See Yourself In Christ

Ephesians 1:3
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

I remember going through a terrible time of depression when I was 18 years old. Believing that I was demon-possessed, I sought out a great man of God to have him cast the devil out of me. But when this man of God laid hands on me, he began to prophesy over me. He said, “Joe, I see you preaching to thousands, and used by God to impact thousands of lives. Joe, you are called by God and the devil is attempting to stop you.”

“What? I came here for deliverance! I am only interested in saving my own life, not preaching nor impacting lives,” I thought to myself.

You see, what happened was that at that moment, God allowed this man to step into the timeless zone He exists in to bring my future before me. As far as God was concerned, my future had already happened, though I was only 18 years old then. Today, I am a pastor of a church which has a membership of more than 15,000. Today, I am seeing what was told to me long ago.

The fact is that God does not see as we see. Abraham was a childless 100-year-old man and his wife, Sarah, at 90 years old, was doubly dead in her womb. (Genesis 17:17) Yet, God saw him and talked to him as if he were already the father of many nations.

And God wants us to see the way He sees. We are bound by time and that can limit our vision. Right now, you may see yourself going through a trial in your marriage, work, finances or health. But God sees a blessed marriage, a great success at work, supernatural increase in wealth and a healed body because He tells you that you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

You see, God sees you in Christ. So when you see yourself in Christ, who is outside time, you step into the timeless zone. And in that timeless zone in Christ, whatever needs and trials of yours are already removed, repaired, restored or resurrected! In that timeless zone in Christ, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places!

Pray Up Your Immune System!

1 Corinthians 14:4
4He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself…

Many Charismatics believe that when you speak in tongues, you edify or build up your spirit man. Well, that is only one-third true. The Bible does not say that the speaker edifies his spirit. No, it says that the speaker “edifies himself”. This means his entire self — spirit, soul and body. So he who speaks in tongues builds up his spirit, soul and body.

Does this include building up your immune system? Yes, it does! Brain specialist Dr Carl Peterson of Oral Roberts University found out through research and testing that when a person prays in tongues, his brain releases two chemical secretions that are directed to his immune system, giving it a 35 to 40 per cent boost. Interestingly, these secretions are triggered from a part of our brain that has no other apparent activity and which is activated only when we pray in tongues.

Now, your immune system is your first line of defense against diseases. During the SARS outbreak in Singapore in 2003, not everyone who had the disease died. Only those whose immune systems were weak succumbed to the disease and died. So many people resorted to vitamins and herbs then to boost their immune systems.

A 74-year-old church member decided to build up his immune system against more heart problems. For more than 30 years, two of his arteries were 70 per cent blocked and five smaller vessels were 80 per cent blocked. So during a church service, when I asked those who wanted to be healed of heart problems to stand up, he stood up, placed his hand over his heart and prayed in tongues.

He shared that at that moment, he believed that the Holy Spirit touched him and that he became a different person. When he went for his medical check-up, his surgeon found that all the blockages in his blood vessels were gone! Even a scheduled heart-related operation was cancelled as there was no necessity for it. Indeed, he was a different person. He literally had a change of heart — a brand new heart from God!

Beloved, you may not have a heart condition, but you can still pray in tongues and pray up your immune system!

Jesus Perfects Your Prayers

Hebrews 7:25
25Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

The Bible says that Jesus always lives to make intercession for us. Once, I used to think that Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand today, praying all the time, waiting and hoping for the Father to do something.

But that is not the truth. Look at what Jesus prayed when He stood before Lazarus’ tomb. He declared, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.” (John 11:41) He prayed these words before Lazarus came forth from his tomb alive. Jesus knew that His prayers would always come to pass because the Father always hears Him. (John 11:42)

So what does “Jesus always lives to make intercession for us” mean then? Because Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), we get a picture of what happens when we pray if we understand what the high priest did with the burnt offering of a bird in the Old Testament. (Leviticus 1:14–17)

The birds brought to the high priest are a picture of our prayers flying to the Lord Jesus because we pray to the Father in Jesus’ name. Now, just as the high priest removes the bird’s feathers after killing it, Jesus removes all that is superfluous and unclean from our prayers, which are usually tainted with our self-centredness and fleshly desires.

Then, just as the high priest offers the bird as a burnt sacrifice, a sweet aroma to the Lord, Jesus our High Priest adds His perfection, beauty, excellence and fragrance, which the Father so delights in, to our prayers. And He presents our prayers to the Father as the perfect prayer.

My friend, that is how Jesus lives to make intercession for us. And He does all this because He loves us. When you know that He presents a perfect prayer on your behalf to God, you don’t have to run to a church leader to pray “more accurately” for you.

You can take advantage of His intercession for you and say, “Lord Jesus, I don’t know what else to say… please pray for me.” And when Jesus prays for you, His prayers will always be answered because the Father always hears His Son when He prays!

Jesus' Blood Speaks Better Things

Hebrews 12:24
… 24to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Today, forensic science tells us that blood has a voice. DNA can be extracted from just one swab of a murderer’s blood and the results used in court as evidence.

So blood in a sense can speak. And when it is the blood of Jesus, it speaks better things than that of Abel. Abel’s blood cried out, “Vengeance! Vengeance!” after his brother Cain murdered him. (Genesis 4:8–11) But Jesus’ blood cries out forgiveness for our sins, healing for our bodies, and peace and soundness for our minds. It cries out protection for our coming-ins and going-outs, prosperity for the works of our hands, the righteousness of Christ as our acceptance before God and much more!

In the Bible, Jesus’ blood speaking of “better things” is found in the context of the last days when things are being shaken, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain. (Hebrews 12:27) God wants you to know that you will not be shaken when you put your faith in Jesus’ blood, which speaks for you. That is why God wants you to see Jesus’ blood shed for you in every area that causes your heart to tremble and your confidence to be shaken.

For example, if you are afraid of losing your job, speak the blood of Jesus over your job. His blood cries out, “Prosperity!” for you. It says, “Favour with his boss!” And in these days when you are shaken by fears that terrorism may strike anyone, anywhere, anytime, plead the blood of Jesus which cries out, “Protection and deliverance!” When fear rises in your heart as the doctor gives you his prognosis, plead the blood of Jesus over your body. His blood cries out, “Healing and wholeness!”

The blood of Jesus, which speaks better things, will never lose its power. Beloved, see that you do not refuse Him who speaks. (Hebrews 12:25) See that you keep hearing the voice of grace, good news and better things, which speaks salvation, righteousness, protection, deliverance, prosperity and healing over your life!

He Is The God Of Your Valleys Too

1 Kings 20:23
23Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they.”

In 1 Kings 20, we find the Syrians being defeated by the Israelites. Then, some of the Syrian king’s advisers gave the king what they thought was the reason for their defeat. They said that they had fought on the hills and lost because Israel’s God is the God of the hills. So if they were to fight the Israelites on the plains or in the valleys, they would win.

What stupid advice! They thought that the God of Israel only helped His people up in the hills and mountains, and not down in the valleys.

Now, mountains refer to our good times, and valleys, our bad times. Some people have this idea that God is the God of our good times, but He is not there when we are going through bad times. They think that He leaves us helpless in the valleys, especially when the troubles are of our own making.

My friend, I want you to know that our God is the God of the mountains, but He is also the God of the valleys!

He laid aside His crown of glory, His royal majesty and came down for us, stepping into a human body as a baby. He came down to where we were for the sole purpose of dying on the cross for our sins, so that He could bring us up to what the Father has for us at His right hand. He came down to crown us with glory and honour, to clothe us with robes of righteousness and make us His bride, sharing everything that He has with us. That is the grace of God. He came down to our valley.

So whatever you are going through right now, know that God is right there in your valley with you. He is holding you in His arms and carrying you through the valley. Victory is already yours. Just as the Israelites were also victorious in the valley (1 Kings 20:28–29), so will you be because the God of the valleys is right there with you!

God Will Cause Your Gift To Prosper You

Proverbs 17:8
8A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor; wherever he turns, he prospers.

When we see something mouldy, we throw it away. But when Alexander Fleming saw his culture dishes contaminated with mould, he discovered penicillin. You see, he had a gift which prospered him.

Joseph, a Hebrew slave in Egypt, had nothing except his gift of interpreting dreams. But look at what the gift did for him! It prospered him, making him the most powerful man in Egypt after Pharaoh. (Genesis 41)

“But, Pastor Prince, what if I don’t have any gift?”

My friend, don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have any gift. God has given each person a gift that can bring them tremendous blessings, open doors of opportunities and bring in great financial blessings.

Now, perhaps you may not be aware that you have a gift inside you, or perhaps it has profited you nothing thus far as you have not found out how to use it. You need to take your gift and ask God for wisdom to cultivate it until it becomes such a powerful tool or “precious stone” that wherever you turn, you prosper.

This was the case with a church brother who was tremendously gifted in the creative arts. For a long time, he lacked the confidence and boldness to leave the security of his police job and step out on his own. But when he began to seek God’s wisdom for his situation, God dispensed wisdom to him which gave him boldness to leave his job and go back to school to pursue the creative arts. In school, he prospered, becoming one of its top students and impressing the principal so much with his creative gift that he was offered a teaching position in the school even before he graduated.

Now, please don’t go and leave your job after reading this. Instead, what you should do is ask God for wisdom regarding your gift. For when the wisdom of God is added to your gift, that gift or present “is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor; wherever he turns, he prospers”.

God Sees Glorious Things In You!

1 Samuel 16:7
7… For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Picture David when he was a shepherd boy. Many who knew young David in his pre-Goliath days would very likely have seen just an ordinary youth — one who lived at home with his parents and siblings, enjoyed the outdoors and loved music. But where others saw a typical teenager, God saw a king in young David. He saw David’s name being uttered in honour forever, for even the Lord Jesus is called the Son of David!

Picture Moses after he had settled down comfortably in the desert with a beautiful wife, lovely children and loving in-laws. He might have seen himself happily retiring in the near future. But God had bigger plans for Moses. God had big dreams for him. God saw the Red Sea opening before him and an entire Egyptian army being wiped out in his presence. God saw in him the deliverer of His people.

Now, step back a little less far in time with me. See a little boy standing alone during play time. Nobody wants him on their team because he is scrawny and seen as a weakling. As he grows into his teens, he suffers from an inferiority complex. He stammers and stutters so much that all his friends laugh at him. But today, he is the senior pastor of New Creation Church. Several times each week, he stands in front of a crowd of more than 16,000 people to preach. And he receives invitations worldwide to speak in churches and pastors’ conferences. There was no way I could have ever conceived in my mind what God saw in me in those early years and the dreams that He had for me.

Beloved, God does not see as man sees. He saw in fearful Gideon a mighty man of valour and called him so even when he was hiding from his enemies in fear. (Judges 6:12) He saw in young David a king and anointed him as one. (1 Samuel 16:10–13) He saw in meek Moses a deliverer and drew him from obscurity. (Exodus 3) Today, God looks beyond what man sees and says about you, and He has dreams for you that are bigger than you can imagine!

God Makes Everything Work Together For Good

Romans 8:28
28And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

In this verse, “all things” is literally all things — the good, the bad and the ugly! Now, it does not mean that all things are from God. Some things, such as accidents, sicknesses, broken relationships and divorces are not from God. They are from the devil or just part of the fallen world that we live in. What this verse does tell us is that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”. That is our inheritance as God’s beloved children.

Do the people of the world have this inheritance? No. When bad things happen to them, they are what they are — bad things. But when bad things happen to the children of God, it does not end there. God can make those bad things work together for good. In other words, the devil may throw lemons at you, but God can take those lemons and make refreshing lemonade for you!

For example, if you have been retrenched, believe that God, who makes all things work together for good, has a better job for you. Indeed, we have received testimonies from church members who have ended up with better jobs and higher salaries after they were retrenched.

It is important that you remember that God is not behind anything that is bad and ugly. But when those things happen, know that He is able to make all things work together for good. And don’t let anyone tell you that all things will work together for good only if you love God and are called according to His purpose. These two things are not conditions but descriptions of believers. Believers are those who love God because they know that God first loved them. (1 John 4:19) And they are called according to His purpose for they have been born again.

And because you have been born again, all things in your life will work together for good. This is your inheritance as a beloved child of God!

God Knows You Intimately

Matthew 10:30
30“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

As much as I love my wife and daughter, I have never bothered to count the number of hairs on their heads. I don’t have the time to do so and I doubt I will ever want to.

Every day, your hair drops. Yet, God knows how many hairs are left on your head. And He also knows how many are growing back! He knows because He bothers to count them again. When it comes to you, He always has time for every little thing about you.

So when Jesus said, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered,” He was not exaggerating. He never exaggerates. He means what He says and He says what He means. So for the Lord to say that the very hairs of your head are all numbered means that He wants you to know that He is very absorbed in you and has intimate knowledge about you — your body, family, finances, relationships… everything in your life!

He knows the pain you have been having in your body. He is aware of the financial concerns which you have been keeping from your family. He sees how your rebellious son is treating you. He understands the hurts you have been keeping in your heart. He hears your heart’s cry for a miracle baby.

Your heavenly Father wants you to know that He pays attention to everything that concerns you. He does not overlook it as long as it concerns you, even if it is your pet, as a church member found out. She panicked when she first discovered that her pet terrapin had gone blind. Then, remembering my messages on confessing healing for our bodies, she did the same for her pet. Three months later, the terrapin’s eyes were wide open and seeing!

God knows you intimately. He knows every small problem that you are worried about and every single burden that you have. And when you approach Him for help, He has all the time for you as if no one else exists. That is how valuable you are to Him and how absorbed He is in you!

God 'Daily Loads' You With Benefits

Deuteronomy 28:6
6Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

In the Jewish community, the phrase “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out” refers to being blessed in the affairs of one’s daily life, whether in or outside your home.

So here, God is saying that you are blessed in your daily life. Do you believe it? Do you believe that every day, your family life and work life are blessed? Or do you think that you are blessed only during Christmas when you receive your gifts and year-end bonus, or when you get that promotion you have been wanting? Or do you think that the blessed life only begins when you meet the man or woman of your dreams?

No, beloved, you are blessed every day and you have God’s Word for it! Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!”

And because God’s Word says so, believe that every day of your life is loaded with benefits. Every morning, when you get up, believe that it is a day that the Lord has made, and rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24) Start the day expecting it to be loaded with the benefits that God has prepared for you.

At night, when it is time to sleep, know that you will be blessed when you get up in the morning because there will be another load of benefits waiting for you from your heavenly Father who loves you so much!

You can’t make your blessings happen. But if you will just believe God’s Word and act like it is so, the blessings will manifest in your life. In fact, God wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed! His Word declares it: “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out… Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!”

So believe God’s Word. Believe Him for the blessings, and you will find yourself enjoying His daily benefits!

Forgiveness Is For The Undeserving

Matthew 18:21
21… “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

The Lord’s answer to Peter was simple: Up to seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:22) In other words, all the time!

“Well, Pastor Prince, he does not deserve my forgiveness.”

Neither did you deserve God’s. Listen, there is not a single person alive or dead who did not break all 10 of God’s commandments. There is no such thing as a “partial sinner” or “great sinner”. All of us were great sinners when Jesus saved us! And we need to have that revelation because if we know that we are forgiven much, we will love much. (Luke 7:47)

“Pastor Prince, how can you say that I have broken all 10 commandments? I have not committed adultery. I have been true to my wife since the day we were married.”

My friend, Jesus said, “If you lust after a woman in your heart, you have already committed adultery with her.” (Matthew 5:28) That is God’s standard. Man looks outward, but God looks inward. God sees the heart. So everyone has broken all 10 commandments. Everyone is a great sinner.

Now, you are no longer a sinner if you have received Christ as your Saviour — you are now a new creation. But you were a sinner and God forgave all your sins through the death of His Son. You owed God big time, but God forgave you of your huge debt through His Son’s death.

So if someone has wronged you, say this: “I did not deserve God’s forgiveness, but God forgave me through Christ. So I forgive this person also in Jesus’ name.” If you say something like, “He does not deserve it,” it makes no sense. Forgiveness is not for people who deserve it. If they deserve something, then it is punishment. No, forgiveness means that you extend grace. Grace means undeserved favour, like how God extends undeserved favour to you.

If you choose to hold on to bitterness, no one suffers but you. You lose your peace, health and sometimes even your life. It is not worth it! God says to you, “Let go. Forgive them their debts, just as I have forgiven you yours.” Don’t try to do it on your own. Bring the cross of Christ into the situation and you will find the grace to forgive!

Divinely Arranged And Beautifully Timed

Ecclesiastes 3:11
11He has made everything beautiful in its time…

Nothing happens to you by accident. Even a “chance” meeting with someone is part of God’s plan to set in motion His blessings in your life.

Such was the divinely arranged meeting of the Shunammite woman and Prophet Elisha. It led to the prophet pronouncing over her the blessing of a miracle child even though she was barren and her husband was old. (2 Kings 4:8–17) A few years later, it was this friendship with the man of God which saw her through a crisis when her son fell seriously ill and died. Elisha raised her son back to life. (2 Kings 4:18–37)

When God is the one orchestrating the events in your life, neither lack nor danger nor destruction can affect you. When famine hit the land, the Shunammite woman’s family did not suffer because God had through Elisha told them to leave the land. They went to the land of the Philistines and dwelt there throughout the seven years of famine. (2 Kings 8:1–2)

God can place you at the right place at the right time, even through your daily decision-making. The Shunammite woman decided to return to Shunem after the famine ended. She then decided to appeal to the king of Israel for help to regain her house and land, which had been illegally acquired by others in her absence. This decision brought her before the king on the same day that Elisha’s servant Gehazi was in audience with the king, who wanted to hear all about the miracles performed by Elisha.

This gave the Shunammite woman the opportunity to share first-hand with the king how Elisha had raised her son from the dead. The thrilled king then ordered the restoration of her house and land, including all the proceeds of the field from the day that she had left until then. (2 Kings 8:3–6) The Lord had timed and set up everything beautifully for her!

Beloved, God has also made everything beautiful in its time for you. As you involve Him in your daily life and trust His love for you, you too will see Him lead and place you at the right place at the right time to enjoy His blessings.