19/03/24
JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:2–3, NKJV
HEALTHY PRAYERS
Peace, in today’s Scripture, the word “amiss” means “sick, weak, miserable.” This is saying, “You won’t receive when you pray sick prayers, when you pray weak prayers.” When we pray out of selfish motives or just to make it through, that’s a sick prayer. “God, I’m so defeated. Please do something.” That prayer needs to go to Urgent Care; that prayer is on its last leg. Try a different approach; try a bold prayer. “God, there’s a lot coming against me, but I know nothing is too big for You. Thank You that the blessings You have for me are so great they will overflow to those around me.” That’s a healthy prayer. That gets God’s attention. He responds to faith-filled prayers.
Are you praying bold prayers? Are you asking God to turn situations around that look impossible? How many miracles are you missing because you’re not asking? Dare to ask, not just for your needs, but for others to be blessed through you. Ask for the big things God’s put in your heart. He’s longing to be good to you.
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that You want to do great things in my life so that Your greatness will be displayed. Help me to pray bold prayers that release Your favor to open new doors and bless others. I declare that I am going to ask You for everything You have put in my heart. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
SECTION TWO
If you look carefully at the Scriptures that Satan used to try to get our Lord Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, you will find that it has nothing to do with endangering yourself to test God’s protection.
Psalm 91:11–12 is not encouraging you to throw yourself in harm’s way. It is saying that as you go about the course of your daily life, “in all your ways” the Lord will protect you. The Hebrew word for “ways” in verse 11 shows this clearly—it is the word derek, which means path, road, or journey.
As you go about your daily path, there are times when the enemy may have put snares ahead of you that you are unaware of. But God will give His angels charge over you, to go ahead of you to protect you from those snares.
It doesn’t mean that you should go and do something foolish and harmful to yourself to test God’s protection! Even as we trust the Lord for His divine protection, let’s exercise wisdom as well.
You may be familiar with Mark 16:18, which says, “If they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” Now, if someone challenges you to drink poison and you willfully drink it to show that it will not hurt you, that’s just being foolish.
Psalm 91:11 is talking about the paths you take as part of your normal life. Drinking poison intentionally is certainly not part of your normal life. What Mark 16:18 is saying is that should you drink something harmful without realizing it in the course of your day, the Lord will protect you from being harmed!
I have a missionary friend who told me how someone had tried to poison him while he was in the mission field. In the end, the person became a believer in the Lord Jesus because he saw the missionary innocently drinking the entire glass of poison—and suffering no ill effects. That’s how Mark 16:18 applies!
And I hope you realize that God’s protection does not always have to come in the form of spectacular angelic interventions. I believe that every day, His protection over us is so supernaturally natural that many of us don’t even realize that we have been protected.
Perhaps as you were stepping off the curb, you felt something hold or pull you back, and right then, a car sped past you. What do you think held or pulled you back? It may well have been an angel, not necessarily spectacularly, but supernaturally protecting you!
Dara Network TV 