The Cost Of Favor

July has been quite possibly the hardest month for me in a long time. It all started on a day at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland.

We arrived with a group of 24 amazing people to visit and experience one of my favorite places back home.

Off we went through the entrance and began walking down the path, a path I have walked on and explored around scores of times before. This time, any attempt to move from the concrete path was met with a whistle blow. A whistle warning for walking my land.

Of course, it makes sense as we discovered that the Causeway itself was overrun by hundreds if not thousands of tourists from all over the world, and my head totally understood that because of the sheer number of visitors, if their freedom was not limited, they could ruin something incredibly precious and irreplaceable. My head understood but I found myself so offended, offended so deep, it hurt.

You may not know this but I fought for my land. I spilled blood for my land. I sacrificed for my land. All of that sacrifice was supposed to lead to blessings, probably everything that I was experiencing that day in the Giant’s Causeway. The blessing that people from all over the world were traveling to my land and enjoying the beauty, the history, and the land itself. The blessing that the economy was boosted with tourist dollars. But blessing comes at a cost. I and some friends made the ultimate sacrifice so that tourists could jostle me out of the way to take a selfie. Oblivious to the cost paid by others, they overrun the land just so they could post to Instagram.

So why did this usher in a month of warfare for me?

I believe God has been saying “prepare for favor”. How exciting! Get ready for favor sounds awesome and it is. It just has a cost . Favor will mean that lots of people will enjoy the blessings without the battle. People will not know about the loss, the betrayals, the financial scars, the deep hurt and wounds that you have endured to get to this place. And of course it makes sense, I mean the reason we pay a price is, so others don’t have to.

Preparing for favor is like preparing for anything, it starts with a decision and perhaps God is asking you for a decision. Do you want favor? Now before you go ahead and answer that too quickly, please count the cost. Are you up for the challenge that favor will bring?

That’s been some of my battle this last month. To accept favor will mean letting go of things that feel personally sacred. Favor costs the one who is favored. Few will understand, but it’s for the benefit of others. Favor isn’t fair. There, I said it. But He is worthy of it all.