Unmerited Favor (21 page)

When you fail and fall short of the law’s perfect standard, that is the time you should exercise your faith to say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.”

Our first response to a trying situation is very important. Our first response when we discover a symptom in our body, when we receive a bad report or when we are faced with a trial, should always be to say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” Come on now, this is where the rubber meets the road. This is when we need to speak it. You need to not only know that you are righteous, you need to believe and speak your righteousness in Christ. It is not faith until you speak it! Paul said, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak...”
⁶
The spirit of faith is clearly about believing and speaking. So it does not matter how many sermons or books on righteousness you have heard and read. You need to speak it.

When you fail and fall short of the law’s perfect standard, that is the time you should exercise your faith to say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” At that very moment when you are seething in anger at your spouse, or when you have just lost your cool on the road, it takes faith to say that you are righteous because you know that you have missed it. And you know what? The moment you say it, even if you are still in the midst of your anger, you will feel like you have ushered something good into that situation. You take a step back and start to relax, and the anger dissipates as you begin to realize your true identity in Christ.

Men, if you see a scantily clad woman on television or on the cover of a magazine and you are tempted, what is your first response? Are you sin-conscious or righteousness-conscious? Sin-consciousness will draw you to succumb to your temptation, whereas righteousness-consciousness gives you the power to overcome every temptation. That is why the enemy wants to keep you sin-conscious. Confessing your sins all the time keeps you sin-conscious. It is as if Jesus did not become your sin on the cross. Righteousness-consciousness keeps you conscious of Jesus. Every time you speak it, you magnify the work of Jesus on the cross.

You Can’t Lose Fellowship With God

There are some Christians who believe that you can lose fellowship with God when you sin, and you need to confess your sin to God and obtain forgiveness to become righteous again. They claim that your
relationship
with God is not broken when you sin, but
fellowship
with Him is, so you need to confess your sin to restore fellowship with Him.

It sounds very good. But believing that your fellowship with God is broken when you sin will affect your ability to come boldly to His throne of grace to receive from Him. In reality, both the words “relationship” and “fellowship” share the same Greek root word
koinonia.
⁷
This means that even if you fail, relationship and fellowship with God are
not
broken. Why? Because your sins and failures have all been paid for at the cross. How can you ever lose your righteousness in Christ when it is based entirely on His perfect work and not your imperfection?

Today, as a new covenant believer, you are righteous not only  until your next sin. You have everlasting righteousness!

To see how we have everlasting righteousness in Christ, look at the prophecy in the Book of Daniel about Jesus’ work at Calvary. This scripture describes His mission in no uncertain terms: “...to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in
everlasting righteousness
.”
⁸
Beloved, we can rejoice today because Jesus has fulfilled every iota of this prophecy! The blood of bulls and goats in the old covenant only provided limited and temporal righteousness for the children of Israel, and that is why with every new failing, the sacrifices had to be repeated.

But in the new covenant, the blood of Jesus put an
end
to sin and gave us everlasting righteousness! Listen carefully to this: Jesus does not have to be crucified repeatedly whenever you fail because every sin has already been paid for on the cross. We need to trust in just how complete and perfect His finished work is. Today, as a new covenant believer, you are righteous not only until your next sin. You have
everlasting righteousness
!

Be Righteousness-Conscious And Experience The Blessing Of Abraham

There is a powerful verse in the Bible that is commonly quoted: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.”
⁹
Do you want to know the secret to unleasing this promise of protection in your life? This verse is rarely quoted in full "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and
their righteousness is from Me
,’ says the Lord" When you know that your righteousness is from the Lord, then no weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue of accusation, judgment and condemnation that rises against you will fail!

If you maintain your belief and confession that you are righteous in Christ, the promise to Abraham and all the blessings of being an heir of the world will be unleashed into every aspect of your life.

For many of us, it is easy to confess that you are righteous when everything is going well. But let's talk about the times when you are faced with a crisis at work, when you have made a mistake, when you are sick, when you are tempted or when you are depressed. That is when the devil, who i, the accuser of our brethren,”
¹⁰
will come against you and scream accusatory thoughts of condemnation in your ears: "You call yourself a Christian? You think that God will hear your prayer this time?”

My friend,
that
is the time to start speaking your righteousness, an no weapon formed against you shall prosper. The accuser wants you to focus on your performance, and if you go into the realm of the law, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect.
¹¹
But if you maintain your belief and confession that you are righteous in Christ, the promise to Abraham and all the blessings of being an heir of the world will be unleashed into every aspect of your life.

The accuser is very subtle. He has no problems with you using your faith for other things, like a new car or promotion, as long as you don’t use your faith for the most important thing—believing that you are righteous by faith in Jesus. Once you focus and channel all your faith in that direction, not only will the accuser lose his power over you, all the blessings that you desire will also be added to you! As God’s Word promises, “... seek
first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added
to you.”
¹²

Good things just happen to us when we are using our faith to believe that we are righteous!

I love it that the Lord makes things so simple for us. He wants us to just focus on using our faith to believe that we are righteous before Him. That is all we need to do. When we do that, God’s blessings will come after us. When we use our faith to believe that we are righteous in Christ, we will experience good things in our lives. We will experience amazing increases and opportunities that we are not even believing God for. Good things just happen to us when we are using our faith to believe that we are righteous!

Psalm 128:2–4 says, “...you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed...”This verse is talking about YOU. You are the blessed man. When you are blessed, your career is blessed, and like Joseph in the Bible, everything that your hands touch will prosper. Furthermore, if you are believing God for children, your wife shall be a fruitful vine, and your children will be obedient and anointed (olive plants speak of anointing). See yourself as this blessed person!

“But Pastor Prince, I...I don’t deserve this blessing.”

You are absolutely right, my friend. None of us deserve the blessing of Abraham and that is why it is important that we know that we are righteous by faith. We are not getting what our own righteousness deserves. We are getting what Jesus’ righteousness deserves. We did nothing right, but Jesus did everything right on our behalf.
This
is grace—God’s undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor. His grace is the key to becoming an heir of the world and to experience the full blessings of Abraham.

You need to read this portion of the Scriptures for yourself:

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

—Romans 4:2–5

The secret to Abraham’s blessings is found in verse five. What did Abraham believe? He believed that God justifies the ungodly. Take some time to meditate on this. God wants you to use your faith to believe that even when you have failed, He is a God who justifies the ungodly and makes them righteous. This is grace.

My friend, put your faith in His unmerited favor instead of your works. Being righteous is not based on your perfect performance. It is based on His perfect work. Your part is to use your faith to believe that you are indeed righteous by faith, so that you will reign in this life, become an heir of the world, and live an overcoming and victorious life.

I would like you to put your hand on your heart right now. Let’s say this before the Lord and I believe that miracles will happen. Are you ready? Say this:

“Father God, I thank You that in Your great love plan, You want me blessed in every area of my life. Your heart’s desire, according to 3 John 1:2, is for me to prosper and be in health even as my soul prospers. I thank You that my children, marriage, career and ministry will all be blessed with the blessing of Abraham. I know that it comes because it’s Your promise and not because of my efforts or works. So Father, in Jesus’ name, deliver me from performance-oriented Christianity and give me Your grace to be established in the righteousness of faith. I confess before You that I
am
the righteousness of God in Christ. Therefore, every blessing that belongs to the righteous is mine. This is my call. This is my destiny. The devil is under my feet. I am above the evil one because I am in Christ, who is my righteousness. I have everlasting righteousness. I am not righteous today and unrighteous tomorrow. I am righteous forever. The Holy Spirit dwells in me to show me how righteous You have made me. In Jesus’ name, I declare that I shall reign in life and be an heir of the world. Amen!”

As you focus on and confess your righteousness in Christ, get ready to see His blessings coming after you. It may not happen overnight, but if you keep confessing by faith that you are the righteousness of God, you are honoring what Jesus did to make you righteous, and God will make good His promise in your life!

Chapter 18: Self-Occupation Versus Christ-Occupation

It is wonderful to know that God does not measure and judge you based on your performance today. Instead, He looks at Jesus, and as Jesus is, that is how He sees you. His Word declares that “love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because
as He is, so are we in this world
.”
¹

As new covenant believers, we do not have to fear the day of judgment simply because all our sins have been completely judged at the cross, and as Jesus is, so are we! Notice that it does not say that “as Jesus
was
on earth, so are we in this world.” That would have been amazing enough because during Jesus’ ministry on earth, healing, blessings and abundance followed Him everywhere He went. Yet, that is not what the Word says. What it says is, “as Jesus
is
” (notice the use of the present tense); in other words, as He is
right now
, so are we in this world.

What a powerful revelation! Just consider where Jesus is today. The Bible tells us:

He [God] raised Him [Jesus] from the dead and
seated Him at His right hand
in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

—Ephesians 1:20–23

Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand today, in a position of power and authority. If I were you, I would take some time to meditate on this passage because the Bible tells us that as Jesus is, so are we right now, in this world. Meditate on how as Jesus is “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named,” so are we! See it in God’s Word for yourself.

As Jesus is far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, so are we!

In case you are not convinced, the Bible also makes it clear that by God’s unmerited favor, we are seated together with Christ at the Father’s right hand:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and
made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace [unmerited favor] in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

—Ephesians 2:4–7

Resting In Jesus’ Finished Work

What does it mean to be seated together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus? It means that today, we are in a position of rest in Jesus’ finished work. To be seated in Christ is to rest, to trust in Him, and to receive everything our beautiful Savior has accomplished on our behalf. My friend, God wants us to take the position of relying on Jesus for good success in every area of our lives, instead of relying on our good works and human efforts to achieve success. What a blessing it is to be in this position of dependence on our Savior!

But instead of looking at Jesus, believers are misled by the devil into
looking at themselves
. For thousands of years, the devil’s strategy has not changed. He is a master at accusing you, pointing out all your flaws, weaknesses, mistakes and blemishes. He will keep on reminding you of your past failures and use condemnation to perpetuate the cycle of defeat in your life.

When the apostle Paul found himself sinking into self-occupation, he became depressed and cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me...?”
²
In the very next verse, he sees God’s solution and says, “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Likewise, beloved, it’s time for you to step out from being self-conscious and self-occupied, and begin to be Christ-occupied instead.

Today, you should no longer be asking yourself, “Am I accepted before God?” This question puts the focus back on you and this places you under the law. I know that there are people who will encourage you to ask yourself this question, but it is an error to ask yourself if you are accepted before God. The correct question to ask is, “Is Christ accepted before God?” because as Christ is, so are you in this world. Don’t ask, “Am I pleasing to God?” Instead, ask, “Is Christ pleasing to God?” Can you see the difference in emphasis? The old covenant of law is all about
you
, but the new covenant of grace is all about
Jesus
! The law places the demand on you to perform and makes you self-conscious, whereas grace places the demand on Jesus and makes you Jesus-conscious.

Your loving heavenly Father wants you rooted, established and anchored in His unwavering love for you.

Can you imagine a young child growing up and always wondering in his heart, “Am I pleasing to Daddy? Am I pleasing to Mummy? Do Daddy and Mummy accept me?” This child will grow up emotionally warped if he does not have the security and assurance of his parents’ love and acceptance. That is why your loving heavenly Father wants you rooted, established and anchored in His unwavering love for you. He demonstrated His love for you when He sent Jesus to become your sin on the cross so that you can become His righteousness. Our part today is to turn away from ourselves and to look at Jesus!

The Power Of Looking To Jesus

“Pastor Prince, you are always preaching about looking at Jesus and being Christ-occupied instead of being self-occupied, but what is the value of seeing Jesus? How does this put money in my bank account and food on my table? How does this help my children in their studies?”

Believers who have asked me these questions think that they are being pragmatic, but they don’t realize that miracles happen when they keep their eyes on Jesus. Look at what happened to a fisherman called Peter, who was one of Jesus’ disciples, in Matthew 14:22–33. When his boat was in the middle of a lake, the most practical thing for a seasoned fisherman to do was to stay in the boat. Science tells you that when you step out into the water, you will sink!

But the greatest miracle that Peter experienced happened one night when he stepped out of his boat in the middle of a storm at Jesus’ word. That night, the winds were boisterous, but as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he did the impossible—he walked on water. Jesus was walking on the water and when Peter looked at Jesus, he became like Jesus and did the supernatural. God’s Word declares that “we all, with unveiled face,
beholding
as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image
from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
³

Beloved, as Jesus is, so are you in this world. When you keep your focus on Jesus, you are transformed into His image from glory to glory. You are transformed by beholding, not by working. When you see that Jesus is above the storms of your life, you will effortlessly rise above the storms of your life. No amount of self-effort could have helped Peter walk on water. When he did, it happened simply because he was looking at Jesus.

Now, observe what happened the moment Peter turned his eyes away from Jesus, and started to look at the wind and the waves around him. In that instance, Peter became natural and he began to sink. Now, let’s imagine that there was no storm, no howling winds and no crashing waves that night. Let’s imagine that it was a perfectly calm evening and the Sea of Galilee was as still as a mirror without a single ripple on its surface. Could Peter have walked on water then? Of course not!

Keep your eyes on Jesus. While it may sound impractical, it is the most powerful thing you can do, and Jesus will  cause you to reign over every storm in your life!

Walking on water is not something anyone can do whether or not the water is calm. The wind and waves actually made no difference to Peter’s ability to walk on the water. The best thing Peter could have done was to keep his eyes on Jesus and not look at the storm. In the same way, instead of looking at how insurmountable your circumstances and challenges are, turn away from them and keep your eyes on Jesus. While it may sound impractical, it is the most powerful thing you can do, and Jesus will cause you to reign over every storm in your life!

Let me share with you a testimony from a lady in our church. She went for a mammogram one morning and the doctors found some lumps in her breast. They told her to return to the clinic in the afternoon so that they could perform further tests to determine if the lumps were cancerous. But this lady was fresh from hearing me teach that as Jesus is, so are we in this world. So before she returned to the clinic for the biopsy, she actually wrote on her medical report, “Does Jesus have lumps in His breast? As He is, so am I in this world.” That afternoon, she went for further tests and guess what! The doctors told her that there must have been a mistake—they could find
no
lumps! Do you know why? Because as He is, so is she!

You have just seen the power of looking to Jesus. If you think that simply looking to Christ is impractical, I am challenging you today to see that it is not. In fact, it is the most practical thing you can ever do. Keep your eyes on Jesus and you will become more and more like Him.

Make Jesus Your Priority And See Blessings Added To You

“Well, Pastor Prince, that is not going to help my business. My business is in trouble and I need help now.”

Beloved, you can worry all you like about your current crisis, but it will not improve or change your situation one bit. Please understand that I am not making light of what you are going through. I am just offering you the best solution I know that works. Your breakthrough will not come as a result of your struggling. It will come when you rest in the person of Jesus and His finished work.

Jesus said, “...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on...”
⁴
Now, Jesus was not saying that these things—food, drink, clothing—are not important. In fact, He says that “your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
⁵
But what Jesus wants us to do is to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and He promises that “all these things shall be added to you.”
⁶

The Lord loads us with benefits daily!

Now, who is God’s righteousness? Jesus Christ. And who is the king of the “kingdom of God” that we are to seek? Jesus Christ!
⁷
Jesus was actually referring to Himself when He was preaching this. When you seek Him first in your life and make Him your priority each day, all these material provisions—what you will eat, drink and wear—will be added to you. God is not about taking things away from you. He is all about adding to you, increasing you, promoting you and enriching you. Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, who
daily
loads us with benefits.” The Lord loads us with benefits daily! That is how good our Savior is. His mercies and His unmerited favor are new every morning. That is the way to live and enjoy life, knowing that Jesus is
with you
and
for you
every step of the way.

Put Jesus first in everything that you do. Honor Him and give Him preeminence in your daily life. Partake of His finished work daily by reading His living words to you. Practice the presence of Jesus and be conscious that He is with you, the same way that Joseph in the Bible was conscious that the Lord was with Him (see chapters one and two for our discussion on this). Jesus will bless the works of your hands, and everything you touch will indeed prosper and bring good success into your life.

Jesus is the bread of life and bread must be eaten fresh each day. We see this as a principle in the Bible. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, notice that God instructed them to gather fresh manna every morning, and to eat the manna on the same day it was collected. (The only exception was on the sixth day, when they were supposed to gather a double portion so that they could rest on the Sabbath the next day.
⁸
) Look what happened when some of the Israelites did not heed God’s instruction and left some manna overnight—it bred worms and stank.
⁹
You cannot live on yesterday’s manna. Manna needs to be gathered and eaten fresh every day.