Favor of God

By Hwee Hwee Tan

Learn how to experience blessings in every area of your life by tapping into the power of the Favour of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483533681

Book preview

ISBN: 9781483533681

THE FAVOUR OF GOD

Do you want to experience success in every area of your life, being blessed in your career, health and relationships?

Do you want to see your dreams fulfilled?

If so, it’s time for you to discover the power of the Favour of God.

When you have the favour of God, good things will start happening to you – both big and small. You might experience great blessings like landing your dream job, or more mundane good things like landing a good parking spot in a crowded lot. Your son will get a place in a top college, or your family will get your favourite table in a packed restaurant. When these things happen to you – that’s the favour of God!

Experiencing the favour of God doesn’t happen automatically. There are some steps you need to take in order to enjoy God’s favour. This book will examine the Bible’s teaching on the favour of God and show you what you need to do in order to experience God’s favour.

In Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, the writer defines favour as gaining approval, acceptance, or special benefits or blessings. Favour comes from the words chen in Hebrew and charis in Greek. Favour is sometimes translated as grace

or mercy. It’s important to note that grace in the Bible means God’s unmerited favour, the situation where you are blessed through your faith in Christ and not because of your self-efforts or good works.

Below are some Bible verses that talk about how we as Christians have been blessed by God’s favour.

In Isaiah 30:18, the prophet writes:

"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious (chanan) to you;

therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.

For the LORD is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for him!"

God’s favour is an amazing thing and the good news is that we don’t have to beg Him for His favour. Favour (chanan) is translated as gracious in Isaiah 30:18. The verse tells us that God longs to show us His favour. His passion is to be good to us! We can claim the favour of God because God enthusiastically wants to bless us!

In Psalm 35:27, the Psalmist says

Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

We can be assured that God wants to bless us because it gives Him pleasure when we prosper. Nothing delights God’s heart more than to see us happy, successful, healthy and doing well.

In Psalm 30:5, the Psalmist sings:

For his anger lasts only a moment,

but his favour lasts a lifetime;

weeping may stay for the night,

but rejoicing comes in the morning.

As Christians, we not only have favour, but His goodness to us will last our entire lives.

In Psalm 84:11, the Psalmist writes:

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favour and honour; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

God not only gives us favour, He gives us all good things! God gives us good things, not just in the spiritual realm – like love, joy and peace, but also things in the material realm, like wealth and good relationships. He gives us all good things!

In Jeremiah 31:2, the prophet writes:

This is what the LORD says:

"The people who survive the sword

will find favour in the wilderness;

I will come to give rest to Israel."

We can expect favour in the wilderness. That means even if our circumstances look bleak – for example, if you are looking for a job during a recession – God’s favour will be with you through the tough times and you can expect success even when the situation looks like you’re likely to fail.

In Ezekiel 36:9, God tells us – I am concerned for you and will look on you with favour. We have God’s favour because He loves us.

In Isaiah 60:10, God says -

Though in anger I struck you,

in favour I will show you compassion.

Have you experienced God’s discipline because of your sin? Take heart – God tells you that His favour is with you if you repent and receive His compassion.

In the New Testament, we can also find Bible verses that tell us that God’s favour is with us. In Ephesians 1:7-8, Paul writes that

In him (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.

The Greek word for grace – charis – can be translated as unmerited favour. Paul tells us that this unmerited favour has been poured out abundantly into our lives as God has lavished his grace on us.

In 3 John 2, the Apostle John writes to the Elder