You didn’t overcome that challenge on your own

Gospel Corner

28/03/25

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word

Today’s Scripture
“The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”
Deuteronomy 28:7, NKJV

What He’s About to Do.
When you look back over your history and see how you made it through problems and difficulties, opposition and dysfunction, it was by the grace of God. That was the Most High God fighting your battles. You didn’t overcome that challenge on your own. It’s because you have a protector, a defender, who’s been watching over you. He never sleeps. He’s pushing back darkness, keeping those forces from stopping your purpose. David says, “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” That’s the hand of God.

What has God done for you? All of those victories are a sign of God’s goodness. Sometimes we forget the good things God has done, and we remember the hurts, the disappointments, the mistakes, the setbacks. Don’t make that mistake. Remember what God has done and give Him thanks today. He is bigger than whatever you’re facing, and He will surely defeat it. What He’s done in the past is going to pale in comparison to what He’s about to do.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for Your greatness and power and how Your hand has been upon my life in so many ways. Thank You for the countless things You have made happen for my good that I could never make happen. I will remember my victories and know that You will do even greater things. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

The flesh in us can produce a whole gamut of emotions and thoughts, from defeat, jealousy, greed, and lust to anger, inferiority, condemnation, and arrogance. As long as we are in this physical body, the flesh is active in us.

But we can rejoice because when Jesus died on the cross, the Word of God tells us that He “condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). All the negative thoughts and toxic emotions from the flesh have already been judged and punished at the cross. Today we can experience victory over the flesh through the power of the cross.

You can read all about the apostle Paul’s struggle with the flesh in Romans 7:18–19: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (emphasis mine).

Did you notice how many times the words “I,” “me,” and “my” are mentioned in just the two verses above? I’m sure you can identify with the apostle Paul here in his struggle with the flesh. It’s the struggle we all face when we are occupied with ourselves and warring with the flesh within us. It’s a life of vexation, angst, defeat, and despair.

This is not where God wants you to live, my friend. A believer doesn’t live in Romans chapter 7. Through Christ Jesus, we should be living in Romans chapter 8. Let’s read on and discover how Paul broke free from this bondage of self.

Just a few verses later, Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). The answer, my friend, is found in a person, and Paul tells us this person is Jesus: “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:25).

Only our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, can deliver us from the flesh. And in Christ we can step into the first verse of Romans chapter 8, which proclaims, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (NASB).

This is where we as new covenant believers ought to live. Not in the domain of constant struggle and despair, but in the domain of no condemnation and victory.