Unconscious Faith

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Galatians 5:6 KJV

I believe with all of my heart that as you come under grace and are delivered from the works of the law, faith will no longer be a struggle or barrier because you will walk with unconscious faith. You will not be wondering all the time, “Do I have enough faith?” You will see Jesus in His grace, and faith will just spring forth from the inside.

It is that simple. Everything that you receive from God, you receive by faith in His grace.

We walk by faith. We fight the good fight of faith. We are saved by faith, healed by faith, and made righteous by faith! The Christian life is a life of faith in God’s grace. The more of His grace we receive, the more faith springs forth.

Our problem in the past was that we put our faith in our own faith, and it didn’t work. We should put our faith in God’s grace and love, for today’s scripture says that faith works by love. This is not in reference to our own love, but to His love for us.

Faith is not trying to make something that is not already there happen. Faith is bringing out of the spirit realm what is already there, what is already true of you.

You do not confess that you are righteous in order to become righteous. You confess that you are righteous because you are already righteous!

But when you confess it, you become conscious of it. You sense it and it becomes powerful and real in your life. It is not having faith in faith. It is having faith in God’s goodness, in His grace.

Allow me to share with you a wonderful testimony my ministry received from Myra in Georgia. It describes how simply seeing God’s grace brings unconscious faith, rest instead of struggle . . . and amazing breakthroughs without any self-effort:

I used to be so painfully shy to the point that my mind would freeze. I would be overwhelmed by feelings of such intense embarrassment that my whole body would ache. To avoid those feelings, I learned to avoid certain situations or attach myself to certain people who could help me get through those trying moments.

Until I was forty-two, I thought there was nothing I could do about my condition. Then, I learned that I need not be stuck this way because that was not part of God’s plan for me.

I began to study the Word and did everything I knew and trusted God for a complete restoration. Over the next fourteen years, I made some progress, but I was frustrated and blamed myself because I did not know what else to do.

When I was fifty-six, I discovered the gospel of grace as I began watching Pastor Prince’s broadcasts regularly. I began to focus on Jesus and His finished work at the cross. While I was doing this, the Holy Spirit began to transform me.

Recently, when my husband and I visited a new church, the pastor asked all the visitors to stand to be welcomed. We stood and greeted those around us.

It was not until we had sat down that I realized I was feeling perfectly fine all that time. I did not mind standing with everyone looking at us—I was not embarrassed to be the center of attention and I was comfortable being greeted by and greeting those sitting closest to us.

I also realized that I’d not dreaded the thought of going to a new church or meeting new people. I did not spend time praying and preparing myself for the experience, nor did I ask my husband to stay close and help me through any awkward moments like I did in the past. The entire experience was painlessly “shy-free”!

I realized that I am becoming more stable and secure, and I am being transformed more and more into Jesus’ image without any struggle or frustration! Hallelujah! God’s ways are so much higher than ours!

My friend, I want to repeat this powerful truth: when you see His grace, God will see your faith. For Myra, faith for complete restoration was no longer a struggle filled with frustration when she saw Jesus and His finished work!

The same is true for you. Faith will spring forth unconsciously, and you will walk in true victory over every area of defeat in your life today!

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

Play the Right Mental Movies

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

I can still remember what happened when I visited a lady from my congregation in the hospital. Heather had suffered a stroke that completely paralyzed the left side of her body. As I prayed for her, she lifted her right hand in a gesture of prayer.

Amazingly, her left hand followed suit, albeit slowly. This was something that she had been unable to do following the stroke. By the grace of God, she was beginning to experience healing in her body, with sensations starting to seep back into her left arm.

Within a few moments, though, as she lay in the intensive-care ward, intubated and hooked up to incessantly beeping medical equipment, her left arm started to tremble with strain.

“Don’t worry about praying for a breakthrough,” I assured Heather. Smiling at her, I gestured to one of my pastors who was with me and told her, “Leave the praying to us.”

Then, tapping my index finger on the side of my head, I told her, “But watch your mental movies. Make sure that you play the right movies in your mind.”

What did I mean by that? I was telling her to see what God sees and ignore all the sounds, scents, and sights that her natural senses were picking up in the hospital environment.

I was encouraging her to fill her mind with mental images of herself being healthy, strong, and basking in the love of her family at home. I didn’t want her to keep seeing all the worst-case scenarios in her mind.

Then I said to her, “It takes a thought to heal a thought.”

It was a word that I had received in my spirit for her. For some reason, I just felt like the enemy had succeeded in planting a wrong thought or mental picture in her mind, and that had to be removed and replaced with the right thoughts, pictures, and beliefs that are based on the unchanging Word of God. Shortly after our meeting, Heather was discharged from the hospital and her condition improved.

My friend, if you are being tormented by wrong or negative thoughts in your mind, you need the truth of God’s Word to uproot them. Keep meditating on God’s Word and promises to you.

As you do, the negative, defeatist thoughts that have kept you in fear and anxiety will be replaced with God’s good thoughts to bless you with peace and wholeness in every area of your life. Let His Word give you a vision of a bright future full of hope and good things!

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

God's Great Love For Us

'Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not:

 works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.'

John 10:25

There were many ways in which Jesus already revealed who He was. His miraculous works certainly revealed who He was. Jesus had also clearly revealed that He was the Christ, both in the synagogue at His hometown of Nazareth, and when speaking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.

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' (Jn. 1:1).

Jesus was God, manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). However, Jesus did not demand or cling to His rights as God, but laid aside His Divine rights and privileges in order to take the form of a servant and be made in the likeness of men. 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 in Deuteronomy 21:23 and bore our curse in His own body. This redeemed us from that curse and opened wide God's blessing of justification through faith in Christ and the promise of His Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:13-14).

Jesus left His state of being recognized and worshipped by all the hosts of heaven as the Supreme God to become a man who was despised and rejected. 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

No Safer Place in the Universe

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

John 20:11–12

Do you know what Mary saw as she looked into the tomb? She saw the substance of the ark of the covenant.

Just as we saw that there were two cherubim or angels on the mercy seat, there were two angels sitting where Jesus had lain—one at the head and the other at the feet. It was an empty tomb that our Savior was laid in after He had paid the full price for our sins with His own blood.

Today, this tomb remains empty because all our sins are forgiven and our Lord is risen! Our hope, confidence, and assurance of salvation are found in the nail-pierced hands of our resurrected Savior.

The mercy seat is a picture of the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16). That is where we want to be—at the throne of grace, under the protective covering of His feathers and His wings.

I want to encourage you with this praise report from Veronica, who lives in New York City.

A few nights ago my husband, Casey, and I were stuck in a traffic jam for five hours. So we put on a sermon by Pastor Joseph Prince titled The Secret Place Where You Find Protection and Long Life.

Later, we found out that a fatal accident had taken place just five seconds ahead of us before we got stuck. Five seconds. The Lord had protected us from the accident!

Today, Casey was again protected miraculously. It appeared that a driver had had a heart attack while driving and passed out. It led to a chain collision and all the cars in front of and behind Casey got hit. And the drivers were taken to the hospital.

Despite all this, Casey’s car was completely untouched. Everything happened so quickly that he had no time to react.

It was the Lord who protected him once again because that very morning, Casey was reading a devotional by Pastor Prince that drew Bible references from Psalm 91. . . . “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge.”

Truly, there is no safer place in the universe than under the protective shelter of our Savior’s wings. What blessed assurance we can have today, knowing that even if destruction rages around us, there is always refuge and comfort in the Lord, our unfailing peace, protection, and supply.

I completely agree with Veronica that there is no safer place in the universe than under His wings, and I rejoice that the Lord’s protection over her and Casey is for us as well!

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

Walk in Wisdom to Stay Safe

Get wisdom! Get understanding! . . . Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

Proverbs 4:5, 7

It gives me such assurance to know that the Lord can deliver us from trouble. But do you know what’s better than being delivered from trouble?

Not getting into trouble in the first place.

My friend, don’t just seek miracles and protection from God without seeking the wisdom from Him to stay protected and out of trouble. There are times when the challenges we face are beyond our control.

But I’ve found that often, we experience His protection when we follow the Holy Spirit and lean on His wisdom when making decisions. Every day, we need His wisdom, just as we need His protection. After all, Proverbs 4:7 tells us that “wisdom is the principal thing,” and in all our getting, we need to get wisdom.

The Bible tells us that Christ has become for us wisdom from God (1 Cor. 1:30). So what we really need is the Lord Jesus. We need to lean on Him and draw close to Him daily. He is our wisdom and only He can cause us to always be at the right place at the right time. I believe that many troubles and dangerous situations can be completely avoided when we don’t depend on our own wisdom and planning, but involve the Lord in all that we do (Prov. 3:6).

Oftentimes, wisdom and divine protection work hand in hand. Knowing that we can trust God for His protection certainly does not mean that we should willfully put ourselves in precarious situations.

We need to apply wisdom and heed the Lord’s leading through the wise counsel of the people around us, such as our leaders in the local church and our spouses. Proverbs 11:14 tells us, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” For instance, if your spouse has been telling you that you have a problem with speeding, please take heed.

While there can be divine protection, do not be foolish and think that you can do whatever you want and nothing untoward will ever happen to you. I pray that as you involve the Lord and learn to walk in wisdom, you’ll begin to walk in a greater measure of peace, protection, and good success.

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

Sweet Intimacy with Jesus

“For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Isaiah 54:9–10

Unfortunately, many sincere and well-meaning believers fall into the devil’s trap, and they end up with the wrong belief that they have fallen short of God’s expectations and have angered Him. They live in a constant state of trying to appease and please this angry God. Instead of enjoying a sweet, intimate relationship with Jesus, they feel like they are hypocrites or they feel as if they are always treading on eggshells when it comes to their walk with the Lord.

If you have experienced such thoughts about God before, I would like to share this very important principle with you: Fear and love cannot coexist in a healthy relationship. Insecurity and love cannot coexist in the truly intimate relationship that God wants with you and me, His children.

Let me share with you this letter I received from Lorraine who lives in Louisiana. I’ll let it speak for itself as you soak in how you and your relationship with God can be completely changed by believing the right things about your heavenly Father. All I can say is, Hallelujah!

I have been a born-again Christian for twenty-two years. Today, at forty-four years old, I have a wonderful husband and beautiful daughter. I love my life!

As far back as I can remember, I have always loved Jesus. But I had lived my entire life feeling guilty as I believed that God was always mad at me. I had always felt that I could not do enough “right” or “good” things.

After I gave my life to Christ, that feeling of not being good enough actually got worse because I felt a greater responsibility to live up to a higher standard to be right with God. I was always repenting, always feeling that I’d done wrong and that my best was never enough.

I am in the process of reading Destined To Reign and am only at chapter 9. I have to read this book very, very slowly so that I can digest its contents. I cannot tell you how my life has changed since I began reading your book.

It was not until I began reading it that I felt relieved of the weight of not being good enough. It has shaken the very foundation of my world and dissolved the insecurity I’ve had about Jesus and His love for me.

Forty-four years of my previously painful existence and mind-set are GONE. I am CHANGED forever. I am forgiven. I can’t get through the rest of this book without stopping to thank the Lord for you and for giving you the message of grace to spread worldwide.

That’s what it is all about, my friend. Winning the battle for your mind is all about your freedom and liberty in Christ Jesus, your Lord and Savior. When you start to believe right about His love and grace toward you, permanent, liberating change happens!

So be strong in God’s love for you and don’t let wrong believing rob you of a life of great joy and peace. Remember, God is not mad at you; He is mad about you!

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

Faith Comes by Hearing

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17 NASB

How does one change his mind from hiding from God to running to God? Well, today’s scripture tells us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

In Matthew 8, the man with leprosy had enough faith to come out of his hiding place and head straight for Jesus to seek healing because of the gracious words he had heard while Jesus was preaching to the multitudes. If our Lord had preached a hellfire-and-brimstone message of condemnation, do you think the man would have dared to approach Him for healing?

Of course not. He would have walked away fearful of punishment, and feeling more condemned and hopeless than ever. But because he heard words of grace—how God wanted to be a loving Father to him and provide for all his needs—faith arose in his heart, giving him the confidence to approach the Lord Jesus for his miracle.

My friend, what you hear about God is of utmost importance. It can mean the difference between receiving your miracle and remaining where you are in your lack or bondage. It can draw you close to God, or drive you further away from Him. Faith comes by hearing, but fear also comes by hearing.

If you’ve been hearing about a God who is mostly angry and out to get you for your sins, how can you have faith to look to Him for help? If you’ve been hearing that He gives people (even believers) sicknesses and punishes them with horrible accidents for their sins, how can you look to Him for healing?

If you’ve been hearing that He wants you and your family in poverty to keep you humble, how can you believe Him for financial breakthroughs or deliverance from mounting debts? How can you possibly trust God for anything good to happen to you if all you’ve been hearing are sermons that make you feel more condemned and fearful of His judgment?

It’s sad, but the things I’ve just mentioned are the very things people are hearing about God. Just look at the movies made about God today—God is always portrayed as mean, judgmental, petulant, destructive, and even murderous! How they’ve perverted Who God really is—“compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love” (Ps. 103:8 NLT)!

Don’t misunderstand me. God does have anger, but the Bible never defines God as wrath; it defines God as love (1 John 4:8, 16).

Did our Lord Jesus ever condemn the prostitutes and tax collectors, those despised and rejected by society? No, He was a friend of sinners! Did He ever take away from the poor, or inflict the sick with more diseases? No, He fed a hungry multitude with twelve baskets full of leftovers and healed everyone who sought Him for healing wherever He went!

The Bible tells us that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). What does that tell us? God wants to do good, not evil, to us!

If this were not true, God would not have been with Jesus, backing Him up. Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:9–10).

If you want to know what God is really like (and not what man portrays Him to be), look at Jesus in the Gospels. He is God’s will in action, and He went about doing good—saving, delivering, healing, restoring, providing, guiding, and loving the unlovable. That’s our God!

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

A Very Present Help

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

Psalm 46:1

If God wants us to be healthy, and Jesus’ body was broken for us, why are there Christians who are sick? I personally know believers who are battling severe illnesses, and I am sure you do too. You or your loved one might even be facing a health challenge right now.

If you are fighting a medical condition, please know that it is okay for you to have doubts and questions. The Lord knows the confusion and pain you feel, and He wants you to know He is with you through it all.

I know it can be hard to keep trusting Him when you are going through a fiery trial. But keep trusting Him, my friend. He is, right now, your very present help. Keep fixing your eyes on Him. He is faithful, and He will never leave you nor forsake you (Deut. 31:6).

Daniel 3 records the story of three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego), who were bound and thrown into a fiery furnace when they refused to bow to and worship the gold image set up by King Nebuchadnezzar. The furnace was so hot that the men who threw them in were killed by the heat.

But the king saw the three friends walking in the midst of the fire, and he saw a fourth man with them who was “like the Son of God” (Dan. 3:25). Amazed, the king called them out, and he and all his officials saw that the fire had had no power over them. Not a single hair on them was singed, their clothes were not scorched or damaged, and there was not even the smell of smoke on them.

Why? Because the Lord was with them, protecting and delivering them. As a result, the king acknowledged that there was no other god who could deliver like their God, and the three friends were not only released, they were also promoted.

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

How to Be Led by His Peace

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

I want you to know that when God becomes Jehovah Shalom, the God of peace, in your life, He doesn’t just soothe your emotions. He will lead you with His peace.

For example, you may be making some decisions at your work, for your children, or perhaps even where and when to travel for your vacation. Talk to Jesus about it. He will lead and guide you with His peace.

If there is peace from the Lord, go with that decision. If there is an absence of peace and you feel a sense of restraint, back away from it.

You will find that guidance from the Lord comes very easily when God manifests Himself as Jehovah Shalom. In His peace, decisions don’t feel forced and full of strife. In His peace, there is a rest. His peace will guide you supernaturally to be at the right place, at the right time, with the right people.

In Judges 6, the Midianites were terrorizing Israel day and night, destroying their crops and pillaging their livestock. The Lord assured Gideon, who was hiding from the Midianites, that He was with him and called him a man of valor, to which his response was: “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites” (Judg. 6:13).

Doesn’t Gideon remind us of ourselves? Instead of hearing what the Lord had just called him, he began to complain. “Why has the Lord forsaken us?” Astoundingly, the Lord simply turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” (Judg. 6:14).

What? First, the Lord Jesus calls this man who is in hiding “a man of valor.” Now, He calls this complaining man, who is mad at God, to go in that might of his and save Israel? Shouldn’t it be, “Be gone from My presence, you stinking complainer, I must have found the wrong guy”?

I am so glad that the Lord is not like you and me. He always calls the things that are not as though they are (Rom. 4:17).

And I believe that as you receive a revelation of how the Lord is the God of peace in your life, you may be fearful and complaining now, but like Gideon, God will send you to be a testimony of His protection. He will send you to all your friends, coworkers, and loved ones who are bound by fear, and He will use you to deliver them from fear!

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

Condemnation Is the Deepest Root

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.

Hebrews 10:19, 22

Most of us are aware that stress is the cause of many sicknesses and diseases. Experts have also identified fear as the cause of stress. But do you know that the deepest and most insidious root of many of our problems exists in the spiritual realm, and that it can only be destroyed by the power of Jesus’ finished work?

My friend, the deepest root of many of the troubles that afflict us is condemnation. It all began in the garden of Eden when the first man, Adam, sinned, incurring a guilty conscience and condemnation. Your conscience is that which is within you that knows good and evil, and it knows that when there is sin, there must be punishment for it.

The Bible calls a conscience that is perpetually conscious of sin, failure, and condemnation an “evil conscience,” which, without the blood of Jesus, there is no escape from. Unfortunately, many believers unknowingly carry with them an evil conscience that robs them of intimacy with God, and it is this constant sense of condemnation that is at the root of many of their afflictions.

You see, Satan, whose name in Hebrew literally means “the accuser,” is a prosecutor at law and an expert at condemning you. He is always pointing out your faults and shortcomings. That is why the Bible calls him “the accuser of our brethren” (Rev. 12:10).

Even when you do something right, the accuser will say, “It’s not good enough.” Like the constant sound of dripping water, he will keep on accusing and spewing condemnation toward you. His crowning achievement is to bring about accusations in your life that you think are from God.

Many a time, believers under condemnation think that it is the Holy Spirit convicting them of their sins and pointing out their faults. They begin to entertain negative thoughts about themselves. They begin to believe that they ought to have negative feelings about themselves because of all their sins and unworthiness. Hence, the devil’s objective is to bring about condemnation in your life, concealing it in a fog of deception, so that you would be the last person to think that you are under condemnation.

The world has no solution for the enemy’s tactics, but as believers, we do. We have the power of the finished work of Jesus. His blood was shed and He was condemned on our behalf, so that we will never need to live in condemnation. By the grace of God, we can have a good conscience that is sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, and instead of being sin-conscious, we can be forgiveness-conscious.

The Word of God says that “worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins” (Heb. 10:2). Today, we can always be conscious of our righteousness in Christ Jesus, even when we fail, and draw near to God with a “true heart in full assurance of faith” that God is not angry with us. Beloved, because of Jesus Christ and the power of His finished work, you can reject any accusation, guilt, and condemnation thrown at you by the devil and by your own heart!

Today, when you approach the Father, when you look to Him to meet your needs, be conscious that your heart has been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience with the blood of Jesus. That is amazing grace—you can have forgiveness-consciousness and draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith!

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

Grow In Grace

'And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled

that he had not first washed before dinner.'

Luke 11:38

A sure sign of the error of legalism is misplaced priorities, as we see here with these Pharisees. It is not recorded in Scripture that the Pharisees marveled at the wonderful works of Jesus. They were too busy looking for something to criticize (Mark 3:2). But they marveled at Jesus not washing His hands. This is a classic example of straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel (Mt. 23:24).

Those who seek to earn righteousness through keeping the Law are consumed with 'doing,' while those who receive righteousness by faith are simply confessing what has already been done. This is a simple and yet profound difference. If we are still 'doing' acts of holiness to get God to move in our lives, then we are still operating under a 'Law' mentality that is not faith (Gal. 3:12). When we simply believe and confess what has already been provided through Christ, that's grace.

A person who is living under the Law and a person who lives under grace should have very similar actions of holiness, but their motivations are completely opposite. The legalist has their attention on what they must do, while the person living by faith has his attention on what Christ has already done for him. For instance, the Scriptures teach us to confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts, and we will receive from God. The legalist thinks, That means I can get God to heal me by confessing, 'By his stripes I am healed.' However, the person who understands God's grace will not confess the Word to get healed. They will confess, 'By His stripes I am healed' because they really believe it has already been done. Andrew Womack

Come Boldly to the Table

“With God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26

Some years ago, doctors discovered a huge cancerous tumor in my uncle’s throat. After a more detailed scan, a pathologist told him the cancer was aggressively spreading all over his neck and behind his tongue.

In that moment my uncle said he gave up hope he would live. But before his surgery to try to remove the tumor, his daughters approached him and said, “Let’s have Communion together, Dad. Let’s pray and believe God.”

He shared that as they partook of the Communion, he felt hope rising in his heart for the first time, and he partook, believing that Jesus was his healer and believing that the body of Jesus would make a difference in his body right there in the hospital ward.

After the doctors removed the tumor, amazingly the biopsy showed absolutely no trace of cancer in the tumor even though multiple scans before the surgery had confirmed it was cancerous and of an aggressive nature. Somehow the Lord had caused the cancer to supernaturally disappear, and I believe it happened when my uncle and his family partook of the Communion.

In the same way, if your doctors have given you a negative prognosis, do not fear or despair. Don’t live as though you don’t have a Savior. We may not know how our healing can take place, but let’s have faith in the finished work of Jesus. He has paid the price for you to be well and made it easy for you to receive not just His love and forgiveness, but His healing power as well.

I pray that you are now excited to receive the benefits of the holy Communion freely. I want to invite you to the Lord’s Table. The table has been prepared, not by human hands that can falter and fail, but by the perfect One whose hands were nailed to the cross for you. He invites you to come to partake of His body broken for you and His blood shed for you. Come boldly to the table and partake by faith and receive your healing.

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

Our Loving Father

'If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?

or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?'

Luke 11:11 

The most loving Father in the world cannot compare to our heavenly Father and the love He has for us. And yet, many times, we find it easier to believe in the willingness of a father or mother or mate to help us than in the willingness of God to use His power on our behalf. Relatively few people really doubt God's ability, but rather, it is our doubt of His willingness to use His ability on our behalf that causes most people to do without. Jesus is assuring us that God's love, and His willingness to demonstrate that love, is far greater than we can ever experience in any human relationship.

The Lord didn't just save us out of pity or a sense of obligation as our Creator. He saved us because He loved us (John 3:16). It was the 'good pleasure of his will' for us to become adopted sons (Eph.1:5). We are wanted and accepted by our Father! What a wonderful thing this is! It would have been more than any of us deserve to be forgiven by God. Then to be given certain rights and privileges would have been more than we could have expected. But the Lord went further than that. He has actually accepted us.

The dictionary defines 'accept' as '1. to receive gladly; 2. to receive into a place or a group' (New American Heritage Dictionary). The Lord does not just tolerate us; He actually loves us. He even likes us. He rejoices over us with joy (Zeph. 3:17). Andrew Womack

Jesus Is Greater

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:4

Beloved, there may be a devil out there who tries to drag you down in defeat, but the Bible tells us clearly that we have One greater than he inside of us. It is important that you be established in this truth. You don’t have to be afraid of the devil, because Jesus, who is in you, is greater than the devil in this world.

No matter what the enemy’s evil tactics are, he will not prevail against you in this battle. The devil is a defeated foe.

Greater is He who is in you than all the negative thoughts the enemy can throw at you. Greater is He who is in you than the feelings of guilt and inadequacy. Greater is He who is in you than every accusation that is leveled against you.

Stand strong on this declaration: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn” (Isa. 54:17). Wow! No weapon formed against you shall prosper.

The Bible doesn’t say that you will not experience any challenges or be faced with any attacks. But it does promise that you can be confident in the certainty that they shall not prosper against you.

Do you know why you can stand firm on this promise today? In the very same verse, God goes on to declare that “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me” (Isa. 54:17).

This protection is your heritage. God does not protect you because of your right doing; He protects you because your righteousness is from the Lord Himself!

Notice that the weapon that is against you could have already been formed, which means that it may already have been conceived, prepared, and aimed at you. Don’t be afraid. Whatever this weapon or challenge may be, know beyond any doubt that it shall not prevail against you.

This is God’s promise to you today—no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Not because your behavior is perfect, but because your standing in Christ is perfect. Your victory is firmly secured through Jesus’ finished work, which is your heritage in Christ.

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

Don’t Add More Fuel to the Fire

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Romans 6:1–2

Knowing that repentance is returning to God’s grace, how can grace be a license or excuse to sin, as some claim? Grace is the power of God to overcome every sin. But if anyone who is living in sin claims that he is under grace, let me be the first to tell you that this person is not living under grace.

The authority of God’s Word proclaims that “sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). No one can use God’s grace to justify his or her sin! It is contrary to God’s Word and contrary to the gospel of grace. True grace swallows up the destructive powers of sin.

Some people have been using the word grace freely. They call themselves grace preachers, grace ministries, or grace churches. But I encourage you to be discerning and to test everything you hear and read.

Just because they use the word grace in their teachings doesn’t mean that they are accurately or truly representing the gospel of grace. Test everything! Be sure that their position against sin is clear.

Sin is destructive and brings with it a whole host of damaging consequences. The consequence of committing a sin is not God’s judgment or punishment, any more than placing your hand in the fire and getting burned is a punishment from God.

The destructive and painful effects of your hand being burned are a consequence you face for using your free choice destructively. In the same way, if someone is deliberately dabbling in sin and living a sinful lifestyle, they will be burned by the destructive consequences that come with sin.

The only way to help precious people overcome the powers of sin is to preach them into God’s glorious grace. Some ministers think that when there is sin, they need to preach stronger, harder, and harsher sermons on the law of Moses. I believe with all my heart that they are sincere.

But the Word of God tells us that “the strength of sin is the law” (1 Cor. 15:56). Preaching more law is like adding more fuel to the fire. People don’t get liberated and transformed when we beat them down with the law of Moses. They get liberated and transformed when they encounter the love of their Savior!

I believe that truly born-again believers are not looking for an excuse to sin. How can they, if they have been impacted by Jesus’ love and sacrifice?

I believe that they are looking for a way out of sin and out of the prison of fear, guilt, and condemnation. And the more strongly I preach God’s glorious grace and unconditional love, the more my ministry office receives testimony after testimony from people who have been set free from all kinds of sins and addictions.

These accounts tell us that God’s people don’t want to sin and are overcoming sin by turning to the cross and returning to grace. We receive testimonies from people who have been liberated from pornography, alcoholism, drugs, and sexual immorality.

Now that’s the power of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Sin no longer dominates people and true repentance occurs when the gospel of grace is preached!

I pray this becomes your reality as you receive the gospel of Christ into your heart and let it guard your mind today.

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

Who Crosses Your Path?

'But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?'

LUKE 10:29

This question of 'who is my neighbour' can be used by Satan to deceive us in more than one way. Not only can he deceive men into thinking they have fulfilled the command to 'love thy neighbor as thyself' when they haven't, but he will also try to apply this command in a way that condemns those who are seeking to fulfill it, by making them think they are not doing enough.

We cannot meet the needs of every single person in the world. Jesus wasn't teaching that. This wounded man was directly in the path of these three men. The priest and the Levite had to walk around him. Jesus is simply teaching that we should take advantage of the opportunities we have. The fact that we can't help everyone is no excuse not to help anyone.

Jesus, through this parable, defined a neighbor as any fellow human being who crosses our path and is in need of our assistance. The Samaritan went to the full extent of his ability — and beyond — to help the man. The priest and Levite did nothing.

There was a racial and religious hatred between Jews and Samaritans. Devout Jews would not associate with or even talk to a Samaritan. The priest and the Levite that passed by this wounded man were his fellow-countrymen, and yet they didn't help him. This Samaritan, who was considered by religious Jews to be of another nationality, was the true neighbor. Jesus made it clear that you could not define 'neighbor' on the basis of geographic origin or your familiarity with someone. A neighbor is anyone that God puts in your path. Andrew Womack

God Remembers Your Sins No More

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Hebrews 8:12

When something goes wrong, is your first thought, “Well, this must be happening to me because of the sins that I have committed”? When you have a flat tire or fall sick, do you wonder, “What sin is God punishing me for now?” If your answer to both questions is “yes,” you are not alone.

This kind of thinking is so prevalent in the church because many believers don’t really believe that they are under the new covenant. They believe the opposite of today’s scripture and think God is not merciful to their mistakes and always mindful of their sins.

The problem with the church today is wrong believing. Jesus Himself defined the new covenant for us at the last supper when He said, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28).

The main clause of the new covenant is the forgiveness of all your sins because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Your forgiveness does not hinge on how many good deeds you have done, how much money you have given to the church or charities, or what leadership position you hold. No, it all hinges on the shed blood of Jesus.

God put the main clause of the new covenant—Hebrews 8:12—as the last clause to show us that it is this final clause that makes the new covenant work in our lives. If you don’t believe the main and final clause, then you won’t experience the full benefits of the new covenant.

You are also negating God’s Word and the finished work of Jesus. The new covenant says that God is merciful to your unrighteousness and has forgotten your sins and lawless deeds. If God says that He has forgotten them, then He has truly forgotten them. God cannot lie!

But how can God forget my sins?

He can because He is God! If He said it, then He has done it. You know that sin you committed many years ago? God has forgotten it. He does not keep an itemized account of all your failures. There is no big projector screen in heaven to show all your sins—from the day you were born to the day you die.

All records of your sins have been incinerated by the blood of Jesus when He cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). When God looks at you today, He sees you covered with Jesus’ blood and completely righteous.

Only the devil, you yourself, and the people around you will bring your sins to your remembrance. So when you are weighed down by the mistakes of your past, run to God and lean on His grace!

Why? For He will be merciful to your unrighteousness, and your sins and lawless deeds He will remember no more. This is the main clause of the new covenant of grace! This is His Word!

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

Do the One Thing That Is Needful

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:41–42

Is it practical to be occupied with Jesus? Does it help you? Does it put food on the table? Does it prosper your finances? Does it make your physical body healthy? We know what it did for Peter—he walked on water. Now, let's take a look at what it did for Mary. You can find the story of Mary and her sister, Martha, in Luke 10:38–42.

Mary was seated at Jesus’ feet when the Lord came to visit them. Martha, the elder sister, was busy working in the kitchen, making sure that everything was in order and ensuring that there was enough food and drink for their guest. Who was Martha busy serving? Jesus.

And while Martha was frantically running in and out of the kitchen, what was her younger sister Mary doing? In the midst of all the busyness and activity, Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, beholding His beauty, beholding His glory, and hanging on to every word that proceeded from His lips.

While Mary was resting and drawing living water from Jesus, her sister Martha was restless, frantic, and stressed from serving Jesus. One sister was focused on serving, while the other was focused on receiving.

Look what happened after a while. Martha's stress from serving finally led to this outburst of frustration: "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me” (Luke 10:40). In one moment of anger, she blamed two persons: the Lord Jesus as well as her sister Mary.

Now, listen closely to Jesus’ response, and you may just find yourself in the Lord's description of Martha: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

This is an amazing response. In Middle Eastern culture, it was right for Mary to be in the kitchen preparing food and serving her guest. Now, it would have been a shameful thing for Mary to sit at Jesus’ feet and not help Martha if Jesus was just an ordinary guest.

But Jesus was no ordinary guest and Mary knew it. He was God in the flesh and the greatest way you can minister to God when He is in your home is to sit at His feet and keep drawing from Him! That is what delights our Lord.

When you come to Jesus to draw as much as you can from Him, He loves it. That is why Jesus was pleased with Mary. That is why He defended Mary’s action, saying, “One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part.”

What is the “one thing” that is needful? Is it to busy yourself in serving the Lord? Is it to be troubled about many things?

No, the one thing that is needful is for you to sit at Jesus’ feet and keep your eyes, ears, and heart on Him. One sister saw Jesus in the natural, needing her ministry. The other sister saw Him as God veiled in flesh with a fullness to draw upon.

Which sister do you suppose complimented Jesus and made Him feel like the God that He is? Mary. Martha obviously forgot that this God-Man multiplied loaves and fishes to feed a multitude. He has not come to be fed but to feed!

Unfortunately, sometimes, the hardest thing for us to do is to sit down! Sometimes, the most challenging thing we can do is to cease from our own efforts and rest solely on Jesus’ unmerited favor.

Often, we are like Martha—worried, busy, and troubled about many things. It can all be legitimate things that we are worried about. In Martha’s case, she was trying her best to serve the Lord. She ended up doing many things that day, but missed out on doing the one thing that was actually needful.

Believers who do that one thing that is needful are not worried about anything else. On the other hand, believers who fail to do that one thing end up being troubled about many things. Do you believe that only one thing is needful—to rest at Jesus’ feet and receive from Him?

Now, is it practical to just be occupied with Jesus? Absolutely. We find that later, in the Gospel of John, Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair to prepare Him for His burial (John 12:3–8).

On resurrection morning, some women came with ointment to anoint Jesus’ body, but it was too late then. They were doing the right thing, but at the wrong time. The Lord had already risen.

But Mary did the right thing at the right time. This shows us that when you do the one thing that is needful, you will end up doing the right thing at the right time, and God will cause all that you touch to be amazingly blessed.

Like Mary, choose to focus on the beauty, glory, and love of Jesus. Choose not to be troubled about many things or be constantly occupied with yourself. Like Peter, turn away from the storm and look at Jesus, and you will start walking above the storm.

Beloved, choose to focus on the Lord and rest in His finished work. As Jesus is, so are you in this world!

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

Free and Undeserved

And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.

Romans 11:6 NLT

I love the apostle Paul’s description of God’s grace: free and undeserved! When you truly experience this free and undeserved favor and love from God, you don’t have to worry about performing. His love and unmerited favor within you will flush out all the wrong thinking and wrong believing, and you will produce good works—true fruits of righteousness that are lasting, sustainable, and enduring!

You may have heard a teaching going around where grace is defined as “divine empowerment.” Be careful about defining grace as merely empowerment—that is diluting and reducing what grace truly is.

Grace produces divine empowerment, but in and of itself, the essence of grace is His undeserved, unmerited, and unearned favor. When are you in your most undeserving state? When you have failed.

Unmerited favor means that when you have failed and are in your most undeserving state, you can receive Jesus’ favor, blessings, love, and perfect acceptance in your life. Let me tell you, when you understand and receive grace as God’s unmerited favor, not only will you be empowered, you will be healed, and you will be changed from the inside out.

The real danger with defining grace as just divine empowerment is that we can unconsciously flip grace around and instead of seeing it as God’s work in our life, we make it our work. From being centered on what Jesus has done, the erroneous definition of grace as “empowerment” swings it to being about what you must do and how you must perform now that you have received this grace, this “divine empowerment.”

Can you see this? With such a definition of grace, the onus to live the Christ life falls back squarely on your shoulders.

My friend, make sure that what you believe in your heart always points you back to Jesus and Jesus alone and not to yourself. Remember, it is all about His work, His doing, His performance, and His love in our lives. It never points back to you.

Don’t be hoodwinked by those who move away from the pristine definition of grace as God’s unmerited favor and end up making it all about you and what you need to do. That’s not grace. Grace is God’s doing—from inception and all the way to the end.

Today, receive His abundant grace—see that God has already started a good work in your life and He alone will lead you to and give you the victory in your area of need.

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

Do Not Fear

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Psalm 23:4–6

Even if you are walking through a dark valley and the shadow of death looms over you, keep speaking the promises of Psalm 23:4–6 over yourself. Know that you do not have to fear, for the Lord is with you.

Notice that the Lord prepares a table before you in the presence (not in the absence) of your enemies. The apostle Paul referred to the holy Communion as “the Lord’s table” (1 Cor. 10:21).

That means even when the symptoms are in your body, and even when the pain is there, the Lord wants you to come to His table and eat. By partaking of the holy Communion, you eat and receive of all that our Lord Jesus has done for you on the cross. His body was broken so that yours might be whole.

It is human nature to feast and celebrate only after we see that our problems have been solved and our enemies eradicated. But that’s not what God wants you to do. He loves you so much, and right now He says to you, “Rest. Sit down. Eat. For I will fight your battle. I will defeat your enemies!”

As you eat at His table, see yourself getting supernaturally stronger. See the tumor shriveling up. See His health flowing into your body.

Don’t be afraid of your enemies. They might be all around you, but you can eat from the Lord’s Table with joy, knowing that surely, goodness and mercy and His unfailing love follow after you all the days of your life! If you look up the Hebrew word for follow in Psalm 23:6, you will see that it is radaph, which means “to chase, hunt, or pursue.”

See your Daddy God’s goodness and love chasing you down wherever you go. Even if you have to undergo surgery, chemotherapy, or an organ transplant, He is right there with you. In the operating theater, He is there. In the intensive care unit, He is there.

Do not fear—He is with you, and your enemies have no power over you!

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