TODAY’S WORD BY JOEL OSTEEN.
God has created you to be a victor, not a victim. Jump-start your day by celebrating the very best that God has for you!These daily inspirations will help you grow in your relationship with the Lord and equip you to be everything God intends you to be. – Joel Osteen
Have you ever been struggling through a difficult situation and wondered, “God, where are You? Do You see what I’m going through? Do You care?” If you’re familiar with the story in Luke 13 of the crippled woman who came into the synagogue where Jesus was teaching, I’m sure that she had wondered the same thing thousands of times.
This woman “had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years,” was bent completely forward and could not straighten up. In the midst of a large crowd gathered around Jesus that Sabbath day, He somehow noticed her, and suddenly He stopped teaching.
Bent over and frail, she was someone whom others avoided. I imagine she felt completely unnoticed and alone. But the good news is that when Jesus saw her, He immediately called her forward. I can just see that little bent over lady moving slowly toward Jesus, the crowd parting, and then He said to her, “Woman, you are free from your infirmity.”
Then He touched her, and she immediately stood up straight for the first time in nearly two decades. After looking down all those years, can you imagine the first face she saw in this upright position was the face of her God?
She had felt invisible, uncared for, with the identity of being crippled. But Jesus saw her and called her “a daughter of Abraham,” a precious daughter of the promise who needed and deserved His compassion and love. He saw His covenant of love with her. He saw a promised agreement that couldn’t be broken. When He set her free that day, I’m sure she was stunned.
I believe that I’m writing to somebody today who’s bent down under a heavy load. The enemy has worked overtime to keep you looking down at your difficulties. He certainly doesn’t want you to hear the call of your Savior to come forward and receive His touch and see His face. You may not have even realized that you’re a son or a daughter of promise and that God has already spoken the Word and set you free.
Don’t allow anything to bend you over and bind you up, because “whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36). You are free indeed today! You’ve been bought with a great price. You are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. You have a covenant between you and God just as that woman had. The enemy cannot bind you any longer. No matter what situation you’re in right now, no matter how unnoticed you feel, He sees you and He knows you. He’s calling you forward to become everything He’s intended you to be. Stand up straight and look into His wonderful face.
