Can you be trusted with FAVOR?
Favor for things to go your way. Favor for the breakthrough you’ve been seeking. I think of favor as God taking a personal liking to you. He chooses you, picks you out of the crowd and says “you, I like you.” And when God blessings you with favor, whew world watch out!
I want to be trustworthy of his favor, don’t you?
The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis gives us the perfect example of how to be trusted with favor. No doubt, he had God’s favor on his life and it came in the form of other people liking him. Other people continually chose Joseph and put him in charge.
Genesis 39:21 says “The LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.”
Yes, Joseph was in prison and God granted him favor and made the prison warden like him. Maybe you’re stuck in a bad situation right now, maybe not prison, but a situation where you feel you can’t do what you want to do and everything is against you. Well I want to tell you God can give you favor right in the middle of it. The right people can take a liking to you and the tables can turn. That is favor.
But first, you must be able to be trusted with favor.
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongly accused, and thrown into prison, but Joseph NEVER GOT BITTER. He never set out to get even. In fact in Genesis 50:20 he said “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” He could look at what was intended for harm and find the good in it. Can you do that? Can you find the good in your bad situation? This is how you prove you can be trusted with favor.
When you can give your best effort even when nobody is watching, then you can be trusted with favor. When you keep doing the right thing even when you won’t receive praise for it, then you can be trusted with favor. When you love and give without strings attached, then you can be trusted with favor.
And here’s the thing about favor, when God takes a special liking to you, you not only get blessed but everyone around you gets blessed.
In Genesis 39 we read about Joseph working in his master’s house. His master saw that God favored him and caused everything in his hand to prosper, so he began to favor Joseph as well.
Oh, let’s stop right there. God caused everything in Joseph’s hand to prosper. Don’t you want everything in your hand to prosper. For everything you touch to multiply. For everything you set out to do to be successful? Now remember, that certainly didn’t mean Joseph’s life would be easy. Remember all he went through. But time and time again God repaid him for everything he lost, and when he did he gave him even more. Why did everything in Joseph’s hand prosper? Because he had God’s favor. Why did he have God’s favor? Because he proved he could be trusted with favor. How did he prove he could be trusted with favor? He always did the right thing. Time and time again, he did the right thing. Whether anyone was watching or not, whether it would benefit him or not, he did the right thing. And he kept a good attitude. He intentionally looked for the good and refused to get bitter.
Let’s keep reading in Genesis 39 verse 5 and it says the master made Joseph overseer in his house and over all that he owned (yes, Joseph was promoted and put in charge) and the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph. Just because Joseph was in the house, the entire house was blessed. Business was booming because the right man was put in charge. A man who could be trusted with favor.
If God is for you, who can be against you. God is watching you closely today. He wants to know if he can be for you. Can he pour his favor on your life. Will you do the right thing and will you keep the right attitude.