His Favor Brings Life!

Proverbs 16:14 "The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.15 In the light of the king's countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain." In His favor is life! It is as the cloud of the latter rain; What exactly does that mean? It is to have the blessing of God upon one's life; in other words the crippling effects of the Adam nature on the Christian life are broken, there is a beautiful relationship with Him full of peace and joy. He keeps that one who has found His favor on the right path and prospers their journey. What are the crippling effects of the Adamic nature? The Crippling Effects of Adam are bondages from a sinful past (either our past or inherited from our ancestors), pits and snares, which are the direct results of a lack of wisdom in one's choices and perpetual troubles, frustrations and vexations for which there seems to be no remedy. And so what is the criteria for obtaining favor from the Lord? We might say, accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and we would be partially right, however, that statement does not completely capture it. We certainly must accept Him as our Savior, accept the covering of His blood for our sins but additionally as we grow we must submit our selves to Him in every area of our lives (Note: this is more than one can offer at salvation and more than He requires but as we grow in Him we surrender more and more). For some, they have indeed accepted His free gift but they have not yet yielded every area to Him.

It must be clear that having Gods favor is relevant to growth; what I mean is He does not require everything at salvation but rather strengthens us and allows us to mature. As we are maturing His restraints upon us increase because He is bringing us to the place where every area is free from any remnant of the former life though a complete surrender to His leading, His will and His plan for our lives. As God matures us I want to reveal certain areas that I have observed over the years where one must learn to surrender to Him as they mature in order to have His favor upon their lives:

1.Friendships and companions - I have observed that people generally do not rise above their circle of friends. People who make friends with the world tend to be worldly and people who make friends with the saints tend to be saintly. Additionally, people who make their close companions those who are offended or back bitters or the bitter tend to be those things themselves. The old saying is true "Birds of a feather, flock together". I have seen people rise up against the church, slander it and the leadership and yet those who remain in the church refuse to break fellowship with them; inevitably what happens is they who remained in the church end up becoming disillusioned with the church and eventually leave as well. Prov 13:20 states that those who walk with the wise are wise. Just because someone says they are a believer does not mean they always offer good companionship; we must be wise and discerning. 1 Cor 5:9-11 - do not make fornicators your companions, but deeper than that, if a brother is walking out of order then do not make him your companion - if you walk with dissemblers then you too will eventually dissemble.

2.Attitudes and Opinions Towards Gods Plan (criticism) - Be careful of the opinions you allow yourself to formulate about God, especially in your trials. The Lord painstakingly delivered Israel from their bitter bondage in Egypt; He heard their cries, raised up a deliverer, sent him to Egypt a great personal cost to himself, brought them out, separated the Red Sea in a demonstration of His power. He said,"I was a Father to them" and yet, when the going got tough (and there is no mistake, it got bitter) they turned on the Lord and said "Would to God we died in Egypt; You have brought us out here to kill us!"  One of the evil influences in the wilderness was Korah; Jude called him a "Gainsayer". Jude 1:11 - this word gainsayer or gainsaying actually means contradicting Gods plan. He found fault with Gods plan and he injected that evil opinion into others and many perished along with him. This would become a way with Israel; they again found fault with His plan when Samuel was old and in spite of God expressing His displeasure in rejecting HIs plan they insisted they knew better and demanded a king. In Hosea 13 the Lord confessed; "I gave them a king in my anger and I took him away in my wrath". And so we see finding fault with Gods plan does not release His favor but rather His anger. The point is this, you want His favor then do not find fault with His plan for your life and what it takes to work it out, there will be trials, pain and heartache but do not let this produce in you a questioning of His Fatherly nature.

3.Speech and Confessions - The Children of Israel got it wrong; "you brought us out here to kill us" but Job got it right, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord". One of the most important disciplines we have in this world is to master our tongues. James tells us that those who bridle the tongue can also bridle the whole body. This is the key to so many things where our deliverance and salvation are concerned: Psalm 50:10  "And to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God" One of the keys to having Gods favor is the word of our confession, "As you have spoken in my ears so will I be unto you" Num 14

4.Behavior and Actions - There is a misconception in the (mostly Pentecostal) church world; that because of the blood of Jesus our behavior does not matter. One feels they can sin without impunity,after all, Jesus paid it all so what do we have to do. But this is in error; everything we do will be judged, either in this world or in the world to come, therefore God deals with us to straighten us in this life and if we accept this working then we are straigtened but if we do not then we will give account for falling short in eternity. There is a real incentive for being straight and upright, it is one who is upright, truly upright has Gods favor on their lives and they are preserved in life. Prov 11:8 - The wicked are destroyed whilst the righteous are preserved. Proverbs 3:1-4 "My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.". There is one more attribute I have observed that releases the hand of God for good, it is the virtue of goodness itself; we need to be good to our fellow man because this attitude and behavior will bring Gods's favor into our lives. Prov 12:2 - Goodness in a man is pleasant thing before the Lord and that man will find Gods favor

And so let me paint a true picture; for some, they accept Him as their Savior but they say: "We will allow you here, here and here but we do not want you to touch this area, this area or this area"...and in those areas they do as they please. As they willfully do as they please in those areas then they suffer the crippling effects of Adam in those areas, however,if they allow the Holy Ghost to touch those areas and learn the secret of surrender then Gods smile comes upon their lives and with His smile comes His favor and in His favor is life!

The Got Their Wish (A King) To Their Own Destruction

Hosea 13:11 "I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath."

This word anger literally means with elevated breathing and flared nostrils as one who has been aroused in anger; this is how God was aroused when Israel asked for a king yet He gave them their king (1 Sam 8:5-7). They had provoked Him; it does not necessarily mean God bore them ill will, it means in anger he acquiesced He gave them what they wanted against His own better judgment. They forced the issue, insulted Him and with elevated breathing and flared nostrils He said to Samuel..."Give them what they ask for". How foolish they were to provoke God and to violate His will; this is an area we need to be very careful. One thing to learn from this example is that if one forces the issue, God will, at times, give in against what He knows is best for us. It is, of course, exceedingly unwise and foolish to push God so but we have seen this over the years where people blow past what God has revealed as His will and force their own wills, the results are never good.

However, because of this choice the monarchy that followed led Israel astray and led them into sin, disobedience and idolatry. Eventually, because of the path they chose God's fury was stirred up even more. He was angry when He gave them a king, the kings led Israel astray and God removed the kings in His wrath. We need to take a moment to parse this out because it makes a very important point. Israel asked for a king because 1) they wanted to be like other nations and 2) they did not trust the Lord to deal with the unrighteousness of Samuel's sons. However, what they got was far worse than Samuel's sons, they got Saul and a whole succession of kings who did a horrible job of leading the nation. There were a few godly kings in Judah that God loved but the percentages of good vs evil are overwhelmingly against the monarchy as a whole. Here is the point; God was not in the establishment of the monarchy as it existed (this verse bears that out) and so what would have happened if Israel had came to Samuel addressed their concerns about his sons, sought the Lord for answers and followed His counsel? Here is what we would have expected to see; God would have implemented His own plan that He favored and endorsed and the result would have been that ultimately the nation would not have incurred His wrath.

As we stated, the whole nation of Israel was being destroyed because of idolatry, Hosea reflects Gods wrath on the nation and it all began at this point where they forced the issue of a king because they did not want to trust God to guide them. The chain of events runs like this: Israel provoked God by asking for a king, He gave one in His anger. That led to the kingdom eventually dividing under one of those kings, Rehaboam. After the nation divided one of generals of Rehaboam became king and decided to create His own places of worship, Jeraboam I. God was provoked to wrath by that event (He set up a calf in Dan and Bethel for worship. Remember, the book is all about this event and what followed; Israels adultery with other gods) and now God is destroying the monarchy in His wrath and the nation is being judged. The chain of events traces back to the request for a king against Gods will! We must, regardless of how things look on the surface, find out what He wants and hold fast to it, that is where the blessing and approval of God is. For those who force their own will and their own way, He may give them what they want in His anger but the path will not have His blessing and in the end will bring woe.