Pray Perfect Prayers In The Spirit

Pray Perfect Prayers In The Spirit

Romans 8:27 ²⁷Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Wouldn’t you like to pray effective prayers that are always in line with the will of God and which always hit the mark? Well, when you pray in the Spirit, you can.

You see, when we pray in English or our known language, and according to our limited understanding, we can pray amiss. Sometimes, our heads get in the way and we find ourselves asking, “Isn’t it selfish of me to pray like this?” or “Am I praying in line with God’s will?”

My friend, that is why God gives us the gift of praying in tongues. When we pray in tongues or in the Holy Spirit, we can never pray out of God’s will because the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God”.

In other words, we pray perfect prayers in line with God’s will when we pray in tongues. And the Bible goes on to tell us that “if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him”. (1 John 5:14–15)

Isn’t it wonderful that God has put in you the Holy Spirit who prays perfectly? He knows the heart of God and precisely what you need. And He makes intercession for you because He loves you very much.

The Holy Spirit is like your lawyer or legal counselor. He knows what belongs to you legally. He knows what your blood-bought rights are in Christ. Best of all, He knows exactly how to enforce them in your life!

Beloved, when you pray in tongues, you allow the Holy Spirit to pray perfect prayers through you. He pleads your case before God. He knows where you have gone wrong and what the root of the problem is. He also has the wisdom, solution and power to win your case. With the Holy Spirit on your side, you cannot but come out victorious!

Blessed With Every pneumatikos Blessing

Blessed With Every pneumatikos Blessing

Ephesians 1:3 ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Some people think that the term “spiritual blessing” refers to only nonvisible and intangible blessings like peace and joy. To them, God’s promise of “every spiritual blessing” excludes the tangible blessings of health, provision, a healthy marriage and so on. They say things like, “Don’t expect God to remove this tumor because our blessings are only spiritual.”

Beloved, do you know what the word “spiritual” here means? In the original Greek text, it is pneumatikos, which in this context means having properties and characteristics belonging to the Spirit of God. So if you have the pneumatikos blessing of health, for example, it means that it is of the Spirit of God, and therefore does not depend on your exercising or dieting.

A church member had high blood pressure which did not normalize even after he started exercising and eating well. So he stopped being preoccupied with his exercise and diet regimes, and simply rested in the truth that a normal blood pressure was a pneumatikos blessing from God already given to him. In a short time, his blood pressure came down to a healthy level!

The same goes for the pneumatikos blessing of provision It is of the Spirit of God and does not depend on our toiling seven days a week or monitoring the stock market closely.

A church member, who owns a small company, received her pneumatikos blessing of provision when she believed that God would cause her small company to be publicly listed. He did. In fact, the company was over—subscribed seven times within the first week! Later on, it even made inroads into Dubai in the Middle East. For a woman to find favor in a male—dominated industry like hers, it can only be the pneumatikos blessing of favor, which is not subject to the laws of man.

My friend, believe that you have received every pneumatikos blessing, and you will find yourself enjoying blessings that are eternal, just as God is eternal, and of a quality that only the Spirit of God can give!

What Have You Been Saying?

What Have You Been Saying?

Proverbs 18:21 ²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue...

Many things in life can cause us to fear — losing our jobs, deadly diseases, terrorist attacks and so on. When these things confront us, we tend to give in to worry and fear, and start talking about our fears.

Job was no different. He constantly feared that God would punish him and his family because he kept thinking that his sons had sinned against God. He would get up early in the morning to offer burnt sacrifices, saying, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” And the Bible tells us that he did this “regularly”. (Job 1:5)

So Job kept confessing the sins of his sons and fearing that something terrible would happen to him and his family. In fact, his sin-consciousness didn’t just produce fear, the Bible tells us that he “greatly feared”. (Job 3:25)

It is important that we understand that it was Job’s sin-consciousness that opened the door to Satan. His preoccupation with sins that his family may have committed gave Satan the opportunity to bring death and destruction into his life. God had a hedge of protection around Job. But when he started being sin-conscious and having a fearful expectation of judgment, the hedge was removed and Satan could attack him. (Job 1:9-12)

My friend, today, if you have sinned, don’t say, “I have failed again. I deserve to be punished by God.” Know that you already have forgiveness of sins because Jesus was punished and condemned in your place! (Ephesians 1:7) So say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Jesus, You are my holiness and perfection.” (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21)

We must be mindful of what we believe and say regularly because “death and life are in the power of the tongue”. So when you hear of a deadly virus taking many lives, don’t say, “I’m next because I have not been a good Christian!” Instead, say, “Jesus, You are my righteousness and protection. Surely You shall deliver me from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence!” (Psalm 91:3)

Beloved, such believing and confessing not only please God, but they also shut the door on Satan so that he cannot make any inroad into your life!

God Is Easy To Take From

God Is Easy To Take From

Exodus 3:8 ⁸So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land...

When the children of Israel provided for themselves in Egypt, they ate cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. (Numbers 11:5) These were types of food which required them to bend down close to the ground and pull out to eat — a backbreaking work.

But when God provided for them in Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27), He gave them grapes, pomegranates and figs. (Numbers 13:23) These fruits were not found on the ground and the Israelites only had to pluck them to eat them.

God wants you to know that when He provides for you, you will see a flow of provisions coming your way, and all you need to do is to just stretch forth your hand and take from Him!

So if you are planning to get married, don’t say to yourself, “Well, if I work harder and start saving now, I will have... oh my goodness, not much! The cost of the wedding banquet will wipe out everything! How can I get married?”

As a child of God, know that your Daddy God is excited about your upcoming wedding, and He is very rich! I have not seen couples in our church lacking on their wedding day. What I have seen is money coming in on the wedding day itself. And by the time the celebration is over, everything is paid up. So instead of trusting your efforts to have enough for your big day, God wants you to fix your wedding date and put your trust in Him to provide for you abundantly.

Are you faced with a financial debt? How much do you think you can save by working overtime and taking on a second job? Some of our church members will testify that God simply turned their financial situations around. In fact, Pastor Mark, our Hokkien and Mandarin services pastor, had a sizeable debt before he became a Christian. After he got saved, he handed his debt problem over to God. Within two years, his debt was supernaturally cleared and he even had a surplus!

My friend, faith is the hand that takes from God. And He is easy to take from!

God Can Qualify The Disqualified

God Can Qualify The Disqualified

Psalm 103:4 ⁴who [the Lord] redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

Four women are mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. (Matthew 1:1–16) Interestingly, they are not Sarah, Rebekah, Leah or Rachel, wives of the patriarchs of the Old Testament. Instead, they are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, women who had morally questionable backgrounds.

Tamar resorted to deception and prostitution to produce children through her father-in-law. Yet, it was from her line, the tribe of Judah, that the Messiah came. (Genesis 38) Rahab was a Gentile and a prostitute in Jericho, who became a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ( Joshua 2:1–21) She also became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth. (Ruth 4:13)

Ruth was morally upright. But as a Moabitess, she was a Gentile and therefore considered unclean. Yet, she became the grandmother of David (Ruth 4:13–17), whom the Jews regard as their greatest king. Bathsheba committed adultery with David. (2 Samuel 11:4) Later, she gave birth to King Solomon (2 Samuel 12:24), from whose royal line Jesus descended.

So what is God saying to us here?

He is saying that He is greater than our sins — where sin abounds, His grace abounds much more. (Romans 5:20) His grace is greater than our sins, so that even when the world disqualifies us, He can qualify us to receive His blessings!

God is also saying that He is a God of many chances. These women’s stories show us that even when our troubles are of our own making, they are neither final nor fatal. When we turn to Him, He will turn our situations around until we see His glory upon us!

Finally, God is saying that He is a God of supernatural positioning. Even when all our earthly connections are gone, the moment we turn to Him, He will find ways to turn our captivity into blessings.

My friend, don’t look at your natural circumstances and be discouraged. Trust the One “who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies”. Trust Him who qualifies the disqualified!

Don't Be Judgment-Focused

Don't Be Judgment-Focused

2 Corinthians 5:19 ¹⁹... God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them...

On which two ancient cities did God rain brimstone and fire? If your answer is Sodom and Gomorrah, you are right. But if you think that God was all eager to destroy the two cities, you are wrong!

God wasn’t willing at all. He was not on a sin hunt. He was on a righteousness hunt so that He could spare the cities. (Genesis 18:23–32) And I believe that if Abraham had asked God, “What if You can find just one righteous man?” God’s answer would have been the same: “I will not destroy the place for the sake of one righteous man.”

Today, the righteousness of one Man ­ Jesus ­ has come. Jesus died for our sins and rose again for our justification. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our sins against us!

Therefore, no judgment will fall on you today because it fell on Jesus 2,000 years ago at Calvary. And if God was gracious enough to remove Lot and his family before the judgment fell (Genesis 19:12–22), how much more will He do for you who are no longer under judgment!

And because God does not judge you, don’t be like Lot’s wife, who became a pillar of salt when she turned around to look at the brimstone and fire. (Genesis 19:24–26) She wanted to see God’s judgment, even though the angels had warned, “Don’t look back, lest you be destroyed.” (Genesis 19:17)

So don’t be judgment—focused and look back at the sins you have committed. God is not against you. He is for you and on your side. He remembers that He has already judged and punished your sins in the body of His Son. And because He is faithful to His Son and to what His Son has done, He will never judge or punish you. Any trouble that you might have today is not from Him. But He will show you a way of escape because He is on your side. He loves you and has your best interests at heart.

Beloved, God is not out to get you. He is out to bless you. And He wants you blessed more than you can ever ask or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20)

God Justifies The Ungodly

God Justifies The Ungodly

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

Boldness is what God wants you to have when you come to Him. He does not want you to be afraid to come to Him, feeling unworthy because of your sins. He wants you to come boldly to Him, knowing that the death, burial and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ has justified you and qualified you to boldly receive from Him.

This was the kind of boldness that the woman with the issue of blood had when she touched Jesus. (Mark 5:25–34) Now, by touching Jesus, she knew that she was breaking a Levitical law which states that anyone with a bodily discharge is unclean, and should not appear in public, let alone touch another person. (Leviticus 15)

But she refused to feel condemned by the law. She believed what she had heard about Jesus, and was confident that there would only be love and compassion, not condemnation, from Him. She believed that Jesus would justify her and qualify her to receive the miracle she needed. That was why she boldly pressed her way into the crowd to touch Jesus, who indeed said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” (Mark 5:34)

What was it about her faith that made her well? Romans 4:5 talks about faith that believes God justifies the ungodly. When you believe that God justifies the ungodly, it will give you boldness to come to God, even when you feel unclean because you have just blown it.

When you fail, don’t run away from God. Run boldly to Him, knowing that you are justified by the blood of Christ and not by your good behavior.

The devil may say to you, “How can you do that? Who do you think you are?“ Don’t listen to him. Pick yourself up and thank God for the blood and the gift of no condemnation. (Romans 8:1) If God justifies the ungodly, how much more you, His beloved child!