GOSPEL CORNER : GOD PUTS YOU IN SITUATIONS THAT ARE WAY OVER YOUR HEAD TO SEE IF YOU’LL TRUST HIM AND SO HE CAN SHOW OUT IN YOUR LIFE.

15/08/23

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

The LORD said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”
Judges 6:16, NLT

The “No Sweat Anointing”
God reduced Gideon’s army to just three hundred men when they were facing an army of a 135,000 Midianites. I can hear Gideon saying, “God, this is impossible.” God puts you in situations that are way over your head to see if you’ll trust Him and so He can show out in your life.

God told Gideon, “I know you’re outnumbered, but you will defeat them as easily as if you were fighting one man.” When Gideon attacked in the night, the enemy got confused and they ended up destroying one another. Gideon didn’t even have to fight. They never even broke a sweat.

There’s something called a “no sweat anointing.” That’s when you’re up against a challenge that’s much bigger than you can handle, but you don’t have to make it happen. You just stay in faith and God does it for you. The sickness seems stronger, the addiction seems permanent, the people against you are more powerful. God is saying, “I will be with you. You’re going to defeat it like you’re fighting one man.”

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for Your promise to be with me in whatever I am up against. Thank You that I don’t have to strive or work to make it happen because You have put a ‘no sweat anointing’ on me. I believe that You will show out in my life as I trust in You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

PART TWO

There are many believers who are defeated because they are struggling to qualify for God’s blessings through their own works. What you need to understand is that self-effort will rob you of reigning in life by God’s grace. You cannot earn your salvation, healing, or financial breakthrough by your own efforts. If the greatest miracle—being saved and made alive with Jesus—comes by grace through faith, and not by your works, how much more the lesser miracles, such as healing, provision, and restored marriages?

It is not about your work or performance, but Jesus’ work and performance. Only His work is a finished work. And not only did He sit down at the Father’s right hand, but today’s Scripture states that He also made us sit with Jesus! What does this mean? Well, my friend, “sitting down” in the Bible is a picture of the believer resting in the perfect and finished work of Jesus. Christ has finished all the work on the cross on your behalf and is now seated at the right hand of God. As it has all been accomplished on your behalf, this means that you can stop depending on your self-efforts to earn and qualify for God’s blessings in your life. You can sit down with Jesus at the Father’s right hand!

Now, listen carefully to what I am saying. I am not advocating a life of passiveness and laziness regarding the study of God’s Word, prayer, or worship. When it comes to success in your job, I’m also certainly not saying that you shouldn’t be diligent or seeking to develop your abilities. God’s grace does not make you lazy and unproductive. On the contrary, it makes you labor more abundantly for His glory. The apostle Paul, a preacher of God’s grace and the finished work of Jesus, said that he “labored more abundantly than they all” (1 Cor. 15:10). What you need to realize is, in the new covenant, God’s way is to bless you first, and the knowledge of His blessing then empowers you to labor more abundantly. In other words, we do not labor to be blessed, but rather we have the power to labor because we are already blessed. Can you see the different premise for laboring in the new covenant?

My friend, Jesus has accomplished everything for us on the cross. Our part is to trust in His perfect work. Receive with open arms His abundance of grace and His gift of righteousness, and sit down and begin to reign in life through Him. Today, let it be your prayer that you will stop trying to earn God’s grace and righteousness. Let the Holy Spirit teach you to start depending on Jesus’ finished work and to start receiving by His grace. This is God’s way to success, wholeness, and victorious living!

https://www.josephprince.com/meditate-devo/take-your-seat-and-begin-to-reign