Devotional

The apostle Paul teaches that no one seeks God. Rather, Scripture teaches us that because of His glorious mercy and grace, God seeks us! He’s the one standing at the door of our hearts, waiting for us to respond. God never forces His way into our lives. He waits for us to invite Him in.

Unlike what the world many times portrays Him to be, He is not an angry God who wants to barge into and start rearranging our lives. He is a loving and gentle God who wants nothing more than to love and bless us.  A polite guest would not come into your house uninvited.  He would wait for you to invite him in.  God is more than that.  He would not enter into our “house” uninvited.  Even after we have invited Him in, He would not order us to move things around or throw things away.  He will sit with us.  He will listen to us like an old friend.  He will teach us His ways.  When we do end up throwing things away or rearranging our “house,” it would be out of our own desires rather than because we are forced to do it.

God gives us a free will.  And He is serious about letting us exercise that free will.  Look what happened in the Garden.  He never wants to manipulate that free will.  He wants us to love and obey Him freely, not because He makes us to.

The verse goes on to say that when we open the door, “we will share a meal together as friends.” (NLT)

“He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:10-12 NLT

Invite Him in and see how good He is.

‘Favor is goodwill. This is God’s kindness and benevolence given to those who love Him. Favor will release great blessings, including prosperity, health, opportunity and advancement. The Bible records numerous examples of God’s favor upon His people causing them to experience many breakthroughs. Favor is God’s lovingkindness.’ John Eckhardt

Genesis 26 begins with telling us that there was famine in the land. As the story continues we learned that in the midst of famine, the Lord blessed Issac. That is favor.
Genesis 26:1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
Genesis 26:12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him.
The book of Genesis also recorded the story of Joseph who experienced God’s favor and went from prison to palace. You can read that story beginning at Genesis 39

God is still the same God yesterday today and tomorrow. He will do the same for us. He can change our circumstances in one day, no matter where we are. This is when the favor of God is on your life.
Seek Him, listen and obey. Walk in His way and He will direct our path and His favor will surround us like a shield.

To read more about how to get God’s Favor, you can read this article by John Eckhardt