GOSPEL CORNER: IT SO HAPPENED THAT ARAM, ON ONE OF ITS RAIDING EXPEDITIONS AGAINST ISRAEL, CAPTURED A YOUNG GIRL WHO BECAME A MAID TO NAAMAN’S WIFE. ONE DAY SHE SAID TO HER MISTRESS, “OH, IF ONLY MY MASTER COULD MEET THE PROPHET OF SAMARIA, HE WOULD BE HEALED OF HIS SKIN DISEASE.”2 KINGS 5:2–3, MSG

29/11/23

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
It so happened that Aram, on one of its raiding expeditions against Israel, captured a young girl who became a maid to Naaman’s wife. One day she said to her mistress, “Oh, if only my master could meet the prophet of Samaria, he would be healed of his skin disease.”
2 Kings 5:2–3, MSG

Share the Precious Gift of Faith
Naaman was a captain in the Syrian army, very respected and influential, but he had leprosy. Despite all his success, all the honor, he had this painful disease that would eventually take him away from his family. His future did not look good. There was a young girl who had been captured and taken against her will from Israel and now was the maid to Naaman’s wife. This young lady could have been bitter, but instead she offered the hope of healing to a man who was not raised to know about Jehovah. She was a friend with faith who shared her faith. Naaman went to the prophet Elijah, received his healing, and became a believer in the true God.

Be a friend with faith who prays for a coworker, encourages a neighbor, gives help to someone in need. You are full of power, full of healing, full of freedom, full of victory. Your faith can lift them up and your words can speak life into them. God is counting on you to share the precious gift of faith you have.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for showing me Your mercy over and over again and bringing me to faith. Help me to have a heart that is always looking for opportunities to share my faith with others, even if it’s a Naaman. I want to be a friend with faith. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

SECTION TWO

Cruel words spoken in anger. A betrayal of trust. Promises broken. A destructive relationship you knew you should not have entered into.

Have you been down those dark paths before? There are so many people who are living in the shadow of guilt and condemnation. The mistakes of their past haunt them and it is a painfully lonely and arduous journey for them.

Perhaps the paralyzed man who was let down through the roof by his four faithful friends in the book of Mark understood a little of this. The Bible tells us he was paralyzed to the point where he could only lie on a mat, which was how his friends carried him to the house Jesus was in.

With the man lying helpless on his mat, his four friends lowered him through the roof, right in front of Jesus—the only way they knew how to bring their crippled friend before Jesus and secure his healing. Scripture tells us that when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5).

To all who were watching this scene unfold that day, that must have been a very strange thing for Jesus to say—”your sins are forgiven you.” The man was clearly paralyzed. He was obviously there for healing. What had forgiveness to do with his condition or healing?

But Jesus knew it was exactly what this poor man needed to hear for his healing to manifest. And indeed, at Jesus’ next words, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home,” the paralyzed man “jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers” (Mark 2:11–12 NLT).

What had transpired? Jesus saw, when no one else could, that the man needed to hear he was forgiven, that God was not condemning him. And those words opened the door to his healing and broke him loose from his paralysis. No wonder the onlookers were stunned—the man went from being immobile and helpless to being active, strong, and completely whole right before their eyes!

My beloved friend, if you are paralyzed by a heavy sense of condemnation over something in your past, I want you to know beyond any doubt that God is not withholding your breakthrough from you. He loves you, understands your pain and suffering, and has forgiven you through the cross. He wants you to know that your past does not have to poison your future.

No matter how many dark days you have experienced, God has prepared many wonderful open doors of opportunity, favor, and good success for you to walk through in the days ahead. Your brightest and most glorious days are still ahead of you.