Did you know you could carry the favor of God with you and people who recognize this will attack you because of it?
A few years ago James and I worked for a foster care agency as houseparents where we fostered 8-10 children at a time. These kids were tough and could easily overtake the home creating a chaotic living environment rendering the houseparents helpless. I prayed daily for my kids and over my home. I proclaimed that Christ would fill our home with peace, comfort, and calmness. Staff and state personal would come into our home and comment on how calm and peaceful our house was. It wasn’t because of James and me, it was because of Christ. We gave Him the main seat in the house and He was there every day.
During this time there was another couple we were close friends with and who was in the same position as us but for many years longer. They saw how we had peace in our home and favor amongst the managers and founders. Without us knowing, this really bothered them and they sought out ways to hurt us. They wanted us to be seen as less than and wanted us fired.
Eventually, bitterness and anger arose within them and they made claims and accusations against us while still acting like our friends. The Holy Spirit started raising concerns in my heart over this couple. I knew something was present within them that was against us. Eventually, we found out about these accusations and claims. We weren’t told where they came from but immediately I knew who it was.
A few weeks later we received confirmation that this couple indeed was the one spreading lies to our co-workers and going into the office to try to get us fired. Man, did that hurt and leave us feeling attacked. I believe in God’s protection and He protected us, none of these false claims hurt us in any way.
Have you ever felt attacked by someone and had no clue where it came from and why? You wonder if there was something wrong with you because you’ve felt this way on a few occasions. You don’t know why you seem to find yourself in positions where you’re following Jesus, working hard, and yet someone’s always there to knock you down.
Laura Dudek explains in her book Written, “Many people don’t know how to respond in a life-giving way to those who carry favor on their life, so they react through their own bitterness, pain, anger, and jealousy.” Just like the couple who unsuccessfully tried to hurt us, they saw the favor of God in our home and responded through anger and jealousy. They feared they couldn’t have that favor and didn’t want others to have it too.
When you give your life to Jesus you have access to God’s favor. His blessings, protection, and presence in your life is all available when we passionately pursue Him. His favor may come in the form of a job offer, meaningful relationships, financial blessings, protection from toxic situations, the outcome of your work succeeding, etc.
Here are FOUR simple truths about the favor of God in your life:
ONE: Having the favor of God is believing in Jesus and living a life pursuing Him and in a relationship with Him.
When we favor someone, we usually want to spend time with them, connect with them, and have joy in our hearts towards them. We tend to favor people who also favor us. In the same way, God shows his favor to those who spend time with him, connect with him, and believe in who He is.
Isaiah 66:2 says, “These are the ones who I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.”
II Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” Being “perfect toward Him” means we seek The Lord’s favor above anyone else.
TWO: Favor is available to ALL who serve Jesus.
Some may feel others have “more” favor than them. This is a lie that either we tell ourselves or we let the devil tell us. Some may walk in favor more than others but that’s only because they’re truly seeking Christ daily in their lives. We all can walk in His favor- we only need to choose to. God’s favor isn’t depending on how “good” someone is because none of us are “good” without the death and resurrection of Jesus. God’s favor is given through His grace and through His grace we can live a life favored.
THREE: Your favor can and most likely will be attacked.
When you chase after Christ and passionately pursue Him, there will always be people who are jealous and envious. They let their own insecurities cloud their vision, they believe they’re not “good enough,” and they let their past dictate their future. This prevents themselves from feeling God’s love and accepting His redemption. They will then look at others who are redeemed in Christ and through their bitterness and jealousy they attack.
2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Persecution isn’t only done by the hands of people outside the church. One of the greatest weapons of division within the church is persecution amongst believers.
FOUR: How you respond to the favor of others shows your true character.
When you see the favor of God on someone’s life, the feelings that stir inside of you are a reflection of your heart. You may not even realize you’re witnessing the favor of God. You see them succeeding or living a joyful life- how do you respond to that? Do you delight with them, or internally fight against them? Recognize how you respond to the joys of those around you and reflect on what that says about you.
When you’re dealing with an attack, step back and ask God why. Ask Him where it’s coming from. If it’s an attack on the favor God has placed on you, there will be a sense of understanding a peace. Then, pray for the person who is attacking you. Pray for them to see the favor God has for them and for them to confidently walk in it.
Does this resonate with you? If so, please share in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.
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Beautifully written, what a story! Reminds me of Pharoahs anger and jealousy over Israel being favored! What a great message to read today ❤️
Yes! Great example- thank you for sharing!
I’m sorry you had to endure the couple’s hatred and bitterness towards you and your foster care journey. This is definitely spiritual warfare. I am praying for you and your hubby and the kids. At the same time, I wanted to pray for the family that was attacking you. They are playing into the enemies hands and robbing themselves of so much. Bless you sweet sister! Thank you for your honest and heartfelt post! ❤
Thank you, Donna. Thankfully this was years ago and we’ve since healed and made peace with be situation.
Really enjoyed reading this and I can relate to this to some of the things that have happened to me.
Thank you 🙂
This is a great looking site! Thank you, Heather, for sharing!
Thanks, chuck.
“One of the greatest weapons of division within the church is persecution amongst believers.” This is so true. The enemy will use anyone to try and thwart God’s work. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you 🙂
Very appropriate — on both sides! I have felt attacked because of favor, and felt envious of others’ favor. Thank you for this gentle reminder. Your blog is beautiful.
Thank you, Kayla.
Thanks for sharing these insights! “favor” is my word for 2018 and I am asking for it everyday. Thank you for the reminder also to celebrate OTHER people’s favor too!
That’s a great word for the year! I may steal that for 2019 😉
Point four was convicting! It is so easy to feel jealous when God showers favor on others. Thanks for the reminder that I need to be joyful for others!
Thank you for sharing Emily!
Some real truth here. It is always a surprise when I am attacked but God has protected me in amazing ways. But God’s favor has attracted jealousy at times. I am always so grieved by it.
I think we all have been attracted to jealousy at times. But, the closer we are to God to less we will be attracted to it.
Great post! I can relate to some of these things in my own life! Thank you for sharing!
Thank You for reading, Julie!
Something that clicked with me is the reaction to favor in someone else’s life. I try to celebrate others victories and successes because I know how important it is to me for others to do that. As i read this, I just realized i was sowing seeds of celebration: not celebration of what I’ve done, but celebration of God and His infinite goodness.
Thank you for this!
Sowing seeds of celebration… I LOVE THAT!
Walking in God’s favor truly allows us to experience God’s true peace for our lives and so many do not understand the favor or the peace. Experiencing ill will at the hand of those who we love truly hurts even when we know and partially understand why. Thank God, He can handle that too so that we do not begin to share the same bitterness in our own hearts. Comparison is something I constantly fight in my own life. There is a reason God specifically addresses coveting in His commandments.
Amen! It does hurt when it comes from someone close, but God heals!
Well done! I like the point about how your favor can be attacked – this is such an important point that we don’t like to talk about!
You’re so right. We don’t talk about it enough so I believe many people are left feeling attacked and don’t know why.
Great insights here, Heather. Prayer that God’s favor toward us will draw others to Him–and keep those who refuse Him from hurting us and ours.
Thank you! God bless!
Amen! Thanks, Nancy!
Hi Heather,
I’ve just read your blog post “Four Truths About The Favor of God in Your Life”.
Here’s my comment.
Your blog post is a textbook example of what happens when we make God the centre of our life.
It sounds tough with this conflict that you’ve described in your blog post.
It must have felt terrible to experience this.
I’ve never experienced such situations that I know of, but I can imagine it must be hard.
It’s good to know Jesus in times of trouble.
Jesus does not think of gender, position, status etc. To Him, we are, as you write, all equal.
What I do know is that there’ll always be people who like to see us fail.
Thank you for this blog post.
It reminded me of how quickly life can change.
God bless.
Edna Davidsen
PS: I’ve shared on Twitter and FB.
Thank you so much, Edna.
You’re welcome!
Great info…very encouraging.
Thanks, Holly.
Such a true example of spiritual attacks. Satan uses the insecurities of others to harbor feelings of bitterness and resentment against them. God’s favor is infinite for all who believe in Him. This can be such a hard concept for people to understand as so many struggle to truly grasp love.
You are so right, Melissa!
What you share can be true. As ministers for over 20 years we’ve (my wife & I) seen it all.
One thing I though of as I was reading about being attacked for having the favor of God is Proverbs 3.
3″Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.”
This is a great truth to counter the attacks- “find favor in the sight of God AND man.”
Still, I find it disheartening that most of our attacks came from other believers who started out as ministry partners and ended sowing division and strife.
But the perfect one, Jesus, didn’t have a 100% success either, did He?
Yet He showed us the need to forgive and not let bitterness take root in our hearts.
Who said living the Christian life was easy. It’s not even possible! That’s why He gives us the opportunity to exchange our life for His. Jesus is the only one who can live the Christian life… because it’s His life!
>Scott Prindle
That is a great point you make with Proverbs 3. Thank you for sharing. I am sure you have seen it all being in ministry for over 20 years. Blessings to you and your wife.
This ministered to me, thank you.
Thank you, Idara. I am so blessed to hear this ministered to you!
Sadly I have been in a similar situation. The hardest and best thing we ever did was let God fight the battle for us.
Yes! So true, it is the hardest and best thing. My husband and I went through another situation that we totally stepped back and let God fight the battle and it was so worth it, even though it was hard at the time.
Amazing message. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
Thanks for reading, Melissa.
Heather, thank you for this. That is helpful. It hurts to go through those attacks, but I loved that your focus was to respond rightly. Easy to say. Hard to live. Visiting from the FB group ChristianBook.
Thanks, Pearl! I’m glad God used this to help you. Thank you for visiting.
Thanks for sharing this story. It’s important for us to remember that bad things do happen to Christians. Jesus promised us that. But just because bad things happen, doesn’t mean we have lost our favor with God.
Absolutely!