How Do You See God? March 13, 2020 bizadmin When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” Luke 7:9 HOW DO YOU SEE GOD? The way you see Jesus, the revelation that you have of Him, will not affect God’s acceptance of you. But it will affect your acceptance of what God has for you. It will affect how you receive from Him. Consider the Roman centurion who told Jesus, “You don’t have to come to my house. Just speak the word and my servant at home will be healed” (see Luke 7:6–7). Compare him with Jairus, the ruler of a synagogue, who told Jesus, “My daughter is dying. Please come to my house and lay Your hands on her, and she shall live” (see Mark 5:22–23). Do you know that Jesus does not have to go to your house to heal you? So why did Jesus follow Jairus to his house? Jesus had to come down to Jairus’ level of faith. Jairus believed that his daughter could be healed, but only if Jesus came and laid His hands on her. [abc] The centurion was different. He said, “Lord, You don’t have to come to my house. I know who You are.” This centurion believed that Jesus did not have to come to his house for his servant to be healed. He believed that Jesus only needed to speak the word. He said to Jesus, “Just speak the word and my servant at home will be healed.” Do you know who Jesus is? The centurion had a greater understanding of who Jesus is than Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, and he wasn’t even a Jew! Jesus asked his disciples, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). He even remarked, “O you of little faith” (Matthew 6:30). But to the woman whose daughter was demon-possessed, He said, “O woman, great is your faith!” (Matthew 15:28). And to the centurion, He declared, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” My desire is for you to have an accurate understanding of who Jesus is because when your revelation of Jesus is big, you will know what has been freely given to you. And when you know what is yours in Christ Jesus, you will be rich in all things! -Joseph Prince [abc]
Come As You Are And Receive March 9, 2020 bizadmin And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Matthew 15:27 COME AS YOU ARE AND RECEIVE Come as you are to the Lord with your need, and lean on His unfailing and unconditional love for you. You don’t have to pretend to be more than what you are to receive the blessing you need from God. You don’t have to pretend to be someone else to appear more deserving to receive from God. A Canaanite woman desperately seeking healing for her demon-possessed daughter came to Jesus (see Matthew 15:22–28). Knowing that He healed and did miracles among the Jews, she pretended to be a Jew, calling out, “O Lord, Son of David!” (Only the Jews addressed Jesus as the “Son of David.”) Jesus did not answer her. His silence made her drop her pretense and cry out, “Lord, help me!” Only when her pretenses had melted away did she see the grace of God extended to her. Jesus made a way for her to receive her miracle even though it was not yet time for the Gentiles to receive His blessings. He told her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Many people might be offended at being called a “dog.” Actually, the Greek word used here by Jesus means “puppy,” and is thus an affectionate rather than an offensive term. So this woman was not offended. In fact, she knew then that she could receive healing for her daughter because even puppies get to eat what falls from their masters’ table. [abc] She saw that the crumbs under the Master’s table were enough for a Gentile, a “little dog,” like herself. You must understand that the Jews then considered Gentiles dogs. But what Jesus was trying to say was that He was called to the Jews first, not the Gentiles. Yet, He loved this Gentile woman and her daughter enough to provide a “loophole” for them to receive their miracle. So when the Canaanite woman took her place by dropping the title “Son of David” and just leaned on Jesus’ compassion for her, her daughter was healed from that very hour. If God was willing to extend His grace to a Gentile, how much more you, His beloved child! You do not need to depend on pretensions to receive a miracle from Him. Come as you are and lean on His grace. If He has delivered Jesus up for us, “how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). -Joseph Prince [abc]
The Antidote To Fear March 6, 2020 bizadmin There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear… 1 John 4:18 THE ANTIDOTE TO FEAR Experts tell us that babies have two natural fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. A study on fear was conducted on 500 adults of varying ages, backgrounds and lifestyles. The results showed that they shared some 7,000 different fears. This means that they must have learned 6,998 fears since they were born. That is a lot of fear! Actually, our bodies are designed for faith. Fear was foreign to the man until Adam sinned against God. For the first time, Adam knew fear, and he hid from God and said, “I heard Your voice…I was afraid…I hid” (Genesis 3:10). Since then, man has been living in the realm of fear—fear of the future, fear of what others might say, fear of diseases, fear of flying…Actually, every fear is born out of the feeling of being cut off from God. If you think that God is still mad at you, that He is out to punish you, how can you have faith that everything will be all right? How can you have faith in your miracle? [abc] But I have good news for you. There is a sure antidote to fear. The apostle John says that “perfect love casts out fear.” When you know that God so loves you that He gave His Son to take your beating so that you can take His blessings, you will stop fearing. God so loves you that at the cross, Jesus was rejected so that you could become God’s beloved. It was not the nails that kept Jesus on the cross. It was His love for you. And if God did not withhold Jesus, why do you think that He will withhold healing, finances or a blessed marriage from you (see Romans 8:32)? Today, when you hear His voice, you will hear Him say, “You are My beloved child, in you, I am well pleased.” And you don’t have to hide but you can run to Him without fear because He is not out to punish you. He is out to protect and provide for you, so fear not! -Joseph Prince [abc]
Is Anything Too Hard For God? February 27, 2020 bizadmin “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? Jeremiah 32:27 IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD? Do you have a problem believing that the moment a sinner receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, he is saved? I believe that you will say, “No.” Let me then ask you which is harder for God (though in reality, we know that nothing is hard for God): To save a soul from hell or heal a sick body? Of course, it is “harder” to save a soul from hell because God had to send His Son to the cross. So if God has already given you the greatest miracle that you can ever receive, which is to pluck you out of the clutches of eternal damnation and give you eternal life, what is healing your body, saving your marriage, turning your rebellious teenage son around or giving you that business deal to Him? Therefore, don’t think that when you come to God with a headache, He says, “No problem,” but should you come to Him with cancer, He says, “Cancer? Wow! Not that easy. This is more problematic. I will need more power!” No! It may appear more difficult to us, but with God, nothing is too hard for Him because He says, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” [abc] This was indeed the case for a church member who was suffering from ovarian cancer. After I had prayed for her, I told her, “This cancer is not a problem for God. Just believe that when God said that nothing is too hard for Him, it is so!” In a matter of weeks, she came back with tears in her eyes, testifying that she went back to the doctor and he pronounced her healed after he could find no traces of cancer in her. Beloved, if it is a miracle you need, it is a miracle you will get. God has already given you the greatest miracle of eternal life, so why would He not give you all the other lesser miracles? -Joseph Prince [abc]
The Sure Symbol Of God’s Love February 5, 2020 bizadmin But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 THE SURE SYMBOL OF GOD’S LOVE Imagine this scenario: Your car tire blows and you are late for work. At the office, you find out that someone else got the promotion you had been hoping for. Then, you receive a call from home informing you that your kitchen pipes are leaking again. Before long, you hear a voice telling you, “If God loves you so much, how come all these things are happening to you?” Perhaps you are asking the same question today and wondering if God really loves you. Well, I want you to know that you must never judge God’s love for you based on your circumstances. No, look at the cross instead! The cross is the sure symbol of God’s love for you. It is at the cross that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” A teenager learned that the cross indeed spoke of how much God loves her. At one point in her life, she was contemplating suicide as the only way out of her health problems. She had intended to take some Panadol tablets with a bottle of vodka. She was all ready to die when she started clicking aimlessly on some MP3 songs on her computer. And of all the songs that were on her screen, she picked a beautiful song written by one of our church musicians. [abc] The lyrics of the song, sung by one of our church vocalists, spoke of being held by God’s love and being treasured in His sight. They touched this teenager. Sensing that an awesome God with His amazing love was reaching out to her, she abandoned her plan to kill herself. Not long after that, she wrote to our church and even met the worship leader who had sung the song. The worship leader counseled her and she came to know how much God loves her and how He has demonstrated His love for her through the cross. Beloved, when you look at your life and find yourself wondering if God really loves you, look to the cross and see God’s outstretched arms. It will remind and reassure you of how much He loves you! -Joseph Prince [abc]
God Is For You, Not Against You January 29, 2020 bizadmin What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 GOD IS FOR YOU, NOT AGAINST YOU Are you faced with challenges in your life right now? Are you having marital problems and financial woes? Maybe your child is going astray, or an old illness has returned. What then will you say to all these things? Do you know what God wants you to say? He wants you to say, “If God is for me, who can be against me?” If you knew that the President or the Prime Minister was for you, you might believe that everything will be okay. But you have an even better backing! The Bible tells us that God, the Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is for you! What problem can fasten its grip on you when the Almighty God is for you? Can the devil come successfully against you with God on your side? If God is for you today, if God is for you right now, you don’t have to moan, “If only I had this…If only I didn’t say that…” And you don’t have to worry about the future: “What if this happens…What if we don’t have enough…” My friend, regretting the past and worrying about the future, won’t change anything. Look to your heavenly Father, instead. Because He is for you at this present moment, you can be confident that He will help you and provide for you. Beloved, God sent His Son to die for you. And Jesus gave you a blood-bought right to an abundant life full of meaning and purpose! He gave you a blood-bought right to walk in divine health all the days of your life! He gave you a blood-bought right to His supply even when the economy goes down! You have all these things not because you deserve them, but because Jesus shed His blood and gave you the right to have them. All these blessings are yours today because God is for you! And if God is for you, who can be against you!
God Is Not On A Sin Hunt January 25, 2020 bizadmin For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Thessalonians 5:9 GOD IS NOT ON A SIN HUNT When you think of Sodom and Gomorrah, what comes to your mind? God’s wrath and fiery judgment? The truth is that God was not all out to judge the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was not on a sin hunt. He was, in fact, on a righteousness hunt! This is evident because if God was on a sin hunt, He would not have allowed anyone to stop Him. But we know that He let Abraham in on what He was about to do and even allowed Abraham to entreat Him. Abraham asked God if He would destroy Sodom if He could find 50 righteous people there. God’s reply was, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes” (Genesis 18:26). Abraham then asked God if He would destroy the city if there were only 45…40…30…or 10 righteous. And each time, God’s reply was that He would spare the place for the sake of the righteous. Abraham stopped at 10. If he had gone down to just one righteous man, I believe God’s reply would have been the same because He was on a righteousness hunt. [abc] Now, if God was not all out to destroy then, how much more is today when God has already judged our sins in the body of His Son? At the cross, Jesus exhausted all of God’s fiery judgments until there was no more fire of God’s wrath left for us! Today, God is not judging us for our sins because He has found the righteousness of the one Man—Christ Jesus. So do not let anyone tell you that God judges you for your sins and punishes you with cancer, car accidents, business failures or brokenness. God would be unjust if He punished the same sins twice—in Jesus’ body and then in yours. Beloved, God is not out to judge you but bless you today, not because you deserve it, but because Jesus was judged and punished in your place! [abc]
You Are Already Blessed January 21, 2020 bizadmin ‘I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’ Joshua 24:13 YOU ARE ALREADY BLESSED God is more willing to bless you than you are willing to be blessed! In fact, He is so keen for you to enjoy His abundance that in His mind, giving you over and above what you need is a settled matter. God has already promised: “I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.” He did not say, “I may give,” which means that it may or may not happen, but He said, “I have given,” which means that it has already happened. It is only a matter of time before your revelation of what you have through the work of Christ brings forth the abundance that He has already blessed you with. A brother in the United States wrote in to share how he needed to buy a car but had only half the amount of money needed. He kept calculating and strategizing, but the sums just weren’t adding up. He finally quit trying to make it happen and just rested in the Lord’s love and ability to provide for him. Weeks later, he was able to buy a car that was two years newer than what he had wanted, at exactly the amount that he had! My friend, expect divine provision in your life because you are already richly blessed in Christ. Jesus took your place of poverty at the cross—“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). In Him, you are poor no more. So stop looking at the lack of your natural resources. Look to the cross and say, “Because of Jesus’ finished work, I can expect to walk in all of His blessings!” – Joseph Prince [abc]