Quit being defined by your mistakes. Do yourself a favor and remove those labels. Instead, wear the labels God gives you.
Your words have transformative power and give life to what you're saying. When you declare God's Word and speak blessings over your relationships, health and future, life-changing possibilities are unlimited. This month, Joel would like to send you his new book so you can declare faith-filled words that invite blessings, favor and success into your life.
Today's Word: APR 29, 2024
In the Scripture, Ruth was a young woman when her husband suddenly passed away. Her whole life was turned upside down with all that heartache and pain. It didn’t seem as though God had good plans for her. But being a believer doesn’t exempt us from great disappointments and hardships. There will be unfair things that we don’t understand, but this is where you have to trust that God is still in control. If you’re patient and don’t get bitter, God will give you beauty for the ashes. Ruth went out in the fields each morning to pick up leftover wheat just to survive. One day the landowner, a man named Boaz, noticed Ruth. Long story short, they ended up falling in love, getting married, and having a little baby boy named Obed. Holding her baby, Ruth never imagined she would be that happy, that fulfilled. She didn’t have to work in the fields; now she owned the fields. Obed had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David. Now Ruth is in the family line of Jesus.
As you face circumstances in life, sometimes it’s easy to get discouraged. But what if you could believe big and know that by this time next year, you’re going to see things turn around. This month’s ministry thank you will help make the coming year a time of expectation, hope and above all…belief!
It’s easy to be frustrated when something we’re waiting for is taking so much longer than we thought. It’s tempting to take matters into our own hands and try to force doors to open, to manipulate a situation, to live striving and straining. But the Scripture says, “Through faith and patience we inherit the promises” (Hebrew 6:12). You have to trust God’s timing. Without patience, you can miss God’s best. It may be taking longer because what God has in store is much better than what you have in mind.
Jesus told His disciples, “I’m going away to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). God has some prepared blessings for you, things He’s already lined up—good breaks, the right people, healing—that will come at His appointed time. Isaiah 40:31 says, “They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles.” Waiting on the Lord is waiting in faith, in peace, from a place of rest. You do your best, then you step back and let God fight your battles, open the doors, bring the right people, vindicate you.
In John 21, Peter was so discouraged, not knowing what he and the other disciples were going to do after Jesus’ resurrection, that he took matters into his own hands and went back to fishing. But after he and the other disciples had fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus, whom they couldn’t recognize in the early morning light, called out from the beach and told them to throw their net on the other side of the boat. When they did, they caught so many fish they had to drag the net to shore. Here they found that Jesus had a charcoal fire burning and fish already grilling on it. He said, “Come and have some breakfast.” What the disciples couldn’t catch, Jesus was already cooking. What they had worked all night for, God already had on the grill. This was a prepared blessing—fully cooked, seasoned, and ready to eat.
Like these disciples, you may have worked hard, done your best, but you haven’t caught anything. You haven’t caught your healing, so to speak, or the right person, the good break in your business. Your nets are empty. Can I encourage you? What you haven’t caught, God is already grilling. While you’re stressed thinking the business problem or the medical report isn’t changing, He’s putting more charcoal on the fire and seasoning the fish. Something’s cooking. You’re about to taste and see that the Lord is good. You’re coming into a prepared blessing. God knows what He’s doing, so just rest. When the fish are ready, when it’s just right, He’ll call you.
READ BLOG ENTRYQuit being defined by your mistakes. Do yourself a favor and remove those labels. Instead, wear the labels God gives you.
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