When someone is a favourite they get special treatment, getting more thought and care than others. The school teacher’s favourite is called ‘Teacher’s Pet’. If they forget their homework they are let off or if they need extra help it is given. Pupils who annoy the teacher don’t get those favours.
In families there can be a favourite child or grandchild, or a favourite uncle or aunt. These are people who have some special privilege in relating to others and who are given consideration, attention and care that others don’t get.
Sadly, there are those who are always on the outer. They are never a favourite and have to live with being forgotten, getting the least consideration and so on.
Wonderfully, as Christians, we enjoy God’s Favour. We are all God’s ‘favourites’. Our lives are blessed with God’s Favour on all we do.
If you have put your faith in Christ but are not enjoying God’s favour then the enemy must be stealing it from you.
I have heard many stories of people sending gifts and money to family overseas, only to have those things stolen by people who collect or intercept the mail. Provision was sent, but it did not arrive, because someone stole it.
God sends His favour to you, but the enemy, who is known to ‘steal, kill and destroy’ might be keeping it from you.
“The thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I am come to give life” John 10:10
God’s Favour is specifically linked to the anointing that was on Jesus. That anointing was prophesied by Isaiah some 700 years before Jesus. Then Jesus read out the prophecy and declared it was fulfilled in Him. So that links God’s Favour with being a Christian.
Isaiah’s prophecy specifically says Christ is anointed …
“To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn.” Isaiah 61:2
We, as Christians, are God’s favourites. God pours His favour on us.
So, what does God’s favour look like?
The ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ has been linked to Israel’s Jubilee Year. Every 50 years they were to proclaim a Jubilee. In that year all the Israelite prisoners and debtors would be freed and everyone would have restored to them what their family had lost over the previous half century.
The Year of Jubilee would have been a wonderful time of rejoicing and restoration. People would be able to get back to their homes and lands, and their own vineyards and orchards. They would be released from the burden of debt and have family members who had been caught up in their own messes released and returned home.
So we can assume that for Christians the Year of the Lord’s Favour is a time of wonderful restoration and release from past mistakes and damage. We can assume it is a time of restored relationships, restored fortunes, new hope and opportunity and a fresh start.
Yet it will be much more than that. Restoration is wonderful, but newness and privileged opportunities go beyond what we once had, creating for us new things our family has never enjoyed before.
Yesterday my wife and I heard report of a family where we had prayed for release from various blights oppressing them. That very day the atmosphere in the home changed and became delightful. A member of the family who had been out of work for an extended time was given their dream job, not only earning more than they had ever done before, but for the first time being treated with respect and honour in the workplace.
This is what I think of as God’s Favour. This is what a Jubilee Year would be all about.
God’s Favour doesn’t take away our challenges. In fact, some challenges are deliberately put in our lives to train us and move us toward the greatness God has for us.
Think of King David when he was a lad minding the sheep. On one occasion a lion came to take a lamb. David had to grapple with the lion at close quarters. Then a bear came to attack the sheep and again David had hand-to-paw combat with a deadly beast.
“When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. When it arose against me I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.” 1Samuel 17:34,35
When the other sheep keeping lads heard of such things they probably prayed that it would never happen to them. But it was not a bad thing. It was part of David’s training to be a mighty warrior.
So, as one who receives God’s Favour, you may well face challenges along the way, even challenges that scare others. But God is with you and God will use those challenges to ready you for better things yet to come.
Whatever life presents to you, you can confidently expect God’s Favour. I urge you to expect such grace in your life. If you are not receiving it, then ask God how the devil is stealing if from you and get spiritual help that will break the enemy’s interference.
Then, with humble and obedient heart, submitted to God and living for His glory, step into your wonderful future, enriched every day by your life in God’s Favour.
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