GOSPEL CORNER: GOD TOLD JOSHUA THAT TO HAVE GOOD SUCCESS, HE HAD TO MEDITATE ON THE LAW DAY AND NIGHT.

14/06/24

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

Today’s Scripture
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8–9, NIV

God’s Way Is Always the Best
When you want something so badly that you convince yourself you can’t live without it, you try to make it happen. You may pray night and day for it, but God is so merciful that He’s not going to answer that prayer if it’s not His best. He loves you too much to open that door. Why don’t you trust Him? He wants you to fulfill your destiny more than you do. He is in complete control.

Let these words sink down into your spirit: God’s way is better than your way. His plan is bigger than your plan. When you come to a closed door, consider it a test of your faith. Will you become bitter, live in self-pity, and give up on your dreams, or will you move forward knowing that God is still in control? If you pass the test, God will release what He has in your future. And many times it will be exactly what you’re praying for. God just wants to see that you trust Him enough to be happy even if it doesn’t happen your way.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that You see the big picture for my life and make all things serve me for my good. Thank You for the assurance in my heart that Your ways are always better than my ways. I declare that I am going to stay in peace and trust that You are working out Your plan for my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Look at the instructions that God gave Joshua when he was appointed as Moses’ successor: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

God told Joshua that to have good success, he had to meditate on the law day and night. Joshua lived under the old covenant, so how should we, who live under the new covenant, benefit from this scripture?

We need to read this portion of scripture in view of Jesus’ finished work. That is why it is essential for you to be firmly established on the rock-solid foundation of the new covenant of grace.

Now that you know that we are no longer under the law (Rom. 6:14), what is the new covenant way to be blessed and to experience good success? Joshua only had the law to meditate upon because the New Testament had not been written yet. For us, the secret to good success is found in meditating on God’s Word in the light of the new covenant of grace.

Before we can go into what it means to meditate on God’s Word, what exactly does it mean to “meditate”?

When the Bible talks about meditation, it’s not referring to a mental exercise. The Hebrew word for meditation in the Old Testament is the word hagah, which means to utter or mutter. So to hagah is to speak under your breath.

Notice that the Lord told Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth.” He did not say that it “shall not depart from your mind.” The key to meditating on God’s Word is not mental contemplation. It is in speaking God’s promises with your mouth!

“Pastor Prince, does this mean that I should keep repeating God’s Word? For instance, should I keep saying ‘by His stripes I am healed’ when I need healing?”

Meditating on God’s Word does not mean making vain repetitions of scriptures. It is much more and is something that first occurs deep in your heart.

The psalmist David captured the essence of meditation most aptly when he said, “My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue” (Ps. 39:3).

As you are meditating on God’s Word, ask the Holy Spirit to give you a fresh revelation of Jesus. Let that scripture burn with revelation in your heart.

And as you speak out of that burning revelation, God anoints the words that you speak. When you declare, “By His stripes I am healed,” and that declaration is uttered with a sense of revelation and faith in Jesus, there will be power in your declaration!