Today, we continue our series entitled “Laser Focus,” with the point being that we should live with a Laser Focus on the Fixed Purpose God established for us before the world began.
This is the main scripture we will be looking at this year:
(Proverbs 4:25 TPT)
Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions.
Today, we will also look at this passage:
(Proverbs? ?11?:?24?-?25? ?TPT??)
24 Generosity brings prosperity, but withholding from charity brings poverty.
25 Those who live to bless others will have blessings heaped upon them, and the one who pours out his life to pour out blessings will be saturated with favor.
Setting the Stage.
The reason why I am teaching on the favor of God in the middle of this series on laser focus is because my Pastor and spiritual father, Tony Brazelton, prophesied that this year would be a year of “Supernatural Kindness.” another way of saying Supernatural Kindness is “The Favor of God.”
Now, when God declares something over a season, He is saying that grace is available for what He announced. That means the grace of God is there. I have taught you many times that while God does everything He does by grace, He requires us to do what we do in response to the grace of God, by faith. In this way, our faith taps into God’s grace. If that’s the case (and it is), how are we supposed to build up our faith for whatever God says? The way we build up our faith is through the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). So, as a Bible teacher, it is my responsibility to provide you the Word (what the Bible says) concerning whatever I believe that God wants me to teach for this particular season. As the Word of God fills your heart and mind, you will build up the faith to tap into the grace to experience God’s best. So, while you are living your life with a laser focus on God’s fixed purpose, I want you also to expect God’s Supernatural Kindness. I want you to build up your faith to experience the favor of God in 2024.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. The Principle of Generous Living.
— Understanding Generosity: Recognize generosity not merely as an act of giving but as a lifestyle of openness and willingness to share what we have with others, both as an act of obedience to the Holy Spirit and as an act of your free will because your heart has been conditional to freely give as you freely receive.
— Impact on Self: Understand that living to bless others transforms our hearts, making us more aligned with God’s character of generosity and love. Since God is a giver, the more we are transformed into His image and likeness, the more conditioned we are to give freely without the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
— Impact on Others: See each act of generosity as a seed that can grow into a tree of blessing in someone else’s life. Not only does your seed produce a harvest in your life, but it can change the trajectory of someone else’s life as well.
— Spiritual Prosperity: Acknowledge that generosity brings spiritual riches, deepening our relationship with God as we reflect His generous nature. Money is the least of all riches in God’s Kingdom.
— Attracting God’s Favor: Recognize that a lifestyle of generosity positions us to be saturated with God’s favor. The more we give, the more God gives to us so we can continue to be conduits of His love, light, and power in this world.
— Overcoming Greed: You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. Love gives, and God is love. Therefore, to walk with God, you must die to any inkling of greed and selfishness. You do this by actively choosing to live generously, trusting God to provide and replenish.
— Cultivating a Generous Heart: Invest time in prayer, worship, and reflection to allow God to cultivate in you a heart that delights in generosity, moving beyond obligation to joy. Giving is not something you’ve GOT to do; it is something you GET to do! God loves it when your heart is in your giving.
2. The Cycle of Blessing.
— Blessed to Be a Blessing: Embrace the understanding that we are blessed not just for our own benefit but to be a conduit of blessing to others. This is the heart of God.
— The Multiplicative Effect of God’s Blessing: God’s blessings, when shared, don’t diminish but multiply, touching more lives than we could imagine. When we live to give, there is no limit to what God will do in, with, or through us. The text says that we will have blessings heaped upon us and be saturated with favor.
— Sowing and Reaping: This earth functions on a system of cause and effect, sowing and reaping, and the free will of humans. Paul told us that God will not be mocked. Whatever you sow, that shall you also reap. So, the more you sow seeds of blessings with a heart of love, the more favor you will experience in every area of your life; you will abound in blessings in expected and unexpected ways.
— Generosity as Worship: Frame our acts of generosity as acts of worship, offerings that honor God and reflect our gratitude for His limitless generosity toward us. As you give, you are worshipping and glorifying the Lord on this planet.
— Leave a Legacy of Generosity: One day, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that our ministry was feeding prisoners in the Dominican Republic because my grandmother did so. She sowed seeds of righteousness in this area. The Lord told me that what I was doing was actually an answer to her prayers. She is dead and in heaven, and her prayers are still being manifested. I can say the same about the seeds my mother has sown. The point is that your blessings will outlive you!
3. Living Saturated in Favor.
— Expectant Living: Approach each day with expectation for God’s favor, believing that our generosity opens doors for divine blessings. Live with an expectation of supernatural kindness. Believe that people will go out of their way to bless you becuase you live to please the Lord!
— Recognizing Favor: Develop the ability to recognize God’s favor in our lives, even in small, everyday blessings, as a result of our lifestyle of generosity. And every time you notice it, give God praise for it!
— Humility in Favor: Maintain humility, understanding that favor is not a result of our goodness but God’s grace. Don’t ever develop a sense of entitlement, and never take credit for something God clearly did FOR you. Pride and entitlement will stop the flow of God’s favor.
— Favor in Trials: While God does not exonerate us from trials, we can experience God’s favor in them. Trust that even in trying times, our lifestyle of generosity will ensure that we remain saturated in God’s favor, providing strength, provision, and a way out of the challenge!
— Stewardship of Favor: Practice stewardship over the favor you receive, using it wisely and generously to bless others and further God’s work. In other words, when God blesses you richly in ways you clearly did not earn, ask the Lord for wisdom concerning how to steward the blessing. Part of the increase may not be for you, and you must be willing to give whatever He tells you to give or to do whatever He leads you to do with the blessing.
— Continual Pouring: Commit to continually pouring out your life as an offering to bless others, trusting that God will not only replenish, restore, revive, and rejuvenate you, but He will saturate you in His favor and grace so you can continue to BE a blessing to this world!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I am deeply grateful for Your grace and favor continually flowing in my life.
I live as a beacon of generosity, actively spreading blessings and igniting hope in every life I touch.
My acts of kindness are seeds of favor, growing into forests of grace that shelter and nourish many.
Your favor envelops me as a tangible reflection of my commitment to pour out blessings upon others.
Through generosity, I combat greed, embodying the abundance of Your Kingdom in a world of scarcity.
Each day, I am blessed TO BLESS, and this cycle of blessing never stops!
I encounter You, Father, in every act of generosity. The more I give as an act of worship, the more blessings You heap upon me, and You saturate me with Your favor!
GREATER IS COMING FOR ME as I live to give and pour out my life for others. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. AMEN!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
