Hopefully, you're feeling blessed and highly favored in the knowledge of Lord this Christmas season. But putting the Christianese aside, what about when you don't feel so blessed?

In the talk “I Don’t Feel Favored,” Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. explores the meaning of favor to reveal it is not a feeling but a fact.

The promises of God tend to come packaged with problems. Take Mary, a virgin destined to birth a son. In a culture that likely wouldn't have taken the news gladly, she could have felt anything but favored. Yet her obedience through the trial, and for the sake of the promise, made it so her same spirit of obedience passed to her son who would face the ultimate test.

As Christ-followers, we must follow our beliefs and not our feelings. When we face troubles we can overcome and stand in favor knowing everything will be worked out for good. After all, we have the presence of someone bigger than any challenge—the Holy Spirit, our greatest present.