God Wants You Cross-Conscious

God Wants You Cross-Conscious

1 Corinthians 2:2
2For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church, said that he determined to know nothing among them except “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”. In other words, Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, had his mind full of Jesus and His finished work.

Beloved, God wants your mind full of the cross of Jesus. He wants you cross-conscious.

But what does it mean to be cross-conscious?

To be cross-conscious is to see Jesus, who loves you so much that He willingly died for you on the cross. To be cross-conscious is to look to Jesus, who offered His own body to be punished, so that your body can be free from all punishment.

To be cross-conscious is to fix your eyes on Jesus, who has provided for your deliverance and victory at the cross. At the cross, all your enemies were vanquished. All your diseases were destroyed. Your poverty was removed at the cross. Your sins were wiped out at the cross.

When the Israelites tasted bitterness in the waters of Marah, God showed Moses a tree, which he cast into the waters, making them sweet. (Exodus 15:23–26) The tree represents the cross, which turned the bitter waters sweet. Today, Calvary’s tree has turned your bitter situations sweet. Because of the cross, you can expect to see the bitter situations in your life made sweet!

When the Israelites were bitten by serpents in the wilderness, God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole. The pole represents the cross and bronze speaks of judgment. Those who beheld the serpent on the pole lived because they saw their problem — the deadly serpent — nailed and put to death on the cross. (Numbers 21:6–9)

Today, you too will not die but live when you see all your sins judged at the cross, and with them, all your sicknesses, diseases, pains, failures and defeats! At the cross, all that is deadly in your life has been removed!

The Teacher Of All Things Is In You

The Teacher Of All Things Is In You

John 14:26
26But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things…

If you are asking whom or where you can go to to get the help you need, ask no more. Just turn to God who has already promised you the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom He has sent in Jesus’ name to dwell in you.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things. Yes, teach you all things! Do you really believe that? Or are you like some who believe that you seek God’s counsel only for spiritual things, but consult “professional” help for all other things in your life?

God does not want you to run to and rely on worldly wisdom. Now, there is nothing wrong with going to a doctor or engaging a financial consultant, but God wants you to come to Him first for counsel and direction. That is why He has sent the Holy Spirit, the Counselor (John 16:7, NIV), to teach you all things. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and He will guide you into all truth. (John 16:13)

The apostle John said, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things… the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things…” (1 John 2:20, 27)

So the way God teaches you is through the anointing within. It is a continuous anointing. In any particular situation, He is anointing you from within, teaching you by the presence or absence of His peace.

For example, a deal you are considering may sound very reasonable. But if you don’t have the peace in your spirit, don’t sign on the dotted line. Sign only when you have the peace. Be led by His peace and you will find that your heart will not be troubled, neither will it be afraid. (John 14:27)

When you follow that peace which only God can give to you as an inward witness, good things and even miracles will come forth!

God Is For You, Not Against You

God Is For You, Not Against You

Romans 8:31
31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Are you faced with challenges in your life right now? Are you having marital problems and financial woes? Maybe your child is going astray or an old illness has returned. What then will you say to all these things?

Do you know what God wants you to say? He wants you to say, “If God is for me, who can be against me?”

If you knew that the President or the Prime Minister was for you, you might believe that everything will be okay. But you have an even better backing! The Bible tells us that God, the Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is for you! What problem can fasten its grip on you when the Almighty God is for you? Can the devil come successfully against you with God on your side?

If God is for you today, if God is for you right now, you don’t have to moan, “If only I had this… If only I didn’t say that…” And you don’t have to worry about the future: “What if this happens… What if we don’t have enough…” My friend, regretting the past and worrying about the future won’t change anything. Look to your heavenly Father, instead. Because He is for you at this present moment, you can be confident that He will help you and provide for you.

Beloved, God sent His Son to die for you. And Jesus gave you a blood-bought right to an abundant life full of meaning and purpose! He gave you a blood-bought right to walk in divine health all the days of your life! He gave you a blood-bought right to prosperity even when the economy goes down!

You have all these things not because you deserve them, but because Jesus shed His blood and gave you the right to have them. All these blessings are yours today because God is for you! And if God is for you, who can be against you!

See The Favor Of God Multiplied In Your Life

See The Favor Of God Multiplied In Your Life

2 Peter 1:2
2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

If you would like to walk in a greater measure of God’s favor, 2 Peter 1:2 says that grace, which is the undeserved favor of God, and peace, can be multiplied to you. Peace is the word “shalom” in Hebrew. Its definition includes wholeness, health and prosperity. So when you walk in divine favor and peace, you will walk in blessings in every area of your life!

But how do the undeserved favor and shalom of God increase in your life?

It is not by your laboring or toiling to earn it. The Bible says that it comes as your knowledge of Jesus and His finished work increases. It comes as you learn more about and believe that through Jesus’ one sacrifice at the cross, God removed all your sins, gave you His righteousness as a gift and put you in Christ to enjoy everything Jesus has. God’s favor is multiplied in your life when you simply believe that the favor of God that is on Christ is also on you because of what Jesus’ work at the cross has accomplished.

Today, you don’t have to struggle for favor. Just release it by speaking forth God’s Word in faith. On your way to work, say, “God’s favor surrounds me as with a shield.” (Psalm 5:12) As you continue to speak God’s favor over your life out of a revelation of Jesus’ finished work, you will see more of it being released.

When I first entered the workforce, I began to declare the favor of God in my job. Every time I was given a new assignment, I proclaimed that the divine favor of God was on me. The company began to prosper and I was blessed financially. By the time I left the company to serve God full-time, my income had increased so that I was in the top 15 per cent of earners in my age group in Singapore.

Today, in your workplace or at home, begin to declare the favor of God by faith. Expect to receive preferential treatment wherever you are. Say, “I am surrounded with the favor of God because of Jesus’ finished work. I have favor before God and man!” And see God’s favor work for you!

By Jesus’ Stripes You Are Healed

By Jesus’ Stripes You Are Healed
Isaiah 53:5
5… The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

You know, one of the biggest outcries against Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion Of The Christ, was that it was too violent, especially the part where Jesus was scourged.

Let me tell you this: It was not violent enough! The Bible says that at the cross, Jesus’ visage was marred beyond that of any man. (Isaiah 52:14) In the movie, even after all the beatings, the actor James Caviezel, who played Jesus, still looked quite handsome.

But the reality is that when Jesus hung on the cross, He had “no form or comeliness… there is no beauty that we should desire Him”. (Isaiah 53:2) He was beaten to a pulp until His face looked like jelly hanging out!

In the movie, when they scourged Him, only a small portion of His bones was exposed, so it was still quite tidy. But the messianic psalms say, “The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long” (Psalm 129:3), and “I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me”. (Psalm 22:17) All His bones were exposed!

My friend, He was thinking of you when the soldiers tied Him to the scourging post. As they raised their whips, He said, “Let it all come on Me!”

But what came on Him was not just the whip stripping the flesh off His bare back, but your sicknesses and diseases. Each time He was whipped, every form of sickness and disease, including arthritis, cancer, diabetes, bird flu and dengue fever, came upon Him. “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

Today, healing is your right because Jesus has paid the price for your healing. So if the devil says, “You cannot be healed,” just declare, “Jesus has paid for my healing. Disease has no right to be in my body. I am healed in Jesus’ name!”

Every curse of sickness that was supposed to fall on you fell on Jesus instead. He bore every one of those stripes, so that you can walk in divine health all the days of your life. The price has been paid so that you can rise up and get out of your bed of affliction!

Facts Change But God’s Word Remains

Facts Change But God’s Word Remains

John 8:32
32And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Consider the cold, hard facts that these three people faced: The aunt of a lady in our church saw her X-ray which showed that one of her two kidneys was cancerous. A couple in our church read their medical reports which said that they would never be able to produce a child. A lady in our church who acted as a guarantor ended up being asked by the finance company to pay it S$34 million.

When such situations hit us and we allow the facts to settle in our hearts, we end up feeling greatly troubled. But when we let the truths of God’s Word settle them all, we will sense the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the truths that we are believing. He is the Spirit of truth. (John 16:13) He is not the Spirit of facts and does not bear witness to facts.

It may be a fact that you are sick. The doctors say that you are sick. The X-ray film shows that you are sick. But God’s Word says that by Jesus’ stripes you are healed! (Isaiah 53:5) That is the truth about your situation. What is the difference between fact and truth? Facts change, but truth — God’s Word — remains!

When God’s people choose to defy the facts and walk instead in His truths regarding their situations, the Holy Spirit in them will bear witness to the truths that they are believing.

The lady with the cancerous kidney underwent an operation to remove the organ. But praise God, she received supernatural restoration as later X-rays showed two healthy kidneys instead of one! God had formed a new kidney for her!

The childless couple received their miracle bundle of joy after seven years. Today, they are proud parents of not one, but four children!

The church member with the S$34 million debt told the finance company that it was not being fair to her and that God would protect her. The company’s management miraculously decided to cancel her debt!

The next time you are hit by disturbing facts, let God’s Word settle the truth about your situation. And as the Holy Spirit bears witness to the truths that you are believing, the facts will change and you will receive your miracle!

Jesus Took Your Place So That You Can Take His

Jesus Took Your Place So That You Can Take His

Matthew 27:46
46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Do you know that it was at the cross that Jesus addressed His Father as “God” for the first time? He had always addressed His Father as “Father”. But at Calvary’s tree, He addressed His Father as “God”.

Jesus lost that Father-Son relationship when He was representing you and carrying your sins at the cross so that today, you can call God “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15) and have a loving father-son relationship with God forever. Jesus was forsaken by God and His world became very dark on that lonely hill so that in your darkest hour, God will always say to you, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” (Hebrews 13:5)

At the time when Jesus needed God most, God turned His back on Him. God had to turn His back on His Son because His eyes are too holy to behold all the sin that was in His Son’s body. And because God turned His back on Jesus, He will never turn His back on you. Instead, you will see God’s face of favor shining on you all the time!

Jesus also took your place of no protection at the cross. For the first time, He gave up divine protection so that you can have it every day of your life! And because He became sin, He took your curse at the cross so that today, as you take His gift of righteousness, you receive only blessings from God.

Jesus received the full brunt of God’s wrath in His body once and for all when He carried your sins. All of God’s anger and condemnation fell on Him, consuming all your sins until God’s wrath was exhausted.

Today, God is not angry with you. The body of Jesus absorbed everything — your sins, curses, and God’s anger and condemnation. So live life expecting to see not the judgment, but the goodness and blessings of God!

Don’t Look To Your Faith, Look To Jesus

Don’t Look To Your Faith, Look To Jesus

Hebrews 12:2
2looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...

If you are sick, you must know that you are already healed because of the finished work of Christ. Don’t ask, “Do I have enough faith to be healed? Do I have the right kind of faith to be healed? What if I am lacking in faith?” You are focusing on yourself and your faith, instead of Christ and His finished work.

You should be asking, “Did Jesus take away this sickness? If He did, then He must have done a perfect work.” In other words, fix your eyes on Jesus and His perfect work.

AB Simpson, who lived in the 19th century, wrote an article entitled Himself. In it, he mentioned his exhausted nervous system, and broken-down heart which could have proved fatal any time. So he sought the Lord for healing. God showed him Matthew 8:17, which says that Jesus “Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses”.

AB Simpson said that though he believed that Jesus had borne away his sicknesses, he saw many hindrances which stood between him and his healing. And they all boiled down to one thing — his preoccupation with his faith! He had believed that if only he had the “right” kind of faith, he would receive his healing instantly.

He eventually came to the realization that he had to remove that last hindrance — his focus on his faith — and just rest in the finished work of Christ. That revelation marked his complete recovery from his sicknesses.

When you ask yourself, “Do I have enough faith?” you have already put faith as a hindrance between you and Jesus’ finished work. The more you focus on your faith, the more faith slips away. But if you focus on the finished work of Christ and see God’s grace toward you, God sees that as faith! Without realizing it, faith is there in your heart to believe that you will not die of what Christ Himself has already borne away completely for you, and you will see your miracle manifest!

The Battle Is The Lord’s

The Battle Is The Lord’s

2 Chronicles 20:15
15… Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

When faced with a problem or challenge, we tend to ask ourselves, “What am I going to do?” And well-meaning family members and friends will come along and ask, “What are you going to do?”

Jehoshaphat faced a multitude of enemies. But instead of focusing on what he would do, he prayed, “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” (2 Chronicles 20:12)

When we turn our eyes to God, we will hear Him say, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s... You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord…” (2 Chronicles 20:15, 17)

But standing still is the last thing we want to do when the enemy is coming against us. It is also the most difficult thing to do because we feel that we cannot just stand around and do nothing — we must try to save the situation. But God wants us to stand still and see Jesus our salvation fight for us.

So what do you do the next time you are faced with a battle and don’t know what to do? Jehoshaphat sent his singers to the front of the army to proclaim, “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever.” (2 Chronicles 20:21) Some people will wonder, “Does that mean that I just sing and don’t do anything else when I have a problem?” No, that is not what I am saying.

Do what the situation requires, but don’t worry and don’t trust in what you do. Like Jehoshaphat, rest and trust in His mercy that endures forever. When you do that, God will turn your battlefield into the Valley of Berachah. Berachah means “blessings”. The children of Israel gave the battlefield this name because it took them three days to gather all the spoils of war! God turned their situation into a great blessing! (2 Chronicles 20:25–26)

Do you have a battle to fight? Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!

Let Your Heart Be Established By Grace

Let Your Heart Be Established By Grace

Hebrews 13:9
9… it is good that the heart be established by grace…

God does not want your heart full of worries and fears, tossed and turned by every challenge that comes your way. He wants your heart at rest and established by His grace toward you.

But when you think that the breakthroughs to your challenges depend on your ability to obey God, then your heart will not be at rest. It will be full of worries and anxieties. Why? Because you can never obey God perfectly.

But when you depend on God’s grace, that is, His undeserved, unmerited favor, the opposite happens — your heart becomes established. When you know that the only thing that qualifies you to receive God’s blessings is faith in the finished work of Christ, your heart becomes established. Then, you will walk without the fear of your troubles swallowing you up. You will walk with full assurance that His blessings will be manifested in your life.

My friend, God wants your heart established, knowing that His righteousness, healing, protection and prosperity are yours — all paid for by Jesus’ finished work at the cross. God’s blessings are sure in your life because they are not dependent on your ability to keep His laws, but Jesus’ perfect obedience.

You see, under the old covenant, you receive God’s blessings only if you keep all His laws. (Deuteronomy 28:1–2) If you sin and fail to keep even one law, you will be disqualified from receiving His blessings. But today, under the new covenant, your sins no longer disqualify you because God Himself has said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

So let your heart be established by God’s grace. Because of His grace, you have full access to His blessings. You no longer have to worry about whether you are good enough. You can stand firm on the promises made in His Word and enjoy His blessings today because Jesus has paid the price. Your part is only to believe and receive!

God Is Not On A Sin Hunt

God Is Not On A Sin Hunt

1 Thessalonians 5:9
9For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

When you think of Sodom and Gomorrah, what comes to your mind? God’s wrath and fiery judgment? The truth is that God was not all out to judge the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was not on a sin hunt. He was, in fact, on a righteousness hunt!

This is evident because if God was on a sin hunt, He would not have allowed anyone to stop Him. But we know that He let Abraham in on what He was about to do and even allowed Abraham to entreat Him.

Abraham asked God if He would destroy Sodom if He could find 50 righteous people there. God’s reply was, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” (Genesis 18:26) Abraham then asked God if He would destroy the city if there were only 45… 40… 30… or 10 righteous. And each time, God’s reply was that He would spare the place for the sake of the righteous.

Abraham stopped at 10. If he had gone down to just one righteous man, I believe God’s reply would have been the same because He was on a righteousness hunt.

Now, if God was not all out to destroy then, how much more today, when God has already judged our sins in the body of His Son? At the cross, Jesus exhausted all of God’s fiery judgments until there was no more fire of God’s wrath left for us!

Today, God is not judging us for our sins because He has found the righteousness of the one Man — Christ Jesus. So do not let anyone tell you that God judges you for your sins and punishes you with cancer, car accidents, business failures or brokenness. God would be unjust if He punished the same sins twice — in Jesus’ body and then in yours.

Beloved, God is not out to judge you but bless you today, not because you deserve it, but because Jesus was judged and punished in your place!

The Answer For A Guilty Conscience

The Answer For A Guilty Conscience

Hebrews 9:14
14how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Have you heard the voice of your conscience saying things like, “You deserve hell for the sins you committed against your wife three years ago” or “Why are you surprised that your child is not talking to you? You were never around when he needed you”?

You know, there are people who feel depressed all the time because of a sense of guilt, and they “pay” for their sins in terms of illnesses. In fact, doctors are discovering that many psychosomatic sicknesses are caused by guilt and condemnation because the conscience is saying, “You have done wrong. You must be punished. How can your sin not be punished?”

That is why you must have an answer that will satisfy your conscience. When your conscience says, “You have sinned. You must be punished for this sin or else God is not a just God,” you say, “Yes, I have sinned. But this sin and every other sin that I have committed were punished to the maximum in the body of Jesus Christ! So there remains no more punishment for me today, for how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse my conscience!”

My friend, the only way to bring peace to your conscience is to look to the cross. The cross of Jesus is the only answer that will satisfy your conscience.

So the next time your conscience condemns you because of sin, don’t try to silence it with your good works. Look to the cross and say, “Father, thank You for Jesus and the cross. Jesus was totally condemned on my behalf for this sin, so there is now absolutely no condemnation left for me.” Then, your conscience will look at the cross and say, “Ahhhh... peace.” My friend, Jesus’ finished work at the cross truly sets you free!

Jesus Understands Your Struggles

Jesus Understands Your Struggles

Hebrews 4:15
15For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Imagine meeting the new politician who is to represent your district or neighborhood only to discover that he is not familiar with your neighborhood’s needs and problems. You will wonder, “Can this guy really represent us? Does he know anything about our living conditions? Is he familiar with the various challenges that families here are facing? Can he help me get my child into one of the schools here?” I am sure that you would prefer someone who truly understands your challenges to represent you!

In the same way, I am so glad that right now at the Father’s right hand, we have someone who came as a Man to redeem us, and who fully understands what man goes through. When Jesus walked on earth, He went through every human emotion so that He could identify with us in all points. Jesus is God, but He is in the Father’s presence as a Man, representing us.

My friend, you may feel that no one understands your struggles. Listen, while this may be true of man, it is not true of Jesus. He knows exactly what you are going through and He can sympathize with your weaknesses because He was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin”.

None of us have been tempted in all points. But God allowed Jesus to be tempted in all points so that He can understand and identify with the struggles of every single person on this earth. He can be touched by our humanity — our weaknesses, tears, disappointments, griefs... all points!

There is no trial, difficulty, challenge or temptation that you face that Jesus cannot identify with. My friend, the moment you go through it, right there and then, He feels it too. That is the kind of representative you have in Jesus! That is the love of God so that you will draw near to His throne of grace (not judgment) to find mercy and grace in time of need! (Hebrews 4:15–16)

Be Christ-Conscious

Be Christ-Conscious

Ephesians 1:7
7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Have you ever woken up in the morning and said, “Today, I will not sin.” And as you leave your house, you say, “I must be careful not to fall into sin today. I don’t want to sin. I will not sin!” My friend, when you do this, you are no longer Christ-conscious but sin-conscious, even though you have not sinned yet.

Men, have you ever caught yourself thinking, “I don’t want to look at any woman in case I lust”? You are being sin-conscious when you think like that. And sooner or later, you will lust in your heart. You may not sin outwardly, but you will sin inwardly.

Have you also tried confessing every sin? I have! As a teenager, when a bad thought came, I would quickly say, “I’m sorry, Lord. Forgive me for this thought in Jesus’ name.” Then, another thought would come and I would quickly say, “Forgive me, Lord, for that thought in Jesus’ name.” Then, if I happen to doubt His forgiveness, I would confess my unbelief and ask for forgiveness: “Forgive me, Lord, for doubting You.” Before I knew it, I was oppressed in my mind and so sin-conscious instead of Christ-conscious!

My friend, when you fall into sin, God wants you to be Christ-conscious. This means that when you have missed it, God wants you to be conscious that in Christ, you have forgiveness of sins through His blood. God wants you to be conscious that Christ was wounded and bruised for your sins, and that the chastisement for your peace was upon Him. (Isaiah 53:5)

When you are Christ-conscious, you will have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1) You will know that you are the righteousness of God in Christ because He who knew no sin was made sin for you. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He took your sin and now you have His righteousness.

So when you fall, don’t be conscious of your failure and feel bad or condemned. Instead, be conscious of who you are in Christ, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and continue your walk with God!

You Are Already Blessed

You Are Already Blessed

Joshua 24:13
13I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

God is more eager to prosper you than you are willing to be prospered! In fact, He is so keen for you to enjoy His prosperity that in His mind, giving you a multiplication of wealth and assets is a settled matter.

God has already promised: “I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”

He did not say, “I may give,” which means that it may or may not happen, but He said, “I have given,” which means that it has already happened. It is only a matter of time before your revelation of what you have through the work of Christ brings forth the prosperity He has already blessed you with.

During a church service, a couple started believing God for a new home which they did not have the money for. After the service, they went shopping at a nearby supermarket. The purchases they made qualified them for a lucky draw. Weeks later, their lucky draw coupon was picked from among thousands of other entries. The couple won the top prize — a new condominium unit!

My friend, expect prosperity in your life because you are already rich in Christ. Jesus took your place of poverty at the cross — “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) In Him, you are poor no more.

So stop looking at the lack in your natural resources. Look to the cross and say, “Yes, Christ has made me rich. It is a matter of time before I will see His prosperity in my life!”

Be Numbered Among The Undevourable

Be Numbered Among The Undevourable

1 Peter 5:8
8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The devil cannot just walk right up to you and rob you of your health, peace or family. He cannot just come into your life to enforce disease and destruction.

If the devil can do that, then he does not have to walk about “seeking whom he may devour”. He only has to walk straight up to anyone he wants to devour and devour him! But since the Bible says that he goes about seeking whom he may devour, the truth then is that there are people whom he cannot devour.

You see, the devil goes about like a roaring lion trying to stir up fear in people with his roars. But the people who are not devourable are those who refuse to be intimidated by his roars because they know that the true Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:5), has already come and rendered powerless him who had the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14, NASB) They know that the devil cannot just do anything to them because the Lion of Judah resides in them, and that He is greater than the devil who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

My friend, the Lion of Judah is in you. He has given you rights, privileges, authority and power. He redeemed you with His blood. Therefore, everything about you and your life is redeemed by His blood. So if you are fearful about losing your job, cover your job with the blood of Jesus. If you are worried about your children’s safety in these days of terrorist attacks, plead the blood of Jesus over them. If you have received a bad report from the doctor, speak the blood over yourself.

Whatever you have covered with the blood of Jesus, God declares, “Protected! Redeemed!” And the devil flees when he sees the blood. And when he flees, he takes with him sicknesses, diseases, pains, sufferings, destruction and loss.

Once the devil knows that you know who you are in Christ and what you have in Him, his days of intimidating you are over, and you are numbered among the undevourable!

God Gives You Undeserved Preferential Treatment

God Gives You Undeserved Preferential Treatment

Romans 1:7
7… Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

When you fly first class in an airplane, the cabin crew gives you first-class treatment. They ask you, “Is everything okay with you, sir?” They ask you what magazines you want to read. They give you a blanket if you are cold. They give you the best kinds of food. They give you preferential treatment compared to those traveling in economy class.

The grace of God is defined as “undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor”. And one of the definitions for favor is “preferential treatment”! Today, God wants you to know that you have His favor on you. He wants you to know that He gives you preferential treatment which you do not deserve. And He wants you to depend on and take full advantage of it in your life.

God also wants you to know that His favor in your life can be increased. You can experience more of His favor from day to day. How? The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 1:2 that God’s grace (or favor) is multiplied to us “in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”. The more you behold Jesus and His love for you, the more you believe and confess that God’s favor is on you, the more you will see His favor work for you.

So if you are a doctor, you will find patients favoring you and you will have more patients than you can handle. If you are a businessman, you will find people just wanting to do business with you because they like you and feel good about you. Then, you will have more business than you can handle and you will need to plan for expansion!

When the favor of God shines on your church, you will find its premises too small for the people who queue up week after week to attend the services! So when people wonder and ask, “What is happening here?” you can tell them, “It is the favor of God multiplied all over us!” And it is all undeserved, unearned and unmerited!

Hamas wants a ceasefire that isn't really a ceasefire - Israel Today

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised address from his hiding spot in Gaza on Monday that he is ready to consider any ceasefire proposal that forces Israel to halt its offensive, but permits Hamas to continue attacking Israel.

Most media focused on the fact that the address was the first indication that the Hamas leadership is ready to throw in the towel in the current round of fighting.

Brushed aside was the fact that Haniyeh also insisted that any ceasefire must recognize Hamas' right to continue launching attacks against Israel.

"The intifada must continue because the occupation [sic] is continuing to kill," said the Hamas boss.

Haniyeh also indicated that he would only accept a ceasefire deal that gave the impression of a Hamas victory, and told the residents of Gaza that his group is "nearing victory over the Zionist war machine."

Hamas rejected an Egyptian-French ceasefire proposal last week because it called for the deployment of foreign troops in Gaza to ensure the terrorists did not start firing rockets at Israel again.

In related news, outgoing US President George W. Bush used his final press conference on Monday to reiterate that any Gaza ceasefire must begin with Hamas halting its rocket fire on southern Israel.

"I'm for a sustainable ceasefire. And a definition of a sustainable ceasefire is that Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel… The choice is Hamas' to make," stated the president.

Jesus Has Borne Your Diseases

Jesus Has Borne Your Diseases

Isaiah 53:4
4Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…

Imagine the dreadful disease leprosy eating a man alive. The poor leper in Matthew 8:2 could stand his suffering no longer, so he came out into the open to look for Jesus. He needed to know if Jesus was willing to heal him. When he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Matthew 8:2) The Son of God looked at the outcast with love in His eyes, reached out His hand, touched him and said, “I am willing; be cleansed.” (Matthew 8:3)

Perhaps you are suffering from some disease and wondering if God is willing to heal you? You are not sure if He is willing because just as you have seen people get healed, you have also seen people not get healed. My friend, don’t look to people’s experiences. Look to the cross! As surely as Jesus bore away your sins, He also bore away your diseases!

I want to give you a solid foundation today for believing this truth. In Isaiah 53, the chapter on our Lord’s crucifixion, it says in verse four: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”. Now, let’s learn a little Hebrew. The words “griefs” and “sorrows” here mean “sicknesses” and “pains” in the original Hebrew text. So Isaiah was referring to physical healing.

Once, I asked a Jewish friend to read this verse in his Hebrew Bible and tell me what it means. He told me that his Bible says clearly that Jesus has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.

If that is not enough, look at Matthew 8:16–17: “… they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.’” Matthew quotes Isaiah 53:4, saying that Jesus took our “infirmities” and bore our “sicknesses”. The context here refers to physical healing.

My friend, if you will just believe this truth, your days of sickness will be over. You will walk in greater health because the One who has surely borne your sicknesses and carried your pains says to you, “I am willing, be cleansed!”

God’s Word Is Out To Prosper You

God’s Word Is Out To Prosper You

Isaiah 55:11
11So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

In the early church, whenever the Word of God was preached, there were miracles of salvation, healings, and other signs and wonders. The demon-possessed were set free. The paralyzed jumped up and walked. People received their loved ones back from the dead.

I remember saying in one of our church services that there was an anointing for couples, who were told that they could not conceive in the natural, to receive the children they had been believing God for. As the word went forth, many couples received their miracle in that service.

One of the ladies who received was serving that day as an usher. She and her husband had been believing God for a child for a few years. A few months after that service, she realized that she was pregnant — with twins! God’s anointing is always greater than our asking.

I believe with all of my heart that we are truly coming to the place where as the Word of God goes forth, it produces the very effect that the Word promises. So if the Word on healing goes forth, know that healing is already exploding in your body. Your miracle has already happened.

Very often, as you are reading the Word on your own or listening to anointed preaching of the Word, you will feel God’s peace and joy, and feel faith springing up in your heart. As the Word goes forth and you find that you are strengthened to receive your miracle, that is the time to say, “Lord, I receive my healing right now.” That is the time to say, “I receive Your restoration for my marriage.” That is the time to say, “I receive Your breakthrough for my finances.”

You don’t have to wait until a church leader or friend prays for you. Every time your faith is strengthened as you hear the Word, release it through your mouth to receive your miracle, for God’s Word is out to prosper you!

When You See God’s Grace, He Sees Your Faith

When You See God’s Grace, He Sees Your Faith

Ephesians 2:8
8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Many a time, people ask me, “Pastor Prince, I know that God’s promises are true, but how can I be sure that His promises will come true in my life?”

My friend, if you want God’s promises to be sure in your life, you cannot depend on yourself. If you depend on yourself — your obedience, goodness, service and even faith — you will not be able to receive God’s promises. But when you depend on God’s grace — His unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor toward you — that is when His promises become sure in your life.

This was true of the woman with the issue of blood. (Matthew 9:20–22) She didn’t go around saying, “I must have faith… I hope that I have enough faith… I will have faith… I will not lose faith.” No, she was only conscious of the grace of Jesus — how He always healed the sick, how powerful He was in raising the dead and how willing He was to use that power for her healing.

She just saw His grace abounding toward her, so much so that she said, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” And when she came behind Jesus and touched the very hem of His garment, she was healed. At that same moment, Jesus stopped, turned around and said to her, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.”

When the woman saw His grace, God saw her faith! And so it was by grace, through faith, that God’s promise became sure in her life.

God wants you to see His grace. And when you see His grace, He sees your faith. God says, “For by grace are you saved through faith.” The Greek word for “saved”, sozo, doesn’t just mean to save from hell, but also to heal, preserve and make whole. So it is by grace that you are made whole, kept healthy, preserved and prospered. It is by grace through faith that God’s promises become sure in your life.

My friend, don’t worry if you feel that you lack faith. Begin to see God’s grace in your situation and He will see that as faith. And because He sees your faith, you will receive the breakthrough you need!

Believing Is Receiving

Believing Is Receiving

Mark 5:28–29
28For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.

You have heard people of the world say, “I will believe it only when I see it.” Generally, that is the way the world thinks. But God’s ways are not like the ways of the world. The world says, “If I can’t feel it or see it, I cannot believe the miracle is here.” God says, “If you believe it before you feel it or see it, you will see your miracle.”

Believing first before seeing the evidence of what we are believing for is called faith. Faith is like a spark and Jesus is the dynamite powder.

In the story of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, there were many people who touched Jesus (Mark 5:31), but nothing happened to them. They didn’t touch Him in faith. But when the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came to Him and touched Him in faith, He felt power leave His body (Mark 5:30), and it sparked off an explosion of healing in the woman’s body!

Hearing about how good, kind and loving Jesus was fired her faith to believe that He could and would heal her. So convinced was she (even when the condition in her body was still evident) that she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Did she experience her healing first before she believed? No, she believed first in Jesus’ goodness and power, acted in faith and only then felt the healing in her body.

In the same way, God wants you to believe in His goodness and love toward you. He wants you to know how willing He is to act on your behalf to bless you, and how, with Christ, He will freely give you every good thing. (Romans 8:32)

He wants you to declare by faith that all is and shall be well with you, and to expect to see just that. And then, no matter how long you have had the problem, no matter how bad the experts say it is, an explosion of healing and restoration will take place, and you will receive what you are believing for!

A Sleeping Partner Who Benefits

A Sleeping Partner Who Benefits

Genesis 15:12
12Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram…

In business, sleeping or silent partners don’t work but still take home huge profits. They are like the wife of the boxing champion. He gets badly beaten up to win the prize money. But when he gets home, his wife takes it from him and says, “Thank you very much, darling!”

Do you know that in your covenant with God, you are like the boxer’s wife or the sleeping partner?

When Abraham asked God how he would know for sure that he would inherit the land that God had promised him, God made a covenant with him. (Genesis 15:8–21) But instead of cutting the covenant with Abraham by walking in between the animal pieces with him, God put Abraham into a deep sleep and cut the covenant with Jesus instead.

Jesus, the light of the world, appeared as the pillar of fire and cut the covenant with God the Father who appeared as the pillar of cloud. In other words, Jesus took Abraham’s place. He was perfect Man representing Abraham when He cut the covenant with His Father.

By substituting Abraham with Jesus, God was being gracious because if Abraham had done it, he would also have been responsible for keeping the covenant. And Abraham, being a mere man, would fail. But God the Son can never fail! Abraham’s blessings were therefore guaranteed because they did not depend on his performance but Jesus’ performance. Abraham was literally a sleeping partner, a beneficiary of the covenant.

Today, God has also made a covenant with you, called the new covenant. And like Abraham, you are a sleeping partner because the new covenant was also cut between God the Father and God the Son at Calvary. You are simply a beneficiary of the new covenant. You enjoy all its benefits without having to work at keeping it. Jesus, your representative, has already fulfilled all the conditions on your behalf. And because His obedience is perfect and His work is perfectly finished, the covenant blessings for you are guaranteed!

My friend, there is nothing left for you to do, but everything for you to believe. Don’t try to work for your covenant blessings. Rest in the Son’s finished work and receive them by faith!

Guaranteed By Covenant

Guaranteed By Covenant

Genesis 15:8–9
8And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” 9So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

Are you discouraged because a breakthrough that you have been praying for has yet to manifest? Maybe it has been days or even weeks and you are asking, “How will I know that I will get it?” Abraham faced the same situation and asked God the same question. And God answered, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” What a strange answer!

But if you read on (Genesis 15:10–21), you will realize that God took Abraham’s question very seriously, and went on to show him just how serious He was about being his provider, protector and prosperity-giver. God was so serious that He was willing to bind Himself to a covenant.

What is a covenant? It is like a contract. Yet, it is more than a contract. A contract is binding only for a period of time, like five years or seven years, or until certain terms are fulfilled. But a covenant is perpetual. It is permanent. The only way out is through death. That is why marriage is a covenant, not a contract. It is permanent — “Till death do us part”.

In Bible times, when you cut a covenant with someone, you bring an animal, usually a ram or goat, and kill it by cutting it in two. Next, you will face your covenant partner and walk toward each other between the two pieces of the animal, passing each other in the center.

What all this means is that both parties are obligated to protect and provide for each other. Whatever belongs to you is your partner’s and whatever belongs to your partner is yours. Of course, the one who benefits is the lesser or poorer party.

Today, God is in covenant with us. We are the lesser, poorer party. We have nothing to offer God. But God, the richest and most powerful being in the universe, has everything to offer us!

My friend, God has bound Himself to a covenant, an iron-clad guarantee of His blessings and provision in your life, and it is all for your benefit. The breakthrough you are waiting for is guaranteed by covenant!

Look & Feel

After the initial setup on this blog, I have made quite abit of changes over the last few days.

I did like the last template with the Green and Blue background, which looks rather "cool", but atlas, not stretchable...making the left and right column empty and not fully utilizing the full width of the page. This also results in some of the gadgets displaying funny.

I decided to use this template as the next choice as it is stretchable, making the full use of the page width and also it looks neat and slick...

Hope you like the design of this template and have a pleasant viewing.

God Bless

Choose Not To Worry

Choose Not To Worry

Matthew 6:27
27Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

Many Christians are familiar with Jesus’ rhetorical question, “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” But not many of us actually let it get into our hearts and allow the love of God to free us from our habit of worrying.

The truth is, no amount of worrying can lengthen your life or add anything to your physical person. Instead, worrying robs you of sleep, health and many good years. In fact, it is only when you are worry-free that God’s anointing flows freely in you, strengthening, healing, restoring and adding to you.

A church member, after undergoing a mammogram, found that she had lumps in her breast. Upon receiving the doctor’s report, she wrote this down on the report: “Jesus is my healer. I receive my healing. I am healed. I rest in God completely.”

She was due back at the clinic later the same day for a biopsy to see if the lumps were malignant. Her sister-in-law, who was having lunch with her that day, witnessed her cheerful and worry-free attitude while she ate her lunch.

Back at the clinic, this precious sister sat among other ladies who were also there for their biopsies. They looked very worried, so she started sharing Jesus with them and prayed for some of them. When her turn came and she had an ultrasound scan done, the doctor was puzzled — her scan showed no evidence of any lumps!

The doctor went back to consult her colleague who had first discovered the lumps. Stunned, both doctors conducted their own investigations. They returned to her only to say, “It’s a miracle!”

My friend, when you worry, you are actually believing that the devil has the power to make inroads into your life that God cannot protect you from. But when you refuse to worry, you are putting your faith in God. You have more confidence in His love and power working for you than in the devil’s ability to harm you! When you refuse to worry, but choose to rest in the finished work of Christ, you will see the manifestation of your blessing. You will see your miracle!

The Gospel Saves In Every Situation

The Gospel Saves In Every Situation

Romans 1:16
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…

Each time you hear the gospel of Christ, you are hearing God’s good news for you. And the Bible tells us that the gospel of Christ — the good news that God wants all men to hear — is the very power of God for your salvation, not just from hell, but also from illnesses, financial lack, harm, a failing marriage — every aspect of your life that needs saving!

You may say, “Pastor Prince, I’ve heard the gospel of Christ, but it seems like I am one of those whom the power of God has missed.” My friend, when you hear the gospel of Christ, do you really believe it? You cannot just understand it in your mind. You must know and believe the good news in your heart, and then you will see that it is the power of God for your salvation.

But what is the good news that God wants you to know in your heart, which will release the power and salvation of God into your situation?

“For in it [the good news] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…” (Romans 1:17) The good news is that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, which you receive from faith to faith.

This means that this righteousness comes because you have faith in His blood, not your good behavior, to make you righteous. It is from faith to faith, not faith to works, or works to works.

The good news is not preached to show you what is wrong with you. It is preached to show you what is right with you because of Jesus’ work at Calvary, in spite of what is wrong with you!

There is nothing left for you to do to earn God’s blessings for your life. You only need to hear and believe the all-encompassing saving power of the gospel of Christ to heal you of diseases, preserve you from danger, prosper your finances and bring well-being to your family.

The world may say that the good news is too good to be true. But for those of us who are the righteousness of God in Christ, the good news is so good because it is indeed true!

What happens when we receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness?

Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

There is something in the good news of Christ that Paul was so proud of, was so determined to preach to every nation and every tribe and every people in the Roman empire. Paul was determined to preach the good news of Jesus, suffering tribulation, testings and presecutions in almost every place he preached, yet there was something he had received from the risen Christ that was of benefit to those who believe. In verse 16, we see that the good news of Christ believed is the power of God to salvation released. It is not just the good news of Christ, else the physical Bible itself would raise the dead. But it is the good news believed that releases power. Power for salvation, power for wholeness, power for rescue and deliverance from disease, sickness and physical death, power for peace and soundness.

What is it to believe then? What is this good news that we are supposed to believe, that releases the power of God for salvation? Simply this, in verse 17: the righteousness of God that is revealed from faith to faith. I like the Amplified version of verse 17, that explains the expression "from faith to faith":

Romans 1:17 (Amplified)
17 For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith.

Ain't that beautiful? The Good News of Christ reveals the righteousness of God that springs forth from believing the Word of Christ preached, and the revelation of righteousness in the Word preached arouses even more faith to believe! Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Christ! God has given to each a measure of faith, to believe that our sins and lawless deeds He remembers no more, but listening to more of the Good News (of righteousness by faith) preached builds up our ability to believe even more intensely and securely!

Why is the righteousness of faith so important? Verse 17 gives a hint, that "the man who through faith is just and upright shall live"! Romans 4 and 5 continue to expound on this principle that the righteousness of God leads to the life and life more abundant that Jesus promised in John 10. He came that we may have life and life more abundant, to undo the work of the thief who came to steal, kill and destroy! In particular, Romans 5:18 has this expression that I read many times but never understood how it worked:

Romans 5:18 (HCSV)
18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone.

Justification is simply God declaring us righteous. And in Romans 3, we see that God is righteous to declare us righteous because He sent Jesus Christ to be our propitiation through faith in His blood. A propitiation speaks of both the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, as well as the blood that is sprinkled upon the mercy seat, between the wings of the cheribum. Jesus fulfills both types. His blood is the perfect redemption price paid to redeem us out of the divine sentence we all deserved as sinners. His blood is the propitiatory sacrifice, the sacrifice that satisfies and met all of God's divine wrath and judgment against sin. Therefore, His blood shed speaks of God's wrath and judgment against sin having been completely satisfied at the cross, when He hung as our atonement offering, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This blood also speaks of His life that He gave in our place, so that we who deserved death did not experience death because Another, Jesus Christ the Righteous, took our place and died our death. In Leviticus, it says the life of the animal is in the blood. Therefore, Jesus' blood shed speaks of the life He gave up to die our death.

Hallelujah, just looking at the blood of Jesus already reveals such riches of His beauty and majesty, such perfection in that blood offered for our atonement, redemption and forgiveness of sins! This is why the blood of Jesus defeats the accuser of the breathen in Revelations 12. Every accusation of the enemy falls to the ground as groundless, baseless and utterly unfounded, not because the accusations of our sinful actions and thoughts are not true, but because the blood of Jesus has met every accusation and paid for our every disqualification! The wrath of God has been poured out upon our sins and lawless deeds, in the body of Jesus! The blood of Christ shed represents the wrath of God met in full by the propitiatory sacrifice, Jesus Christ on the cross. His blood has bought us peace!

But in Romans 5:18, it speaks of justification that gives life! How does justification give life? Now, you don't need to know how it works to believe and receive the blessing. I've been walking in a measure of this blessing by the grace of God, but my passion is to find out how things work, for my greater enjoyment and satisfaction in the things of God.

Paul, in expounding Romans 5, links 3 things together in divine wisdom. He links the abundance of grace, the gift of righteousness and life, all in one verse, in Romans 5:17, and again in verse 21.

Romans 5:17, 20, 21 (HCSV)
17 Since by the one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more,
21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

To reign in eternal life is to live the life of Christ all the time. This life is the resurrection life that Jesus lives today, seated at the right hand of God. We all know the verse "As He is, so am I in this world", and I've confessed this verse in my life many many times. But somehow, in many areas of my life, I don't see my life lining up to as He is. What gives? Now, As He is, so am I in this world is truth, and our life must line up with the truth. But are we to simply confess and confess and confess until it happens?

Confession, and any and every spiritual exercise can become a work, if it is done with no revelation or consciousness of Jesus in the centre. I mean that if we confess As He is so are we in this world thinking that confessing enough times will make that Word happen in our lives, we missed the point. Or if we feel guilty that we forgot to confess a particular promise or verse, or forgot to take communion, we have made a spiritual principle a work and voided the grace of God. And often, no surprise, that area where we confess like crazy is that area where we don't see the grace of God manifesting.

Every promise is yes and amen because of Christ and Christ alone. It is by His finished work at the cross, His shed blood alone, that we are blessed. Our sins are forgiven completely by His blood. Our bodies are healed by His broken body on the cross. It is all Jesus, none of us, our formulas, our methods, our works. Subtle are the works of the flesh, because something that started off full of faith in Christ and consciousness of His finished work can quickly become a work, when Christ consciousness is replaced by a formula and a method. The flesh loves formulas! But the spirit loves to focus on Christ!

So Paul talks about receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, and both are received by faith in Christ Jesus, by believing in His blood and His finished work at the cross.

Romans 5:1-2 (HCSV)
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Also through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

What exactly happens when we receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness? What leads to us reigning in life when we receive grace and righteousness? For that, let's look again at verses 17 and 21 of Romans 5

Romans 5:17, 20, 21 (HCSV)
17 Since by the one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more,
21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Notice the phrase "through Jesus Christ our Lord"? Paul talks about how through one man's trespass (Adam), we all come under the reign of death. To put it simply, Adam's sin is responsible for the death we experience, and we are sinners because of Adam's sin that we inherited by virtue of human birth and descent from his line. That is how death reigned in man, because of Adam's sin. But today, there is a new and living way, a newness of life, a life that has swallowed up this death in victory. This new reign of life is found through the one man Jesus Christ! And those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will have life reigning in them through the one man Jesus Christ.

Now, we established that death reigns because of Adam's sin. Now, we can also see that the eternal life of God reigns in us because of Jesus' perfect finished work at the cross! Again, it has nothing to do with me at all! This is the grace of God, that it is not what I do or don't do that determines whether the eternal life of God lives in me. No, it is Jesus and Jesus alone, His blood that washed away my sins, and His grace upon my life. Literally, Adam's sin gave death the right to reign in my life. Today, Jesus' one perfect sacrifice has given God the right to intervene in my life, imparting life to the dead, calling those things that are not as though they are!

That's why forgiveness of sins is the power of God unto salvation. Salvation comes when the life of Christ is manifested in the area of death, swallowing death in victory. When we think of forgiveness of sins, we think of the sins we have committed, and that is true. But Jesus' sacrifice forgave more than our own personnal sins. His blood and cross forgave us of the sin of Adam that gave death the right of dominion in the begninning. His blood cut off the right of the enemy to put disease, sickness, failures and death in our lives, once and for all! Today, His resurrection is our right to allow God to intervene, by His grace, in our lives, even when we have done wrong and deserve to die, so that His law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death!

Jesus' blood has redeemed us completely, from every right of the enemy to have dominion over our lives. Whether through Adam's sin or through our own lawless deeds, the blood of Jesus has met every claim and paid in full our redemption from the curse. No wonder it says in Romans 6

Romans 6:14 (HCSV)
14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

Life is ours to enjoy because through the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord, we receive freely (without cost) the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace. When you think about these terms simply, the gift of righteousness is the right for God to intervene in our lives with life, blessing, goodness, favor and everything praiseworthy, and the abundance of grace is God's most willing heart of love and fullness of power to want to intervene in our lives with life, blessing, goodness and everything good! When I need help, I receive the gift of righteousness, telling the Lord that He has a right to intervene in my life with His life because of Jesus Christ my qualification and righteousness. And I receive the abundance of grace, my Daddy God most willing and desirous to intervene on my behalf, to bless me, help me, fill me and equip me, to bring me to victory that I don't deserve!

Daddy God is always looking to bless us. His heart, as demonstrated in Jesus' earthly ministry, is to heal all, feed all, perform miracles to bless, help, console and prosper all. But He could not because Adam's sin shut the door to our right to receive help from God. But through the blood of Jesus, now we have a blood-bought right to allow God to intervene in our lives! We come as we are, in need of help, in need of His intervention, and we receive the gift of the divine right for God to intervene in my life through Christ Jesus my Lord, and receive the abundance of His divine intervention in my problems, situations, trials and needs! Let God arise, and all His enemies be scattered!

It's all about Jesus. He is my qualification for Him to be Lord and King in every area of my life. The more I know His heart of love and blessing toward me, the more I want Him to intervene in every area of my life. And His blood has made the way for His divine intervention to bless me all the days of my life! Praise the Lord!

You Have First-Class Righteousness

You Have First-Class Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21
21For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Some Christians believe that they have to work at becoming more righteous. And they kick themselves when they do wrong. They don’t realize that by doing these things, they are not seeking God’s righteousness, but are trying to establish their own righteousness by their law-keeping and right conduct.

Righteousness is not about right conduct. It is a gift from God to us through Jesus. And since it is a gift, we cannot earn it by our law-keeping and right conduct. We can only receive it!

How do we receive this gift? We receive it through the cross. God made Jesus “who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. So today, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. We are as righteous as Jesus is!

But some of us think that in the body of Christ, there are different classes of righteousness, like the seating classes in an airplane. They think that some of us have economy-class righteousness, others have business-class righteousness and a select few have first-class righteousness.

That is nonsense! When God gave us Jesus, He became our righteousness. So we have His righteousness. This means that we are 100 per cent righteous in God’s eyes! We cannot but have first-class righteousness!

You might say, “Pastor Prince, I don’t understand. How can I be righteous when I have done wrong?” Think about this: Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. Jesus knew no sin, did no sin and in Him was no sin. But at the cross, He received our sin and became sin for us.

Likewise, we, who were sinners, knew no righteousness, did no righteousness and in us was no righteousness. But at the cross, we received His righteousness and became the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

At the cross, the divine exchange took place. Jesus took our place so that we might take His place. He did not deserve to be made sin, but He was made sin in our place. We did not deserve to be made righteous, but we were made righteous because we received His righteousness. What good news! What amazing grace!

Righteousness Is Not Right Doing But Right Being

Righteousness Is Not Right Doing But Right Being

Romans 4:5
5But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

What do you think righteousness is about? Something you do or something you are? Right doing or right being?

The Bible tells us that after Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross, God imputes righteousness not to those who strive to obey the law (Galatians 2:16), but to anyone who believes in His Son. Because Christ took our sins and gave us His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21), the moment we believe in Him, God treats us as righteous apart from our works or obedience. (Romans 4:5–8) This is new covenant righteousness — a righteousness that comes by faith and not works.

You are not righteous because of how morally upright you are. You are not righteous because you exercise self-control. You are not righteous because you read 10 chapters of the Bible daily. You are not righteous because you feel righteous. But you are the very righteousness of God in Christ solely because the sacrifice of Jesus made you so. When you believe this, your faith is accounted for righteousness.

And this is what God wants you to use your faith for. If you are righteous by your deeds, you don’t need faith. You also don’t need faith to know that you are sinful. But you need faith to believe and declare that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, in the midst of your struggles with temptation and sin.

For example, when you feel lousy because you have just shouted at your wife, God wants you to exercise your faith to see yourself as still righteous in the midst of that failure. This living revelation that you are still righteous will give you the strength to love your wife and reconcile things with her.

The devil may remind you of your foul temper and question your integrity: “How dare you call yourself righteous when you just did that!” Just ignore his lies and boldly declare, “I am not righteous because of what I have done or not done. I am righteous only because of the blood and finished work of Jesus at the cross!”