In this The Year Of Open Doors, God will be showing Himself off through you like never before!  Everything that you endured in your past was preparation for this next dispensation that God ordered for your life before He gave you life.  Although the place that you were in was familiar, it was no longer comfortable – God set your eviction date from that cramped place and initiated the travail that expelled you.

Often, when we hear, “Favor Ain’t Fair!”, it’s spoken as a disclaimer for a great blessing that one has received, for an unusual access that one has been allowed, for a special privilege that one has been granted.   It implies that others were not considered for what the recipient received – and nothing about them receiving it was fair.

But as I listened to Pastor Glenn Grayson (Pittsburg, PA) deliver the morning message entitled “Shake, Shake, Shake; Shake Your Issues Off!” (based on Luke 8:40-48) at Weeping Willow AME Zion Church (Charlotte, NC), I realized there’s another perspective to the “Favor Ain’t Fair!” concept.  As Pastor Grayson kept shaking his shoulders, I kept seeing the movement of a newborn as it is entering the world.  Pastor Grayson’s simulation of shaking things off, was strangely similar to the shoulder rotation that a newborn does to maneuver his way out of the birth canal and into his new environment.  With the ‘Open Doors’ proclamation in the forefront of my mind, I thought about the birthing process: The Pain; The Pressure; The Travail; The Transition; The Urgency; The Unpleasantness… The Process of leaving one environment to advance into another environment – one that is greater, yet requires change on almost every level!  Enduring the birthing process is much like bursting through ‘The Open Doors’ – choosing not to transition is certain death; experiencing the process feels very close to death.

Having the ability and the authority to operate in this higher dimension is the reward of having endured the process.  When others witness this authority in operation, they see the resulting power without having the benefit of witnessing the refining process.  What one goes through to obtain God’s favor, literally Is Not Fair!  Joseph’s process bears witness.  There’s nothing fair about jealous brothers stripping you of your father’s gift, throwing you into a pit and then selling you into slavery.  There’s nothing fair about being falsely accused of attempted rape, being scandalized by those you’ve blessed and being wrongfully imprisoned.  There’s nothing fair about faithfully serving while in bondage, accurately interpreting the dreams of those around you, and being totally forgotten when their dreams are realized.  The path to favor is not one of fairness; however, those who faithfully travel that path and endure the unfairness find themselves favorably promoted.

The unfair circumstances that we endure are indicative of the impending transition that God has ordained.  When we make the decision to “STAY in the flow…” (Apostle JW Webster), God will ‘Take us THROUGH in order to get us TO…” (Pastor Henrico D. White) the place that He prepared for us long before we were conceived.  The birthing pains that we experience precede our transition through ‘The Open Doors’ that God has set before us!  ‘Favor AIN’T Fair’, but when we obediently walk through every injustice, God will ultimately cause our purpose to shine with HIS FAVOR!