Categories
Uncategorized

WITHOUT JESUS, WE CANNOT; WITHOUT US, HE WILL NOT. 

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” 
John 15:5
October 10th 2021

In more than two decades of ministry, I have learned this from the Lord: Without Him, we cannot. Without us, He will not. What this simply means is that we need to recognize the fact that if we do not depend on Jesus, there can be no real, long-lasting, and abiding success—without Him, we cannot. 

The Bible tells us that unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain (Ps. 127:1). Believers who want to experience His success need to recognize this truth and begin to depend on Jesus and Jesus alone.

There are some believers who may not articulate it, but in their hearts, they believe that without Jesus, they can still succeed. By believing and acting on this, they fall from the high place of God’s grace (His unmerited favor) back into the law, back into trying to merit and deserve success by their own efforts. 

God’s Word tells us, “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace [unmerited favor]” (Gal. 5:4 NLT).

These are strong words of warning. Once you start depending on your own merits and efforts to deserve God’s favor, you are back under the system of the law. You are cut off from Christ and have fallen from the place of having His unmerited favor work in your life. 

Don’t misunderstand me, Jesus is still with you (He will never leave you nor forsake you [Heb. 13:5]), but by depending on your self-efforts, you effectively cut off His unmerited favor in your life.

So what do I mean when I say, “Without us, He will not”? Well, Jesus is a gentleman. He will not force His unmerited favor and success down your throat. 

He needs you to allow Him to work in your life. He waits patiently for you to trust Him. He waits patiently for you to depend on His unmerited favor, the way Joseph trusted and depended wholly on the Lord’s presence, until His manifested presence took over, and His glory radiated from everything that Joseph touched.

Beloved, let’s learn quickly that without Jesus, we cannot succeed, and if we choose not to respond to His unmerited favor, He will not force it on us. 

God’s unmerited favor is ever-flowing toward us and Jesus is waiting for us to come to the end of ourselves. He is waiting for you to stop struggling in your own attempts to somehow “deserve” His favor, and just depend on Him. 

So in the areas that you are still depending on your own efforts to succeed, start resting in Jesus’ unmerited favor and begin experiencing His manifested presence and glory upon everything you touch!

This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Favor—Daily Readings from Unmerited Favor.

Categories
Uncategorized

Life with God

Life With God Is Easy And Light

Don’t take my word for it, read for yourself. Read it out loud.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Matthew 11:28

It always warms my heart to know that Jesus sees the cares we carry in our hearts. He knows the worries you have for your family and for the future. He feels the heaviness in your heart as you struggle with the illnesses.

 He says to you, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Jesus wants to give you rest. And He says that the way you receive rest is to be yoked with Him, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light (see Matthew 11:29–30).

What does it mean to be yoked with Jesus? Imagine a pair of oxen yoked together. The younger ox sees what the lead ox does and follows. If the lead ox turns left, the younger ox turns left. If the lead ox stops, the younger ox stops. When the lead ox starts moving again, the younger ox follows. 

Likewise, Jesus wants us to follow His leading and flow with Him.

It is not hard to flow with Jesus because He will not lay anything heavy on you—“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light(Matthew 11:30). When you are yoked with Him and you flow with Him, you will find that there is nothing heavy-hearted, ill-fitting or burdensome from the Lord. When you flow with the Lord, you will find that things fall into place. You will not be weighed down, anxious or distressed.

You might say, “But Pastor Prince, God has given me this heavy burden. It is weighing heavily on my heart!”

My friend, if the burden is heavy, it is not from God because Jesus said that His burden is light. The devil has probably given you the burden to crush you!

“This is not to make light of how serious your burden is, the purpose is to expose the enemy and his tricks.”

Jesus did say that His burden is light and His yoke easy. So a life yoked with Him is anxiety- and worry-free.

Read for yourself, read it out loud, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

“Romans 10:17 NKJV, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Beloved, follow His leadership and flow with Him, and you will find rest for your soul.