THE WATERFALL OF GRACE

1 CORINTHIANS 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church, said that he determined to know nothing among them except “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”. In other words, Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, had his mind full of Jesus and His finished work.  Beloved, God wants your mind full of the cross of Jesus. He wants you cross-conscious. But what does it mean to be cross-conscious? To be cross-conscious is to see Jesus, who loves you so much that He willingly died for you on the cross. To be cross-conscious is to look to Jesus, who offered His own body to be punished, so that your body can be free from all punishment.  To be cross-conscious is to fix your eyes on Jesus, who has provided for your deliverance and victory at the cross. At the cross, all your enemies were vanquished. All your diseases were destroyed. Your poverty was removed at the...

GENESIS 22:14  and Abraham calleth the name of that place `Jehovah-Jireh,' because it is said this day in the mount, `Jehovah doth provide.'  One of God's names is Jehovah Jireh which is a compound name meaning the Lord sees ahead and provides. “Jehovah-Jireh” means, “The Lord will see to it,” that is, “The Lord will provide.” My car recently quit running when I was in another city. As I prayed and looked to God, He helped me to work things out.  While I didn't actually complain to God about having car trouble -- the thoughts were certainly there. (Thoughts like the repair money could have been put to a better use.) I believe God spoke to my heart that He could have kept my car running perfectly. Or, He could have supernaturally healed it. But if He would have, then I would not have experienced Him as the One who sees ahead and provides, which He did.  It was not the first time God had provided for me, of course. But it is still always thrilling to kno...

ROMANS 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  Are you faced with challenges in your life right now? Are you having marital problems and financial woes? Maybe your child is going astray or an old illness has returned. What then will you say to all these things? Do you know what God wants you to say? He wants you to say, “If God is for me, who can be against me?”  If you knew that the President or the Prime Minister was for you, you might believe that everything will be okay. But you have an even better backing! The Bible tells us that God, the Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is for you! What problem can fasten its grip on you when the Almighty God is for you? Can the devil come successfully against you with God on your side?  If God is for you today, if God is for you right now, you don’t have to moan, “If only I had this…If only I didn’t say that…” And you don’t have to worry about the future: “...

LUKE 22:67 NASB 67 "If You are the Christ, tell us." But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe;  No one can force anyone to believe anything. Each one of us chooses whether we will believe something, based on our evaluation of the evidence presented to us. Faith and belief may have different English meanings, but in the New Testament they are different forms of the same Greek word. Believe is the verb and faith is the noun for the same word. (Like think and thought are in English.)  JOHN 20:25 NASB 25 The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." Note that Thomas said, "I WILL NOT believe." Many think seeing miracles would cause people to have faith. But the only ones who believe as a result of seeing miracles ...

HABAKKUK 3:18 NLT 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!  To rejoice means to re-joy, or repeatedly en-joy. We are to repeatedly and continually enjoy God and what He has done for us.  PSALM 35:9 GWN 9 My soul will find joy in the LORD and be joyful about his salvation. Enjoying God means being delighted with Him. When we enjoy God, and what He has done, we also provide enjoyment for God. For God enjoys you being happy about what He has done for you.  DEUTERONOMY 26:11 ESV 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you. Our response to God should not always be limited to just a rational, subdued little response. When we clearly recognize what our wonderful Lord has accomplished for us, at times it should cause us to be overwhelmed with joy!  ISAIAH 61:10 NLT 10 I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my G...

2 PETER 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, If you would like to walk in a greater measure of God’s favor,  2 Peter 1:2 says that grace, which is the undeserved favor of God, and peace, can be multiplied to you. Peace is the word “shalom” in Hebrew. Its definition includes wholeness, health, safety and provision. So when you walk in divine favor and peace, you will walk in blessings in every area of your life!  But how do the undeserved favor and shalom of God increase in your life? It is not by your laboring or toiling to earn it. The Bible says that it comes as your knowledge of Jesus and His finished work increases. It comes as you learn more about and believe that through Jesus’ one sacrifice at the cross, God removed all your sins, gave you His righteousness as a gift and put you in Christ to enjoy everything Jesus has.  God’s favor is multiplied in your life when you simply believe that the favor of God...

JOHN 8:32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  Consider the cold, hard facts that these three people faced: The aunt of a lady in our church saw her X-ray which showed that one of her two kidneys was cancerous. A couple in our church read their medical reports which said that they would never be able to produce a child. A lady in our church who acted as a guarantor ended up being asked by the finance company to pay it $34 million.  When such situations hit us and we allow the facts to settle in our hearts, we end up feeling greatly troubled. But when we let the truths of God’s Word settle them all, we will sense the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the truths that we are believing. He is the Spirit of truth. (John 16:13) He is not the Spirit of facts and does not bear witness to facts.  It may be a fact that you are sick. The doctors say that you are sick. The X-ray film shows that you are sick. But God’s Word says that by Jesus’ strip...