Stop trying to fashion something you were already given in Christ. Proverbs 18:16 says “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.” According to this promise, all you have to do is what you are gifted at. Your gift ACTUALLY MAKES ROOM FOR YOU. It opens doors which no one can shut. You can’t create your favor. You can’t earn your favor. You can’t work for your favor. Your favor follows your gifting.
In what area(s) would you say you’ve experienced the most favor in your life? What have you done throughout your life that has always been easy for you or has felt second nature? I feel like answering these questions can and will potentially lead you right into the area or arena where God has given you favor. Knowing you do not create your favor is the mindset of a Kingdom entrepreneur. Favor isn’t something I can work to achieve; it’s something I have already been given, as a son of the Most High God.
It has taken me awhile to figure out where my favor was, because I used to think I had to work hard in order to obtain favor. Thus why I thought I had to do a certain thing or go a certain place or be a certain way in order to get where I wanted to be. But, over the years, I began to see that true favor is found in the place of your gifting.
As far back as I can remember (and I will tell you that I can’t really remember a lot from my childhood), I loved to create and build new things. I liked to take things apart and rebuild them better. I liked to take something that I wanted to see in the world and build it from scratch. Strategy of how to do something new, came easy to me. I enjoy taking something and dissecting it from every angle, researching how it would work, and then testing it to see what happens. This creative strategy has always thrived in me.
Whether that was some sort of Lego structure, a class project, a toothpick bridge, a live edge table, bodybuilding, t-shirts, a comic book, or a business, I’ve always had favor in the area of creating and building something from scratch and doing it with excellence. For me, this is second nature. It has never been difficult for me. In fact, I like the challenge of doing something new. But what I didn’t realize, for years, is that this place of raw creativity is exactly where the favor of God has been and always will be in my life. As I drew near to that reality, the favor over this place began to open the doors of opportunity.
My challenge to you is think back over the course of your life; think about the things in your life that you loved, enjoyed, had a passion for, or was easy for you. Now, ask yourself, is what I’m doing now (growing in favor that comes from God by doing what I was designed to do) or is this job, this promotion, this life I live, simply the result of hard work? Getting recognition, because of your work isn’t always synonymous with the favor which results from your gifting. Favor and recognition aren’t always the same thing.
Take a minute and ask yourself if you are truly utilizing your gifts? If so, you’re right where you’re supposed to be. If not, you might want to reevaluate what you’re doing, go back to the drawing board, and begin to think about where you went off track. Remember: you don’t create your favor. Your favor follows your gifting. But if you’re not plowing (using your gifts) in the right field (what you’re called to do) you’ll never experience the true harvest (favor) that was given to you by God. This is the harvest which ultimately allows the Kingdom of God to flow through you into the fields of others.