11/09/23

The Lord told me once, “Being under grace means being constantly under My supply. It means being conscious not of the need, demand, or crisis, but of My supply to you.”

My friend, the essence of grace is supply. See yourself under His grace by seeing yourself under the waterfall of His supply. Do you need healing for your body today? See the area of affliction surrounded by His power to heal and His resurrection life!

Beloved, because of the cross, God’s grace is always supplying healing, protection, wisdom, and provision to you. And the more you are conscious of it, the more you will walk in it!

10/09/23

Look at the above passage. It tells us that by God’s unmerited favor, we are seated together with Christ at the Father’s right hand. To be seated in Christ is to rest, to trust in Him, and to receive everything our beautiful Savior has accomplished on our behalf.

My friend, God wants us to take the position of relying on Jesus for good success in every area of our lives, instead of relying on our good works and human efforts to achieve success. What a blessing it is to be in this position of dependence on our Savior!

Look at the above passage. It tells us that by God’s unmerited favor, we are seated together with Christ at the Father’s right hand. To be seated in Christ is to rest, to trust in Him, and to receive everything our beautiful Savior has accomplished on our behalf.

My friend, God wants us to take the position of relying on Jesus for good success in every area of our lives, instead of relying on our good works and human efforts to achieve success. What a blessing it is to be in this position of dependence on our Savior!

But instead of looking at Jesus, believers are misled by the devil into looking at themselves. For thousands of years, the devil’s strategy has not changed. He is a master at accusing you, pointing out all your flaws, weaknesses, mistakes, and blemishes. He will keep on reminding you of your past failures and use condemnation to perpetuate the cycle of defeat in your life.

When the apostle Paul found himself sinking into self-occupation, he became depressed and cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me . . . ?” (Rom. 7:24). In the very next verse, he sees God’s solution and says, “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Likewise, beloved, it’s time for you to step out from being self-conscious and self-occupied, and begin to be Christ-occupied instead.

Today, you should no longer be asking yourself, “Am I pleasing to God?” Instead, ask, “Is Christ pleasing to God?” Because as Christ is, so are you in this world (1 John 4:17).

The old covenant of law is all about you, but the new covenant of grace is all about Jesus! The law places the demand on you to perform and makes you self-conscious, whereas grace places the demand on Jesus and makes you Jesus-conscious.

Can you imagine a young child growing up and always wondering in his heart, “Am I pleasing to Daddy? Am I pleasing to Mummy? Do Daddy and Mummy accept me?” This child will grow up emotionally warped if he does not have the security and assurance of his parents’ love and acceptance.

That is why your loving heavenly Father wants you rooted, established, and anchored in His unwavering love for you. He demonstrated His love for you when He sent Jesus to become your sin on the cross so that you can become His righteousness. Our part today is to turn away from ourselves and to look at Jesus!

instead of looking at Jesus, believers are misled by the devil into looking at themselves. For thousands of years, the devil’s strategy has not changed. He is a master at accusing you, pointing out all your flaws, weaknesses, mistakes, and blemishes. He will keep on reminding you of your past failures and use condemnation to perpetuate the cycle of defeat in your life.

When the apostle Paul found himself sinking into self-occupation, he became depressed and cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me . . . ?” (Rom. 7:24). In the very next verse, he sees God’s solution and says, “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Likewise, beloved, it’s time for you to step out from being self-conscious and self-occupied, and begin to be Christ-occupied instead.

Today, you should no longer be asking yourself, “Am I pleasing to God?” Instead, ask, “Is Christ pleasing to God?” Because as Christ is, so are you in this world (1 John 4:17).

The old covenant of law is all about you, but the new covenant of grace is all about Jesus! The law places the demand on you to perform and makes you self-conscious, whereas grace places the demand on Jesus and makes you Jesus-conscious.

Can you imagine a young child growing up and always wondering in his heart, “Am I pleasing to Daddy? Am I pleasing to Mummy? Do Daddy and Mummy accept me?” This child will grow up emotionally warped if he does not have the security and assurance of his parents’ love and acceptance.

That is why your loving heavenly Father wants you rooted, established, and anchored in His unwavering love for you. He demonstrated His love for you when He sent Jesus to become your sin on the cross so that you can become His righteousness. Our part today is to turn away from ourselves and to look at Jesus!

09/09/23

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word

Joy in His Presence
It’s good to be passionate about our dreams, passionate about healing, freedom, and promotion. But don’t be so consumed that you’re not going to be happy while you’re waiting for God to make His path known to you.

Don’t put your happiness on hold until everything works out. This day is a gift. Enjoy your life while God is working. Don’t be uptight, stressed out, and saying, “When is it going to change?” You have to pass the test of being happy where you are before God will get you to where you want to be. If you can only be happy when the problem turns around, when what you desire comes to pass, that’s going to delay what God is going to do. You have to put your foot down and say, “I am going to enjoy this day. This crisis, these challenges, or this bad break is not going to stop me. God, Your presence in my life is my joy. I trust Your timing, and I trust Your ways. In the meantime, I’m going to rejoice and live my life with gladness.”

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that this day is a gift from You, and I’m not going to live sour and defeated. Thank You that my happiness is not dependent on my situation, but upon Your presence in my life. I’ve made up my mind that I’m going to rejoice in You .

SECTION TWO

Beloved, you reign in life through Jesus Christ just by receiving two things from Him: the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:17). God’s way is not about achieving, but about receiving. But many Christians continue to live based on the world’s system of achievement.

The world’s system of success is built on the twin pillars of self-effort and diligence. The world tells you that the more you do, the harder you work, and the more hours you put in, the more success you will achieve. The world’s way is to nag you to work harder, to forget about attending church on Sundays, to spend less time with your family, and to spend more time in the office working through the nights, weekends, and holidays. I’m sure you’ve heard that you need to “pay the price,” after all, “no pain, no gain,” right?

Today’s Scripture
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:11, NIV

Yet, God’s way is not for us to be blessed by our own efforts. You cannot earn God’s blessings by your performance. God’s blessings are based entirely on His grace. His blessings over your life are undeserved, unearned, and unmerited.

In other words, there is nothing you can do to deserve His blessings, for they are based entirely on receiving Jesus, and through His finished work, the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.

God wants us to stop trying to achieve and to begin receiving the favor, blessings, and healing that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. When He hung on the cross some two thousand years ago, He cried out with a loud voice, “It is finished!”

Everything you and I require to reign in life was accomplished at Calvary on our behalf. That’s why we call what Jesus did on the cross His “finished work.” He finished it. He completed it. It is done!

My friend, the only thing that works is the finished work. So stop trying to do what’s already done. Stop doing and start receiving what Jesus has done. Cease all striving and painful laboring to achieve your goals in your own strength and wisdom.

Choose instead to see that Jesus has already finished the work. All you need in this life He has already provided for you through the cross. Rest in His unmerited favor and love for you.

08/09/23

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word

Today’s Scripture

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1, NIV

A Child of God
Who told you that you can’t accomplish your dreams? Who told you that you’re less-than, not good enough, not smart enough? Who told you that you can’t be happy? Who says you’ve had too many bad breaks, that the obstacles are too big? That may be true if you were average or ordinary, but I know something about you. Your Father in heaven loves you with a great love. You have royal blood flowing through your veins. You have the spiritual DNA of Almighty God. You are wearing a crown of favor. You’re the King’s son, the King’s daughter.

Maybe you’ve had some bad breaks, you’ve been overlooked or pushed down, but have the right perspective: You’re a child of the King, and it’s time for you to reign. You haven’t made too many mistakes. Your obstacles are not too big. Get your passion back. Get your fire back. You wouldn’t be reading this if God wasn’t about to do something unusual, something unprecedented. You’re on the verge of seeing favor that you’ve never seen.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for being my Father and loving me with a great love. Help me to quit believing the lies that say I’m less-than or that I can’t overcome something. I believe and declare that I am a child of the Most High God and that I’m going to reign over what has reigned over me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

SECTION TWO

As a believer, have you ever been plagued by thoughts of how you haven’t been good enough or haven’t done enough to deserve God’s blessings? That your imperfection disqualifies you from receiving anything good from God?

If you’ve been struggling with these thoughts, I want you to read and reread today’s scripture, and let it saturate your heart, mind, and conscience. Let the knowledge of how you are completely forgiven and forever perfected by Jesus’ finished work at the cross sink in. You are not going to be forgiven and perfected one day through all your hard work. No, my friend, the good news is, you already are forgiven and perfected—once and for all time—through Jesus’ sacrifice.

And how long is forever? I checked the original Greek word for forever in the verse and guess what? “Forever” means forever! You have been totally forgiven and perfected forever by Jesus’ cleansing blood, not by the blood of animal sacrifices that can never take away sins.

Pastor Prince, how can I be fully assured that all my sins have already been forgiven?

Good question! Notice that after Jesus offered His life as a sacrifice and payment for all our sins, He “sat down” at the Father’s right hand. Jesus sat down to demonstrate to us that the work is indeed finished!

Under the old covenant, the priest who served in the tabernacle of Moses never sat down, but “stands ministering daily” because his work could never be finished. The blood of bulls and goats could “never take away sins” (Heb. 10:11).

Interestingly, in the holy place of the tabernacle of Moses, there was not a single piece of furniture prepared for the priest to sit on. You would not find a single chair in the holy place. You would find the altar of incense, the menorah, and even a table of showbread, but not chairs. This was because the work of the priest was never finished. Only Jesus’ work is a finished work.

My friend, you can rest easy in your heart and mind today. You can relax because Jesus has finished the work. In God’s eyes, you are forever perfect, spotless, and washed whiter than snow by the precious, eternal blood of His Son. And it’s permanent!

Your part is simply to believe and receive all that Jesus has done for you. That’s how you reign in life over sin, addictions, and whatever the enemy throws at you. That’s how you come up tops in all of life’s challenges!

07/09/23

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word

Today’s Scripture

“You are to purposely slip out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it so that she may glean.”
Ruth 2:16, NASB

ONE GOOD BREAK
Ruth was a young widow whose dreams were shattered, living in lack and poverty and trying to provide for her elderly mother-in-law. To survive, every morning she went into the fields to pick up the grain that the harvesters missed. But one day Boaz, the owner of the field, told his workers to purposely leave grain for Ruth. With that one good break, she had more than she needed, and her life became so much easier.

Then Boaz fell in love and married Ruth, and she went from working the field to owning the field.

God is working behind the scenes in your life, speaking to the people you need to flourish in a time of setback and loss, lining up the breaks you need to make your life easier.

He’s already arranged the good breaks, the promotion, the healing, the favor. Get ready for what He’s about to do. He’s not going to just make the hard places easier, but He’s going to cause you to flourish despite what you’ve been through.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that You know every hardship and difficult situation I have faced and will face. I choose to believe that You have more blessings and favor for me than I can dream. I believe that You are working behind the scenes to bring it all together. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

SECTION TWO

The Bible says in 2 Peter 1:2, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” In the original Greek, it actually says, “. . . through the knowledge of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Beloved, every answer you need, whether it has to do with your finances, health, career, or family life, is found in knowing more about Jesus in a personal and intimate way. I pray that every day, as you study the Scriptures or listen to Christ-centered sermons, the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see more of Jesus—His beauty, His love and grace toward you, and His finished work at Calvary!

So God’s unmerited favor and His shalom-peace (health, provision, and total well-being) are multiplied in your life through the knowledge of JESUS. The more you know Jesus, the more you will be able to tap into the ever-flowing supply of His favor, healing, and provision!