22/09/23
JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word
Today’s Scripture
The LORD rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence.
Psalm 18:24, NLT
Closer Than You Think
In Psalm 18, David says that God rescued him from powerful enemies “in the day of my disaster” because he kept doing the right thing when it was hard. God sees when you’ve been good to people who aren’t good to you, when you stay on the high road instead of paying people back. God is saying, “I’m about to settle your account. I’m about to vindicate you, promote you, and suddenly turn things around.” You won’t see it coming, but suddenly He’s going to thrust you to a new level, thrust you to abundance, thrust you into greater influence, honor, opportunity. You’re going to come out with much more than those who try to stop you.
You are closer to your payback than you think. Don’t get tired of doing the right thing. Your due season is coming. The unfair situation, the bad break, or the people who left you out never go unnoticed. God sees your innocence, your faithfulness. When God pays you back, it will be more than you can imagine.
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that You are a God of justice who rescues and vindicates me. Thank You that the time comes when You say it’s payback time, and You will settle my accounts. I’m going to keep doing the right thing and believing that things are about to turn around. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
SECTION TWO
In Old Testament times, once a year, on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of an innocent animal on the mercy seat. After the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the mercy seat, all God saw of the ark of the covenant was the blood, and no longer the rebellion and failure of man.
However, under the old covenant, the blood of the animal sacrifices only covered the sins of the children of Israel for one year. What happened on Yom Kippur was only a shadow. Our Lord Jesus is the substance. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and His sacrifice on the cross was once and for all (John 1:29, Heb. 9:12)!
In Exodus 25:17–22, the Lord told Moses, “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold . . .. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. . . . of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.”
Where will the Lord speak from? From above the mercy seat. That is what my ministry is all about. I am preaching from above the mercy seat, preaching about His mercy and grace, about His shed blood, and about His finished work. There are people who are preaching from the judgment seat, preaching about the law and how we have fallen short.
The wages of sin is death. Under the law, there is no escaping death. But this ministry is all about the Lord’s mercy, grace, favor, love, and protection.
Under grace, Jesus died our death on the cross. He was punished with the death we deserved for our sins. He gave up His protection on the cross, so that we may walk in divine protection today. Hallelujah! Doesn’t this just fill your heart with assurance and peace today?
Dara Network TV 