I received a prophetic word that said that this would be a season of God's favor. The prophet said that it appeared like headlines in a newspaper. This heralding of the favor of the Lord would cause many to come to see what God was up to as He was "favoring His church."

Many of you have been in a season of enduring. You have been holding on and not giving up. You have faced many trials and suffered for your faith. It has seemed as though nothing was happening and in spite of what others said and prophesied you were not receiving. This is about to change. We are entering a "season" not limited to 365 days.

The Lord had me to seek out the understanding of favor and led me first to look at Mary. There is a difference between receiving a favor and being favored. The first is only an experience that occurs on occasion. The latter is a condition in which you exist. Mary was highly favored, Luke 1:28. Nothing she did could change it. It was a fact.

She received this favor in a very simple way. She accepted it. She accepted that she was favored even before she could believe she would conceive our Lord. When she said "be it unto me according to thy word," Luke 1:38, she had to accept the concept that she was highly favored. This agreement in her heart was essential for her and it is essential for us.

It is hard to believe we are favored in a world that favors the rich, the famous and the powerful. They have always known favor of some type, at least more so than the majority of us. In fact, whenever someone does a repeated favor for us we have a difficult time receiving over an extended span. We get awkward. But God's wisdom and love chooses us as "favored". This is His doing. We have to get over our inhibitions to receiving.

When Jesus came out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit, He went to His hometown of Nazareth and into the synagogue where it was His custom to attend. There He found the scriptures that prophesied about Him and read from Isa. 61:1-3 the account of His own ministry. He said to those present, "Today is this scripture fulfilled in your hearing," Luke 4:18-21. Jesus believed in His own favor too.

In both cases, a messenger is used to announce and release the truth. They occur concurrently. An angel was used in Mary's case and Jesus was used to speak this to Israel. Now through the prophetic ministry, this truth is given to release favor on the body. Because God sends the messenger, the message is alive to the hearer the moment he or she receives it and it is activated right then and there! Nothing is required on the hearer's part. It is fulfilled in our hearing. God declared it ..that's it.

The "acceptable year of the Lord" was also referred to as the "year of favor" and it is rooted in the Year of Jubilee as outlined in Lev. 25. Isaiah had it in his spirit when he prophesied it about Jesus. Israel did nothing to get God to proclaim a Jubilee time of 7 Sabbaths. It was the Lord's doing. He was separating a people to Himself. Only the Jew would know rest. The pagan world knew little of the kind. The Jew would live supernaturally. The pagan would look on.

Lev. 25 can be divided into three blessings, which I will simplify for you. They are rest, return and release. God actually forced the children to not work and mandated the land to be allowed to rest. This meant no tilling, no reaping. Everybody ate and ate supernaturally, so to speak. The land and the laborer were quiet. The landowner, the foreigner and the servant all could eat as they chose when they chose. The untilled and unreaped land would provide for three years without planting.

Then those who had lost their land because of debt were also going to have their land returned to them. There was a canceling of all debts and the land that had been forfeited to pay debts could come back to the original owner. Property was restored and inheritances were renewed to keep valuable property in the family. Thus the rich did not get richer while the poor got poorer. Forgiveness was the key word. Land would be bought back by a "kinsman redeemer". Jesus is our kinsman redeemer. He buys back our losses. Jubilee.

Finally, those who were indentured servants because of debt would also be released to return to freedom. Families were healed. Debts were cancelled and those who were captive servants were released. No act of theirs had secured this release. It was the Lord's doing. This simplified explanation serves to enable us to enter our rest, return and release.

What we must also do is look at the details Jesus gave when He referred to this year of favor. He said it was available to the poor in spirit. That would be those who are not self-sufficient, but hunger for God. Those who are broken hearted over the condition of life, those who are spiritually blind and lack revelation and those who are bound by all manner of sins and bondages were to be set free. Those who needed healing and were bruised are to be healed.

Each of these promises must be interpreted according to ones personal situations and not according to those in Israel's time. We don't need a supernatural barley harvest but we could use a financial harvest. You haven't lost land necessarily, but you have lost other things, some in the natural and some in the supernatural realm. You are favored and this is Jubilee. You don't have to do something to get anything restored or returned except hear what God is saying. It is fulfilled in your hearing.

What may happen as a result of God's favor is another thing. It is His goodness that leads to repentance. Yes you may change some things in your life. But you won't need to do them in order to be favored. You are just because He says so. The power is in the declaration.

The Third Day church is going to enter this place of favor with the Lord. She is coming before her King like Esther did. When in His presence, the king reached out his scepter and offered up to her half of his kingdom. He said, "What do you wish?" Esther 5:1-3. We have not yet reigned with our Lord as we should, but the day is upon us and the favor of God is being pronounced. God is about to make headlines with His people. The bride is being prepared. Favor is in your hearing. Do you hear it?