BE STRONG IN THE LORD

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places…. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  Ephesians 6:10–12, 14–15

One of the biggest lies people believe about God is the lie that God is angry with them. The devil knows that if he can cause you to believe that God is mad at you, he can keep you trapped in fear, defeat, and bondage. I want to expose this lie from the devil and show you from God’s Word that God is not mad at you. He is mad about you! God loves you passionately, and He wants you to be fully assured and confident of His love for you.

To begin living a victorious life, it’s important you believe with all your heart that God is for you and not against you (see Rom. 8:31). When you use the weapons of right believing to prevail against the wiles of the devil, the Bible calls this being strong in the Lord. The armor of God in Ephesians 6:10–20 shows us that right believing in all that Jesus has done will always lead us to victory.

The apostle Paul begins with the belt of truth. When the devil comes against you with his lies about you, gird your waist with the belt of truth. The devil cannot deceive you if you are established in what God’s Word says about you. He can only make inroads into your mind when you don’t know or are unsure about what God’s Word says. That’s why I encourage people to study God’s Word for themselves and to listen to messages that are full of God’s grace and truth. Fill your mind and heart with truth and you’ll surely defeat the enemy.

Secondly, we already know that the devil will try to attack you with all kinds of accusations and condemning thoughts to make you feel guilty and lousy about yourself. That’s why when you are established in the gift of righteousness, his attacks against you will not prevail. All of the devil’s fiery darts of accusations are ineffective against the breastplate of righteousness that guards your heart from all fear, guilt, and condemnation.

Now, the enemy will also come in to try to steal the joy you have because of the gospel of peace, which is depicted as shoes here. But when he comes, know and believe that the God of peace will surely crush Satan underneath your feet.

Beloved, it's time to stand strong against the lies of the enemy! Rest assured that when you believe right, there is no area of your life in which the devil can prevail against you. (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING

When faced with a challenge or crisis, our tendency is to get all anxious about it. But God does not want us to react this way. He does not want us to be anxious about anything. Instead, whatever the problem is, He wants us to go to Him in prayer and supplication, telling Him what we need and thanking Him for the answer. When we do that, His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds from all worries, anxieties and fears.

“Pastor Prince, it is easy for you to say, ‘Be anxious for nothing.’ Try living with my husband for one day. Try disciplining that wayward teenager of mine. Look at the balance in my bank account! How can I not be anxious?”

Hold it! I am not the one who said, “Be anxious for nothing.” The apostle Paul said it. Yet, it was not him—he was prompted by the Holy Spirit. And when Paul wrote that, he was a prisoner under house arrest in Rome. He had been sent to Rome because he had appealed to Caesar regarding his death sentence. The Jews in Jerusalem wanted him to be put to death (see Acts 28:16–20).

Yet, under those trying conditions, he wrote these words: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

My friend, if you are anxious or worried about something, remember those words. Let’s say that you are anxious about a huge debt. Go to the Lord and pray, “Lord Jesus, I no longer want to be anxious about this problem. I hand it over to You and ask for supernatural cancellation of this debt. It is in Your care now. You are in charge. I thank You for taking care of it.”

God is true to His Word. As you pray this prayer and cast your care to Him, you will find His peace setting your heart and mind at rest. So be anxious for nothing—let the One with whom nothing is impossible take care of it for you!  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

STAND STILL

“Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s…. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”  2 Chronicles 20:15, 17

Faced with a troubling report of an impending war, King Jehoshaphat set himself to seek the Lord and pray with hope before all the assembly of Judah. It was then that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, who spoke the words of the Lord that we read in today’s scripture. On hearing these words of hope, all Judah humbled themselves before the Lord, bowing before Him and worshipping Him.

Today the Lord is saying the same words to you in your situation. Hope in Him for He loves you! You don’t have to live in fear and discouragement when you know that the battle is not yours, but the Lord’s. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The battle is His, and you will not need to fight in it.

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? The best thing you can do is to stand still. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord in your situation.

But Pastor Prince, if I stand still, nothing will happen!

My friend, standing still is not inactivity or doing nothing. It’s a posture of hope, and it involves keeping your hope anchored on the person of Jesus and having a sure and confident expectation of good. When the marauding armies of Pharaoh were charging toward the children of Israel, hell-bent on annihilating them, Moses simply declared to the terrified Israelites, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exod. 14:13). The Hebrew word for salvation is yeshua, which is actually the name of Jesus. So salvation is the person of Jesus, and He is with you.

When you are caught in a hopeless situation, learn to position yourself—stand still and see the saving power of Jesus work on your behalf. He will never leave you nor forsake you (see Heb. 13:5). And as you centre yourself, your thoughts, your beliefs, and your hopes on Him, He will lead you concerning what to do, just as He led Jehoshaphat to a triumphant victory over his enemies.  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

SEE THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED

What do you see when it comes to healing for your sick body, restoration for your failing marriage or breakthroughs for your financial woes? Do you see a finished work or a work that is yet to be completed?

God wants you to know that what you desperately need Him to do for you has already been done! Jesus’ finished work at the cross so satisfied the Father’s heart that from heaven’s throne came the pronouncement, “It is done!” (Revelation 16:17) in response to Jesus’ cry, “It is finished!” on earth. So God wants you to have this revelation that whatever you need Him to do for you has already been done because Jesus has accomplished it all for you.

If you need healing, know that your healing has been accomplished. If you need restoration for your marriage, know that your restoration has been accomplished. You are not going to die from any lack—you have been abundantly supplied. All these things have been accomplished, not by you, but by Christ alone!

My friend, if you are bothered by a pain in your body, God wants you to see your healing finished or accomplished for you by His Son’s death on the cross. If it is a loss or debt you face, or a certain sin that you are struggling with, believe that your provision, restoration and deliverance have been accomplished for you.

Don’t worry about what you see or feel, or the presence of contradicting reports. These are lying symptoms and though they may seem very real, they are temporal and not the truth. God’s Word is the truth and it will remain because it is eternal. And when you believe that only what God’s Word says about your situation is the truth, all the lying symptoms will eventually have to line up with His Word.

God the Son says, “It is finished!”

God the Father says, “It is done!”

What do you say?  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

FREE FROM "AM I DOING ENOUGH FOR GOD"

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”  Mark 2:22

Have you ever wondered what Jesus was referring to when He shared on the new wine and old wineskins? He was referring to the mixture of the two covenants. The new wine represents the new covenant of grace, while the old wineskin represents the old covenant of law. Have you ever seen old wineskins? They are brittle, hard, and inflexible. That’s the law. It is inflexible. And when you pour the new wine of grace into the old wineskin of the law, you will lose both because the wineskin will be ruined and the wine will be spilled. The virtues of both the old and the new covenants will be cancelled out and lost.

I received a letter from Kirsten in Florida who experienced a mixture of law and grace. When she received her salvation at the age of seventeen, she experienced unconditional love for the first time in her life as God’s mercy and grace washed over her. In the beginning, she said that church was a joy as they worshipped, shared, and prayed. But within a few years, she succumbed to a works mentality and began searching the Scriptures to discover what she needed to do. Having lost her joy and peace, she was tormented by thoughts of “not doing enough for God.”

Kirsten’s hope was reignited when she chanced upon one of my television broadcasts. She said, “That tiny spark of hope later burst into flames and set me free. Wow! God’s grace is real and it doesn’t depend on my ‘doing enough for Him.’ No more works that are motivated by guilt and shame that left me exhausted, overwhelmed, and drained. My peace and joy returned a hundredfold, and I was able to relax and enjoy my relationship with God, my family, and my church.”

That wasn’t all. Her revelation of God’s grace put a newfound peace and rest in her heart such that when the economic downturn in 2008 wrecked America financially and affected her family, she chose to rest and believe that God would provide for her family. “I prayed one morning for God to give us something that day based solely on His grace and not our efforts,” she said. “Less than thirty minutes later, my husband’s former employer called him and asked if he wanted his old job back! My husband now earns as much as he did in his best year prior to the downturn. God’s grace is amazing!”

Beloved, don’t allow a mixture of law and grace to invade your heart and mind. God hates mixture because it robs you of the freedom, peace, and joy that come from resting in His Son’s finished work. It robs you of the power to reign in life through the abundance of His grace! You cannot put new wine into old wineskins. You will lose both. But if you just focus and meditate on His grace and goodness toward you and your family, like Kirsten, you will see His grace abundantly provide for you.  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

GOD IS NOT PUNISHING YOU FOR SOME SIN

Some Christians believe that although you have forgiveness of sins, you are not free from the penalties of your sins. In other words, you can still expect punishment from God. For example, some married Christian couples have been told that they are childless because God is punishing them for having had pre-marital sex. So although God has forgiven them of that sin, He still has to punish them for it.

I am certainly not for pre-marital sex, but I want you to know that God, who is the only one who can fully appreciate the full value of His Son’s blood and who is completely satisfied by His Son’s sacrifice, is at rest in His heart today concerning your sins! That is why He is not against you even when you fail. Neither is He out to punish you when you sin. No, He still loves you, is for you and wants to help you overcome that sin.

In the Old Testament, the blood of bulls and goats could only “cover” sins and not take them away (see Hebrews 10:4). But the blood of Jesus is not like the blood of animals! For by one sacrifice, the eternal blood of the Son of God has forever removed your sins (see Psalm 103:12) and cleansed you of all unrighteousness (see 1 John 1:9)! In fact, God is so satisfied with His Son’s perfect work that He says to you today, “Your sins and lawless deeds I will by no means remember!” (see Hebrews 10:17). And if God does not remember them, why would He punish you for them?

Beloved, you have “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Because Jesus’ work is complete, all your sins have been completely forgiven. And complete forgiveness means that the penalties for your sins can no longer fall on you because they had already fallen on Jesus at the cross (see Isaiah 53:5).

So don’t think for one moment that God is punishing you for some sin just because something bad happened to you. Look to the cross and know that all your sins have already been punished fully in the body of Christ. Believe that God is for you and expect victory!  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).

A JESUS-ENCOUNTER CAN FREE YOU SUPERNATURALLY

And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.  Luke 13:11–13

Some time ago, we received a precious testimony from Kate, who shared that she had been supernaturally delivered from four years of alcohol addiction. You may be asking, “How can this be? How does four years of alcohol addiction just disappear like that? How could such a powerful craving just lose its hold in such a short time?”

The answer is simple but powerful.

In her testimony, Kate wrote how she allowed God’s love to invade her mind as she listened to grace-based messages on her iPod that were full of Jesus and His love. My friend, when you allow His love to saturate your mind, it doesn’t matter what wrong beliefs, fears, or addictions are keeping you bound. God’s grace will begin to break them down. This is what happens when you have an encounter with your loving Savior. Everyone who encounters Jesus never leaves the same. He came to set the captives free.

Whatever your condition, however long it has kept you bound—two years, ten years, thirty years—I want you to know and believe that God can set you free in a supernatural instant. Believe that the One who is both willing and able to set you free is the same One who created time, and He who created time isn’t time-bound. He who turned water into the finest aged wine in a matter of seconds can bypass natural processes and accelerate your deliverance from any bondage!

I know of many people who struggled with addictions for decades. But once they had a supernatural encounter with Jesus, they just woke up one morning and found themselves free, with none of that familiar urge or desire to engage in their negative behaviour anymore. Frank, who lives in the state of Maryland, wrote to me and shared how he was set free from drug addiction. He had been told “once an addict, always an addict,” and he had believed it.

But when he came to know the truth about the life-transforming love and grace of Jesus through one of my teaching resources, it just destroyed the chains that bound him. He shared, “Man, I could have jumped through the roof when I discovered that all I had to do was accept the finished work of Jesus and His grace! After thirty years of drug addiction, I thought there was no hope for me. But praise Jesus, I am now drug-free, and I’m in a good grace-preaching church with my wife, who has also been set free of her drug addiction.”

My friend, that is the power of right believing!

Today, believe God loves you and that His grace is available for you. Whatever bad prognosis you may have heard about your situation, no matter how dark and dire your circumstances may be right now, believe and accept God’s grace. You don’t have to accept defeat for the rest of your life!  (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).