GOSPEL CORNER: I ENCOURAGE YOU TO TEST EVERYTHING YOU HEAR WITH GOD’S WORD. I ALWAYS TELL MY CHURCH TO READ THE BIBLE FOR THEMSELVES INSTEAD OF SIMPLY SWALLOWING ALL THAT ANY PREACHER, SAYS.

16/03/24

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8, NIV

NOT A LION, LIKE A LION
Even though our enemy was defeated when Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, the challenge is that he makes a lot of noise, going about like a roaring lion. He’s not a lion. He can’t overpower you. He can’t control your destiny. He’s like a lion, which means he’s loud. He’ll roar negative thoughts, such as, “That sickness will be the end of you. You’ll never meet the right person. You’ve made too many mistakes. There’s nothing good in your future.” Do yourself a favor: Ignore the roar. Don’t believe his lies. When those thoughts come, just give him the zero sign. Remind him, “You have no power over me. You’ve already been defeated. Because I belong to God, I will walk in victory. I will live and not die. I will prosper and succeed. I will stay in peace in the midst of the storm.” When you know that what comes against you has already been defeated, it changes your outlook. You won’t live in fear, worried about your future, or let doubt hold you back. You’ll move forward knowing that God has already taken care of anything you face. The path has already been cleared.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that when the enemy is roaring, bombarding my thoughts with doubts and fears, I can resist him, firm in the faith. Thank You that he does not have any power over me. I declare that I will not be intimidated into backing down, and I will not believe the roar. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

SECOND SECTION
I encourage you to test everything you hear with God’s Word. I always tell my church to read the Bible for themselves instead of simply swallowing all that any preacher, including myself, says.

Be wise and don’t just swallow everything—hook, line, sinker, fisherman, and even his boots! Be discerning when you hear something that does not sit well in your spirit, such as when a preacher tells you that “God gives you sicknesses to teach you a lesson.”

Ask yourself, “Is this in line with the new covenant of God’s unmerited favor? Are there new covenant scriptures to back up this teaching?”

The answer is obvious once you align it with Jesus and what He has done on the cross for you! Why would God give you sicknesses when Jesus has taken every sickness and disease upon His own body at the cross?

With full assurance in your heart that sickness is not from God, you can have faith to be healed! But what assurance can you have if you believe the lie that the condition is from God?

Now, instead of thinking that God is against you, you realize that He is on your side! Your confidence is restored, faith is renewed and His healing can flow unabated through every cell, tissue, and organ in your body!

Let me just share with you the words of Miles Coverdale, who said, “It shall greatly help thee to understand scripture, if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom, and unto whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstance, considering what goeth before, and what followeth after.”

Essentially, he was saying that to understand the Bible, we need to read everything in its context. What powerful advice from the man who translated and produced the first English Bible in the 16th century.

My friend, rightly divide the covenants whenever you read the Bible and you will never be ashamed. Now that you have received Jesus into your life, you are under the new covenant and it is your new covenant right to enjoy Jesus’ unmerited favor to succeed in life!