YOUR PART IN THE NEW COVENANT OF GOD’S UNMERITED FAVOR IS TO BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE COMPLETELY FORGIVEN OF ALL YOUR SINS.

22/10/24

GOSPEL CORNER

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

Today’s Scripture
To the pure, all things are pure.
Titus 1:15, NIV

SEE THE BEST
If you can’t see anything in a positive light, if all you see is what your spouse or your child or your boss does wrong, the problem is not with everyone or everything else. At some point you have to look in the mirror and say, “Maybe I’m the one who needs to change. If I’m always critical, maybe I’ve developed a habit of seeing the bad rather than the good. If I’m always skeptical, maybe I’ve trained myself to be cynical and sarcastic rather than believing the best. If I’m always finding fault, maybe I’ve become judgmental and condemning instead of giving people the benefit of the doubt.”

What’s the solution? When the temptation comes to be critical, deal with negative thoughts one at a time. If you see something or someone you don’t understand or you don’t agree with, don’t be quick to judge or allow that critical spirit to come out. Instead of seeing them through critical eyes, look at them through God’s eyes. Start praying for them. Train yourself to see and believe the best about them.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You for always calling me to come higher and lay aside everything that keeps me from being my best. Help me to be honest and confront the areas where I struggle with negativity. I believe that with Your help that I can overcome and be victorious. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

SECTION TWO

What is our part in the new covenant of grace? Our part in the new covenant of grace is to simply believe! What should we believe? We are to believe in Jesus! But follow me closely now, this answer may not be as straightforward as it seems.

If you were to ask people on the streets if they believed in Jesus, you would probably get all kinds of answers. There would be those who believe that Jesus existed as a historical figure, moral philosopher, charismatic leader, or prophet. Sadly, the truth is that believing all these things about Jesus will not save them.

So let’s establish what it means to believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to first and foremost, believe and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior who died on the cross for all your sins. To believe in Jesus is to believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation and that once you receive Him, you receive the gift of eternal life.

Furthermore, to believe in Jesus is to believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that all your sins—past, present, and future—were all punished on the cross and that today (this is where the last clause of the new covenant applies), all your sins and lawless deeds He remembers NO MORE!

Based on the new covenant of grace, what does God want you to believe? He wants you to believe with all your heart that He meant every word when He said, “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 8:12).

You see, in the new covenant, there is nothing for us to do but to believe! Your part in the new covenant of God’s unmerited favor is to believe that you are completely forgiven of all your sins, and that Jesus’ blood cleanses you from all your unrighteousness and lawlessness.

In God’s eyes today, you are made perfectly righteous by Jesus’ finished work. The new covenant’s emphasis is to believe that you are forgiven of every sin and that God has erased them from His memory.

If you don’t believe this, it will be impossible for you to depend on and expect God to protect, provide for and prosper you. If you don’t believe this, it will rob you of the ability to receive His goodness, blessings, unmerited favor, and success in your life. So believe. Only believe!