Choosing the Favor-Filled Life

Have you ever known someone who seems to have one problem after another?

Whenever you see them, they either have something in their health and finances they’re dealing with or a crisis in their family or emotions. It’s as if the devil is harassing them 24/7.

The good news is that God offers that person a true breakthrough in their circumstances if they’re willing to obey His voice. His Word declares that each of us can receive His blessings and favor instead of struggling with an unending cycle of pain and frustrations.

Sound like something you’d like to experience?

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 paints a beautiful picture of some of the blessings you can expect when you’re walking in the favor of God. Not only does God say you will receive these blessings if you obey Him, but He also says they will “overtake you” (v. 2). In other words, instead of you having to chase God’s blessings, they will chase YOU!

And notice how all-inclusive God’s blessings will be when you have His favor:

• Every place you go, whether in the city or the country (v. 3).
• In the fruit of your body and the fruit of your labor (v. 4).
• With both your coming in and your going out (v. 6).
• Providing you with victory over your enemies (v. 7).
• Blessing you in everything you set your hand to (v. 8).
• Establishing you as part of the Lord’s “holy people” (v. 9).
• Giving you breakthroughs of God’s bounty and “His good treasure” (v. 12).
• Becoming “the head and not the tail” (v. 13).

But notice, as with countless other promises in the Bible, there are conditions attached to this abundant favor. All of the blessings listed in Deuteronomy 28 are based on our response to God’s invitation in verse 1: “Now it shall come to pass, IF you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today …”

It’s Your Choice

Too often, people have the misconception that God’s blessings are random and unpredictable – something we can’t do anything about. This fatalistic view keeps them from taking any responsibility for the life of favor God wants for them.

However, this is not at all what the Bible teaches. God has already made HIS decision that He wants to bless you as His child, but now the ball is in your court – ready for YOUR decision to align yourself with His Word and powerful promises.

Throughout the Scriptures, you see men and women faced with important decisions that will impact their earthly blessings and eternal destiny. For example, God confronted the Israelites with a stark choice in Deuteronomy 30:15-16, 19-20 (NASB):

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments
and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days.

The choice God presents shouldn’t be a hard one because the consequences are so clear. Will you choose life or death? Do you want to be chased by God’s blessings or harassed by curses brought on through your disobedience?

The Lord also explains in this passage what you must DO in order to “choose life” and experience His favor. It requires a firm decision to love Him, walk in His ways, obey His voice, and hold fast to Him.

You can’t avoid facing this decision. God is calling for a wholehearted choice to put Him first in your life. Joshua described this to the Israelites when he gave them this bold challenge: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

Joshua’s words are packed full of meaning for your life today. You must make a choice. And instead of procrastinating, you must make your decision today. You can obey the Lord and experience His favor and joy, OR you can follow your own way and experience the reality of failure and disappointments. It’s up to you!

Your Turnaround Is Now

As we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles this month, please know I’m continuing to pray for you, asking God to touch every area of your life. I believe in the power of prayer, and I’ve seen the Lord give breakthroughs to countless partners when they contacted our International Prayer Center to intercede for their needs.

But I’ve also seen another spiritual principle at work in the pages of Scripture and in my own life:

Sometimes a step of faith and obedience is needed in order to release God’s extraordinary favor!

People in the Bible were sometimes asked to do unusual things to receive their breakthroughs. Things like giving their last bit of food to a prophet … touching the hem of Jesus’s garment … dipping
seven times in the Jordan River … washing in the pool of Siloam … or sowing a sacrificial financial seed. But whenever a person stepped out in faith and obeyed the Lord, He brought about breakthroughs!

What step of faith is God asking you to take today? If you are looking for Him to release His amazing favor, He may be waiting for you to draw near to Him. Or He may be looking for you to repent of something or forgive someone of an offense they caused you.

When you want to release more of His favor, a seed of some kind is always involved. It might be a seed of repentance, forgiveness, or obedience. Or it might involve faith, kindness, love, time spent with Him, or some other kind of seed.

Today I challenge you to take a journey beyond superficial faith and into a dimension of faith where the impossible becomes possible. I’m convinced that as you seek the Lord during this appointed time and sow seeds of faith, expectancy, and obedience, a great harvest of favor will come into your life.

Remember, God has given you the ability to believe Him for transformational things … so go ahead and believe for more favor! Resolve to trust His Word … obey His instructions … and enter into His promises today!

God bless you!

David Cerullo