How Do You See God—As Your Judge Or Loving Father?

Gospel Corner

16/01/25

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word

Today’s Scripture
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7, NIV

What Keeps You Up at Night?
We all have opportunities to live anxious and worried about the future, wondering what’s going to happen with our children, our finances, our health. There’s always something trying to steal our peace. Some experts say so much stress and pressure is coming against our mental health today that we’re living in an epidemic of anxiety. That’s not the way we were created to live. You can’t go around carrying everything, trying to solve it all, living in tomorrow, wondering, “What if my health doesn’t improve? How can I fix this family problem? What if my business doesn’t turn around?”

One antidote is to “cast all your anxiety on God.” Anxiety is not going to just go away on its own. To cast a net means to forcefully swing your arms and body and release it. When anxiety attacks, you can’t be passive. When thoughts come, “What if gas prices and food costs keep going up? What if you can’t pay your bills?” cast off those thoughts and say, “No, thanks. My Father is my source. He will provide, just as He always has.”

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that You are in control of all the situations in my life and You are fighting my battles. I choose to let go of the worrisome, anxious thoughts that trap me in worry and discouragement. I declare that my trust is in You alone. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

SECTION TWO

Our enemy the devil is well aware that the moment you learn to receive God’s grace, you will start to reign in life. So he has been working hard to prevent you from receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.

The devil has been using controversy as a device down through church history to prevent believers from having access to the most powerful truths of God. He has built fences of controversy around healing, prosperity, and grace (calling them heresies) to keep believers from reigning over sickness, poverty, and sin. You can always tell how powerful a truth is by the number of controversies the devil surrounds it with!

Please pay close attention to what I am saying. Not all controversies are based on the truth of God’s Word. We have to test everything against what the Bible says.

Nevertheless, controversy is a tool that the devil uses to prevent God’s people from accessing His truths. He is a crafty liar and deceitful thief, so we have to base what we believe on the Scriptures and test everything against it. If you want to know the truth about God’s grace, study His Word yourself and see what it has to say about grace!

Pastor Prince, are you one of those “prosperity gospel” preachers?

My friend, there is no such thing as a “prosperity gospel.” There is only one gospel in the Bible—the gospel of Jesus Christ.

However, when you believe the gospel of Jesus, which is based entirely on His grace, it will result in health and abundance of provision. In fact, the gospel of Jesus Christ leads to blessings, success, healing, restoration, protection, financial breakthroughs, security, peace, wholeness, and much more!

God blesses you not because you are good, but because He is good. It is based on His faithfulness and goodness toward you. It is not contingent on your performance, but on His undeserved favor.

If it were contingent on how good you are, then it would no longer be grace but the law. It would be deserved favor. This is the difference between the old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace:

Law is deserved favor—When you obey the commandments perfectly, you will be blessed.

Grace is undeserved favor—Jesus obeyed God perfectly, and you will be blessed by believing in Him.

My friend, which covenant are you under today? Law or grace? Deserved favor or undeserved favor? How do you see God—as your Judge or loving Father?

If you think that being blessed by God today is dependent on your doing, your ability to keep the law, and your ability to make yourself righteous, I ask you to test your understanding of grace against the Scriptures.

Read today’s Scripture again and open your heart to what it says about God and His grace toward you: God is your loving Father in heaven who loves you and has nothing but good gifts for you. He sent His Son to die for you so that you can enjoy every one of these good gifts. Today, receive His abundant grace!

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