Working Out Of Rest June 28, 2020 bizadmin For we who have believed do enter that rest… Hebrews 4:3 WORKING OUT OF REST Naturally speaking, when we rest, we don’t work. So what does working out of rest mean? Well, let me explain by sharing with you what the Lord had taught me. Many years ago, when I first started preaching, I would prepare diligently for all my sermons. I fine-tuned my points and made sure that everything was in place. I would think to myself, “Man, I am going to share this…and that…” But when I preached, I would forget to mention certain points. Because of that, I would get angry with myself. I would tell myself, “That was such a good point. Why didn’t I remember to share it?” Then, God began to speak to me. He said, “Son, your preaching is not out of rest. It is out of your memory.” What He said next changed my life, not just in the area of preaching, but also in every other area, and I pray that it will bless you too. He said, “Prepare everything you need to. But when you stand in front of the people, whatever you need to say, I will give to you.” Yes, there must be preparation, whether it is your sermon or sales presentation. I am not telling you to be lazy and just do nothing. You need to prepare, but don’t depend on your preparation. Just trust God and tell yourself that whatever you forget, God wants it forgotten. And whatever you didn’t plan to say but said, it is because God wanted it said. Don’t be stressed out and lose your rest by thinking, “I must know everything! I must remember everything and do everything I have prepared!” No, believe God and be at rest. When the time comes, whatever you need to know, there and then, God will let you know. Whatever you don’t need to know, you don’t need to know. And don’t worry about what you didn’t say—believe that God didn’t want it said. My friend, when you live life like that—trusting God and resting in His love for you—you become cool and collected. And when you are peaceful and at rest in Him, what you do prospers!
The Blood Alone Saves June 18, 2020 bizadmin Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you… Exodus 12:13 THE BLOOD ALONE SAVES On the night of the first Passover, many of the children of Israel were probably anxious. Imagine one Israelite asking another nervously, “Did you hear that the angel of death is passing through tonight?” “Yes! We were told to put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of our home and everything would be all right. Is that true?” Like the Israelites, you might be wondering, “Can the blood really protect me? How much blood do I have to put on my doorposts? Will the angel of death get me if I am fearful?” My friend, don’t add to God’s conditions. He said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you.” He did not say, “When I see the blood, plus your understanding, efforts, obedience, faithfulness, and refusal to give in to fear, then I will pass over you.” It is the blood of Jesus alone that delivers you. If you think that it is because of your faith, then you will always be wondering, “Do I have enough faith?” No, my friend, it is His blood alone that saves. And when God sees that you see that it is the blood alone that saves, He calls that faith in the blood, and every plague will pass over you! God wants you to know that it is Jesus’ blood alone that saves because every time you think that your deliverance depends partly on God and partly on you, you will not have a settled peace in your heart. But when you know that it is the blood alone that saves, you will have an unshakable peace. It was the blood that saved the children of Israel from the destroyer on that Passover night and it is still the blood that saves today. And all you need to do for the blood to avail is to say, “Father, I thank You that the blood of Jesus alone covers me and my family. No evil, plague, or disaster will befall me or my family because of the blood!”
The Head And Not The Tail June 8, 2020 bizadmin And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath… Deuteronomy 28:13 THE HEAD AND NOT THE TAIL One of our church members saw his sales performance hit rock bottom by the middle of the year. As a result, he was ranked 320 out of the 420 financial advisers in his company. Devastated and on the verge of giving up, he started listening to my messages and claiming God’s promises such as “the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath” and “many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:30). He committed everything to God because he believed that only God could turn things around for him. And God did just that. By the end of that year, he was ranked second in his branch and 10th in the whole company! He qualified for a trip for two to Barcelona, Spain, worth about S$20,000. That was not all. For the first time in his 12 years as a financial adviser, he qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table Award. Only the top six percent of advisers in the entire industry qualify for this international award. Beloved, when God makes you the head, you will end up on top of your circumstances. Consider the story of Joseph (see Genesis 39). Even when he was a slave, he was the head and not the tail because God prospered everything that he did. “But Pastor Prince, when I look at my life, there are times when I am up and there are times when I am down. Yet, the Bible says that I will be above only. I don’t understand this.” What you are going through is only temporal. Keep believing that you are above only and not beneath, even when you have hit rock bottom. It is God who always causes you to triumph in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 2:14). You cannot cause yourself to triumph. Only God can and He has promised in His Word that you will be the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. So believe His Word in spite of your circumstances and expect to see victory!
Moved By The Spirit, Not Human Honey May 20, 2020 bizadmin No grain offering which you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the Lord made by fire. Leviticus 2:11 MOVED BY THE SPIRIT, NOT HUMAN HONEY Imagine yourself walking past the prodigal son sitting in the pigpen (see Luke 15:11–24). You look at him and see him salivating for the pigs’ food. Believing that it is good to show kindness, you give him money to buy food for himself. That is human kindness which says, “I am a Christian. I should be kind, good and forgiving.” Such human sweetness or kindness may be likened to honey. Interestingly, while we elevate it, God tells His people not to bring Him a grain offering with honey in it. The grain offering speaks of Jesus’ life on earth. Not mixing honey in the grain offering speaks of how the compassion and goodness we see in Jesus during His earthly ministry were all divine. There was no “honey” of human goodness, which is inevitably tainted with human weakness. [abc] In retrospect, the worst thing one could do for the prodigal son was to give him money when he was in the pigpen. Not only would he not have gone home, but what the Lord was doing in his heart would also have been spoiled. This is what happens when we go by the goodness of our human hearts instead of the goodness of God in our hearts, which is directed by His love, wisdom and perfect timing. My friend, God does not want you to be moved by what you see but by His Spirit. There were many needy folks surrounding Jesus during His time on earth. But He did not heal every sick person around Him, feed every hungry stomach he passed or raise all who were dead. Isaiah 11:2–3 tells us that the Lord was not moved by what He saw or heard. He was moved only by the Spirit. You too have the Spirit in you (see 1 Corinthians 3:16). Be moved by Him. Follow the peace that He puts within your spirit to do or refrain from doing something. That peace is the peace of God. Acting on that peace will cause God to be exalted, and His divine goodness and kindness to really be a blessing to you and others! [abc]
How The Holy Spirit Helps Us May 9, 2020 bizadmin Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26 HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US The Holy Spirit is not inside you to point out your faults or nag at you when you do wrong. God’s Word tells us that He is inside us to help us in our weaknesses. In areas where we are without strength, He is there to help us. When we don’t know what to pray, “the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Now, don’t read the verse and say, “Well, I don’t know what I should pray for, and since the Holy Spirit makes intercession for me, I will leave the praying to Him.” If the Holy Spirit, without our participation, makes intercession for us, then every Christian would be living victorious lives automatically! But we know that there are many Christians who don’t seem to be walking in the fullness of God’s blessings. So obviously, Romans 8:26 is not saying that. What is it saying then? [abc] In the first part of the verse, the word “helps” is sunantilambanomai in the original Greek text. It means “to take hold together against.” Now, “together” means that our participation is required. In other words, the Holy Spirit sunantilambanomai or takes hold together with us against the problem. So if you just sit back and don’t take hold of the problem, the Holy Spirit has nothing to “take hold of” with you. If you don’t pray, He has nothing to plead. If you keep quiet, then even if He wants to pray through you, He can’t. But when you release your prayer in tongues, you are allowing Him to pray through you. And He will take hold together with you against the problem, and pray the perfect prayer through you because “He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And you can be confident that when you ask anything according to the will of God, He hears you. And if you know that He hears you, whatever you ask, you know that you have the petitions that you have asked of Him (see 1 John 5:14–15)! [abc]
There Is No Spot In You April 27, 2020 bizadmin You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you. Song Of Solomon 4:7 THERE IS NO SPOT IN YOU Jesus tells us His bride, “You are all fair, My love, and there is no spot in you.” But our reply to Him tends to be, “Me? All fair and no spot? You don’t know me, Lord!” Do you really think that God doesn’t know you? God sees reality like no one else sees it. He sees the perfection of His Son’s finished work in your life. By one offering of Himself at the cross, Jesus has perfected you forever (see Hebrews 10:14)! You have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). And you will never find any spot in this righteousness that Jesus died to give you. So God wants you to see yourself righteous—all fair and spotless in Christ. Every day, be conscious of your righteousness in Christ. Say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. There is no spot in me whom He has perfected with His blood.” When you do that, you are honoring Jesus and His finished work. [abc] If you are conscious of your sins, then you are not honoring the work of Christ. You may think that you are being humble or holy by being sin-conscious. But do you know that the Bible calls sin-consciousness an “evil conscience”? Hebrews 10:21–22 tells us that since we have Jesus as our High Priest, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” What does the writer of Hebrews mean by “an evil conscience”? If you read the beginning of the same chapter, you will find that he is talking about a “consciousness of sins” (see Hebrews 10:2). Paul calls it a “conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2). The Greek word for “seared” here is kauteriazo, and it means to carry about with you a perpetual consciousness of sin. So don’t carry with you evil or seared conscience. Your lifetime of sins has already been punished fully in the body of Jesus at the cross. Be conscious, instead, of your perfection and righteousness in Christ. Because of what Jesus has done for you, you can boldly declare, “I am all fair. There is no spot in me!” [abc]
Power From Jesus’ Body To Yours April 4, 2020 bizadmin … “Take, eat; this is My body.” Matthew 26:26 POWER FROM JESUS’ BODY TO YOURS Can you imagine the Lord sick, nursing a cold or fever while He walked on earth? No, our Lord Jesus was never sick! He was vibrant, full of life and full of health. When He told His disciples, “Take, eat; this is My body,” they could practically visualize what it meant because they had lived and walked with this Man. They had seen people without hands or feet made whole when they touched His body (see Matthew 15:30–31). Even His clothes were soaked with His health! A woman who had a bleeding condition for 12 years—no doctor could cure her—was healed immediately when she touched the hem of His garment. If the hem of His garment was soaked with His health, vibrancy, energy and divine radiance, how much more His body! You know, some of the most encouraging verses in the Gospels are these: “And as many as touched Him were made well” (Mark 6:56), for “power went out from Him and healed them all” (Luke 6:19). I love those verses! That is our Jesus! [abc] The Bible says that they put sick people along the streets, and Jesus walked around, touched them and healed them. Now, you see movie stars doing this: They run here and there, they slap their fans’ hands, but nobody gets healed. But wherever Jesus walked, whoever He touched, He healed. Picture this: A trail of people. Those in front of Jesus are lying down, but those behind Him whom He has touched are leaping with joy and following Him! That is how Jesus healed the sick. So that night, when He said, “Take, eat; this is My body,” He broke the bread and gave it to His disciples to eat, they knew what it meant. They were probably thinking, “We are going to ingest His health into our bodies! Hallelujah!” That is what you must believe when you partake of the Holy Communion. It is not just a ritual or symbolic act. No, you must believe that He is the true bread from heaven who took your cancer, diabetes and heart disease so that you can have His supernatural health! And when you eat of His broken body with this revelation, you will have life in abundance and the health of the Lord! -Joseph Prince [abc]
Confessing Your Righteousness Pleases God March 28, 2020 bizadmin …the righteousness of faith speaks… Romans 10:6 CONFESSING YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS PLEASES GOD Every time you confess, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ,” God the Father is pleased. When you confess that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, it reminds Him of what His Son has done for you to become righteous. Also, by making you righteous, God is showing Himself righteous—“to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Each time Jesus hears you confess, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ,” it brings much pleasure to His heart too, because you are laying hold of what He suffered and died to give you. [abc] The Holy Spirit, who now indwells you to convict you of righteousness (see John 16:10), also rejoices when you confess, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” He is pleased when you flow with Him. The delight of the Godhead is not the only thing you gain when you declare, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” The Bible tells us that when you “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Whether it is food, clothing or other necessities in life, “all these things” will be added to you. They will not just be given to you but added to you as your inheritance when you seek first His righteousness. You don’t need to use your faith for every single need in life. You just need to use your faith for one thing—to believe that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, and it will cause all the blessings you seek to come after you and overtake you! -Joseph Prince [abc]