DEUTERONOMY 28:4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
Would you want to buy a chair that Jesus made? I would, even if it cost US$1,000 because it would be of superb quality. Whatever Jesus did, He did it with perfect excellence. And because Christ is in you, the things which you produce will be of exceptional quality too. That includes your children, who will be champions. Deuteronomy 28:4 says, “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks”. God was using terms that the Israelites understood since they were farmers and shepherds. Today, “your ground” is the place of your work. This means that “the produce” of your work shall be of excellent quality. That is not all. God promises that quantity will always follow quality because Deuteronomy 28:11 says that the Lord will “grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body,” which means that you will have plenty of children, “in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground,” which means that your business will flourish and you will be a leading producer in the area of your specialty. My friend, your excellence and plenty do not come by your efforts. They come by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who paid for you to have divine provision—“though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich”. (2 Corinthians 8:9) Jesus was made destitute of all material things at the cross. He had nothing! As He hung on the cross, He watched the Roman soldiers gamble for His robe. His last possession on earth was gambled away. He became poor, so that you could be blessed with the excellent and the plenty!
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1 JOHN 2:1–2 …if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins…
Today, Jews still observe Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. As the name suggests, it is a day set aside to make atonement for one’s sins. But for Christians, this beautiful feast points to Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. Because of His sacrifice, all our sins have already been perfectly atoned for. That is why, should we sin, we know that “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins. Now, it does not say that if anyone repents, we have an Advocate with the Father. It says that if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father. The moment a child of God sins, straightaway, his Advocate, Jesus Christ, goes into action to pray for and protect him. What about repentance then? The word “repentance” is metanoia in the Greek, which means to change one’s mind. For example, you used to believe that Jesus was just a good man. Then one day, you repented and believed that He is the Son of the living God, who died for your sins and rose again on the third day, and you gladly took Him as your Savior. Bible repentance is not this idea of hitting or punishing yourself to atone for your sins. Don’t turn it into a human work, like the man who went to a priest to confess his sins. When they were done, the priest asked the man, “By the way, what do you do for a living?” The man replied, “I’m a contortionist,” and proceeded to give a demonstration. Another man came along wanting to confess his sins. When he saw the contortionist all twisted up on the ground, he said, “If this is repentance, forget it!” and ran off! My friend, there is no need to climb the Himalayas or whip your back bloody to atone for your sins. No amount of self-punishment or crying can atone for them. Your sins have already been punished fully in the body of Jesus. Only His finished work satisfies God. So change your mind and simply believe that Jesus alone is the propitiation for your sins! 1 CORINTHIANS 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
In the Old Testament, whenever the children of Israel sacrificed a lamb for a burnt offering as they faced a strong enemy, victory was theirs. For example, in 1 Samuel 7:7–11, when the Philistines were coming against them, the prophet Samuel offered a lamb as a burnt offering. As it was being offered, the Lord came like a loud thunder on the Philistine army, confusing them. This led to victory for the Israelites. Every time something bad happened to the children of Israel, by offering a lamb sacrifice, they were proclaiming the Lord’s death, and the battle would turn in their favor. Today, when we are faced with an enemy, how do we offer our “burnt offering”? How do we proclaim the Lord’s death and come out victorious? Do we ask Jesus to come down to where we are at and die on the cross all over again? Of course not. Jesus died once for all our sins—past, present and future. (Hebrews 10:12) His work is perfectly perfect and completely complete, so He doesn’t have to die for us again. Today, we proclaim His death simply by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Every time you partake of the bread and wine, you declare to the principalities and powers of darkness that the Lord’s death avails for you. Every time you partake, you are saying that because Jesus has been judged and punished in your place, you cannot be judged and punished. Because Jesus died young in your place, you will live long. And because He conquered death and stripped the devil of his powers, you will not be defeated. The victory is already yours! That is why the psalmist David said, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” (Psalm 23:5) The Lord’s table is prepared for you in the presence of your enemies because when you partake of the bread and wine, you will see your enemies tremble and scatter! Why? Because when you proclaim the Lord’s death through the Holy Communion, you are reminding the devil and his cohorts of their humiliating defeat at Calvary’s cross! (Colossians 2:15) PSALM 91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
In the Old Testament, there was a place where God met with His people. In Exodus 25:22, God said, “And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony...” This place was above the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant, under the wings of the two cherubim. The psalmist calls it “the secret place of the Most High…under the shadow of the Almighty”. The mercy seat covered the ark which contained the three emblems of man’s rebellion: the golden pot of manna—man’s rebellion against God’s provision, two tablets of stone on which God wrote the Ten Commandments—man’s rebellion against God’s standard, and Aaron’s rod—man’s rebellion against God’s authority. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrificed animal on the mercy seat and so make propitiation for the sins of Israel. Today, it is not the blood of animals that makes propitiation for our sins, but the holy blood of the Son of God. (Romans 3:24–25) The word for “propitiation” in the original Greek text is hilasterion, which actually means “mercy seat”. So Christ is our mercy seat. His blood speaks for us and puts God on our side. God does not see our rebellion. He sees the blood of His Son and accepts us! That is why we can come boldly to the secret place of the Most High, in Christ, and feel secure that we have every right to be in God’s presence. We can come boldly to Him to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) And because Christ, our mercy seat, covers us with His blood, we are under God’s protection. We are in the secret place of the Most High, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. Here, no evil will befall us, nor will any plague come near our dwelling. (Psalm 91:9–10) In the secret place of the Most High, we are favored and kept safe from all harm! DEUTERONOMY 28:2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you…
God loves to bless you. He has even declared that “blessings shall come upon you and overtake you”. This means that you can’t run fast enough to escape them! When you turn one corner, there is a blessing waiting for you. When you turn another corner, you run smack into another blessing! Now, you may think that you don’t qualify for God’s blessings because of the preceding verse which says that these blessings will come to pass only if you diligently obey God’s voice and keep all of His commandments. You know that no matter how hard you try, you just cannot keep all of God’s commandments. In fact, the Bible says that if you fail to keep just one commandment, you fail to keep all. (James 2:10) My friend, I have good news for you: Jesus is the one who qualifies us for every single blessing because He has kept all of God’s commandments. When He died for us on the cross, He not only fulfilled all of God’s commandments, He also redeemed us from the curse of the law. (Galatians 3:13) Note that He did not redeem us from the blessings of the law, so the blessings are still ours today! As you read the list of blessings in Deuteronomy 28, starting with “Blessed shall you be in the city…in the country…the fruit of your body…your basket…when you come in…when you go out…” (Deuteronomy 28:3–13), I believe that Jesus is saying to you, “Like the blessings? Then take them by faith!” You may say, “But I don’t deserve them.” Yes, you don’t deserve them, but you still get them because of Jesus. That is God’s grace! The law says, “You must deserve the blessings.” But the law is no longer here. Grace is here. So take the blessings by grace through faith. Believe God for the blessings. Today, it is no longer a question of how much or how well you have kept God’s commandments. It is a question of how much you canbelieve God for His blessings. All the promises of God in Christ are “Yes”, and because you are in Christ, you can say “Amen!” to His blessings! (2 Corinthians 1:20) MATTHEW 8:3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Most of us are familiar with the healing of the leper in Matthew 8. It is a beautiful account of God’s willingness to touch and heal the sick, no matter how unclean they may be. Whenever we doubt God’s willingness to heal us, we should listen to the words of Jesus again: “I am willing; be cleansed.” He is the same yesterday, today and forever! Since the Bible is clear about God’s willingness to heal, why do we still have problems with our health? Why do we still experience symptoms in our bodies? I believe that the answer is found in what Jesus told the leper to do next. He told him to go and show himself to the priest. (Matthew 8:4) This was the law then for lepers who were healed. (Leviticus 14:2–3) And he was to hear the priest pronounce the word “clean” over him. (Leviticus 14:7) You see, as believers, when we received Jesus, His blood cleansed us from sin as well as sickness. (Isaiah 53:4–5) But we keep hearing people pronounce sin, sickness, poverty and death over us. We keep hearing people tell us that we are unclean, undeserving, poor, weak, and that it is only natural that we grow old and sickly, and die. God is waiting for a priesthood that will rise up and pronounce His people clean! “But Pastor Prince, where can I find such priests?” Who are the priests today? You and I! In fact, we have more authority to pronounce good things than the Levitical priests of the Old Testament. They were just priests. But we are king-priests by the blood of Jesus! (Revelation 1:5–6) Where the word of the king is, there is power. (Ecclesiastes 8:4) And by the word of a priest, every controversy and every assault shall be settled. (Deuteronomy 21:5) Beloved, God has cleansed you, so pronounce yourself clean! Right now, put your hand on your heart and pronounce good things over yourself. Say, “I pronounce myself clean, righteous, healed, whole and abundantly supplied by the blood of Jesus!” By your word as a king-priest, every assault against you shall be settled! PSALM 65:11 You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance.
The economic experts may have painted a gloomy picture for the year, but as far as God is concerned, He has crowned the year with His goodness and abundance! God’s supply and provision are never affected by world events, so good times or bad times, expect every month, every week and every day of this year to be surrounded by His goodness. Expect His abundance to meet your every need! “But Pastor Prince, I’ve not done much good in the past year, so how can I be confident that God will provide for me this year?” My friend, God doesn’t bless you because of what you have done. He blesses you because of what Jesus has done. At the cross, Jesus bore all your sins and was punished to the full for every one of them, so that you can have His righteousness as a gift and be blessed with every one of God’s blessings. (Ephesians 1:3) Now, look at the word “abundance” in Psalm 65:11. It is the Hebrew word deshen, which means “fatness”. The idea here is abundant provision, blessings and even fertility. (So if you have been believing God for a child for many years, believe that this is the year you will conceive!) Now, the word deshen has another meaning—“ashes”. Ash is the final form of something that has been burnt. For example, the animal sacrifices to God in the Old Testament were burnt on the altar until they became ashes. (Leviticus 4:12) So ashes here speak of the finished work of Jesus at the cross that has put away your sins. My friend, because of Jesus’ finished work you can confidently believe and declare that the year is crowned with goodness and that God’s paths drip with His provision, blessings and good success for you every step of the way. If the devil tells you that God won’t bless you because of your sins, just tell him, “Ashes!” and point him tothe cross of Jesus! Beloved, you are blessed not because of your good works, good looks, qualifications or industry experience, but because of Jesus’ finished work. He alone has qualified you to receive God’s goodness and abundance every day for the rest of your life! PROVERBS 17:8 A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor; wherever he turns, he prospers.
When we see something moldy, we throw it away. But when Alexander Fleming saw his culture dishes contaminated with mold, 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 that gift did for him. It prospered him. He interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and became 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 which can open doors of opportunities and bring in great blessings. Maybe you are just not aware of that gift you have inside you, or perhaps it has profited you nothing thus far as you have not found out how best 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 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 quit your job after reading this. 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 becomes “a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor; wherever he turns, he prospers”. HEBREWS 7:25 …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 verse says that Jesus always lives to make intercession for us. Once, I used to think that this meant that Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand today, praying all the time for us, waiting and hoping that the Father will do something for us. But that is not true. 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 even before Lazarus came forth from his tomb alive. Jesus knew that what He said would come to pass because the Father always hears Him. (John 11:42) So what does “Jesus always lives to make intercession for us” mean? Because Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), we get a picture of what happens when we pray when we understand what the high priest in the Old Testament did with the burnt offering of a bird. (Leviticus1:14–17) 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, such as unbelief and self-centeredness. 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. That is how He presents our prayers to the Father. That is how He lives to make intercession for you. My friend, you don’t have to run to a church leader to get him to pray “more powerfully” for you. You can pray yourself. Then, take advantage of Jesus’ intercession for you and say, “Lord Jesus, I don’t know what else to say…please intercede for me.” And when Jesus gives His personal touch to your prayer, you can be sure that it will be answered! 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
When you look in a mirror, what do you see? Of course, you see yourself. But God does not want you to see yourself in the natural. You may be sick, weak, broke and depressed, yet God wants you to see yourself the way He sees you—healed, strong, favored and whole because Christ is in you. (Colossians 1:27) God wants you to behold as in a mirror the glory of His Son who is in you by His Spirit. As you do this, His Word says that you are being transformed from glory to glory—sick to healed, loser to winner! The world may say to you, “It can’t be that easy. You can’t be transformed just by beholding the glory of Jesus. No, you must do something about you. If you don’t put in effort, nothing will happen. If you don’t start making changes, nothing will change.” But the world will never understand that as you are beholding the glory of the Lord, who is the successful one in you, you are being transformed from a failure to a success. And this is not accomplished by any effort of yours to get ahead in life, but by the Spirit of the Lord! (Zechariah 4:6) As you behold the glory of the Lord who is the healthy one in your sick body, you are transformed from sickness to health. And this is not accomplished by any effort of yours to keep fit and eat well, but by the Spirit of the Lord! My friend, what can be easier than beholding the beauty of the Son? So stop focusing on yourself and your efforts. Look away from these things and begin to behold the glory of Jesus who is in you right now, and you will begin to behold the miracles that you need! |
Ana & Andre Schoonbee God uses us to motivate and encourage the body. Authors
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