Friday, June 7, 2013

The Head And Not The Tail

The Head And Not The Tail
Deuteronomy 28:13 13And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath…

One of our church members saw his sales performance hit rock bottom by the middle of the year. As a result, he was ranked 320 out of the 420 financial advisers in his company.
Devastated and on the verge of giving up, he started listening to my messages and claiming God’s promises such as “the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath” and “many who are first will be last, and the last first”. (Matthew 19:30)
He committed everything to God because he believed that only God could turn things around for him. And God did just that.
By the end of that year, he was ranked second in his branch and 10th in the whole company! He qualified for a trip for two to Barcelona, Spain, worth about S$20,000. That was not all. For the first time in his 12 years as a financial adviser, he qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table Award. Only the top six per cent of advisers in the entire industry qualify for this international award.
Beloved, when God makes you the head, you will end up on top of your circumstances. Consider the story of Joseph. (Genesis 39) Even when he was a slave, he was the head and not the tail because God prospered everything that he did.
“But Pastor Prince, when I look at my life, there are times when I am up and there are times when I am down. Yet, the Bible says that I will be above only. I don’t understand this.”
What you are going through is only temporal. Keep believing that you are above only and not beneath, even when you have hit rock bottom. It is God who always causes you to triumph in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14) You cannot cause yourself to triumph. Only God can and He has promised in His Word that you will be the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. So believe His Word in spite of your circumstances and expect to see victory!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

See Your Enemies Flee Because Of Jesus

See Your Enemies Flee Because Of Jesus
Deuteronomy 28:7 7“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

Some people think that Jesus and the devil are always confronting and fighting each other. But when I read my Bible, I don’t see fights between the two. What I see is the devil having to flee whenever he encounters Jesus!
Consider the demoniac from the country of the Gadarenes in Luke 8:26–39. The demons in the man begged Jesus not to torment them or send them into the abyss, but to permit them to enter a herd of swine nearby.
You see, neither the devil nor his demons can stand before Jesus. They may be able to torment people for a while, but when Jesus comes on the scene, they know that that is the end of their stay. They will have to flee! All it took was just one word from Jesus, and the entire legion of demons had to come out of the man and flee into the swine.
As a child of God, you exude a spiritual fragrance which evil spirits can detect and which causes them to tremble. It is the life of Jesus inside you. And He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4) That is why no curse, spell, accusation, scandal or destruction planned against you can succeed. Your enemies may come against you one way, but the Lord will confuse them and cause them to flee before you seven ways!
Jesus paid with His life to give you this victory over your enemies. After His arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, the Jews and Gentiles were united for the first time with one common objective: Torture Jesus and have Him killed. King Herod of the Jews and Pontius Pilate of the Romans were long-time enemies, but because of Jesus, they became friends. (Luke 23:12)
My friend, Jesus’ enemies were united and had “victory” over Him. But because He triumphed over them through the cross and rose again, today, your enemies will be scattered and you will have victory over them!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Jesus Is Still Jehovah Rapha

Jesus Is Still Jehovah Rapha
Exodus 15:26 26… I am the Lord who heals you.”


Do you know that the first compound name that the Lord revealed to the Israelites after they came out of Egypt was Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you? It was as if He was telling them, as they began their new life with Him, that He had already healed them of all the diseases and pains they suffered when they were in bondage in Egypt. Indeed, when He brought them out of Egypt, “there was none feeble among His tribes”. (Psalm 105:37)
Today, just as the Israelites were delivered from their bondage in Egypt and from slavery to Pharaoh, you have also been delivered from the bondage of sin and sickness, and from slavery to the devil, by the blood of the Lamb. And the Lord, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, still says to you, “I am the Lord who heals you.”
A church member, who was experiencing pain in her womb for several months, looked to Jesus as her healer even as she went to see a doctor, who performed an ultrasound scan on her womb. When told that she had two big tumors and several blood cysts in her womb, she continued to look to Jesus as her healer. The doctor then had her blood tested to see if the tumors were cancerous.
Three days later, she saw the doctor again and was told that the tumors were not cancerous. Not only that, but a second ultrasound scan also showed that all the cysts and one of the tumors had completely disappeared! The other tumor had also shrunk. Although she had taken medication, the doctor told her that based on the original size of the tumor, it should have taken months to shrink that much. He commented that this was the quickest healing he had ever seen!
Beloved, if the doctor has given you a bad report regarding your health, don’t despair. Look to Jesus and expect healing for your body. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is still Jehovah Rapha — the Lord who heals you!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

God Uses The Weak To Confound The Mighty

God Uses The Weak To Confound The Mighty
1 Corinthians 1:27 27But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
When you are faced with a big challenge, do you automatically look for the most powerful means to solve the problem? Well, my friend, that is not thinking the way God thinks. The Bible tells us that it pleases God to use what the world considers weak, foolish, base and despised to bring to nothing things which are mighty.
“What is that in your hand?” God asked.
“A rod,” Moses said. And with that rod, he performed miracles and confounded the might of Pharaoh.
“Five loaves and two fish,” a little boy said. And with that little boy’s lunch, Jesus fed 5,000 men, and his disciples gathered 12 baskets full of leftovers.
“The jawbone of an ass,” Samson said. And with that, he slew a thousand Philistines, who were the enemies of God’s people.
“Five stones and a sling,” said David the shepherd boy. And with one of his stones and the sling, he brought down Goliath, the mighty Philistine champion.
At a recent conference for Hokkien-speaking pastors, Pastor Mark, our Hokkien and Mandarin services pastor, realized how his spoken Hokkien pales in comparison to the refined and flawless Hokkien spoken by the other pastors there. Yet, it pleases God to use Pastor Mark’s colloquial Hokkien to lead many dialect-speaking folks, especially the elderly, to Christ.
Many of these elderly folks are testifying that for the first time in their lives, they are set free completely from fears of debilitating diseases, loneliness, deeprooted superstitions, generational curses, the ravages of old age and even death.
My friend, don’t despise what seems weak and insignificant to the world. God can use them to bring down the giants in your life!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Be Anxious For Nothing

Be Anxious For Nothing
Be Anxious For Nothing
Philippians 4:6–7
6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

When faced with a challenge or crisis, our tendency is to get all anxious about it. But God does not want us to react this way. He does not want us to be anxious about anything. Instead, whatever the problem is, He wants us to go to Him in prayer and supplication, telling Him what we need and thanking Him for the answer. When we do that, His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds from all worries, anxieties and fears.
“Pastor Prince, it is easy for you to say, ‘Be anxious for nothing.’ Try living with my husband for one day. Try disciplining that wayward teenager of mine. Look at the balance in my bank account! How can I not be anxious?”
Hold it! I am not the one who said, “Be anxious for nothing.” The apostle Paul said it. Yet, it was not him — he was prompted by the Holy Spirit. And when Paul wrote that, he was a prisoner under house arrest in Rome. He had been sent to Rome because he had appealed to Caesar regarding his death sentence. The Jews in Jerusalem wanted him to be put to death. (Acts 28:16–20)
Yet, under those trying conditions, he wrote these words: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
My friend, if you are anxious or worried about something, remember those words. Let’s say that you are anxious about a huge debt. Go to the Lord and pray, “Lord Jesus, I no longer want to be anxious about this problem. I hand it over to You and ask for supernatural cancellation of this debt. It is in Your care now. You are in charge. I thank You for taking care of it.”
God is true to His Word. As you pray this prayer and cast your care to Him, you will find His peace setting your heart and mind at rest. So be anxious for nothing — let the One with whom nothing is impossible take care of it for you!


Sunday, June 2, 2013

See The Work Accomplished

See The Work Accomplished
John 19:30
30
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

What do you see when it comes to healing for your sick body, restoration for your failing marriage or breakthroughs for your financial woes? Do you see a finished work or a work that is yet to be completed?
God wants you to know that what you desperately need Him to do for you has already been done! Jesus’ finished work at the cross so satisfied the Father’s heart that from heaven’s throne came the pronouncement, “It is done!” (Revelation 16:17) in response to Jesus’ cry, “It is finished!” on earth. So God wants you to have this revelation that whatever you need Him to do for you has already been done because Jesus has accomplished it all for you.
If you need healing, know that your healing has been accomplished. If you need restoration for your marriage, know that your restoration has been accomplished. You are not going to die from any lack — you have been abundantly supplied. All these things have been accomplished, not by you, but by Christ alone!
My friend, if you are bothered by a pain in your body, God wants you to see your healing finished or accomplished for you by His Son’s death on the cross. If it is a loss or debt you face, or a certain sin that you are struggling with, believe that your provision, restoration and deliverance have been accomplished for you.
Don’t worry about what you see or feel, or the presence of contradicting reports. These are lying symptoms and though they may seem very real, they are temporal and not the truth. God’s Word is the truth and it will remain because it is eternal. And when you believe that only what God’s Word says about your situation is the truth, all the lying symptoms will eventually have to line up with His Word.
God the Son says, “It is finished!”
God the Father says, “It is done!”
What do you say?



Saturday, June 1, 2013

God Is Not Punishing You For Some Sin

God Is Not Punishing You For Some Sin
Ephesians 1:7 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Some Christians believe that although you have forgiveness of sins, you are not free from the penalties of your sins. In other words, you can still expect punishment from God. For example, some married Christian couples have been told that they are childless because God is punishing them for having had pre-marital sex. So although God has forgiven them of that sin, He still has to punish them for it.
I am certainly not for pre-marital sex, but I want you to know that God, who is the only one who can fully appreciate the full value of His Son’s blood and who is completely satisfied by His Son’s sacrifice, is at rest in His heart today concerning your sins! That is why He is not against you even when you fail. Neither is He out to punish you when you sin. No, He still loves you, is for you and wants to help you overcome that sin.
In the Old Testament, the blood of bulls and goats could only “cover” sins and not take them away. (Hebrews 10:4) But the blood of Jesus is not like the blood of animals! For by one sacrifice, the eternal blood of the Son of God has forever removed your sins (Psalm 103:12) and cleansed you of all unrighteousness! (1 John 1:9) In fact, God is so satisfied with His Son’s perfect work that He says to you today, “Your sins and lawless deeds I will by no means remember!” (Hebrews 10:17) And if God does not remember them, why would He punish you for them?
Beloved, you have “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”. Because Jesus’ work is complete, all your sins have been completely forgiven. And complete forgiveness means that the penalties for your sins can no longer fall on you because they had already fallen on Jesus at the cross. (Isaiah 53:5)
So don’t think for one moment that God is punishing you for some sin just because something bad happened to you. Look to the cross and know that all your sins have already been punished fully in the body of Christ. Believe that God is for you and expect victory!