Where God Meets and Speaks with You

“And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat.”

Exodus 25:22

In Old Testament times, once a year, on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of an innocent animal on the mercy seat.

After the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the mercy seat, all God saw of the ark of the covenant was the blood, and no longer the rebellion and failure of man as noted in the previous reading.

However, under the old covenant, the blood of the animal sacrifices only covered the sins of the children of Israel for one year. What happened on Yom Kippur was only a shadow.

Our Lord Jesus is the substance. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and His sacrifice on the cross was once and for all (John 1:29, Heb. 9:12)!

In Exodus 25:17–22, the Lord told Moses, “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold . . . And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. . . . of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.”

Where will the Lord speak from? From above the mercy seat.

That is what my ministry is all about. I am preaching from above the mercy seat, preaching about His mercy and grace, about His shed blood, and about His finished work.

There are people who are preaching from the judgment seat, preaching about the law and how we have fallen short. The wages of sin is death. Under the law, there is no escaping death.

But this ministry is all about the Lord’s mercy, grace, favor, love, and protection.

Under grace, Jesus died our death on the cross. He was punished with the death we deserved for our sins. He gave up His protection on the cross, so that we may walk in divine protection today.
Hallelujah! Doesn’t this just fill your heart with assurance and peace today?

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

Be Forgiveness-Conscious

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

Psalm 103:2–4

Not too long ago, I was driving out for lunch with my wife, Wendy, and for some reason, every time she made a passing comment, I found myself snapping irritably at her or making an unnecessarily provocative remark.

Have you had one of those days?

When I reflected on why I was so irritable, I realized it was because I was actually feeling guilty about a couple of matters from earlier in the day. I hadn’t necessarily done anything wrong, but I’d just allowed a little bit of guilt to creep into my heart and unconsciously allowed condemnation to come in.

My friend, when you are walking under a cloud of judgment, you can become a really unpleasant person to be around. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. Even if you are an author of books about God’s grace and forgiveness, there can be moments where condemnation creeps into your heart and you are completely oblivious to it.

I thank God that when Wendy asked me if there was a reason for my irritability, He gave me that moment of clarity where I could see the condition of my heart. And praise Jesus for a discerning and perceptive wife who didn’t take my remarks personally and knew something was not right with me. I remember telling her to let me know the next time she noticed such behavior from me, because it’s so easy to slip into condemnation and guilt.

When you’re under guilt and condemnation, all day long you can feel lousy, and all your answers have a sting in them. That’s not the abundant life, and you know what it all comes back to? It comes back to having a constant sense of God’s forgiveness over your life. Instead of taking in and harboring all the guilt, condemnation, and judgment, we need to stand secure in our perfect forgiveness in Jesus.

There is a redeeming quality to being forgiveness-conscious, as opposed to being conscious of your failings, sins, and mistakes. When you are forgiveness-conscious and see your failings on the cross of Jesus, you receive power to break out of your irritability, impatience, and short-temperedness with others. You receive power to break out of your eating disorders, addictions, and anxieties!

When you realize that we don’t deserve God’s forgiveness and grace yet He gives it to us anyway, this revelation of His unmerited favor changes us from within. It dissolves the knots of anger and impatience in us that have built up over the years and frees us to enjoy God’s love and to show it to others!

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

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24

My friend, God is with you today because of His precious Son, Jesus. For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, and His name is Immanuel. God gave us Jesus.

The presence of Jesus in your life is a free gift from God. There is no amount of good you can do to earn the presence of Jesus. There is no number of good works you can perform to merit His favor. His presence in your life is a free gift.

Now, because you did nothing to deserve His presence in your life, there is nothing you can do that will cause His presence to leave you. Once you have received Jesus into your heart, He will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5)!

“But Pastor Prince, when I fail, doesn’t Jesus leave me?”

No, Jesus is right by your side to encourage you and restore you to wholeness. You may say, “But I don’t deserve it!” That’s right. That’s what makes it His unmerited favor in your life.

There is a beautiful psalm that says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand" (Ps. 37:23–24).

When you fail, Jesus is there to uphold you. Unlike some of your so-called “friends,” He does not just take off. You can count on Him. He is a faithful, dependable, and trustworthy friend. Even when you have failed Him, He is right there with you, ready to pick you up and restore you to wholeness. Amen!

The Bible talks about a friend who “sticks closer than a brother.” That’s Jesus! Beloved, lean on His constant presence. Draw on His unfailing strength and support for you today.

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

God’s Love for You Is Personal, Detailed, and In-Depth

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6–7

There are many believers today who don’t cast their cares upon the Lord. I believe that it is because they don’t have a revelation that He cares for them.

Look at what His Word says: "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." Unless you have absolute confidence that Jesus cares for you, you will not cast your cares upon Him.

Just think, would you call upon the help of a relative or friend in your time of need if you were not confident that the person would respond to your call? Jesus cares for you. When you call upon Him, know that you have His fullest attention with all of heaven’s resources backing you up!

Maybe you are thinking right now, “Well, I am sure that Jesus has more important things to do than to bother with my problem.” Hang on. By saying that, you have just shown that you don’t really believe that Jesus cares for you.

Now, let's see what the Bible says: “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:7).

I love and care for my sweet daughter, Jessica. But as much as I adore her and care for her well-being, I have never, not once, counted the number of strands of hair on her head! She does not know how great a blessing she has been to me. I love to kiss her, smell her hair, and hug her tightly. Yet, in all my great love for her, I have never taken the time to count the number of strands of hair on her head in all these years!

But do you know that your heavenly Father numbers the hairs on your head? I really hope that you are beginning to catch the heart of Jesus and not generalize His love for you. His love for you is all-encompassing. If He cares enough to keep track of the hairs on your head, is there anything too small for Him that you cannot talk to Him about?

God's love for you is infinitely detailed. Jesus said that not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father's will (Matt. 10:29). Are you not of more value than a sparrow?

Is God a God who winds the clock and leaves it alone to tick until Jesus comes back? Is He only involved with major events in the world? Is He only involved in significant events in our lives like our salvation, or is He vitally and intensely involved in the day-to-day minute details of your life? What do you think?

The Bible says that He calls His own sheep by name (John 10:3, 14). My friend, His love for you is personal, detailed, and in-depth! Your heavenly Father wants you to involve Him even in the smallest, most mundane matters of your life, and see His unmerited favor surround you, protect you, and lead you to good success.

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

Who You Are in God’s Eyes

We love Him because He first loved us.

1 John 4:19

Do you believe that God loves you with an unchanging love today? Even if you’ve just failed or made a mistake? This, my friend, is where the rubber meets the road in our Christian walk every day.

I’m here to tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that God loves you with an everlasting love. His love for you is unconditional (Titus 3:3–5 NASB). It is a love that is so pure, pristine, and marvelous. It has nothing to do with your performance, but everything to do with who you are in His eyes—His beloved.

The emphasis of the old covenant of the law was all about your love for God, whereas the emphasis of the new covenant of grace is all about God’s love for you. The sum total of the law under the old covenant is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5, Matt. 22:37, 40).

Let’s be honest here. Have you ever met anyone who can love God this way? Of course not. It’s a human impossibility. The law was designed to show us that we are incapable of loving God perfectly.

Knowing that man wouldn’t be able to fulfill His commandment to love Him with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, and all his strength, do you know what God did? He demonstrated how only He could love us with all His heart, all His soul, all His mind, and all His strength when He sent His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from all our sins with His own blood.

That is why the new covenant is all about God’s love for you and not your love for Him! Under grace, God doesn’t want you to focus your thoughts on, “Do I really love God?” That’s not the focus of the new covenant. Under grace, God wants you to focus on His love for you. Therefore, the questions you should be asking yourself are:

“Do I know how much God loves me today?”

“Do I really believe that God loves me right now?”

Choose to believe right about how God loves you today. It makes all the difference in the world to how quickly you are able to get back on your feet, and go from faith to faith and strength to strength in your walk with Him.

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

God’s Guarantee of Your Precious Inheritance

God has revealed them [the things He has prepared for those who love Him] to us through His Spirit. . . . Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

1 Corinthians 2:10, 12

Even though you may not be able to see right now the good things that God has for your future, today’s scripture says that the Holy Spirit is in us to reveal to us the things that God has freely given to us. These are precious and priceless gifts, such as the gift of forgiveness, of no condemnation, of righteousness, of eternal life, and the different gifts of the Spirit that God has placed in all our lives!

Because you are a believer in Jesus Christ, not only have all your sins been forgiven, but you have also been justified by faith and made righteous by His blood. And the Holy Spirit lives in you! You have something that the patriarchs of the Old Testament never had.

Abraham, “the friend of God” (James 2:23), never had it. Moses, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt, never had it. And even David, whom the Bible calls “a man after [God’s] own heart” (Acts 13:22), never had it.

They had the Spirit on them, but not in them. Back then, the Holy Spirit would come and go (1 Sam. 16:13–14, Ps. 51:11). You and I, however, have been so perfectly cleansed by the blood of Jesus—once and for all—that the Holy Spirit now lives in us and abides with us forever (John 14:16–17)!

The apostle Paul tells us that when we believed in Jesus, He identified us as His own by giving us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He has promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people (Eph. 1:13–14).

My friend, when you believed the gospel and got saved, God sealed you with the Holy Spirit of promise to attest that you have been given the free gift of righteousness and the gift of eternal life through Jesus’ finished work. That is why when you hear the purity of the gospel of grace being preached, the Holy Spirit in you responds with great joy and great peace.

Listen to this praise report by Pete from Oklahoma:

When I heard one of Pastor Joseph Prince’s sermons for the first time, I knew that this message of grace was what I’d been seeking my entire Christian life. I felt like I was born again, all over again!

Since then, I’ve been listening to and feeding on the word of grace daily. I think I cried every day as the understanding that all of my sins are forgiven began to sink in. My faith has shot through the ceiling and my life has been radically transformed!

My wife and my four kids have also been listening to Pastor Prince’s sermons and we are forever “ruined” by this incredible message of grace. This truth has borne fruit in our lives and caused us to be blessed beyond anything we could ever think of!

When Pete and so many other people hear preaching on the love of God and His beautiful grace, the shackles of Christian religion, legalism, self-righteousness, and years of toilsome condemnation start to break off one by one. Precious intimacy with the Lord Jesus is restored. Fear is replaced with His perfect love, insecurities with His assurance of grace, and self-doubt with His strong embrace of affirmation. The preaching of the gospel of grace changes lives!

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

You Can’t Add to a Finished Work

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3:4–7

It’s interesting to note in the biblical account of the crippled man being healed at Lystra that even as hearing the gospel of grace produced a wonderful miracle of healing, it also produced outright opposition to it.

The Jews there who held on to the old covenant of law came to see what all the commotion was about, won the crowd to their side, and began to stone Paul and left him for dead (Acts 14:19).

The gospel the apostle Paul preached is not a man-pleasing gospel and was opposed by legalists everywhere he went. (Today’s legalists are still doing the same thing. I call them the “religious mafia,” those who depend on their own efforts to achieve their own sense of righteousness.)

Yet, Paul preached the truth of the gospel even if it meant being stoned by his opponents and being expelled from cities. Why? Because the gospel is the power of God to salvation!

Are you faced with an impossible situation today? Are you trusting the Lord for a breakthrough or wanting to see more of His power in your life, body, finances, or career? If so, make sure you are hearing the gospel that Paul preached.

I encourage you to get hold of good teachings that are full of the good news of Jesus. The more you hear about Jesus, His beauty, His forgiveness, and His finished work, the more you will stop being preoccupied with yourself, your lack, and your weaknesses. You will become fully occupied with Jesus, His glory, His perfection, and His grace, and freedom, healing, and wholeness are the result!

Josephine, who lives in Virginia, adds a heartfelt “Amen!” to this truth. She is in her twenties and has been a Christian since she was very young. However, when she went to college, she fought a losing battle with depression that lasted seven years. Treated with therapy and medication, she had to constantly increase the dosage but still felt completely miserable and in her case, continually terrified.

People told her she just had to love God more, but she never seemed to measure up. She struggled with depression to the point she couldn’t even get up in the mornings because she was so tormented in her mind.

Then, her mom gave her one of my books. Josephine wrote to me and said, “After reading your book and accepting God’s love for me and trusting in Him and His finished work, I was totally and miraculously healed. I learned to just say, ‘God, I know that I cannot overcome this on my own. I rest in You. You live the victorious life for me. I know I cannot overcome these thoughts on my own, but I can rest in You.’

“I now live a life of joy and peace that I never imagined was possible for me. I am so in love with my Savior and now the gospel all makes sense. He first loved me and healed me, and now I have the ability to love and to live life with peace and joy. Just like the Word says, knowing the truth set me free!”

What an amazing testimony of the power of simply hearing and believing the gospel of grace. My friend, if you have been struggling with a particular challenge, keep feeding on the abundance of God’s grace through the hearing of the gospel.

Don’t let anyone from the “religious mafia” add more conditions to your forgiveness. You are already forgiven of all your sins simply because you believe in Jesus! Nothing more, nothing less.

This is the gospel that Paul preached. And when you get a hold of this truth and simply believe it, you will see the power of God come into your situation to give you the breakthrough you need!

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

A Door of Hope

“I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope.”

Hosea 2:15 NLT

Are you among the people who think that when you fail, God leaves you and only returns when you get your act together? Some people think that they must clean up their lives and overcome all their struggles on their own before they can come before the presence of God. Well, I have a simple question for you: Do you clean yourself before you take a bath? Of course not!

In the same way, God wants you to come to Him just as you are, with all your weaknesses, idiosyncrasies, wrong beliefs, hang-ups, and all your bondages, fears, and addictions. He is the bath! You don’t have to try to clean yourself up before you come to Him.

But Pastor Prince, what if the mess I’m in is entirely of my own doing? Can I still just come to God as I am and expect Him to help me?

Yes, even if your trouble is due to your own willfulness or a mistake of your own making, He is still with you. He has never left you, and He never will. He will never forsake you (Heb. 13:5).

You are precious in His eyes. Can you imagine living life with the kind of confidence, assurance, and peace that comes when you are truly anchored in this truth?

Today, even if you find yourself in the Valley of Trouble, know that you will not remain there for long. You will walk through it and not remain or camp there (Ps. 23:4).

God is opening a door of hope in your life today for you to step out of your darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). Things are going to get better. The breakthroughs that you have been waiting for are coming your way.

Step through the door of hope and out of your Valley of Trouble today. Jesus is your door of hope!

Believe in His love for you and allow Him to lead you to freedom. In His loving presence, you will find forgiveness, healing, and restoration. He will mend your life and transform you from the inside out.

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

Continue in God’s Grace

Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Galatians 3:3

How were you first impacted by Jesus? Was it through the law or was it His grace in your life that touched your heart? We all began our relationship with the Lord because we were impacted by His love and grace. Let us then continue in that grace.

Paul warned the Galatians against turning back to the law after beginning in grace. He said, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace [unmerited favor] of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:6–7).

Paul takes this very seriously. He calls any gospel apart from the gospel of grace (God's unmerited favor) a perversion. Attempting to be justified by the works of the Ten Commandments is a perversion of the gospel of Christ.

Paul asked the church in Galatia point-blank, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh [self-effort]?" (Gal. 3:2–3).

Paul was saying to them, "You began by believing in His grace, why are you now depending on your works? That is foolishness! You should be continuing in His unmerited favor!” These are strong words by Paul.

Don’t start with grace and end up with the law. Don’t start with the new covenant, only to turn back to the old covenant! There are those who say that they are not justified by the law, but believe that they should keep the law for sanctification. My friend, both justification and sanctification come by our faith in Jesus' finished work alone.

When you are established in the new covenant of grace, you will experience a tremendous sense of confidence and security in Christ. When your confidence is in His unmerited favor and not your performance, you will not feel as if you are constantly jumping in and out of His favor and acceptance.

It is unfortunate that some believers have put themselves back under the old covenant without realizing it. Sometimes, they feel that God is on their side, but at other times, they feel that God is far away from them. Sometimes, they feel that God is satisfied with them, but at other times, they feel that God is angry with them.

All these feelings are based predominantly on their own evaluation of how they have performed, how they feel about themselves, and not how God sees them. Because there is no new covenant scriptural basis for such evaluations, they end up arbitrarily deciding if they are deserving of God’s blessings and favor in their lives or not, when in fact, they actually have access to His blessings all the time, simply because of Jesus and His finished work at the cross.

Today, think, talk and act knowing that it is not about you or your works—it is about Jesus and Him alone, and step out into His blessings for you!

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

Look Intently

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:14–15

I want to show you something powerful in the story of Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness when the children of Israel were bitten by snakes. I believe it is going to release you to partake of the holy Communion with greater revelation each time you come to the Lord’s Table.

In the Numbers 21 account of this story, we read that even though many were killed by the snakebites, anyone among the children of Israel who looked at the bronze serpent was healed. The Hebrew word used for look in Numbers 21:9 is nabat, which means to “look intently at.”

In the same way, when you partake of the holy Communion, be conscious of Jesus and how He bore all your sins and sicknesses in His own body. Don’t partake with consciousness of the symptoms in your body.

Beloved, I know that the waves of nausea that immobilize you are real. The shortness of breath you have been struggling with is real. The pain that slices through your head with every move is real, just as the painful bites from the fiery serpents were real for the children of Israel.

Right now, I pray that every pain and every discomfort be removed from your body in the mighty name of Jesus. Our Lord Jesus called healing “the children’s bread” (Matt. 15:26). If you are a child of God, healing belongs to you.

But my friend, your healing will not come from focusing on your condition. Your healing will come as you do what the children of Israel did—they looked away from their wounds and looked at the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole.

Today, as you partake of the Communion, partake in remembrance of your Lord Jesus and not in remembrance of your pain. Look to Him intently and with the expectation He will save you and heal you.

See Him lifted on the cross, being judged with your disease. If you have a problem with your kidney, see Jesus’ kidney smitten with your disease at the cross. If you have a degenerative condition in your spine, see Jesus’ spine smitten with that condition at the cross.

When you see Jesus’ body smitten with your disease, it cannot remain in you. Even if you have a “terminal” disease others have died from, look to Him and receive your healing!

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

Depend on the Lord for Right Timing

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

Beloved, never forget that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong . . . but time and chance happen to them all.” God wants you to have the right timing—His timing, and nothing is left to chance because you are God's child.

Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD.” You are that “good man” because you are the righteousness of God in Christ.

Now, look at the word “happen.” In the original Hebrew text, it is the word qarah, which means “to encounter, to meet (without pre-arrangement), to chance to be present." In a nutshell, it means “right happening.”

My friend, you can depend on God to cause you to be at the right place at the right time, to have right happenings happen in your life! I am sure that you would agree that being at the right place at the right time is a tremendous blessing. You certainly don’t want to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. That can lead to disastrous results.

But even if you think that you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, such as when you are caught in a traffic jam or when you miss your train, don’t be too agitated. A delay can turn out to be God’s protection from an accident ahead. Sometimes, a delay of just a few seconds can mean the difference between life and death!

In 2001, a brother in my church wrote in to share that his son's office was in the twin towers in New York. On one particular morning, his son’s alarm clock did not go off and he ended up missing his regular train to work and was late arriving at work. Had he been on time that morning, he would have been in his office when the planes plowed into the building during the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11.

In 2003, another brother from my church was in Jakarta, Indonesia, for a business trip. He was staying at the Marriott Hotel and he was in the lobby when a bomb went off just outside the hotel. The bomb tore through the lobby and he saw a body flying past him as the deafening blast reverberated all around him.

After the dust had settled, he found blood spattered on him and debris strewn all around, but amazingly, he was completely unhurt. At the very moment when the bomb exploded, he happened to walk behind a pillar and it protected him from the impact of the blast. Just think what would have happened to him if he had reached that pillar just a few seconds before or after the bomb went off!

No matter how intelligent you are, how fat your savings account is, or how prestigious your family name may be, there is no way you can know beforehand when to position yourself behind a pillar just as a bomb that you are unaware of explodes near you.

Only God can put you at the right place at the right time. It was the Lord who placed this brother behind the pillar at the precise moment. His steps were literally ordered by the Lord. All glory to Him! Jesus is our true pillar of protection!

God’s faithfulness in protecting His beloved by putting them at the right place at the right time was demonstrated even more recently. Two massive explosions rocked Jakarta, Indonesia, again on the morning of July 17, 2009, and this time both the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels were the targets of terrorist attacks.

A lady from our church was in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton when one of the bombs was detonated in the nearby restaurant where guests were having breakfast. The force of the explosion sent glass shards flying past her, ripping into the flesh of other guests who were standing in front of her. Amazingly, she was completely unharmed!

She shared that she had initially planned to have breakfast at that very restaurant at the time the bomb exploded. That would certainly have put her at the wrong place at the wrong time. If she had done so, she could have been killed by the blast in the restaurant.

However, she shared that the reason she missed her usual breakfast time that morning was that she was caught up in reading a few devotional entries from my Destined to Reign Devotional and spending time with the Lord in her hotel room. The “delay” she experienced in reading my book kept her away from the restaurant and saved her life! Praise Jesus!

My friend, nothing happens by chance—the Lord knows how to place you at the right place and the right time! You can depend on Jesus for right happenings. They all come by His unmerited favor.

In the new covenant of grace, the Bible says that the Lord Himself writes His laws on your heart (Heb. 8:10). He can speak to you and guide you in everything that you do. Allow Him to lead you supernaturally!

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

Feed on Christ

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

John 6:35

In John 11:53, we see an unexpected response toward Jesus when He performed the astounding miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. From that day on, it says the chief priests and the Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus—the One Who opened blind eyes, unstopped deaf ears, cleansed those with leprosy, and raised the dead!

Why? And what does this tell you about what was in their hearts?

In order to be a chief priest or a Pharisee, one needed to be a student of the Word of God from a young age, and to know the Torah from front to back. Yet the religious leaders, who were zealous for the law and knew all about the Torah, were the very people who plotted to kill Jesus.

Now lean in and listen closely to what I am about to say. They had head knowledge but they did not have a heart for the person of Jesus. They had all this Bible knowledge, but they did not have the Author of the Bible in their hearts.

They would constantly quote from the Old Testament to condemn and to crush those who have failed instead of saving them. Remember how they wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery by quoting from the law of Moses, but Jesus saved her by inviting the one who had no sin to cast the first stone.

Beloved, it is possible for people today to accumulate a lot of head knowledge on this theology and that theology, and yet not have any heart knowledge that burns with love and passion for our Lord Jesus Christ. It is possible to enrich your mind or to study about this interpretation and that interpretation of the Scriptures, and still have a heart that is stone-cold when it comes to an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus.

Now don’t misunderstand me—I am not saying that you should not acquire Bible knowledge. I am saying that we need to study the Bible not simply to accumulate head knowledge, but to have a revelation of Jesus. To have a heart of love for Jesus, you must know the Bible.

In fact, true scriptural knowledge about Jesus will lead you to have a heart for Jesus. Don’t be like the Pharisees, who had Bible knowledge, but no love for our Lord Jesus. Don’t miss the Author when you are reading His Word.

When you study the Bible, study to feed on the person of Jesus. Feed on His beauty, His grace, His majesty, and His immense and sacrificial love for you. We read the Word to feed on Christ.

Oh, how I love the phrase, “to feed on Christ.” He is the bread of life and the more you feed on Him in the Word, the more you will be strengthened and nourished with His health, life, and wisdom for every area of your life.

When you see Jesus in the Word, you will know how to esteem and value Him. Jesus becomes real food for your soul and He gives you strength for your service.

Real holiness comes from beholding Jesus. As you behold our Lord, you are transformed from the inside out from glory to glory.

When you value Jesus, your heart’s desire is just to glorify Him in everything that you think, say, and do. When you have a heart for Jesus, everything in your life—whether it is your marriage, your parenting, or your career—will fall into place as you receive His finished work!

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

How Do You See God?

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

Matthew 7:11

Our enemy the devil is well aware that the moment you learn to receive God’s grace, you will start to reign in life. So he has been working hard to prevent you from receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.

The devil has been using controversy as a device down through church history to prevent believers from having access to the most powerful truths of God. He has built fences of controversy around healing, prosperity, and grace (calling them heresies) to keep believers from reigning over sickness, poverty, and sin. You can always tell how powerful a truth is by the number of controversies the devil surrounds it with!

Please pay close attention to what I am saying. Not all controversies are based on the truth of God’s Word. We have to test everything against what the Bible says.

Nevertheless, controversy is a tool that the devil uses to prevent God’s people from accessing His truths. The enemy is a crafty liar and deceitful thief, so we have to base what we believe on the Scriptures and test everything against it. If you want to know the truth about God’s grace, study His Word yourself and see what it has to say about grace!

Pastor Prince, are you one of those “prosperity gospel” preachers?

My friend, there is no such thing as a “prosperity gospel.” There is only one gospel in the Bible—the gospel of Jesus Christ.

However, when you believe the gospel of Jesus, which is based entirely on His grace, it will result in health and abundance of provision. In fact, the gospel of Jesus Christ leads to blessings, success, healing, restoration, protection, financial breakthroughs, security, peace, wholeness, and much more!

God blesses you not because you are good, but because He is good. It is based on His faithfulness and goodness toward you. It is not contingent on your performance, but on His undeserved favor.

If it were contingent on how good you are, then it would no longer be grace but the law. It would be deserved favor. This is the difference between the old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace:

Law is deserved favor—When you obey the commandments perfectly, you will be blessed.

Grace is undeserved favor—Jesus obeyed God perfectly, and you will be blessed by believing in Him.

My friend, which covenant are you under today? Law or grace? Deserved favor or undeserved favor? How do you see God—as your Judge or loving Father? If you think that being blessed by God today is dependent on your doing, your ability to keep the law, and your ability to make yourself righteous, I ask you to test your understanding of grace against the Scriptures.

Read today’s scripture again and open your heart to what it says about God and His grace toward you: God is your loving Father in heaven who loves you and has nothing but good gifts for you. He sent His Son to die for you so that you can enjoy every one of these good gifts. Today, receive His abundant grace!

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

Speak the Word

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.

2 Corinthians 4:13

Beloved, it is not enough for you to merely know the Word in your heart. You must say it. That’s when latent power becomes actual power. When our Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He did not merely think about Scripture. He spoke it out loud.

You can memorize thousands of scriptures but if you don’t learn to say, “It is written,” and release the Word, there will be no power. God’s power is there, but it is all lying dormant inside you.

But when you speak it out, God’s power is unleashed. When you release God’s Word through your mouth, you release God’s power into your situation. Amen!

Fear is not something you can reason or analyze away. Fear is irrational. There are some fears that come into your life and you can think to yourself, Come on, what are the chances of that happening? or It’s so silly to fear this.

But have you noticed that those fears still hang around? We are in a war, my friend, and the only way to defeat fear is to speak the Word of God to whatever fear you have by saying, “It is written.”

It is written—“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).

I want you to memorize that. It’s a powerful verse of Scripture.

Now, I want you to say this out loud: It is written—“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Do you feel the power that comes with saying this aloud?

This is the truth: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I don’t care what kind of fears you are battling with—fear of growing old, fear of contracting this or that disease, fear of losing your job, fear of failure. Whatever the fear that has come against you, declare, “It is written.”

What if the fear comes back? Then say it again! Sometimes, I speak Scriptures over my situation in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. Whenever the fear comes back, I speak the Word of God.

If the devil wants a fight, give him one! Give him the sword of the Spirit and he will get the point every time. There are many scriptures you can memorize. Write down the scriptures that cover the areas of your need and arm yourself with them!

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

Do Not Consider Your Own Body

And not being weak in faith, [Abraham] did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

Romans 4:19

What should you do when you continue to be confronted with the symptoms or even when the enemy keeps reminding you of so-and-so who wasn’t healed? Keep on partaking of the holy Communion and thanking the Lord that everything you need for your healing has already been supplied through the cross.

Scripture tells us Christ has already redeemed you from the curse of every sickness and disease (Gal. 3:13). When our Lord Jesus instituted the holy Communion, He took the cup and “gave thanks” (Matt. 26:27). The Greek word for gave thanks is eucharisteo, which means “to express gratitude.”

This is why the holy Communion is also known as the Eucharist. You give thanks for something that is already done, that you have already received. So even if the symptoms are still in your body, you can give thanks and call yourself healed because His Word declares that “by His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5).

Don’t try to “get” healing for yourself or your loved one. It is already yours! The enemy has been conquered (Col. 2:15). Jesus has already given you divine health. Always remember this: as a believer, you do not fight for victory; you fight from victory.

My friend, let’s be like Abraham, who was convinced God was able to do what He had promised. Even though Abraham was very advanced in years, he believed God’s promise that He would make him a father of many nations and did not consider his own body or the deadness of his wife Sarah’s womb.

And you know the story: Isaac was born to Abraham when he was already one hundred years old (Gen. 21:5) and when Sarah was about ninety. In the natural, that was impossible as they were both past the natural childbearing age.

But Abraham did not consider the deadness of his own body; he considered God’s promise. Romans 4:20–21 tells us he “did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”

In the same way, may I encourage you to be like Abraham? Do not consider the symptoms of sickness in your body. Instead, fix your eyes on our Lord Jesus and consider the promise in God’s Word, which declares that by Jesus’ stripes you are already healed. Keep partaking of the Communion in faith, thanking Him that His body was broken so yours might be whole. And as you partake, like the children of Israel, get ready for and keep expecting your physical deliverance.

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

Your Answer Is Found in a Person

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7:24–25

The flesh in us can produce a whole gamut of emotions and thoughts, from defeat, jealousy, greed, and lust to anger, inferiority, condemnation, and arrogance. As long as we are in this physical body, the flesh is active in us.

But we can rejoice because when Jesus died on the cross, the Word of God tells us that He “condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). All the negative thoughts and toxic emotions from the flesh have already been judged and punished at the cross. Today we can experience victory over the flesh through the power of the cross.

You can read all about the apostle Paul’s struggle with the flesh in Romans 7:18–19: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice”.

Did you notice how many times the words “I,” “me,” and “my” are mentioned in just the two verses above? I’m sure you can identify with the apostle Paul here in his struggle with the flesh.

It’s the struggle we all face when we are occupied with ourselves and warring with the flesh within us. It’s a life of vexation, angst, defeat, and despair.

This is not where God wants you to live, my friend. A believer doesn’t live in Romans chapter 7. Through Christ Jesus, we should be living in Romans chapter 8. Let’s read on and discover how Paul broke free from this bondage of self.

Just a few verses later, Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). The answer, my friend, is found in a person, and Paul tells us this person is Jesus: “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:25).

Only our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, can deliver us from the flesh. And in Christ we can step into the first verse of Romans chapter 8, which proclaims, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (NASB).

This is where we as new covenant believers ought to live. Not in the domain of constant struggle and despair, but in the domain of no condemnation and victory.


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

Unleash the Power

Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 NLT

What does preaching the gospel, the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, do? The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:16 that it releases “the power of God” to bring His salvation into your life.

The word “salvation” does not just mean being saved from hell to go to heaven. “Salvation” is the ultra-rich Greek word soteria, which means “deliverance, preservation, safety, salvation.” It covers any area of your life that needs saving so that you can enjoy wholeness and well-being in your body, soul, and spirit.

Now, where do you find this salvation? In the gospel of Christ. Not in the old covenant of law.

It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that unleashes the power of God to save you and make you whole. It is this gospel that brings protection, healing, deliverance, and soundness to every area of your life.

It is no wonder the enemy brings opposition to anyone who preaches the gospel of Christ. He doesn’t want the power of God to come into people’s lives.

By the same token, if you want the well-being and wholeness of God to come into your areas of challenge, then make sure you are hearing the gospel of Christ, which is the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).

But what is it about the gospel of grace that makes it so powerful? We find the answer in Romans 1:17—“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”

The gospel is so powerful because in it is the revelation that you have been made righteous by the work of Christ, not by your works. This is the glory of the gospel, the good news that when God looks at a man who has put his faith in what Jesus has done, God sees him perfect, complete, and righteous in Christ. It is knowing this that unleashes the power and salvation of God in all its richness into all areas of our lives.

Notice what the apostle Paul said in Romans 1:17—“The just [or righteous] shall live by faith.” You cannot walk in faith, talk in faith, or live a life of faith when you don’t understand that you have been made righteous by faith.

But once you realize that God is not counting your sins against you because of what Christ has done, peace and joy settle in your heart. Fear flees and hope springs forth. Faith for every blessing Christ purchased for you just erupts in you and activates the power of God to overcome every obstacle in your life!

My friend, whatever you may be struggling with today, come back to the Father’s loving embrace and grace. He loves you.

Receive the good news that you are a new creation in Christ; old things are gone. You have been reconciled to God through Christ’s perfect work at the cross. You are righteous in God’s sight (even when you fail) and are empowered to overcome every failing through His gift of no condemnation.

Let this good news of our Lord Jesus take hold in your heart. And in your every area of challenge, you will begin to experience lasting victory and a multiplication of His grace and peace in your life (2 Pet. 1:2).

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

Unveiling the Father’s Heart of Grace

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.”

Luke 15:20–24

Do you want to see how your heavenly Father responds when you have failed? Then I encourage you to read the entire parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11–32. Better yet, if you are feeling stressed and worried about something, take time to pull away from life’s hustle and bustle and simply meditate on Jesus’ words in this story and let His message to you soak in.

When Jesus shared the story of the prodigal son, all the Jewish people who heard Him would have been familiar with the condemnation and punishment (death by stoning) that the law specified for a stubborn, rebellious son (Deut. 21:18–21). However, instead of the law they were familiar with, Jesus revealed the Father’s heart of grace and forgiveness in the new covenant. Hallelujah!

Did the son sin against his father? Yes, most definitely. But did the father heap guilt and condemnation on his son before he received his son? No, he did not. Did it matter to the father that his son’s intention for returning home was simply because he was hungry? No, it did not.

When the prodigal son “was still a great way off,” his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his son’s neck and kissed him. What a wonderful picture of God’s heart of love!

This is an eyewitness account of what God the Father is like from Jesus Himself! See how He described God’s response to those who have sinned.

How is it that the father saw his son even when he was still a great way off? That’s because the father had been waiting and longing for his son to return. He must have kept his eyes on the horizon daily, hoping that each day would be the day his beloved son returned home.

Beloved, can you see God’s heart of love for you even when you have failed Him? You just have to take one step toward God and your loving Daddy in heaven will run toward you with no condemnation.

He wants to embrace you, kiss you, and lavish you with His love and blessings! He is waiting to clothe you with the robe of righteousness, put the signet ring of authority back in your hands, and shod your feet with the sandals of right standing. He wants to reinstate you, wash you, and throw a party because you came home!

Our God is a God who will run toward you with no condemnation! You can come boldly to God today and experience the intimate love of your heavenly Father in a deep and personal way as never before. I pray that this experience will heal, renew, restore, and transform you in a spectacular way because His love for you is nothing less than spectacular!

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

Build Your Faith Upon His Promises

“He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He shall redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. You shall laugh at destruction and famine.”

Job 5:19–22

I believe the Lord gave me the above portion of scripture to strengthen you. Let’s take a closer look at the first verse: “He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.”

Now, I have read this verse a number of times before, but the Lord quickened this scripture in me, so let me share this fresh insight with you. I want to specially address those who have been greatly discouraged in the area of protection. Perhaps you have experienced a very difficult or even tragic event, or are going through a very challenging situation right now. Can I encourage you to build your faith upon His promises and not upon your experiences?

The Word of God says that in this world, we will have trouble (John 16:33). The fact that God declares in His Word that He will deliver us from troubles tells us that we will experience troubles. But God wants us to know that the more we hear preaching on Psalm 91, the more we quote it and remind ourselves of the Lord’s protection daily, the more our faith in His protection will grow.

Faith comes from “hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17 NASB). The more we hear, the more we believe! The more we claim and pray the prayer of protection, the more we will walk in its blessings. That is the intention of this book—to saturate you with the hearing and hearing of the Lord’s protection promises for your life until your faith is robust and overflowing.

My friend, deliverance from trouble is fantastic, but there is a promise that is even greater, and that is when you are at that place where “no evil shall touch you.” That’s my prayer for you and your loved ones.

While we live in dangerous times, we have an almighty God who watches over us. May we all increase and have a progressive revelation of the Lord’s protection in these last days. While none of us, myself included, are there yet, we are on a journey of faith, of walking fully in the promises of God’s protection.

Let’s give thanks to the Lord for His deliverance from all our troubles as we continue to believe we will come to the place where no evil will touch our loved ones and us!

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

Win the Battle for Your Mind

For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

Proverbs 23:7 NASB

I want you to be aware that as you look to the person of Jesus and cultivate the power of right believing, you’ll experience some battles in your mind that will challenge your beliefs. Be encouraged to know that you don’t have to be afraid of these battles.

Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Based on God’s Word, right believing is the key that unlocks the treasures of God in your life, giving you access to the fullness of His love, grace, favor, blessings, and forgiveness. Jesus has already paid the price on Calvary’s hill. The hindrance then between you and your victory is your wrong beliefs. The battle has to do with your beliefs.

The enemy knows that if he can control your thought life, he can manipulate your emotions and feelings. For instance, if he can make you entertain thoughts of guilt, failure, and defeat, you will begin to feel lousy about yourself, physically weak, and even depressed.

Our emotions are flags that indicate to us what our thoughts are. Thank God for emotions. They tell us if something is terribly wrong with our thoughts. Many of us are not cognizant when our thinking slides down a slippery slope to fear, doubt, pessimism, and anxiety. However, God has designed us in such a way that we can quickly recognize our thinking through our emotions. Try this: whenever you begin to sense negative emotions, such as fear, worry, guilt, and anger, stop and ask yourself, “What am I thinking?”

Your emotions follow quickly at the heels of your thoughts. If your thoughts are negative, you will naturally produce negative emotions. Conversely, if your thoughts are positive in Christ, you will produce positive emotions.

That is why there is a battle for your mind. The devil wants to keep your thoughts negative so that he can keep you defeated. He is a master of mind games, and he doesn’t play fair.

When he first tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, he made them doubt God’s motives by insinuating that God was deliberately withholding something good from them, when in reality God was protecting them. The devil’s strategy hasn’t changed—he is still using fears, lies, accusations, guilt, and condemnation to ensnare believers today and to make them doubt God’s perfect love, forgiveness, and superabounding grace.

My friend, are there areas you are fearful and anxious about today? Realize that those fears and anxieties indicate the presence of wrong beliefs in your life that God wants you to be freed from. Replace those wrong beliefs with right beliefs based on God’s Word, and you will eradicate those fears and anxieties. Through the power of right believing, you will win the battle for your mind.

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