We are not given favor because of who we are but because of who Jesus is in the eyes of the father. His favor is now ours because we have been placed in him. We’re not given favor because of our performance as Christians, but because of our placement in Christ.
We are given favor because of the father’s relationship with us in Christ and because of the father’s relationship with Christ in us. In Christ, we are a new creation, one that never existed before in the earth. The first Adam was a living soul whom the Holy Spirit came upon so that he could fulfill God’s purpose. The second Adam, Jesus was a life-giving Spirit. When we are placed in him on the Cross, the old nature passed away and all things became new. The old race of the first Adam passed away and anyone born from above becomes part of an entirely new race of people that have never existed prior to the cross.
The second Adam is from heaven so that we shall bear the image of the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15: 45-49). This is progressive, as we look to the Lord to see who he wants us to become next-who he wants to become to us next in our walk with him. God has not restored us to the garden that was in Eden, which was a dimensional place, where heaven overshadowed earth. He has gone much further than that! He has placed us into the very heart of the godhead where we are no longer looking at the earthly image but the heavenly (2 Corinthians 5: 16) we see one another in the Spirit so that we can prophecy over them their next transformation, and we see Jesus as he is not on the earth, but in heaven.
The first purpose of God was to make man in his own image (Genesis 1: 26). Adam fell from that image and produced children after his fallen image. But in Christ by once sacrifice we have been restored to God’s image (perfected) as we are being sanctified (transformation process) (Hebrews 10:14). We are being continually transformed by the renewing of the mind, as the Lord reveals to us who he wants to become in us next. This process can take years or be accelerated, because spiritual grow does not depend upon time, but desire, our hunger and thirst for it.
We are united, one spirit with the likeness of Christ and given all the benefits of relationship with him through the father. Favor is attached to the image of Jesus, not our behavior. We are learning to grow in grace and favor. Grace is God’s empowering presence to us in Christ, it is the energy or power of God manifested through the awareness of his presence and glory. Favor is the right and the privilege of sonship.
In Christ, the empowering presence of God guarantees us all the rights and privileges of Jesus. The father loves us as he loves Jesus. He has a relationship with Jesus, who is in us, as we are in him. Therefore, we are a joint here with Christ.
We belong to the father who gave us to Jesus. Everything given to Jesus is from God, including us! All those who were given to Jesus by the father also still belong to the father. All things that belong to the father also belong to Jesus and vice versa.
John 17: 6-10 is a fascinating study of your joint ownership. We are now living in the revelation that was given to John, which goes beyond what Paul received when he wrote his epistles, but we have to grow into it, we are all coming out of darkness or deception.
Every time I receive revelation that I have not yet walked in, I become like a little child and the Lord beings to write it upon my heart so that I become it through experience.
Everything that the father has given to Jesus now automatically becomes part of our relationship with him too. We are joint heirs with Christ, and we are learning how to walk in our inheritance, which is the divine nature and its responsibilities to govern.
Therefore, the origin of all our favor is in Christ’s relationship with the father and our inclusion into Christ. I am in the father, and you in me, and I in you (John 14:20).
Just as the father loved me, I have also loved you, abide in my love (John 15: 9). Whatever the father is to Jesus, he is to us. He has put us into Christ, so that he can enjoy the same relationship with us as he does with Jesus!
This is not just the very heart of favor; it is also the essential nature of the gospel. You are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3: 3). Even so (as Jesus died to sin once for all) (in the same way) reckon yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Roman 6: 11). Reckon is an accounting term. Through the provision of Jesus on the Cross, which is our inheritance, sin and trespasses are not held against us, so occupy your mind with the truth that you are dead to sin and give it no power through your thought life.
We are a new creation, all the old things have passed away, everything has become new, and all these things are of God (2 Corinthians 5: 17-18).
All our favor is tied into the new creation, not the old. Because our old nature is dead, favor only relates to our new nature in Christ. When the father looks at us, he does not see what is wrong with us. He sees what is missing in our relationship with Christ, and he is committed to developing that in us by the Holy Spirit. Our ongoing favor is part of that development.
The father honors the sacrifice of Jesus, and he includes us, not only in his death, but also in his life. This means that when the Holy Spirit puts his finger on a part of our life that is not working, he is pointing to the site of our next transformation. We are looking at our next upgrade in the image of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1: 30 But by his doing are you in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
2 Peter 1: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the experiential knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, which how his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of him who called us to (channel) his own glory and excellence.
The true knowledge of Jesus involves an encounter and ongoing experiences of Christ that make us in God’s image as a transformational fact, not just a mental assent.
Prophecy is a viable part of that transformation process. While we rely on scripture for the whole truth of our progression into becoming like God, prophecy backs up a peculiar aspect of that work.
God always works from the whole to the particular part. The father sees the complete finished work of Christ but points us to the specific part that he intends to change now.
Any personal prophecy will focus on the next stage of our transformation. We change by degrees. Upgrades take us to the next level of our conversion. The gospel is always such fascinatingly good news in this regard. Who does not love changing for the better? The Holy Spirit does not touch our lives to make us miserable. He touches us to make us rejoice that change is possible.
The good news is that Jesus has already claimed that part of our life that is not working properly. We have been granted everything pertaining to life and godliness. Prophecy makes it come alive in the present in a powerful way. It gives us a context and a fabulous opportunity to cooperate now and enjoy the process of change that is being offered. Do not put off the joy being set before you through personal prophecy. Stay away from those who prophecy according to the flesh. All true personal prophesy has to do with our next transformation and the provision that is attached to it!