The Hook

“READ,READ, READ!!!

“What Actually Happened at the Cross?

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

Once, the Lord showed me a vision of what happened at the cross. I saw how all the sins of the entire human race (lies, deceit, envy, bitterness, adultery, addiction, bo***ge, murder) and all the consequences of sin (fear, sicknesses, guilt, disease, and condemnation) swirled around Jesus like evil spirits and demons, laughing heinously, taunting and tormenting Him. Jesus became like a magnet for all sin and of His own volition accepted all this sin into His own body.

You and I will never be able to imagine the excruciating pain that tore through His body at the cross. Every malignant cancer, every tumor, every sickness, and every disease came upon Him at the same time.

He who knew no sin took upon Himself the mountainous weight of all men's darkest and foulest sins. He took it all Himself.

The Word says that "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses" (Matt. 8:17). "Himself"—a singular, reflexive pronoun that signifies the exclusion of you and me.

Since He Himself has taken the full punishment, judgment, and condemnation for all sin, you and I are excluded from every punishment, judgment, and condemnation for all sin when we receive Him as our Savior.

But the story did not end there. Jesus did not die on the cross in the middle of receiving upon Himself all of humanity's sins. He took it all and accepted it all in His body. Then the fire of God's judgment was unleashed upon His own precious Son, and only when every last sin had been punished did Jesus cry out, "IT IS FINISHED!" moments before breathing His last breath (John 19:30).

Can you see that? Jesus held on at the cross until every single sin that you have ever committed and will ever commit was punished in His own body. That is why we call what Jesus has accomplished at the cross a "finished work."

Now, what is your part today? Your part is to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life and that all your sins have been paid for at the cross.

If you believe that all your sins have been forgiven, sin will have no more power over you. You don't have to walk around with "a mountain of sin" on your shoulders anymore because this "mountain of sin" was laid squarely on the shoulders of another—Jesus. He Himself has already paid the price for your sins, so stop condemning yourself!

This Devotional is from
100 Days of Right Believing

Joseph Prince Ministies

PRAISE JESUS! READ, READ, READ!

A Very Present Help

We do not need to fear because even in times of turmoil and trouble, God is our very present help, our refuge, and our strength!

Our part is to call upon Him and He will answer and deliver us. Melinda, a lady from our church, experienced this for herself and wrote to me to share her testimony:

As I was driving my six-year-old son to school, I exited the freeway and approached a traffic light junction. At that time, we were listening to Pastor Prince's sermon CD in the car and I was amazed by how God had saved Noah and his family from the flood.

Suddenly, I heard a loud bang as something hit the back of my car. The next thing I knew, my car was flung into the air. It overturned, landed on its roof, and spun a distance to a halt.

As the car was spinning, I started screaming, "Jesus!" at least five times until the car finally came to a halt. Even though we had spun upside down and my son only had a seat belt strapped across his body, he had been miraculously held to the contour of the seat. His head and legs were not dangling from his seat. His neck could have been broken from the impact of the crash, but he was okay.

My son and I crawled out of the wreck without a scratch or whiplash. We stood by the side of the road and a lot of passersby came to our aid.

After we had gotten out of the car wreck, the picture of Jesus bleeding on the cross kept flashing in my mind. I knew that my son and I didn't have to bleed on the road that morning because Jesus had shed His blood for us.

When my husband came to get us, he shared that he had also been driving to work around the time of the car accident, and how he felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to switch off the radio and pray in tongues. He also confessed the Lord's favor over our lives, something that we had learned in church the day before.

Jesus turned a possibly tragic accident into a victorious outcome. No amount of safe driving could have saved our lives, only Jesus and nothing else!

Praise the Lord! In her time of trouble, Melinda cried out the name of Jesus and He answered her. No matter what situation you are in, the Lord is with you and will surely deliver you when you call upon His name!

Joseph Prince Ministries

BE A GIANT SLAYER

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.”
1 Samuel 17:45–46

Beloved, start practicing God’s love for you and it will translate into victories in your daily life. I am sure you are familiar with the story of how a young shepherd boy named David came against an ugly bully of a giant named Goliath and defeated him. I want you to know that this can be your story and testimony too.

There are no insignificant details in the Bible. Even the names in the Bible carry secrets for our benefit. The name “Goliath” comes from the Hebrew root word, galah, which means “to exile.”

To be exiled is to be stripped of everything you are and everything you own. So Goliath’s name essentially means that he had been stripped of everything—an exile. What a name! Goliath is a picture of the devil as he really is—stripped of all his weapons against us because of the cross
(Col. 2:15).

The name “David” on the other hand means “beloved.” The battle in the valley of Elah was thus a battle between a beloved of God and a stripped exile.

Now, catch this revelation: it takes someone who knows that he is the beloved of God to bring down a giant! This is the secret of becoming a giant slayer!

It doesn’t matter what your giant is today. It could be a marital problem or financial situation. Begin to see that you are God’s beloved and your giants will come tumbling down.

My friend, God loves you. You are His beloved child regardless of what you have or have not done. He loves you as you are because the truth is that you have been washed whiter than snow with the blood of Jesus.

Live every day by these words from your loving Father in heaven: “You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” His favor is all over you, whether you are with your family, or in your workplace, and in everything that you do. You are a blessing
everywhere you go.

If God did not withhold His Son from you, why would He withhold healing, financial provision, protection, peace of mind, and all the other blessings from you? When the Almighty God is your loving Father and you are His beloved child, what fears can you have?

Fear of the past, the present, and the future? Fear of not having enough? Fear of sickness? Fear of death? Fear of punishment?

Beloved, when you have a revelation of how much God loves you and that He sees you completely righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ, all your fears will dissipate, for if God is for you, who can be against you (Rom. 8:31)?

Are there giants in your life that need to be slain? Look away from your circumstances and call out without fear to your Father. He loves you and will never judge or condemn you! He loves you with an everlasting love.

It is not enough to know that God loves everyone. You need to know and believe that He loves you, and let that revelation warm and anchor your heart in His grace, especially when you fail.

And as you keep on feeding on His love for you, His love will start overflowing in you, and you will receive from Him exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think! With God on your side, nothing is impossible!

This devotional is taken from the book Reign in Life—90 Powerful Inspirations for Extraordinary Breakthroughs.

“There’s no SAFER place to be in the whole wide world, than at the foot of the CROSS!”

My boxing client, Frank from Canada!

John 19:30
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “IT IS FINISHED!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.