"May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace" (Numbers 6:24-26, NLT).
We all have our favorite things in life that we highly favor above others: favorite colors, favorite foods, favorite places, and the list goes on. It it also an honor to feel as if you are a favorite to someone. Recently, I experienced this as I ran into a former student of mine who stated that I had been their favorite teacher in school. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. After our conversation, I was so honored by this statement as they shared their accomplishments with me, and to think they remembered me.
How much more should we feel favored by our heavenly Father! He does have favorites, His daughters that He favors and adores! Let's take Mary for example:
"And coming to her, the angel said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Listen carefully: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus"
(Luke 1:28, 30-31, Amp). As we read these scriptures, soak a minute and then take this to heart: we are favored; we are not to be afraid, we have found favor with God, listen carefully to Him as you read His word and He points out exactly what you need to hear in every situation. Now our circumstances are certainly not on the same level as Mary's, the mother of Jesus, but we can apply what was said to Mary to our lives as well. May we learn to claim those words found only in scripture. As a follower of Christ, we are indeed favored by the Father - His Father!
Let's examine more of His word so that we may see more of His favor. "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [that is, separate you from profane and vulgar things, make you pure and whole and undamaged—consecrated to Him—set apart for His purpose]; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and [be found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful and absolutely trustworthy is He who is calling you [to Himself for your salvation], and He will do it [He will fulfill His call by making you holy, guarding you, watching over you, and protecting you as His own]" (1 Thes. 5:23-24, Amp.):
*He has made us holy and whole.
*He has sanctified us (set us apart from the secular world).
*He has purified us.
*Our spirits, souls, and bodies are kept complete and found blameless.
*Jesus, faithful and absolutely trustworthy, has called us to Himself for our salvation!
*He guards us, watches over us, and protects us as His own.
The Lord will heal your broken spirit. Step closer to Him and feel His favor upon you. What a true honor to be favored by the God of this universe. As we inch closer to Christmas Day, meditate on just how favored you truly are; God sent Jesus to save you and give you favor as His child. What a precious and perfect gift! Merry Christmas!
Father, God, we honor and praise You for sending Jesus to this earth to save us, Your favored ones. This leaves us speechless, Lord, as we grasp the reality of who we are in Christ. Your love and favor is endless, Father, and may we bring You honor and glory and we reflect on Your precious Son and what He means to us. In His Holy Name we pray, Amen.
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