Only Grace Brings Lasting Freedom

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

Romans 5:21

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Message from Amir Tsarfati

We need to have a heart for this nation [Israel]. We need a longing for them to find salvation, to find their peace between themselves and God, and to not have to go through the tribulation. Israel is going to be here whether you like them or not. Israel is going to stay here whether you love them or not. Israel is God’s people, whether you love this or not – whether you support it or not.

God never asks you whether they should be His people or not. God is asking you, “What are you doing about it? Do you love them, support them, pray for them, and share with them that which saved you?” That’s what He’s asking. So what’s next for Israel is actually something that is affecting all of us, but it’s something that is also challenging you even today.

So I hope and pray that you understand that the Bible is clear about what’s coming next. What is left for you is to do what God is expecting all of us to do, and that’s to share the good news with the people He loves so much and who He wants to be with Him forever.

As we watch our world spiral downward into Nazi-era antisemitism, we need to recognize that the side effect of this will be and is a disdain, and eventually hatred, for those in support of the nation of Israel. This will eventually migrate into a hatred of those who love not only the Jews but also the King of the Jews, Jesus of Nazareth.

Revelation 6:9-11
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

As we watch global antisemitic thought and behavior arise, we must remember that this is not a coincidence nor happenstance. Rather it is the precursor to what John prophesied will happen during the Tribulation. We also know that at the end of the Tribulation, the treatment of the Jews by the surviving inhabitants of the earth will be judged by Jesus after His return.

Matthew 25:31-40
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

The righteous, those who helped Jesus’ brethren, were admitted into eternal life. Those on His left did the opposite. They did not help His brethren and they went into everlasting punishment. Keep in mind that this is not an attitude of the Lord exclusive to this moment in time. It is His attitude today as well.

Genesis 12:3
“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Zechariah 12:3
“And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”

The phrase “heave it away” in Zechariah comes from a single Hebrew word that means “to impose a burden.” In the Genesis verse, the Lord says of the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob that He will curse the one who curses them. The word “curse” means exactly what we think, “to be put under a curse.” The word “curses”, however, is a different Hebrew word that means “to think little of or to despise.” Again, this is not limited to the time of dividing the sheep and goats, but it is proven to be true historically and is thus currently true. Those who think little of Israel and despise them will be cursed.

This is not to say that loving Israel saves you, but it does tell us what the attitude of the saved should be towards Israel. It is completely inconsistent to say you love the King of the Jews but despise the Jews of the King. So don’t let the ignorant antisemites of our day bully you into silence. If God has not cast off Israel – and He hasn’t – we shouldn’t either.

In these last days it is important to stand with the few, not the many. The majority is not always right and the majority of the world is completely wrong about Israel and the Jews.

Pray for the nation and people of Israel that they might be saved and have their eyes opened to the Holy One of Israel who is one and the same as the head of the church, Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,

Why a Revelation of Your Forgiveness Is So Important

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

1 John 2:12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Free from “Am I Doing Enough for God?”

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

Mark 2:22

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Know Your Father’s Heart

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

1 John 4:10 KJV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Enemy Is Beneath Your Feet

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

Luke 10:17–19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Final Jigsaw Piece

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

Romans 5:20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hypocrisy Is An Attitude

 'And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.'

Matthew 23:12

He who thinks that he will be exalted by acting as a servant, pretending to be humble so that he will receive the promise of God's Word, is sadly mistaken. Hypocrisy is an attitude or motive.

There are two main types of hypocrisy:

1) People don't practice what they preach.

2) People's motives are wrong even though their actions are right.

The second type of hypocrisy is why Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees.

It is more subtle than the first type and is very prevalent today in religion. They were seeking self-glory instead of seeking to glorify God.

Their priorities are wrong, and their focus is on outward displays instead of on the inner condition of their heart. Furthermore, they always persecute the true worshipers of God.

Universally, people dislike blatant hypocrisy; although this subtle type of hypocrisy has been encouraged and even promoted by religion. Religion teaches tithing and giving for selfish motives while 1 Corinthians 13:3 and 2 Corinthians 9:7, make it clear that giving will profit us nothing unless we have the proper motive. The same thing happens when people try to achieve holiness by performing many other religious acts. It is not always the acts that are wrong, but the motives behind the acts. These wrong motives can also make you a hypocrite.

Anyone who rejects salvation because he doesn't like religious hypocrites, should remember that if he doesn't receive Jesus as his Lord, then he will spend eternity with these hypocrites in Hell. Andrew Womack

A Brand-New Body at the Blast of a Trumpet!

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

1 Thessalonians 4:16

All over the world, Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Occurring usually in the month of September, this feast is celebrated with the blowing of trumpets—the shofar or ram’s horn. That is why it is also called the Feast of Trumpets.

The Jews observe seven feasts: The Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. The first four have been fulfilled literally by Jesus. He was the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), the bread of life (John 6:35) and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:20). And when Pentecost had fully come after His ascension, He sent us the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1–4).

So the next feast that we are waiting for Jesus to fulfill literally is the Feast of Trumpets. Why is this feast significant to us? Because when Jesus fulfills it, it means that we are going up to meet Him in the clouds!

I am talking about the rapture of the church. When the trumpet sounds, “in the twinkling of an eye,” we who are alive will be changed. We will put on new bodies that will be like Jesus’! Those who are dead in Christ will rise and also receive new bodies. They will go up first followed by us who are alive, and we will all meet the Lord in the air (1 Cor. 15:51–55).

This means that there is a possibility that you might not see death! The Bible says, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17). It is one thing to happen to be alive, but quite another to remain alive.

I believe that there is a generation of Christians who know the resurrection power of the Lord. They know how to walk in their inheritance and put off sickness and death until the coming of the Lord. My friend, may you be counted as one of them as you take the Lord Jesus and His finished work as your victory over sickness and death! Joseph Prince

Jesus The Servant

'And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord':

Mark 12:29

Jesus repeatedly made reference to His deity for which the Jews had sought to kill Him, and yet He quotes from Deuteronomy 6:4, that 'The Lord our God is one Lord.' There are not two or three Gods and yet Jesus claimed to be God just like God the Father. This union is a great mystery that defies human understanding but can be accepted and believed.

Jesus in His pre-existent state was in the form of God. 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' Jesus is God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). However, Jesus did not demand or cling to His rights as God. He laid aside His Divine rights and privileges in order to take the form of a servant and be made in the likeness of man. He further humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the Father, even to the point of death. This was the supreme sacrifice that identified Jesus totally with humanity and enabled God to redeem mankind. By dying a criminal's death upon the cross, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy of Deuteronomy 21:23, and bore our curse in His own body. This redeemed us from the curse, opened wide God's blessing of justification through faith in Christ, and gave us the promise of His Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:13-14).

The Creator became the creation; the Lord became the servant; the Highest became the lowest. All of this was done because of God's great love for us. Andrew Womack

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