Today’s Bible readings are 1 Chronicles 4:5-5:17, Acts 25:1-27, Psalm 5:1-12, & Proverbs 18:19
Psalm 5:11-12
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever
sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name
may rejoice in you. 12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your
favor as with a shield.
I remember the day that God gave these
verses as a promise for Him. I was in prison waiting to see the parole board
for a potential release date. All the guys that I knew kept telling me that
there was no way that I was going to get a release. With the nature of my crime
& my history, they told me that I would do at least half of my time.
Even my counselor in prison kept
telling me not to get my hopes us. The only problem was that I believed God was
teaching me to live with my hopes high so that my faith could have something to
work with. There was a great testing that I was going through. On the inside, The
Holy Spirit kept telling me to put my hope in God. On the outside, everybody
around me was telling me their experiences said to not get my hopes up. I had
to choose which voice I was going to agree with. Thank God I chose to listen to
the Holy Spirit.
I remember one day as I was reading a
letter from Kenneth Copeland, he was teaching about the favor of God, I read
those verse from Psalm 5 & God spoke to me immediately. I knew it was God
because it gave life to me. Once I saw these words in the Bible it was all that
I needed to stand in faith. And let me tell you, that is exactly what I did!
Everybody around me still kept telling
me the same old stuff they had been telling me but it didn’t faze me. Each time
I heard them speak their doubt & unbelief it made me chuckle inside because
I knew that my God was going to show them all. I had a rhema word from Him that could not fail me.
I remember the day that I walked into
the parole board meeting. There was a moment where fear tried to grab my heart
but I spoke the Word that God gave me & PEACE saturated me. I walked into
the meeting, sat across from the parole board, & put everything on God’s
shoulders. It was Him who was going to have to work this out. It was Him who
was going to have to remain faithful to His Word.
As they reviewed my file they asked me
a few questions. I gave very short & direct answers. There was nothing
outstanding with anything that I said that day. In less than 5 minutes, they
closed my folder & said: “Mr.
Schlotter, we don’t know why we are going to do this, but we are going to grant
you an intense parole. Everything in your file leads us to believe that you
will be back, but for some reason we are going to give you a chance. Don’t mess
it up.”
As soon as I heard those words I knew
exactly why they were letting me go—THE FAVOR OF GOD!!! He had told me the day
that He spoke to me that His favor would surround me like a shield. It did too!
He protected me & favored me from every angle. It seemed to even baffle the
parole board into doing what they normally wouldn’t do. That is what the favor
of God can do for a person.
I want to encourage you today to be a
person who walks in obedience to the Word of God so that you can walk in the
favor of God. When you are surrounded by His favor there is nothing that will
harm or destroy you. His favor will surround you & His benefits will
overtake you.
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