Beloved in Christ Ministry

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “...stand and see the salvation of the Lord...” (II Chronicles 20:17, NAS) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Do you ever find yourself avoiding a difficult situation? Many people today run when things get hard. They run from their problems. They run from responsibility. They run from people they don’t like. They run from the past. They run from anything that makes them uncomfortable. Instead of facing the issue and dealing with it, they look for the path of least resistance, which isn’t the path to victory. If we are going to embrace all that God has for us, we have to learn how to face our challenges head on. Notice that today’s verse doesn’t say, “Keep running until you see the salvation of the Lord.” It doesn’t say, “Bury your head in the sand until God delivers you.” It doesn’t say, “Worry all night and try to figure things out until a miracle takes place.” No, God wants us to stand strong, set our faces like a flint, and fight the good fight of faith. An...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8:15, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Sometimes in the natural, we don’t see how God’s promises are going to come to pass in our lives. It seems like there are so many obstacles to overcome. But we have to see God’s Word like a seed. When it’s planted in our hearts, and we water it by thinking the right thoughts and expecting good things, that little seed begins to grow into something much, much greater. Jesus told a parable in Mark, chapter four. He said, “God’s Word is like a tiny mustard seed. When it is sown, it is less than all the other seeds, one of the smallest. But when it grows up, it becomes greater than all.” Notice it goes from being less than all to being greater than all. Are you in an overwhelming situation today, maybe in your health, finances or relationships? Does God’s promise seem small com...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not” (Romans 4:17, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Twenty years before Abraham ever had a child, God said to him, “Abraham, I have made you a father of many nations.” Notice God spoke to him like it had already happened, in the past tense. I’m sure Abraham thought, “God, you must have made a mistake. I’m not a father. I don’t even have one child. Abraham could have talked himself out of it; but instead, he chose to believe. Today, you may be thinking, “I’m not blessed. I’m not confident. I’m not healthy. I’m not favored.” But when God says you’re blessed, don’t try to figure it out. Just agree with God and say, “I am blessed.” When God calls you prosperous, don’t go check your bank account. Don’t go look at the stock report. Just agree with God and say, “I am ...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8:15, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Sometimes in the natural, we don’t see how God’s promises are going to come to pass in our lives. It seems like there are so many obstacles to overcome. But we have to see God’s Word like a seed. When it’s planted in our hearts, and we water it by thinking the right thoughts and expecting good things, that little seed begins to grow into something much, much greater. Jesus told a parable in Mark, chapter four. He said, “God’s Word is like a tiny mustard seed. When it is sown, it is less than all the other seeds, one of the smallest. But when it grows up, it becomes greater than all.” Notice it goes from being less than all to being greater than all. Are you in an overwhelming situation today, maybe in your health, finances or relationships? Does God’s promise seem small co...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NKJV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria One thing I’ve learned is that you cannot out dream God. When God brings a dream to pass that He’s placed in your heart, it’s going to be greater than you ever imagined. It’s going to be bigger, better and more rewarding. You could say: God’s going to supersize your dream! Your dream may be to just get well, to be able to get around like you used to. That’s good, but God thinks bigger. When He supersizes that dream, you’ll not only be able to walk, you’ll be able to run! Your dream may be to just keep your marriage together. But God’s dream is to make your marriage happier and more fulfilling that it’s ever been before. Your dream may be to just pay your bills each month, but God’s dream is to give you an abundance so that you not only have enough for your needs, but you ...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “Come close to God, and God will come close to you...” (James 4:8, NLT) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria God promises that He will draw close to you when you draw close to Him. How do we draw close to Him? First of all, this verse goes on to say that we must turn away from sin because sin separates us from God. When we turn away from the things that displease Him, we are turning toward Him. That’s the first step. Then, the Bible tells us to come into His presence with thanksgiving in our hearts and give Him praise. When you have a thankful heart, you are drawing closer to Him. Thirdly, scripture tells us that God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. When you live with an attitude of humility, you are drawing closer to Him. Friend, there’s nothing more important in life than drawing close to God the Father. Seek Him with your whole heart, and you will find Him. Let Him speak to your heart by reading your Bible, praying and meditating on His pr...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 28:2, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria God wants to surprise you with His blessings today! I hear testimonies all the time of what God is doing suddenly in the lives of His people. Even recently, a man told me how he got a check in the mail unexpectedly, an inheritance from a loved one that he never even met. With that one check, he was able to pay off his house which was a desire of his heart. He thought it was going to take him 30 years, but God had other plans. It happened in a fraction of the time! Friend, when you’re in covenant with God, when you keep His commands and honor Him with your tithes and offerings, you are positioning yourself under an open window of heaven. Why don’t you take the limits off your life by stepping out and obeying God? Then, keep an attitude of faith and expectancy because He is good. He loves you with an everlasting love, ...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalm 2:8, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Did you know it pleases God when we pray bold prayers and ask Him for big things? The God we serve doesn’t want us to just barely get by in life. He wants us to thrive and experience the fullness of His blessing. He wants us to not only have our needs met, but be in a position to reach out and help meet the needs of others, too! When we ask God for something, a supernatural door is opened. We are showing our faith in Him, and faith gives God something to work with. In fact, scripture says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. He wants us to come to Him and know His goodness. He wants us to believe that He is good and that He has good things in store for us. Today, I encourage you to get bold with your prayers. Ask God for big things. Believe that He is working behind the scenes on your behalf. Put your ...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Everyone loves to get something new. But as a believer in Jesus, you’re not only getting something new, you are something new. You are a brand new creation! Your eternal being, your spirit, is re-created in Christ. The old is gone, the new has come! You may not necessarily feel new right away. That’s because the Bible tells us that we are to “work out” our salvation. That means you have to retrain your body and mind to act, think, speak and live according to God’s ways instead of the old habits you used to have. Don’t ever get stuck in the rut of thinking, “I’ll never change...that’s just the way I am.” No, the Bible says that the Spirit of God aids us in our weakness. He gives us strength to overcome. He empowers us to live as more than conquerors in this life. Is there something you want to change in your life today? ...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” (Isaiah 43:19, NLT) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria The God we serve is not a small God. His plan for your life is not for you to reach one level, get stuck and stay there for 30 or 40 years. His plan is to increase you, open new doors before you, and take you places that you’ve never imagined. He has something big in your future! He’s already planned out big breaks, big opportunities and big ideas for you. You may have seen God’s goodness in the past, but you have not touched the surface of what God has in your future! God is about to do a new thing! And what I sense in my spirit is the new thing is going to be far greater than you’ve ever seen before. It’s going to be bigger than you imagined. It’s going to be more rewarding than you thought possible. Now you’ve got to come into agreement and say, “Yes, God, this is for me today. I’m not going to get stuck where I am. I’m n...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Spiritual maturity isn’t measured by how long you’ve been a Christian, how much you know, or how often you go to church. Spiritual maturity is measured by the way you treat other people. It’s measured by the love you allow to operate in and through you. 1 Corinthians 13 gives us a picture of what love looks like. When we are walking in love, we treat other people with courtesy and respect. In other words, are you kind to the person at the checkout counter that may be moving too slowly? Are you gentle when you are driving down the highway and someone cuts you off? Are you patient with your family and coworkers? These are all characteristics of love. The Bible tells us that love is patient. It is kind. It does not envy; it is not proud. It is not rude. Love is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrong. Love...

“You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth” (1 Samuel 17:33, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Are you stuck in a rut today because of the negative words that have been spoken over you in the past? In today’s verse, we see that before David faced Goliath, he heard the accusing voices. But instead of listening to what others said, he chose to listen to what God said. He knew he was called, chosen and equipped to defeat that giant; and today, you are called, chosen and equipped for victory, too! Remember what we say every week at Lakewood, “I am who God says I am.” What we’re saying in effect is “I am not who my chemistry teacher says I am.” “I am not who my ex-husband or ex-wife says I am.” “I am not who my critics say I am,” and nowadays, “I am not who the bloggers say I am.” “I am who God says I am.” That means we are anointed. We are equipped. We are talented. We are redeemed. We ar...

“What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” (Romans 3:3, KJV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Oftentimes, people allow the opinions of others to hold them back and water down their dreams. But, we have to realize that there will always be critics and naysayers in life. One of the most important things you can learn is that other people don’t have to believe in you in order for your dreams to come to pass. Other people don’t set the limits for your life — you do! It’s not what others say about you that affects your life, but what you say and believe about yourself. When God puts a promise in your heart, it’s not up to other people to bring it to pass, it’s up to you! In today’s verse, the apostle Paul is saying, “It doesn’t matter if other people don’t believe. Their unbelief is not going to keep me from believing in my dreams.” In other words, you don’t need everyone else to validate you. You only have to follow the voice of God f...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria So many people in this day and age never received the blessing from their mother or father. They never felt like they received the approval and encouragement they so deeply desired. If that’s you today, the good news is that when you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you become His child. Your earthly father may not have given you his blessing, but your heavenly Father is rejoicing over you! He’s saying, “I’m proud of you. I love you. You are amazing. You are talented. You are beautiful. You’re going to do great things in life!” He’s releasing favor and hope into your future. Today, no matter what’s happened in your past, no matter what anybody else has said to you or about you, know that your Father God loves you with an e...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “The tongue has the power of life and death...” (Proverbs 18:21, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Have you thought about the people in your life who need your blessing? They need your approval. They need to hear you say, “I’m proud of you. You’re going to do great things.” That’s speaking the blessing. That’s releasing favor into their future. When you say to the people you love, “I’m so glad you’re in my life. You mean the world to me,” you just gave them the blessing. When you tell one of your employees, coworkers or a student, “You amaze me with your ability. You have such a bright future,” those are not just nice compliments. When you speak the blessing, you’re releasing God’s wisdom, protection, favor and abundance into their future. You can literally help shape their destiny. One word of encouragement, one word of approval can be what helps them to really step up to who God created them to be. Today, choose to speak the blessing. Sow good seeds in...

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness...” (Romans 8:26, NLT) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Sometimes, people get distracted by what they consider to be a disadvantage or weakness in their lives. It may be something about their personality or looks that they don’t like. Or maybe they’ve been through an unfair situation: a divorce, a bad business deal or a bad break. We all have things that can feel like disadvantages; things that make it harder on us. It may even be a physical handicap, and you can’t get around like you used to. But just because you have a “disadvantage,” just because you’ve been through a tough time doesn’t mean you’re supposed to sit back and settle where you are. God still has something great for you to do! He wants to show Himself strong in and through you, and He’s given you His Holy Spirit to equip you in this life. Today let the Holy Spirit help you when you feel weak. Let Him empower you with truth that will set you free. Stay in faith and don...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” (Romans 3:3, KJV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria So often, people allow the opinions of others to hold them back and water down their dreams. We have to realize, there will always be critics and naysayers in life. One of the most important things you can learn is that other people don’t have to believe in you in order for your dreams to come to pass. Other people don’t set the limits for your life — you do. It’s not what others say about you that affects your life, but what you say and believe about yourself. In today’s verse, the apostle Paul is saying, “It doesn’t matter if other people don’t believe. Their unbelief is not going to keep me from believing in my dreams.” When God puts a promise in your heart, it’s not up to other people to bring it to pass, it’s up to you! You don’t need everyone to validate you. You have to follow the voice of God for yourself and al...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13, NKJ) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Every believer has been given a measure of faith. In order to see the promises of God come to pass in your life, you have to give your faith a voice. You must declare what God says about you in His Word. Those seeds of faith inside you are activated when you speak them out into the atmosphere. That’s why the scripture tells us, “Let the weak say I am strong. Let the poor say I am rich.” When you give your faith a voice, you send forth the Word of God, and the Bible says that He watches over His Word to bring it to pass in your life. The key is not to allow words of defeat or negativity to come out of your mouth. Don’t dig up your seed by speaking against His Word. Instead, water your seed by continuing to declare the Word of God. When you wake up every mor...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “God is with us; He is our leader” (2 Chronicles 13:12, TLB) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Is God your leader today? Do you allow Him to lead you in every area of life? A lot of times, people set out in a direction of life, or they make decisions and then “look around” to see where God is. They try to fit Him into their schedule, but really, He should be in charge of our schedules. Or, they ask God to bless their decisions when, instead, we should follow His ways because His ways are already blessed! Today, instead of incorporating God into your day, ask Him to lead your day. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and mind and see if there are any areas you need to submit to Him. Remember, He is with you and He is for you. When we allow Him to order our steps, when we seek Him first and follow Him as our leader, than nothing can stand in our way! Go out in victory today knowing that He is ordering your steps. A PRAYER FOR TODAY Father, thank You for g...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land” (Isaiah 1:19, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Is there something in your life that you know God is asking you to do, but you just haven’t done it yet? Maybe He’s asking you to reach out to someone or let go of an addiction in your life. Maybe He’s asking you to make a commitment that you just haven’t gotten around to yet or sow a special seed. You may not fully understand why He’s asking you to do it, but know this: God is for your good. He wants to give you the best of the land. He longs to pour out His blessing and favor upon you, but you have to do your part. You have to open your heart and choose to be willing and obedient because obedience opens the door for Him to move in your life. Today, ask the Lord to give you an obedient heart. Ask Him to show you what adjustments you need to make in your life. As you submit your ways to Him and choose obedience, you will walk in His will....

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria In the natural, what do you do when you’re hungry for something? Maybe you think of something to eat, but it doesn’t quite hit the spot. So you find something else until you are satisfied. Spiritual hunger works the same way. You may feel a restlessness or unsettledness, but you can’t quite figure out what will satisfy it. You may try to fill that need with other things — food, addictions, people — but only God can fill that hunger. Today’s verse tells us that righteousness is what satisfies us. When you hunger and thirst for righteousness, God’s way of doing things, you will be spiritually satisfied. Just like you have to stop what you are doing to take time to eat in the natural, you have to take time to “eat” or partake of the right things spiritually. We have to take time every day and devote it to the Lord in prayer, w...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Has God spoken things to your heart that haven’t come to pass yet? Sometimes when we are believing for things, it’s easy to let circumstances and the pressures of life drag us down. But when you make the choice to receive your promise and start to picture it in your mind’s eye and declare it by faith, then you start to become stronger. You begin to feel more confident. You begin to feel more settled on the inside. You begin to have joy and peace because you know God is working behind the scenes on your behalf. What are you believing for God to do in your life today? Can you see it in your mind’s eye? Can you see yourself healed? Can you see yourself paying off that last debt? Can you see yourself at your ideal weight? Can you see yourself sharing the gospel with a family member or coworker? Ask the ...

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might...” (Micah 3:8, NIV) TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria In today’s scripture, Micah knew how to encourage himself in the Lord. He understood how to draw in courage and strength and align himself with God’s purpose for his life. He knew there was power in his words and power in agreeing with God. It works the same way with us today. Romans 10:9–10 tells us that salvation comes when we believe in Jesus and then declare what we believe. In the same way, we activate the power of God by believing and declaring it. (Job 22:28) Today, know that God loves you and desires to empower you for every task you face. Receive His strength and activate it by declaring that He is at work in your life by the Holy Spirit! Declare that you are filled with power, strength, justice and wisdom as you face the challenges before you. Believe it, receive it and declare it because He has equip...