Joel Osteen Ministries

Today’s Word
Today’s Scripture
There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
Philippians 1:6, MSG

Celebrate Who You Are
Too many people go through life feeling wrong inside. They get up every morning and take inventory of their faults and weaknesses. There’s nothing the enemy would love any more than for you to go through life focused on your failures, how you don’t measure up, being against yourself. Don’t fall into that trap. When he whispers those condemning thoughts, “You blew your diet. You were late to work. You lost your temper. You gave in to that temptation,” just remind yourself that you are not a finished product. You may have some things wrong with you, but you have a lot more right with you. Learn to celebrate who you are and not beat yourself up because of who you’re not. God is changing you from glory to glory. You don’t have to be a finished product before you feel good about yourself.

The more you give God thanks for what He’s done, the more He releases strength, favor, and new levels. Keep honoring God, being your best, and He’ll get you to where you’re supposed to be.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for the good work You’re doing in my life, and I am absolutely convinced that You will keep developing and bringing it to full completion. Thank You that I can be free from the enemy’s condemnation. I declare that I will not be moved from believing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

The world tells you that those with the qualifications, talents, and experience get the jobs, promotions, and high salaries.

My friend, though you live in this world, as God’s beloved child, you need not be limited by it. You have God’s favor—His unmerited, unearned, undeserved grace!

Read Ecclesiastes 9:11—”The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.” So even if you are not the smartest, strongest, most knowledgeable, or best looking in the natural, God can still give you good success when you depend on His grace.

Instead of mulling over your “disqualifications,” be conscious of God’s favor on you. Smile and say, “God’s favor is all over me because of Jesus. I expect good things to happen to me today!”

Beloved, be conscious of His favor. Believe it. Confess it. And you will experience it!

13/08/25

Gospel Corner

Today’s Word
Today’s Scripture
“And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 5:10, NKJV

Royalty
In 2 Samuel 4, after King Saul and his son Jonathan had been killed in battle, Saul’s little grandson, Mephibosheth, was fleeing for his life when he suffered a tragic fall and was disabled, unable to walk. He went from the palace to barely surviving, living in exile in a poor, run-down city named Lo Debar. But the change in his circumstances did not change the fact that he was royalty. Years later, King David brought him back to the palace to live as royalty and restored his family’s land.

The Scripture says that God has made us kings. You may feel like you’re living in Lo Debar today, with difficulties coming against you. That’s where you are, but that’s not who you are. Nothing you’ve been through has changed your royal identity. No person who did you wrong, no bad break, and no mistake you’ve made has changed your name. You are still a child of the King of kings with royal blood in your veins. He is about to pick you up, breathe new life into your dreams, and propel you toward your destiny.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for loving me and looking for me because You want me to have all that belongs to me as Your child. Thank You that You see me as royalty no matter what my circumstances look like, even when I’ve failed. I declare that I am becoming more and more like who You say I am. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

SECTION TWO

Do you know of anyone who is in a worse situation than Joseph when he stood naked in an Egyptian market, waiting to be sold as a slave? His whole world appeared to have collapsed around him.

Just a few days earlier, he was in his father’s embrace but now, his own brothers had betrayed him. All that he owned had been stripped from him. He was reduced to nothing more than a slave in a foreign land.

Was this the end of Joseph? In the natural scheme of things, it sure looked like it was. But even with the odds stacked up against Joseph, the Lord was far from finished. Even in this dire situation, the Lord was with Joseph, and at this dark and bleak juncture in Joseph’s life, the Lord called him a successful man (Gen. 39:1–2)!

Remember, it is not what you have. It is who you have that makes all the difference.

“How can the Lord make a young slave with not a single cent or possession to his name succeed?”

Well, let’s continue with Joseph’s story. Genesis 39:3 tells us, “And his master [Potiphar] saw that the LORD was with him [Joseph] and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand.” This is a powerful statement and it offers a promise that you can believe Jesus for, in every area of your life.

Can you imagine every project, assignment, and even errand that you undertake becoming prosperous? Your hands become hands of blessing.

You touch your family members and they are blessed. Your company may be struggling to manage a difficult project, but once it is placed in your hands, the project becomes blessed. You become a blessing waiting to happen to someone, waiting to happen to something, everywhere you go!

Now, how will this happen? The Lord Jesus will make it happen when you depend on Him in the same way that Joseph depended on Him.

Joseph had nothing. He could not trust in his skills or experience (he had never been a slave), nor could he trust in his natural connections (his father was out of the picture because he believed that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal). Ll

That’s what you and I need—a manifestation of His presence in everything that we do! You see, it is one thing to have His presence (all Christians have His presence because they have accepted Him as their personal Lord and Savior), but when His presence is made manifest in your life, that’s when His glory shines forth through you!

My friend, God wants to make everything you do prosper, just like He did for Joseph. See Him leading and blessing you, and increasing your effectiveness today!

10/08/25

Gospel Corner

Today I want you to see two powerful keys to winning life’s battles from the account of King Jehoshaphat. The first is to believe in the Lord, and you will be established. God’s Word tells us also to believe the words of His prophets (the pastors and preachers whom God has placed in your life), and you shall prosper! That is the power of right believing.

Don’t be myopic and be caught up with your current challenges, running around like a headless chicken, trying to solve your problems in your own strength. God doesn’t want you to live in a perpetual state of uncertainty, anxiety, stress, and fear. When you believe right, you will experience true Bible hope and start living with a certain, joyful, confident expectation of good regardless of your current circumstances.

The second key is to go into battle singing praises to God. This was what Jehoshaphat did. It may have been an unusual military strategy, but as the Israelites began to sing and praise, God caused confusion among the enemies’ camps, and they utterly destroyed one another. Judah did not draw a single sword that day, but the battle was won. In fact, it was won before Judah’s troops even arrived at the scene.

God deliberately records for us the words with which the people of Judah praised Him: “Praise the LORD, for His mercy endures forever.” Psalm 118 begins and ends with this same refrain—a refrain so close to God’s heart that it features very prominently in many key moments in Israel’s history (1 Chron. 16:7, 34; 2 Chron. 7:3).

My friend, there is something very special about these two simple lines of praise. The word for “mercy” here is the very potent Hebrew word hesed, which speaks of God’s grace, love, tender mercies, and loving-kindness. No matter how many times you have failed and fallen short, and even if the troubles that surround you are a consequence of your own actions, would you turn to the Lord today and praise Him for His goodness and His hesed (His grace)?

When you are feeling down, overwhelmed, or fearful, worship Him with these words, and as you praise Him, He will “set ambushes” against all your enemies, troubles, fears, challenges, and addictions, as He did for Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah (2 Chron. 20:22).

By the time you reach your battlefield, I believe your enemies will all have fallen. Not a single one of your adversaries will escape because the Lord Himself fights your battles.

Gospel Corner

09/08/25

Joel Osteen Ministries

Today’s Word
Today’s Scripture
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29:11, KJV

Planned Long Ago
In life there are times when it looks as though our opponents—the sickness, the depression, the financial loss—are getting the best of us. It’s easy to get discouraged. You can go through life fighting everything that doesn’t go your way, being worried, negative, and upset. Or you can stay in peace, knowing that God is directing your steps, even the detours and the dead ends. You have to remind yourself that the end has been set by God.

When it feels as though you’re far behind, outnumbered, outsized, and outclassed, instead of being discouraged, have a new perspective. It’s not the end. The person who betrayed you didn’t stop God’s plan. The setback didn’t change His ending. The negatives in your life don’t have that kind of power. It just means you’re about to see a major comeback. At any moment things are going to shift in your favor. A good break, a healing, a promotion, or a restoration is coming. God has the final say. He has already established the end and will fulfill His purpose.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that in the midst of a very insecure world that I can rest in the security of knowing that my end has been set. Thank You for Your plans for my life, plans that are full of hope and an abundant future. I believe that You make everything work out at the right time. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

SECTION TWO

I want to share with you a beautiful truth from the story of Gideon in Judges 6. Even after Gideon had God’s promise to “go in this might of yours” and save Israel, he was still fearful and unconvinced. He asked for a sign to confirm that he was indeed speaking to the Lord.

Gideon then presented an offering to the Lord, and fire rose out of the rock to consume the offering. Then our Lord Jesus disappeared. Only at that moment did Gideon’s lightning-fast mind perceive that he had indeed been speaking with the Lord Himself. He gasped, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face” (Judg. 6:22).

Gideon began to panic, because in those days, they believed that if they saw God face to face, they would die. But before Gideon could frighten himself any further, the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die” (Judg. 6:23, boldface mine). So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it “The-LORD-Is-Peace” (Judg. 6:24), or in Hebrew, Jehovah Shalom. This is the first time the name Jehovah Shalom appears in the Bible, and the word that goes with this name is “you shall not die.”

According to the Strong’s Concordance, the word shalom refers to completeness, safety, soundness, welfare, health, and supply. It also refers to peace, quiet, tranquility, and contentment, as well as friendship in human relationships and with God in a covenant relationship.

So if you think that Jehovah Shalom just gives you peace of mind, you are wrong. When you receive the Lord as Jehovah Shalom in your life, you are receiving so much more!

My dear friends, I believe with all my heart that the Lord wants to speak to you today about the world we live in. Like Gideon, we may be surrounded by bad news, like news of diseases such as Ebola and Zika, of bomb attacks, of random shootings, of hijackings, of missile strikes, and of fatal accidents.

But God has already foreseen the problems that we will face in this day and age, and His protection and covering over us is all-encompassing!

Gospel Corner

08/08/25

Joel Osteen Ministries

Today’s Word
Today’s Scripture
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
Ephesians 4:15, ESV

Put Away the Excuse Bag. Sometimes we need somebody to speak the truth to us in love. Maybe you’re coasting along, thinking that you’ve reached your limits and you can’t step up to a new challenge, but you have gifts and talents that you haven’t tapped into yet. It’s time to put away your excuse bag and step up to that new level. Start learning something new. Start training for the next program. Start taking on more responsibility at work. Start writing that song, that book, or that business plan. Start managing your department. Start teaching that Bible study you’ve been thinking about for years. There is potential in you that is lying dormant. The enemy will make up excuses to try to keep it from ever coming out. But you have to stir up what God put inside. Quit telling yourself what you can’t do and how you don’t have the training, the education, or the discipline. Put away the excuse bag. You have everything you need. You are well able. You can do all things through Christ. God has already put it in you.

A Prayer for
Today
“Father, thank You for the power You have given me to release any old thinking, any old habits, and any excuses that are keeping me from being my best. Thank You that You have given me everything I need to step up to new levels. I declare that I am putting away the excuse bag. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

The Bible says that God has “disarmed principalities and powers,” referring to Satan and his cohorts (Eph. 6:12). So the devil has already been disarmed. But do you know what weapon he was wielding before his forced disarmament?

Today’s Scripture gives us the answer clearly: the devil was armed with the “handwriting of requirements that was against us.” On Mount Sinai, God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. The “handwriting of requirements” was thus a reference to the law that was written by the finger of God.

Let me stress that the law is holy, just, and good. It was designed by God to expose man’s weaknesses, sins, and inability to be holy, just, and good so that man would see his need for a Savior. You need to understand that no amount of keeping the law can make you holy. Only the blood of Jesus can do that.

The devil then armed himself with the law to accuse and condemn man. Now, listen carefully to this: God didn’t give the law to arm the devil, but the devil, knowing that the law was against us, took advantage of it and has been using it as his weapon to further alienate us from God.

That’s why when God nailed the law to the cross, He made a public spectacle of the devil and all the powers of darkness! Once the law was nailed to the cross of Jesus, God knew that the law no longer had the power to condemn us as long as we believed on Jesus. Therefore, when you know and believe that Jesus has fulfilled completely the righteous requirements of the law on our behalf, the devil cannot use the law to condemn you every time you fail.

Today, if the enemy uses the law to point out your sins, look to the cross of Jesus and reject the condemnation. You may say, “No one can blot out God’s handwriting.” Yes, you are right. No man can, but God can!

And God did it righteously. My friend, you have been redeemed from the curse of the law. The devil and his crew have been disarmed. Hallelujah!

Refuse to subject yourself any longer to the old covenant system of the law. Don’t put the weapon of the law back into the devil’s hands. Every teaching that says, “You have to keep the law to be blessed by God,” is doing just that.

Reject such legalistic teachings and rest in the truth of God’s disarmament and grace. The more you believe and embrace the truth of His grace, the more you are empowered to experience victory over your failings and challenges. This is how you reign, and when you reign, the devil doesn’t!

Gospel Corner

07/08/25

Joel Osteen Ministries

Today’s Word
Today’s Scripture
“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy.”
Acts 20:24, NKJV

Immovable
It’s great when feelings assist us, when we feel hopeful, positive, encouraged. But you can’t depend on those feelings because they come and go. Feelings can lead you astray. If you’re only going to have a good mood if things go your way, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. That’s surface living. You have to go deeper and say as Paul did, “None of these things move me. I’m not going to let other people, delays, or what doesn’t work out to sour my day.” In other words, turn it over to God.

You’re not supposed to go through life carrying around worries, stress, disappointments, and discouragement. Yes, you have some negative feelings, but you don’t have to let the feelings have you. You may feel upset, but you don’t have to act on it. You may feel offended, but you don’t have to take in the offense. You may feel discouraged, but you can override it with thoughts that are full of faith, hope, and expectancy. Get your mind going in a new direction and choose to have a good mood.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that I can shut the door on the negative feelings that come against me and keep what You have promised and said about me close to my heart. Thank You that none of these things need move me. I declare that my hope and expectancy is in You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Beloved, understanding the purpose of the law is critical to your relationship with God. He gave the law for one purpose: that you would have the knowledge of sin and recognize your need for a Savior.

Without the law, there would be no sin (Rom. 4:15). For example, if there is no law on how fast you can drive on a particular road, that is, if there is no speed limit, the state trooper cannot stop you and give you a ticket for speeding. In simple terms, no law equals no sin. No recognition of sin equals no need for a Savior!

The law was thus given to bring man to the end of himself so that in his despair, he would see his need for Jesus. Because of the law, no man can say that he is not a sinner and no man can say that he doesn’t need Jesus.

That is the purpose of the law. It was not designed to make you godly, but to expose your ungodliness.

What the devil wants to do is keep the law over your head all the time so that you constantly feel condemned and guilty. That is how he keeps you trapped in a cycle of defeat. The devil is the master legalist who constantly reminds you of how unworthy you are of God’s blessings. Known as the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10), here are some of his common attacks:

You call yourself a Christian?

You are a hypocrite!

Forget about praying. God will never listen to your prayers.

Look at your life. How dare you step into church?

My friend, these are lies, all lies! The devil is using the law to make you conscious of all your shortcomings. But through Jesus Christ, you are no longer under the condemnation of the law. The devil has been disarmed by the power of the cross!

Jesus, who knew no sin, was condemned on your behalf on the cross. Through Jesus Christ, you are now made righteous apart from the works of the law. So when you hear the voice of the accuser condemning you, remind yourself that you are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Declare it out loud! Come on, say it with me three times, each time louder than the first:

I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ!

I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ!

I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ!

Righteousness is a gift. It is not a reward for perfect obedience to the law. You are clothed today not in your own righteousness, which is self-righteousness, but with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. God sees you as righteous as Jesus Himself. This is your permanent, eternal standing before Him because of what Christ has done for you.

And hey, when you are clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, any obstacle that tries to obstruct you from living your life to the fullest, whether it’s an addiction, sickness, fear, or depression, has to go!