Intimate Fellowship

But the one who is united and joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

1 Corinthians 6:17 AMP

Let me share with you something that I pray will cause your heart to be filled with such warmth as you see more and more of Jesus. The very word communion speaks of the relationship our Lord desires to have with us. The apostle Paul wrote:

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

—1 Corinthians 10:16–18

The word used for communion in the original Greek is the word koinonia, meaning “fellowship.” It also has the idea of an intimate participation, like the intimacy a husband and wife share when they say and do things no one else is privy to. Isn’t that beautiful?

Whenever you partake of the Communion, it’s a time of intimacy between you and the Lord. It’s a time you set aside to remember your heavenly Bridegroom, who loved you so much He gave Himself up for you (Eph. 5:25). It’s a time you run to Him and lose yourself in His presence, and let His perfect love cast out every fear that may be eating at you.

He knows the secret fears of your heart as you look at the symptoms in your body. He knows the burdens that weigh you down as the doctors tell you about the long-term complications, side effects, and financial cost that treatment would entail. Run to Him, and cast all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns on Him, for He cares about you with deepest affection and watches over you very carefully (1 Pet. 5:7 AMP).

As you take time to commune with Him and to remember Him through the holy Communion, do you know what happens? You become an intimate participator of the benefits of the body and the blood.

Just as those who ate of the sacrifices become “partakers of the altar” (1 Cor. 10:18), when you eat the bread and drink the cup, you become a partaker of all Jesus accomplished at the cross. As you drink the cup, that is communion with and sharing in the blood of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16 NASB). As you eat of the broken bread, you are participating in the body of Christ that was broken for you (1 Cor. 10:16 NIV).

This devotional is taken from the book The Healing Power of the Holy Communion—A 90-Day Devotional.

Applying the Written Word

But the righteousness of faith speaks . . . But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach).

Romans 10:6, 8

Let me show you examples of how you can use the written Word to come against the attacks of the enemy.

Let’s say that while driving to work one morning, you hear some professor saying over the radio, “One in every five women will develop this disease by the age of forty.” That’s the time you must say, “It is written—‘Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence’” (Ps. 91:3).

If you do this, you are putting up a shield of faith and you are releasing power as you declare that regardless of what the reports of the world say, your God shall deliver you from every deadly disease!

Here’s another example of when and how you can quote the written Word. Suppose for some reason, you are crippled by vivid images in your mind of yourself dying young and leaving your spouse and little ones to fend for themselves. Again, this is the time to speak the Word of God against those fears. Declare, “It is written—‘With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation’” (Ps. 91:16).

Maybe you might know of an acquaintance who was killed in a fatal accident. Now, you are fearful that the same thing might happen to you. My friend, the enemy has just shot you with a fiery dart. We do not know what the other person believed. We can only be responsible for our own beliefs and lives.

Perhaps your relatives or family members have died from the same illness and the enemy is now attacking you with thoughts that you will also develop diabetes like your father and uncle did, or die from the same heart condition they had.

My friend, if you have been entertaining thoughts like these, NOW is the time to rise up and make this declaration: “A thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand, but it shall NOT come near me” (Ps. 91:7)!

For something to happen at your right hand means that it has to be really close to you. This means that even if something unfortunate happens to someone close to you, do not allow fear to hold you in its paralyzing grip. Speak forth the written Word of God!

This devotional is taken from the book The Prayer of Protection Devotional—Daily Strategies for Living Fearlessly in Dangerous Times.

The Key to Faith

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 NASB1995

As humans, not only do we have a propensity to zoom in on every little flaw in our physical and emotional makeup, but we also have a tendency to know, remember, and replay in our minds the sins, failings, and mistakes we have made. We condemn ourselves for even our smallest flaws instead of focusing on how God really sees us—perfect in Christ.

This is why it takes faith to believe that God sees you righteous. It takes faith to believe that He does not see you in your sins, that He does not observe sin or iniquity in you. It takes faith to believe that He means what He says when He says, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 8:12). It takes faith to believe that God will not remember your failings and mistakes!

But Pastor Prince, my sins are staring right at me. How can I have faith to believe that God doesn’t see them?

My friend, the key to faith is found in looking to the source of faith—Jesus. As the Bible says, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2 NASB). Your faith to believe is found in Jesus! The Amplified Bible puts it this way: “Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection].”

In other words, turn your eyes away from your own flaws, imperfections, failings, and mistakes, and just fix your eyes on Jesus. The more you see Jesus and His finished work, the more faith arises in your heart to believe that all your sins are truly forgiven. You can start on a clean slate and have a brand-new beginning in Christ. The old is gone, and the new has come!

This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Right Believing—Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing.

God Is Our Comfort

'And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,

that he may abide with you for ever;'

John 14:16

Remember that Jesus was saying these things to His disciples so that they would not be offended. Jesus is speaking to His disciples about the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is the front line of defense against the devil and his devices of defeat. The phrase, 'The God of all comfort' carries the idea of a divine comforter who encourages, refreshes, strengthens, aids, assists, and is an ever present help in the time of need. The ways that God chooses to comfort are not always the same. He may deliver you or remove the cause of the affliction, or He may comfort you with words giving you a hope for the future. He also uses people to share their faith with you by prophesying. He sends fellow-laborers to serve and strengthen you by the ministry of the Word, and uses the body of Christ as a channel to comfort you, using prayer.

The point is that the source of all comfort is God, no matter what channel He chooses to use. Andrew Womack

What About the Confession of Sins?

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

Ephesians 1:7

When I was a young believer, I was taught that unless I confessed all my sins, I would not be completely forgiven by God. I was even told that if someone dies without having confessed all his sins, he would end up in hell.

Well, that teaching put me in severe bondage. I really believed that I had to confess everything that I thought I had done wrong, including worries, fears, and doubts, because I knew that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23 KJV).

If you really believe that you need to confess all your sins to be completely forgiven by God, you will be confessing your sins all the time and everywhere you go! I tried that and it was impossible! It nearly drove me insane!

But Pastor Prince, are you saying that we don’t have to confess our sins? So what about 1 John 1:9, which states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”?

Listen carefully: Christians have taken this single verse out of context and built a whole doctrine of confession of sins around it when actually, chapter 1 of 1 John was written to address the Gnostics and their heresies that had crept into the church.

The Gnostics were unbelievers who maintained that they had no sin (1 John 1:8). So John was saying that if they would confess that they had sin, and hence see their need for the Savior, God would be faithful and just to cleanse them from all unrighteousness.

Can you now see how this does not apply to the believer who has already acknowledged that he is a sinner and accepted Jesus? We are not to live from confession to confession, but from faith to faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work.

Also, our loving heavenly Father does not forgive us in installments depending on how diligently we confess our sins. Fellowship with Him is not broken because our forgiveness is not contingent on what we do. It is contingent on the finished work of Jesus.

Now, this does not mean that we can’t be honest with God and acknowledge the wrong we have done. It’s a relationship, after all.

But we don’t confess our sins in order to be forgiven. We confess our sins or speak openly to our gracious Father because we are already forgiven. I don’t go before Him begging for forgiveness.

No, I talk to Him because I know that I already have His forgiveness, as today’s scripture states. I know that I can come to Him freely—He is my God, my Daddy God.

So confession in the new covenant is just being honest about your failures and humanity and having an intimate relationship with God. It is the result of being forgiven and not something you do in order to be forgiven, to maintain your salvation, and be ultimately saved.

If confession of sins is vital for our forgiveness, then the apostle Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament epistles, has done us a great injustice because he did not mention it even once in any of his letters to the churches.

For example, when there were people in the Corinthian church living in sin that everyone in the church knew about, he did not say, “Go and confess your sins.” Instead, he reminded them of their righteousness, saying, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?” (1 Cor. 6:19). In spite of their sins, Paul still considered them temples of the Holy Spirit and he reminded them of this truth.

My friend, this is the assurance that you can have today: the day you acknowledged that you were a sinner and confessed Christ as your Lord and Savior, you “confessed all your sins” once and for all. And God was faithful and just to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

All the unrighteousness of your entire life was cleansed at that point, and through the gift of righteousness in Christ Jesus you were set up to reign in life!

This devotional is taken from the book Reign in Life—90 Powerful Inspirations for Extraordinary Breakthroughs.

How to Be Kept in Perfect Peace

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3

You need the truth of God’s Word to uproot any wrong belief. This is why it’s so important to get into His Word and take time to meditate upon verses that reveal God’s unwavering and unfailing love for you.

For instance, if you find your mind drifting into anxious thoughts over the smallest things, I encourage you to memorize and quote today’s scripture: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isa. 26:3).

Whenever I feel stressed or worried about something, I pull away from life’s hustle and bustle and simply meditate on God’s promises. Sometimes I like to drive to a quiet park, and as gentle anointed music plays in my car, I feed on and speak His Word, allowing it to permeate my spirit: “God’s Word declares, ‘You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.’”

And I tell the Lord, “Yes, Lord, it is You who will keep me in perfect peace. Perfect peace comes from You. I just need to rest in Your grace and keep my mind on You. I don’t need to think about what to do about this challenge. As I trust in You and keep my mind stayed on You, You will lead me and guide me. My trust is not in my own strength, but in You and You alone, Jesus.”

What am I doing here? Instead of allowing stress and worry to get to me, I’m training my heart to see how God sees my challenges.

The bigger God becomes in my heart, the smaller my challenges become. In fact, many times when I just relax and keep my mind on the Lord, His peace and wisdom begin to flow in me, and the challenge that I was previously so worried about becomes minute and inconsequential in the presence of Almighty God.

Are you faced with an insurmountable circumstance today? Learn to see what God sees by meditating on His Word, and let His peace drive out your anxiety. Let His wisdom direct your paths.

This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Right Believing—Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing.

Without Jesus, We Cannot; Without Us, He Will Not.

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

John 15:5

In more than two decades of ministry, I have learned this from the Lord: Without Him, we cannot. Without us, He will not. What this simply means is that we need to recognize the fact that if we do not depend on Jesus, there can be no real, long-lasting, and abiding success—without Him, we cannot.

The Bible tells us that unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain (Ps. 127:1). Believers who want to experience His success need to recognize this truth and begin to depend on Jesus and Jesus alone.

There are some believers who may not articulate it, but in their hearts, they believe that without Jesus, they can still succeed. By believing and acting on this, they fall from the high place of God’s grace (His unmerited favor) back into the law, back into trying to merit and deserve success by their own efforts.

God’s Word tells us, “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace [unmerited favor]" (Gal. 5:4 NLT).

These are strong words of warning. Once you start depending on your own merits and efforts to deserve God’s favor, you are back under the system of the law. You are cut off from Christ and have fallen from the place of having His unmerited favor work in your life.

Don’t misunderstand me, Jesus is still with you (He will never leave you nor forsake you [Heb. 13:5]), but by depending on your self-efforts, you effectively cut off His unmerited favor in your life.

So what do I mean when I say, “Without us, He will not”? Well, Jesus is a gentleman. He will not force His unmerited favor and success down your throat.

He needs you to allow Him to work in your life. He waits patiently for you to trust Him. He waits patiently for you to depend on His unmerited favor, the way Joseph trusted and depended wholly on the Lord’s presence, until His manifested presence took over, and His glory radiated from everything that Joseph touched.

Beloved, let’s learn quickly that without Jesus, we cannot succeed, and if we choose not to respond to His unmerited favor, He will not force it on us.

God's unmerited favor is ever-flowing toward us and Jesus is waiting for us to come to the end of ourselves. He is waiting for you to stop struggling in your own attempts to somehow “deserve” His favor, and just depend on Him.

So in the areas that you are still depending on your own efforts to succeed, start resting in Jesus’ unmerited favor and begin experiencing His manifested presence and glory upon everything you touch!

This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Favor—Daily Readings from Unmerited Favor.

Fully Restored

He refreshes and restores my soul (life).

Psalm 23:3 AMP

Jesus, our Passover Lamb, took upon Himself any condition that affects any part of your body and wants you healed of it. I want you to meditate on how He bore these infirmities so you can have perfect freedom from them (Matt. 8:17).

For instance, if you or a loved one has a neurological condition such as recurrent migraines, encephalitis, meningitis, dementia, or are suffering the effects of a stroke, see your Savior’s brain afflicted with the condition on the cross as you partake of the Lord’s Supper.

Let me share with you a powerful testimony of healing from Alzheimer’s disease that Paula from Texas sent to me:

My mother was ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease. She was debilitated to the point that she did not recognize her family members. My parents live with me so I could see the daily moment-to-moment struggles and hardship. It was a miserable existence for her as well as for those of us trying to care for her. There were times I just missed my mom and wished to see her well again.

Then one day, my sister shared a praise report with me after following your teaching on the holy Communion, so I immediately began to partake of the Communion with my mother. My mother went to bed on the third night after receiving the Communion and woke up the next day looking ten years younger. All the things she had forgotten how to do, she is doing again. She remembers who we all are now. She has stopped repeating herself, something she used to do from sun up to sun down, and is a complete joy to be around now. Jesus has healed her mind and set her free!

We are still rejoicing that she is back. I asked her about her experience and the best she could describe was that she was lost and trapped, but that’s all over now. Nothing is too big for the finished work of Christ Jesus, and I praise Him for it. It has freed my mother!

To God be all the glory and all the praise! As you advance in years, don’t accept the lie that you will become more forgetful.

When the psalmist wrote that God “restores my soul,” he used the word nephesh for soul. Nephesh includes your life, your emotions, and also your mind.

Even if you have experienced some degeneration in this area, the Lord can restore. And when the Lord restores, His restoration is always greater than the original in quality!

This devotional is taken from the book The Healing Power of the Holy Communion—A 90-Day Devotional.

Anchor Your Identity in Christ

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Romans 8:37

Several years ago, I preached a message on how the devil sometimes uses the first-person pronoun to plant thoughts in our heads to deceive us.

For example, he doesn’t say, “You have an eating disorder” or “You have an addiction.” The devil uses the first-person pronoun to sow thoughts such as these in your mind: “I have an eating disorder” or “I am addicted to pornography.”

He makes you think that you are thinking those thoughts of defeat. He wants you to believe that is who you are.

Upon hearing this message, a man named Walter, whom the devil had used this strategy on and trapped in a destructive addiction for many years, went home after church, locked himself in his room, and for the first time declared out loud, “I am not an addict!” He chose to reject this evil mind-set in the name of Jesus.

He related this: “At that very moment, I felt something powerful happen inside me. I don’t know how to describe this. It was as if life became spectacular because of the love of God, and I couldn’t contain the feeling.”

After making that confession out loud, Walter said, “My addiction stopped. I just lost all interest, and I don’t feel even a little bit tempted. All the wrong desires are gone, and best of all, I know I love Jesus more than ever before and I can’t live without Him. I am renewed. I am reborn. I know that everything is in His control, and I am blessed and forgiven.”

Wow! What an amazing testimony of God’s power and goodness in this brother’s life. With just one declaration, he broke the mental stronghold that the devil had placed him under for many years.

That is truly the power of right believing. If you can change what you believe, you can change your life, just like this brother did.

Are there lies about your identity that you believe in today? Break the power of those lies by declaring your identity in Christ.

Say out loud, “I am a child of God. I am healed, forgiven, righteous, and holy in Christ Jesus.” Instead of believing the devil’s lies when he uses the first-person pronoun strategy against you, speak your true identity in Jesus.

This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Right Believing—Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing.

Secrets of Protection in the Names of God

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Psalm 9:9–10

In the first verse of Psalm 91, we find two names of God that bring comfort and strength to us when we feel afraid or weak. Each of the names of God has a divine attribute, and understanding and believing that He is each attribute will cause that attribute to flow into our lives.

The first name of God mentioned in Psalm 91 is “Most High” (Elyon), which means He is the Most High God and there is no one higher than Him. He is the possessor of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:19).

The verse goes on to refer to God as the “Almighty.” In Hebrew, it is Shaddai—the God who blesses you with more than enough, more than you can contain. Man has limitations but we have a God who is abundantly unlimited.

Now, the second verse of Psalm 91 contains another two names of God. Isn’t this so powerful?

When the psalmist declares, “I will say of the LORD,” he is referring to Yehovah or Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. It is the holiest name of the Lord, the name Jewish scribes treat with great reverence.

Do you know that Jesus’ name in Hebrew, Yeshua, actually means “Yahweh saves”? It is not “Yahweh judges.” The name Jesus means “Yahweh SAVES.”

If you are broke, Yahweh saves. If you are sick, Yahweh saves. If you have enemies that are coming against you, Yahweh saves. Whatever saving you need, Jesus is the answer, for His name means “Yahweh saves.” Hallelujah!

The psalmist in verse 2 goes on to say, “My God, in Him I will trust.” Now, the word “God” here refers to Elohim, the God of power, the Creator. The God who created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). This is our God! He is the One we put our trust in.

In just two verses, you find four names of God mentioned. Knowing, believing, and saying He is all these to us gives us protection in our everyday situations. He will deliver and rescue the one who knows His name. Hallelujah!

This devotional is taken from the book The Prayer of Protection Devotional—Daily Strategies for Living Fearlessly in Dangerous Times.

The Secret to Receiving Your Miracle

I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.

Galatians 3:5 NLT

I attended a conference years ago and remember hearing about all kinds of things that we had to do to work the miracles of God. For instance, we were told that we had to pray long prayers.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that there is no place for long prayers.

I love going to my Abba to just spend time talking to Him. I have also taught our church about the importance of praying, especially praying in the Spirit regularly. But is the secret to having miracles take place in your life found in praying, or even in fasting forty days and forty nights, as others say?

Some people think they can twist God’s arm with their efforts and convince Him that they deserve a breakthrough or miracle from Him. Do you really think that because you have fasted or prayed for long periods of time, God is impressed with you and has to answer your prayers?

Come on, my friend, the only reason God answers our prayers today is the finished work of Jesus. Don’t be deceived any longer. God is a debtor to no man. No man can deserve God’s blessings through his self-efforts. It is not about our sacrifices. It is about His sacrifice!

All God sees is the work of His Son on the cross, and by virtue of Jesus, all His blessings and His miracle-working power are yours when you believe in His Son.

Read today’s scripture carefully for what Paul said to the Galatians who were depending on their self-efforts. Then, consider all the people who received miracles from Jesus during His ministry on earth.

Not a single one of them deserved it. They did nothing to earn their miracles. They simply received their miracles because of His grace.

A few years ago, the Lord spoke to me and said, “When My people see My grace, I see their faith.” Do you remember the woman with the issue of blood who had been bleeding for twelve years?

According to the law of Moses, she was considered unclean and was not supposed to be out in public places, much less touch anyone. Yet, the Bible tells us that “when she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment” (Mark 5:27).

She must have heard the wonderful testimonies of the people Jesus had touched and healed, and these accounts opened her eyes to see Jesus as a gracious Savior overflowing with mercy and compassion.

The result? Faith ignited in her and the moment she touched the hem of His garment, she received her miracle.

Was she ever conscious of her faith? No, she was conscious only of Jesus and His grace. When she saw His grace, He turned around and saw her faith. With great tenderness, He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well” (Mark 5:34).

My friend, you do not have to try to conjure up faith for healing or finances. Faith for any breakthrough or miracle in your life springs forth when you see His grace.

He died so that you might live! You did not deserve it, but He still did it for you.

See Jesus on the cross for you—the demonstration of His unconditional love and amazing grace. And when you see His grace, you will have unconscious faith to receive your miracle!

This devotional is taken from the book Reign in Life—90 Powerful Inspirations for Extraordinary Breakthroughs.

Speak Forth Your Authority

He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:4 AMPC

Many people think that God has full control over the world today and so pin the blame on Him for disasters, tragic accidents, and sicknesses. Some people become atheists because they say they can’t worship a capricious God who would allow children to suffer terminal diseases.

Sadly, what they don’t understand is that there is a devil who is very real, active, and destructive in this world. God is not the author of calamities and diseases.

Our Lord Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly! But the devil is a thief. He comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10).

The world we live in today is a fallen world. God gave Adam and Eve dominion over this world, but the moment Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit, sin and death corrupted it.

Adam and Eve ceded control of this world over to the devil. Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2, “the god of this age” in 2 Corinthians 4:4, and “the ruler of this world” in John 12:31.

Now, this does not mean that Satan rules the world completely and has unlimited power in the world. Please pay absolute and close attention to this. It is so important that you know and understand that believers of the Lord Jesus Christ are no longer under the dominion of Satan’s power and influence in this world.

In Christ, we may be in this world, but we are not of this world (John 17:11, 14). We belong to a higher power and His name is Jesus. The Bible also tells us, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

That is why we can stand firm, stand strong, and stand proud upon the promises of God, and speak, “It is well” over every area of our lives. We are His! We are not like sheep without a shepherd.

All the blessings, promises, and protection that belong to the righteous “are Yes, and in Him Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20). We need only receive them by grace through faith. They are not received through our works, so no man can boast, but purely through faith in His unmerited favor (Eph. 2:8–9).

Just take the promise in Proverbs 11:21 (KJV) that says, “The seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” This means that your sons and daughters shall be kept safe and protected in Jesus’ name.

When fear works its way into your heart and you begin to get anxious about the safety of your children, just claim this promise in God’s Word and say, “Lord, I thank You that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, and You promised in Your Word that the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.”

When questions come to mind that try to put doubt in your heart about your righteousness and qualification in Christ, I encourage you to say, “By faith I have been made righteous and the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” Furthermore, Psalm 112:2 (KJV) declares this of the believer: “His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.” Amen!

I want to encourage you to take the gospel of grace seriously. There is a real enemy and his aim is to deceive you into thinking you have to work for your righteousness, so he can keep you constantly feeling inadequate and disqualified. But the truth is this: new covenant righteousness is a gift received by faith, and the blood of our Lord Jesus has qualified you!

Today God’s Word, God’s power, and God’s protection over you are far stronger than anything the enemy can throw at you. The devil is the ruler of this world, but don’t forget what God’s Word proclaims over you: “He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 AMP).

You are so utterly cleansed by the blood of our Lord Jesus that today the Holy Spirit, God’s own Spirit, lives in you. And He Who is in you is greater than any demon, any adversity, and any bondage. Amen!

This devotional is taken from the book Glorious Grace—100 Daily Readings from Grace Revolution.

Let God Minister To You

'Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him,

If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.'

John 13:8

Peter's refusal to let Jesus wash his feet came from a knowledge that he was totally unworthy to have the sinless Son of God serve him as a common servant would. Peter was correct in his assessment of his relative worth, but what he missed was that God doesn't minister to us because of our worth but because of His love.

Even though Peter's attitude looked holy and humble, he was actually resisting God's will and committing an act of pride. Pride is not only exalting yourself above what is proper, but also, it can be debasing yourself below what is proper. Pride is simply self-centeredness or being self-willed instead of God-centered and submitted to God's will. Peter should have been humble enough to know that Jesus knew what He was doing and he should have submitted himself to God's will.

Likewise today, some people refuse to let God bless them, thinking they are unworthy of His favor. While it is true that our actions don't warrant God's goodness, a truly humble person will receive the Lord's blessings as an expression of His love and grace toward them. Misguided humility is every bit as damaging as exaggerated pride.

Peter wanted to serve Jesus, but did not want to be served by Jesus. Jesus was telling Peter that unless he received His ministry to him, Peter would be unfit to serve Him. We cannot cleanse ourselves or others. We are totally dependent on the work of God's grace in our lives. Then and only then, are we equipped to minister to others. Before we can be the blessing that we desire to be to God or to others, we have to let God be the blessing to us that He desires to be. Andrew Womack

What the Savior Endured

His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.

Isaiah 52:14

Our Lord Jesus chose the bread and wine as the elements of the Holy Communion because they are practical, visual reminders of what happened to Him as He went to the cross. Both grain and grapes have to go through a process of being pulverized before you can get bread or wine.

You don’t get wine from just eating grapes. The grapes have to first be trampled upon and completely crushed. They are then left in the dark to ferment. That’s what happened to our Lord Jesus.

It is important we discern the Lord’s body for our health. Each time you partake of His broken body by eating the bread, don’t rush through it. Partake with a revelation of what He did for you, and meditate on the process the bread had to go through.

To get bread in Jesus’ time, the wheat stalks first had to be threshed, either through beating (Judg. 6:11 NASB) or with the use of a threshing sledge (Isa. 41:15). It was a violent process that involved beating, crushing, and cutting the wheat to separate the grain from the stalks. Then the grain had to be ground in a millstone or beaten in a mortar to get flour. After that, water had to be added, and the flour was then kneaded and punched into dough before it was baked over fire.

All this is a picture of what happened to our Lord Jesus. To become the Bread of Life for you and me, He was brutally beaten and pounded over and over again during His trial and crucifixion. When He was condemned by the high priest and Sanhedrin, they mocked Him, spat on Him, and beat Him. They blindfolded Him and struck Him on His face (Luke 22:63–64; Mark 14:65). He was then sent to Pontius Pilate, who had Him savagely scourged by Roman soldiers (Matt. 27:26). Then they put a scarlet robe on His battered body, twisted a crown of thorns, and rammed it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, bowed before Him, and mocked Him. They spat on Him and took the staff and struck Him on the head again and again, driving the thorns deeper and deeper into His flesh with each blow. When “they were finally tired of mocking him,” they led Him away to be crucified (Matt. 27:27–31 NLT).

All of that was before His body was nailed to the cross. We can never fully imagine or understand the horrifying torture, degrading humiliation, and excruciating pain our Savior endured for our sakes. He suffered so that you and I would not have to suffer the scourge of sickness in our bodies. By the scourging He bore, we are healed! Hallelujah! Joseph Prince

Why a Revelation of Your Forgiveness Is So Important

I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake.

1 John 2:12

People have asked me from time to time, “Pastor Prince, why is an understanding of the complete forgiveness of my sins so important for me to walk in God’s unmerited favor?”

This is a good question. Let me share with you some of the implications involved. First, if you have no confidence that all your sins have been forgiven, then your eternal security and salvation will always hang in the balance.

Second, if you think that your sins were not fully dealt with at the cross, then you can never have the confidence to enjoy the Lord's presence because you can never be sure if He is on your side, or if He is waiting to punish you for your failures. You will constantly feel unworthy because of your assessment of your conduct, and you can never really have the boldness to ask God for big things, or believe that He will give you success in your life.

Third, if you do not believe that Jesus has already forgiven all your sins, it means that when you fail, you will believe that you are not “right” with God and that fellowship with Him has been cut off. And instead of depending on His unmerited favor to overcome your failure, you will feel that you need to confess your sin, be remorseful and make amends with God before you can restore fellowship with God and depend on Him again.

It comes down to this: When you don't have a clear sense of your complete forgiveness, you will constantly be on an emotional seesaw. Sometimes, you feel that things between you and God are all right, but at other times, you don't think that it is so. Sometimes, you feel confident that the Lord is with you to make you a success, but at other times, you feel like you blew it and the Lord will not help you until you confess your sin and make amends.

You will be in a constant cycle of feeling insecure, where you are always hopping in and out of God’s favor. All these feelings depend on how well you think you have performed, and ignore the cross of Jesus altogether. My friend, God does not evaluate you based on your behavior. He sees only Jesus’ perfect work. But because you do not believe that Jesus has indeed forgiven you of all your sins, you end up feeling like a total and complete hypocrite and failure.

I hope that you are beginning to see that understanding the complete forgiveness of your sins is not just for theologians. Thinking that your sins are not completely forgiven will fundamentally affect your relationship with Jesus. While He is all ready to bless you, give you favor and make you a success, unbelief in His finished work robs you of the ability to receive His goodness, His blessings, His unmerited favor, and His success in your life.

The cross of Jesus qualified you, but unbelief in the main clause of the new covenant disqualifies you. Meditate on what God says about your sins in the new covenant and free yourself to receive from Him today. The new covenant is based entirely on His unmerited favor. There is nothing for you to do, nothing for you to perform, nothing for you to accomplish. Your part in the new covenant is just to have faith in Jesus and to believe that you are totally forgiven and free to enjoy the new covenant blessings through His finished work!

This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Favor—Daily Readings from Unmerited Favor.

Only Grace Brings Lasting Freedom

. . . as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:21

Beloved, even as there are so many who are freed by a revelation of God’s glorious grace, there are people who are twisting God’s Word today, saying that when people are under grace, it will cause them to sin without restraint. This is a lie from the pit of hell. You cannot be under grace and not be holy any more than you can be under water and not be wet! It is being under grace that gives you the power to live a victorious life. The Word of God clearly states:

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace
—Romans 6:14

When you are under grace and not under the law, sin shall NOT have dominion over you. The word “sin” here is a noun. It is the Greek word hamartia, meaning “a failing to hit the mark.” So you can say it this way: sicknesses, diseases, eating disorders, addictions, and any form of oppression or bondage (all examples of our missing God’s mark or standard for a glorious life) shall not have dominion over you. When? When you are not under the law but under grace!

Let me show you how being under grace enables you to overcome your challenges and live victoriously, with an amazing testimony from Anna of Iowa. Although she grew up in a godly environment, attended a charismatic church, spent daily time with God, and even taught in a Sunday school, Anna fell into bondage, but knew how to hide her addiction to cigarettes and marijuana well. She knew she was hurting the temple of God. She condemned herself for being a hypocrite, and felt absolutely worthless.

Throughout the sixteen years of bondage, I attempted so many times to quit my addictions, including the time I was pregnant with my two beautiful boys! I did quit for a while but as soon as I gave birth, I quickly picked up the habits again because the desires had never left my heart.

While my prayers for others have always been powerful and effective, I was very mad at God because my prayers for my own freedom seemed to go unheard, or at least unanswered.

Then, about a year and a half ago, I began to watch Joseph Prince’s television program daily. I also began ordering materials that the Holy Spirit led me to get, and I was in the word of grace for hours daily, even while under the influence of cigarettes and marijuana. Hope began to fill my heart—not hope that I would soon be free, but hope that no matter what my state was, my Father would NEVER be mad at me! His grace was enough for the apostle Paul, and His grace is enough for me!

For so long, I tried to earn the blessings, including the freedom of God. But after allowing the water of the Word to cleanse me daily, I was able to receive His love, grace, shalom, and all of His blessings, regardless of my behavior. Every time I used cigarettes or marijuana, I would say, “Thank You, Father, that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!” I quit trying to quit and decided that His grace was enough for me!

Today, I have been set free from both addictions! I didn’t try to quit; it just happened. My heavenly Father has completely taken the desires away from me. Even when I am in public and exposed to others who are smoking, I still have no desire to do the same! Even right now, thinking about this great freedom, I have to cry, and cry out, “My Father is SO faithful!”

Thank you so much for daring to speak the truth. I am so grateful that Christ, through your ministry, has set me free! It’s time for the captives to be set free in the name of Jesus!

Beloved, what willpower and self-effort couldn’t do, God did by the power of His glorious grace. Grace is the power over every addiction that is destroying you. Only grace can give you lasting freedom.

This devotional is taken from the book Glorious Grace—100 Daily Readings from Grace Revolution.

Discernment and Wisdom

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Ephesians 5:15–17 NIV

Jesus demonstrated how we can stay safe and protected by not acting presumptuously or irresponsibly, but by leaning in to God’s wisdom. When the devil tried to tempt Him to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, quoting Scripture to say that angels were supposed to bear Him up, our Lord Jesus responded by saying, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God’” (Matt. 4:7 NLT). Likewise, let us not test the Lord by making irresponsible and unwise decisions that ignore the written Word of God or the godly counsel spoken over our lives.

When you are led by His wisdom, the Lord can protect you from making unwise decisions. For example, someone may offer you “the investment opportunity of a lifetime.” On the surface, everything might seem to check out and it may appear to be a legitimate opportunity that is not to be missed. But before you rush to commit to anything, can I encourage you to first ask the Lord for His wisdom and leading?

There is a principle we can learn from in Isaiah 11, where it says of the Lord that “the spirit of wisdom and understanding” will rest on Him, and “He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear” (Isa. 11:2–3 NASB). You see, there is a discernment and wisdom from the Lord that goes beyond looking at the outward appearance of a matter. When you call on Him, He will answer you and give you an answer of peace. If you don’t feel a peace to proceed, don’t allow anyone to pressure you into making a decision you will regret!

This devotional is adapted from the book The Prayer of Protection Devotional—Daily Strategies for Living Fearlessly in Dangerous Times.

Free from “Am I Doing Enough for God?”

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

Mark 2:22

Have you ever wondered what Jesus was referring to when He shared on the new wine and old wineskins? He was referring to the mixture of the two covenants.

The new wine represents the new covenant of grace, while the old wineskin represents the old covenant of law. Have you ever seen old wineskins? They are brittle, hard, and inflexible. That’s the law. It is inflexible. And when you pour the new wine of grace into the old wineskin of the law, you will lose both because the wineskin will be ruined and the wine will be spilled. The virtues of both the old and the new covenants will be cancelled out and lost.

I received a letter from Kirsten in Florida whose experience with mixing law and grace was similar to the Galatians. When she received her salvation at the age of seventeen, she experienced unconditional love for the first time in her life as God’s mercy and grace washed over her.

In the beginning, she said that church was a joy as they worshiped, shared, and prayed. But within a few years, she succumbed to a works mentality and began searching the Scriptures to discover what she needed to do. Having lost her joy and peace, she was tormented by thoughts of “not doing enough for God.”

Kirsten’s hope was reignited when she chanced upon one of my television broadcasts. She said, “That tiny spark of hope later burst into flames and set me free. Wow! God’s grace is real and it doesn’t depend on my ‘doing enough for Him.’

No more works that are motivated by guilt and shame that left me exhausted, overwhelmed, and drained. My peace and joy returned a hundred-fold, and I was able to relax and enjoy my relationship with God, my family, and my church.”

That wasn’t all. Her revelation of God’s grace put a newfound peace and rest in her heart such that when the economic downturn in 2008 wrecked America financially and affected her family, she chose to rest and believe that God would provide for her family.

“I prayed one morning for God to give us something that day based solely on His grace and not our efforts,” she said. “Less than thirty minutes later, my husband’s former employer called him and asked if he wanted his old job back! My husband now earns as much as he did in his best year prior to the downturn. God’s grace is amazing!”

Beloved, don’t allow a mixture of law and grace to invade your heart and mind. God hates mixture because it robs you of the freedom, peace, and joy that come from resting in His Son’s finished work. It robs you of the power to reign in life through the abundance of His grace!

You cannot put new wine into old wineskins. You will lose both. But if you just focus and meditate on His grace and goodness toward you and your family, like Kirsten, you will see His grace abundantly provide for you.

This devotional is taken from the book Reign in Life—90 Powerful Inspirations for Extraordinary Breakthroughs.

Know Your Father’s Heart

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:10 KJV

Today, I want you to reread the parable of the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32). As you read, keep in mind that this son utterly rejected and completely humiliated and dishonored his father, then only returned home when he remembered that even his father’s hired servants had more food than he did! It was not the son’s love for his father that made him journey home; it was his stomach. In his own self-absorbed pride, he wanted to earn his own keep as a hired servant rather than to receive his father’s provision by grace or unmerited favor.

God wants us to know that even when our motivations are wrong, even when we have a hidden (usually self-centered) agenda and our intentions are not completely pure, He still runs to us in our time of need and showers His unmerited, undeserved, and unearned favor upon us.

Oh, how unsearchable are the depths of His love and grace toward us! It will never be about our love for God. It will always be about His magnificent love for us. The Bible makes this clear: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 KJV).

Some people think that fellowship with God can only be restored when you are perfectly contrite and have perfectly confessed all your sins. Yet we see in this parable that it was the father who was the initiator, it was the father who had missed his son, who was already looking out for him, and who had already forgiven him.

Before the son could utter a single word of his rehearsed apology, the father had already run to him, embraced him, and welcomed him home. Can you see how it’s all about our Father’s heart of grace, forgiveness, and love? Our Father God swallows up all our imperfections, and true repentance comes because of His goodness.

Do I say “sorry” to God and confess my sins when I have fallen short and failed? Of course I do. But I do it not to be forgiven because I know that I am already forgiven through Jesus’ finished work. The confession is out of the overflow of my heart because I have experienced His goodness and grace and because I know that as His son, I am forever righteous through Jesus’ blood. It springs from being righteousness-conscious, not sin-conscious; from being forgiveness-conscious, not judgment-conscious. There is a massive difference.

If you understand this and begin practicing this, you will begin experiencing new dimensions in your love walk with the Father. You will realize that your Daddy God is all about relationship and not religious protocol. He just loves being with you. Under grace, He doesn’t demand perfection from you; He supplies perfection to you through the finished work of His Son, Jesus Christ.

So no matter how many mistakes you have made, don’t be afraid of Him. He loves you. Your Father is running toward you to embrace you!

This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Right Believing—Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing.

The Final Jigsaw Piece

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.

Romans 5:20

It is so vital that you believe in God’s love for you. Because of His super-abundant grace, your past doesn’t have to determine your future.

In Christ, you have a new life, a new beginning, and a new future. Read this precious testimony I received from Daphne from the United Kingdom and see this truth reflected:

I am a recovered alcoholic who received Jesus Christ five years ago. At that time, even after being saved, I was still full of self-condemnation and found it hard to believe that Jesus really cared about me. I thought He was very angry with me and that I needed to try to be good. For us alcoholics who have been very ill with addiction, this self-condemnation and the belief that we are never going to be able to do what God expects of us often sends us back to drink, develop an addiction to drugs, and even die as a result of complications.

But when I heard Pastor Joseph Prince preach on television, suddenly, the final jigsaw piece fell into place. It was the first time I had heard about God’s grace. After that, I bought and read Pastor Prince’s books. Grace and truth in the person of Jesus came and made all the difference. The changes happened in me once I understood and believed that everything had already been done for me at the cross, and that Jesus wanted to heal me and pour His grace into my life.

Today, Daphne sponsors many alcoholic women through a twelve-step recovery program and even runs a retreat for them. But she runs the program “with God’s grace at the forefront so that it is not a legalistic program.” She says:

When I help the women begin their journey with the program, I give them my copies of Pastor Prince’s books to read. I also show them clips of Pastor Prince’s messages.

These women now have a much better chance at lasting freedom. Before receiving the message of grace, they had the same wrong beliefs I had. Like me, they believed that they could never live up to what an angry God of judgment expects of them. Without right believing about the true God and His grace, lasting sobriety is just not possible for any of us and we would all have gone back to drinking.

Since listening to the gospel of grace, I now believe that the Lord wants to help us all because He loves each one of us. I love seeing people recover from their addictions. It’s His grace alone that has given my friends and me true freedom. I have also been able to forgive others and myself.

My friend, condemnation kills! It is a dangerous and vicious trap that keeps you imprisoned. It eats at you from the inside out, and you can’t just will it away or just tell yourself to forget about the mistakes and bad choices you have made.

Our sins demand a resolution. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Our conscience cries out against us and demands that punishment for our sins be meted out.

That is why you need to have an unshakable revelation of your righteous identity in Christ. At the cross Jesus took your place of punishment and condemnation and became the full payment for all your sins. And when you believed in Jesus, you were justified by faith!

The cross of Calvary has made all the difference and is the only answer that will satisfy your guilty conscience. This was what Daphne experienced, and what God did for Daphne, He can and wants to do for you too.

This devotional is taken from the book Glorious Grace—100 Daily Readings from Grace Revolution.