WHEN GOD LOOKS AT YOU, HE DOESN’T SEE YOU IN YOUR FAILURES AND SHORTCOMINGS. HE SEES YOU IN JESUS’ PERFECTION AND LOVELINESS!

24/09/24

GOSPEL CORNER

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp.
2 Kings 19:35, NIV

LOOK BACK AND SEE.
In 2 Kings 20, soon before King Hezekiah received a promise of healing from God and then asked for a sign of assurance, he had seen the greatest victory of his life. The powerful Assyrian army was about to attack Jerusalem, but when Hezekiah prayed and asked God to help them, that very night an angel destroyed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Hezekiah and the people of Judah were spared. You would think Hezekiah wouldn’t need a sign for his promised healing. He had just seen a supernatural victory.

But how often do we forget what God has done? As with Hezekiah, God has shown up and turned things around for us. He’s healed us, protected us, freed us, promoted us. If you need a sign, look back at the goodness of God in your life.

Look back at how He gave you strength, how He promoted you and gave you breaks, how he turned your child around, how he brought someone great into your life to love. When you need evidence, look back at the faithfulness of God.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for the history that I have with You and for the mercies You have shown out in my life. Thank You that I can remember Your constant goodness and every victory You’ve given me. I declare that Your faithfulness is all the evidence I need. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

Do you believe that you are beloved and highly favored by God? Ephesians 1:6 says, “to the praise of the glory of His grace [unmerited favor], by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”

It is not possible for us to make ourselves accepted. We are made accepted by the glory of the Lord’s unmerited favor.

The word “accepted” in Ephesians 1:6 is the Greek word charitoo. Now, the root word for charitoo is charis, which means “grace.” So charitoo simply means “highly graced” or “highly favored.” In other words, you are highly favored in the Beloved!

Now, we know that “the Beloved” in Ephesians 1:6 refers to Jesus. If you read on, it says in the next verse that “In Him [Jesus the Beloved] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace [unmerited favor].”

Now, why didn’t the Bible just say that we are highly favored in Jesus or in Christ? (There are no insignificant details in the Bible.) Why did the Holy Spirit choose specifically to say that we are highly favored “in the Beloved”?

“Beloved” is a warm and intimate term that was used by God at the Jordan River to describe Jesus. The Bible tells us that when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, “He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'” (Mark 1:10–11).

God the Father spoke publicly and His words were recorded for you to know that to be “accepted in the Beloved” means that God is well pleased with you today. See yourself sandwiched right smack in the midst of Jesus, God’s Beloved.

When God looks at you, He doesn’t see you in your failures and shortcomings. He sees you in Jesus’ perfection and loveliness!

Because you are in Christ, God says to you, “You, ___ (insert your name here), are My beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus is well-pleasing to God because He kept the law perfectly. You and I are well-pleasing to God because we are accepted and highly favored in the Beloved, who took all our sins and fulfilled the law on our behalf!

Immediately after Jesus was baptized, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The devil came to Jesus and said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matt. 4:3).

Now, don’t forget that Jesus had just heard the voice of His Father affirming Him with the words “You are My beloved Son.” Do you notice that the devil deliberately left out the word “beloved”?

Friend, for the devil’s temptations to work, he cannot remind you that you are God’s beloved. The moment you are reminded of your identity as God’s beloved in Christ, he will not be able to succeed!

It is no wonder that the devil wants to rob believers of their sense of being God’s beloved. So don’t fall for the devil’s trick. Remind yourself today and every day that you are God’s beloved!