GOSPEL CORNER: FATHER, THANK YOU THAT YOU ARE WORKING IN ME AND GIVING ME THE DESIRE TO OBEY YOU. THANK YOU THAT WHETHER I FEEL LIKE IT OR NOT, I HAVE THE POWER TO OVERCOME AND BE DISCIPLINED TO DO THE RIGHT THING.

17/05/24

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11, NIV

THE COMING HARVEST
Being disciplined is not easy. It’s difficult to walk away when someone is rude, to not give in to a temptation, or to get up early to excel at work. Your flesh wants to be comfortable. Your flesh wants the easy way out, but you can’t be comfortable all the time and reach your destiny. If you do the hard thing now, later on you’ll see blessings and favor that you’ve never seen. But the flesh always wants instant gratification. “If I tell this person off right now, it will feel so good. Even though I can’t afford this item, I want it now.” But it’s important to think about later on. We should be growing, being more mature than we were five years ago. If I’m still dealing with my temper the same way as years ago, still getting offended, upset, and jealous, I’m letting the flesh dictate my life. To be disciplined can save your marriage, take you to a new level in your career, break mediocrity, and launch you into abundance.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that You are working in me and giving me the desire to obey You. Thank You that whether I feel like it or not, I have the power to overcome and be disciplined to do the right thing. I believe that a harvest of righteousness is coming as I stay true to You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

SECTION TWO

There is no doubt that all believers want to experience God’s unmerited favor in their lives. All of us want to experience success in our marriages, families, careers, as well as ministries.

We all want to enjoy God’s best and richest blessings. We want His provision, health, and power flowing mightily in our lives, and we know that all these blessings are wrapped up in God’s unmerited favor.

When His unmerited favor is on your side, nothing can stand against you. But if His favor is unmerited, how can we qualify for it? If we cannot earn, deserve, or merit it, how can we be confident that we have His unmerited favor?

One of the key things that I desire to do is to build upon the existing teachings on favor and to give believers a firm foundation on why they have the right to God’s unmerited favor in their lives today. Do you know the answers to the following questions?

Why can you expect good to happen to you?

Why can you enjoy God’s unmerited favor?

Why can you ask God for big things?

Beloved, your answers are all found on the Mount of Golgotha, the place of the skull. It’s the place where the sinless Man became sin, so that you and I can become the righteousness of God in Him. His righteousness is your right to God’s unmerited favor.

You can expect good . . .

You can enjoy God’s unmerited favor . . .

You can ask God for big things . . .

. . . because you have been made the righteousness of God through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross!

Don’t just take my word for it. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:21 again: “For He [God] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Jesus Christ].”

Your righteousness in Christ is the sure foundation on which you can build your expectations to receive God’s unmerited favor. God sees you through the lens of the cross of His Son, and as Jesus is today deserving of blessings, peace, health, and favor, so are you (1 John 4:17)!