JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD
Today’s Scripture
And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Mark 4:9, NKJV
LISTEN TO THE WHISPER
We don’t always realize how God speaks to us. We’ve seen movies where God booms out of the heavens to Moses, so powerfully and dramatically. But most of the time God speaks to us in “a gentle whisper” or “a still small voice.” It’s not loud or forceful. We feel an inner impression, a prompting in our heart. It’s like a suggestion, something that we suddenly know we’re supposed to do. That’s not random or you just thinking up things; that’s God speaking to you.
Six times in the Gospels, Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” and seven times in the book of Revelation, He adds, “what the Spirit is saying.” He’s talking about your inner ears. He’s saying, “Are you sensitive to the whispers? Are you paying attention to what you’re feeling in your spirit?” It’s easy to ignore it, push it down. But if you start obeying the promptings, the suggestions, the gentle whispers, God will lead you down the best path for your life.
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for loving me and for speaking to my heart. Thank You for giving me an inner ear to know right from wrong. Help me to be sensitive to Your still small voice and hear it with clarity, to hear any alarms, promptings, and suggestions, and to be quick to obey. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
The “secret place” speaks of a place in Christ, but it also speaks of intimacy. To be “under the shadow of the Almighty” is to be close to Him.
There are times when I travel to Israel with my pastors and the sun is scorching hot. When we are outdoors, whether it is on the Mount of Beatitudes or in Capernaum, we always look forward to being under the shadow of a tree.
The difference in temperature when we are under the protective shelter of a tree is like night and day. Out in the open, we wouldn’t last long under the scorching heat of the sun. But under the shadow of a tree, we can sit for hours, enjoying a time of refreshing as we discuss the Word of God.
Beloved, being under the shadow of the Almighty speaks of closeness, intimacy, and protection. It speaks of a place of refreshing, coolness, and rest. When Psalm 91 talks about dwelling in the “secret place” of the Most High, that secret place is not a geographical location, but spiritual intimacy with our Lord Jesus.
In the same way, the prayer of protection is not an incantation or some kind of magic chant that grants you protection. It is you valuing your position in Christ and your close relationship with Him, and being found in that secret place with Him.
For more than a decade now, I have been teaching my church to declare Psalm 91 over themselves and their loved ones and to be conscious of the close relationship we as believers have with our Lord Jesus. Some years ago, I received a testimony of divine protection from a businessman who attended our church. He had been on a business trip and was staying at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.
While he was in the lobby of the hotel, a bomb was detonated right outside and it tore through the lobby. The blast was so powerful that he saw a body flying past him. After the dust had settled, he realized that although his shirt was splattered with blood, and debris was strewn all around him, he was completely unharmed. Amazingly, he had stepped behind a pillar at the very moment the bomb went off, and that pillar had shielded him from the direct impact of the explosion.
Just think of what could have happened if this man had not reached the pillar at the precise second the bomb went off. All praise and glory to our Lord Jesus who watches over His own!
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