found favor in the eyes of

Of anyone you might know or ever meet, I'm telling you I hate the health & wealth gospel as much as anyone. I think Osteen is a car salesman who has memorized Bible verses, and if he's not the antichrist, he's certainly the antichrist's best man. This post describes an incident from one of Osteen's own books where he claims "the favor of God" as an explanation for his receiving some blessing at an airport.

Not writing this to spit on Osteen some more (I'll save that for another day); I'm writing this as I think about the concept of the favor of God. Prayed for a hotel room situation to resolve itself this past week, and it did in abundance. Prayed for a made short flight connection, and had neighboring gates and time enough for a quick snack before boarding. Prayed for an end to a storm, and for a clear rush hour highway, and received both. The wondrous one and I smiled at our blessed day, and praised the Lord.

That's the difference twixt faith and the H&W. The H&W believes faithfulness leads to good fortune -- that the Lord blesses you because you're faithful and loved. Real faith realizes that all things -- good and bad -- come about due to the Lord's will, and praise should be raised to Him for both things. You have nothing to do with anything.

There's certainly more to dig into regarding God favoring people over others (see mother of God, Mary). And some way to differentiate between answered prayer and favor (I think my good fortunes all fall under the former). I'll head to bed instead and count my blessings.