Not many people realize that the favor of God is awarded to someone to be a shield for them. Psalm 5:12 says “For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.” Walking in divine favor opens up the windows of heaven in your life and its effect is so amazing that the recipient knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that only by the grace of God are they able to receive such blessings.

What is it like to be blessed with God’s divine favor?  It’s easy to recognize God’s favor upon you when you are the one selected for a position when many other people also wanted that position.  The same is true when you are chosen for a position that you are not naturally qualified for but someone believes in you and gives you an opportunity that would have taken you years to get on your own.  God’s favor is also evident when help comes to you at a time and from a place you would never have expected.  Divine favour will do certain things for you. For example, people will always want to bless you and do kind things for you.

If you want to keep the favor of God in your life you must refrain from being disobedient to God’s word.  You must also be humble and avoid becoming prideful because God will not tolerate pride.  In fact, pride has such an adverse affect on God that He will deal with it appropriately.  Giving back to God what is rightfully His, and helping others in need will cause God to continue to bless you.  God loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that we might have eternal life.  It’s only right that God expect those who are blessed with much to give to those who have less.

The favor of God is a gift like no other.  Every one desires to have this favor but only a few will live the life that causes God to honor them in this way.  It’s not wisdom to go through life unprepared.  Do all you can do to become successful, but if you want to be more than just prepared, become righteous and God will do the rest.

One of the most important character traits we all need to have, yet it’s so hard to achieve is the art of being patient.  A patient person has the ability to suffer for a long time.  Patient people are hard to provoke. Their temper can withstand a lot before they “lose it.” Patience gives you time to think so that you don’t become angry and do something that can cause other major problems.  Patience is the ability to accept delay or disappointment graciously.  Patient people possess a calmness about them because they have a firm belief that God is in control.

It is not easy to develop patience because patience goes against human nature. We aren’t born patient.  Also, patience is difficult to develop because it’s contrary to our culture. We don’t live in a relaxed culture.  We are always in a hurry, whereas in some countries they are laid back and seem to understand something that Americans don’t and that is life is so precious and passes so quickly and we must enjoy the moment.  How many of us take walks just to enjoy nature and listen to the sound of birds?  Life would be more meaningful if we stopped to smell the roses once in a while.

Another positive aspect of patience is that it makes you grateful.  Patient people take time to think about their blessings and they love to appreciate the little things.  Patient people have a healthy perspective on the issues in their life.  They don’t get upset or angry at everything that does not go the way they thought it would.  Someone once said that we “should not sweat the small stuff.” You have bigger concerns in your life than to become upset when a driver cuts you off on the freeway. Patient people have the wisdom to take the things they can’t handle to God.  They realize that they are limited but know that their God can do anything.  So they  wait on the Lord when it comes to the big stuff.  We can choose to wait for God right where we are now or become impatient and try to make something happen without God.  Which one do you choose?

The fruit of patience helps us  when dealing with other people. Remember that God is patient with you so be patient with others.   Instead of putting others in their place, try putting yourself in their place. If you lack patience, attach yourself to people who are patient. Anger is contagious.  If we can learn how to be angry by hanging out with angry people, then we can learn patience by spending time with those who are long-suffering.

God wants us to become patient because patience shows God that we trust Him completely, and that we have learned that He is all we have and He is all we need.

We all have goals, dreams, and visions in life. We pray about them all of the time and we try to hold onto them, because with faith in Jesus we know they will come to pass.  When it does happen, when our dream becomes a reality or when our prayer is answered, our faith in God grows stronger and we experience the most wonderful feeling.

But there are times the enemy will cloud the vision that God gives us. Satan may not be able to read your mind, but he can hear your words. He sees your actions and knows just what buttons to push, and when to push them to get your mind off the vision. He wants nothing more than to steal our dreams. But he can’t steal our dreams unless we let him. This is why it’s so important for us to hold fast to our confession of faith and believe in God’s Word.

If you’re praying for something and it just hasn’t arrived yet, keep praying! PUSH! Pray until something happens.  There are times when we pray to God for an answer, and it seems that all hope is gone.  We then begin to worry instead of praying but don’t do both.  Praying tells God that you still believe; worrying tells God that you have stopped believing.   If you believe God is working all things out for your good, you also have to believe that His timing is part of that.  It all comes down to how much you trust your heavenly Father.

I want to encourage you not to be discouraged at what appears to be a lack of results in your prayer life. You have no idea what the Lord is doing right now on your behalf to answer your prayers.  You cannot see it, but rest assured God is working it out. What He requires from you is faith to believe that His Word is true.  Keep your eyes focused on the Lord, and keep praying in faith, remembering to thank Him and praise Him for all He has already done.

God’s destiny for you isn’t based on how you feel, or what you are going through or what you can’t see ahead of you.  You might think that you are stuck in a situation and that nothing good lies in your future, but nothing is further from the truth! You must grow in your faith and realize that you are just as anointed today to do what God has called you to do as you were 20 years ago!  Destiny is the predetermined, inevitable or irresistible, course of events that will happen to a particular person in the future, and it is important to remember that God’s destiny for you will not change.  Your actions might cause you to wander in the wilderness for a period of time, but ultimately you will realize that God is in control and you must yield to His will for your life.

We are more than conquerors.  You have more than enough within you to walk into the destiny that God has already ordained for your life.  Get beyond the hindrances in yourl ife; conquer them, rise above them. Too often people allow adversity to become the final verdict over their lives because they faithfully poured themselves into something that was close to their heart only to one day see that it did not turn out to be what they had envisioned.  There is a feeling of defeat that can penetrate your soul that could cause you to question your self-worth, let alone think that you have a bright future.  This would be true if you allow the enemy to have his way, but God’s word says that you can do all things through Christ who will give you the strength.

Somewhere on the road to greatness, you find yourself in a fight – you must fight the battle going on in your own mind. Talk to any great person and they will tell you that their journey was not an easy one but they had to fight to get to the top.  You don’t know the end of your story. Even if the worst has happened to you, it is not over yet.  Expect a miracle that will take you from where you are now to where you are going.  Stand on the promise made in Psalm 23:6 which says “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”