Grace to Prosper

2 Corinthians 9:8 (ESV)

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Henry Crowell, suffering from tuberculosis, was listening to the great preacher D.L. Moody. He prayed, “Lord I can’t preach. But if you help me in my business, I promise to give to build your kingdom.” Later he started the Quaker Oats company and continued to give up to 70% of his income to the Lord’s work.

Our God gives us the grace to prosper!

On the cross, when Jesus identified with our sins, He became poor. His poverty was not just spiritual, but he was physically and materially poor too.

That means because of this beautiful exchange, we receive not just spiritual riches but even physical and material wealth so that our needs will be met and we will have enough left over to share with other people.

However, this does not mean that we are exempt from working hard. If we will be irresponsible, lazy or dishonest, the grace to prosper cannot work in our lives. Faith without works is dead (James 2:20).

If we truly believe what Jesus has done for us in the area of finances, then we will learn to operate in God’s principles and receive His finished work in our lives.

2 Corinthians 9:8 - “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work”.

The grace to prosper is given for the purpose of doing ‘every good work’. Remember, if money can go through you to someone else, money will surely come to you.

Dear Lord, we pray that You will open doors, give us new contracts, so that we will be able to bless others. Help us to work hard so that we can be a blessing to those around us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Results of Righteousness

Zechariah 3:4 (ESV)

And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”

In the above passage, Satan stands before God opposing Joshua the high priest. The Lord rebukes Satan and commands that Joshua’s filthy garments be replaced with rich robes.

Isaiah 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord...for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

Jesus took away our filthy garments of sin and gifted us his own robe of righteousness instead. And thus, He silenced our accuser- the devil.

Isaiah 32:17 - “The works of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever”.

Righteousness produces certain immediate results in our lives. The three results of righteousness are peace, quietness and assurance.

Peace comes as all our striving to be right, ceases. It’s the same rest that you experience when what you sweated and struggled for, and never found, is suddenly gifted to you.

Quietness or calmness comes as we are humbled by God’s generous gift of righteousness. This leads to a sure assurance or confidence and affects everything we do.

Our way of living, attitudes, relationships and the effectiveness of our Christian lives and service depend on how far we realize that we have been made righteous in God’s sight – as righteous as Jesus Christ himself.

Dear Lord, we pray for genuine love, restoration and forgiveness within our family. We pray that each family member will be committed to unity. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

A lot of people like gifts but are uncomfortable receiving them. There are different reasons for it- they feel suspicious of the person giving it or they feel obliged to repay or return the kindness of others.

God has a gift for us – it’s called righteousness. Jesus paid a heavy price to gift this righteousness to us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For he made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”

What is the meaning of righteousness? It is the ability to stand before God without guilt, condemnation and inferiority. In other words, it means being right in the sight of God.

Many centuries back Job asked this question, “How then can a man be righteous before God? (Job 25:4).

God’s answer is the Cross.

There is a complete exchange here: Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness so that we might be made righteous with His righteousness. We, who were all wrong and sinful, now become completely and fully right and acceptable in God’s eyes!

What is the quality of this righteousness? This is God’s own righteousness—a righteousness that has never known sin. It is as high above our own righteousness as heaven is above the earth.

It is a free gift that can be received solely by faith in His blood. You can never earn it and never do anything to repay it. You can only learn to enjoy this gift of God!

Dear Lord, we thank You for Your love. Thanks for Your righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Cleansing

Psalm 51:7 (ESV)

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

This is David’s prayer of repentance after he committed adultery and murder. He prayed not just for forgiveness but for cleansing from the very stains of his sins. Why hyssop?

Hyssop was an ordinary plant. On the night of the Passover, God commanded Israel to use a bunch of hyssops to apply the blood of a lamb on the doorpost of their homes. When the Lord would see the blood, He would pass over that home and not judge it.

Hyssop was also used to sprinkle blood on a leper who had been healed. After that, the man could be restored back to society.

David was asking to be cleansed by the blood. The blood brought God’s mercy. It cleansed and restored unclean people. Today we have, not the blood of animals, but even better – the blood of Jesus.

1 John 1:7 – “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin”.

In this verse, there are three verbs: walk, fellowship and cleanse. All three are in the continuous present tense. That means if we continue walking in the light, then we continue having fellowship and the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us. It is very important to see that this is conditional.

Many people claim the cleansing and protection of the blood but do not meet the conditions to receive them. The condition is to walk in the light as God is in the light. The blood of Jesus only cleanses when you are in the light!

Let’s come to the light. Let’s return to true fellowship. Let the blood cleanse us continually!

Dear Lord, we ask You to make us a clean vessel of honor, ready for your use and prepared for every good work. Please purify our thoughts, attitudes, and words. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Forgiveness of Sins

Matthew 26:28 (ESV)

For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

“I have forgiven the killers and have no bitterness...”

These were the famous words of Mrs. Gladys Staines, the widow of an Australian missionary, Graham Staines as recorded on the front page of the country’s top newspapers. On January 22, 1999, Graham Staines and his two sons were burnt alive while they were sleeping in a van at Manoharpur, Odisha.

How could she forgive the people who mercilessly killed her family?

“God in Christ has forgiven me and expects His followers to do the same.” Was her reply.

Matthew 26:28 – “...for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

The blood of Jesus was literally poured out on the Cross so that our sins might be forgiven. The Bible says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrew 9:22). In the Old Testament Law, animals were sacrificed to cover sins. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God, who does not cover our sins but takes them away. (John 1:29)

Micah 7:18-19 (GNB) – “There is no other God like you, O Lord, you forgive the sins of your people who have survived. You do not stay angry forever, but you take pleasure in showing us your constant love. You will be merciful to us once again. You will trample our sins underfoot and send them to the bottom of the sea!”.

One of the most beautiful things about God’s nature is the way He forgives. He does it so completely and in full. Every wrong thing that we have ever done, everything that could make us feel guilty, every accusation that the enemy could ever bring against us – God hurls it into the depths of the sea!

As people who have received his lavish forgiveness, God expects us to give the same away.

  

Dear Lord, thanks You for loving us. Show us today if we are carrying any offense or hurts towards others. Help us to forgive people as You have forgiven us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The Exchange

1 Peter 3:18 (ESV)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.

There’s a true story of a tragic train accident that left many coaches of the derailed train in an icy lake. As rescuers tried their best to save the passengers, they came across a certain coach. A couple yelled for help from inside it and with great effort passed their little daughter to the rescuers. Sadly, they drowned but saved their daughter.

The rescuers realized the extent of the sacrifice when they saw that the child had cerebral palsy and was completely dependent on others to help her.

To the world, such a child may be a burden but to her parents she was precious and they died saving her.

1 Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh”.

Here are the true meaning and purpose of the cross. On it a divinely ordained exchange took place. Christ died in our place! The Righteous One died for the unrighteous ones.

As sinners, we were lost, with no hope or future. Probably our very existence was a burden. But to Jesus, we were precious – precious enough to die in our place.

In this exchange, the evil due to us came upon Jesus, that, in return, the good due to Jesus might be offered to us.

None of us has ever done anything to deserve such an offer, and none of us can ever do anything to earn it. This is called grace.

Dear Lord, we pray that we would be Your disciple today. Help us to walk in Your footsteps and bringing glory to You through our whole life. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The Blood of Jesus

Ephesians 1:7 (ESV)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

There’s a story about a man who was greatly grieved when he saw people being sold off at a slave market. He noticed a beautiful girl being auctioned off. He bid on her and won her. She looked at him with hateful eyes. As he walked off with his property, he turned to the young woman and said, “You are free”. The woman was completely taken aback and replied, “What do you mean free?” He said, “It means you are free.”

“You mean I can do whatever I want to do?” He nodded.

“You mean I can say whatever I want to say?” He nodded again.

“You mean I can go wherever I want to go?” He said, “Yes”.

“Then,” said the young woman with tears in her eyes, “I will go with you.”

This is exactly what Jesus has done for us! He redeemed us, not with silver or gold, but with his own blood.

Psalms 49:7, 8  – “No man can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of his soul is costly...”

To redeem means to buy back or to pay a ransom price.

Through sin, every human is a slave of the devil. No man can redeem or free another from this slave market of sin because his own soul is sold into sin. There is no price that can buy a human back from the slave market of sin except the blood – the precious blood of the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish.

Ephesians1:7 - “In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace”.

The redemption has transferred us from the devil’s hand to the hand of the Lord!

From destruction to a glorious future!

Therefore, we lovingly and gratefully say like that young woman, “I will go with you.”

Dear Lord, we praise You because You are Adonai, our loving Master. Give us the grace to serve You with joy and gladness. Help us to serve You and build up others. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.