Taken from the Facebook page of Joel Osteen Ministries
This lady bought Principle One of Joel Osteen's book Your Best Life Now. This principle is "Enlarge Your Vision"; here you must believe that God gave his children "special advantages" and "preferential treatment". The way to avail of these is to declare them with your mouth, which by the way is related to Principle Three "Discover the power of your thoughts and words".
The lady in the photo is declaring that people will bless her, even her enemies. Because according to Osteen, as the children of the Most High God, we can expect people to treat us differently. We must expect them to do good things for us.
Of course the Lord can do that if he wills. The Egyptians who were naturally cruel to their Israelite slaves suddenly turned super generous to them just before the Exodus because God supernaturally controlled their wills and desires (Exodus 11:2-3). But that wasn't the norm. Right after that, the Egyptians pursued them again relentlessly until the LORD drowned them in the Red Sea.
So in our time, we can believe that the Lord can supernaturally work in the desires and wills of the people around us (bosses, teachers, politicians, neighbors, drivers, barbers, doctors, criminals, etc.) so we can receive favors. But never expect that to be the norm. What we should expect is that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). They may stone us to death (Acts 7:57), throw us to prison (Acts 22:4), confiscate our properties (Hebrews 10:34), toss us to the lions' den, or burn us on stakes. And when these things do happen, we should not be caught surprised. The Apostle Peter wrote:
The lady in the photo is declaring that people will bless her, even her enemies. Because according to Osteen, as the children of the Most High God, we can expect people to treat us differently. We must expect them to do good things for us.
Of course the Lord can do that if he wills. The Egyptians who were naturally cruel to their Israelite slaves suddenly turned super generous to them just before the Exodus because God supernaturally controlled their wills and desires (Exodus 11:2-3). But that wasn't the norm. Right after that, the Egyptians pursued them again relentlessly until the LORD drowned them in the Red Sea.
So in our time, we can believe that the Lord can supernaturally work in the desires and wills of the people around us (bosses, teachers, politicians, neighbors, drivers, barbers, doctors, criminals, etc.) so we can receive favors. But never expect that to be the norm. What we should expect is that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). They may stone us to death (Acts 7:57), throw us to prison (Acts 22:4), confiscate our properties (Hebrews 10:34), toss us to the lions' den, or burn us on stakes. And when these things do happen, we should not be caught surprised. The Apostle Peter wrote:
"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12)
When people mistreat you because of your faith, do not for a single minute think you're not getting the best out of what God has provided for you. The very opposite could be true. For our Lord Jesus Christ taught:
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)
No comments:
Post a Comment