Discovering Destiny (Part 51): Portable Favor
Updated: 2 hours ago
Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Peter 3:18 GNT
"But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever."
Luke 10:20 Mirror
"It's time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven's perspective."
1 John 3:10 Mirror
"There is a very visible and vast difference between living one's life from your God identity or from a fallen man's mindset."
Proverbs 25:2 NKJV
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter."
Jeremiah 29:13 NIV
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Scripture(s) we will study today:
Acts 7:9-10 TPT
"Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God's favor and blessing rested upon Joseph, and in time, God rescued him from all his oppression and granted him extraordinary favor before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh appointed him as the overseer of his nation and even of his own palace."
Supporting scriptures:
Genesis 37:3-4 NLT
"Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph, a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn't say a kind word to him."
Genesis 39:2-4 AMPC
"But the Lord was with Joseph, and he [though a slave] was a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to flourish and succeed in his hand. So Joseph pleased [Potiphar] and found favor in his sight, and he served him. And [his master] made him supervisor over his house and he put all that he had in his charge."
Genesis 39:21-23 NLT
"But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed."
Genesis 41:39-41 ERV
"So Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'God showed these things to you, so you must be the wisest man. I will put you in charge of my country, and the people will obey all your commands. I will be the only one more powerful than you.' Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I now make you governor over all of Egypt.'"
Psalm 5:12 AMPC
"For You, Lord, will bless the [uncompromisingly] righteous [him who is upright and in right standing with You]; as with a shield You will surround him with goodwill (pleasure and favor)."
Psalm 30:5 NLT
"For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning."
Psalm 84:11 AMPC
"For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."
Setting the Stage:
Yesterday, we watched Pharaoh take the signet ring off his own hand and put it on Joseph's finger. Before we follow Joseph into the years of plenty, I want to stop and look back over the whole journey. I want to do it through another man's eyes. Many centuries after Joseph, a man named Stephen stood in front of the highest religious court in Israel. Like Joseph, he was falsely accused. Like Joseph, he had done nothing wrong. The high priest asked him if the charges were true, and Stephen did not defend himself. He opened his mouth and started telling the story of God's people, from Abraham forward.
When Stephen got to Joseph, he had a lot of ground to cover. The coat. The dreams. The pit. The caravan. Potiphar's house. Potiphar's wife. The prison. The butler and the baker. Two more years of silence. Pharaoh's dreams. Thirteen years of a man's life. Stephen covered all of it in two sentences: "Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God's favor and blessing rested upon Joseph, and in time, God rescued him from all his oppression and granted him extraordinary favor before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt."
Look at what Stephen left out and look at what he kept. He did not mention the pit. He did not mention the false accusation. He did not mention the butler who forgot. A man filled with the Holy Spirit looked back over 13 of the hardest years anybody in the Bible ever lived, and the word he reached for was favor. He used it twice. Favor rested upon Joseph at the beginning, and extraordinary favor stood him before Pharaoh at the end.
The favor of God was never on the house, the prison, or the palace. The favor was on Joseph everywhere he went. That is what I call portable favor. May the same be on you.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. The Favor Was On Joseph Before He Did Anything To Earn It.
Start in the first room, his father's house. The Bible says, "Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children," and he had "a beautiful robe" made for him. Think about when that happened. Joseph was 17. He had not interpreted a dream, run a household, or managed a prison. The favor came first.
How this applies to you:
-- Favor is a gift, and you cannot work for a gift; all you can do with a gift is receive it.
-- Joseph was 17 and had accomplished nothing yet when the robe went on his shoulders. The favor came first, and everything else came after it.
-- God's grace and His favor are not fair, but they are good when God releases them upon you. In other words, you did not earn them, but you sure can enjoy them!
-- The brothers could take the robe off his back, but they could not take the favor off his life. Likewise, people can do things TO you, but they cannot stop what God put ON you!
-- Do not apologize for the favor on your life, and minimize it to make other people comfortable.
-- When you acknowledge God's favor in your life, you're actually glorifying Him because you're also acknowledging that you didn't do anything to earn it or deserve it.
-- If I were teaching on healing, I would ask you to release your faith for healing. If I were teaching on peace, I would ask you to release your faith for peace, but since I am teaching on favor this morning. As we close out this first point, please pause for a moment and release your faith for favor. Ask God to bestow his favor upon you and for his favor to go before you like a shield.
2. Favor Did Not Stop The Pit, But It Scheduled The Caravan.
This is the room people struggle with. If the favor of God was on Joseph, why did he end up in a pit? Here is the part that will set you free today: favor does not mean you will never see a hard place. Stephen said the brothers "sold him to be a slave in Egypt," and the very next words out of his mouth were, "But God's favor and blessing rested upon Joseph." The favor was resting on him while he was in the pit. Remember, the brothers' first plan was to kill him. Then a caravan showed up, at that exact hour, headed to the one country on earth where Joseph's destiny was waiting. That was not a coincidence. That was favor.
How this applies to you:
-- Favor does not mean you will never see a pit; it just means the pit will not be able to stop you.
-- The brothers wanted Joseph dead, and a caravan bound for Egypt showed up at the right hour. Favor kept him alive and pointed him toward the country his destiny required.
-- Some of you are looking around the room you are in and wondering if God's favor is really on your life. Do not judge the favor on your life by the room you are in today. The room you are in (if it is not a nice room) is preparing you for the one you will be in next.
-- Stephen said, "in time, God rescued him from all his oppression." Those two words, in time, tell you that favor works on God's calendar, not yours. In other words, if it does not look like you are winning, the story is not over yet!
-- God can take what people meant for harm and use it to propel you into your purpose.
-- God planned for Joseph to rule in Egypt before Joseph was born, so even the betrayal had to lead him to his purpose. So, what looks like the worst day of your life may be what is ushering you into your destiny.
-- The pit was real, the pain was real, and the favor was just as real the whole time.
-- Never allow external conditions to dictate your internal state. In other words, no matter what is happening on the outside, you must continue to believe on the inside that God is on you, in you, with you, and for you.
3. The House Changed, The Boss Changed, And The Favor Stayed The Same.
Now put the next two rooms side by side. In Potiphar's house, the Bible says, "the Lord was with Joseph, and he [though a slave] was a successful and prosperous man," and he "found favor in his sight." Then he was lied on and thrown in prison, and the Bible says, "the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden." Two rooms. Two bosses. Neither one of them knew Joseph's God, and both of them handed him the keys. I have taught this for years: favor is when God moves on the hearts of people to use their power, their ability, and their influence to help you. Potiphar had power. The warden had power. God moved on both of them. This is what I call portable favor.
How this applies to you:
-- Favor is when God moves on the hearts of people to use their power, their ability, their influence, and even sometimes their money, to help you in ways you cannot help yourself.
-- Neither Potiphar nor the warden knew Joseph's God, and God moved on both of their hearts anyway. Solomon said, "The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; he guides it wherever he pleases" (Proverbs 21:1 NLT). If God can turn the heart of a king, He can turn the heart of your boss, your landlord, or your loan officer. God is not limited to using people who know Him to bless you.
-- Let me say it in a way you can understand it clearly. God is not limited to using Christians. He can move on the heart of someone who doesn't know Him, who doesn't have His Spirit, and who has never called upon His name. God can still use that person to bless you.
-- The rooms changed, the bosses changed, and the clothes changed, but the favor never changed. This is portable favor. God’s favor was on Joseph everywhere he went. I keep repeating this because I want you to believe God for this same type of portable favor.
-- Joseph was a prosperous slave, and then he was a prosperous prisoner. Your title does not determine your favor, because the favor is resting on you and not on your position.
-- Portable favor means you never have to be afraid of a change of address.
-- David said God surrounds the righteous with favor "as with a shield" (Psalm 5:12 AMPC). This means you never walk into a room without your covering.
-- Every person who promoted Joseph was a step toward his destiny, put in place by God before Joseph ever arrived. Pray for, and expect that type of favor on your life!
4. Favor Carried Joseph All The Way To The Palace.
Stephen saved his strongest word for the last room. He said God "granted him extraordinary favor before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt." Joseph had favor with a father, then a slave owner, then a warden, and then a king. Every room was bigger than the one before it, and the favor grew to match the room.
How this applies to you:
-- I am all for working diligently. Grace is not a license for laziness. But let’s be clear: God's favor can do what your labor cannot!
-- Each room in Joseph's life was bigger than the last, and the favor grew to match it. God will never send you into a room where His favor is too small for the assignment.
-- Favor follows the assignment, not the address.
-- David said, "his favor lasts a lifetime!" (Psalm 30:5 NLT). Joseph's favor did not expire in the pit, in the house, or in the prison, and yours will not expire either.
-- Favor was never Joseph's destination. It was the vehicle God used to carry him to a destiny already written, and the favor on your life is tied to what God planned for you before you were born. In other words, favor is not the goal. Purpose is the goal, and God bestows favor upon you so that you can complete your purpose.
-- You do not have to force your way into the next room, because favor will open the door when it is time.
I will close by using my location this morning as an example. I'm currently in Boston for a board meeting with the National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army. I've been a board member for a little over two years. About three years ago, I had a meeting with a man of great means and influence. As I was walking into that meeting, he was finishing up a meeting with a group of venture capitalists and investors. He introduced me to them as a pastor and asked me to pray for the whole room. I did.
He then asked me to connect with one of the individuals there because he wanted me to talk to him about certain things. As we connected and the person got to know me, he said, "I believe you should be on the board of the Salvation Army." One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was on the board.
Serving on this board is truly a tremendous blessing for me, for many reasons. Let me just say this: I could not have worked my way onto this board. That was favor. God knows how to get you in front of the right people at the right time for the right things to happen. Open up your heart to God's favor and recognize it when it comes, giving Him the glory every step of the way.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You that Your favor and blessing rest upon me!
Your favor was on my life before I did anything to earn it!
I do not work for Your favor. I receive it by faith!
No pit can keep me, because Your favor is on my life!
Your favor is on me, not on the room I am in!
You move on the hearts of people to use their influence to help me!
Your favor does for me what my labor never could!
Your favor surrounds me like a shield everywhere I go!
You have blessed me with portable favor, and it goes before me like a shield, preparing the way before I walk into any room!
In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, I boldly declare: GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen!
This is Today's Word. Apply it and prosper!
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