Why a Revelation of Your Forgiveness Is So Important

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

1 John 2:12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Only Grace Brings Lasting Freedom

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

Romans 5:21

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discernment and Wisdom

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

Ephesians 5:15–17 NIV

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

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

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

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

Free from “Am I Doing Enough for God?”

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

Mark 2:22

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Know Your Father’s Heart

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

1 John 4:10 KJV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Final Jigsaw Piece

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

Romans 5:20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Enemy Is Beneath Your Feet

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Luke 10:17–19

In Luke 10, we see our Lord Jesus sending seventy disciples out against the kingdom of darkness, as “lambs among wolves.” Look in today’s scripture at the exchange between the seventy disciples and the Lord Jesus when they returned. My friend, the power and authority our Lord Jesus gave them to operate in is the power and authority we have as believers today!

Romans 16:20 declares that the God of peace will crush Satan underneath our feet! He is a defeated foe. The Bible is very consistent and always puts the devil beneath your feet (Gen. 3:15, Eph. 1:22). You are not at the mercy of the enemy’s attacks. Don’t put him on a pedestal, as if he has power and dominion over you. Remind yourself that in Christ, you are “far above all principality and power and might and dominion” (Eph. 1:21), and every lion and serpent you shall trample underfoot!

We exercise our authority as believers when we go on the offensive against the enemy today. How do we do that? We wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God! Our authority, our strength, and our victory are found in His Word.

Look at how the Bible describes the armor of God: “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:14–17).

Do you see that the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is the only piece of the armor that is offensive? That is why, for every round of attack the devil launched at our Lord Jesus, He fought back with the sword of the Spirit—He used the written Word of God.

When we pray the prayer of protection in Psalm 91, we are praying according to the Word of God and wielding the sword of the Spirit. So no matter what report is roaring at you, be it from doctors, bankers, or from the news media, take your place of authority and lay hold of scriptures for your situation. Fight back with the Word of God!

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

Kill Condemnation at the Root

“. . . for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.”

Matthew 26:28 NLT

There was a time when I did not know what the main function of Jesus’ blood was or why it provided protection. I just covered everything with the blood of Jesus because I knew His blood protects us from the schemes of the devil. But the main reason His blood was shed was for the forgiveness of all our sins. It’s imperative that you understand this because it will give you the confidence to come before the throne of God boldly and see Him as a loving Father.

My friend, “the accuser” will come at various times to make you feel guilty. He will prosecute you for every one of your failures and make you feel unworthy to enter God’s presence. He will bring back every piece of dirty laundry, show you evidence after evidence of your failures, and condemn you for being a hypocrite. While you are trying to deal with stress and fear, the devil goes straight for the deepest root by using the law to heap guilt and condemnation on you. He knows that when you are under condemnation, fear, stress, and all kinds of sicknesses will follow, so he goes straight for the jugular.

What should you do then? You should kill condemnation at its very root and eradicate it from your life. No matter what the devil condemns you of, the truth is that the blood of Jesus has been shed for the forgiveness of all your sins. There is not a sin, not one iota of guilt or condemnation that the devil can throw at you today, that Jesus’ blood has not completely removed.

Iris, who lives in South Africa, has a testimony to share that demonstrates the liberating power of God’s gift of no condemnation. Growing up with alcoholic parents, Iris had suffered sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her father and became an alcoholic herself at age thirteen after her mother was killed in a car accident. Shortly after she was put in a children’s home at age fifteen, she started taking drugs and leading a promiscuous lifestyle.

Later in life, she got married and had three children, but her marriage failed, ultimately leading her into a downward spiral of depression and ill health. By that time, she had been born again but still had no knowledge of the love and grace of God. Only when the Lord showed her what her root problem was did real healing begin to take place:

In church, I went through months of “healing” for my brokenness and yet I couldn’t get out of the ditch I was in. Then one day, sometime in 2011, I tuned in to your television broadcast on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and heard your message about how condemnation is the root of our problems. I listened really carefully and realized that what you said was true. Every problem in my life went back to condemnation. And when I understood that and received the gift of no condemnation from the Lord, I felt, for the first time, so FREE!

From then on, I have been watching your program every night. I am so much better physically, mentally, and spiritually. What years and years of being in church could not do for me, my Daddy God did in a short time by having me watch you on TBN and by my reading your daily devotionals. I can truly say every day is a blessing to me now because of the freedom I am experiencing in so many areas, and I just want to live life giving praise to my Daddy God every day for His words of life and grace that have healed my body, my heart, and my mind. My prayer is that He will give me the same anointing that is on you to impart His love, His favor, and His grace to others.

What a wonderful testimony! My friend, receiving your freedom and breakthrough does not depend on how littered your past is with painful experiences or the mistakes you have made. Like Iris, when you receive Jesus’ grace, love, and life, you can receive the liberty and future you want to see. When you eradicate condemnation from your life, you begin to step into your freedom, healing, and breakthrough.

Beloved, for every failure in thought, word, or deed the enemy brings to your mind, receive this afresh today: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Receiving this truth and being conscious of it every day will cause you to reign over any sin, addiction, depression, or challenge that is holding you captive. When Jesus died on the cross, all your failures were already condemned in His body. Today, you are free to live a victorious life not because of your obedience to the law, but because of your obedience of faith in Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

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

What’s Your Response to the Voice of Accusation?

In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

Isaiah 54:14

It is important for you to be established in the righteousness of Christ, because it will determine how you respond to the voice of accusation when you are believing God for big things, and trusting Him for answered prayers.

“Who do you think you are?”

“Don’t you remember how you yelled at your spouse this morning? Why should God give you favor for your important presentation at the office today?"

“Look at how easily you lose your cool on the road. How can you have the cheek to expect good things to happen to you?”

'You call yourself a Christian? When was the last time you read your Bible? What have you done for God? Why should God heal your child?”

Do these accusations sound awfully familiar? Now, how you respond to this voice of accusation will expose what you really believe. This is the litmus test of what you believe. This is where the rubber meets the road!

A person could think, “Yeah, you are right. I don’t deserve this. How can I expect God’s favor to be on me for my presentation at the office when I was so harsh with my wife this morning?" Now, that's the response of someone who believes that he needs to earn his own righteousness and place of acceptance before God. This person believes that he can expect good from God only when his conduct is good and his own checklist of self-imposed requirements are met to the hilt.

He would probably storm into his office, still seething with anger at his wife. Worst of all, he feels cut off from the presence of Jesus because of his anger and thinks that he does not qualify to ask for God’s favor for his presentation. He steps into the boardroom disheveled and disorganized. He forgets his points and fumbles, causing his company to lose that major account. His bosses are disappointed with him and give him a huge tongue-lashing.

Frustrated and shamed, he drives home like a maniac, sounding his horn at every car that does not move the instant the traffic lights turn green. When he gets home, he is even more upset with his wife because he blames her for putting him in a foul mood in the morning, for his terrible presentation and for the loss of the major account! It’s all HER fault!

Now, see the difference if this person thinks, “Yeah, you are right. I don’t deserve to have God’s favor at all because I lost my temper with my wife this morning. But you know what? I am not looking at what I deserve. I am looking at what Jesus deserves. Even right now, Jesus, I thank You that You see me perfectly righteous. Because of the cross and Your perfect sacrifice, I can expect God's unmerited favor at my presentation. Every one of my shortcomings, even the tone I used this morning, is covered by Your righteousness. I can expect good not because I am good, but because You are good! Amen!”

See the amazing difference? This person is established upon Jesus’ righteousness and not his own right doing or good behavior. He goes to work depending on the unmerited favor of Jesus, and he aces the presentation and clinches a major account for his company. His bosses are impressed by his performance and mark him for the next round of promotion. He drives home with peace and joy, feeling the Father’s love and favor. Consequently, he is more patient with other drivers.

Now, does this mean that he sweeps all his failings under the carpet and pretends that they never happened? No way! This man, full of the consciousness that the Lord is with him, will find the strength in Christ to apologize to his wife for the tone he had used on her. You see, a heart that has been touched by unmerited favor cannot hold on to unforgiveness, anger, and bitterness.

Which of the above accounts demonstrate true holiness? Of course, it is the second account. Depending on God’s favor results in a life of practical holiness. Right believing always leads to right living!

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

Now, Or Then?

'And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.'

John 1:16

The Christian life is not like an insurance policy that only pays off when we die and go to heaven. Every believer has now received the grace of God and the fullness of God. We are now complete in Him (Col. 2:9-10).

When we receive Jesus as our Lord, we are instantly changed in our spirits (2 Cor. 5:17). Many Christians aren't aware of the change that takes place in their spirit. They continue to live within their physical and emotional realms and are oblivious to the new, born-again part of them that has received the fullness of God.

You can't see or feel your spirit. You just have to believe what the Word of God tells you because God's Word is spirit and life (Jn. 6:63). Your spiritual salvation is complete. Nothing can be added to it. In your spirit, you are right now as you will be throughout all eternity (1 Jn. 4:17). PRAISE THE LORD!

To the degree that we will renew our minds to these truths and believe them, we will experience this fullness in this life, for as a man 'thinketh in his heart, so [is] he' (Pro. 23:7).

Pray the prayer of Eph. 1:15-23 and let the Holy Spirit reveal 'Christ in you, the hope of glory' (Col. 1:27). Andrew Womack

Jesus Was God

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

John 1:1

Jesus was not just a man sent from God, He was God.

This is the most important statement of the New Testament. On this truth hangs all other truths.

If Jesus was only a man, then regardless of how good He was, His life could only provide a substitute for one other man. But since He was God, His life was worth more than every human life since creation. Indeed it was worth more than the sum total of the universe that He created.

Any compromise on this point will negate the work of Christ in our lives. Jesus was God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16)!

Let Jesus Save You

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

Do you feel as if you have been toiling hard but not seeing any results? Perhaps you feel as though you are in a dead-end situation in your career. Or perhaps whatever you have been trying to do to save your marriage just isn’t working. Maybe your toil is in the area of your parenting—no matter how much effort you put into reaching out to your child, the relationship just seems to grow colder and more distant by the day.

My friend, now is not the time to give up, but to listen to your wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus. Hear Him. Rather than depend on your experience and expertise, lean in to Him. You are not alone. Listen to Him and do exactly what He tells you to do.

Our Lord Jesus told Peter to let down “your nets”—plural in Luke 5:4. The request didn't make sense to Peter because he and his fishing crew had toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, Peter said, “At Your word I will let down the net”—singular (Luke 5:5). It is no wonder the net began to break and Peter had to call for his friends to come and help him.

Jesus is your very present help in time of need. Whatever your struggle is today, you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that He is with you and knows exactly how to help you.

There are also people who have been laboring relentlessly, trying everything they know to get their lives right and win God’s approval. The more they try, the more distant they feel from Him. The harder they push, the more they feel that they consistently fail and disappoint Him. They are just as exasperated, fatigued, and frustrated as the fishermen who had toiled all night and caught nothing.

My friend, if this describes you, I want you to know that God loves you even with all your imperfections. Yes, in all your failings, in all your mistakes, God still loves you! Come to Him just as you are.

But Pastor Prince, you don’t understand. Let me sort out my life first, then I will come.

My friend, no one tries to clean himself before he takes a bath. Jesus is the bath! Come to Him with all your inadequacies, all your addictions, all your habits, and all your hang-ups, and let Him do what He does best.

Let Him save you and restore you to wholeness! Jesus will transform you with His perfect love.

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

Fresh Grace for Every Failing

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Lamentations 3:22–23 NLT

My friend, every time you fail, there is fresh grace from Jesus to rescue you. Every time you fall short, confess your righteousness in Jesus by faith. I know you probably won’t feel particularly righteous, and that is why you need to say it by faith.

I have received so many testimonies of breakthroughs from people around the world who, even as they succumb to their addictions, would confess, “Even right now, I am the righteousness of God in Christ” and eventually found freedom from their bondages. It could be a smoking addiction or an alcohol or pornography addiction.

Michael, a brother in Australia, happily shared, “I have just given up smoking by following what you’ve taught in your books and DVDs (about being conscious of and confessing my righteousness in Christ) whenever I was tempted to smoke. I have also been set free from twenty years of drug and alcohol abuse and am free of paranoid thoughts. I couldn’t give them up through my own efforts, but through Christ I have.”

The more these people confessed and saw themselves as righteous in Jesus, even in the midst of their failings, the more they came to see their true identity in Christ. The dead leaves began to fall, and they came to the place where they didn’t have any desire to ever smoke another cigarette, drink another drop of alcohol, or visit another pornographic website. New leaves, new flowers, and new fruits unconsciously and effortlessly sprang up in their lives. Grace put an end to the barrenness and torment of winter and ushered in perpetual spring for them.

Beloved, if you are grappling with something right now, stop struggling and start receiving. Start receiving the abundance of the Lord’s unmerited favor. Start receiving the free gift of His righteousness. Start receiving the cleansing power of His forgiveness. There is nothing for you to do but to soak it all up and to allow His resurrection power to drive out every symptom of death and decay in your circumstances and in your life.

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

Gathered Under His Wings

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate.”

Luke 13:34–35

There’s a beautiful picture hidden in verse 4 of Psalm 91. It’s a picture of a mother hen protecting her chicks. The scriptures above record how the Lord Jesus looked at Jerusalem and lamented over it. Later, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, saying, “For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:43–44). The Greek word for “wept” in verse 41 is klaio, and it means to be so affected emotionally as to sob and wail aloud.

Can you see the Lord’s tender mercies toward Israel as He shed much tears over her? He wished that He could gather Israel under His feathers as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but the Lord could not force His protection on them because they rejected Him. I believe that as our Lord wept, He foresaw not only the Roman siege of Jerusalem, when the temple was burned to the ground and many of the Jews killed or sold as slaves, but He also foresaw the horrors of the Holocaust.

Notice that the Lord said, “But you were not willing!” This clearly tells us that the Lord will not force on us His protection if we are not willing to come under His wings.

Beloved, are you willing to have the Lord Jesus protect you and your family today? Then tell Him. Let’s never take our Lord’s protection for granted. Instead, let’s take time daily to let Him know that we are putting our trust in Him for His covering and protection.

Do you want to know what happens when you do that? Look at what Boaz said to Ruth: “The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge” (Ruth 2:12). Wow! It was already a privilege for this Moabite outcast, who was disqualified by the law, to find refuge under the wings of the God of Israel. But God even rewarded her for doing so.

In the same way, it is a privilege for us to be able to take refuge under His wings. Yet when we tell the Lord that we need Him and want His refuge, He gives us a full reward for trusting Him and for coming under His wings. What a God!

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

See Yourself Clothed in Jesus’ Righteousness

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

Romans 10:3

Are you, like some believers today, still rather confused about the gift of righteousness you have received through Christ? Perhaps you’ve heard through conventional theology that although you were made righteous by grace (called “positional righteousness”), you now have to do right and keep the law to continue being righteous. (They call this having “practical righteousness.”)

My friend, this is something that Apostle Paul never taught! Today’s scripture declares that there is only one righteousness of God that we are to submit to. It is clear that Paul is against any teaching that says you have to merit or maintain your own righteousness. You are either righteous or you are not. There is no such thing as first having “positional righteousness” and then having to maintain that through “practical righteousness.” You are the righteousness of God in Christ, period!

There are many believers who are very sincere about keeping the law and establishing their own righteousness, but I’m sorry to say this: they are sincerely wrong. God’s way is by grace. Righteousness cannot be earned by good works. It can only be received as a gift. A gift is no longer a gift if you have to work for it. If I gave you a brand new, dazzling red Ferrari on the condition that you pay me US$20,000 every month until it is all paid up, is the Ferrari really a gift? Of course not! How can it be a gift if you have to pay or work for it? That is double-talk! So stop trying to earn God’s gifts with your own works. His gifts to us are without conditions attached and can only be received by faith.

Many believers are defeated today because they are trying to earn their own righteousness by their law keeping and good works. My friend, start believing that righteousness is a gift because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross for you. All your sins—past, present, and future—have been washed away by His precious blood. You were completely forgiven the moment you received Jesus into your life. You will never be held liable by God for your sins ever again. You have been made as righteous as Jesus not through your behavior, but by faith in Him and His finished work on the cross (Phil. 3:9).

Perhaps you are saying, “But I didn’t do anything to become righteous!” That is exactly right. And Jesus did nothing to become sin. Being clothed with Jesus’ perfect righteousness is a gift that He purchased for you with His own blood! Therefore, righteousness before the Lord cannot be earned. Your righteous standing or right standing before Him can only be received as a gift. Today, your right to be righteous is a blood-bought right! There is nothing you can do that will make God love you more, and there is nothing you can do that will make Him love you less. He loves you perfectly and sees you clothed with Jesus’ righteousness.

My friend, you no longer have to live confused about your standing before God. Know that when God sees you today, He sees you clothed with Jesus’ righteousness. Use your faith to believe that God accepts you and sees you righteous, blessed, favored, and healed. See yourself as God sees you and begin to be set free from every pang of guilt, all forms of condemnation, and every kind of bondage and sin!

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

The Gospel Brings Health and Provision

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

I have had people call me a health and wealth “prosperity gospel” preacher. Actually, there is no such thing as a “prosperity gospel.” There is only one gospel and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus' finished work on the cross, you can depend on Him for His resurrection life to pulsate and flow in your physical body from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. Sicknesses and diseases are not from God. On the cross, Jesus bore not just our sins, but also our sicknesses, diseases, and infirmities, and “by His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5)!

That’s not all, my friend. On the cross, Jesus bore the curse of poverty! This is what the Word of God declares: “For you know the grace [unmerited favor] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Read 2 Corinthians 8 for yourself. The entire chapter is about money and being a blessing financially to those who are in need. So don’t let anyone tell you that the verse is referring to “spiritual” riches. Let me tell you this: It is the devil who wants you sick and poor, but the God I know has paid a heavy price to redeem you from the curse of sickness and poverty!

Let’s understand how God deals with us from the point of relationship. As a parent, how would you teach your child character and patience? With sicknesses and diseases? Of course not! There are institutions where we put such parents! Again, as a parent, how would you teach your child humility? By cursing your child with poverty for the rest of his life? No way! Now, isn’t it amazing how everything becomes crystal clear when we start thinking from the point of view of a parent, and put our own children in the picture?

When you start to think along the lines of relationship, everything will converge and you will begin to see things from God’s perspective. He is our Father who operates on the frequency of relationship, and through His unmerited favor in our lives, we learn character, patience, and humility as we rest from our self-efforts and depend on Him. The more we know our Father, the more we become like Him. This is how God causes us to grow from glory to glory in every area of our lives. It is simply by beholding Him (2 Cor. 3:18)!

You know that as parents, we always seek the best things for our children. How much more would our Father in heaven want the best things for us, His precious children? In the same way that you want your children to be healthy, God wants you to enjoy His divine health. And in the same way that you want your children to always have more than enough, God wants you to enjoy His supernatural provision.

When He provides, get ready for a net-breaking, boat-sinking load (Luke 5:6-7). Get ready for twelve baskets full of leftovers (John 6:13)! The Bible puts things in perspective most clearly in Matthew 7:11—If you then, as imperfect parents, “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”!

My friend, get this right: God abhors sickness and He loathes poverty. He gave everything He had to annihilate sickness and poverty, when He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us. He placed all of humanity’s sin, as well as the curse of sickness and poverty on the body of Jesus. All you need to do right now is respond to Jesus' finished work—your sins have already been forgiven. Your physical body will be healed and your poverty will indeed be history!

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

Are You Trying to Fix Yourself?

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Matthew 5:17 NIV

I can never emphasize this enough: Christianity is about having a relationship with a loving God. My friend, it is when you get a revelation of God’s desire to have a personal, loving relationship with you and how Jesus has forever made secure this relationship that real transformation from the inside out begins to happen to you.

Listen to how this revelation led fifty-year-old Jarvis, whose personal life was a daily struggle, to his breakthrough:

I have gone to church for as long as I can remember. I have run the sound at church for nine years, painted, cleaned, donated time, and done everything I was able to. I gave my 10 percent and more. I also sang praises, read books, and spoke in tongues. I did all this and yet was miserable. I lived in lack, had no confidence, and had no relationship with Jesus. I always wondered what was wrong with me.

My friends in church were like me too and we all acted as if life was wonderful when, in fact, it was the complete opposite. In the end, I was mentally and physically drained with all things concerning God. I read numerous books on how to fix ME. I prayed and had people pray for me but nothing changed! I thought that I had a problem and even wondered if I had a mental issue. I felt like the worst husband and father even though I love my wife and have the two greatest kids in the world.

One day, just before going to bed, I discovered your television program. I saw only three minutes of preaching before your broadcast ended, but I heard enough to want to know more. I picked up my Kindle Fire and typed in “Joseph Prince.” I downloaded a free preview of one of your books, read one chapter, and bought the book.

I read three chapters that night and was SET FREE before I went to bed. I have never experienced anything like this in my entire life. “The law has been fulfilled by Christ . . .” Oh man, GLORY TO GOD! What a blessing this book has been.

My life is forever changed. I am back to reading the Word, worshipping with CDs, and praying in the Spirit. I’m in love with Jesus, I am on FIRE, and I am not a fake trying to impress others. I have an intimate relationship with Jesus that I didn’t know was possible and that has been the greatest blessing of all. I know my life will never be the same!

I pray you will discover, as Jarvis did, that the answer to your struggles does not lie in you trying to fix yourself. If you go down this route, you will never see an end in sight.

The truth is, because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, nothing you have or have not done can hijack or derail the loving relationship God wants you to have with Him. Let this truth sink into your heart and begin to enjoy a relationship with your heavenly Father where you can freely receive His love and grace for you.

All your fears, confusion, and struggles to receive from Him will come to an end. You won’t be struggling to love Him. Instead, your heart will be fired up with love for Him, and like Jarvis, you will know and see how your life will never be the same!

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

Hear God’s Beloved Son

And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”

Luke 9:35

In the accounts of what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we see how our Lord Jesus brought His disciples, Peter, James, and John, up a high mountain to pray.

Scripture tells us that “as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white” (Luke 9:29 NLT). Then two of the most illustrious figures in the Jewish faith, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. Imagine the disciples’ shock and awe when they saw these two great men—one representing the law and the other representing the prophets—appearing with Jesus in glory!

Peter, feeling he had to say something but not knowing what to say, blurted, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”.

Now, Peter didn’t realize that by saying this, he was putting Jesus on the same level as Moses and Elijah, and the Father had to correct Peter. While Peter was still speaking, a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” When the disciples heard this, they hit the ground, greatly afraid. Jesus came over to them, touched them, and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid” (Matt. 17:7). When they dared to look up, they saw no one but the Lord.

Now, imagine this: you’ve just been overshadowed by the bright cloud of the shekinah glory of God and heard the Father say from heaven, “Hear My Son, Jesus!” As you are facedown on the ground, absolutely terrified, don’t you wonder what Jesus will say? What His first words will be? Then the Lord Jesus comes over to you, touches you in assurance and warmth, and says, “Arise, and do not be afraid.”

Isn’t that so beautiful? His first words when His disciples were terrified were not words pertaining to a new law or commandment. They were words of grace. And in those words, you see the nature of our Lord. His presence and His words will always lift you up—spirit, soul, and body—when you are feeling down or in fear.

Going back to the story, I want you to note what the Father said: “Hear Him,” not “Hear them.” On that mount of our Lord’s transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were standing right there together with Jesus. Who was Moses? The lawgiver. Who was Elijah? Not just an Old Testament prophet, but also the law-restorer (in the Old Testament, when Israel went after other gods, Elijah came to the people as the restorer of the law).

Do you see that for the believer, the law of Moses has served its purpose to bring man to the end of himself? The prophets have also served their purpose of reminding man of God’s laws. Both have served their purposes. Now it is the day of grace. It is the day of the Son of God—not the servants of God, but the Son of God Himself.

Unfortunately, there are many believers today who put Jesus—grace—on the same level as the law of Moses. They see themselves as law-restorers and fight for the law of Moses to be restored. But that’s not the heart of the Father. This is why the Father spoke and said, “Hear Him.”

I believe that people who advocate bringing back the law of Moses don’t realize that by the law is not the knowledge of holiness or God, but the “knowledge of sin”! Look at Romans 3:20–22:

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

Notice that in the above passage, Apostle Paul also says, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed”. Do you want to live in the now or in the past? And do you want the latest revelation from God? Well, the latest revelation from God is grace! It’s the revelation of the righteousness of God given to you as a gift apart from the law, and this revelation came through the Son. This is why Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets) were both witnesses to how we are to “Hear HIM,” the Son—grace alone for that is what will lift you up today.

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

Stand Still

“Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. . . You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

2 Chronicles 20:15, 17

When King Jehoshaphat and the small tribe of Judah were besieged on all fronts by 3 powerful and bloodthirsty armies rapidly advancing toward Jerusalem (2 Chron. 20), the king set himself to seek the Lord and pray with hope before all the assembly of Judah. It was then that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, who spoke the words of the Lord that we read in today’s scripture. On hearing these words of hope, all Judah humbled themselves before the Lord, bowing before Him and worshiping Him.

Today the Lord is saying the same words to you in your situation. Hope in Him for He loves you! You don’t have to live in fear and discouragement when you know that the battle is not yours, but the Lord’s. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The battle is His, and you will not need to fight in it.

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? The best thing you can do is to stand still. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord in your situation.

But Pastor Prince, if I stand still, nothing will happen!

My friend, standing still is not inactivity or doing nothing. It’s a posture of hope, and it involves keeping your hope anchored on the person of Jesus and having a sure and confident expectation of good. When the marauding armies of Pharaoh were charging toward the children of Israel, hell-bent on annihilating them, Moses simply declared to the terrified Israelites, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exod. 14:13). The Hebrew word for salvation is yeshua, which is actually the name of Jesus. So salvation is the person of Jesus, and He is with you.

When you are caught in a hopeless situation, learn to position yourself— stand still and see the saving power of Jesus work on your behalf. He will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5). And as you center yourself, your thoughts, your beliefs, and your hopes on Him, He will lead you concerning what to do, just as He led Jehoshaphat to a triumphant victory over his enemies.

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

The Two Greatest Commands

'Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'

Matthew 22:36

Jesus revealed that all of the Old Testament laws were designed to instruct us how to love God and love others. Therefore, the two commands that dealt directly with loving God and others (Lev. 19:18 and Dt. 6:5) were the most important.

The religious leaders had become so obsessed with keeping every minor detail of the law that they had lost sight of its ultimate purpose. They neither loved God nor their fellow man, yet they thought they were keeping the law.

The same thing is happening today. Some of the cruelest acts of men towards their fellow men have been done in the name of the Lord by people who thought they were defending God's holy commandments. If we violate one of the two greatest commandments in an effort to enforce some other commandment, then we are misapplying God's Word.

The Old Testament law and the New Testament concept of grace both compel men to love God and their fellowmen. However, the motivations to this end are different. The Old Testament law motivated through fear of punishment. The New Testament grace motivates through unconditional love.

It is possible to display actions of holiness, but not love God. It is impossible for God's kind of love not to produce holiness. Holiness is a fruit, not a root, of loving God. Andrew Womack