God’s intent in establishing a covenant with Abraham was to create a channel by which He could bring blessing into Abraham’s life. Through the promise made to Abraham, God also has a channel through which to bring blessing into our lives. God wants us to walk in divine favor—the kind of favor that opens doors men say cannot be opened.
Please remember that walking in divine favor does not mean we will never have any problems, face any opposition, or experience any hurts. The point I’m making is simply that if we take the time to gain an understanding of our heritage of favor and then determine to walk in that favor on a daily basis, we will experience God moving in our lives in new and powerful ways.
God Is Disposed to Show Favor
The earliest record of God’s interaction with mankind paints a beautiful picture of His very nature, which is disposed to show favor:
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28).
God’s grace and favor were manifested in the first blessing He pronounced over the man and woman whom He had created in His image: be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion. Within this one blessing, we see the very heart of God and the great favor that He has bestowed upon mankind. However, many people—even many Christians—are still in need of a revelation of this favor.
I remember flying back to Fort Worth after ministering at a large meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When I took the middle seat in my assigned row, a woman in her sixties was already in the seat by the window. We smiled and said hello to each other, and then I sat quietly while the rest of the passengers boarded, including a group of people who had attended the meeting where I had just preached.
When they saw me, they greeted me with, “Hello, Brother Jerry!” and “How are you, Brother Jerry?” and “We sure enjoyed hearing you preach this week.”
After I had exchanged a few pleasantries with the group, and they had taken their seats, the woman beside me turned and said, “I assume you must be a minister.”
“Yes, madam, I am,” I told her.
“Well, I’m glad to know that,” she said, “because I need prayer, and I need it right now.”
I listened as she told me about something she was going through. When she finished, I talked to her about the favor of God and explained the impact it could have on her life. Then I prayed for her. Afterward, she commented about how wonderful it must be to be loved and respected by so many people. I said, “Well, madam, all I can tell you is that it’s the favor of God that I talked to you about; and it is an honor to have His favor.” I believe that woman went home with a brand-new revelation of God’s favor.
Sometimes when Carolyn and I get to thinking about the favor of God, we’re amazed. We’re not any different from anybody else, but God has blessed the work of our hands in amazing ways. He has definitely fulfilled His promises in our lives! In return, we have spent the past 40-plus years striving to fulfill a promise we made to God when we first started in ministry. We promised Him that no matter how far this ministry went, no matter how big it got, and no matter how well known we might become, we would remain the same people we were then. We determined never to become high-minded or to forget those who helped us get where we were going. Instead, we would always show the same favor to others that God had shown to us. That promise is the reason I still go to preach in small churches that may have no more than 50 people in them.
Recently, I went to just such a church. The pastors—a married couple—were up in age, and the church was in a bind financially, yet they did everything they could to take care of me while I was there. Before leaving home, I had decided that I would take care of my own expenses—and whatever the offering was, large or small, I would give it back to that precious couple and plant it into their lives as a seed.
It turned out that the offering they received the night I spoke was the biggest they had ever had in that small congregation. The pastor was delighted as he handed me a check just prior to my departure. I looked at him and asked, “Now, Pastor, is this check all mine?”
“Oh, yes, Brother Jerry,” he said, “it’s all yours.”
“You mean it’s mine with no strings attached, and I can do with it whatever I want?”
“That’s right, Brother Jerry.”
I took a pen, endorsed the check, and then handed it back to the pastor and said, “Now this check goes to you and your wife; it’s yours.”
When he asked me why I was giving them the check, I said, “Just call it favor … It’s the favor of God.”
God created us in His image, and if He is disposed to show us His favor, should we not also be disposed to show favor to others? As we sow seeds of favor into the lives of those around us, we will begin to grow in favor in our own lives, just as Jesus did. The Bible says, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). If Jesus had the ability to increase in favor with God and man, then so do we.
Walking in the favor of God brings pleasure to our lives. Psalm 5:12 says, “For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.” The Amplified version of this Scripture puts it this way: “As with a shield You will surround him with goodwill (pleasure and favor).” Despite what some Christians might tell you, God does not object to our having pleasure in this life. As a matter of fact, being a believer should be fun. After all, Jesus prayed for His disciples “that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13).
As Jesus’ prayer suggests, our joy is meant to be a reflection of His own joy. The Messianic prophecy of Isaiah says of Jesus that “the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand” (Isa. 53:10). Living a life characterized by joy and godly pleasure is another way that we show forth the image of God in which we were created.
The Word of God also says, “The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming” (Ps. 37:12-13). When we are surrounded by God’s shield of pleasure and favor, He actually laughs at the wicked plots that come against us. We can do the same thing.
WHEN WE ARE SURROUNDED BY GOD’S SHIELD OF PLEASURE AND FAVOR, HE ACTUALLY LAUGHS AT THE WICKED PLOTS THAT COME AGAINST US.
I have always enjoyed laughing, and I get pleasure from making others laugh; it’s just part of my nature. Our home was filled with laughter when I was growing up, but I knew that when I got to church I was to leave the fun and laughter at the door. At our church, humor had no place in religion. I remember thinking, If I truly give my life to Jesus, I’ll never laugh again. But then, in 1969, I met Kenneth Copeland, a young preacher who made people laugh and then delivered the truth in such a way that it got right down into your spirit. I remember telling Carolyn, “That guy is funny; I can’t believe he’s a preacher.”
I didn’t know someone could be both funny and a preacher; I’d never seen anything like that before. My religious upbringing had taught me that everything about church had to be quiet and solemn. I knew that God had placed a call on my life, but I thought I would have to change my whole personality in order to answer that call. I could just see myself with a wrinkled, prune-looking face, never laughing, and sitting in a corner all day reading the Bible. No, thank You, Lord; that’s not for me.
But I learned that God didn’t want me to change my personality; rather, He wanted to change my nature. He wanted to take me from death to life, and then He wanted to use the very personality He had given me to touch the lives of others.
Once I began spending more time with God, I discovered that He has a humorous side. I got to thinking about it, and I figured that if God could talk, there wasn’t any reason to think He couldn’t laugh. As we saw in Psalm 37, God does indeed laugh at His enemy, because He knows his day is coming. His Word also tells us that we “shall laugh at destruction and famine” (J
ob 5:22).
We have a God who is disposed to show us favor and to surround us with pleasure; therefore, Christianity should be fun. It should be so much fun that sinners become envious and want to join us. Unfortunately, this is not what religion teaches us.
Religion—the Enemy of Favor
Many people confuse Christianity with religion. Religion is, and has always been, about following rules and regulations. Christianity is about a relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. I have received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and I love God with all my heart—but I am not a religious man.
Religion insists on strict adherence to the law and completely overlooks the fact that we’ve been saved by grace: “For by grace [divine favor] you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). With this individual gift of salvation comes a calling from God, “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace [divine favor] which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Tim. 1:9).
Religion causes people to become high-minded and to think they have achieved spiritual stature because of who they are or what they have done. Nothing could be further from the truth. Without Jesus, we are nothing. It is because of Him that we have a relationship with God. It is because of Him that we walk in our heritage of God’s divine favor. Religion has absolutely no power to grant us any kind of favor. It does, however, have the ability to cause the Word of God to become ineffective in our lives.
The Pharisees were the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They regarded accurate observance of ceremonial law as the true essence of religious conduct, which is why they challenged Jesus about the behavior of His disciples.
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.… making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do” (Mark 7:5-9,13).
According to Jesus, who is the very Word of God manifested in the flesh, those who choose religion (“the tradition of the elders”) over relationship will not experience the fullness of God’s Word operating in their lives. Religion always esteems tradition above truth.
One of religion’s distortions of truth is that it wants to keep people in a sinful state. Religion constantly reminds us that the Bible says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). This is true, but thank God, He didn’t leave us in this fallen state. He sent Jesus to redeem us from the curse that was brought upon us by Adam’s transgression. The blood of Jesus has cleansed us, and we no longer have our old Adamic, sinful nature. We have the very nature of almighty God. We are part of a royal family, and we have a heritage of divine favor.
Many Christians live way below their privileges as children of God because they don’t know that they’re highly favored of God. Therefore, they don’t expect good things to happen to them.
I remember when Oral Roberts first began telling people to expect that something good was going to happen. Religious people rose up and said, “How dare you say such a thing?” I’ve actually had people get mad at me because they think I’m too positive; they accuse me of being “a positive thinker.” I don’t mind being called that, because Jesus is a great example of a positive thinker where the things of God are concerned. What those who have criticized me don’t understand is that I’m not just dealing with the power of positive thinking; I’m dealing with the power of revelation regarding the favor of God. Once you have something revealed to you from the Word of God, it will most definitely cause your thinking to become positive.
God has always wanted His relationship with mankind to be one in which He pours out His grace—His divine favor—and blessing. He told Moses to instruct Aaron, the priest, to pronounce the following blessing over all of Israel: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Num. 6:24-26).
GOD HAS ALWAYS WANTED HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH MANKIND TO BE ONE IN WHICH HE POURS OUT HIS GRACE—HIS DIVINE FAVOR—AND BLESSING.
What was Aaron doing each time he pronounced this blessing? He was declaring God’s divine favor over the people, and in so doing, he was demonstrating God’s love for them. In today’s terms, we might say Aaron was showing the people that they were the object of God’s love and affection.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy being loved. I know I am the object of my wife’s affection, and she knows she is the object of my affection. It’s been that way between us throughout our marriage, and it’s not going to change. My children are also the object of my affection, and so are my grandchildren. They all know they are loved.
Sadly, there are many Christians who do not understand they are the object of God’s affection. They have become so caught up in the rules and regulations of religious tradition that their Christianity has become nothing more than a mechanical exercise. They go to church on Sunday, and perhaps they are even involved in various religious activities—but they have no joy because they have no relationship with God. They have no intimacy with their Savior.
The solution to this problem is as easy as accepting the Bible’s best-known verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Once people understand the simple truth that they are loved and highly favored by God, who gave His Son that they might know His great grace and favor, they are instantaneously freed from the bondage of religion to truly enjoy their Christianity.
We Are God’s Handiwork
The psalmist wrote, “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens!” (Ps. 8:1). As he begins to think about and dwell on the handiwork of God, this man becomes overwhelmed by just how marvelous and magnificent God is in His creative ability.
As he continues thinking about God’s vast creation, the psalmist goes on to say, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps. 8:3-5).
While it is wonderful to know that God crowned mankind with glory and honor, most of us don’t grasp the full meaning of this Scripture because the text that reads “You have made him a little lower than the angels” is a mistranslation. According to Hebrews 1:14, angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation.” As heirs of salvation, we could not have been created lower than those who are sent to minister in our behalf.
What the psalmist actually wrote is this: “You have made him a little lower than Elohim, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.” Elohim is a Hebrew word that means “God.” In reality, the Word says that we have been made a little lower than God, our Creator.
A creator is always greater than his creation, but let’s remember what God said about His creation: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). The Genesis account of creation goes on to say that “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). After God had formed the body of man, He breathed into his nostrils
the breath (inspiration, soul, spirit) of life, and man became a living being (see Gen. 2:7), created in the image of God.
Religious tradition would have us believe that we are worms in God’s sight, nothing more than a bunch of old sinners barely getting by on the shoestring of grace. If this were true, it would mean that the blood Jesus shed on the cross didn’t work and that it has no power today. But the blood of Jesus did work, and it is as powerful today as it was at Calvary. By God’s divine grace and favor, we have been crowned with glory and honor—and God intends for us to walk continuously in that honor.
BY GOD’S DIVINE GRACE AND FAVOR, WE HAVE BEEN CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR—AND GOD INTENDS FOR US TO WALK CONTINUOUSLY IN THAT HONOR.
Throughout the years I’ve been in ministry, I’ve encountered many people who have not enjoyed the victories that belong to them, because they have such a poor self-image. Jesus said we should love others as we love ourselves, but I’ve found that there are a lot of folks who don’t even love themselves. The Word directs us to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1). In other words, we are not to be weak where the favor of God is concerned. We are to be strong and have a positive outlook regarding the favor of God. Many believers, especially those who were not raised in environments where they were praised and encouraged, have difficulty grasping this truth.
Carolyn and I were driving home following dinner one evening when she noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of us. At first glance it appeared to be one of those positive messages announcing that a child is an honor student at some particular school. But when we looked closer, we read these words: “My child is the number one inmate at the Texas state prison.” Now, I’m sure that when those people put that sticker on their car, they did it because they thought it was funny—not because they wanted their child to end up in prison. But the point I want to make is this: When a child grows up hearing words like these being spoken over his or her life, it’s quite likely that the child will fulfill what has been decreed.
The Favor of God Page 5
