Be careful of people who try to stir you up.

02/04/25

Gospel Corner

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word

Today’s Scripture
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
Romans 16:17, NIV

Sowers of Discord
Be careful of people who try to stir you up. It should be a red flag when someone comes and starts pointing out everything that’s wrong. You have to consider the source. They are constant alarmists, always blowing things out of proportion, knocking your boss, telling you what’s wrong with your spouse, pointing out problems in your church. Don’t take that bait. They’re sowing discord. They’re trying to poison your spirit. Most of the time, they don’t even know all the facts. The Scripture tells us to be peacemakers, not troublemakers. That’s someone who wants you to get bent out of shape, and then they’re quick to give you advice about it. They always have the answers.

If you keep listening to them, you’re going to live wrought up, stressed out, on edge. If you dwell on what they’re saying, thinking of all the negatives, you’ll end up sour, frustrated, and angry. Do yourself a favor. Tune them out. Quit letting them control you. “What if they get upset?” They’re already upset. Let them be upset by themselves.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for such a clear word of warning to be careful about the people I allow to influence me. Help me to honestly evaluate my relationships and make changes where there’s discord. I will not allow them to control me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Be encouraged to know that you don’t have to be afraid of the battles in your mind. Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

Based on God’s Word, right believing is the key that unlocks the treasures of God in your life, giving you access to the fullness of His love, grace, favor, blessings, and forgiveness.

Jesus has already paid the price on Calvary’s hill. The hindrance then between you and your victory is your wrong beliefs. The battle has to do with your beliefs.

The enemy knows that if he can control your thought life, he can manipulate your emotions and feelings. For instance, if he can make you entertain thoughts of guilt, failure, and defeat, you will begin to feel lousy about yourself, physically weak, and even depressed.

Our emotions are flags that indicate to us what our thoughts are. Thank God for emotions. They tell us if something is terribly wrong with our thoughts.

Many of us are not cognizant when our thinking slides down a slippery slope to fear, doubt, pessimism, and anxiety. However, God has designed us in such a way that we can quickly recognize our thinking through our emotions.

Try this: whenever you begin to sense negative emotions, such as fear, worry, guilt, and anger, stop and ask yourself, “What am I thinking?”

Your emotions follow quickly at the heels of your thoughts. If your thoughts are negative, you will naturally produce negative emotions. Conversely, if your thoughts are positive in Christ, you will produce positive emotions.

That is why there is a battle for your mind. The devil wants to keep your thoughts negative so that he can keep you defeated. He is a master of mind games, and he doesn’t play fair. When he first tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, he made them doubt God’s motives by insinuating that God was deliberately withholding something good from them, when in reality God was protecting them.

The devil’s strategy hasn’t changed—he is still using fears, lies, accusations, guilt, and condemnation to ensnare believers today and to make them doubt God’s perfect love, forgiveness, and superabounding grace.

My friend, are there areas you are fearful and anxious about today? Realize that those fears and anxieties indicate the presence of wrong beliefs in your life that God wants you to be freed from.

Replace those wrong beliefs with right beliefs based on God’s Word, and you will eradicate those fears and anxieties. Through the power of right believing, you will win the battle for your mind.