What Does Divine Favor Look Like?
“My God Still Plays in the Mud”

With Bishop Ronald K. Powell

Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV) –

•   Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Romans 8:28

•   Those who are favored of God know that God is with them and that nothing can happen to them apart from His good purpose (Romans 8:28).

Exodus 9 10-12

•  ¹⁰ And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast.

•  ¹¹ And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.

•  ¹² And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had spoken unto Moses.

What Does Divine Favor Look Like – Part 4

• God’s favor can bring a lot of blessings upon a man. Divine favor can:

1- Produce supernatural promotion and increase. (Gen 39:21)

• Genesis 39:21 New International Version (NIV) (Joseph)

• ²¹ the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

 2-Bring restoration of everything the enemy has stolen. (Exo. 3:21)

•   Exodus 3:21 New International Version (NIV) (ISRAEL)

•   ²¹ “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.

3-Bring honor in the midst of adversaries. (Exo. 11:3)

•    Exodus 11:3 New International Version (NIV)

•    ³ (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

4-Produce increased assets. (Deut. 33:23)

•     Deuteronomy 33:23 New International Version (NIV)

•    23 About Naphtali he said:

•    “Naphtali is abounding with the favor of the Lord

•        and is full of his blessing;

•        he will inherit southward to the lake.”

•    The sixth son of Jacob and second son with Bilhah. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Naphtali. His name meant My Struggle.

5-Give great and unusual victories even against impossible odds. (Josh 6:20; 10: 9, 20)

•   Joshua 6:20 New International Version (NIV)

•   ²⁰ When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.

•   Joshua 10:9 New International Version (NIV)

•   ⁹ After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise.

•   Joshua 10:20 New International Version (NIV)

•   ²⁰ So Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely, but a few survivors managed to reach their fortified cities.

6-Give recognition and promotion even when you seem to the least likely one to receive it. (1 Sam. 16:22)

•    1 Samuel 16:22 New International Version (NIV)

•    ²² Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.”

7-Produce prominence and preferential treatment, favor and kindness. (Esther 5:8)

•    Esther 5:8 New International Version (NIV)

•    ⁸ If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

8-Get petitions granted, even by ungodly civil authority. (Esther 5:8)

•    Esther 5:8 New International Version (NIV)

•    ⁸ If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

9-Change rules, regulations, even laws if necessary to your advantage. (Esther 8:5)

•    Esther 8:5 New International Version (NIV)

•    ⁵ “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

10-Win battles you did not even have to fight because God will fight them for you. (Psalm 44:3)

•    Psalm 44:3 New International Version (NIV)

•    ³ It was not by their sword that they won the land,
nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face, for you loved them.

I think the next verses sum the whole prospering thing up very well…

•        Deuteronomy 30:8-10 (NASB) “And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. “Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.

What is the Common Denominator?

•    MAN

•    Revelation 11:15-16 King James Version (KJV)

•    15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

•    16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God.

Final Words

•   Kingdom of God is hidden. Luke 17:20–21

•   Heart of a man is in Gods hand Proverbs 21 King James Version (KJV)

•   21 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

•   King reveals or conceals a matter. Proverbs 25:1-3

•   Look around you… Divine favor is a heart hardened , broken, freed, changed.

Closing

•    -But there is a price to be paid, and that is righteousness.

•    -It comes through the new birth and through continuing in total obedience to the word of God.