I can just imagine how the man at Lystra responded when he heard Paul proclaiming that he could be justified from all things if he only believed in Jesus. When he heard the good news of Christ, faith came and filled his heart to believe that he was forgiven of all his sins. And at that very moment, he heard Paul commanding him in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” Before he had time to hesitate, he found himself leaping to his feet with joy, and for the first time in his life, he walked! Hallelujah!
This is so similar to a praise report I received from Lizzy, who lives in Virginia. For ten years she had been praying for a young woman who was molested as a child and developed anorexia as a teen. The girl’s condition worsened and she was placed in a ward for cardiac patients because her heart became too weak to function properly. In spite of the counseling and treatments she received, her condition did not improve and the doctors pronounced her as “dying.” Then, this happened:
Too weak to even read, this young woman began to watch Joseph Prince and hear the messages of God’s love and grace. Shortly before Christmas, her permanent feeding tube fell out on its own and she began to do what the doctors said she would never do again—eat solid food! She said she had heard Joseph Prince saying that when her spirit got stronger, her body would follow, and it has!
She is now able to attend church. Her pastor has even placed her to minister to the family of a fourteen-year-old girl who is anorexic. She is telling the girl that nothing worked for her except the grace of God. Hallelujah!
My friend, faith for healing or any other breakthrough you need comes when you are simply hearing the gospel of grace preached, as the crippled man of Lystra did. The Bible declares that the gospel
is
the power of God unto your salvation (Rom. 1:16), which includes total wholeness, preservation, and well-being.
Today’s Thought
The more I keep hearing the word of Christ—the gospel of grace—the more faith is imparted to me
.
Today’s Prayer
Father, thank You for the power that accompanies the hearing of the word of Christ. Thank You that all I have to do is hear and believe the good news about Jesus, and that activates Your power to save, to heal, to give strength, and to impart Your divine life in and through me. Help me, as I read Your Word, to see Jesus unveiled. I believe that as I see more and more of everything Jesus has done for me at the cross, more and more of Your loving grace and power will surround me for all that I need and cause me to be a blessing. Amen
.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
R
OMANS
1:16–17
So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ
.
R
OMANS
10:17
NASB
Today’s Scripture
“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
A
CTS
13:38–39
D
id you notice in yesterday’s reading that Paul did not lay his hands on the crippled man at Lystra to heal him? The faith to be healed came from just listening to Paul preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ
, and when he simply responded to the apostle’s command to stand up, he was healed. While what Paul preached to the man was not recorded for us, we do have one of Paul’s sermons recorded word for word for us by the Holy Spirit in the preceding chapter (Acts 13:16–41). And the highlight or climax of that sermon is found in today’s Scripture.
Now, listen carefully to this: the power of the gospel that Paul preached to the crippled man is found in the forgiveness of all your sins for “everyone who believes.” There is no other qualification for being forgiven of all your sins. The old covenant was based on justification by works (obedience to the Ten Commandments). You had to perform to be forgiven. But the new covenant of grace is based entirely on justification by faith (believing in Jesus Christ). Can you see the radical difference? The demand is no longer on you, but on Christ. This is the good news: all who
believe
in Jesus receive the forgiveness of all their sins and are justified from all things! Good news? Hallelujah! There is no better news than this!
We have experienced this time and again in our church services. As people are sitting in the service and hearing the gospel of grace and Jesus’ finished work being preached, healing miracles break forth!
This has happened not just in our church services, but also in other places. One of my dear friends, Marcel Gaasenbeek, shared with me a wonderful healing miracle that took place in his car as he was driving to Romania with a few friends. Marcel is a pastor of a dynamic grace church in Holland, and on this particular day, he was on his way to Romania for a preaching engagement. He was listening to one of my sermons in his car, something that he did often.
Lulled by the monotony of the long drive, one of Marcel’s friends dozed off in the backseat. This friend had been involved in a jet ski accident some years ago, and since then he often suffered sharp pains in his back. Somehow, through the fog of sleep, he heard me preach this: “Jesus has already healed you and the devil is the one giving you lying symptoms in your body.” He said “Amen!” in his heart, agreeing that Jesus
had already
healed him by taking his sin and bearing his sicknesses and pains on the cross. At that moment, he felt the power of God go through him, and he was completely healed! All the pain in his back was gone!
That’s the power of hearing and hearing the gospel of Jesus. That’s how faith comes! The more of Jesus you hear, the more of His grace you receive. The more revelation you get of His finished work, the more you will receive an impartation of faith for any situation, even the seemingly impossible ones!
Today’s Thought
The more of Jesus and His forgiveness I hear, the more of His grace—His healing, His supply, and His victory—I receive
.
Today’s Prayer
Father, thank You that there is power in reading and hearing messages that are all about Jesus and the forgiveness of all my sins through Him. Thank You for the good news that Jesus has justified me from all things. Help me to make listening to and reading anointed messages of the gospel of Jesus a daily priority. I believe that You will reveal more and more about Jesus’ finished work and impart to me the faith to receive every miracle I need. Amen
.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?
R
OMANS
10:14
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
I
SAIAH
52:7
Today’s Scripture
…so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit…
H
EBREWS
2:3–4
I
n the year 2000, I preached a sermon titled,
Aleph-Tav—Jesus’ Signature In The Bible. Aleph
is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet and
tav
is the last. The message was all about the person of Jesus and how He revealed Himself to be the Alpha and Omega (or
Aleph
and
Tav
, as He would have spoken Aramaic or Hebrew), the Beginning and the End. As I was preaching, I came to the Scriptures in yesterday’s reading, Acts 13:38–39, which I want you to turn back to and read out loud just as I did during that service.
The moment I finished quoting the verses, the bar chimes that were on the stage behind me started to play by themselves! There was nobody near the chimes. My musicians do not sit on the stage behind me when I preach. And it wasn’t just a soft tinkle. The chimes played beautifully by themselves, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, from the first to the last of the chimes. This was witnessed by more than a thousand people who were at the service. Everyone in the service could hear the crystal clear notes coming from the chimes. The anointing of God swept through the auditorium. Some people started crying, while others glorified the Lord and started clapping. It was beautiful.
It was the Lord.
Exactly at the point when I had finished reading the two verses on the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit fell upon our congregation and hugged us. It was as if the Holy Spirit was saying a resounding “Amen” to the two verses.
Anyone who was there can vouch that there was no way the waves of music from the chimes could have been caused by a gust of wind or some other natural cause. It was a supernatural event. God was confirming His Word with a sign. The chimes were played very deliberately. I can just imagine an angel of God running his fingers down the length of the chimes softly, before allowing his fingers to sweep through the chimes again and again. It’s impossible to completely describe what happened. You have to hear it for yourself!
By the way, this service was captured on both audio and video recordings. If you do get hold of the recordings, you will be able to hear the chimes playing distinctly. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to see the chimes in the DVD recording, even though you will see a shot of me turning to the chimes and asking the congregation to look at it. The cameraman was completely stunned by this supernatural occurrence and just kept the camera focused on me.
Now, let me share with you why that night was particularly significant to me. Unbeknownst to me at the time, there were several false accusations about me being circulated in the church, and many church members who had been deeply affected by those lies came to that service asking God to speak to them about the accuracy of the gospel of grace I had been preaching. When the chimes played supernaturally, it was a confirmation from the Lord bearing witness to “so great a salvation”!
My friend, whatever you are going through at this moment, whatever might be troubling your heart, believe that the gospel of grace—Jesus justifying you of ALL things through His death on the cross—
is the power of God
to salvation, period (see Rom. 1:16–17). You will see His awesome grace sweep into your situation to rescue and deliver you.
Today’s Thought
The more of the gospel of grace I hear and believe, the more I will see God bearing witness to His great salvation with signs, wonders, and miracles
.
Today’s Prayer
Father, I thank You that You have given me so great a salvation and the abundance of Your grace. I know You have only good things in store for me. I believe You are bringing the fragrance of the Holy Spirit’s sweet presence and power into my life and confirming the truth of the gospel of grace in every area of challenge I am facing. Help me to keep my eyes on You instead of my circumstances. I believe that by Your grace alone, I will reign in life and walk in liberty above every negative circumstance the enemy brings against me. Amen
.
“I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.”
A
CTS
13:38–39
THE MESSAGE
“The L
ORD
is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him… I will exalt Him.”
E
XODUS
15:2
Sing to the L
ORD
, all the earth; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day
.
1 C
HRONICLES
16:23
Today’s Scripture
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life
.
T
ITUS
3:4–7