There are two voices vying for your attention: the voice of doubt and the voice of faith. You get to choose which voice becomes a reality. The voice you dwell on, the thoughts you believe, that’s going to determine who you are.
Start thinking young thoughts, fresh thoughts. “My body may be aging, but I’m not getting older. My spirit is alive and full of faith and expectancy.” You haven’t aged out of your purpose; you’re aging into your purpose.
Check out this message from Joel! "This Is Your Best Age": https://t.co/kNnMjb1SU6
"God said in the book of Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” Not just the young, the old, the middle-aged. The boomers, but not the millennials, not Gen Z. No, God’s Spirit is poured out on every age. He went on to say, “Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.” God was showing us how both the young and the old are important. We will accomplish more together than we will apart.
You can’t control how everyone treats you, but you can control how you respond. When someone is rude, you don’t have to get upset. When they cut you off in traffic, that doesn’t have to sour your morning. Stay in peace.
In this conversation Steffany shared a profound insight that’s echoed in my heart:
“What holds our gaze will eventually hold our hearts.” This simple yet powerful statement encapsulates the essence of true worship - fixing our eyes on Jesus, not on ourselves or our experiences.
Too often, we’re discounting ourselves, waiting to get older or wishing we were younger. You know what you’re going to say twenty years from now? That you wish you could be at the age you are right now. Step into who you are today.
Don’t get old in your mind. Stay active. Stay connected. Stay curious. As long as you’re alive, God has something for you to do. Every age is your prime. At every age you have purpose, you have gifts, you have encouragement. You have something to make this world a better place.
Listen to this message from Joel! "This Is Your Best Age": https://t.co/v5OAg8hxlL
If you take the emphasis off of your ability, what you have, what you can control, and put that emphasis on what God can do, that’s how you stay in faith. That’s what causes God to show out in your life.
Listen to the Joel Osteen Daily Podcast everywhere you listen to podcasts!
https://t.co/v5OAg8hxlL
When you let God arise, the scripture says, your enemies will be scattered. Depression, lack, trouble, cannot stand against our God. When you let Him arise, chains that have held you back will break, problems that look permanent will turn around.
When someone is rude, when they’re offensive, don’t take it personally. None of that will stop your destiny unless you get distracted and start fighting battles that don’t matter. Let God be your vindicator.
Be careful calling something warfare when it might just be wisdom.
Not every battle is the devil; sometimes it's God inviting you to slow down, reorder your life, and strengthen what's been stretched thin.
Culture tells us to push harder, do more, and call exhaustion "faithfulness". But burnout isn't always an attack, it's often a signal. Before you fight the storm, ask: Is this warfare trying to take me out, or wisdom trying to build me up?
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." James 1:2-3
God isn't trying to wear you out, He's trying to raise you up. Wisdom teaches what warfare reveals. Sometimes deliverance looks like discipline, and peace looks like learning to rest again. He's not punishing you, He's preparing you.
Life is short. If you’re going to be happy, you have to do it on purpose because there will always be something to take your joy: people, traffic, delays. Turn on the news. That will depress you. You have to choose joy each morning. Choose to be content with whatever comes your way.
A Prayer for Today
Father, thank You that whatever has restricted me in the past has lost its grip because Your Son defeated the enemy on the cross and has brought me into freedom. Thank You that my hands are no longer tied. I believe that Christ has set me free. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
The Scripture says, “God is not a man that He should lie. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through?” God has never failed in the past and He’s not going to start with you. Stay in faith and stay open. It may not happen your way or on your timetable, but God is true to His word.
The wounds of a warrior are badges of honor. The weathered skin of the aged, are walls bathed in wisdom. Those who limp have gained patient insights into the paths of life. Scares on the reconciled heart are monuments to the Makers miracles.
To the young, untrained, and inexperienced, these are ugly flaws, disqualifying marks of life's failures and/or aging irrelevance; disposable people, who often are hidden away in homes or forced into obscurity by the blindly ambitious, ignorant, and insecure people.
Yet God often hides the greatest treasures of His grace in the twilight years of people's life when they can no longer perform. Here the arrogant, and the over confident would never think to look.
These treasures can only be unearthed through holy humility and heaven's parchments. So for most, these treasures will be buried and forgotten...marked by stones...and visited with flowers on occasion. Sometimes it's easier to pay your respects to the dead than it is to actually value the living. #kvm
Are you trying to get out of something that God is going to take you through? Are you fighting the process, wondering why it happened? Everything will change if you’ll start inviting God in. He promised He’ll be with you; maybe He’s just waiting for your invitation.
People may discount you, try to make you feel like you’re not enough. The good news is you’re not dependent on what people think about you. They don’t determine your destiny. They may push you down, but God knows how to lift you up. He’ll promote you in front of the people that are trying to discredit you.
Be inspired by this message from Joel, "Blessings Finding You". https://t.co/v5OAg8hxlL
Meet Kathy’s new horse Blue Sky. He’s changed names 3 times in 24 hours. He is beautiful, gentle, graceful and loves Kathy!
Happy horse, happy wife…happy wife…while you get the idea.
To be clear, people ask if I love horses? NO! I love Kathy and she loves horses. Marriage is about sacrifice and sacrifice means life is not all about me. Yet there is something fulfilling about watching someone you love live out their dream. This experience isn’t understood by the selfish or self centered.
Jesus said,”No greater love has someone than this ; he lay down his life for his friend.” Many people lay down their friends for their life and wonder why life is so empty.