GOD’S FAVOR IS BETTER THAN SILVER AND GOLD
Sunday, May 07, 2006
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. Proverbs 22:1 AMP
There are some things that money cannot buy – one of them is favor. When God's favor is on your life, wonderful things will happen to you and for you. Favor will take you where nothing else can take you. Favor can open doors and prevent calamity. Favor can help you do more with less. Favor can make a way where there is no way!
And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will favor you with blessings and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham. Genesis 26:24 AMP
God promised to bless Abraham and his descendants through Isaac. He personally spoke to Isaac to confirm this and promised Isaac that He would favor him with blessings. Blessing always goes hand in hand with favor. In order to be blessed by someone, you must first be favored by them. You can recognize the favor by the blessing! As a spiritual descendant of Abraham and a child of God, God has promised to bless you. Expect God's favor to be on your life because of His promises!
My son, forget not my law or teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; 2 For length of days and years of a life [worth living] and tranquility [inward and outward and continuing through old age till death], these shall they add to you. 3 Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart. 4 So shall you find favor, good understanding, and high esteem in the sight [or judgment] of God and man. Proverbs 3:1-4 AMP
Hear instruction and be wise, and do not refuse or neglect it. 34 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 35 For whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and draws forth and obtains favor from the Lord. Proverbs 8:33-35 AMP
When you embrace God's Word – His principles and His wisdom - you will automatically find His favor as well. When you seek His mercy, kindness, and truth and reject and shut out all hatred, selfishness, deliberate hypocrisy, and falsehood, then you will not only find favor, but also good understanding and high esteem in the sight of God and man as well! Proverbs 16:7 AMP says, "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." God's favor on your life translates into favor with man as well. Even sinners will say "yes" to you when they would have said "no" to anyone else. God will send His Spirit and His angels to cause favor to shine on you, from every direction and in all your ways.
When it goes well with the [uncompromisingly] righteous, the city rejoices, but when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy. 11 By the blessing of the influence of the upright and God's favor [because of them] the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. Proverbs 11:10-11 AMP
There is no favor on or for the wicked – there is only favor on and for the just. God's favor is on the righteous, therefore, when the righteous are in authority, through the blessing of their influence, God's favor will be on the whole city! Just think, if you give yourself to God, His will, and His Word, He will be able to use you to bless entire cities!
He who diligently seeks good seeks [God's] favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come upon him. Proverbs 11:27 AMP
A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked devices He condemns. Proverbs 12:2 AMP
Whoever despises the word and counsel [of God] brings destruction upon himself, but he who [reverently] fears and respects the commandment [of God] is rewarded. 14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. 15 Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the transgressor is hard [like the barren, dry soil or the impassable swamp]. Proverbs 13:13-15 AMP
Fools make a mock of sin and sin mocks the fools [who are its victims; a sin offering made by them only mocks them, bringing them disappointment and disfavor], but among the upright there is the favor of God. Proverbs 14:9 AMP
Recent:
Righteous Now
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP
“Therefore if any man be in Christ…” What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are baptized into Christ when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The moment
Defeating Strife
These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 AMP
Faith Facts
Faith is persistent
Luke 11:9-10 AMP
So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
John 16:24 AMP
Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
Faith is single-minded
James 1:5-8 AMP
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the