ACE #305: God's Favor Ain't Fair

There will just be times when your enemies will try you.  They will do everything they can to distract you from whatever blessings God is trying to bring you into.  They will even hate on your favor.  No – you did not just imagine it; it really did happen.  But the thing is, your enemy can only triumph over you…if YOU allow it.  “God Favored Me,” by Pastor Hezekiah Walker, speaks to the attacks of the enemy:

They whispered, conspired, they told their lies - God favors me. 
My character, my integrity, my faith in God - He favors me.
Will not fall, will not bend, won’t compromise - God favors me.
I speak life and prosperity and I speak health - God favors me.

The lyrics also speak of our ability to stand steadfast and uncompromised under the attack of our enemies.  The attacks can be blatant or subtle.  Mary is a witness to God's favor.

The reason Mary was able to escape divorce, disgrace, and possibly death (according to the law) is because God sent an angel on her behalf!  Imagine what could have been! If God can send an angel on Mary’s behalf because of “favor”, then ask yourself, “What can God do on my behalf because of favor?”

There’s also favor in our obedience.  But if we got what people thought we should get, it would be bad. If we got what we truly deserved, it would be even worse.  Yep, be glad God’s favor ain’t fair! 

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[e]did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[g] (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.