in every area.
ex·pec·ta·tion is defined as:
- a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.
- a belief that someone will or should achieve something.
I expect great things!
Whenever I’m writing goals and desires that I want to see come to fruition in my life there are several things that I do. I’ve been going through these same steps for over 35 years, and as a result I’ve developed a deeper relationship with God, a deeper understanding of who He is, and a deeper understanding of who I am.
The first thing I do is grab my journal and…
- Write it down and get specific
Habakkuk 2:2-3 2 The Lord gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. 3 Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. Good News Translation (GNT)
- Search the Word (for scriptures to support what you’re believing for and write them down)
Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
When I was single, I wrote down Proverbs 31, and everywhere it said “she” and “her”, I changed it to “he” and “him, and I Timothy 3:8-13, because these scriptures listed the characteristics of the type of husband that I wanted (and that I ultimately received 1 year later).
- Write the Word
Once you’ve identified the scriptures that support what you are standing on, write them down! Write the word and let it penetrate your spirit. Write the word and hold it to memory.
- Believe the Word
“What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.” Hebrews 11:1 The Living Bible (TLB)
“You can never please God without faith, without depending on Him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely look for Him.” Hebrews 11:6 The Living Bible (TLB)
Don’t think tat you will receive anything from God if you don’t believe God’s Word. God’s Word will not return void, but it will accomplish what it is set forth to do.
- Pray and Meditate on the Word
Joshua 1:8, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”
Daniel 9:23, “As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.”
AND
Daniel 10:12. it says “SINCE THE FIRST DAY that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, YOUR WORDS WERE HEARD, and I have come in response to them.”
In other words, when the righteous pray not only does God gladly hear our prayers… an angel is immediately sent to answer our prayers.
From the very 1st day Daniel prayed, his prayers were heard and an angel was
sent. BUT further on in verse 13 we’re told that there was something going on
in the spiritual realm once Daniel’s prayer went up.
When Daniel prayed demonic forces rose up (the prince of Persia) and angelic
warfare broke out.
That means: There is power in your prayer and the devil knows it!
WHEN YOU PRAY angels are on the scene ready to bring about the purpose and will of God for your life as you declare God’s Word in your prayers.
Prayer is the umbilical cord that connects heaven to earth and you to God.
- Speak the Word
Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Give Voice to His Word – Speak It!
Know this: As a born-again Believers, you are the establishing witness of the Word of God on the earth. Almighty God has already sent forth His Word, and when we take hold of it by faith, laying claim to it within our hearts and make the quality decision to give it voice, we are then establishing His Word onto the earth.
Look also at Psalm 103:20-21 that enforces this truth and reveals a benefit of giving voice to the Word of God:
“Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure.”
Do you want to put the angels of God to work in your behalf? Then begin to boldly proclaim the Word of God in prayer. It activates the heavenly hosts to minister effectively in the situations that concern you.
Jeremiah 32:27 says; “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”
My words tell others and myself what I believe about God. They tell others what I believe about myself and my life.
” (Matthew 12:34). “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
Your mouth is a reflection of your heart.
There are perks for praisers– it’s called FAVOR.
- Praise God in Advance
I love to Praise God
There are two aspects to praising God.
- We praise God for Who He Is. which is essentially worship and adoration and
- Secondly, we praise God for What He Has done which signifies thanksgiving.
Praise will open up a door that the devil said would never open.
When you are a child of God and you know that you’ve done everything that you’re supposed to do and you give God praise right where you are, that’s when God shows up in your situation. Sometimes in the most painful seasons God can still give you a praise.
In GEN 29:31-35 Leah bore three sons and hoped that they would make Jacob love her (GEN 29:32-34).
Then, Leah bore a fourth son, Judah (which means “praise”) as she turned towards the Lord: “She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘This time I will praise the LORD.’ So, she named him Judah” (GEN 29:35).
The scripture says “This time” which tells me that the other 3 times before, she was looking to man for approval, but “This Time she had had enough. She realized where her help must come from so “this time” she said, “I will praise the Lord. So, she named him Judah.
She birthed Judah in the most painful season of her life. She had 4 sons for him, but when she gave birth to Judah, she gave birth to a praise that set her free.
Leah learned that when men hate you, God uses it to set you up for a blessing. Sometimes you need some haters, because that’s where God prepares your table.
Like the automatic doors in the supermarket, just when you get close to the door the door opens up. That’s what praise will do for you. Your praise opens doors for you that were shut just a few seconds before.
- Prepare for the Promise
Acts 3:5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
Your actions should match what you believe.
- Receive The Promise with Thanksgiving
Anyone who’s been pregnant knows that you can’t conceive on Monday and birth the promise on Friday.
To birth a promise of greatness takes time, but we, in our natural, try to induce our labor so that the promise comes before it’s time. And, anyone who knows someone who’s had a baby knows that often times the pains that come with birthing something through the induction process is more painful than just allowing that promise to come naturally. And that same woman knows that sometimes a premature baby will either die or won’t develop fully into what he or she was supposed to become.
Seedtime and harvest take preparation…and, then, you wait. Some things take years to manifest. God said, there is seed time….there is preparation, planting, watering, weeding, and growing. Then….the harvest. Some promises are born in an hour, some take years.
It takes a baby 40 weeks to grow, and even after that it still takes from 1 hour to several days for the promise to be born. Even in the labor, even when birthing the promise, even when birthing what you know is on the way…it’s hard, it’s painful, it’s difficult.
The breaking of water is the tears we will cry on our way to birthing the promise. Then, when the opportunity is perfect, we will feel the need to push because the promise is right there at the door, it just needs a little help getting here. And when we push…we are praying until something happens. And, that something is the promise.
We’ve conceived it, we’ve developed it, we’ve carried it, we’ve named it, we’ve even made purchases for it, and now it’s time to give birth to it.
Sometimes as you are pushing, the promise will crown (you can see it, but it’s not quite manifested). That promise might crown ten or 15 times before it finally pushes its way through…oh, but when it does. You will be pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing and boom….there it is! The promise!
Any woman who has given birth, manifesting that promise was not easy. But she will also tell you that when it was all over, she didn’t remember the pain. It was all good!
- Nurture the Promise
Take care of what God has blessed you with. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t pray for a husband, only to get married and then treat him bad; don’t pray for a job and when you get there you treat your new co-workers or those that work for you, like they don’t matter. Don’t pray for a new home, and then when you get it, you don’t clean it, or take care of it.
