The Flip Side of Favor

By Dr. Charles E. Goodman Jr.

Favor aint fair!
Too blessed to be stressed!

We all declare that we have been favored by God. Because of that favor, we believe we are exempt from problems and pains and are meant to live a life of uninterrupted prosperity. This, unfortunately, is not an accurate biblical definition of favor. Dr. Goodman provides an insightful, illustrative, and biblically based narrative that is centered on the life of the most notable, favored person in biblical history, Joseph, the one who is gifted with a coat of many colors.

Dr. Goodman unveils the flipside of favor by taking the reader on a journey as they explore how Joseph endured the pit, Potiphers house, and prison before he makes his way to the palace. The flipside of favor is an empowering and encouraging read that provided renewed strength, peace, and hope, which provided answers, not about the fairness of favor, but about its fruitfulness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503548879

Dr. Charles E. Goodman Jr.

Pastor, community leader, and communicator of truth. Dr. Charles E. Goodman Jr. is the pastor of the over 6,200-member Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia. He serves on various community and civil boards, and his extensive travels allow his preaching and lecturing to reach audiences on both a national and international level. He is committed to being a positive and influential change in this present age and lives out his purpose of loving and leading people into a maturing relationship with God.

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Copyright © 2015 by Dr. Charles E. Goodman, Jr.

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Rev. date: 03/06/2015

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter ONE Coated in Favor

Chapter TWO Assigned to the Pit

Chapter THREE Operating in Favor

Chapter FOUR Imprisoned by Favor

Chapter FIVE Tasked by Favor

Conclusion On the Other Side

About the Author

All scripture references are taken from Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation and the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright ©

1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®.

NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of

Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Scripture quotations marked NLV are taken from the New Life Version. Copyright ©

1982 by Christian Literature International. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Acknowledgements

I dedicate this book to my little sisters, Chandra (Chandy) and Ashley (Half Pint) Harrington. You two have grown up to be amazingly beautiful women and I am so proud of you, but I am also grateful that I came FIRST!

Love,

Momma’s Favorite

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

During the season of Advent (from the Latin adventus meaning coming, visit, or expectation), we chronicle our Lord and Savior’s amazing journey into this world. We recount the story of His virgin birth to Mary and His unsuspecting presentation to the world from a manger in Bethlehem. For many, this season kindles great memories and emotions, reminiscent of the happiest moments in life. We think about decorating our homes and receiving greeting cards that depict the Nativity of Jesus. Surely, the Advent season triggers a wonderful feeling as we celebrate the moment that the Messiah came to the earth.

We have read the story of Jesus’ wonderful birth in the gospels of Matthew and Luke and pictured the characters to be joyous and without worries. However, I doubt that Mary and Joseph, broke and traveling in the winter cold, considered their experience to be as wonderful and grand as current culture would portray it. Despite what movies may depict about the birth of Jesus, I doubt that it was so glorious for Mary and Joseph. In fact, what we imagine as a time of great joy and celebration, was probably a terrifying and painful time for Mary and Joseph.

Consider the angelic visitation: the angel came to Mary and told her that she was blessed and highly favored. In isolation, such a message would inspire excitement for most of us. However, the angel added that she would give birth to the Savior. Now for Mary, being blessed and favored meant that she would also have to explain to others how she was impregnated by the Spirit. Remember that Mary and Joseph lived in a very different time than we do; engaged to Joseph, Mary would now face ostracism and scandal because she was chosen to carry a child that was actually God’s ultimate gift to the world.

Joseph, too, must have contemplated why such a blessing would be accompanied by unreasonable difficulty. After discovering that his presumed virgin bride was actually with child, he now had to explain to others why he chose not to stone this woman who appeared to have cheated on him. As you can see, favor is not always pleasant – despite the overwhelming grace that accompanies favor, we have to acknowledge that there will be some inconveniences associated with being chosen.

Personally, I struggled as I considered the incongruity between the benefits of favor and the challenges of favor. I had always associated favor with a new season and a new destiny, free from the worries from the past; but I had to move beyond such a basic notion of the term and thoroughly explore the true nature of favor. Favor isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, whether we want to accept the true complexity of the principle or not. Those of you that have been chosen by God for any type of calling know that you have faced incredible frustration, even in the midst of your favor. I believe many of you have experienced this and when you look over your life, you are thankful that God thought enough of you to bless you. Yet, at the same time, you may say, God, I didn’t know everything that would come with this blessing. Or, If I knew then what I know now, perhaps I wouldn’t have said, ‘Pass me not o’ gentle Savior’ when you first asked for a blessing.

So what do you do when being chosen causes your world to be turned upside down? What do you do when God gives you a responsibility that you didn’t ask for and, most of the time, you don’t even feel like you are qualified to handle? What do you do when you have been blessed with a talent and now you have to deal with the consequences of a gift that you had no choice in receiving? These are just some of the questions that we are going to journey together to answer.

My desire is to help ease the minds of those of you who are navigating the complexities encountered when you are favored by God. I challenge you to not read this book as if it were merely the story of a fictional character; but take this journey with me as we endeavor to understand that being favored does not mean that we will never have a problem. Rather, being favored by God means that no problem we encounter will be too big for us, because no problem is bigger than God. Awareness of that fact is essential to truly living in favor and is what we will explore together in this book. We will look at the life of someone that Biblical scholars consider one of the most favored individuals of all antiquity: Joseph, son of Jacob. Joseph’s life provides the ultimate example of the types of challenges you will experience, even when you are favored by God. Each chapter will examine a portion of Joseph’s life and provide us with insight about the flip side of favor. In each section, you will find a few principles to infuse into your own journey in favor, as well as, questions designed to spark growth in you spiritual life as you consider and pray about your answers to these questions.

As we follow Joseph from his father’s home, through a pit, into slavery, to prison and finally to the Egyptian palace, we will note experiences of hatred, pain, destitution, and injustice. Being favored is not easy! In fact, being favored can be very hard; it often involves being challenged and it requires you to conquer these challenges amongst impossible odds. Your flip side experience will force you to mature and learn to forgive. The content of this book will, in fact, debunk most of what we think we know about God’s favor. Now is the time to ask yourself: can you handle the flip side of favor?

CHAPTER ONE

Chapter ONE

Coated in Favor

Dealing with Jealousy and Hate

L et us look at the life of Joseph and consider how God first chose and later empowered him to help miraculously bring His people from near starvation to overwhelming abundance. Genesis chapters 37 through 50 illustrate