Favor Finds You • Daily Devo 164
Will you be ready? Word Count: 2,125
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Today’s Devotional Scripture: 19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.
- 1 Kings 19:19 KJV
The Message For Today (September 16, 2024):
Audio Version Of This Devotional: Favor Finds You Audio
Favor will find you right where God called you to be. So often people wonder what it takes to step into divine favor, what it takes to walk with God completely, and what does it take to see the grace and glory of God released in their lives.
They believe it's because they've been the best person, or because they always have the most resources, or the best people. Many people chalk it down to luck. However, this is not a matter of luck. It is a matter of consistency and obedience. Here we see in 1 Kings 19, where the prophet Elijah, after spending time in the cave, is instructed by God to go and anoint kings and to anoint Elisha as a prophet in his stead. So he does it.
Elijah leaves the cave, he anoints King Jehu, he anoints another king, and then in verse 19, we see him walking out the last part of the instruction that God gave him earlier in this chapter. We see him throwing the mantle on Elisha, and we think, “Well, Elisha could have been anywhere and God would have found him”, and that's true. God would have found Elisha anywhere.
But when we read the scripture, there's actually more to unpack here. God will find you wherever you are, however, favor will find you where God called you to be. There is a difference. So when we look earlier in the scripture, and we look at the instruction that the Lord gave to Elijah, in verse 15, it says,
15 And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:
16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. - 1 Kings 19:15-16 KJV
Here in these two verses, we see that the kings were in specific places and that the next prophet after Elijah was in a specific place. He was in a specific town and he is identified by his family, by his father, and by the location. God knew where Elishawould be. So when you get down to verse 19 and 20, you see that Elisha was in a specific position. He was working the land of his parents. He was working the land that was his assignment. So he was in position.
We see that he was plowing with the 12th yoke of oxen in verse 19. That means that out of the 12 yokes of oxen, there was an order. He was finishing the work of the 12th. He was with the 12th yoke, so there was an order to his steps. There was indeed positioning and obedience in those two things. He was right where he was called to be, on assignment, and he was working orderly as he was with the 12th yoke of 24 oxen. This is work.
To take the oxen and to plow the land was work. It took skill. It took a steady hand to go through 12 yokes, a.k.a. 24 oxen because two oxen made one yoke, which means that he knew how to work the land. He was on divine assignment and he was there doing what he was called to do. He wasn't in another city. He wasn't going about doing all that he wanted to do.
That doesn't mean God would not have known where he was. Yes, God will find you anywhere. However, favor, the favor of God, is uniquely tied to your divine assignment. What is it that God called you to do that you have not finished? What is it that God gave you as an assignment that you started but then stopped? God is saying that favor will find you as you're operating in the finished work of your assignment.
When we go further, we go to verse 20, after the mantle is cast upon Elisha, it says:
20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? - 1 Kings 19:20 KJV
In verse 21, he returned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them, the two oxen, and burned their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave them to the people and they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. So not only was he found doing the assignment God called him, he was waiting. He knew in his heart when the mantle was cast upon him, what that meant for his life. He was not a stranger to what that symbolized.
This was in his heart already. So when he left and said, I pray thee, give me a moment, let me go kiss my mother and father goodbye. He was ready to separate from his mother and father and cleave to Elijah as the prophet. You see signs of that cleaving later in 2 Kings 2, when Elijah is taken up, it says that Elijah and Elisha were torn asunder.
When Elijah was lifted up, it says in 2 Kings 2, “my father, my father”, Elisha saw Elijah as a father.
11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. - 2 Kings 2:11-12 KJV
There was indeed a cleaving that happened after he left his mother's and father's home in 1 Kings 19:19. This was a commitment to walk with the prophet and to be in covenant with the prophet. So he leaves his mother and father after he kisses his mother and father goodbye. And then in one final symbolic act, he offered a sacrifice. He took one of the yoke of oxen, slew them, and boiled their flesh.
21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him. - 1 Kings 19:21 KJV
So he burnt the yoke and then boiled their flesh as a meat offering and gave it to the people and they did eat. So this was an orderly thing to do as he left one part of his life and stepped into another. There was indeed favor because as we see again in 2 Kings 2, we see that he prays for a double portion of what is on Elijah's life. And because he sees Elijah taken up, he receives that double portion. He receives a double portion of the anointing of what is on Elijah.
This is favor. This is what favor looks like.
It looks like picking up the mantle that was always assigned to your life. Even when it feels like you're just waiting for it to happen and you're waiting for the breakthrough. When you are walking with God in your divine assignment, the breakthrough and the favor of God will find you in the doing.
It will find you in your obedience. Another example of this is in 1 Samuel 17. A young David is in the wilderness for 40 days taking care of his father’s sheep. His father gave him the assignment to go and deliver bread to his brothers and to King Saul. We see that when he gets there, he sees an opportunity in his obedience to his father.
Coming to the battleground and delivering bread as his obedience in one thing was the doorway to him immediately shifting into something that he was anointed for earlier in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel.
12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. - 1 Samuel 16:12-13 KJV
We see that he was anointed to be next in line to be the king of Israel. We see that he was anointed to be in the kingdom. After the anointing in the favor in defeating Goliath, the soul of David is cleaved to the soul of Jonathan in first Samuel chapter 18. The covenant between Johnathan and David starts here.
Favor found David in his obedience. He didn't have to force it. He had to finish his divine assignment (caring for the sheep while having victory over the lion and the bear). I challenge you this morning, go back to the thing that God gave you. Go back to the thing that He called you to create. Go back to your divine assignment. It's time to go back and to see the fullness of what God asked you to create.
Even when you might not have felt like it was useful,
Even though you might not have felt like it was going anywhere,
and Even though you might've felt like you were doing or going in a different direction,
Maybe finishing the last assignment is the open door to a new one. Maybe it's the open door to elevation. Maybe it is the thing that you've been praying for and God is simply waiting on you to finish the work, to be in position, and to trust in His divine timing.
He is the Lord our God. He is mighty to deliver and mighty to set free. Don't give up and don't grow weary in well-doing for in due season, you will reap a harvest if you faint not (Galatians 6:9 KJV).
Closing Devotional Prayer
My prayer for you: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you. I thank you for the mighty woman of God. I thank you for the grace and the glory over her life. I thank you, Lord God, for her being a yielded vessel this morning. I thank you, God, that you'll bring back to her remembrance all that she has been called to do. What is it that you would have her to put her hands on in this season as her plow, as her yoke and oxen, God?
What is it, God, that is her divine assignment in this season that may not look glamorous? It may look like a finished work that leads to the favor of God finding her right where she is. The same way you found Ruth in the field gleaning, find her, God. I thank you for the favor. I thank you for the favor of God over her life.
I thank you for the supernatural grace and empowerment of the glory and of the word of the Lord over her life. I thank you for the fire of God, which is like fire shut up in her bones. I pray, God, that those who are called to release a sound through their ministries, their voices, and even their own families, I'm praying for that activation this morning in the name of Jesus. Have your way, King of Glory.
Shift the mighty woman of God. Help her to see where it is that she's called to put her hands to God and empower her with the Holy Spirit, which is the finisher. The Holy Spirit, which is the teacher, God. The Holy Spirit, which you've given us that we may do greater works than these, because you went to your father.
The greater works, God, are attached to her “Yes!”, to you. I pray for authority and dominion over her divine assignment, even if it doesn't look too divine. I thank you, Lord, and I pray in Jesus' mighty name, Amen.
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