GOSPEL CORNER : LEARN TO COVER THE WEAKNESSES IN THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CLOSE TO YOU AND FOCUS ON THE GOOD. BELIEVE THE BEST IN PEOPLE AND MOVE ON.

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

09/03/24

Today’s Scripture
Love…keeps no record of being wronged.
1 Corinthians 13:4–5, NLT

NO RECORD BOOK
You might see your relationship with someone go to a whole new level if you just get rid of the record book. Some people have a mental list of everything anybody has done wrong to them for the last twenty years. They have a detailed scorecard, listing every time their spouse hurt them, every time their boss was thoughtless or rude, every time their parents missed a grandchild’s game.

As long as you are bringing up pain from the past, you are going to have strife in your present. You may be right about what happened, but do you want to be right, or do you want to have peace in a relationship? Do you want to have your way, or do you want to have a healthy relationship? Instead of keeping a list of slights or offenses, it could change your life greatly if you get in the habit of throwing out your negative record book. Learn to cover the weaknesses in the people who are close to you and focus on the good. Believe the best in people and move on.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for loving me, for forgiving me, and for not keeping a record of my sins and failures. I want to be someone who loves others with Your love, who covers their faults and weaknesses and doesn’t bring them up. Help me to focus on the good and keep moving on. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

SECTION TWO

Our Lord Jesus sent seventy disciples out against the kingdom of darkness, as “lambs among wolves.” Look in today’s scripture at the exchange between the seventy disciples and the Lord Jesus when they returned. My friend, the power and authority our Lord Jesus gave them to operate in is the power and authority we have as believers today!

Romans 16:20 declares that the God of peace will crush Satan underneath our feet! He is a defeated foe. The Bible is very consistent and always puts the devil beneath your feet (Gen. 3:15, Eph. 1:22).

You are not at the mercy of the enemy’s attacks. Don’t put him on a pedestal, as if he has power and dominion over you. Remind yourself that in Christ, you are “far above all principality and power and might and dominion” (Eph. 1:21), and every lion and serpent you shall trample underfoot!

We exercise our authority as believers when we go on the offensive against the enemy today. How do we do that? We wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God! Our authority, our strength, and our victory are found in His Word.

Look at how the Bible describes the armor of God: “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:14–17).

Do you see that the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is the only piece of the armor that is offensive? That is why, for every round of attack the devil launched at our Lord Jesus, He fought back with the sword of the Spirit—He used the written Word of God.

When we pray the prayer of protection in Psalm 91, we are praying according to the Word of God and wielding the sword of the Spirit. So no matter what report is roaring at you, be it from doctors, bankers, or from the news media, take your place of authority and lay hold of scriptures for your situation. Fight back with the Word of God!