10/11/23
JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.
Proverbs 18:21, AMP
Set Your Life Direction
Did you know that the words you speak today are setting the direction for your life? If you want to know what you’re going to be like five years from now, listen to what you’re saying about yourself. “I’ll never get well. I’ll never break this addiction. I’ll never recover from this setback.” You’re prophesying your future. You can’t speak defeat and have victory. You can’t talk sickness and have health. You can’t speak lack and have abundance.
Pay attention to what you’re saying about yourself, your family, your finances, and your health. You’re going to become what you’re continually saying. That’s why it’s so important to get in a habit of speaking victory over your life. All through the day say what God says about you: “I am blessed. I am strong. I am healthy. I’m surrounded by favor. Something good is going to happen to me.” The fruit of those words is blessing, favor, and abundance. It’s not enough to just think it; we give life to our faith by speaking it out. That’s prophesying victory.
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that my words have the power to help set the direction of my life. Help me to give my faith a voice by speaking words of life and blessing over myself and my future. I will declare what You say about me and eat its fruit. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
SECTION TWO
What are you saying of the Lord today? If you are saying He gave you the trouble you are presently in or an illness to teach you humility, it’s time to change what you believe about Him. If you really believe that God is the author of your problems, would you really be running to Him for help?
My friend, let’s be like the psalmist who declared, “I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust'” (boldface mine).
The Hebrew word for “refuge” here refers to a shelter from storms and danger. This shelter is like the bunkers that some people have in their homes to protect them from natural disasters or an enemy’s attacks. In the figurative sense, when you say the Lord is your “refuge,” you are also declaring that He is your place of hope.
The Lord is also your fortress. In Hebrew, the word used for “fortress” here refers to a castle or stronghold, a place of defense and protection against large-scale attacks.
Isn’t that a beautiful picture? Whatever you might be going through right now, you can declare that the Lord is your refuge and your fortress—your protection in both small as well as big attacks.
Perhaps you have not been saying that God is behind your troubles. Perhaps you are not saying anything about the Lord at all. Perhaps God seems far away and you feel cut off from Him.
If that is you, can I encourage you to take a break today from whatever you have on your busy to-do list, and simply take time to dwell in His sweet presence? God is not distant; sometimes we are just too distracted to hear His voice or sense His loving presence.
Take a moment and see yourself in His secret place. Abide under His shadow. Savor His favor. Receive His wisdom. And find rest for your troubled soul.
The feeling of being distant from God is only a feeling, nothing more. He has promised in His Word that He will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).
Our Lord Jesus paid for you to have access to God’s constant presence. At the cross, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” when God turned His back on Him (Matt. 27:46). He took our place and was rejected by God when He carried our sins so that today, we can take His place of being in the constant presence of the Father and take Him as our refuge and fortress.
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