God's Favor and the Anointing! #2

I want to continue my last message on God’s favor and the anointing. As I mentioned in the last message the Hebrew word for Favor is “Chen” which is the state of being approved or held in regard by the LORD in our lives and all our situations, apart from any merit of our own.

As I mentioned in the last message, God gave me certain points to help you understand this connection:

1.)    The anointing of God carries out and accomplishes what the favor represents.

2.)    The anointing confirms the favor to others, including you, if necessary.

3.)    The anointing manifests the favor in the natural.

4.)    The anointing is God confirming the favor to do something in the natural that man can’t do.

5.)    Only when we recognize this Divine favor and confess it is when the anointing is released. We confess His favor when we worship and praise God.

6.)    Anointing is the hammer that nails favor on the circumstances.

7.)    Anointing seals and finalizes favor onto the circumstances.

8.)    Favor causes the circumstances to change in our favor when the anointing touches them.

9.)    Stepping out in faith, knowing you have His favor turns loose the anointing in our life.

I want to continue to explore examples from the word that show this connection between favor and the anointing; In 2 Chronicles Chapter 20, Jehoshaphat is surrounded by armies that are coming against him (verse 2). Jehoshaphat starts to fear and proclaimed a fast over all Judah (verse 3). He did the right thing when he was afraid: he went to the LORD. He praised the LORD, telling Him that He rules over all the kingdoms of the heathen. As he was praising Him, Jehoshaphat stared to realize how powerful his LORD really is. Praising the LORD actually puts thing into perspective; one realizes how powerful the LORD really is and that the circumstances facing them are temporal, subject to change. He also realized how much favor he had with the LORD when the LORD spoke and said “be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (verse 15). He also told Jehoshaphat that he needs not to fight in this battle but just to “set himself, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (verse 17). The LORD was telling him that he needs to “set himself” in the fact that he is highly favored! We need to plant ourselves in God’s favor, know that He is fighting for us and will deliver us into victory. The LORD confirmed this favor in verse 17 when He said He would be with him. In verse 18 the word says that Jehoshaphat bowed before the LORD and worshipped Him again. Jehoshaphat stirred up the anointing of God when he sent his praise and worship singers out first singing “praise ye the LORD, His mercy endures forever” (verse 21). The anointing of God was stirred up when Jehoshaphat believed in the favor that he had with God and acted on it. The anointing then confirmed to Jehoshaphat, his troops and the enemy how much favor he had with the LORD: as soon as the praises went up, the LORD sent an ambush against the enemies and they started killing each other (verse 22, 23). This favor that Jehoshaphat had was confirmed again when he took all the precious jewels off the dead bodies of the enemy. The spoils were so vast that it took them three days to gather them all (verse 25).If you are fighting your battles alone and not getting anyplace you need to realize that you have God’s favor and act on it by confessing this favor and stir up God’s anointing by doing something that doesn’t make sense, by faith.  

The devil just loves when you confront him alone, in your own strength. Even if you try to rebuke him in the name of Jesus, he won’t run until you first submit to God (James 4 verse 7). You submit to God by praising Him before you attack Satan, just like Jehoshaphat did. When you submit to God you are connecting yourself to that favor. Remember Satan is not afraid of you unless he knows that you realize that you belong to the LORD of the universe!

In Judges Chapter 6, Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, hiding from the Midianites, who had surrounded Israel (verse 11). God appeared to him and called him a mighty man of valor (verse 12). He was trying to tell him how much favor he had with Him. God cut down his army from 32,000 to 300 to also demonstrate how much favor he had. Gideon didn’t really believe how much favor that he had until God asked him to go to the enemy and overhear their conversation, by night (verse 9-11). Gideon heard one of them say how he had a dream where a cake of barley came rolling down and destroyed them all. He said it was nothing but the sword of Gideon (verse 13-14). The enemy soldier was confessing this favor that Gideon had before Gideon ever did! Imagine how much fear that the enemy had that they identified a cake of barley with Gideon. They were afraid of a cake of barley! They had so much fear in their hearts. Even though they out-numbered the Israelites, having about 300,000 men to Gideon’s 300 they were still afraid, because of God’s favor. After overhearing the fears of the enemy, Gideon now believed in the favor he had and he told his troops to go and destroy the enemy (verse 15). They surrounded the enemy by night and startled the enemy by shouting "the sword of the LORD and of Gideon," breaking the pitchers of light, and blowing the trumpets.” Besides being in darkness, the enemy killed each other out of fear (verse 20-22). God knows how to have your enemies fight each other and not bother you.

These examples from the word will help you to realize how much favor you have and enable you to stir up the anointing to change your circumstances when you take steps of faith. Remember you are “highly favored of God.” Confess it and act on it!