10/08/23
JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
And He brought him outside [his tent into the starlight] and said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars—if you are able to number them. Then He said to him, So shall your descendants be.
Genesis 15:5, AMPC
Get Outside Your Tent
When God promised Abraham that he was going to be the father of many nations, he was seventy-five years old. There was no way in the natural that he and Sarah could have a baby. It looked impossible, but God was saying, “Abraham, as long as you’re in your tent, all you see is you and Sarah. You’re only focused on what you can accomplish. You have to get outside your tent and look up. Bring Me into the picture. I’m your Heavenly Father. Get your eyes off your impossibilities and keep your eyes on Me.”
When you’re in your tent, all you see is your limitations, how you were raised, what you can’t do. You have to get out of your tent and have a bigger vision. You’re not doing life on your own. Your Heavenly Father controls the universe. He makes ways when you don’t see ways. If you get a new perspective and start believing that good things are coming, you’ll see your Heavenly Father turn impossible situations around and take you further than you ever dreamed.
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for calling me to come out of my tent and get a bigger vision of what You can do. Thank You for the new perspectives You give that remind me of the promises You have spoken over me. I declare that I am going to keep my eyes looking up to You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
I love how in Luke 24, the Holy Spirit intricately records for us the meeting that Jesus had with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on the very first day of His resurrection. With heavy hearts, grieved and shell-shocked, they talked about how Jesus, whom they greatly esteemed, had been taken by the religious leaders, condemned to death, and crucified.
Read the full story and notice how the two disciples were caught up with their own understanding of the events that had transpired and with their thoughts about the redemption of Israel. As a result, they were downcast, disappointed, and depressed. This is what happens when the truth about Jesus is absent from our minds.
The disciples had hoped that Jesus would be the one who would redeem Israel. To them, Jesus was simply a means to an end. They were more consumed with Israel’s redemption than with the Redeemer Himself. No wonder they were depressed! Jesus can never simply be a means to an end, no matter how noble that end may be. We need to be occupied with Him and allow everything to revolve around Him as He takes center place in our lives.
The disciples were downcast because they didn’t believe in what God’s Word had prophesied about Jesus’ suffering and resurrection. If they had believed and understood that the events in the last three days were all orchestrated by God and that the cross was His grand redemption plan to save all men, they would have been rejoicing with faith, love, and hope. They would have been greatly anticipating their reunion with the resurrected Christ instead of being so inward-looking and discouraged. But because of their wrong beliefs, they had become disillusioned and were mentally defeated.
SECTION TWO
If you are feeling fearful, anxious, or depressed today, do a quick check. What’s on your mind? What’s your heart occupied with? Are your thoughts filled with faith in Jesus, the Shepherd of your life, or are they filled with apprehensions about the future, fears about your current situation, and excessive self-introspection? Give Him center place by believing that He is the answer to every thing you need in life, and begin to walk in a new measure of His peace, joy, and liberty.
https://www.josephprince.com/meditate-devo/jesus-be-the-center
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