The Good News Blog

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you” (Proverbs 4:25, NIV)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

What are you looking at today? Not in the natural, but with your spiritual eyes. In other words, what is in the forefront of your mind and in your heart? Are you constantly dwelling on your problems or things that have happened in your past? In the natural, you will move in the direction that your eyes are looking.

In the spiritual, it works the same way. Whatever you focus your mind and heart on, you will move toward. That’s why today’s verse tells us to look straight ahead. If you are constantly dwelling on your problems or things in your past, wondering “what if,” then you will stay right where you are. But if you choose to forgive and release the past, then you can focus on what is ahead

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing” -2 Thessalonians 1:3, NIV

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

God’s desire is to see you grow and increase in every area of your life—especially in your love for others. That’s because love is the greatest thing, and it is all that matters in eternity.

The book, Love at Last Sight: 30 days to Grow and Deepen Your Closest Relationships by Pastors Kerry and Chris Shook, sums it up perfectly. It says, “At the end of the day—in this all-too-short life we all share, all we really have are relationships with people we love and who love us.

In light of relationships, the job and career we set as goals now aren’t really so important; the ladders we try to

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“…The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”  -1 Samuel 16:7, NIV

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

When the Lord looks at your heart, what does He see? Every one of us has an outer life and an inner life. The outer life is our public life that the people around us see. The inner life is made up of our thoughts, attitudes, and motives. Only you and God know what’s going on inside of you.

Too many people go around today pretending—acting one way, yet on the inside they’re thinking something totally different. Their heart and their actions don’t line up. But we have to understand that God is looking on the inside. We can fool a lot of people, but we can’t fool God. He would rather us be open and honest than

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” -2 Corinthians 5:20, NIV

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

As a believer, God wants to do His work on the earth through you. You are His ambassador or representative. You have been given His authority and power. It’s easy to get focused on this natural realm and all the things that we need, but do you realize that you are equipped to be somebody else’s miracle?

Every single day, we have opportunities to show God’s love and compassion to others. We have the opportunity to meet their needs, bring them healing, and offer hope and encouragement. Every day, we can sow good seed into the lives of others that will reap an eternal harvest.

I encourage you today to look for ways to be a blessing to someone else. When you pour into others and help meet their

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“It is an honor for a man to cease from strife…” -Proverbs 20:3, AMP

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Oftentimes, challenges are merely distractions meant to keep us from pursuing our destiny. Maybe someone in the office isn’t as friendly to you as you’d like. Maybe you have a neighbor who always parks in front of your house and blocks your mailbox.

Those things may be frustrating, but they have little significance when you look at the big picture. You can’t allow the little things to open the door to strife in your life.

In the Bible, just before David fought the giant Goliath, his brother Iliab tried to confront him. David knew that arguing with Iliab wasn’t even worth his time and strength.

He knew his real battle was with Goliath, and he didn’t want to be distracted. He simply “turned away” from Iliab and kept his focus on what he was

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book.” -Psalm 56:8, NLT

TODAY’S WORD  from Joel and Victoria

Do you know how important you are to God? He cares so much about every detail of your life. He cares about your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. In fact, what you are going through is so important to Him that He records every sorrow and collects every tear you’ve shed. Why would God record your sorrows and collect your tears?

Because He loves you so much, and He is your Vindicator. He’s keeping account of every wrong that’s ever been done to you so that He can make up for every single one of them. He wants to restore everything that has ever been stolen.

He wants to heal every single hurt and pain. He sees the longings and

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” -Proverbs 14:30, NIV

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Did you know the best thing you can do for health is to set your heart at peace with God? Peace is such a powerful position. It is a position of life and strength. Peace literally means “to set at one again.” In other words, we have peace when our minds and hearts are in alignment with the Word of God.

It’s so easy to let the pressures and distractions of life pull our thoughts away from the Father. It doesn’t take long before we are so focused on earthly things that we feel overwhelmed and all stressed out. But, we weren’t meant to live anxious about life, we were meant to live in peace.

Today, choose to keep your heart at peace by staying focused on God