Our Unshakable Foundation

If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! . . . But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:17, 20–22

The apostle Paul proclaims Jesus Christ is risen from the dead in today’s scripture! And because He is risen, you are no longer in your sins. Jesus’ resurrection is the living proof that all your sins have been completely and totally forgiven.

Our forgiveness is not contingent upon us and what we have or have not done, so no one can boast that they earned their forgiveness through their own efforts. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).

Through faith in Jesus’ finished work at the cross, we have received the gift of salvation. When something is a gift, it means that you cannot work for it, earn it, or merit it. A gift is lavished upon the recipient by the giver, and Jesus gave of His own life to ransom yours.

But Pastor Prince, I don’t deserve forgiveness.

You are absolutely right. We deserved punishment for all the sins we have committed and will commit in our lifetime. We deserved death, but Jesus took that death for us and gave us eternal life. He took what we deserved and gave us what we didn’t deserve. That is why we are saved by grace—His unmerited, unearned, and undeserved favor—through faith.

Now, always remember this: How are you saved? By grace through faith. How have all your sins been forgiven? By grace through faith. How have you been made righteous? By grace through faith. This is your unshakable foundation, built upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Don’t allow any teaching to diminish the cross of Jesus in your life and make salvation, forgiveness, and righteousness things you have to work at in order to maintain and keep. You received salvation, forgiveness, and righteousness by grace through faith in Jesus’ finished work, and they are secured by His obedience to the Father at the cross:

“Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

—Romans 5:18–19

Righteousness is not about right doing. Righteousness is about right believing. You are made righteous in God’s eyes when you believe or put your faith in Christ and His sacrifice for you. It is through Jesus’ obedience that we have been made righteous and justified from all our sins. Justification is our Lord Jesus removing all the guilt and penalty of sin and proclaiming that we have been made righteous by His shed blood.

Beloved, when you are buffeted by the voice of accusation and condemnation over your failures, believe and learn to declare that you are saved, forgiven, made righteous (justified) by grace through faith in Christ. You’ll see His favor, wisdom, power, and every benefit of His finished work released into your situation to turn everything around for His glory.

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

The Secret of David

And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Colossians 1:17–18

Have you ever wondered why God called David “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22)? What made him so special, and how can we also be a man or woman after God’s heart?

I believe David was special because he got hold of something that was of the greatest importance to God’s heart. He got hold of a divine thought and objective in God’s heart and made a vow to God in the wilderness to bring back the ark of the covenant to its rightful place among God’s people in Jerusalem (Ps. 132:1–5). Because David placed such importance on bringing back the ark, God considered him a man after His own heart.

For more than twenty years, King Saul had left the ark in a hilly place called Kirjath Jearim (1 Sam. 7:2). So David made it his passion to bring the ark to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, for the Lord had chosen Zion (which represents God’s grace, as opposed to Mount Sinai, which represents His law) as His dwelling place. God Himself said of Zion, “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it” (Ps. 132:14).

When you understand the typology of the ark of the covenant, you will see that bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem is the same as bringing Jesus Christ back into a place of prominence and making Him and His finished work the center of all our teaching and preaching and lives.

This was the secret to David’s blessings. He pursued the ark of the covenant and God called him a man after His own heart. Today, you too can be a man or woman after God’s own heart. You can pursue Jesus and bring Him back into the center of your life. Make Jesus the centerpiece of every aspect of your life.

When Gillian from New Jersey and her husband started doing this, not only did it make their relationship stronger, but one blessing after another came into their lives. Round about the time they were introduced to the gospel of grace through my television broadcast, Gillian and her husband were struggling to conceive after being childless for all eleven years of their married life. They had tried all means, including in vitro fertilization, and Gillian was finally told that between her system being “so messed up” and her husband being diagnosed with a low sperm count, diabetes, and other diseases, they could never have a child on their own.

“But we watched you every morning,” Gillian told me, “and as we listened, we got a better and better understanding of God’s grace. Your sermons always teach us to put Jesus in the center of our lives, and so we started doing that. We began to believe that Jesus has paid the full price for us to have whatever we need through Him. We would see Him and His finished work in our relationship with each other and in our challenges.”

Well, as Gillian gave the Lord center place by giving heed to the hearing of His Word, she heard me speak in one of my sermons of an anointing to have children. She shared, “Instantly, I believed it and received it into my spirit. Pastor Prince, I am now six weeks pregnant. What medical science could not do, our beautiful Savior did! Praise the Lord! Not only that, but God has also been increasing my business to the extent that I need new equipment now, and I have no doubt He will supply it all. We know we are truly God’s beloved.”

What an awesome testimony! My friend, like Gillian and her husband, make Jesus, His finished work, and His grace, the center of everything in your life. Make Him the center of your marriage, family, career, and finances, and allow the fullness of His blessings to flow in your life today!

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

More with You Than Against You

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:4

When you or a loved one faces a frightening medical condition, questions for which you have no answers can often overwhelm your mind.

What are we going to do? How long do I have? Who will look after my kids? How am I going to afford the treatment? Will I ever be the same? Why me?

What can you do when your thoughts are completely out of control and you can only imagine the worst is coming?

The Bible records the following account in 2 Kings 6 for our encouragement. Israel’s enemies were so desperate to capture the prophet Elisha that they sent a great army with horses and chariots by night and surrounded the city where he was staying. When Elisha’s servant woke up and saw this army, he despaired and cried out in fear, “What shall we do?”

May I invite you to read for yourself what happened next?

“So he [Elisha] answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

—2 Kings 6:16–17

It may feel like a formidable army of symptoms, negative reports, and maybe even financial debt has surrounded you. But, beloved, do not fear, for those who are with you are so much more than those who are with them.

Right now, I pray that the Lord will open your eyes so you might see the legions of angels stationed around you. Take your eyes off your enemies. The ability of your enemies to hurt you is nothing compared to the greatness of your God and His power to save you.

Take your eyes off the enemy so you may see the exceeding greatness of God’s power toward you. The same mighty power that raised our Lord Jesus from the grave, the same power that seated Him at God’s right hand in the heavenly places—far above all principalities, power, might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come (Eph. 1:19–21)—is working for you and for your loved one!

Is human papillomavirus a name? Is bacterial meningitis a name? Is Parkinson’s disease a name? Then it has to yield to Jesus, who is seated at the Father’s right hand, far above the diseases. And because you are in Christ today, as He is, so are you in this world (1 John 4:17)!

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

Slay Your Dragons

And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.

Acts 14:8–10

Beloved, if you want to have faith for your breakthrough, make sure you are hearing and believing right about God through the word of Christ. By the way, in Romans 10:17, it is the word of Christ, not the word of God, as written in some Bible translations.

The Greek word used here is Christos for Christ. What’s the difference? The word of Christ refers to the word of the new covenant, the word of His grace.

In the book of Acts, the apostle Paul says, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

What is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among the saints? It is the word of His grace or the word of Christ. The Bible exhorts us to “let the word of Christ [Christos] dwell in you richly in all wisdom” (Col. 3:16).

So if you’re feeling discouraged, I encourage you to keep hearing messages full of the grace and finished work of our Lord Jesus as was proclaimed by the apostle Paul. This was what the crippled man in today’s scripture did.

Whatever your circumstances, keep hearing about how your sins have all been forgiven through Christ and how you are today the righteousness of God in Christ. Whatever the prognosis you’ve heard, keep hearing about how much God loves you and wants to be a loving Father to you, to watch over you, provide for you, and deliver you from all your fears and afflictions.

My friend, when you give priority to this daily, you will have the word of Christ dwelling richly in you. And it is this word of His grace that will impart faith and hope to you.

When you know God’s love for you, it will cause you to run to Him instead of hiding from Him. His love upon you and in you will make you strong. It will cause you to overcome every temptation and fear, slay your giants, and live life with greater boldness and victory!

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

Your Refuge and Fortress

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.”

Psalm 91:2

What are you saying of the Lord today? If you are saying He gave you the trouble you are presently in or an illness to teach you humility, it’s time to change what you believe about Him. If you really believe that God is the author of your problems, would you really be running to Him for help?

My friend, let’s be like the psalmist who declared, “I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust’.”

The Hebrew word for “refuge,” machaceh, refers to a shelter from storms and danger. This shelter is like the bunkers that many Jews have in their homes in Israel today to shelter them from small-scale attacks. In the figurative sense, when you say the Lord is your machaceh, you are also declaring that He is your place of hope.

The Lord is also your fortress. In Hebrew, the word used for “fortress” is matsuwd. It refers to a castle or stronghold, a place of defense and protection against large-scale attacks. Isn’t that a beautiful picture? Whatever you might be going through right now, you can declare that the Lord is your refuge and your fortress—your protection in both small as well as big attacks.

Perhaps you have not been saying that God is behind your troubles. Perhaps you are not saying anything about the Lord at all. Perhaps God seems far away and you feel cut off from Him.

If that is you, can I encourage you to take a break today from whatever you have on your busy to-do list, and simply take time to dwell in His sweet presence? God is not distant; sometimes we are just too distracted to hear His voice or sense His loving presence.

Take a moment and see yourself in His secret place. Abide under His shadow. Savor His favor. Receive His wisdom. And find rest for your troubled soul. The feeling of being distant from God is only a feeling, nothing more. He has promised in His Word that He will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).

Our Lord Jesus paid for you to have access to God’s constant presence. At the cross, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” when God turned His back on Him (Matt. 27:46). He took our place and was rejected by God when He carried our sins so that today, we can take His place of being in the constant presence of the Father and take Him as our refuge and fortress.

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

Jesus Is Interested in Your Success

Let the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.

Psalm 35:27

Do you believe that Jesus is interested in your success?

Take a moment to reflect on this.

My friend, I want you to know that Jesus delights in blessing you. It is His good pleasure to see you blessed in every area of your life!

Now, don’t put a limit on His blessings in your life. The blessings of the Lord are not (as some may erroneously believe) just seen in material things. Jesus is infinitely interested in your total well-being. He is interested in your family, career, fulfillment in life, marriage, ministry, and boy, does the list go on!

When it comes to your desires, hopes, and dreams, there is no detail that is too minuscule, minute, or insignificant for Jesus. Trust me, if it matters to you, it matters to Him!

Even if you go to Him in prayer to remove that small pimple on your nose, He is not going to look at you and reply mockingly, “Hey buddy, don’t you know that I’ve got a whole universe to run? Come to Me when you have a bigger prayer request.”

No way! A thousand times no! Jesus will never ridicule or deride your concerns as petty. He is never dismissive or condescending. He is not like some of your so-called “friends,” who may delight in poking fun at your shortcomings. If it bothers you, it “bothers” Him.

You are important to Jesus. Know with full assurance in your heart that Jesus knows you perfectly, and yet accepts and loves you perfectly. When you begin to understand that, you will realize that it is truly that unmerited favor, that favor from Jesus that you know you do not deserve, did not merit, and cannot earn for yourself, that will perfect every imperfection and weakness in your life.

If you are facing challenges, such as lack in any area, addictions, fears, sicknesses, or broken relationships, Jesus’ unmerited favor will protect, deliver, prosper, bring restoration to, and provide for you. His unmerited favor will transform you into wholeness, and it is the goodness of God, not your striving and self-efforts, that will lead you to live victoriously for His glory.

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

God Loves You Perfectly

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Romans 5:8–9

God is a God of forgiveness. He knows you perfectly and still loves you perfectly. We are slaves to the idea that if someone sees our flaws, they won’t love us anymore. Well, while that may be true in human relationships, God is not like that.

God sees all our imperfections, failings, and flaws on Jesus at the cross. Our sins and ugliness do not turn Him off. In fact, to Him they are occasions to demonstrate His grace and forgiveness through the blood of His Son, who has removed all our sins efficaciously at Calvary.

So don’t be embarrassed about your flaws, mistakes, and imperfections. God knows your weaknesses better than you do, and He loves you just the same. His Word reminds us that Jesus is not someone “who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.” Instead, Jesus was tempted in all points, yet He was without sin (Heb. 4:15).

He understands every temptation and every trial that you are going through. He is not disappointed with you, and He is not waiting for you to live up to a set of dos and don’ts before He forgives and loves you. The Bible says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:8–9).

Did you get that? When did God love you?

That’s right, when you were still a sinner. Before you even knew Him, when you were still in sin, He already loved you. How much more today, when you have been cleansed by Jesus’ blood and made righteous! Having received Jesus’ righteousness, you are righteous forever. Even when you fall into sin, your sins don’t make you a sinner again.

When you fall short today, you are still the righteousness of God. This is because your righteousness comes from Jesus. In the same way that a beautiful butterfly cannot morph back into a caterpillar, once you have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus, you cannot morph back into a sinner. Knowing your righteous identity in Him then gives you the power to overcome every sin, every addiction, and every bad habit!

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

The Born Again Experience

'Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel,

and knowest not these things?'

John 3:10

The Greek word translated 'master' here actually means, 'an instructor, doctor, teacher'. Nicodemus was a very educated man in religious matters, yet he didn't have the slightest idea what Jesus was talking about.

Nicodemus' relationship with God had all been academic. He knew a lot about God, but he didn't know God personally. Jesus had a union with God that was unique and Nicodemus was intrigued. God was Jesus' father. This was foreign to Nicodemus.

Jesus had not been educated by man and yet He knew God in a way that the theologians and seminary graduates of His day didn't. He shocked Nicodemus when He told him that the only way to truly know God was through an experience of becoming born again.

The number one thing that sets Christianity apart from religion is this born again experience. We don't just have a different doctrine than the others. We have been born from above. We have Jesus Himself living in our hearts. Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. We truly fellowship with God as our father. A man with a born again experience is never at a loss when confronted by a man with an argument. Andrew Womack

Experience Perfect, Unconditional Love

Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Psalm 34:8 NLT

Beloved, just because you don’t know the Bible from cover to cover, don’t be intimidated by learned theologians who use very high-sounding theological words to try to dismiss the gospel of glorious grace.

The gospel is so simple that even fishermen such as Peter could grasp it, and yet it could also confound intellectual scholars such as Nicodemus (John 3:1–10). The learned Nicodemuses of today might hear the gospel of grace preached and leave wondering, “How can these things be?”

In contrast, the woman at the well in John 4, who encountered Jesus and His grace, couldn’t help but proclaim, “Come, see a Man!” and point people to the Savior! Today the grace revolution is led by precious people just like the woman at the well.

We have received so many testimonies of how imperfect people have risen up to become evangelists of the gospel of grace. They may not be as qualified as the Nicodemuses of this world, but what they do have is a life transformed and restored after an authentic encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Edwina is another case in point. Although she was born again when she was sixteen, every church she attended taught her she had to keep God’s laws to please Him. Believing that God was just waiting for her next wrongdoing in order to condemn her, she became rebellious, started having premarital sex, had an abortion, and ended up attempting suicide more than once. She shared:

I got married and had kids at a young age. When I got older, I tried my best to keep my life in order. I attended church, stayed true to my husband, and worked hard. But my husband was a womanizer, heavy smoker, gambler, drug addict, and an alcoholic. To keep him away from drugs, I sent him to work in Singapore.

When I eventually joined him there, he was in huge debt, still an alcoholic, and had a few girlfriends. I felt that he only wanted me to help pay his debt and it was not worthwhile to remain faithful. I started an online chat relationship that led to an affair. I felt wanted again but it just didn’t feel right.

Devastated, I cried out to God. Then, I remembered that my pastor in the Philippines had mentioned New Creation Church. So I attended a service with my husband and I cried throughout the sermon.

Pastor Prince shared how Jesus loved the woman caught in adultery unconditionally, giving her the gift of no condemnation to empower her to stop sinning. It was the first time I heard about a God who doesn’t condemn me.

I kept returning to New Creation Church, with or without my husband. I also listened to Pastor Prince’s sermons on my way to and from work. Not only did my affair come to an end, but Jesus also turned the water into wine in my marriage.

I now love my husband even more than before, and my husband also loves me. He has quit smoking, gambling, and drinking. We believe his debt cancellation is also on the way, in Jesus’ name!

I’m now so in love with Jesus and feel comfortable in His presence, whether I’ve done good or not. And I’m seeing more right living in my life now. I’m more honest and loving. I don’t boast in myself, but I boast in what the Lord has done in me.

Thank you, Pastor Prince, for being faithful in preaching the truth. And thank You, Lord Jesus, for loving me.

Beloved, as He did with the woman at the well and with Edwina, the Lord knows everything about you—every failure, every sin, and every shortcoming. Yet He still loves you with an everlasting love, a love that is completely unconditional, a love that nailed Him to the cross.

The truth is that you are, right now, the righteousness of God through Jesus’ precious blood. You can have a true and intimate relationship with THE LORD YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The enemy may have stolen the intimacy and closeness between you and the Lord, but I want you to know that God is restoring relationships today. The grace revolution is a revolution of restoration—and the grace revolution is here.

As our heavenly Father has promised, He is setting up shepherds all around the world who are preaching THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. And His precious people shall no longer be fearful, no longer be discouraged, and no longer be lacking.

Right now I pray that as you receive the good news of the gospel of grace, you are being set free from every bondage that is weighing you down. In the name of our Lord Jesus, I see you healed from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. I see you freed from that secret addiction that has held you captive for years. I see you whole in all your relationships. Amen!

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

Be a Giant Slayer

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.”

1 Samuel 17:45–46

Beloved, start practicing God’s love for you and it will translate into victories in your daily life. I am sure you are familiar with the story of how a young shepherd boy named David came against an ugly bully of a giant named Goliath and defeated him. I want you to know that this can be your story and testimony too.

There are no insignificant details in the Bible. Even the names in the Bible carry secrets for our benefit. The name “Goliath” comes from the Hebrew root word, galah, which means “to exile.”

To be exiled is to be stripped of everything you are and everything you own. So Goliath’s name essentially means that he had been stripped of everything—an exile. What a name! Goliath is a picture of the devil as he really is—stripped of all his weapons against us because of the cross (Col. 2:15).

The name “David” on the other hand means “beloved.” The battle in the valley of Elah was thus a battle between a beloved of God and a stripped exile.

Now, catch this revelation: it takes someone who knows that he is the beloved of God to bring down a giant! This is the secret of becoming a giant slayer!

It doesn’t matter what your giant is today. It could be a marital problem or financial situation. Begin to see that you are God’s beloved and your giants will come tumbling down.

My friend, God loves you. You are His beloved child regardless of what you have or have not done. He loves you as you are because the truth is that you have been washed whiter than snow with the blood of Jesus.

Live every day by these words from your loving Father in heaven: “You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” His favor is all over you, whether you are with your family, or in your workplace, and in everything that you do. You are a blessing everywhere you go.

If God did not withhold His Son from you, why would He withhold healing, financial provision, protection, peace of mind, and all the other blessings from you? When the Almighty God is your loving Father and you are His beloved child, what fears can you have?

Fear of the past, the present, and the future? Fear of not having enough? Fear of sickness? Fear of death? Fear of punishment?

Beloved, when you have a revelation of how much God loves you and that He sees you completely righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ, all your fears will dissipate, for if God is for you, who can be against you (Rom. 8:31)?

Are there giants in your life that need to be slain? Look away from your circumstances and call out without fear to your Father. He loves you and will never judge or condemn you! He loves you with an everlasting love.

It is not enough to know that God loves everyone. You need to know and believe that He loves you, and let that revelation warm and anchor your heart in His grace, especially when you fail.

And as you keep on feeding on His love for you, His love will start overflowing in you, and you will receive from Him exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think! With God on your side, nothing is impossible!

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

The Best That Heaven Has

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Luke 12:32

Our Lord Jesus went into a synagogue on the Sabbath, and a man was there with a withered hand. The Pharisees were looking for opportunities to accuse Jesus of wrongdoing, so they challenged Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

Our Lord answered, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand,” and restored it as whole as the other (Matt. 12:9–13).

This is what I want you to know: when someone is sick, the Lord never faults and condemns the person. He sees the person as a sheep that has fallen into a pit and needs rescuing.

If you are dealing with a medical condition, don’t allow the accuser to disqualify you from receiving your healing by telling you things like, “You should have watched your diet” or “You should have exercised more.” Even if you were at fault, the Lord Jesus can heal you, and He is most willing to.

That doesn’t mean you neglect wisdom in taking care of your health. If you allow Him to, the Lord can lead you even in practical matters like what to eat and how to exercise. The key here is not to pay attention to the voice of shame, condemnation, and accusation. Listen instead to the voice of your Shepherd coming to rescue you!

Our Good Shepherd says He gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11). But do you know the context of this verse? Let me show you:

“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. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”

—John 10:10–11

Even though He is our Shepherd, He laid down His life as the Lamb of God. Revelation 5:12 declares, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.”

Why does God use the picture of the Lamb and not the Shepherd in the sacrifice? Because God wants you to see that Jesus died in your place. He, the Good Shepherd, became the Lamb of God for you.

You can have life more abundantly not because you deserve it but because He gave His life for yours. He took your sicknesses and your pains and gave you His wholeness and His health.

Today hear your Lord Jesus saying to you, “Do not fear, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Whatever condition you might be faced with, you can believe you will see the full manifestation of your healing. Keep partaking of the Tree of Life through the holy Communion and allow His abundant life to flood your body each time you partake.

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

Your Fears and Anxieties Dissipate in God’s Presence

The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD.

Psalm 97:5

No matter where you are, the Lord is with you. Even in the midst of your fears, while you are alone in your room, He is there with you.

The moment you begin to be aware of His presence and cultivate His presence, all your fears, anxieties, and worries will melt like butter on a hot day, or as the psalmist David puts it, “The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD.”

You cannot psych yourself out of fear nor can you psych yourself out of worry. You can’t just tell yourself, “Come on, stop worrying. There is nothing to worry about.”

It just doesn’t work. The debt will still be staring you in your face and your problems will still be as insurmountable as ever no matter how hard you try to psych yourself up. That is what the world is trying to do, but it does not work. It takes the presence of the Lord to keep you free from worry.

Jesus is not asking you to psych yourself up and live in a state of denial. No way! He is saying to you, “In the midst of your affliction, I am your shield. I am your defender. I am your fortress. I am your refuge. I am your supply. I am your healing. I am your provider. I am your peace. I am your joy. I am your wisdom. I am your strength. I am the glory and the lifter of your head!” (Psalm 3:3). Amen!

He is not asking you to pretend that the facts are not there. He wants you to realize that HE IS THERE WITH YOU!

When you know that He is with you and for you, and you put your problems in His mighty hands, you will begin to get a more accurate evaluation of just how “big” your problems are. When they were in your hands, the weight and burden of your problems may have crushed you. But when you involve Jesus, the once-monumental problems become microscopic against the largeness of His love and goodness toward you!

Today, as you consider all that you need to do and the expectations placed on you, see Jesus there with you. He is your supply, wisdom, peace, and strength.

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

Message from Amir Tsarfati

There’s a global suspense all around us, but we know who the Messiah is. We have the peace. We have the joy of our salvation. We have the Holy Spirit. We have a new heart. The only thing that is not new, the only redemption that is still left, is the redemption of our body because He needs to finish that work, and that will happen very fast. Keep on taking care of yourself. I’m not saying don’t. But this is not what’s going to be in heaven. Okay? I will barely recognize you up there, but I want you to know that for us, the suspense is over. For us, it’s over. Don’t be frantic. Don’t be like someone who is all day long looking for when, for the day, for the... All you need to live life like right now is with that readiness, the expectancy, and to eagerly wait for His return. And this is why in Revelation 22:20, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen.” And now we say, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Many today have a negative perception of Christianity because, in their minds, they see it as a list of “thou shalt nots”. Therefore, it is restrictive to pursuing their desired behaviors. Peter even made this observation about how they view us as followers of Christ:

1 Peter 4:4
In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

The word dissipation means “unsavedness”. In other words, the world will think it strange that we don’t do what they do, and they will call us evil for not participating with them in those things. Think about how this applies today. The pro-life group is viewed as a threat to women’s health, although it is the pro-choice crowd who are actually the guilty party in that accusation. The believers of the biblical definition of the sanctity of marriage are viewed as bigots and haters. 

We are viewed as narrow-minded fools bound by the content of a fictional book supposedly authored by a nonexistent God. The reality is that the opposite is actually true. We are not bound; we are the most free people on the planet. 

John 8:36
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

We are free from worry about the future because we already know it. We are free from ignorance about what happens after you die, for Jesus has proven it. We are free from the fear of wars and rumors of wars that dominate the media and the minds of the masses in these last days, because we know the ultimate outcome of them all. God wins!

Philippians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

We are even free from living under the anxieties created by the perilous times in which we now live. We are so free from these things that we have peace that the world cannot understand.

We also know that there is coming a transition for us as we move from this life to the next. New bodies await us that will never grow old nor will they fight against our flesh’s desire to rule our decisions and actions.

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

In these crazy times we need to remember that Jesus said He is coming suddenly. For us, it seems likely it is very soon! When He does come, in a moment and twinkling of an eye, we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is!

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,

Jesus Comes to You in Your Valley

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Genesis 14:18–20

I don’t know what valley you are in right now, but I want to share a powerful picture in the Bible that I pray will encourage you.

Every time something is mentioned in the Bible for the first time, it is always significant. Do you know where you find the bread and the wine of the Communion mentioned together for the first time? It’s there in today’s scriptures.

Who is Melchizedek? The Bible tells us that our Lord Jesus is “a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 7:17). Many scholars believe he is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. But it is clear that Melchizedek is a type of Christ.

Melchizedek was the king of Salem, which means “peace.” But Salem means much more than peace. It also means “complete, safe, perfect, whole, and full.”

Melchizedek met Abram in the Valley of Shaveh, or the King’s Valley (Gen. 14:17). The King’s Valley is actually in the Kidron Valley. Kidron in Hebrew is from the word qadar, which means “darkness.”

Melchizedek wasn’t the only person present with Abram. Bera, the king of Sodom, went out to meet Abram before Melchizedek arrived (Gen. 14:2, 17). Bera’s name in Hebrew means “son of evil.”

I gave you all that background because I want you to see this: when you are in a place of darkness, your Lord Jesus comes to you, bearing bread and wine.

You might be asking, “Won’t the Communion become something legalistic that I have to do?” Not if you see yourself receiving the bread and the wine from the Lord Jesus Himself. The Communion is not something that you do; you receive the Communion just as Abram did.

In your time of darkness, don’t forget that the Lord has given you the Communion as a tangible, practical way of remembering all He has done for you and encountering His love. You don’t have to handle the situation all by yourself. The Lord is with you, and He wants you to bring Him every fear and every worry. Talk to Him.

Whenever I am afraid I like to sing the words from the psalms of David to strengthen myself in the Lord. May you be filled with His strength as you meditate on and worship Him with these words from the psalmist:

You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance . . . Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

—Psalm 32:7; 56:3

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

Satan's Power Is Limited

'And when the devil had ended all the temptation,

he departed from him for a season.'

Luke 4:13

The wording of this verse implies that Satan exhausted his arsenal of temptations on Jesus and then had to leave.

We have mistakenly given Satan too much credit. He does not have a limitless number of temptations that he can pull on us. As 1 Jn. 2:16 says, there are three areas where the devil tempts us: (1) the lust of the flesh, (2) the lust of the eyes, and (3) the pride of life. Jesus' three temptations correspond to these.

By ascribing to Satan limitless temptations and abilities, we have built up our adversary to be bigger than he is. The truth is, 'There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]' (I Cor. 10:13).

Satan would like you to think that he is tougher than he really is. One of his greatest weapons is intimidation, but he has been defeated. His teeth have been pulled. Now he can only roar as a lion seeking to devour uninformed souls who don't know their authority in Christ (1 Pet. 5:8).

Today, realize that whatever Satan is fighting you with is only temporary. Don't quit. In due season you will reap, if you faint not (Gal. 6:9). Andrew Womack

Transformed from the Inside Out

Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 8:1–2 NASB

Today, let’s look at the Greek word for repentance—metanoia. Meta means “change,” while noia is from the word nous, which means “mind.” So metanoia or repentance means “a change of mind.”

Why is changing your mind important? Simply because right believing always leads to right living.

When you believe right about God’s grace, about your righteousness in Christ, and how you are called to be set apart for holiness, everything changes! His love touches you in the deepest recesses of your heart and you begin to experience transformation from the inside out.

That’s the grace revolution in action. You begin to live above defeat and experience lasting breakthroughs because the power to fight off any temptation is not from without, but from within. It is not contingent upon your willpower; it is contingent upon the power of the Holy Spirit living mightily and actively in you, bearing witness to the gospel truths you believe.

This precious testimony I received from Robert bears out this point poignantly:

I am a pastor in North Carolina who was preaching right living and trying to live right and do increasingly more to serve Jesus. But I also had a fifteen-year struggle with addiction to spit tobacco. I even stood on the pulpit one Sunday and confessed my addiction. I held up a can of tobacco and said that I, as David did to Goliath, would cut off its head and feed its carcass to the birds.

Full of remorse, I told the people I had resolved to put the addiction away, and many came to the altar that day to cast off their addictions too. However, I was back at mine within a week and feeling great condemnation. I fought and fought, quit and quit, over and over again.

Eventually a friend gave me some of Pastor Prince’s teaching materials. I was amazed at what I was hearing and reading, because I had never heard the gospel preached in this manner. I knew it was truth and it began to set me free. I heard Pastor Prince preach a sermon where he said that the solution was to quit trying to win on my own and to confess to the Lord, “Lord, I cannot, but You can.”

This became my motto and I quit trying to quit using tobacco. I no longer stayed buried under guilt and condemnation. I believed and confessed that even though I was struggling with this tobacco habit, God still loves me no less and that Jesus’ finished work still avails for me.

I can now testify that I have been tobacco-free for more than a year. Every time an urge pops up, I say to the Lord that I know His grace and what He has for me are much better than tobacco, and the urge leaves.

Praise God! This message of unmerited favor has changed my life and ministry. I am now preaching and teaching grace every time I step onto the pulpit! Thanks be to God and thank you, Pastor Prince.

My dear reader, no matter how long you may have struggled with a bad habit, I want you to know it is never too late to invite our Lord Jesus and His grace into your situation. It is never too late to return to His grace, the only power that can give you permanent inside-out transformation.

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

When You Have No Faith

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Hebrews 11:11

Perhaps you are at a place where you feel like you can’t conjure up any more faith, let alone “not waver at the promise of God” like Abraham (Rom. 4:20). Maybe you are thinking, I have tried and tried to believe for so long. I have no more faith to carry on.

Let me show you what today’s verse says about Sarah. There was faith involved when Sarah conceived and bore a child. But if you think faith is awfully hard and that you simply have no faith, I pray this will encourage you.

How did Sarah receive her miracle after so long and when it seemed impossible in the natural? She “judged Him faithful who had promised.” It seems so simple, but therein lay her miracle.

The faith walk isn’t hard. It is easy and effortless. When your faith runs out, judge God faithful. When you do not know how to have faith anymore, reckon on His faithfulness. Remember that He is faithful. Lean on His faithfulness.

Don’t give up because you think you don’t have enough faith. Once God gives you a promise, it is not for you to conjure up faith. It is for you to rest in the One who promised, knowing that He is faithful.

There is a beautiful verse I want you to emblazon across your spirit that will steady you in the fight of faith when it seems like your answers are not forthcoming: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). Even when you are faithless, He remains faithful.

At the cross, as Jesus carried all our sins, God the Father had to turn away from His Son, and Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). He paid the price for you and me to have God’s constant presence, and because of that, God will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5). He will never relax His hold on you.

When you feel faithless, know that you don’t have to try to hold on to Him—He is the One holding on to you. The Bible says the Lord your God holds your right hand, saying to you, “Fear not, I will help you” (Isa. 41:13).

When you have no more strength to even have faith in your battle with your sickness, may I encourage you to do this? Take time to go into the Lord’s presence and tell Him:

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your faithfulness to me. You are faithful in Your goodness to carry out Your promises in my life. You are faithful to heal me and to restore to me every bit of health and well-being I have lost through this sickness. Right now, because You are faithfully upholding me, I can let go and rest in You. It is Your faithfulness that will cause my healing to manifest. Amen.

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

Knowing God's Plan

'He said, I [am] the voice of one crying in the wilderness,

Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.'

John 1:23

John knew who he was and what he was called to do. This was one of the keys to his success.

Unlike most of us, John did not have an identity crisis growing up. He knew God's plan and purpose for his life from the beginning and he spent his entire life preparing for it.

God has a plan for your life just as surely as he did for John the Baptist. To succeed in life, you must find God's plan for your life and then devote yourself to fulfilling that plan.

It is not enough to simply 'do your own thing' and then ask God's blessing upon it. Once you know you are doing God's will, you never have to ask for God's blessing. God's will is already blessed.

The Lord created you with a purpose in mind. Your talents and abilities were given you to fulfill His purpose. Although you may find limited success using these talents for your own uses, you will never find your true potential until they are directed by and for the Lord.

The good news is that God wants to reveal His perfect plan for your life to you more than you want to know it. You can rest assured that if you ask for knowledge of His plan for your life, you will receive (Mt. 7:7). He will show you His good, acceptable and perfect will (Rom. 12:1-2). Andrew Womack

No Condemnation

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned.”

John 3:17–18

My friend, if you’ve been living in the abyss of fear for as long as you can remember, it is time for your liberty. You can begin on this journey of freedom today by believing that God’s heart is full of love, grace, and mercy toward you.

Listen to your Father’s heartbeat in today’s scripture. Do you believe in Jesus? There is no condemnation for anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus! All who call on Him and believe in Him are not condemned but saved. That is the good news of the gospel.

Unfortunately, many believers are still living under the heavy yoke of condemnation and fear because they hear the Mosaic covenant being proclaimed and put themselves under the Ten Commandments.

Look at how the apostle Paul describes the Ten Commandments in 2 Corinthians 3:7–9: “But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious . . . how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.”

Can you see the clear distinction that God makes in His Word? The Ten Commandments minister death and condemnation because no man was able to keep God’s perfect law.

Failure to keep the law at any point brings you under its curse, condemns you, and hangs a death sentence over your head. See how in contrast, the covenant of grace “exceeds much more in glory” because it ministers the spirit of liberty and the gift of God’s righteousness.

Now, please understand this: the Ten Commandments are glorious! The problem has never been the Ten Commandments or God’s perfect law. The problem has always been imperfect man’s ability to keep God’s perfect law. That is why our Lord Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it on our behalf (Matt. 5:17).

And the law was perfectly fulfilled at the cross when He cried out, “Finished!” (John 19:30). He met the demands of the first covenant, which is the Mosaic covenant of the Ten Commandments, in order to put the second, which is the new covenant of God’s grace, into effect (Heb. 10:9–10 NLT)!

Beloved, we are in the age of God’s grace. That is why we preach the gospel of grace! My friend, the cross of Jesus has made all the difference! You no longer have to live in condemnation and fear under the old covenant of the law. You are now under the new covenant of grace, where you are fully forgiven, justified, and made righteous by Jesus’ blood to reign in life.

When you realize you are justified by faith and not by your works in the new covenant of God’s grace, something liberating happens. You become free from the ministry of condemnation and the death it ministers—guilt, insecurity, dread, anxieties, and all sorts of debilitating fears.

Condemnation robs you of peace in your heart and of joy in your relationship with your Father. It robs you of faith and confidence in His love and ability to save you.

But when you know and believe you are not under the ministry of condemnation but the ministry of righteousness, you can come freely before your heavenly Father and cast every concern on your heart to Him. You will not be constantly fearful that your failures will cause Him to punish you or withhold His blessings and protection from you, because you know that Jesus bore the punishment meant for you upon Himself at the cross.

My friend, perhaps you know what it’s like to battle fear every day. Perhaps you’ve been plagued by fears of being unable to cope with certain changes in your circumstances. Maybe fearful thoughts of losing your health, your job, your children, or your very life keep you awake at night. Perhaps you suffer from severe anxiety attacks and the very thought of going anywhere outside of your home fills you with suffocating fear.

I want you to know that this is not the life God wants you to live. Through the sacrifice of His Son and the perfection of Christ’s finished work, He has made a way for you to live free from the captivity of fear.

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

Meditate on God’s Word

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Joshua 1:8

Look at the instructions that God gave Joshua when he was appointed as Moses’ successor: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

God told Joshua that to have good success, he had to meditate on the law day and night. Joshua lived under the old covenant, so how should we, who live under the new covenant, benefit from this scripture?

We need to read this portion of Scripture in view of Jesus’ finished work. That is why it is essential for you to be firmly established on the rock-solid foundation of the new covenant of grace. Now that you know that we are no longer under the law, what is the new covenant way to be blessed and to experience good success?

Joshua only had the law to meditate upon because the New Testament had not been written yet. For us, the secret to good success is found in meditating on God’s Word in the light of the new covenant of grace.

Before we can go into what it means to meditate on God’s Word, what exactly does it mean to “meditate”?

When the Bible talks about meditation, it’s not referring to a mental exercise. The Hebrew word for meditation in the Old Testament is the word hagah, which means to utter or mutter. So to hagah is to speak under your breath.

Notice that the Lord told Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth.” He did not say that it “shall not depart from your mind.” The key to meditating on God’s Word is not mental contemplation. It is in speaking God’s promises with your mouth!

“Pastor Prince, does this mean that I should keep repeating God’s Word? For instance, should I keep saying ‘by His stripes I am healed’ when I need healing?”

Meditating on God’s Word does not mean making vain repetitions of scriptures. It is much more and is something that first occurs deep in your heart. The psalmist David captured the essence of meditation most aptly when he said, “My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue” (Ps. 39:3).

As you are meditating on God’s Word, ask the Holy Spirit to give you a fresh revelation of Jesus. Let that scripture burn with revelation in your heart. And as you speak out of that burning revelation, God anoints the words that you speak. When you declare, “By His stripes I am healed,” and that declaration is uttered with a sense of revelation and faith in Jesus, there will be power in your declaration!

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