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Authors: Joseph Prince

Tags: #Devotional, #Grace, #Joseph Prince

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BOOK: Reign In Life: 90 Powerful Inspirations For Extraordinary Breakthroughs
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“But we watched you every morning,” Gillian told me, “and as we listened, we got a better and better understanding of God’s grace. Your sermons always teach us to put Jesus in the center of our lives, and so we started doing that. We began to believe that Jesus has paid the full price for us to have whatever we need through Him. We would see Him and His finished work in our relationship with each other and in our challenges.”
Well, as Gillian gave the Lord center place by giving heed to the hearing of His Word, she heard me speak in one of my sermons of an anointing to have children. She shared, “Instantly, I believed it and received it into my spirit. Pastor Prince, I am now six weeks pregnant. What medical science could not do, our beautiful Savior did! Praise the Lord! Not only that, but God has also been increasing my business to the extent that I need new equipment now, and I have no doubt He will supply it all. We know we are truly God’s beloved.”
What an awesome testimony! My friend, like Gillian and her husband, make Jesus, His finished work, and His grace, the center of everything in your life. Make Him the center of your marriage, family, career, and finances, and allow the fullness of His blessings to flow in your life today!
Today’s Thought
The secret to becoming like David—a man after God’s own heart—is to make Jesus, His finished work, and His grace, the center of everything in my life
.
Today’s Prayer
Father, thank You that I can be like David, a person after Your own heart. Thank You that I can pursue Jesus and make Him, His finished work, and His grace, the center of everything in my life. I ask that You show me His beauty, His glory, His grace, and His love for me every day, and how to involve Him in the way I see things and make decisions. I believe that as I make Jesus the center of my marriage, family, career, and finances, the fullness of His blessings will flow in my life. Amen!
L
ORD
, remember David and all his afflictions; how he swore to the L
ORD
, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the L
ORD
, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
P
SALM
132:1–5
Delight yourself also in the L
ORD
, and He shall give you the desires of your heart
.
P
SALM
37:4
Today’s Scripture
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
R
EVELATION
3:20
Y
esterday, we saw how David had a passion to bring the ark of the covenant, a picture of Jesus, to its rightful place among God’s people in Jerusalem. It was then and it still is God’s divine occupation that the centerpiece of His heart, His beloved Son, Jesus, be brought back to the center of His people’s lives. A long time ago, the Lord said this to me, “Son, bring Jesus Christ back to the church.”
You know, it saddens me that in many churches today, you hardly hear the name of Jesus being mentioned. Instead, you hear psychology being taught. You hear motivational teachings. You hear “doing, doing, doing,” “vision, vision, vision,” or “calling, calling, calling.” You hear very little of Jesus Christ and His finished work being taught. Is Christianity really about our doing, our calling, and our vision?
I still remember how Wendy and I were living in a very small place when we first got married. It was our first apartment. Our study was so tiny and it didn’t even have a chair at that time. As I sat on the floor of my study reading the Scriptures, God spoke to me. He began to show me more clearly than I had ever seen before that Jesus Christ was not being given central place in the body of Christ, and as a result, the fullness of His blessings was not flowing as it should.
When He showed this to me, I said, “Lord, if I preach sermons that are full of Jesus, and if all my sermons are about Jesus, I think nobody would want to listen to them.” Then, I heard Him say this: “Son, will you still be willing to do it even if nobody comes? Even if nobody wants to hear them, will you still preach every sermon full of Jesus?” I was stunned by His question and I thought through it for a while because as a young pastor, I was ambitious and wanted to grow the church. Then, I said this to Him: “Lord, even if our church becomes smaller after that, I am willing to do it.” I didn’t care anymore whether people would accept it or not. I just began to preach about Jesus Christ and His finished work.
Many years have passed and I now know that the question was a test from the Lord. Our church did not become smaller. On the contrary, it exploded right after that encounter with the Lord. From only a few hundred people at that time, we have grown to a congregation of more than thirty thousand people. I still remember exactly where I was sitting in my study when God gave me that challenge. And He has given me everything I need to fulfill this calling. He has given me an amazing wife, a wonderful daughter and son, and great leaders to support this call. Everything that He has given me in my life has been to bring me to a place where Jesus can be exalted.
What’s on your heart today? What is your mind occupied with? Are your thoughts filled with faith in Jesus and His love for you, or are they filled with anxieties about the future, fears about your current situation, and guilt and condemnation? “To bring Jesus back” means to return to the place where Jesus and the gospel of grace occupy the center place in your mind, your heart, and your life. Give Jesus center place by believing that He is the answer to every thing you need in life, and begin to walk in His peace, joy, and liberty!
Today’s Thought
I choose to make Jesus, His finished work, and His grace the center of everything in my life today
.
Today’s Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You that just as the ark was brought to the center place among Your people in Jerusalem, so I want You to reign in my heart and soul. Today, I want You to take the center place in my life. I believe that You are the answer to everything I need and that Your grace is more than sufficient for me. I thank You that You love me and are always for me. As I keep my eyes on You, I believe that I will walk in a greater measure of peace, joy, liberty, and victory. Amen
.
For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified
.
1 C
ORINTHIANS
2:2–3
NLT
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord
.
2 P
ETER
1:2
Today’s Scripture
Give thanks to the L
ORD
, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever
.
P
SALM
118:1
NLT
Y
ears ago, I was sitting in my living room, just spending time in the Word, when the Lord spoke to me and said, “Son, study the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai, for this is a picture of pure grace. Not a single Israelite died during this period although they murmured and complained.”
I had never heard anyone preach that before or read it in any book. So, feverishly, I turned to that portion of the Scriptures, trying to find someone who had died, so that I could prove God wrong! Have you been there before, trying to prove God wrong? Well, you can never succeed, and indeed, I could not find any Israelite who died even though they murmured and complained.
God had rescued the children of Israel from their Egyptian slave masters by performing great signs and wonders, yet, the children of Israel failed to honor Him, and murmured and complained over and over again. When the Egyptian army came thundering toward them from behind and the Red Sea was before them, the Israelites cried out to Moses saying, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?” (Ex. 14:11). That was a complaint against God, and murmuring and complaining are sins. But what was God’s response? He opened up the Red Sea and they crossed over to dry land on the other side, safe from their enemies.
Then, even after God had brought them safely to the other side of the sea, they complained about the bitter waters at Marah. What was God’s response? He made the bitter waters sweet (Ex. 15:23–25). In the wilderness, they cried out against Moses when they were hungry. What was God’s response? He rained bread from heaven (Ex. 16:2–4). But still, the children of Israel complained. When there was no water again, they cried out against Moses, saying, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” (Ex. 17:3). What was God’s response? He brought water out of the flinty rock.
Every time the children of Israel murmured and complained, it only brought forth fresh demonstrations of God’s favor, supply, and goodness. Why? Because during that period, the blessings and provisions they received were not dependent on their obedience or goodness. They were dependent on God’s goodness and His faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant (see Ex. 2:24), which was a covenant of grace.
Can you see what the Lord was showing me? The Israelites’ journey from Egypt to Sinai was
a picture of pure grace
. Their blessings were not dependent on their goodness but
His goodness
, not on their faithfulness but
His faithfulness
. Before the Ten Commandments were given, they were under grace and nobody was punished even when they failed. But immediately after the law was given (Ex. 20), their failure resulted in punishment.
Beloved, the good news is that we are no longer under the old covenant of law. We have been delivered from the law through Jesus’ death on the cross. Because of Jesus Christ, we are now under the new covenant of grace. This means that today, God does not assess and bless us based on our performance, but on
His
goodness and faithfulness.
If you have been struggling with a challenge for some time now, look away from yourself, your mistakes, your lack, and your imperfections. Look instead at and give thanks for the pure grace God extends to you today because of the finished work of His Son. Let your confidence and trust not be rooted in your imperfect performance, but in
His
constant and unwavering goodness, love, and undeserved, unmerited, and unearned favor toward you, and see Him supply all that you need.
Today’s Thought
Under the new covenant of grace, God does not assess and bless me based on my performance, but on His goodness and faithfulness
.
Today’s Prayer
Father, thank You that because of Jesus, I can experience only pure grace from You, where You watch over me, are kind to me, and bless me based on Your goodness and faithfulness, and not my performance. I choose to focus on Your undeserved, unearned, and unmerited favor today. I believe that Your favor alone is more than sufficient for all my needs. Amen
.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the L
ORD
forever
.
P
SALM
23:6
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the L
ORD
in the land of the living
.
P
SALM
27:13
Today’s Scripture
In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away
.
H
EBREWS
8:13
Y
esterday, we saw a picture of pure grace in the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai. Even though they murmured and complained, God continued to protect and provide for them. But something tragic happened right at the foot of Mount Sinai, where this system of them being blessed because of God’s goodness and not their own, abruptly came to an end. I want you to see something in this account that has great bearing on us as believers today.
In Exodus 19:8, your English Bible says that at Mount Sinai, the people cried out to Moses, saying, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” In the original Hebrew text, this is actually a statement of pride. They were saying, “All that God requires and demands of us,
we are well able to perform!
” In other words, they were saying, “God, stop assessing or blessing us based on Your goodness. Start assessing, judging, and blessing us based on
our obedience
.” What happened was that they effectively exchanged covenants, from the Abrahamic covenant that is based solely on grace, to the Sinaitic covenant that is based on the law.
BOOK: Reign In Life: 90 Powerful Inspirations For Extraordinary Breakthroughs
8.86Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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