If you’ve ever had anyone do a favor for you, then I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s wonderful.  Whether expected (based upon a request) or unexpected (based upon another’s gratuity), a favor has a way of making things easier.  And that’s just what God had in mind when He promised again and again in His Word to favor His people.

God’s favor represents His goodwill, prosperity and pleasure.  And the Scripture reveals that He surrounds His people with favor as with a shield (Psalm 5:12).  To absorb the awesomeness of this, consider the fact that a shield is designed to cover you on all sides–front, back, left, right, above and beneath–without any exposure.  In His commitment to cover His people, God could have chosen anything, yet He chose to cover you, shield you–surround you on every side–with His favor!  Another way of saying it is no matter how high you go, how low you sink, how far to the left or the right, the front or the back that you move, God’s favor will have you covered!  His heart’s intent is that you’ll never have a moment where your favor shield isn’t intact and making things easier.

But even though this is God’s intent, if we’re honest, there are times when we don’t experience the favor of God in a situation or circumstance.  I want to help you avoid those hit-and-miss scenarios, once and for all, by sharing some keys to keeping your favor shield up, with a constant flow of God’s best coming your way:

1. Walk in love with God and others.  Everything in God’s kingdom works by faith and faith works by love (Gal. 5:6, 1 Cor. 13:4-8), so keep yourself in love and quickly repent when you fall short.
2. Release your faith in the favor of God by declaring it over your life.  We enjoy the blessings of God as we appropriate them to ourselves by faith–and we release our faith through our words.  In short, if you want to see the favor of God, you’ll have to say the favor of God.  (Mark 11:22-24; Rom. 4:17.)
3. When you experience the favor of God, acknowledge it!  Declare, “That’s the favor of God” and give God thanks and praise for it.  This communicates to God that you are in tune with what He’s doing in your life and that you don’t take it for granted.  Thanksgiving in this regard will also increase your capacity to receive more of the favor of God.

So there you have it–a few keys to increasing the flow of God’s favor in your life.  If you need to make adjustments in any of these areas do so today and open the way for God’s favor to flow to you like never before.

P.S. I’d love to hear how God’s favor is working in your life.

Keeping up with God and all He has called you to can be a daunting–although exciting–quest at times.  Managing the multiple responsibilities of daily life can often take the focus away from the dreams still yet to be realized.  And that’s what we have to remember to guard against as we go along life’s path.  The God-given dreams that still remain in dream land have an ultimate destiny to become reality.  That is if we don’t lose sight of them and the necessary focus required to realize them.

As with everything, the Word of God offers counsel on how to keep our dreams front and center and ready for manifestation.  A major key is found in Habakkuk 2, where we are instructed to write the vision and make it plain (v. 2).  But God didn’t stop there.  He also told Habakkuk why he should do this:  “that he may run that readeth it”. 

Write down your dreams, prayers, desires and whatever it is you are trusting God to bring to pass in your life!  For sure, by writing them down, they’ll remain easily referenceable and  ‘top of mind’ for you to reflect upon, plan and pursue, as you stay committed to seeing them through to fruition.  And somehow, for me at least, they become more tangible once they’re inked.  It’s cathartic–at the very least–and gives us the necessary focus and momentum–at best–to see our dreams come to pass.

God is the Dream Giver and the Dream Fulfiller.  Follow His advice and write down your dreams.  In this way, you won’t lose sight of the greatness still to come in your life.

Expectation plays a big part in how things come to pass in our lives.   If we’re expecting good, wholesome things, in line with God’s best, then that’s a great asset.  However, too often, people really aren’t expecting the best–in fact, they’re expecting the worst!  And then it happens.  Why?  Because we usually get what we expect.

If that’s you–and you’ve been guility of expecting things that are not truly the best (and we all have at some point in time)–then give yourself a shake and get on with training your thoughts and expectations on God’s best for you.  All the time.  You’ll be delightfully amazed at how your outlook will change and, with it, the happenings of your life.

Expect the best–from yourself, others, and most of all, God.   It’s the only way to live if you want to experience days of heaven on the earth.