05/11/23
JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word
Today’s Scripture
In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.
Proverbs 3:6, TLB
FIRST PLACE
In 1 Kings 17, the prophet Elijah asked a starving widow to do something that seemed selfish. He said, “Before you make your final meal from the last of your grain and oil, make me a loaf of bread.” But with it came God’s promise of overflowing provision if she would keep Him first place and do as Elijah asked.
God is saying, “Keep Me first place in your life, let Me direct your steps and decisions, and I’ll crown your efforts with success.” When you wake up in the morning, don’t meet with anyone until you first meet with God. Take time to thank Him for the day. Thank Him for who He is. Thank Him that He’s the giver of all good things, that He’s your protector, your provider, your healer, and your way maker. All through the day, under your breath, you can talk to God and say, “Lord, thank You for watching over my children. Lord, help me to be my best at work today. Lord, direct me in everything I do and say.”
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that You invited me into a relationship with You. I want, in everything I do, to put You first and have You direct my life. Thank You for speaking to me through Your Word. I believe that You will crown my efforts with success. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
SECTION TWO
Are you like many today who believe in a “religious” God? Do you believe that God is against you when you fall short, that He is angry with you when you fail, and that fellowship with Him is cut off when you make mistakes?
It’s no wonder then that instead of running to the one true solution, many sincere folks run in the opposite direction when they are hurting. So there is a great deception, a powerful, wrong belief about God that has trapped many in the vicious cycle of condemnation, guilt, fear, defeat, and addiction.
My friend, I want you to know today that God is a God of infinite grace. He is repugnant to the “religious,” but gracious and irresistible to those who are hurting.
No matter what you are going through today, whatever addictions may be binding you, right believing can and will set you free. Start with believing this powerful truth:
“God is a God of grace and forgiveness. He loves you very much, and He doesn’t hold your mistakes against you.”
Don’t let the mistakes you have made in the past hold you back from reaching out to God and receiving His forgiveness for all your failures. Begin to believe right about the Lord, believe right about His heart and love for you, and your entire life will be transformed. Right believing always leads to right living!
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