11/10/23

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES

RELEASED TODAY! JOEL’S NEW BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE.

TODAY’S WORD:

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE.
Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1–2, NIV

NOTHING TO PROVE
Years ago, a friend invited me to come to his house after we played basketball at the gym, so I jumped in the car with him. He had a really beautiful sports car. As we were driving to his house, I noticed he was taking the long way. He could have saved a few miles taking the direct route. I asked why he didn’t go the easy way. He said, “My ex-girlfriend lives on this street. I always drive by to make sure she sees what she’s missed out on.” They had been broken up for almost ten years, but every chance he got, he still went out of his way to prove that she was missing out, to prove that he was successful, to prove that he was happy without her. What’s funny is that he found out later she had moved across town years earlier. All that time he was driving by, proving his point, she wasn’t even there.

I wonder how many times we’re trying to prove something to someone and the person isn’t even paying attention. We’re trying to impress people who don’t even care. We’re competing with someone who doesn’t even know we’re competing. Yes, it’s good to have goals, it’s good to have people who challenge us and inspire us to go further, but we’re not going to be blessed if our motives are not pure.

When our motive in trying to impress someone is to feed our ego, to pay them back, to show them how great we are, or to make up for our lack of self-worth, that’s a dead-end street. Let God fight your battles. Let Him promote you. Let Him vindicate you. His favor upon us is not so we can prove that we’re talented or as good as someone else. It’s to fulfill our assignment. It’s to advance the Kingdom.

How much time and energy are you spending trying to feel good enough, talented enough, smart enough, worthy enough? It’s not worth it. Try a different approach. Come out from under the pressure of striving and working.

You have nothing to prove. What people think about you doesn’t determine your destiny. Accomplishing more is nice, but it’s not going to make you more valuable. Your income may increase, but your value is not going to increase.

Don’t get baited into being competitive, trying to outperform, thinking that’s going to give you more worth. Run your race. Stay focused on what you’re called to do. Don’t live for other people’s applause; live for God’s applause.

REFLECTION
Is there anyone you are trying too hard to impress? Anyone you are competing with? How can the principle of Nothing to Prove help you see yourself differently?

When you understand that God is pleased with you, it doesn’t really matter what other people think about you. Let this get down in your spirit. Reflect on who you are in God’s eyes.

DECLARATION
Today, I declare that I am approved by the Most High God, the Almighty Creator who formed me in the womb and who knew me before I was born. I will rest in my identity as a child of God, not striving to prove myself to people. I declare that I will run the race He has laid out for me. I have the grace to overcome every adversity He allows in my life, the gifts to accomplish every dream He has given me. I declare that I will become all God created me to be.

PRAYER.
Heavenly Father, I know in my heart that I am approved by You, the Most High God. You, the Almighty Creator, formed me in the womb and knew me even before I was born. Thank You for calling me Your beloved child and that I no longer have to strive to prove myself to others. I am going to run the race You have put in front of me, embracing every challenge as an opportunity for growth. With Your grace, I will overcome every adversity that comes my way. You have equipped me with unique gifts to fulfill the dreams You have placed within my heart. Today, I boldly declare that I will become all that You created me to be. With Your guidance and love, I will shine brightly, inspiring others to find hope and purpose. In the precious Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.

SECTION TWO

I can still remember what happened when I visited a lady from my congregation in the hospital. Heather had suffered a stroke that completely paralyzed the left side of her body.

As I prayed for her, she lifted her right hand in a gesture of prayer. Amazingly, her left hand followed suit, albeit slowly. This was something that she had been unable to do following the stroke. By the grace of God, she was beginning to experience healing in her body, with sensations starting to seep back into her left arm.

Within a few moments, though, as she lay in the intensive-care ward, intubated and hooked up to incessantly beeping medical equipment, her left arm started to tremble with strain.

“Don’t worry about praying for a breakthrough,” I assured Heather. Smiling at her, I gestured to one of my pastors who was with me and told her, “Leave the praying to us.”

Then, tapping my index finger on the side of my head, I told her, “But watch your mental movies. Make sure that you play the right movies in your mind.”

What did I mean by that? I was telling her to see what God sees and ignore all the sounds, scents, and sights that her natural senses were picking up in the hospital environment. I was encouraging her to fill her mind with mental images of herself being healthy, strong, and basking in the love of her family at home. I didn’t want her to keep seeing all the worst-case scenarios in her mind.

Then I said to her, “It takes a thought to heal a thought.”

It was a word that I had received in my spirit for her. For some reason, I just felt like the enemy had succeeded in planting a wrong thought or mental picture in her mind, and that had to be removed and replaced with the right thoughts, pictures, and beliefs that are based on the unchanging Word of God. Shortly after our meeting, Heather was discharged from the hospital and her condition improved.

My friend, if you are being tormented by wrong or negative thoughts in your mind, you need the truth of God’s Word to uproot them. Keep meditating on God’s Word and promises to you.

As you do, the negative, defeatist thoughts that have kept you in fear and anxiety will be replaced with God’s good thoughts to bless you with peace and wholeness in every area of your life. Let His Word give you a vision of a bright future full of hope and good things!

10/10/23

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES

THE 15/15 EXPERIENCE SPECIAL EDITION

TODAY’S WORD

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Luke 6:37, NIV

LET IT GO
We all go through disappointments, things that are not fair. It’s easy to hold on to the hurts, to think about the negative things people have said to us, to relive the offense. We get up in the morning, and it’s the first thing that comes to mind. We don’t realize how much that’s affecting us. It’s souring our attitude, draining our energy, and limiting our creativity. If you’re going to fulfill your destiny, you have to get good at letting things go.

In Luke 17:1, Jesus said, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!” (NKJV). He didn’t say they might come. He didn’t say that if you’re a good person and you’re nice all the time, nobody will do you wrong. He says that disappointments will come. Betrayals will come.

**Things that are not fair will come. How you deal with these offenses, how you handle the hurts, will determine whether you move forward and see the new things God has in store or whether you get stuck, bitter over what didn’t work out.**

I’ve heard it said that if you don’t heal from emotional wounds, you will bleed on people who had nothing to do with them. How many people are living wounded over how they were raised, a friend who walked away, or a business partner who cheated them? Instead of letting it go, they replay it over and over in their mind, reliving all the hurt. Then they wonder why they don’t have good relationships. It’s because they haven’t healed. They’re living out of a wounded place.

God brings a new person into their life, somebody great, but they’re so insecure. They don’t feel valuable or attractive. This new person has to go overboard to make sure they know how great they are. The problem is that it’s not sustainable. Until you get well, you can’t develop healthy relationships. Until you stop carrying the hurt, you’ll burden other people with it. Until you let go of what didn’t work out, that wound is going to hinder you wherever you go.

If you’re still wounded over a position you lost unfairly in one company, you’ll go to a new company being defensive, on edge, and not friendly. You’ll treat your new boss and coworkers based on what you’ve been through, but they had nothing to do with it. It’s much more freeing when you learn to let things go. It wasn’t fair. God will be your vindicator. He’ll take care of who did you wrong. It’s not your job to pay people back.

They hurt you once; don’t let them continue to hurt you by holding on to it. You lost a loved one, which I know is painful, and it’s healthy to go through a season of mourning, but you can’t hold on to the hurt. Living in mourning is going to keep new doors from opening. You have to heal so you can see new relationships and new opportunities.

REFLECTION
Past hurts, old wounds, recent betrayals, fresh disappointments . . . Your pain may be recent or years in the past, but learning to let it go will change your life today for the better. What do you need to let go of today?

What dreams do you have that are being hindered by bitterness or unforgiveness? How much more could you accomplish if you started letting things go? Reflect on this and write about it.

DECLARATION
Today, I declare that old hurts and wounds no longer have a hold on me. I will forgive everyone who has wronged me and let go of every offense. I will forgive myself, and I will be free. I declare that, like He did with David, God will restore everything that has been taken from me. I declare that my Heavenly Father is in control and will bring breakthroughs in ways I could never have imagined.

PRAYER
Dear God, I come to You today with an open heart. I understand that when I bury negative emotions deep inside, they never truly go away. I can’t hold on to anger, hurt, or betrayal and expect them not to affect me. Help me to forgive those who have hurt me, no matter how deeply. Help me to forgive, just as You have forgiven me. I know now that forgiving is not just for their sake but for my own well-being. Thank You that You make all things new and that I can experience the freedom, joy, and victory You have planned for me. I ask for Your strength and guidance to release these negative emotions and step into a new level of happiness and triumph. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

SECTION TWO

You will never be sure that you have God’s unmerited favor if you are not sure if God has forgiven you of your sins. Beloved, I want you to know that your sins are forgiven not according to the riches of your good works, but according to the riches of God’s grace (unmerited favor).

All your sins—past, present, and future—have been forgiven. Don’t draw a timeline of God’s forgiveness of your sins.

There are some Christians who believe that the forgiveness they received spans only from the day they were born to the day they became Christians. From that point onwards, they think that they need to tread very carefully in case they lose their salvation. This belief is simply unscriptural. Colossians 2:13 states clearly that we have been forgiven of all our sins.

Does “all” mean the same thing to you as it does to me? My Bible says that all our sins have been forgiven by Jesus’ one sacrifice on the cross. We have been forgiven once and for all!

The high priests in the old covenant had to offer sacrifices for sins daily. But Jesus, our perfect new covenant High Priest, offered the complete, perfect sacrifice “once for all when He offered up Himself” (Heb. 7:27).

On the cross, He took upon Himself all the sins that you will commit in your lifetime, and once for all paid the full price for all your sins. Christ does not need to be crucified again for your future sins. In fact, all your sins were in the future when He died on the cross. So when you received Jesus into your heart, ALL your sins were completely forgiven!

Now that you know that your sin debt has been completely cleared and settled by Jesus on your behalf, don’t expect God to deal with you according to your sins. When something negative happens, don’t imagine that God is coming after you because of what you did in the past.

Instead, take God at His Word and expect to enjoy the benefits of the heavy price Jesus paid at the cross for you. We sowed nothing good, but through Jesus, we have reaped every good blessing. That, my friend, is called unmerited favor. And you honor what He has done for you by thanking Him and expecting these blessings to manifest in your life every day.