Destined to Reign (33 page)

In the second family, another firstborn father and son are waiting to pass this significant night. But in this household, both father and son are singing praises and worshipping God.

The father smiles at his son and says, “Son, we have done what God told us to do. We have put the blood on the doorposts and lintel. Now, we leave the rest to Him. He will protect us. We don’t have to fear.”

They too hear the heartrending screams and cries coming from the Egyptian houses, but they continue singing praises and worshipping God.

Now, let me ask you this: Which family was delivered? Which family was saved? The answer is BOTH! Both families were delivered because the angel of death saw the blood on their doorposts and passed over both households. The first family therefore feared and suffered needlessly. For the second family, it was neither their faith in the blood, nor their praising and worshipping God, that saved them. The blood alone saved them! However, because they believed that the blood would save them, they did not worry and tremble in fear needlessly, but spent the night in rest, joy and shalom peace.

When you believe that it is the blood that saves you, God sees that as faith in the blood. Yet, it is not having faith in the blood that saves you. It is the blood alone that saves you. Stop wondering if you have enough faith and just believe that it is His blood that saves, delivers and blesses you. Believe that it is His blood
alone
, and not His blood
plus
your own works (your own faith), or His blood
plus
your keeping the commandments, that saves you.

Stop wondering if you have enough faith and just believe that it is His blood alone that saves, delivers and blesses you.

So don’t be caught up in or dependent on your ability to have faith, or on your works to keep your faith up. Have a fresh revelation of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, and you will see His grace for you. You will have no doubt that God, who did not withhold His Son, will freely give you all things
16
!

My friend,
when you see His grace, God will see you in your faith
. Faith is no longer a struggle when you see Jesus! It will spring forth unconsciously and you will walk in true victory over every area of defeat in your life today!

Chapter 22: Good Things Happen

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to fellowship with a Word of Faith preacher who pastors a church in Bergen, Norway. He shared a testimony from one of his church members with me. This particular church member was a businessman, who had developed the habit of viewing pornography in his hotel room during his many and frequent business trips. He tried his best to break the habit, employing all kinds of spiritual discipline, but he just could not stop, and was consumed with shame and condemnation.

Each time he had to leave his family for another business trip, his heart would be filled with dread because he knew that he could not overcome the temptation no matter how disciplined he tried to be. Then, on one of his business trips which brought him to Singapore, he visited our church and got hold of some of my sermon CDs on the grace of God. After listening to the messages for about three weeks, he found himself completely set free from this unclean habit! Hallelujah!

Today, when this precious brother travels, he does not depend on his own willpower to overcome the temptation to indulge in pornography in his hotel room. He will just completely rest in the revelation that he is as righteous as Jesus by God’s grace. And the more he is conscious that he is righteous, the more the temptation to sin secretly in his hotel room dissipates. Awake to righteousness and sin not! It is the grace of God that gives us true victory!

That is the power of the gospel. It is the power of God unto your wholeness! You can rely on your self-efforts and willpower all you want, but they can only bring you so far. My friend, put your dependence completely on His grace. It is the only power that can set you free from all bondages!

I was told another exciting testimony when I was in Norway for a conference at my dear friend Pastor Åge Åleskjær’s church. Pastor Åge shared with me about a miracle which had happened to someone from another church in Norway. This church member was completely healed of deafness in one ear after listening to recordings of messages that I had preached at the conference. As he was listening to one of my messages, his ear just popped open and he was HEALED! No hands were laid on him. Neither did anyone pray for him. He was healed just by hearing the gospel of Christ preached. All glory to Jesus! That’s the power of the gospel, my friend.

The more we hear the good news, the more miracles and breakthroughs we will see.

When people hear the good news that all their sins have been forgiven because of the cross of Jesus, something supernatural happens. This is what happened in the book of Acts. When Apostle Paul preached on forgiveness, healing miracles occurred as the people listened. The man who was lame from his mother’s womb leapt up and walked for the first time in his life. People in the church are looking for great power, but where is it found? The book of Acts declares that where there is great grace, there is great power
1
!

The Gospel Revolution is breaking out all over the world. Mark my words: When more and more people hear the true gospel that is unadulterated by man’s efforts, you will hear of more and more of these miracles and supernatural breakthroughs in the church. It has pleased God to heal, rescue, prosper and deliver those who simply believe the gospel through the foolishness of preaching. So as His Word goes forth, when you believe that you are forgiven and righteous, you will be made whole! Right now, even as you are reading this book which is all about Jesus, you are being healed, being prospered and being blessed!

Good Things Happen To Those Who Believe That God Loves Them

“But Pastor Prince, what does forgiveness have to do with healing?”

Let’s read what the Word of God says in Psalm 103:

Psalm 103:1–5

1
Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
3
Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases,
4
who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
5
who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Observe the way the Holy Spirit has ordered His benefits: Forgiveness of your iniquities comes before the healing of your diseases. In other words, once you know that you have been forgiven of
all
your sins, past, present and future, the healing of all your diseases follows.

There are many believers who are suffering from sicknesses and diseases because of guilt. Whether or not there is any real basis for their guilt and condemnation, the guilt and condemnation are still destructive. That is why the gospel is so powerful. It is the good news of God’s grace and forgiveness that frees the believer from every sense of feeling dirty or condemned, and gives him the power to break free from the vicious circle of condem and sin.

Guilt and condemnation perpetuate the cycle of sin, whereas His grace, His blood and His righteousness liberate and provide freedom from sin. Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
2
The power to overcome sin is found in the gift of no condemnation. My friend, God has forgiven you of all your iniquities. Don’t ever forget this benefit as well as all the other benefits that Jesus’ finished work has bought for you. Bless the Lord for all His benefits and blessings toward you every day!

Once, when I was preparing to preach, the Lord shared this with me: “Good things happen to people who believe that God loves them.” I used this as the title for my sermon. It is probably one of the longest sermon titles that I have ever received from Him, but it is so powerful. Good things happening to you does not depend on who you are, what academic qualifications you hold or what your profession is. Good things simply happen to you when you believe that God loves you! He loves you all the time. Even when you fail, He loves you! His love is not like our love. Our love is conditional, but His love is not contingent on our behavior. It is contingent entirely on His grace and the work of His Son Jesus Christ.

Good things simply happen to you when you believe that God loves you!

Do you know what Paul prayed for the church of Ephesus? This was one of the most spiritual churches in his time, and he prayed that they may be able to comprehend “what is the width and length and depth and height” of “the love of Christ”
3
. Can you see the picture of the cross of Jesus here? The width, length, depth and height point to the four corners of the cross.

Notice Paul’s emphasis on the love
of
Christ. In other words, it is not our love
for
Christ. Paul was praying for them to have a revelation of Jesus’ love for them and not their love for Jesus. Now, observe closely the result of them knowing His love for them: They would be “filled with all the
fullness of God
”. I have heard many sermons saying that if you do this and do that, you will be filled with the fullness of God. But that’s not what the Bible says. It says that when you
know the love of Christ
, you will be filled with the fullness of God!

Paul doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…”
4
God becomes big in your life when you know His love. He will give you not just exceedingly, not just abundantly, but exceedingly abundantly above ALL you can ask or think. So when you know His love for you, you can ASK BIG and THINK BIG, and God will still exceed all that you ask or think!

Yet, there are people today who continue to boast in their love for God, believing that He would bless them in tandem with their good works. That’s wrong!

A Fresh Revelation Of His Love

In my own life, there have been some things that I had been believing God for, but for years, nothing happened, until I realized just how much God loves me. When I realized how much He loves me, it was like all of a sudden, the floodgate of His blessings opened wide, and all kinds of good things started happening to me, in me and around me. Good things happen to those who know that God loves them.

I remember one incident in which God revealed His love for me so clearly. My daughter Jessica was about two years old and she was suffering from a viral attack. Wendy and I had brought her to the doctors. They stuck all kinds of needles into her for blood tests, but they could not find any reason or remedy for her illness.

My heart ached to hear my Jessica crying all day and night. I tried everything I knew. I was binding and loosing, I was confessing the Word of God, I was shouting, I was laying hands… all to no avail. For days, my little darling just kept crying in pain. When I finally couldn’t take it any longer, I went to the Lord and started to weep in His presence, the sound of my baby’s cries still audible even though I had shut myself in my study. I cried, “Lord, You have to speak to me. What is happening? I have tried doing everything that I know.”

The Lord then brought me to Genesis 22, where God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering to Him. God said to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…”
5
Even though Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, God only recognized Isaac, who was born of the Spirit (a picture of a result by grace). He did not recognize Ishmael who was born of the flesh (a picture of a result by self-effort). Anyway, as I read what God said to Abraham about Isaac being his son and his only son, I thought to myself, God is really pushing it here. It must have been very difficult for Abraham to sacrifice his son and God had to “rub it in” by emphasizing that Isaac was his only son, whom he loved — “Take now your son, your
only
son Isaac,
whom you love
”.

Then, I came to the part where Abraham was about to kill his son and God stopped him. Abraham then looked behind him and found a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. God had provided a ram for the sacrifice! As they were going up on one side of the mountain, the ram was going up on the other side. (My friend, when you don’t seem to see your provision coming toward you, don’t worry. Every time you move toward God’s purpose, He will provide for you. Your provision is on its way on the other side of the mountain!) So God stopped Abraham from plunging his knife into his son. He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me
.”
6

When I read the last portion of that verse, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes in a flash. He showed me that God had actually been talking about Himself. He was the Father who would give up His Son. The whole story of the boy carrying the wood on his back and going to the place of sacrifice was a picture of Jesus carrying the cross on His back and going to the place of sacrifice at Calvary! God was telling us that He would give us His Son —
His only Son, the Son whom He loved
— as a ransom for us. Until you know how much God loves Jesus, you will never know how much God loves you, because God gave Jesus up to save you.