Thursday, February 14, 2008

God's Promise of Prosperity?

Joel Osteen's words of inspiration for today:

Today's Scripture

“This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria

Did you know that when you speak the Word of God, it activates power in your life? In fact, this verse says do not let it depart from your mouth. In other words, keep speaking and confessing the Word of God—no matter what your circumstances seem like. When you keep God’s Word in your mind, heart and mouth, it empowers you to obey all the Lord commands. Do you need strength today to overcome temptation? Do you need to be empowered to walk in love? Get the Word of God in your heart and declare what the Word of God says about your situation. Declare that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Declare that you have God’s grace for all things. And notice what this verse says will happen when you are walking in obedience to God’s Word: The key to having abundance and success in every area of your life is found in the Word of God. As you continue to speak the Word of God, you will be empowered in every area of your life, and you will live the life of victory the Lord has in store!

I must say, Joel Osteen is certainly a much more godly person than myself! He is presumably able to keep everything that God commands! That means he's keeping the 10 Commandments - perfectly. As a result, he has everything materially he could ask for.

So what is the context of this passage that supposedly promises us prosperity? Moses has just died and has been succeeded by Joshua. It then becomes his task to lead God's people into the Promised Land. They were promised abundance, plenty of land, and success in all they do. However, this was on the condition that they obey everything in the Book of the Law. The passage says nothing about us becoming prosperous if we obey the Law - which we can't do perfectly anyways. It's time Osteen stopped treating the Word of God as though it was a book of magic where you say the magic words and health and wealth fall into your lap.

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1 Comments:

At December 23, 2008 8:53 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Joel Osteen never mentioned that he kept the 10 commandments perfectly. Why put words in his mouth? just so you can have a lousy article?

 

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