HOW YOU START THE DAY MANY TIMES WILL DETERMINE WHAT KIND OF DAY IT’S GOING TO BE. 

05/06/24

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

Today’s Scripture
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Lamentations 3:23, NLT

Have a Great New Day
Every morning you have to receive new mercies from God. How you start the day many times will determine what kind of day it’s going to be. Don’t ever start the day in neutral. If you leave your mind empty, it’s going to naturally gravitate toward the negative, especially if you’re in difficult times. You can’t wait to see what kind of day it’s going to be; you determine what kind of day it’s going to be. Make up your mind and say, “This is the day the Lord has made, and I will rejoice in it. It’s going to be a great day. By His mercies I’m starting this day anew. I’m going to be productive. I’m going to enjoy my family. I’m going to honor God. I’m grateful to be alive.” That’s setting your mind to receive more peace, more joy, and more favor. That’s making plans for a blessed day. That’s empowering you with thoughts of victory, favor, breakthroughs, and abundance. That’s making plans to rise higher, accomplish dreams, and go further than you’ve imagined.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You for Your mercies that are new every morning and for Your great faithfulness to me. Thank You that I can start every day rejoicing and expecting a great day. I declare that I will keep setting my mind for victory and the abundance of Your favor today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

SECTION TWO

Have you ever wondered what Jesus was referring to when He shared on the new wine and old wineskins? He was referring to the mixture of the two covenants.

The new wine represents the new covenant of grace, while the old wineskin represents the old covenant of law. Have you ever seen old wineskins? They are brittle, hard, and inflexible. That’s the law. It is inflexible.

And when you pour the new wine of grace into the old wineskin of the law, you will lose both because the wineskin will be ruined and the wine will be spilled. The virtues of both the old and the new covenants will be cancelled out and lost.

I received a letter from Kirsten in Florida who experienced a mixture of law and grace. When she received her salvation at the age of seventeen, she experienced unconditional love for the first time in her life as God’s mercy and grace washed over her.

In the beginning, she said that church was a joy as they worshiped, shared, and prayed. But within a few years, she succumbed to a works mentality and began searching the Scriptures to discover what she needed to do. Having lost her joy and peace, she was tormented by thoughts of “not doing enough for God.”

Kirsten’s hope was reignited when she chanced upon one of my television broadcasts. She said, “That tiny spark of hope later burst into flames and set me free. Wow! God’s grace is real and it doesn’t depend on my ‘doing enough for Him.’ No more works that are motivated by guilt and shame that left me exhausted, overwhelmed, and drained. My peace and joy returned a hundredfold, and I was able to relax and enjoy my relationship with God, my family, and my church.”

That wasn’t all. Her revelation of God’s grace put a newfound peace and rest in her heart such that when the economic downturn in 2008 wrecked America financially and affected her family, she chose to rest and believe that God would provide for her family.

“I prayed one morning for God to give us something that day based solely on His grace and not our efforts,” she said. “Less than thirty minutes later, my husband’s former employer called him and asked if he wanted his old job back! My husband now earns as much as he did in his best year prior to the downturn. God’s grace is amazing!”

Beloved, don’t allow a mixture of law and grace to invade your heart and mind. God hates mixture because it robs you of the freedom, peace, and joy that come from resting in His Son’s finished work. It robs you of the power to reign in life through the abundance of His grace!

You cannot put new wine into old wineskins. You will lose both. But if you just focus and meditate on His grace and goodness toward you and your family, like Kirsten, you will see His grace abundantly provide for you.