Pastor Prince, the only single moms I know are always stressed, worried, and lacking in finances. I told the Lord that I didn’t want to be a single mom working a few jobs just to make ends meet and having no time for my kids. I believed that He could make our lives glorious and a testimony of His abundant provision. So I began to confess that because of Jesus, God is our provider
.
By His grace, I rose to be a top professional in my field and received numerous awards. God continued to bless us abundantly, including providing us with a better place to live. I even asked the Lord to make my job hours flexible so I could pick up my kids after school, and He did!
Nevertheless, I desired to homeschool my children as I was seeing so many negative changes in them from attending the public school. Sensing that I was being led by the Holy Spirit, yet not knowing how I could ever manage homeschooling and working full time, I cast all my cares to God. I remember you saying that the best place to be is one where you are totally dependent upon God for everything!
I just rested, meditated on His Word, and let Him lead me. As a result of His favor, I was able to enroll my kids in a state-funded homeschool program, with full curriculum, books, and teacher availability—all for free! Amazing!
And if that was not enough, God blessed me with the finances to pay for a nanny to come in to supervise and teach my kids while I was away working. The arrangement seemed great, but I kept hearing from the Lord that I needed to rest in Him and keep on receiving. So I continued to ask the Lord to let me stay home full time to homeschool my kids. I believe that as their mother, I am anointed to teach and parent them, and I wanted to be home to do so. And the Lord answered my prayer!
I was led to resign from my position, even though I didn’t know at that time what my next step would be. I just trusted the Lord. I didn’t want to depend on my paycheck from work or let anything else dictate how I raised my family. I knew that if the Lord had put the desire in my heart, He would supply everything I needed. And indeed, He blessed me with a new position, making considerably more money than I had been, and I work from home every day! I only travel into the office four days a month, and it’s so restful and easy compared to my previous job
.
Only Jesus can give me a job where I work from home and make more money, have more peace, and can homeschool my children. This is all by His grace! He keeps on blessing and blessing, and I just continue to receive more in every area of my life! The gospel is so good—no wonder the enemy wants to blind our eyes. But thank God, I see more and more of Jesus each day, and He has changed my life. I know His ear is attentive to all my prayers because He has made me righteous forever. I’m blessed superabundantly, all by His grace and His grace alone!
That’s what it’s all about, my friend. When you start to believe God for His favor and goodness, even what seems impossible happens, because all the benefits of the cross are there for you to enjoy! So believe and be rooted in the superabounding grace of God for you and don’t let wrong believing rob you of a life of great joy and peace. Your freedom, breakthrough, and provision are in Christ Jesus, your Lord and Savior.
Today’s Thought
As a new covenant believer under grace, God’s holiness, righteousness, and justice are on my side demanding that I have and enjoy all the benefits of the cross
.
Today’s Prayer
Father, thank You for the truth of Your radical grace that liberates me to enjoy every benefit and blessing Your Son, Jesus, has already purchased for me at the cross. Thank You that You know every detail in my life and that Your grace extends into every area. I believe that as a new covenant believer under grace, Your holiness, righteousness, and justice are on my side demanding that I have and enjoy all the benefits of the cross—Your favor, protection, deliverance, healing, and provision. In Jesus’ name, Amen
.
Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
P
SALM
103:2–5
NLT
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!
P
SALM
68:19
Today’s Scripture
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
G
ALATIANS
3:1–3
D
o you know why many believers today have a confused perspective of God? For example, many believers think that God is sometimes angry with them, but at other times pleased with them. And while they would personally never hurt their own children this way, many believers today think that their heavenly Father would actually punish them with sicknesses and diseases. What accounts for this apparent “schizophrenia” that exists in the body of Christ today?
The answer lies in a mixture of covenants (or “Galatianism”) that is prevalent in the church of Jesus Christ. During Paul’s day, the church in Galatia was struggling with this intermingling of teachings about God that contains a little bit of the law as well as a little bit of grace—a mixture of covenants. From the severity of Apostle Paul’s tone to the Galatians, it is obvious that Paul regarded this issue very seriously.
You might expect Paul to be more upset with the believers in Corinth, who were involved in all kinds of public sins and immoral activities, but he was not. His intense reaction toward the church in Galatia reveals
what is of priority to God
. It is clear that in God’s eyes,
believing the wrong doctrine is worse than exhibiting wrong behavior!
When it came to wrong behavior in Corinth, Paul was cool and collected toward the believers. He was able to handle their wrong behavior because he knew that the grace of God was able to take care of their spree of wrong behavior. That is why he was able to speak positively to them, even telling them, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:4). But when it came to wrong doctrine in Galatia, he rebuked the believers there because they nullified God’s grace by mixing it with the law.
In the very first chapter of Galatians, Paul says, “I marvel…” or as you and I would say today, “I am appalled…” What appalled him? Paul continues, “…that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:6–7). Paul had preached the gospel of grace to the Galatians, but he found that there were Judaizers who introduced elements of the law to them. They mixed God’s grace with the law, causing the Galatians to turn away from the pure grace of Christ. They said, “Yes, it’s good that you are saved by grace, but it’s not enough for you to just have Jesus. You must also know and abide by the law of Moses and be circumcised to be pleasing to God.”
This mixture of law and grace angered Paul. You see, if you have wrong behavior, as long as there is grace in the church, grace will teach and give you the power to overcome your wrong behavior. But if there is no grace in the church, or if grace is mixed with the law and nullified, then what hope is there for overcoming your wrong behavior?
Beloved, wrongly believing a mixture of law and grace leads you down a path of defeat and will keep you trapped in paralyzing captivity. Right believing in the pure, unmixed gospel of grace, on the other hand, is the door out of this vicious cycle of defeat and bondage. Today, begin to believe right by choosing to know and believe in the true gospel of grace. Believe that Jesus’ finished work has cleansed and forgiven you, and made you righteous with His own righteousness in the eyes of Almighty God. I pray that as you turn to the person of Jesus who has saved you to the uttermost by His sacrifice on the cross, you
will
begin to experience your breakthrough and lasting victory!
Today’s Thought
Right believing in the pure, unmixed gospel of grace—not a mixture of law and grace—is the door out of a vicious cycle of defeat and bondage
.
Today’s Prayer
Father, thank You that You haven’t left me to wonder what I am to believe about You. Thank You for revealing to me through Your Word that you don’t want my eyes and heart to be turned away from Jesus by allowing mixture to come in. I ask that Your Holy Spirit establish right beliefs that are based on Your eternal truths in my heart and mind. As I receive and meditate on the pure, unmixed gospel of grace, I believe that You are turning every area of defeat and bondage into lasting victory! Amen
.
And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work
.
R
OMANS
11:6
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age
.
T
ITUS
2:11–12
NIV
Today’s Scripture
“Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
G
ALATIANS
2:16
NLT
H
ave you realized that while many believers will say that they have been saved by grace, they nevertheless still subject themselves to the law of the old covenant? In many places today, you will still hear teachings like, “Yes, you are saved by grace, but now that you are saved, you had better not take it for granted. You have to start living a holy life by keeping the Ten Commandments to stay saved.” This is called mixture—you have a little bit of grace and a little bit of law. Many believers think that this—balancing law and grace—is all right. However, the Lord has shown me that
what man calls balance, God calls mixture
.
My friend, you cannot balance law and grace (see Rom. 11:6). Your justification is either entirely a work of God’s grace or it is by your own works. It is never Jesus plus something you do. His grace will be nullified when you add even a little of your own efforts to be justified. This is serious. God hates mixture (see Rev. 3:15–16).
Many believers who say that they believe in God’s grace are still depending on the “works of the law” or their obedience to the law to earn, merit, and deserve God’s blessings. When they do well in their own estimation, they expect to be blessed. But when they fall short and fail, they heap on themselves guilt and condemnation and expect to be punished. Unfortunately, the more they focus on their own efforts or obedience, the more they are subject to condemnation and the more they are mired in a cycle of defeat.
Diane from Indiana understands this firsthand. For thirteen years, she struggled with a sin she had committed and would not forgive herself for. She explained, “I felt driven by guilt to punish myself daily for that sin and refused to forgive myself. I believed that I had hurt God and, therefore, He would not bless me anymore. I believed that He was testing my faith and any failure on my part to show Him how sorry I was meant that I was unworthy to receive any kind of goodness from Him.” Over the years, this wrong believing and struggle led to depression, a hopeless sense of defeat, and sickness entering Diane’s life.
Diane’s breakthrough came when she got hold of my book,
The Power of Right Believing
, and read what I had shared about condemnation and self-righteousness. “God began to reveal to me the power and total forgiveness for me found in the blood of Jesus,” she said. “After all these years, my heart suddenly saw the light. Finally, I understood what I had been doing all these years by refusing to forgive myself. I had been negating the blood of Christ, something I never wanted to do.”
I’m going to let Diane describe further how the gospel of grace began to set her free and bring hope, joy, and purpose back into her life:
God opened my heart and for the first time in my life, I completely understood what forgiveness truly is. Jesus died to take away the sins of the whole world whether the whole world knows it or not. Since I have been forgiven much, how can I honestly refuse to forgive others or even myself?
Pastor Prince, thank you so much for sharing the gospel of grace. I have been a born-again, baptized believer for eighteen years, but only by hearing your teaching on grace have I been set free from wrong believing. Many Christians do not understand in their hearts that their sins are completely forgiven—I didn’t until the Lord opened my heart through listening to you preach
.
Because of the preaching of a mixed gospel in the church, a confusing message of law and works plus grace, I, like many others, was kept in bondage. I did not truly know who I am in Christ—I was suffering from an identity crisis. This mixture I was hearing kept me defeated, depressed, sick, and dying. I thank God every day for the life-giving revelation of His grace that has set me free and released abundant favor into my life! Now I know that to receive His grace is what He wants for His children
.