Praising in the Midnight Hour

By Joel Osteen May 31, 2017

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose."
Acts 16:25-26, NIV

TODAY'S WORD:

Paul and Silas were put in jail for spreading good news. It wasn’t fair. They were beaten with rods without a trial. It was unjust. As they sat in the prison, bloody, bruised and uncomfortable, they began to sing praises to God. All of the sudden, there was a great earthquake. The prison doors flung open, the chains fell off and they walked out as free men. What happened? They praised their way to victory! 

Friend, if you’re going to live in victory, you have to know how to praise in your midnight hour—when things seem the darkest, when you’re in pain, disappointed, lonely or experiencing a loss. When you praise Him no matter what, that’s when God can enter your situation. That’s when He can break your chains and set you free! 

Even if you aren’t in a difficult season, remember, praise paves the way to victory. Praise is what we are called to do! Today, praise Him, not because of how you feel but because He is worthy! Praise Him in your midnight hour and get ready to embrace the freedom and victory He has prepared for you!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father, right now I lift my heart to You. I declare that You are worthy to be praised, and Your worth doesn’t change because of my circumstances. I will bless You in the midnight hour knowing that You are good, and You have victory and freedom in store for me in Jesus’ name! Amen.

The Log in My Eye

By Joyce Meyer - Posted May 31, 2017

You hypocrite, first get the beam of timber out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the tiny particle out of your brother’s eye. 
—Matthew 7:5

Loving people unconditionally is the greatest gift we can give them (and ourselves). I have learned that one of the secrets to my own personal peace is to let people be who God made them to be, rather than try to make people be who I would like them to be. I do my best to enjoy their strengths and be merciful toward their weaknesses because I have plenty of my own. I don’t need to try to take the speck out of someone else’s eye while I have a telephone pole in my own.

Make a decision not to look at—or for—flaws. We all have them! But you don’t have to focus on them.

Power Thought: God is merciful to me with my weaknesses, and I am merciful toward the weaknesses of others.

‘Lord, I Cannot, But You Can!’

By Joseph Prince – Posted May 31, 2017

Philippians 2:13

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Have you ever tried to break a bad habit on your own? You probably found that when you tried to stop it by sheer willpower, you saw improvement for a while, and then bounced back to square one. Worse, you found yourself binging on the very thing that you were trying not to do. And your condition is worse than before you started your “I’m going to quit” program!

The changes were temporary because it was you doing it.

A church member who had been a chain-smoker used to believe that with willpower, he could quit smoking. He would tell himself, “If there is a will, there is a way!” But he discovered that with willpower, he could stop smoking for a week or two, and then he would succumb to the pull of nicotine again.

When he turned his life over to God and learnt about God’s grace, he told God, “I realize that I cannot stop smoking. I cannot, but You can break my habit, Lord.” And every time he lit up, he would say, “Lord, I am trying to stop smoking, but I cannot. I am trusting You.” He would even say, “I am still righteous because of Jesus’ blood.”

Well, in the very same year, all his cravings to smoke vanished! When asked how he succeeded, he would say, “It is entirely God and none of me! It is all by His grace.” This man lost all the desire to smoke. That is true transformation.

When you receive the grace of God to do for you what you cannot do, you will experience effortless and permanent change on the inside, which in turn changes your actions on the outside. The Bible tells us that God works in us to give us both the will and ability to perform what He desires. It is God who removes the old want to’s and gives us new ones. And He even gives us the power to carry them out!

Beloved, look to His grace to do what you cannot do. Say, “Lord, I cannot, but You can!” Then, what you experience will not merely be behavior modification, but true and lasting inward transformation!

Thought For The Day

It is God who removes your old want to’s and gives you new ones.

Drawn by Kindness

By DR. David Jeremiah – Posted May 31, 2017

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

John 14:2-3

Recommended Reading: 1John 4:7-21

When you hear the word heaven, what comes to mind first? Is it the loved ones who have gone before or perhaps the absence of pain and sorrow? Although these are glorious things to look forward to, let’s remember the Person who made our entrance into heaven possible. The Gospels provide glimpses into the love and welcoming nature of Christ. Each word and action of His flows from love because He is love. If you ever wondered what love sounds like—read the Gospels.

Crowds were drawn to Him. Children were invited close and He compassionately healed the sick. He saw beyond the wealth, poverty, physical appearance, and ailments of people and embraced their faith. The outcast and down-trodden were seen and included. Jesus gave generously of His time and wisdom. Even if we combined all the moments when we felt most loved, they would pale in comparison with Him. We can trust Him completely today and with our future. Let us eagerly anticipate meeting Christ face to face in heaven, the One who gave everything for us: His position, righteousness, body, and blood.

Leave it all in the Hands that were wounded for you.
Elisabeth Elliott

True Strength

By Joyce Meyer - Posted May 30, 2017

Sing to God, sing praises to His name, cast up a highway for Him Who rides through the deserts—His name is the Lord—be in high spirits and glory before Him! A father of the fatherless and a judge and protector of the widows is God in His holy habitation. God places the solitary in families and gives the desolate a home in which to dwell… 
—Psalm 68:4-6

The world is filled with single mothers whose husbands walked out on them and refuse to support their children financially. Men who merely walk away need to remember that strength does not walk away, but it works through situations and takes responsibility.

More than ten million single mothers today are raising children under the age of eighteen. That number is up drastically from the three million reported in 1970, and it’s estimated that 34 percent of families headed by single mothers fall under the poverty line. Their biggest concerns are much more basic than many two-parent homes—they worry about quality child care for their children, keeping a car running, and living in a safe house or apartment, all within a restricted budget. They work hard and try to be both mom and dad to their children. They sacrifice time, personal pleasures, and everything else imaginable because they love their children fiercely. They are certainly not weak.

These moms are giants in my eyes.

Lord, I pray for the single moms whom I know. Give them the strength and protection and fullness of Your blessings. Champion their cause and provide for them in abundance. Amen.

Continue In God’s Grace

By Joseph Prince – Posted May 30, 2017

2 Corinthians 3:6

…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

To the Jews, the feast of Pentecost is a celebration of the giving of God’s law. It takes place 50 days after the Passover feast. When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, it was 50 days after they had celebrated their first Passover and come out of slavery in Egypt.

But what happened after God gave them the law on the first Pentecost? Three thousand people died! (Exodus 32:28) Contrast this with another Pentecost in the New Testament. In the book of Acts, it says that when Pentecost had fully come, God gave not the law but the Holy Spirit, and what happened? Three thousand people got saved (Acts 2:41), which goes to show that “the letter [the law] kills, but the Spirit gives life!”

The law, which was “written and engraved on stones”, ministered death. It killed 3,000 people. That is why the apostle Paul calls it “the ministry of death” and “the ministry of condemnation”. (2 Corinthians 3:7–9) On the other hand, the Spirit ministered life—3,000 people got saved.

My friend, when you come under the law by trying to keep God’s commandments in order to be blessed, it will lead to death. There will be deadness in your marriage, ministry, health, career…in your life. But when you depend on the Spirit of grace, it will lead to life. You will see breakthroughs and miracles (Galatians 3:5), and manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

So if you want to be blessed, make sure that you are on the right mountain. You see, the law was given on Mount Sinai, but the Spirit on Mount Zion. That is why the Bible says that “you have not come to the mountain [Sinai] that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest…But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels”. (Hebrews 12:18, 22) The Lord blesses you out of Zion (Psalm 128:5), and not Sinai!

Beloved, by grace you have been saved through faith. (Ephesians 2:8) Now, continue in the Spirit of grace. Remain on the right mountain and He will continue to supply miracles in your life!

Thought For The Day

When you depend on the Spirit of grace, you will see breakthroughs, miracles and life.

How to Pray

By DR. David Jeremiah – Posted May 30, 2017

In this manner, therefore, pray…

Matthew 6:9a

Recommended Reading: Matthew 6:5-8

One of the best ways to describe Christianity has always been to say it is not a religion but a relationship. And nowhere is that more evident than in the way Jesus taught His disciples to pray.

The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 needs to be read in its context to understand what Jesus was saying to His disciples (then and now). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus draws attention to the formal religion of the Jews which had ceased to be a close and personal relationship with God. He pointed out many ways in which religious rituals had taken the place of intimacy with God—for example, prayer. Just before teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus called religious leaders hypocrites for praying lengthy prayers in public to impress others. By contrast, Jesus told the disciples to pray to their Father in private using the words of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father in heaven”—a prayer that offers the simple language of intimacy and relationship.

What was good for disciples then is good for disciples now. You can pray in the words of the Lord’s Prayer or simply follow its clear and simple themes. Jesus’ model prayer is a way to keep your relationship with God on a Father-to-child basis.

The spirit of prayer is the fruit and token of the Spirit of adoption. 
John Newton

Stored Up Blessings

By Joel Osteen – Posted May 30, 2017

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!
Psalm 31:19, NKJV

TODAY'S WORD:

Scripture talks about how God has blessings stored up for those that honor Him. Think about that. God has contracts, houses, ideas, good breaks that already have your name on them! They’ve been stored up for you. The question is, how do you see them released? Number one: by honoring God and keeping Him first place. Then number two: by making room for them in your thinking. You’ve got to believe that something big is in your future. You’ve got to declare His promises over your life. You have to see with your eyes of faith what God can do. 

Today, why don’t you take the limits off God and say, “God, I don’t see how this could happen in the natural, but I know You are a supernatural God. I know You have blessings that already have my name on them. Lord, I just want to thank You for Your far and beyond favor.” If you live like that, you will see God amaze you with His goodness, and you’ll receive those blessings He has stored up for you!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father, thank You for storing up blessings for me. I choose to honor You and bless You. I put my faith and hope in You knowing that You will amaze me with Your goodness in Jesus’ name. Amen.