JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD
Today’s Scripture
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:28, NLT
TURN IT AROUND
When someone betrays you or lies about you and damages your reputation, it can feel like they’ve ruined your life. It’s okay to feel hurt, to feel wronged, to feel violated. God made us with feelings. But if you’re going to see God pay you back for the wrongs, you have to rule over those feelings. You have to get your passion back and start moving forward. If you use it as an excuse to stay hurt, it will keep you from your purpose. On the other side of the excuse is a new level of your destiny. The bad break, the injustice, or the loss did not stop God’s plan for your life. It wasn’t your fault that you got hurt, but it is your responsibility to move forward in faith, knowing that God is working all things for your good. It may not have been good, but God knows how to turn what was unfair and hurtful for your good. He’s not going to leave your life in a broken place, in a damaged place, in an unjust place.
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for Your promise that You make all things work together for my good, even what doesn’t seem good at the time. Help me to remember that You always use the hurts and difficulties to prepare me for greater things. I know that You will never leave me in a broken, damaged place. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
SECTION TWO WLELW
There’s a beautiful picture hidden in verse 4 of Psalm 91. It’s a picture of a mother hen protecting her chicks.
The Scriptures above record how the Lord Jesus looked at Jerusalem and lamented over it. Later, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, saying, “For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:43–44). The Greek word for “wept” in verse 41 is klaio, and it means to be so affected emotionally as to sob and wail aloud.
Can you see the Lord’s tender mercies toward Israel as He shed much tears over her? He wished that He could gather Israel under His feathers as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but the Lord could not force His protection on them because they rejected Him.
I believe that as our Lord wept, He foresaw not only the Roman siege of Jerusalem, when the temple was burned to the ground and many of the Jews killed or sold as slaves, but He also foresaw the horrors of the Holocaust.
Notice that the Lord said, “But you were not willing!” This clearly tells us that the Lord will not force on us His protection if we are not willing to come under His wings.
Beloved, are you willing to have the Lord Jesus protect you and your family today? Then tell Him. Let’s never take our Lord’s protection for granted. Instead, let’s take time daily to let Him know that we are putting our trust in Him for His covering and protection.
Do you want to know what happens when you do that? Look at what Boaz said to Ruth: “The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge” (Ruth 2:12).
Wow! It was already a privilege for this Moabite outcast, who was disqualified by the law, to find refuge under the wings of the God of Israel. But God even rewarded her for doing so.
In the same way, it is a privilege for us to be able to take refuge under His wings. Yet when we tell the Lord that we need Him and want His refuge, He gives us a full reward for trusting Him and for coming under His wings. What a God!
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