Joel and Victoria Osteen Featuring: Victoria Osteen - Keep Your Heart Free From Offense

Proverbs 19:11 says, "good sense makes one slow to anger and it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense." It does us no good to go around offended.There’s always going to be reasons to take an offense. The word offense comes from the Greek word which means bait. Sometimes that’s what happens to us with offense. It lures use into a trap. We get upset, frustrated, and bitter. Listen, don’t take bait. You can’t take the bait of offense and live in victory, joy, and peace. Shake off the any offense. Give it to God. Live happy, healthy, and whole. This is message #723, "Keep Your Heart Free From Offense", by Victoria Osteen. For more inspirational messages, visit https://www.JoelOsteen.com/Messages

Don’t Try to Hide Your Scars

Post by Joel Osteen 

While life brings its share of physical scars from injuries, there are also invisible scars that come from inner wounds. We may carry the scars from a divorce, from what somebody did, from a mistake we made, from a loss. So often we try to hide our scars. They remind us of the hurt. We don't see anything positive about them and wish they would go away. But you need to see your scars in a new light. God allowed that scar to remind you of what He brought you through. When you see that scar, don't think of the pain, think of the grace of God. The scar means the wound has healed, the pain is over, and you're moving forward.

You can be at peace with your scars. Those scars are your testimony; they tell your story. No one in the Scripture fulfilled their destiny without battle scars. We all get wounded. Instead of being depressed over what you've been through, have a new perspective—the enemy tried to stop you, but God healed you. How do you know? You have a scar to prove it. You're not ashamed of it; you're not depressed by it, you're at peace with your scars. You know it was the hand of God protecting you, not letting that opposition defeat you. The scars don't have to remind you of the pain, they can remind you of the greatness of God. Sure you have a scar, but you've come through healed, restored, vindicated, blessed and fulfilling your purpose.Jesus was betrayed by close friends and misunderstood by His family. He was falsely accused and beaten with rods, forced to wear a crown of thorns, His back was lashed with thirty-nine stripes, and His hands and feet and side were pierced. What amazes me is that when Jesus rose from the dead, you would think He would be perfectly restored back to normal. But even though resurrection power caused Him to come back to life, He still had scars. This was significant. God could have taken them away. Maybe, in part, it was to show us that it's okay to have scars.

Be at peace with your scars. Your scars are not there to hold you back; they are reminders of the grace of God, of what He's brought you through. It's very freeing when you can say, "I worship a Savior who has scars. Since He has scars, I'm okay with my scars. I'm not going to live bitter because of a disappointment, or in regret over past mistakes, or go around sour because somebody did me wrong. I'm at peace with my scars."