God’s Grace Is Unmerited

God’s Grace Is Unmerited

Galatians 5:4
4You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

What is the grace of God? Simply put, the grace of God is God blessing, healing, delivering and prospering you because of Jesus. The grace of God is His unearned, unmerited and undeserved favor toward you simply because of Jesus’ finished work at the cross.

Because God’s grace is based on Jesus’ work and not yours, the only way you fall from this grace is by believing that you can earn, merit and deserve it through your obedience and good works.

For example, you fall from grace when you say, “God has to answer my prayer because I have prayed long enough.” You also fall from grace when you think that because you are serving in church or you have kicked a bad habit, God is pleased with you and He has to bless you.

When you think that it is by your efforts and obedience that you receive God’s blessings, you become like the Pharisees. They believed that their law-keeping justified them and ensured that God would bless them. But the truth is that when you believe like them, “you have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace”. This means that you are cut off from Christ, who is your salvation, Redeemer, healer and provider. Christ has become of no effect to you!

My friend, surely you would want Christ to be of effect to you. People to whom Christ is of effect receive from Him the miracle they need. When He is of effect to them, He is their healer and they get healed. He is their wisdom and they are wise before man. He is their good success and they experience good success in all that they do.

Beloved, for Christ to always be of effect to you and to never nullify the grace of God operating in your life, just remember and believe that it is because of Christ and His finished work — His blood, His stripes, His death, His obedience — that you are justified, healed, prosperous and blessed!

Total And Complete Forgiveness

Total And Complete Forgiveness

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

People have said to me, “Pastor Prince, I was taught that only my past sins — from the day I was born until the day I became a Christian — have been forgiven, and that my future sins are not forgiven until I confess them and seek forgiveness.”

My friend, when Jesus died on the cross, how many of your sins were future?

Unless you are more than 2,000 years old, all your sins were future then! Jesus took them all upon Himself, nailed them to the cross and declared, “It is finished!” So if you are not forgiven of all, then you are not forgiven at all.

“You mean Jesus also died for the sin that I have just committed?”

Yes!

“And also for the sins which I will commit?”

Yes! That is why He said, “It is finished!”

But many of us are inconsistent in our believing. One part of us says, “God has forgiven me of all my sins.” But another part says, “Yes, but I must still confess my sins to be forgiven of them.” Are you like that?

Beloved, you are forgiven not because of your work of confession. Your confession cannot wash away your sins. You are forgiven because of the blood of Jesus shed for you. His blood alone cleanses you.

You cannot believe that you are forgiven of your past, present and future sins, and still think that there is something for you to do to make that forgiveness complete. If you do, then it becomes your work too, not Jesus’ alone.

Is there a place for confession of sins? My friend, if you have just sinned, you can always tell God about it without feeling condemned because you know that you already have forgiveness and that Jesus was condemned in your place. But you don’t confess your sins to God in order to be forgiven. You already have total and complete forgiveness because of the blood of Jesus!

Jerusalem's Only Messianic School Continues To Grow - Israel Today

In our August issue Israel Today covered the 20th anniversary of Makor HaTikvah, the only Messianic day school in Jerusalem.

That the school has lasted so long after starting with so little is miraculous. Makor HaTikvah's sudden and tremendous growth over the past few years has been a testament to the importance of its mission - to provide a strong, faith-based education for the children of local believers in Yeshua (Jesus).

And that growth has continued through the summer. Makor HaTikvah has added more than a dozen new students to its already over-crowded facility for the coming school year. School principal Cookie Schwaeber-Issan told Israel Today that she had to turn away a number of potential students because there was physically no space for them in the classes.

Fortunately, donations have allowed the school to do a bit of renovating and purchase new books and computers (pictured below) so as to provide those students who could be taken in an enhanced learning experience.

New books make a fully-stocked library


The board reads: "Shalom First Grade!"


A new large-screen TV for presentations


6th grade classroom fixed, painted and ready to go


A donation of computers has given Makor HaTikvah its first computer lab


Makor HaTikvah's facilities on the Anglican School compound. The school desperately needs larger facilities to continue growing

Israeli Couple Miraculously Survives Second Roadside Shooting - Israel Today

An Israeli couple driving from Jerusalem to their home in the Jordan Valley region on Wednesday evening were the victims of the second Palestinian roadside terrorist shooting attack in as many days.

Moshe Moreno, a teacher at a pre-military school in the Jewish town of Ma'aleh Ephraim, said he and his wife were driving on an empty road when suddenly another car started following them very closely.

The second car turned on its bright lights and tailed Moreno. He tried to make signs that the other driver should pass, but the second car continued to tail and harass Moreno for some miles.

Finally, the second car began to pass Moreno, but as it pulled alongside his vehicle, the occupants of the other car opened fire.

Police later said that nine bullet holes were found in Moreno's driver-side door. However, only one hit Moreno in the leg, causing a moderate injury from which he is now fully recovering.

After the initial burst of fire, Moreno pulled his car over and began to frantically unbuckle himself and his wife. But the terrorists also pulled over, and one approached Moreno's car to finish the job. But, miraculously, the terrorist's gun jammed, giving Moshe and his wife enough time to jump out the other side of the car and dive down a small hill next to the road.

From their hiding place, the couple called the army and were rescued. The terrorists managed to flee the scene back into Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.

Turn Your Cares Into Prayers

Turn Your Cares Into Prayers

Philippians 4:6
6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

My friend, God doesn’t want you to be fearful, fretful or anxious. Instead, He wants you to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”.

So when you have a care or worry, straightaway, turn that care or worry into prayer. That is supplication. And when you are troubled by a care or worry that you don’t know how to pray for, pray in the Spirit or tongues. And in the midst of that prayer, thank God that He is already your healing, provision, prosperity, good success and victory. That, my friend, is thanksgiving.

“Pastor Prince, if I am worried about something, how long should I pray?”

Keep on praying. Pray in the Spirit until the worry lifts or dissipates, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 4:7)

This was what one of our church members did when he found himself anxiously trying to access some important data in his USB flash drive. After a whole day at it with no results, he finally stopped himself from being anxious and instead, turned his worry into prayer, asking the Lord to settle it for him. As he prayed in tongues, he was also thankfully repeating in his heart that having the Holy Spirit — the Helper — with him was to his advantage. (John 16:7)

Later that evening, using his wife’s computer, he succeeded in accessing the data in his flash drive after a few attempts. He quickly backed up the data. It was only when subsequent attempts to use the flash drive on his wife’s computer failed did it suddenly dawn on him that God had “resurrected” his flash drive that one time, just for him to recover his data!

Beloved, I believe that we would all worry a lot less and enjoy our lives a lot more if only we realized this truth: Our Abba Father is so strong that there is nothing He cannot do, and He is so loving that there is nothing He will not do for us!

God Wants His Children Well And Joyful

God Wants His Children Well And Joyful

John 14:9
9Jesus said to him, “… He who has seen Me has seen the Father…

Imagine the following scenario: A father tells his little girl, “Come here, girl. Mummy says that you have been playing by the roadside. Is that true?” “Yes, Daddy. I am sorry.” “Sorry? How many times have I told you not to play near the road? Come here! Lie down on the road and stretch out your legs!”

Daddy drives his car over his little girl’s legs. You can hear the sound of bones being crushed and the poor girl screaming in pain!

“Now, darling, you know that Daddy loves you. And Daddy did that to teach you a lesson, that playing by the roadside is dangerous.”

You are probably shaking your head in horror by now, wondering which sick father would do that. Yet, there are many Christians who believe that our heavenly Father does the same thing. They say that He gives people sicknesses, accidents, earthquakes and death to teach them lessons.

But Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” Jesus is the nature of God in action. Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus or God going about healing the sick. If God wants some people sick, then there should be at least one incident in the Gospels where you see Jesus saying, “Behold, your complexion is too lovely, receive leprosy,” or “Blindness is good for you. Remain blind.” But no, never once! In fact, Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil”. (Acts 10:38) That’s the heart of God.

As a father, if your child is sick and in pain, your heart just wants him well. How much more your heavenly Father! My friend, God does not give your child a sickness to teach both of you some lesson or to glorify Himself. To think so is to talk out of a warped mind that doesn’t understand that God is our loving heavenly Father who only wants a loving relationship with us.

Beloved, hear God speaking this to your heart today: “I will never punish you for your sins because they have been punished in My Son’s body. I do not wish you ill. I will not take away your child or give you a car wreck to teach you some lesson. My heart always wants My children well and joyful!”

Jesus, The Measure Of Your Righteousness

Jesus, The Measure Of Your 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.

God wants us to seek His righteousness and not our own righteousness. When we seek our own righteousness, we will always end up feeling miserable because we can never be righteous by our works, no matter how hard we try. That is why our loving Father wants us to remember that righteousness is not right behavior but a person — Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30), and that we have “become the righteousness of God in Him”.

I know of a lady who, before coming to our church, attempted to establish her own righteousness by confessing all her sins to “clean” herself up. But she found that the more she confessed her sins, the more sins she discovered in herself. She became guilt-ridden and miserable. Feeling stressed out and weary of confessing her sins all the time, she eventually left the church she was attending. In fact, she never stepped into another church again for the next 10 years.

One day, someone gave her my message tape entitled You Will Never Lose God’s Everlasting Righteousness Given To You and she started listening to it. Once she learnt that Jesus was the measure of her righteousness and acceptance before God, she began to seek God’s righteousness by seeing Christ as her righteousness. Before long, peace and joy came flooding back into her life.

Today, she worships in our church. She testified of how God has supernaturally healed her of a long-term medical condition she had. Even her husband, once balding, found hair sprouting supernaturally! God was adding all these things to her according to His promise — “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. (Matthew 6:33)

Beloved, seeking God’s righteousness means that you see Jesus as someone who knew no sin but became sin for you, so that He could give you His righteousness and make you the righteousness of God in Him! As you proclaim daily the truth that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, you will see “all these things” (Matthew 6:33) added to you without even asking for them!