God will allow situations where it looks impossible so He can show you His supernatural provision, but you have to trust Him.

Gospel Corner

03/10/25

Joel Osteen Ministries

Today’s Word
Today’s Scripture
“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”
Exodus 17:6, NKJV

Water Out of a Rock
When God freed the two million Israelite slaves from Egypt and was leading them through the desert toward the Promised Land, there were no grocery stores or water faucets. They began to complain, but God didn’t deliver them only to let them die of thirst. He had Moses take his staff and strike a rock, and water poured out. It was a supernatural provision.

Don’t be surprised if you face times when all the facts say, “You’ll always struggle, have debt, not enough.” God will allow situations where it looks impossible so He can show you His supernatural provision, but you have to trust Him. The Scripture says, “He makes streams in the barren places, rivers in the desert.” There may be some things barren in your life. You don’t see how it could ever change. No, get ready. God’s about to strike the rock. You’re going to see provision you can’t explain, good breaks that don’t make sense, increase that defies the odds. The same God who brought water out of a rock can cause abundance to come knocking on your door.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that no matter if my situation looks impossible, no matter what seems delayed, You will do what You have promised. Thank You that I can get my hopes up and know that You make streams to flow in the barren places. I will not be afraid. I will believe. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

When I was the president of my youth ministry, I used to preach hard and strong messages, telling my youths, “You’ve got to love God! You’ve got to love the Lord with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul!” All that time, when I was preaching this to the young people, I was wondering to myself, “How in the world do I do that?”

I would look at myself and check my heart, mind, and soul—did I really love the Lord that perfectly? How could I expect my youths to love the Lord that way when I knew that I myself had failed?

At that time, I was not established in the new covenant of grace yet. I did not know that by preaching that way, I was actually placing all my youths under the law because the sum total of the law is to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength (Matt. 22:37–40, Mark 12:29–30).

Let me ask you this: Has anybody ever been able to love the Lord with all his heart, mind, and soul? No one. Not a single person has been able to do that.

God knew all the while that under the law, no one could love Him that perfectly. So do you know what He did? The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” I love that little word “so.” It speaks of the intensity with which God loves us.

When God sent Jesus, He was effectively saying this to us: “I know that you can’t love Me perfectly, so watch Me now. I will love you with all My heart, all My soul, all My mind, and all My strength.” And He stretched His arms wide and died for us.

This is what the Bible says about what Jesus did on the cross: “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:7–9).

My friend, the cross is not a demonstration of our perfect love and devotion to God. The cross is God’s demonstration of His perfect love and His perfect grace (unmerited favor) toward us, for it was while we were still sinners that Jesus died for us. He did not die for you and me because of our perfect love for God. He died for you and me because of HIS perfect love for us!

Let me give you the Bible’s definition of love to make this even clearer for you: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Beloved, that’s the emphasis of the new covenant of grace (unmerited favor)—HIS love for us, not our love for Him!