Obtaining Favor With God - Soul Choice Ministries

Most of us would like to have favor in our lives with God and people. The question is, “How do we acquire it?” Some people teach that all we must do is claim it. However, this is not the case. There is a lifestyle we need to adhere to in order to obtain favor. There are Bible verses that instruct us how to do that. First, let’s look at the example of Jesus:

Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

Notice Jesus grew in wisdom and then had favor. What exactly is wisdom?

Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”

To fear the Lord is wisdom, and learning about God gives us understanding. The Bible says that to fear him is to obey him (Acts 9:31).

Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the froward mouth, do I hate.”

We are to hate evil, and love God’s ways. If we tolerate evil and are not grieved by it, then we don’t fear God, and we won’t have favor from Him.

Studying the Bible will give us understanding. Favor will come after attaining wisdom and understanding, and this takes time and discipline. This is the first and most important step.

Now lets look at another way to obtain favor.

Proverbs 3:3-4 says, “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.”

Showing mercy, forgiving people who have wronged us, and speaking the truth will give you favor with people. Speaking the truth is sometimes dangerous today, as truth has been hidden and labeled as mis information. Winston Churchill said, “Truth is so valued that its protected by an army of lies.”

Another way to obtain favor is found in Proverbs 28:23 which says, “He that rebukes a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue.”

Giving a rebuke to someone in certain incidences will produce a better outcome than to flatter, and we should never flatter. The truth may hurt at first, but the person may appreciate and receive it afterwards.

A true account: I had a real estate listing, where I had to rebuke the seller, as he constantly complained that I had not sold his house. He griped at me and accused me of not doing my job yet he didn’t do anything I had instructed him to do, like clean the house, remove three large dogs from the home, clean the carpet and windows, pick up the mess all over the house, turn on the A/C when its hot, and open the blinds as he often kept it closed up and dark.

I told him, “I refuse to work for someone who is always yelling, complaining, rude, and won’t take my advice, so I’m cancelling the listing.” The next day he called me and apologized. He said he realized he was rude, and wrong. He said my rebuke to him woke him up. He would now clean up the place and asked me to re-list his house so I did. He did do all the things I instructed, and I then sold the house.

Another way to gain favor is obeying Proverbs 8:34-35, “Blessed is the man that heareth me (wisdom), watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life and shall obtain favor of the Lord.”

Waiting on God’s instruction involves not only patience, but pursuing wisdom takes persistence and discipline. This includes reading His word daily and being hungry to learn about God and His ways.

I have another true account to emphasize this point. After God gave me the 23 minutes in hell experience, I wanted to understand God’s heart so I could properly explain the balance of a horrific hell ,and an all-loving God. I listened to about five hundred pastors and scholars’ teachings on hell, I studied the scriptures for seven years, hand-wrote out all the verses on hell, and read twenty different commentaries and ten Bible dictionaries on each verse.

During this period, I was asked to speak at many churches. Annette and I went and paid our own way, and never received any money from anyone for seven years. There was no book written then. There were also many character tests during those seven years to see if I would show love to those who were mean or causing me harm, by forgiving them, honoring my word to my own hurt, being generous with money, honoring God’s word, and being obedient to travel.

After that period, one of the largest Christian publishers contacted me and asked me to write a book. I wrote the book, 23 Minutes in Hell, in order to share all the scripture I had learned about hell, and also document the commentaries opinions on the subject. The scripture is what is important to believe, and not necessarily my vision. The point is God gave me favor with the publisher, as they came to me, which was a rare thing to occur. This favor came after much study, patience, persistence, travel, and pursuing God.

Now on a lighter note, to help illustrate hunger for the things of God which brings favor, I’d like to share these comparisons:

A long time ago, during the 1970’s, there was a TV show called, “Kung Fu.” The young Qui Chang Cain was so anxious to be admitted to a special karate school that few would ever dream to be part of. He stood outside the door every day, through rain and snow, summer and winter, waiting for them to open the door. They watched his persistence, and then finally he was admitted. This is the hunger and persistence God wants to see in us for Him!

On the other hand, another comparison is in the “Rocky” movies, part 1 and 2. The main character, Rocky Balboa was hungry to win but in the third movie he lost his discipline and drive. The movie referred to as “the eye of the tiger.” He lost the fight because he lost that hunger.

More on favor is found in Proverbs 11:27 which says, “He that diligently seeketh good procures favor.”

Being kind to people will definitely bring you favor. This includes those who some see as insignificant, like those who wait on you, or the passer by, or even those who treat you poorly.

There was a woman who was renting her house by owner. I brought a couple by to see it – but she said she hated realtors and wouldn’t accept any tenant from me. I told her I didn’t want any money, but the people would be good tenants for her. I told her, “It’s not easy to find a good tenant, and here they are for you.” She slammed the door in my face. I told the couple to go back over without me. They did and she rented to them. They stayed for six years as tenants, and she loved them. Six years later, I had become President of the HOA in the neighborhood we both lived in.

We needed a vote for painting the complex another color. We were at 50% and needed one more vote. She stood up in meeting and said, “Bill Wiese looked out for me six years ago even though I was mean and rude to him. If he was looking out for me then, I believe he is looking out for us now. I’m voting for the color change.” So we had our majority vote. God gave me favor, but also I was kind to her even though she was rude.

Another way to obtain favor is by acting in humility and honesty with God and man. Proverbs 22:4, “By humility and fear of the Lord are riches, honor and life.”

A large corporation interviewed me to list their 26 condos. They were also going to interview two other companies. I knew who the two were, and they were much larger and more capable than I was. I met with the owner of the corporation, where he shared that they would like a big advertising budget to market the properties. I explained to him that I was not a big enough company for them to consider. I told him that the other companies they were interviewing were large and could afford the advertising budget they wanted. I did tell them that I was very familiar with the condos and had sold many of the units before, but I just couldn’t put the money out for them. He surprisingly said, “We can put up the money for the advertising. We want an honest agent that would not make statements to ever get us into trouble. You can buy advertising, but you can’t buy character. Your humility in recommending your competition speaks volumes.” They gave me the listings and I sold all twenty-six.

Psalms 45:12, “Even the rich among the people will intreat thee with favor.”

Favor is also found in the words of Proverbs 18:22, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.”

This speaks for itself. My life improved greatly when I met my wife. She is a tremendous blessing. She oversees the ministry, and runs it with assistance. She has a BA degree in business, years of training in organization, prays for me and others and our leadership every day, takes care of herself, and honors her parents. She also eats very healthy, is careful with money, is kind to people, and has a Godly heart. She is clean and neat, cooks well, is athletic, and is absolutely stunning and beautiful. God has given me great favor to marry a girl like her who is way over my head!

The bottom line is that we don’t just flippantly claim favor. It is up to us to live Godly, walk in the fear of the Lord, obey Him, show kindness, patience and mercy to people, and study God’s word in order to know the Lord better. This will give us a life of favor not only to benefit ourselves, but also to be a blessing to help others.