Favor

We have favor [fey-ver] the state of being approved or held in regard: to be in favor at court.

MOVE BEYOND:

Euphoria is the temporary response of pleasure chemicals in the brain.  They are seratonin (happy) and dopamine (pleasure).  Overreliance on chemicals as a means to gauge or further any relationship is a bad thing.   

Thanks to my friend, Mark for reminding me about euphoria. 

In a relationship with God, this plays out in a practical way.  If we're in prayer or worship, often we wait for the "feeling" to hit before we know God accepts us unconditionally, and then we can begin to pour our hearts out.  We don't pour out a "sacrifice of praise" until the spiritual matches the physical. So, we're sitting around, waiting for something to happen. 

key point:  there's a difference between waiting on God and waiting for something to happen.

REMEMBER:

We serve a God who is "turned on" by sacrifices.  The one did not change, the one who enveloped the Israelites with a dark cloud. But, now, when we approach him, we feel empty-handed.  We feel nothing.  This is quite wrong.

In fact, when we take our family to the Church, when we go to the prayer meeting, when we enter our secret place, God sees a sacrifice (not in the metaphorical sense-- in the sense that he is looking for blood) greater than one he has ever seen.  He sees Jesus.

TWO-BUTTON SUITS, PEWS AND POWER POINTS DO NOT NEGATE THE FACT THAT OUR GOD HAS A WAY HE LIKES TO DO THINGS THAT IS AT ONCE REAL AND RIGHT WHERE WE LIVE.  THE OLD WAYS OF WORSHIPPING GOD ARE NOT LOST TO ANTIQUITY.  ALTHOUGH CHRIST WAS THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, YAHWEH STILL LOVES A HEART THAT OFFERS TO HIM A SACRIFICE!

DON'T WAIT:

Pentecostal prayers have very good "feelers", but sometimes we must take our sacrifice and believe that it is good.  We must "live" the sacrifice.  Here is a verse that sums it up.   

Hebrews 13:15 (New International Version)

 ¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.

The author of Hebrews, perhaps Paul, Apollos or someone else, had grown up so Jewish that he or she got this right way.  To catch up, it's taken me some time and probably some revelation, but I don't claim that level of inspiration.

Not when the book is open and free . . .