Favor with the Lord

Luke 1:26-38 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.

For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Pastor Kyle continued our Advent Sunday sermon series, stating that “in Christ”, we have God’s Divine favor. When the born-again, regenerate spirit prays in righteousness, God hears His people. As an Israelite virgin, Mary (the mother of Jesus) understood God’s commandments and law on sexuality. This is why she asked the visiting angel Gabriel: “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”  God wants 100% of our heart. That may sound extreme in today’s compromising secular world view, but God didn’t change and demands obedience. In this spiritual warfare, we are called to take all sinful and rebellious thoughts captive.  

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

Pastor Kyle gave us six examples of what Divine favor looks like on the inside. (1) Obedience when  no one is looking. Desire that all your secret negative and sinful thoughts be exposed and replaced with righteousness and faithful, positive thoughts. When something is ungodly negative, then flip it to make it godly positive. When something is bad or wrong, turn it around and make it good and “right” in the eyes of the Lord. (2) Openness to God. In our relationship with the Lord and our prayer/conversation with Almighty God, the tone of our delivery is as important as the message. Just as modern day text messages and emails can not deliver our emotional tone or voice inflection, we have to ask for clarification  in order to truly understand. This involves being open to God both inwardly and outwardly.

Let’s continue Pastor Kyle’s message on “Divine Favor” in the next post.

In Christ, Brian