The Truth That Frees You

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

John 8:32

What does “the truth shall make you free” in the verse John 8:32 really mean?

Examine the context of this verse and you’ll notice that Jesus said this to the Jews of His day. These were people who at an early age grew up studying and learning the law. Yet, these people, in ways very similar to us today, still battled with fears, anxieties, sicknesses, and all kinds of oppression, bondages, and addictions.

So this truth that Jesus was talking about clearly cannot be the law, because these people could not find freedom in the law. In fact, the truth of the law only brought them into religious bondage.

My friend, the truth that shall make you free, is the truth of His grace. This is the truth that He came to give us. His Word proclaims that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

The good news is that grace came to set you free from the curse of the law. Grace is not a doctrine or a theological subject. When Jesus talks about grace, He is talking about Himself. Grace is a person. Grace is Jesus Himself.

The truth that has the power to fling wide open your prison doors is His grace. His grace is the antidote to counteract every poison in your mind!

When you encounter Jesus, taste His love, and savor His loving-kindness and tender mercies, every wrong belief begins to dissolve in the glory of His love. And every dark thought and evil addiction that may have held you captive cannot but scatter when it is exposed to the light of His grace!

Your freedom is found in rightly believing in Jesus—His favor and His love in your life. When you believe right about His grace, you will begin to live right.

The more you see in His Word what His grace has done for you, the more fears, condemnation, depression, and destructive habits will lose their grip in your life. And the more you believe and enjoy His grace and love, the more you’ll find the Lord’s wisdom, stability, and peace guiding your decisions and actions.

Right believing always produces right living and the right results.

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

The King Came Down

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Luke 19:38

When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44). Today we have problems loving our neighbors, let alone our enemies.

Jesus also said, “If your right eye offends you, pluck it out, throw it away from you. If your hand offends you, cut it off” (Matt. 5:29–30). Have you seen anyone who’s fighting for the law do that? Have you seen any church practice that? Come on, that church would look like a huge amputation ward!

So what was Jesus doing when He said those things?

Jesus was bringing the law back to its pristine standard, as the Pharisees had brought it down to where it was humanly possible to keep. For example, the Pharisees thought that unless you physically commit adultery, you have not sinned, but Jesus said that if you look at a woman to lust, you have already committed adultery with her (Matt. 5:28).

Jesus demonstrated to those who boasted of their law keeping that it was impossible for man to be justified by the law. He also said that the moment you are angry with a brother in your heart, you have committed murder (Matt. 5:22)! You see, Jesus’ definitive and impeccable interpretation of God’s holy laws brings man to the end of himself so that he will see his need for the Savior.

Now, I want you to catch a beautiful picture of God’s grace: the good news is that Jesus didn’t stop there. He preached the Sermon on the Mount and then He came down. Spiritually speaking, if the King had stayed on the mountain, there would have been no redemption for us.

Are you getting this? If Jesus had stayed high up in heaven and decreed God’s holy standards from there, there would have been no hope and no redemption for us. But all praise and glory to the King Who chose to come down from heaven to this earth! He came down the mountain. He came down into suffering, crying, and dying humanity.

At the foot of the mountain we see how He met a man with leprosy, a picture of you and me before we were washed clean by His precious blood. Imagine: an unclean sinner, standing before the King of kings. There was no way the standards of the Sermon on the Mount could have saved him. There was no way the pristine and perfect standards of God’s holy commandments could have saved us. The King knew that and that’s why He came down to where we were.

In those days, people with leprosy were considered unclean and wherever they went they had to shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” (Lev. 13:45) so people would know to run the other way lest they became defiled by the disease. Needless to say, those with leprosy were not welcomed in public places. Yet here the man with leprosy was before the King saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean” (Matt. 8:2). Notice he didn’t doubt that Jesus could; he doubted that Jesus would.

Without a moment’s hesitation, our Lord Jesus reached out and touched the afflicted man, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed (Matt. 8:3).

Now watch this: under the law those with leprosy—the unclean—make the clean unclean. But under grace Jesus makes the unclean clean. Under the law, sin is contagious. Under grace, righteousness and God’s goodness are contagious!

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

Practice Jesus’ Presence and See His Power

But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail.

Jeremiah 20:11

Do you know that the best time to thank Jesus for His presence is when you don’t “feel” His presence? When it comes to the presence of Jesus, don’t go by your feelings. Feelings can be deceptive. Go by His promise that He is Immanuel—God with us!

Have you heard the story of a groom who approached his pastor almost immediately after his wedding ceremony? He went up to his pastor and said, “Pastor, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” the pastor replied.

The groom said, “You know what, I don’t feel married.”

The pastor grabbed him by the collar and growled, “Listen, boy. You ARE married whether you feel it or not, understand? Just take it by faith that you are married!”

You see, my friend, you can’t go by your feelings. You go by the truth and the truth is this: God promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So the best time to practice His presence is precisely when you feel like Jesus is 100,000 miles away. Remember that feelings aren’t based on truth. God’s Word is truth!

Soon after I graduated from high school, I took on a part-time job to teach in an elementary school where I was placed in charge of a class of 10-year-olds. I remember one day, when I was practicing His presence, I knelt down in my living room and prayed, “Lord, I just thank You that You are always with me.” As I was on my knees, the Lord told me to pray specifically for one of the girls in my class who had been absent from school that day.

Now, it is very common for kids to miss class now and then for various reasons, and I had never been led by the Lord to pray specifically for any of them. This girl was the first! The Lord told me very clearly to pray for His protection to be over this girl and to cover her with His precious blood.

The next day, there was a big commotion in the school and I found out that the girl had been kidnapped by a notorious serial killer that very afternoon when the Lord had told me to pray for her. The killer, Adrian Lim, had kidnapped several children to be offered up as sacrifices to the devil. He believed that Satan would give him power when he offered the blood of these children to him.

Over the next couple of days, this girl from my class was all over our national media because she had been miraculously released. Sadly, she was the only girl released. All the other kidnapped children had been brutally murdered.

When she returned to class, I asked her how she came to be freed. She told me that her kidnapper was “praying” over her when suddenly he stopped and told her, “The gods do not want you.” She was quickly released that evening. Of course, you and I know why the “gods” didn’t want her—she was covered and protected by Jesus’ blood!

Listen to what I am saying here. In America today and around the world, the devil is trying to destroy a new generation because he is afraid that the young people of the new millennium are going to take over the world for Jesus. That is why we have to cover our children with Jesus’ protection.

I am sharing all this with you because I want you to see the importance and power of practicing His presence. As a teacher during that time, my class was my responsibility, just like my congregation is my responsibility today.

Think with me: How in the world, with my finite knowledge and intelligence, could I have known that one of my students was in grave danger? It is not possible! But because the Lord, who knows all things, was with me, He enabled me to make a difference in my student’s life.

Similarly, whatever role or vocation you are in, whether you are a schoolteacher, business leader, or homemaker, I want you to know that Jesus is with you and He wants to make you a success. Now, remember, all this happened to me before I became a full-time pastor, so please don’t think that this unmerited favor from Jesus is only for pastors. Beloved, His unmerited favor is for you. The Lord Immanuel is with you.

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

He Can Make a Way

And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Exodus 14:13–14

I may not understand fully the circumstances you are going through today or the depths of your despair as you watch your loved one fighting to stay alive. But what I do know is this: God loves you more than you can ever comprehend, and He can make a way even when there seems to be no way.

Exodus 14 records how the children of Israel thought they were doomed when the mighty Egyptian army closed in on them. It appeared they would either be slaughtered by the Egyptians or perish in the watery grave of the Red Sea. But read what Moses said to them in the verses above. Then God split open the sea, and the children of Israel “walked on dry land in the midst of the sea” (Ex. 14:29).

But God didn’t stop there. He caused the sea to return to its full depth while Pharaoh’s formidable forces were still in pursuit, and I love how the Bible spells this out: “Not so much as one of them remained” (Ex. 14:28).

Beloved, you or your loved one might be faced with a daunting and seemingly impossible medical situation. All your fretting and tears cannot change your situation, but there is One who can. Do not be afraid.

Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He will fight for you. He will overcome your enemies for you. Don’t keep asking why you have the disease. Don’t accept the disease or believe the lie that you deserve to be sick because of the wrong you have done. The Lord Jesus has already paid the price for your wholeness. Just put your hand in His and let Him lead you through your situation.

He will cause you to walk on dry land in the midst of the sea. The negative reports, medical statistics, and symptoms that you see may spell an inescapable situation, but He will make a way that will stun everyone around you. The Red Sea you thought would drown you will become the burial ground for your enemies instead. You might see them today, but you shall see those oppressive symptoms no more forever!

I see your migraine headaches gone. The inflammation in your joints gone. The paralyzing fatigue gone. The negative report about your unborn baby gone. The blood in your urine gone. Not so much as one of them will remain!

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

Transformed by God’s Favor

The goodness of God leads you to repentance.

Romans 2:4

Let me share with you a testimony of a youth whose life has been wonderfully transformed by the unmerited favor of God. This young man smoked his first cigarette when he was only 9 years old. By the time he was 14, he was already a seasoned gangster, peddling as well as taking drugs, and selling pirated movies.

With the money earned, he would treat his gang members to fancy clothes or meals, and even cover transport expenses for them to congregate for gang fights! At 15, the law caught up with him and he was sent to a boys’ reformatory home where he realized that his life needed to be turned around. And that was when God came into the picture. He said:

The home was where I first encountered God, even though I did not know it was Him then. One of my counselors, a Christian lady, prayed for me and for the first time in my life, I felt that there was “someone” watching over me. I did not think much about it then, but that’s when my heart and my perspective on life began to change.

I started attending New Creation Church (NCC) in September 2005. A friend had invited me to NCC earlier, but I declined. However, one day I happened to oversleep on the train and missed my stop. The platform I got off on was completely deserted, but I noticed a plastic bag left on one of the benches. I looked at its contents to see if I could tell who it belonged to and realized that inside it were actually sermon CDs from NCC!

So even when I didn't want to attend NCC, God sent the church to me! It was no coincidence. It was God-directed! When I played the CDs at home out of curiosity, the presence of God was so real. I experienced such intimacy with God. As I listened to Pastor Prince’s teachings, I knew that this was the God I had always believed in, a God who loves me regardless of who I am or what I do!

Pastor Prince’s teachings have set me free and given me a supernatural strength and passion to do His work. I don’t feel any more bondage when it comes to communicating with God, knowing that He can lead me in every situation.

The most significant change I have experienced has been my inward transformation. I used to have a very bad temper, which got me into a lot of fights because I was easily provoked. Being conscious of His love for me has delivered me from that. I also went from failing in high school to doing well enough in the polytechnic to qualify for a place in a university.

This young man is now a confident, cheerful person with a bright future. He gives talks at schools and at the boys’ reformatory home that he was in to share his journey with the youths and to encourage them. His life has been so incredibly transformed that even a government agency has enlisted him to speak to troubled youths.

He says that ever since Jesus entered His life, he has seen the Lord's grace and favor superabound in his life. Many doors have opened for him and his life has really been enriched, with breakthroughs in areas such as his work, studies, family, and relationships. Let’s give Jesus all the glory!

That’s what our young people need—a revelation of Jesus’ perfect love for them! There is a lost and dying world out there.

My friend, the Ten Commandments cannot be the only thing that youths know about Christianity anymore! How can they help but think that Christianity is nothing but rules, laws, and regulations on what they should or should not be doing? How can they help but imagine God to be someone who is angry with them and looking for opportunities to punish them?

If the young people in your community are to come to Jesus, they will need to know that Christianity is an intimate relationship with a loving God. Once they know this, they will be banging down the doors of churches every Sunday to get in to hear Jesus and His grace preached!

Beloved, I pray that like the young man whose testimony you just read, you will continue to allow Jesus to show you more and more of His perfect love for you every day.

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

Holy Ghost Teacher

 'And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?'

Jesus received His wisdom and knowledge by direct revelation from the Spirit of God rather than by the teachings of man. Jesus had been learning, but not through man. The Holy Ghost was His teacher. Jesus had to be taught the things of God. This looks contrary to Colossians 2:3, which says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus. If Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, why would He have to learn or be taught?

The harmony between these apparently opposite statements is that Jesus' spirit man was 100% God and had all of the wisdom and understanding of God in it, but it was manifest in natural flesh. It wasn't sinful flesh but it was flesh, nonetheless, and had to be educated. Jesus was not taught by man, but He was taught by the direct revelation of the Holy Spirit. The knowledge was within Him but it had to be drawn out.

At the new birth, a born-again man's spirit 'is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him' (Col. 3:10). 'We have the mind of Christ' (1 Cor. 2:16), and 'an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things' (1 Jn. 2:20).

All of these things are a reality in our spiritual man. However, just as Jesus had to be taught, so we must draw this wisdom and knowledge out of our spirits and renew our minds with it (Rom. 12:2). This is one of the main ministries of the Holy Spirit to the believer. Through the new birth, we have received the mind of Christ in our spirit man and are in the process of growing in wisdom by drawing this knowledge out of our spirits and renewing (or reprogramming) our minds. This wisdom has to be drawn out by faith, time spent in the Word, and prayer. Andrew Womack

Know His Will

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

John 10:10

Are you currently battling a medical condition and wondering if the disease is somehow from God? Maybe you think He is punishing you for something you did and that there is a lesson He wants you to learn.

If you have believed any of the lies above, then you have fallen prey to Satan, who is the great deceiver and father of lies (Rev. 12:9, John 8:44 NLT). His modus operandi is to deceive you, and his master strategy is to convince you sickness is actually from God.

I want you to know in no uncertain terms that your heavenly Father loves you, and He wants you well. He does not want your life to be cut short by sickness, and it is never His plan for you or your loved ones to suffer any sickness or disease.

I want you to be very clear on this: there is an enemy who wants to destroy you. Our Lord Jesus said that Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan is a murderer (John 8:44).

When Satan deceived Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, sin came into the world. But man did not just lose his position of righteousness. We also lost our relationship with God and confidence in His heart for us. Fear and condemnation entered, robbing us of our faith and our trust in a good God.

Satan wants to steal from you your health, your youth, and your joy.

He wants to destroy every dream you have cherished and rip you from the embrace of the people in your life. He wants to kill you because he knows there is a call and purpose on your life that only you can fulfill, and he wants to find every way to snuff you out.

Every time you find yourself or your loved ones being robbed, be it of health, finances, or family relationships, God is never behind it. Man was created to enjoy everything God has provided, and that includes health.

Our Lord Jesus said He came that we “may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” When He said this, He wasn’t simply referring to biological life. The Greek word used for life here is zoe, and it refers to the highest form of life, the life God lives by. He does not want you to simply keep breathing. He came to give you a quality of life God Himself possesses, a life that is beyond ordinary human life.

Can you see His heart for you? He wants you to live a long, satisfying life full of His goodness, wholeness, and peace. That is His will for you!

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

Experience His Presence

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.”

Psalm 91:1–2

My friend, today you can experience God’s presence in your life. Say to yourself, “The Lord is with me and I have His favor, blessings, and protection.”

Sense His shadow covering you. His shadow is a picture of nearness. You are not trying to get into the secret place; you are already there in Christ. In Christ, you can’t get any closer to God.

In the Old Testament, God showed Moses, the great patriarch, only His back parts (Ex. 33:22–23). That’s the old covenant—because of man’s failure, God was always departing and the children of Israel only saw His back.

The picture of the new covenant is God sending His only Son, Jesus Christ. It is the picture of the father running toward the prodigal son in spite of his failures. Under the new covenant, we are seated with our heavenly Father in Christ and we see the smile on His face! That is how close you are to God today.

So even if your feelings tell you that God is a million miles away, learn to trust His Word over your feelings. All you need to do is to utter the words “Father” or “Abba,” and immediately you will sense that He is closer than your own breath.

In the same way, even when you don’t seem to feel His presence, you can trust in Him. Trust doesn’t mean that there will be no butterflies in your stomach. Trust means that even though you have the butterflies, you still act on God’s Word.

Whatever it is you are afraid of doing, do it afraid while keeping your trust in the Lord. There are people who are afraid to leave their house, fly on a plane, pursue a new career, start a new friendship, volunteer in a ministry, visit a care group in church, or even show up for work.

Beloved, don’t let fear rule your life. If you’re thinking of embarking on something, most certainly, be led by the Spirit, seek wise counsel, count the cost, and make responsible decisions in your situation. Just don’t allow the butterflies in your stomach to dictate your life.

When you say to the Lord, “In You I trust,” it doesn’t mean you instantly stop feeling any fear. Trust means choosing to act on God’s Word in spite of the fear.

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

He Is with You

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5

If you are facing a medical challenge today, I pray the Lord will impart hope, life, and strength to you. Maybe you have gathered the Communion elements and have started to partake of them. If so, praise the Lord! Keep persevering till you receive your breakthrough.

But maybe you are thinking, I have read so many testimonies, and it feels like everyone else has received their breakthroughs and are experiencing their mountaintops. But where is God in my situation? Am I going to stay in this valley forever?

Beloved, I want you to know He never leaves you nor forsakes you. He is near to those who are brokenhearted (Ps. 34:18), and right now He is drawn to you in your situation as you cry out to Him.

He is both the God of the mountaintops and the God of the valleys (1 Kings 20:28). He is with you even in the valley, and because of that, you can have the confidence that you will get through it (Ps. 23:4).

I really believe knowing the truths about the holy Communion can mean the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones. In fact, I experienced the healing power of the holy Communion as I was writing my book, Eat Your Way to Life and Health.

When my six-year-old son, Justin, fell from a structure in the schoolyard and hurt his head, my wife, Wendy, took him to the hospital for a thorough checkup. The doctors put him through a CT scan and discovered he had fractured his skull. After he started throwing up, a more detailed scan found a second fracture in his skull. They also discovered some bleeding in his skull as well as blood in his middle ear.

It was heart-wrenching for me to watch my little boy crying and clutching his head, twisting and turning in a vain attempt to stop the intense pain. It was also not easy for me to look at the scans and listen to his doctor talk about the possible effect of the injury on Justin’s brain. Fear crept into my heart, and it was truly a fight to remain at rest.

Apart from giving him painkillers and monitoring him, the doctors couldn’t do much for Justin. But Wendy and I knew God could, and during the entire period of his hospitalization, we partook of the Communion with him at least three or four times each day.

Amazingly, every time we partook of the Communion with Justin, his headaches got less painful, and he got better and better. The doctors expected Justin to take at least six weeks to get better, but the Lord so accelerated his recovery that in less than three weeks, they gave him the all clear to return to school. All glory to Jesus!

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

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.