God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Joel Osteen is the only preacher I have come across that teaches consistently about Kingdom Power and only Kingdom power. There is value in that preaching, but it is only half of the Gospel. Christians also need to learn about the consequences of sin. God is a good God yes, as Mr. Osteen consistently preaches but it is a false Gospel to not lead his congregants to realize that our actions do matter and we need to walk away from sin and be a light in this world.

Today I will tell you about the side of the Gospel that Osteen teaches- because it has much value and it is at least half of God’s truth. I will start with explaining God’s kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is a Spiritual Kingdom established in the lives and hearts of all believers. God’s presence and power dwells in believers through the Holy Spirit but it requires a submitted life to activate God’s power.

One day the Pariseses asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”  Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God isn’t ushered in with visible signs.  You won’t be able to say “Here it is!” “It’s over there!” For the Kingdom of God is among you. (Luke 17:20-21)

 Jesus, however, called for the children and said, “Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom of God belongs to people like these. I tell all of you with certainty, whoever doesn’t receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never get into it at all.”(Luke 18:16-17)

The key sentence in that verse is “the Kingdom of God belongs to people like these.”  Why? It takes pure, unadulterated childlike faith to trust the Word of God. We need to take our intellects out of it, because God can defy the Universal Laws- He invented them.

“For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”(1 Cor 1:19)

There are limits to our human perspective, but everything is known to the Lord.  So as we gain wisdom by getting close to the Lord through constant/frequent individual Bible study*, God reveals things to us that are “foolishness” to the world.

“We also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him because they are spiritually appraised.”(1 Cor 2: 13-14)

Joel Osteen has countless miracle stories- first and foremost from his Mother and her amazing faith-healing, as well as people in his television, reading and church congregation- people who never gave up on the power of God to work mightily in their lives, and they were rewarded for it. (Note: Mr. Osteen also reminds his T.V. audience that although his family prayed for healing for his father, his father was not healed and died.  Osteen reminds people that we should never give up hope until the end. But the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways so we need to accept His will.)

We need to remove God from the box of religion and read Scripture so that God can open our eyes of understanding. I was stunned at the power of the Word of God and have experienced it firsthand. When I was reasearching Osteen’s messages, I learned about countless miracles that occured in his congregation and the people were in the audience as living proof to the power of the Gospel.

When so many people can recount God directly affecting a situation, it should make you lose all doubt in the power of God.  So when I was in a dire situation I put my faith in motion so to speak, and prayed scriptural promises back to God as in Osteen’s stories. This genuine faith activates God’s power in a submitted person’s life, and I was immediately rewarded.  (I will post on this at a later date)

“Let the Lord’s word stand for itself.  Jesus replied “What is impossible from a human perspective is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)

Miracles are real, they can happen for the follower of God’s teachings, and they can happen at simply the recitation of Scripture.  What risk are you taking to believe this? We have to let God determine if He wills it to happen however, and accept it.

“Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed–and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes. (Acts 3:16NLT)

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb 13:8), and therefore the teachings in the Bible and miracles- can and still happen today. It’s God’s will whether or not He permits a miracle in your life, but why not believe it’s possible until there is no hope left?  We all have to die, and Jesus knows all of the health destructive choices we will make in our lifetime and what illness will come out of our choices.  He also knows whether or not you will turn your life over to Him and follow His ways.  If we do, we open ourselves up to healing miracles if our grace period has not run it’s course.

Don’t use your intellect to try to figure out God, it will be pointless.  Use your faith to trust in the Almighty, powerful, loving God who rewards genuine faith. Joel Osteen’s messages are hopeful and reveal Kingdom Power.

What Joel Osteen doesn’t talk about is that there are consequences to living a life of sin.

 These are real consequences, BUT, if you repent and change your ways you too can receive Power from the Holy Spirit to overcome anything in your life and live a life of abundance- but it is in God’s timing and there is an end to God’s grace, we must not delay in admitting our sin and turning our lives over to the Lord.

God’s Promise:

God said, “Call to me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know.”(Jer 33:3)

Music For Your Soul:

“Speak Life” by TobyMac.