God doesn’t promise us a struggle-free life, but there are blessings and benefits that come from serving God that you can’t get anywhere else. When you are loyal to God, you walk in His supernatural blessing and favor!
Notes 📓✏️:
You walk in favor.
Psalm 103:1-6 (NLT): “Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.”
Not Forgetting the Favor
Good times
Bad times
Proverbs 30:8-9 (NLT): “Give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.”
Favor starts with Humility
Humility is knowing your place.
God is first. I am second. And the result is that I live a more abundant life.
Without a vibrant relationship with God, a person will find certain levels of inescapable displeasure, purposelessness, and helplessness from relying on one’s own strength, talents, and abilities, which will someday foster a sense of dissatisfaction with life.
Obedience to God’s commands brings favor.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 (NLT): “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all His commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God:
Your towns and your fields will be blessed.
Your children and your crops will be blessed.
The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.
Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.
Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.
“The LORD will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!
“The LORD will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The LORD your God will bless you in the land He is giving you.
“If you obey the commands of the LORD your God and walk in His ways, the LORD will establish you as His holy people as He swore He would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you.
“The LORD will give you prosperity in the land He swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The LORD will send rain at the proper time from His rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.”
Truths about Favor
1. Favor is not guaranteed but is contingent on your obedience to God.
2. This favor is not for selfish gain, but to carry forward God’s will in our world and be an example of God’s goodness.
Deuteronomy 28:2 (Msg): “All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God.”
3. The rest of the world should notice!
v. 10 “Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you.”
Your life should be living proof that serving God is worth it.
When we serve Jesus, we receive favor from God that far exceeds anything we could arrange on our own.
When you are loyal to the Most High God, you walk in His favor.
Discussion Questions 📝❓:
- What does it mean to have loyalty towards Jesus, and how can that loyalty impact out daily lives?
- How can good times and bad times cause us to forget about God’s favor in our lives?
- In what ways can obedience to God’s command lead to receive His favor
- What does it mean to walk under the protection of the Most High, and how can that understanding influence our fears and challenges?