How to Be Led by His Peace July 11, 2021 bizadmin Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 HOW TO BE LED BY HIS PEACE 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!
Find Rest in the Father’s Love June 29, 2021 bizadmin “Though the mountains are shaken and the hills are removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10 NIV FIND REST IN THE FATHER’S LOVE Today, I want to share one simple but critical truth with you. Memorize this truth. Feed on it. Let it take root in your spirit and become an anchor in your life. You will never be the same again. Are you ready? Here it goes: As a child of God, no matter what happens in your life, your Father in heaven loves you dearly and nothing you do can ever change that. Will you believe that today? Whether you are going through good times or facing challenging times, you need to know that your Abba loves you. There is nothing that you can ever do to make Him love you more, and nothing that you can ever do to make Him love you less. Even—or perhaps especially—when you feel like you have failed, know that you will always be the apple of His eye. Always. God loves you with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3). A love that is the same yesterday, today, forever. Feel your Daddy God enfolding you in His embrace right now. You are safe. You are utterly loved and completely accepted. He loved you before you ever knew Him. His love for you has nothing to do with anything that you have done for Him. Nothing you do will ever affect His unwavering, unconditional love for you. There is nothing for you to prove. You only need to rest and receive your Abba’s love. Let your life become established and grounded in a love that is so perfect that no challenge or adversity will be able to knock you down. If you think that you’ve messed up, turn to your Father. In His loving arms, you will find hope, security, and refuge from any storm. I love how the apostle Paul puts it: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 37–39). Beloved, there are no caveats or disclaimers when it comes to the love of your heavenly Father. The Bible plainly states that nothing shall be able to separate you from the love of your Father in heaven. It’s an absolute declaration and promise. “Nothing” means nothing. As a believer, this means that even your mistakes, failings, and sins cannot separate you from the love of your Father. Hallelujah!
Cast Out Fear June 18, 2021 bizadmin Keep yourselves in the love of God. Jude 1:21 CAST OUT FEAR As you wait for the doctor’s verdict on the nature of those cells he saw in your scan or as you look at the dark mass on your X-ray, you can’t help but be filled with trepidation. You try telling yourself not to be fearful, but you can’t seem to stop fearing. Do you know why? Because you cannot reason your way out of fear. Fear is not logical. The only way to get fear out of your life is to cast it out, and the Bible tells us how: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. —1 John 4:18 You cast out fear by immersing yourself to the perfect love of God. Keep allowing His love to inundate you and drive out every fear. The Bible talks about keeping ourselves in the love of God. Instead of focusing on the pain in your body or the sickness causing your loved one to suffer, keep yourself in His love. Set your mind on the inexhaustible, infallible, and perfect love of your heavenly Father. You have a God who loves you so much He gave His Son to die on the cross for you. That, my brothers and sisters, is why you can always have rock-solid assurance he loves you. The Bible defines His love for us like this: God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:9–10 NLT The cross is everlasting proof of God’s love for you. The cross is the measure of how much He loves you. You must never judge His love based on your circumstances. The devil can attack your circumstances, but he can never attack the cross. Take your eyes off your circumstances and put them on the cross. That’s where God’s love for you was demonstrated once and for all.
Be Forgiveness-Conscious June 15, 2021 bizadmin Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. Psalm 103:2–4 BE FORGIVENESS-CONSCIOUS Not too long ago, I was driving out for lunch with my wife, Wendy, and for some reason, every time she made a passing comment, I found myself snapping irritably at her or making an unnecessarily provocative remark. Have you had one of those days? When I reflected on why I was so irritable, I realized it was because I was actually feeling guilty about a couple of matters from earlier in the day. I hadn’t necessarily done anything wrong, but I’d just allowed a little bit of guilt to creep into my heart and unconsciously allowed condemnation to come in. My friend, when you are walking under a cloud of judgment, you can become a really unpleasant person to be around. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. Even if you are an author of books about God’s grace and forgiveness, there can be moments where condemnation creeps into your heart and you are completely oblivious to it. I thank God that when Wendy asked me if there was a reason for my irritability, He gave me that moment of clarity where I could see the condition of my heart. And praise Jesus for a discerning and perceptive wife who didn’t take my remarks personally and knew something was not right with me. I remember telling her to let me know the next time she noticed such behavior from me, because it’s so easy to slip into condemnation and guilt. When you’re under guilt and condemnation, all day long you can feel lousy, and all your answers have a sting in them. That’s not the abundant life, and you know what it all comes back to? It comes back to having a constant sense of God’s forgiveness over your life. Instead of taking in and harboring all the guilt, condemnation, and judgment, we need to stand secure in our perfect forgiveness in Jesus. There is a redeeming quality to being forgiveness-conscious, as opposed to being conscious of your failings, sins, and mistakes. When you are forgiveness-conscious and see your failings on the cross of Jesus, you receive power to break out of your irritability, impatience, and short-temperedness with others. You receive power to break out of your eating disorders, addictions, and anxieties! When you realize that we don’t deserve God’s forgiveness and grace yet He gives it to us anyway, this revelation of His unmerited favor changes us from within. It dissolves the knots of anger and impatience in us that have built up over the years and frees us to enjoy God’s love and to show it to others!
Walk in Wisdom to Stay Safe June 5, 2021 bizadmin Get wisdom! Get understanding!. . Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Proverbs 4:5, 7 WALK-IN WISDOM TO STAY SAFE 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 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 success.
Blessed to be a Blessing May 16, 2021 bizadmin I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. Genesis 12:2 BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING What does it mean to be an heir of the world? Let’s take a look at Abraham’s life to see what the Lord did for him. God’s Word tells us that Abraham did not just become rich. He became very rich. “Well, Pastor Prince, being an heir of the world refers to spiritual riches.” Hang on, that is not what my Bible says. According to Genesis 13:2, Abraham was “very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” Now, if financial blessings are not part of the blessings of the Lord, then are you telling me that the Lord cursed Abraham with wealth? I am so glad that God defined Abraham’s riches very specifically. God must have foreseen a generation of people who would argue that He is against His people experiencing financial success, so He said clearly in His Word that Abraham was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold. Abraham wasn’t just rich spiritually. Beloved, God is not against you having wealth, but He is definitely against wealth having you. The Lord blessed Abraham so that he could be a blessing to others. He told Abraham, “I will bless you . . . and you shall be a blessing.” Similarly, He will bless you financially, so that you can be a blessing to others. You cannot be a blessing to those around you—your loved ones, local church, community, and the poor—if you are not blessed by the Lord first. Now, you already know that finances alone don’t make you a success. There are a lot of “poor” people in the world today who have a lot of money. They can have fat bank accounts, but their hearts are empty without the revelation of Jesus’ love for them. You and I have something from Jesus that is far more superior. The success that we, as new covenant believers, can believe God for is good, the holistic success that permeates every aspect of our lives! What keeps you safe for financial success is when you know that your blessings come from Jesus’ unmerited favor. When you have that revelation, you will no longer be preoccupied with having money because you will be preoccupied with the Lord. Amazingly, you will realize that the more occupied you are with Jesus, the more money follows after you! Now, why is that? It is simply because when you seek first the kingdom of God and put Jesus, His righteousness (not your own righteousness), His joy, and His peace as your first priority, God’s Word promise you that ALL the material things that you need will be added to you (Matt. 6:33). The Lord always gives you money with a mission and prosperity with a purpose. He blesses you and when you are blessed, you can be a vessel to bless others. The gospel of grace can be preached, churches can be built, precious lives can be touched, sinners can be born again, marriages can be restored, and physical bodies can be healed when you send out the Word of Jesus with your financial support. Don’t love money and use people. Use the money to love people. May it be settled in your heart once and for all that it is God’s desire for you to be a financial success and to have more than enough to bless others! This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Favor—Daily Readings from Unmerited Favor.
God’s Robust Peace May 6, 2021 bizadmin The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 GOD’S ROBUST PEACE I want to talk to you today about experiencing God’s kind of peace in the midst of fearful circumstances. My friend, peace is not the absence of trouble in your life. It is not the absence of turmoil, challenges, or things that are not harmonious in your physical environment. It is possible to be in the midst of the biggest crisis in your life and still experience peace. That’s the true kind of peace that you can experience with Jesus—peace that surpasses understanding. Naturally speaking, it does not make sense for you to feel completely at rest and at peace when you are in dire straits, but supernaturally, you can be filled with peace! The world defines peace, harmony, and tranquility based on what is happening in the sensory realm. The world’s notion of peace would look something like this: A man lying in a hammock on a white sandy beach in Hawaii with luau music playing softly in the cabana, coconut trees swaying in perfect unison, and warm, blue waves rolling languidly along the shoreline. The world calls that peace—until reality kicks in and the transient peace that was experienced just moments ago dissipates into thin air! You see, my friend, you cannot use your external surroundings to permanently influence the turmoil that you are feeling inside. Only Jesus can touch what you are feeling inside and turn that turmoil into His peace. With the Lord by your side, and from that abiding peace within, you can influence your external surroundings. It’s not the other way round. With Jesus, transformation is always from inside out and not outside in. He puts a peace and rest in your heart that is so secure, you can face any challenge without worry or stress, regardless of your negative circumstances and environment. This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Favor—Daily Readings from Unmerited Favor.
The Fuel for Right Living April 30, 2021 bizadmin But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God….For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:12, 14 THE FUEL FOR RIGHT LIVING Many believers are worried that when people receive the revelation of their total forgiveness in Christ, they will grow lax, take sin lightly, and go on to lead godless lives. They are worried that such teaching places no emphasis on sanctification or the desire to live holy, God-glorifying lives. So allow me to explain here that while you have been justified and made righteous by the blood of Jesus or perfected forever, sanctification is an ongoing process in your growth as a Christian. This is why the author of the book of Hebrews says that we are being sanctified even though we are perfected forever by Christ’s one act of obedience at the cross (see today’s scripture). As a believer you cannot become more righteous but you can become more sanctified or holy in terms of how you live your life. Justification by faith happened instantaneously—the moment you received Jesus, you were forgiven, cleansed, perfected in righteousness, and saved. You were also sanctified in Christ (Heb. 10:10). However, it is important to understand that the revelation and outworking of your sanctification in Christ is progressive. This means that the more you grow in your relationship with the Lord Jesus, the more holy you will become in every area of your life. I remember a precious brother writing to my ministry describing how the revelation of our forgiveness in Christ brought him into an intimacy with God that he had previously only dreamed about. “Previously, when I was trying to be a good Christian,” he said, “I was only crawling along, inch by inch. But now that I’ve got hold of grace, I’m running in my relationship with God! The more I learn about God’s amazing grace, the more I desperately want to glorify Him with my life!” What a beautiful, true-life picture of what really happens when a person sits under teaching that uncovers the undiluted gospel of glorious grace! The revelation of forgiveness does not detract from nor is it at the expense of right living. Instead, it is the fuel that makes right living happen. Merriam-Webster Online describes sanctification as “the state of growing in divine grace as a result of Christian commitment after conversion.” You see, it is all about growing in grace. Establish yourself in the gospel of grace. Paul told Timothy to be “strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1). Peter encouraged believers to build a strong foundation with these closing words in his last epistle: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). My friend, grace produces true holiness. The more you grow in grace—the more you are washed, again and again, by the water of the word of God’s grace—the more you grow in sanctification and holiness, and the more you allow the Holy Spirit to correct habits and thinking that keep you in bondage. Beloved, when you experience the grace of our Lord Jesus, the allure and passing pleasures of sin fade in the light of His glory and grace. It will set you free to have the kind of relationship you’ve always longed for with God, one that is intimate, powerful, and full of peace, joy, and good fruit! This devotional is taken from the book Glorious Grace—100 Daily Readings from Grace Revolution.