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.

Heaven

 'For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.'

The word heaven comes from the Greek word meaning 'the sky; heaven as the abode of God'; by implication, 'happiness; power; an eternity.'

Paul mentioned being caught up into 'the third heaven' in 2 Corinthians 12:2. Since 'the third heaven' exists, there must also be a first and second heaven. The first is probably the atmospheric heaven, the second, the abode of supernatural angelic beings, and the third, the place where God dwells.

God now dwells in the hearts of His people, but He also sits on His throne in heaven. The Lord's commitment to dwell in us and never leave us or forsake us, must be taken as an indication of His great love for us. Heaven has a real temple which is patterned after the Old Testament tabernacle. Saints who die go immediately into heaven and into the presence of God.

Paul had a vision of heaven that made him long to go there. Most people cling to this physical life for selfish reasons. Only when we lose our life (die to self and live for Christ and others) do we truly find out what life is all about. If we seriously thought about what the scriptures teach us about our life with Christ after this physical life, we would all think like Paul. The things prepared for us are so wonderful that we can't totally comprehend them with our finite mind. We need to value our eternal life more and our temporal life less. This would solve many problems and remove a lot of grief. Andrew Womack

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.

Our Life Belongs To God

'And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.'

Matthew 22:20-21

The image on the denarius, the only small silver coin acceptable for imperial tax payments, was probably that of Tiberius Caesar (reigned A.D. 14-37). The inscription upon the coin read 'Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus' with the reverse side reading 'Chief Priest.' This inscription was a claim to divinity and as emperor, the right to be worshiped.

The Jews had tried many times to accuse Jesus on the basis of religious issues and had always failed. Now they approached Him about paying taxes in hopes that His answer might give them the opportunity to deliver Him to Pilate for prosecution.

These Pharisees and Herodians reasoned that any answer that Jesus gave would be wrong. If He approved of the Roman taxes, then He would lose popularity with the masses. If He spoke against the Roman taxes, then the Jews would hand Him over to the Roman government and Pilate would dispose of Him. It looked like they had Jesus trapped. Jesus, however, answered with such simple wisdom that these Pharisees and Herodians were caught in their own trap and made to look like fools.

Jesus declared, 'Render (give back) to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's' (Mk. 12:17). People are made in God's image, so we must render to God the things belonging to God (our lives) and to Caesar the things belonging to Caesar (his money and other benefits of his rule). Andrew Womack

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.

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.

Our Righteousness Is In Christ

'And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:'

Matthew 22:11

In this time, it was customary for the host to provide their guests with wedding garments to wear to the wedding. It was an insult of the highest degree to refuse to wear the clothing provided since the guests were brought in directly from the highways and streets. The wedding garment speaks of the righteousness of Christ that God so graciously provides for all who accept His invitation into the kingdom. It must be put on by both good and bad (Mt. 22:10).

Right standing before a holy God is not to be achieved in keeping the law but in humble trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. No one, who is trusting in his own righteousness, can have the benefit of Christ's righteousness. The righteousness that gives men relationship with God is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, and it comes freely through faith in Jesus Christ.

The way we obtain this righteousness is by putting faith in what Christ has done for us. When we place our faith in Christ, then the righteousness that Jesus obtained by His faith becomes ours.

Through faith in Jesus, we can receive the very righteousness of God as a gift. God's righteousness is infinitely more in quality and quantity than man's puny righteousness. No one can ever be justified in the sight of God based on his own righteousness which comes through acts of holiness. One must have God's righteousness which only comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Paul said in Philippians 3:9, 'And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.' This is 'the righteousness of God.' Andrew Womack

Message from Amir Tsarfati

Comforting His people doesn’t mean assuring them everything is going to be okay. To comfort His people is to share God’s heart for them, to remind them that He’s their God and that there is hope, and that there is only one hope, one life, one way, one truth.

And it’s not in their government, it’s not in their military, it’s not in their politics, it’s not in the United Nothing. It’s not in any of the world’s institutions. The hope of Israel is their Messiah. That’s the hope.

Isaiah 40:1-5
“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

In verses one and two of this beautiful passage we find the English word “comfort” three times. The first two times in verse one, the Hebrew word means “to console”. The Hebrew word for comfort in verse two is different. It means “the heart or the place of feelings and emotions”.

From this we can see that the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah to console the hearts of the people of Jerusalem, meaning the nation of Israel. The text then becomes prophetic and advances to the time of the end when war has finished, Israel’s iniquities are pardoned, and the way of the Lord has been prepared for His coming. The mountains and hills being brought low and the crooked places made straight and the rough places smooth clearly speaks of the time of Jacob’s trouble and the Millennium that follows.

Until that time we need to console the hearts of the Jews by reminding them that the King of the Jews died for the sins of the whole world, and that only through Him can one be saved. We need to remind them that while the IDF and IAF are formidable military forces, it is God who fights for Israel. We need to console their hearts with the fact that while the world may be against them, the Holy One of Israel is for them and is coming back to rule and reign from Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel.

Zechariah 14:4
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.

Zechariah 14:8-9
And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur. And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be— “The LORD is one,” and His name one.

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,

Faith Is A Muscle

'But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.'

Matthew 21:26

Proverbs 29:25 says, 'The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.' These men were seeking to snare Jesus in His words, but they couldn't because He was safely trusting in the Lord. It was easy for Jesus to 'turn the tables on them' and catch them because they feared man (Jn. 5:44).

Jesus had already shown that all of their works were done so that they could be seen of men (Mt. 6:5). They were not really seeking to please God, but were doing all their religious works for the praise of men. It is totally vain for a man who is bound by the fear of man to try to intimidate a man whose trust is totally in the Lord.

When David fought Goliath (1 Sam. 17), everyone mocked him because of his belief that he could win. Goliath was a giant and he was only a small boy. But David said something very important in his defense. In 1 Samuel 17:34-37, David revealed that this was not the first time he had depended on God for a victory against something bigger than himself. He had already killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands. He KNEW he could defeat Goliath with God's help. Faith must be developed much like a muscle. Those who wait until the day of the contest to start training are going to lose. That's not the way it works in the natural or the spiritual.

What is life all about? What is the purpose of one's existence? What is to be gained in life? What do people live for? When we say 'so and so' is my life, we mean that all of our attention, our focus, and our purpose for living, is directed towards and revolves around that person. In a similar way, we need to be totally consumed with Christ and His life. True life is only to be found in Christ. It is not to be found in prestige, fortune, fame, or things, but only in the one who is life - Jesus Christ. Andrew Womack

Forgiving Others Is To Your Advantage

'And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.'

Mark 11:25  

There are qualifications for believing and receiving as well as restrictions for receiving answers to prayer. Unforgiveness in our hearts will keep our prayers from being answered.

We should forgive others as quickly as it takes to make the decision to pray. The Greek word for 'when' means 'whenever, as soon as, or while.' When we stand praying, we must forgive if we have ought ('anything at all, the least little part; whatsoever') against anyone.

When we are offended or hurt, we often feel justified in holding a grudge.

The Old Testament law expressed this when it stated, 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth' (Ex. 21:23-25). Until the offense was paid, we did not feel free to forgive. However, God dealt with all men's offenses by placing sin upon the perfect Savior who was judged in place of every sinner of all time. To demand that others must earn our forgiveness is not Christlike. Jesus died for every man's sins, extending forgiveness to us while we were yet sinners, and we should do the same.

It is doubtful that a person who refuses to forgive has ever experienced forgiveness himself. This is comparable to the servant that Jesus talked about in Matthew 18:23-35. He was forgiven a debt of over $3,000,000,000 and yet he refused to forgive his fellow servant who owed him $3,000. The forgiveness that we have received from the Lord is infinitely greater than any forgiveness we will ever be asked to extend to others. Freely forgive as you have been forgiven. Andrew Womack

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.

It Is All About Jesus

“He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”

Matthew 8:17

You might be familiar with the verse, Isaiah 53:4, which says, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” But notice how the author of the gospel of Matthew quoted it in today’s scripture.

I love the word Himself because it is so personal and so intimate. Surely He Himself took our diseases and our infirmities. It wasn’t an angel. Your health and wholeness were too important to Him, so He Himself bore your every sickness and disease.

Take some time to meditate on the word Himself. Take some time to remember the One who suffered and died for you, the One who took your infirmities and bore your sicknesses so you need not bear them. Jesus Himself did it because you are so precious to Him.

Whatever condition the doctors have diagnosed you with, Jesus Himself has taken it upon His own body. Don’t focus on looking for healing; focus on the Lord Jesus Himself. Focus on the One “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Pet 2:24).

Many times when you seek Him and simply spend time in His presence, your fears and worries just melt away. You find that in His presence there is shalom-peace. There is healing. There is wholeness. And when you look for your symptoms, you find them no more. Why? Because you are in the presence of the Healer.

When God told the children of Israel, “I am the LORD who heals you” (Exod. 15:26), He was introducing Himself as Jehovah Rapha. He was not saying, “I will give you healing” or “I will provide you health.” He was saying I AM your healing, and I AM your health. When you touch Jesus, you touch healing. He does not give healing as though it were a thing. He gives Himself.

You don’t have to seek after healing, provision, and protection. When you have Jesus, you have all you need. If there is an area of death in your body, the Lord says to you, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). If doctors have told you that you will die young, the Lord says to you, “I am your life and the length of your days” (Deut. 30:20). If you have received a negative diagnosis and are fearful, the Lord says to you, “Do not be afraid. I am your shield” (Gen. 15:1). If you have been dealing with relapse after relapse and the discouragement is overwhelming you, the Lord declares to you, “I am your strength and your song” (Exod. 15:2)!

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

The Word Produces Fruit

'And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.'

Matthew 21:14 

When we, who are the temple of the Lord, are occupied with the cares of this life, the needs of others are not met. However, when we are cleansed (Jn. 15:3), then the Lord can accomplish His ministry through us.

Jesus tells us not to worry or be anxious about our material needs being met. It would be impossible to never think about our physical needs, even Jesus thought about His need for money to pay taxes. We are simply not to be occupied with thinking about riches or spend time worrying about our necessities. They will be added unto us as we seek first the kingdom of God.

Prosperity can be damaging to the Body of Christ. God wants to bless His children with things, but a preoccupation with these things will choke God's Word and make it unfruitful. If we follow God's formula for prosperity found in Matthew 6:19-34, then the Word will bring forth fruit and we will enjoy the physical blessings of this life too.

There are people who have received God's Word, committed themselves to it to the degree that they are able to remain faithful in persecution, but because of being occupied with the affairs of this life, the Word sown in their heart is choked and no fruit is produced. Just as weeds in a garden will steal the nutrients and starve the plant, so the pleasures of this life, if we allow them to dominate our thinking, will stop the fruit of the Word from producing.

It takes time, effort, and diligence to be a fruitful Christian. It's quicker and easier to raise weeds than it is to raise tomatoes or corn. Let God's Word produce fruit in you. Andrew Womack

Message from Amir Tsarfati

There is no single verse in the entire Bible that says that Israel is perfect. Not even one. Not a single verse in the entire Bible that says, “God will choose them only when they turn perfect” or “God will fulfill all of His promises to them only if they’re perfect.” It’s just not there. It’s only in the minds of self-righteous people who think, “Oh, how can God be so faithful to a nation that is still in disbelief.” And it’s this insecurity of so many Christians. And then they resort to replacement theology and all of the other trashy things that completely distort their understanding of the entire word of God – mostly the eschatology, the teachings of the future of prophecy.

It is a rather bizarre phenomenon how people place performance expectations on the Jews that they don’t apply to themselves. The truth is we should all be glad that Israel gives us such wonderful lessons on the faithfulness of God. Through them we see that He keeps His word no matter how faithless or how many failures are part of our lives.

Romans 3:3-4a
For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not!

It is curious how many believe God has cast off Israel as His chosen people because of their sin, yet believe that they themselves are eternally secure because God chose them. Yet, all of them still sin.

Malachi 3:6
“For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
 
The Lord not changing is a two way street. That means He still does what He has always done, and that He doesn’t start doing what He didn’t used to do. So, if God’s M.O. in our modern world does not involve Him choosing some and then casting them off, which means that they are secure in Him today, then that has to have always been true. For the Jews, it is not that they are saved because they are Jews. Instead, it means that saved and unsaved alike, nationally speaking, they are His chosen people.

If they had to be perfect to be His chosen people and He doesn’t change, then Christians would have to be perfect to be His chosen people today. Obviously, no one is perfect, and yet the Lord saved us in our grossly imperfect and sinful state.

Let’s not miss the goodness of God shown through the Jews by saying or thinking He does to others what we believe He will never do to us. Yes, the majority of Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah, and yet all the apostles and most of the early disciples were Jews. 

The fact that the Jews are back in the national homeland tells us this is going to happen in the near future:

Zechariah 12:10
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

Brought near to God

“You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you.”

Genesis 45:10–11

My friend, the world we live in today is fraught with famine, economic uncertainty, corruption, and all kinds of evil and tragedies. People are more afraid than ever to travel by air or sea. Many people are living stressed, anxious lives just due to the chaos they see all around them. As Scripture says, the world will get darker, and it is (Isa. 60:2).

But in the midst of all this darkness and uncertainty, see how today’s scripture speaks of “the land of Goshen”—a place of nearness to God—where you and your family can take refuge in. That’s what the grace revolution does for you. It is a revolution of restored relationship. It brings you near to God.

To be established on Mount Zion is to have an intimacy with God you never dreamed possible. And out of that intimacy, barrenness gives way to fruitfulness. Lack is replaced by abundance. Sadness and sickness with joy and life. Fear with love. Confusion and insecurity with peace and assurance. Defeat with victory. Breakdowns with breakthroughs. And aimlessness with divine destiny!

What happens when you abide in Goshen, this place of nearness to God? You dwell in the place of abundance. Goshen literally means “drawing near” to God, and you can see in the Old Testament story of Joseph, how being brought near to God is to enjoy His protection and provision.

When the land was in famine, Joseph said to his brothers, “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine” ’ ” (Gen. 45:9–11).

So in the midst of all the turbulence you see in the world today, I want you to know that there is a Goshen you and your family can take refuge in. It’s a blessed place where God says, “You shall be near to Me, you and your children, and your children’s children. There I will provide for you!”

Beloved, you stay planted on Zion and in the place of nearness and intimacy with the Lord by being established in your righteous standing in Christ Jesus. Our Lord Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the third day to give us an everlasting righteousness that is anchored by faith in Him (Rom. 4:5). Now that is the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Because of Jesus, today you can have the intimacy you’ve always longed for with God. Because God gave up His Son for your sins, you have His righteousness as a gift apart from your works, and you can come boldly to the Father as His beloved son or daughter. You can enjoy fruitfulness instead of dead works when you live in the realm of His love for you, and not out of a sense of religious obligation.

If you’ve been beaten down by negative circumstances, a long-term condition, or an addiction you can’t seem to break, you can be a prisoner of hope and receive His gift of righteousness afresh to reign over it (Zech. 9:12, Rom. 5:17).

You can have a fresh start in your career even when you have seen your dreams shattered, because you know that in the place of nearness, God loves you, hears you, and will restore you. You can live free of fear, terror, and oppression as you become more and more established in His righteousness day by day (Isa. 54:14).

I pray that as you grow in your revelation of how Jesus has brought you to a place of closeness with God, you will walk in liberty. May you have victory over everything that is holding you back from fulfilling all that our Father has in store for your blessed future in Him.

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

The Centerpiece of God’s Heart

Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:12

One of the things I love to do when I preach is to unveil Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures. It’s amazing how we can see Jesus unveiled in the Old Testament and what each detail reveals about the perfection of His finished work and His grace toward us. This is why it’s so important to get into His Word and take time to meditate upon the pictures or types that reveal His unwavering and unfailing love for you.

Would you like to see another example of Christ unveiled that will make your heart burn within you? Then look with me at the picture of Christ that is hidden in the ark of the covenant. In the days of the old covenant, God dwelled within the temple in Jerusalem in the Holy of Holies between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant (1 Sam. 4:4).

This was the throne of God. The ark was the centerpiece of His heart and so important to God that He gave the Israelites very specific instructions on how it was to be constructed (Exod. 25:10–22; 37:1–9) because every detail of the ark points to the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For instance, the box portion of the ark is made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. Wood in the Bible speaks of humanity (Isa. 55:12; Mark 8:24). Acacia wood is known in Israel as incorruptible wood, so this speaks of Jesus’ incorruptible humanity. Gold in the Bible speaks of divinity and deity (Isa. 2:20; Song 5:11, 14–15). So the wood overlaid with gold speaks of the person of Jesus—He was completely human and at the same time completely God.

Let’s look at the lid of the box, which was made from a solid slab of gold and covered the box. In Hebrew, the lid is called the kapporeth, which means “mercy seat.” God said that He would speak to the high priest from the mercy seat, “from between the two cherubim” (Exod. 25:22). The mercy seat was also the place where the high priest would place the blood of the animal sacrifices, only once in the entire year on the Day of Atonement. Let’s see what the mercy seat was used to cover from view.

Three items were kept in the ark. The first was the stone tablets on which God wrote the Ten Commandments, which we have seen speak of our rebellion and inability to keep God’s laws perfectly. The second was Aaron’s rod. When the people were complaining against God’s appointment of Aaron as the high priest, God caused Aaron’s rod to bud supernaturally to show the people that it was He who had appointed Aaron (Num. 17:1–10). Aaron’s rod thus speaks of man’s rebellion against God’s appointed leadership. The final item in the ark was the golden pot of manna, which we have seen speaks of man’s rebellion against God’s provision.

Every item in the ark of the covenant speaks of our sins and rebellion against God! But what did God do with our sins and rebellion? He put them all into the ark and covered them with the mercy seat where the blood of the animal sacrifices was placed. By doing this, He was saying that when He looks down, He cannot see man’s sins and rebellion because the blood on the mercy seat covers them all!

This is the good news! Let me say it one more time to make sure that you did not miss it: God cannot see your sins when the blood of Jesus covers them. That is why in the Old Testament, Israel rejoiced every time their high priest went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and placed the blood of the animal sacrifices on the mercy seat. When the blood was on the mercy seat, God could not see His people’s rejection of His laws, His appointed priesthood, and His provision. He could not see the people’s sins and rebellion. He only saw the blood on the mercy seat.

Now, stop and consider the wonder portrayed in this picture of Jesus and His sacrifice. Understand that it was “not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood [Christ] entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” His shed blood that covers your sins is the basis of your eternal redemption!

My friend, as you see Jesus unveiled like this and make Him the center of your heart, you will experience peace, joy, and the fulfillment of redemption’s blessings, and reign in life.

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

The Power of the Blood

“And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Exodus 12:13

Did you notice that before the Passover, God promised that when He saw the lambs’ blood on the Israelites’ doorposts, they would be saved from destruction? When the angel of death passed through the land, anyone among the children of Israel who was quaking in fear did so needlessly. They were saved not because they were Israelites and not because of their good behavior or anything they did. They were saved just because of one thing—the blood of the lamb.

You might be feeling anxious because doctors have detected some abnormalities in your recent health check. Or perhaps a few of your relatives have succumbed to a particular disease and you are fearful you might be next. My friend, I want you to know you do not have to be afraid, for you have been saved by the shed blood of the true Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

If you are a believer, you can put your trust and confidence in the royal blood that flows through Immanuel’s veins that is on the doorposts of your life. The cross transcends time, and on that day His blood washed you clean of every sin—past, present, and future. You are completely forgiven not because of your good deeds but because of His blood (Eph. 1:7). Rest in the Lamb who died for you at Calvary!

Stop disqualifying yourself from His healing because of the failures in your life. Stop believing the enemy’s lies that you don’t deserve to be healed because of the mistakes you have made or because you have not been going to church enough. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see you in your failures and frailties. He only sees His Son because you are in Christ.

Because you are in Christ, you are completely accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6), and you are already blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3). This means that even if there are symptoms in your body, God sees you as healed. Each time you partake of the holy Communion, start seeing yourself the way God sees you. See yourself healed, whole, and filled with divine strength and life.

Each time you take up the cup of the new covenant in His blood (1 Cor. 11:25), know that the blood of Jesus “speaks better things” under the new covenant than the blood of Abel (Heb. 12:24). Abel’s blood had cried out for vengeance (Gen. 4:10). Jesus’ blood cries out for your redemption (Eph. 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18–19), your justification (Rom. 5:9), your victory over the enemy (Rev. 12:11), and so much more!

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

Jesus Paid Our Debt

'Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.'

John 12:31

There is still a future judgment of the world coming, where the wicked will be separated from the righteous and cast into the lake of fire. This verse refers to the sins of the world that were about to be placed on Jesus and that He would suffer our punishment.

Jesus suffered the punishment for our sins, so there is no reason why we should suffer for them too. The price for sin has already been paid by the only one who could fully pay it and that is Jesus. All Jesus asks of us to make His redemption ours, is faith in Him as our Lord.

Sin has a wage it must pay and no one can avoid payday without faith in Jesus. Anyone who does not receive the new birth will be held liable for all the wrong they committed as a result of their sinful nature. However, those who receive the new birth through faith in Jesus, don't have a sin nature and therefore, will not receive the payment of death.

Physical death as well as every result of the sin nature (i.e. sickness, depression, fear, etc.) is only a by-product of the spiritual death that was already inside of us. The Lord told Adam that in the day he ate of the forbidden tree, he would surely die (Gen. 2:17). Adam didn't die physically that day but he did die spiritually. Physical death came 930 years later for Adam (Gen. 5:5) as a by-product of his spiritual death.

Eternal life is a gift. The dictionary defines a gift as 'something that is bestowed voluntarily and without compensation; a present.' We have nothing to do with earning this gift. All you have to do is receive it by faith. Andrew Womack

What Are You Hearing?

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17 NASB

Allow me to show you something from the story of the woman in Mark 5 whom Jesus healed from a “flow of blood” that had caused her great suffering for twelve years. We see in Mark 5:27 that her miracle began when she “heard about Jesus.” What do you think the woman heard about Jesus that was so powerful?

For twelve years she had been bleeding. According to Levitical law, she was “unclean.” Whoever touched her or even touched anything she had sat on was also considered unclean (Lev. 15:19–25). This means for twelve years she had been shunned and ostracized. For twelve years she was not allowed to touch anyone so she would not defile them. Can you imagine living a life where every single day, you are painfully reminded of how unclean, how impure, and how disqualified you are?

But then she heard something about Jesus.

She heard something that caused hope to spring up in her jaded heart and gave her the faith to believe she would be made well simply by touching His clothes.

She heard something that gave her the boldness and resolve to press her weakened body through an entire crowd, even though Levitical law forbade her from touching anyone.

Most of all, she heard something that caused her to believe that in spite of the fact she was unclean, she could receive healing. That is what I want you to hear about our Lord Jesus today.

In spite of the fact you are unclean, in spite of the fact you have failed, in spite of the fact there is sin in your life, you can receive healing!

Don’t allow man’s traditions to keep you away from your loving Savior. Come to Him just as you are. You do not need to do anything to qualify yourself. You do not need to wash yourself clean before you can approach Him. You do not have to long for His touch from a distance, wishing you were good enough or pure enough. Come to Him with all your sins and all your burdens—He will make you clean. The same Jesus who gave His body for your healing also gave His blood for your forgiveness. Just come to Him!

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

Hearts Purified by Faith

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. . . Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

John 8:31–32, 36

What is “the truth” that Jesus says has the power to set us free? Remember, our Lord was speaking to the Jewish people, so “the truth that they shall know” could not have been the old covenant of the law, which they were already well versed in. Knowing and attempting to keep the law to earn their righteousness had not given them the freedom they sought. It had, in fact, become for them an impossibly heavy yoke to bear.

To understand what “the truth” is, I want to bring you to Acts 15, where the Jerusalem Council had convened to debate which of the old covenant laws should be imposed on Gentile believers. Look at what Peter said:

“So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
—Acts 15:8–11

When Peter spoke about God giving the Holy Spirit to the Gentile believers in the same way that He had given the Holy Spirit to the Jewish believers, he was referring to his preaching to Cornelius’s household and how the Holy Spirit fell upon all the Gentiles there who heard him as he was speaking these words: “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43–44). Notice that when the Gentiles there simply put their faith in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, they were filled with the Holy Spirit!

The Jewish believers who were present with Peter then were astonished to see how even Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit in the same way they did (Acts 10:45–46). It was an unprecedented, unthinkable phenomenon for the Jews of the early church to witness, since under Old Testament laws, Gentiles were considered unclean (Acts 10:28). Later, the Jewish believers acknowledged that God had also granted to the Gentiles “repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18 KJV)!

This brings me to my next point. At the Jerusalem Council, Peter stated that the hearts of the Gentile believers were purified by faith (Acts 15:9)! Not by works, but by their believing right—believing that those who believed in the Lord would receive the remission of sins and be made the righteousness of God. Can you see that?

How are we made righteous today? How are our hearts purified today? By faith in our Lord’s finished work at the cross!

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Now, who are the pure in heart? Those whose hearts have been purified by faith. Amen! This is how we use scripture to interpret scripture. So don’t let someone tell you that in order to have a pure heart, you need to do this and that, and if you fail to keep to their list of dos and don’ts, your heart will not be pure.

Can you see how dangerous man’s opinions can be? Just like that, precious believers can come under great fear that if they aren’t doing something hard enough to continually keep their hearts pure, they will lose their salvation and end up not seeing the Lord.

According to the authority of God’s Word, our hearts are purified by faith in our Lord Jesus. Hallelujah! Let this truth put an unshakable confidence in your heart concerning your salvation, your relationship with the Lord, your future, and good things happening to and for you.

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