COVERED IN FAVOR by Latta Claire

As I sat on the plane I pondered the evil that had just occurred. My mind began to be consumed with the evil that happened, and I questioned why this evil attack occurred.

For some context, earlier we were standing ready with our passports at the airport and my dad went up to the counter to check in his luggage. He gave them his passport and we noticed they were taking a little longer than normal to process his information. After a while, a confused look began to form on the worker's face. He called over another worker and then she too began to have a confused look on her face.

The worker looked up from the screen and said “This has never happened in all of my time working here, but someone else checked in with your identity.” Of course we were shocked and had no idea how this could have happened. We continued to stand in line for several more minutes while our whole group was waiting for us and time was ticking. We needed to go through security and get to our flight. Eventually, they were able to problem solve the situation and we were able to move on. My dad and I discussed how demonic this situation was after it was all over.

We do not look for a demon under every rock, but there are certain circumstances in your life that require no other explanation other than Satan trying to bring you down. Going back to being on the plane, I was processing all that happened and dwelling on the way the enemy tried to keep us from getting on our flight. Our MISSION trip flight. Then in the midst of my pondering, I felt a small voice whisper, “Claire, look where you are. You are on the plane.” My mindset was completely transformed from dwelling on the negative that had just happened, to then dwelling on the favor of God. God had not let us down.

He trumped Satan’s attack on us and God had the final word. I was focusing so heavily on the negative that I forgot to praise God for moving and working in the situation. I felt God’s presence so heavily in that moment and I felt his favor rest upon me. Also, I believe that this occurrence provoked me to continually pray for favor over my life and the rest of the trip, and I experienced God’s favor in this trip in some very personal ways.

Satan had spent so much energy on keeping us held back, that he did not even consider the God who would have the last word. The God who would triumph over him and his demons. The God who would cover his children in favor and cause them to move forward with their traveling. Oh the wasted energy Satan and his demons spend on us because of their neglect to recognize the favor of God upon his people. They think their demonic acts will destroy us, but God says otherwise.

A favorite song of mine says, “The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine!” While this is a bigger example of God’s favor, I have witnessed His favor upon my life in smaller ways too. I pray for God’s favor to be over my life multiple times a day as I go about my day. Praying for God’s favor is not selfish. Because we are in a relationship with God, we will have favor that unbelievers do not have access to. (Side note: they COULD have access to, if they opened their hearts to let Jesus in). Psalms 5:12 states, “Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

This verse says that favor is a shield for the righteous. God’s favor protects us from things that should have happened to us, but instead God comes in and surrounds us, protects us, and causes us to triumph. I speak favor over my health, my work, my family, whenever I drive somewhere, traveling, and so much more. I think there is automatic favor when we step into relationship with Christ, but I also believe that when we ask God for favor in specific places, He will provide favor in those areas.

Proverbs 8:35 states, “For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.” One last thing I will share as I wrap up- is the title of this post came to my mind as we were on our flight back. The planes seem to have been the times where I felt God speak, ha! I was thinking over the trip and everything God had done, how he had protected our group, given us health, caused us to triumph, etc. I felt this phrase “Covered in Favor” immediately come to mind and I knew this was something I needed to talk about. I think many of us are living in only a part of God’s goodness for our lives, because we neglect to ask and speak favor over ourselves, our jobs, our families, our health, etc. So today I encourage you to declare yourself covered in favor in every area of your life. :)