JUST BECAUSE WE GIVE UP ON A DREAM DOESN’T MEAN HE GIVES UP ON IT. THE Scripture says, “GOD REMEMBERED RACHEL.” 

15/06/24

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive.
Genesis 30:22, NIV

COMPLETING YOUR INCOMPLETIONS
The Scripture says that God put a dream to have a baby in Rachel’s heart. But year after year went by, and she couldn’t conceive. Rachel remained without a child while her sister, Leah, had one baby after another. Finally, after years of frustration, Rachel grew discouraged and said, in effect, “This is my lot in life. It’s never going to happen.”

One of the things I love about God is this: Just because we give up on a dream doesn’t mean He gives up on it. The Scripture says, “God remembered Rachel.” It doesn’t say that Rachel remembered God. This is how much God wants you to fulfill your destiny. He is so loving, so merciful, that even when you become too discouraged to believe, God does not forget what He promised you. He remembers. You may have already said, “Forget it. It will never happen.” The good news is you don’t have the final say. God has the final say, and He says, “What I started in your life, I will finish.” Get your passion back. He will complete your incompletions.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that You will bring to completion the good work You began in me. Thank You that the fulfillment of my dreams is on the way despite the secret frustrations of my heart. I believe that You will complete my incompletions and help me to fulfill my destiny. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

SECTION TWO
Perhaps like the woman with the issue of blood in the Gospels (Mark 5:25–34), you are facing an impossibly hopeless situation in your life. It could be a debilitating sickness, a marital situation, a financial crisis, or a prolonged challenge.

In the natural, the future looks dismal and there appears to be no reason to hope. If that is you, I encourage you to believe that you too can experience the kind of breakthrough this woman experienced.

Imagine: for twelve long years, she had watched helplessly as her condition went from bad to worse no matter what she tried. Most of us would have given up. How did she find hope in the midst of her hopelessness? What gave her the courage to hope again?

I believe that the secret to her faith can be found in these five words: “She had heard about Jesus.”

What do you think she heard about Jesus? This is an important question because whatever she had heard imparted an audacious sense of Bible hope and confidence in her. And this imbued her with a boldness and tenacity to risk everything just to touch the hem of His garment.

She knew well the religious laws concerning unclean persons such as herself meant that she could be subjected to public humiliation and, very possibly, violence if she was recognized. Clearly she must have had no doubt in her heart that she would be completely healed the moment she touched the hem of His garment or she would not have risked it.

The Bible does not tell us exactly what she heard about Jesus, but I submit to you that she must have heard story after story of how Jesus healed the sick everywhere He went, how good and gracious He was even to the unclean lepers or the down-and-out who came to Him.

What she heard about Jesus produced in her a positive, confident expectation of good, which we can see in what she declared: “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” This hope then resulted in a faith that was effortless.

Faith as defined in God’s Word is “the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen” (Heb. 11:1 NLT). In other words, the hope that she had in the goodness of Jesus became faith, and this faith gave her the boldness to press through the crowd and receive her healing from Jesus.

What are you hearing about Jesus? The more you hear about His goodness and grace, the more faith will unconsciously arise in you to receive your miracle.