100 Days of Right Believing: Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing (39 page)

I
t is the Father’s love for you that gives you the power to overcome every mistake, failure, and sin in your life. The Bible puts it this way: “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace” (Rom. 6:14
NLT
). Isn’t that beautiful? Today you are living under the freedom of God’s amazing grace—His unmerited, undeserved, and unearned favor in your life. Grace gives you freedom. Freedom from lack, from fear, from addictions, from the torment of guilt, and from every curse and every sin! The more you experience the love and grace of your heavenly Father, the more you fall in love with Him and out of love with sin.

Did you know that the enemy has no hold over people who know their Father loves them? If Adam and Eve had believed in God’s love for them, the devil would not have been successful in tempting them. Unfortunately, they chose to believe the lie that the serpent had planted by portraying God as stingy and selfish, as if He was withholding something good from them.

That’s why I want you to be anchored in the Father’s love. You will be unshakable. You will have no desire to touch certain things, go to certain places, or be associated with certain people. You will keep away from negative influences because you trust your Father’s heart for you and believe that He only wants what’s best for you. You rest, knowing that He is watching out for you to protect you and insulate you from harm.

I’ve seen that children who are secure in their father’s love are able to say no to all kinds of temptations. This is because that vacuum in their lives is already filled. They don’t have to do things to win the approval of their friends when they can find absolute security, identity, and approval in their parents’ love for them and, most of all, in their heavenly Father’s love for them.

In the same way, when we trust in our Father’s love for us, we will have the power to say no to temptations. When you have an abiding revelation of just how valuable, precious, and righteous you are in Christ, it becomes increasingly easy to say no to sin. The more righteousness-conscious you are and the more conscious of how valuable and precious you are in Christ, the more you will know that your righteous identity in Christ and sin don’t go together—and the more you will experience the power to say no to temptation.

A
fter Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness, and the devil came to tempt Him saying, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matt. 4:3).

Many years ago when I was studying this, the Lord opened my eyes and showed me that the devil had subtly left out the word “beloved.” Just moments ago, God the Father had just affirmed Jesus as His
beloved
Son at the Jordan River. However, when the devil came to tempt Jesus, he removed the word “beloved” and simply said, “If You are the Son of God…”

The Lord unveiled to me that if you are reminded that you are the beloved of the Father, you can never be successfully tempted! Even the devil knew this, and that’s why he removed the word “beloved” when he spoke to Jesus. Now that’s a powerful truth!

So every time you are tempted, just remind yourself, “I am God’s beloved child, and my Father loves me.” No temptation can triumph over you when you rest securely in your Father’s love.

Now observe Jesus’ reply. He didn’t have to prove to the devil that He was the Son of God. Secure in His identity as God’s beloved Son, He simply replied, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ ” (Matt. 4:4). And what words had the Father just said at the Jordan River?
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

I want to encourage you to personalize this and meditate on it every day! That’s how the Father sees you today. He sees you in Christ, and in Christ you are His precious, beloved child, in whom He is well pleased. Place your hand on your heart and hear your Father in heaven saying these words to you:

“You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”

Would you believe that with all your heart today? If you are struggling to overcome a disorder or addiction, close your eyes and hear your Father saying to you, “You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” Every time you are fearful, every time you are consumed by worry, anger, or depression, hear your Father saying to you, “You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”

Yes, right in the midst of whatever failures you may be experiencing, you are His beloved child, and He is well pleased with you because you are in Christ. Keep hearing it and repeating it until you find rest, peace, and joy overflowing in your heart. If you feel like just crying in His presence, cry. He knows what you are going through and He understands—in a way that no one else can—the pain, hurt, suffering, and loss that you are experiencing. Let His perfect love cast out every fear and bring healing and wholeness to your heart.

W
e saw yesterday that we are God’s beloved and well pleasing to Him because we are in Christ.

But Pastor Prince, I have done nothing to make myself well pleasing to God!

Neither did Jesus. God called Jesus His beloved and said that He was well pleasing
before
He had even performed one miracle or act of service for Him. You see, Jesus is well pleasing to His Father not because of what He has
done
, but because of who He
is
. Did you get that? If not, please read the last sentence again.

Jesus didn’t have to do anything or accomplish anything before He was considered beloved and pleasing to the Father. The good news for you and me today is that our Father in heaven has “made us accepted in the Beloved,” and “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:6–7).

This is true for any believer of Jesus. The moment you received Him into your life, God the Father made you accepted in the Beloved.

We know that the word “Beloved” here is in reference to Jesus. So why didn’t God just say “accepted in Jesus Christ”?

That is because God wants you to be conscious that you are now part of the family and you are
beloved
to Him the same way that Jesus is. Furthermore, the word “accepted” in the original Greek is a word far richer in meaning than the English translation can convey. It’s the word
charitoo
, and it means “highly favored.”
⁹
This word is used only one other time in the Bible, when angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored [
charitoo
] one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Luke 1:28).

So you and I are not just accepted in the Beloved, which is already fantastic, but we are more precisely
highly favored
in the Beloved, Jesus Christ. In fact, the Greek scholar Thayer says that
charitoo
also means we are surrounded by favor.
¹⁰
That’s why in my church we like to proclaim and declare that we are
highly favored, greatly blessed
, and
deeply loved
. It’s a powerful declaration and an important reminder that you are not alone and left to fend for yourself in life. You have a Father in heaven who loves you, favors you, protects you, and watches over you and all your loved ones.