Still Thinking About Favor!

I normally don’t post on the week-end, but this week due to my mini-vacation I missed a couple of days, and this thought about God’s favor won’t leave me. I heard someone say, “favor ain’t fair, but it’s fabulous”. While they may be one way of looking at it, I see the dimensions of favor extending far beyond our human recognition. The favor of God produces an eternal work in us that extends even through generations:

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace [who imparts His blessing and favor], who called you to His own eternal glory in Christ, will Himself complete, confirm, strengthen, and establish you [making you what you ought to be].1 Peter 5:10 (AMP)

God is never concerned about the outcome, as much as He is concerned about the process. We are concerned about outcome, so we only take the “finish” into consideration. In the above text we see that Peter explains that our suffering brings about both blessing and favor, through God’s grace. This comes to those children of God who have placed their faith in Christ. We begin an eternal journey with Him that “works all things together for the good” through His gracious Hand. The result for us is not just a finished outcome, but the making of us into what we ought to be. He does this through completing some things, but also by strengthening and establishing us within His will.

This is no simple “name it and claim it and get it” activity. This is a soul searching, soul rendering, soul surrendering kind of activity that wherein the process is no longer concerned about the outcome, as much as is concerned with being one with the One who is more than outcome!

As we go through process we recognize:

^5–6 For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace—for the same love he has for the Beloved, Jesus, he has for us. And this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure!

⁷ Since we are now joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by his blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of his grace. ⁸ This superabundant grace is already powerfully working in us, releasing all forms of wisdom and practical understanding. Ephesians 1:6-8 (TPT)

It leads us into recognizing that He is Jireh, more than enough – and everything that’s added is favor extending from the ‘cascading riches of His grace”. This the process that leads to a healthy, wealthy, and wise life!

Maria