100 Days Of Favor (20 page)

Today’s Thought

Knowing how much I have been forgiven is the secret to loving Jesus much.

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 45

Why A Revelation Of Your Forgiveness Is So Important

Today’s Scripture

I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. —1 John 2:12

P
EOPLE HAVE ASKED
me from time to time, “
Pastor Prince, why is an understanding of the complete forgiveness of my sins so important for me to walk in God’s unmerited favor?
”

This is a good question. Let me share with you some of the implications involved. First, if you have no confidence that all your sins have been forgiven, then your eternal security and salvation will always hang in the balance.

When you don’t have a clear sense of your complete forgiveness, you will constantly be on an emotional seesaw.

Second, if you think that your sins were not fully dealt with at the cross, then you can never have the confidence to enjoy the Lord’s presence because you can never be sure if He is on your side, or if He is waiting to punish you for your failures. You will constantly feel unworthy because of your assessment of your conduct, and you can never really have the boldness to ask God for big things, or believe that He will give you success in your life.

Third, if you do not believe that Jesus has already forgiven all your sins, it means that when you fail, you will believe that you are not “right” with God and that fellowship with Him has been cut off. And instead of depending on His unmerited favor to overcome your failure, you will feel that you need to confess your sin, be remorseful and make amends with God before you can restore fellowship with God and depend on Him again.

It comes down to this: When you don’t have a clear sense of your complete forgiveness, you will constantly be on an emotional seesaw. Sometimes, you feel that things between you and God are all right, but at other times, you don’t think that it is so. Sometimes, you feel confident that the Lord is with you to make you a success, but at other times, you feel like you blew it and the Lord will not help you until you confess your sin and make amends.

You will be in a constant cycle of feeling insecure, where you are always hopping in and out of God’s favor. All these feelings depend on how well you think you have performed, and ignore the cross of Jesus altogether. My friend, God does not evaluate you based on your behavior. He sees only Jesus’ perfect work. But because you do not believe that Jesus has indeed forgiven you of all your sins, you end up feeling like a total and complete hypocrite and failure.

I hope that you are beginning to see that understanding the complete forgiveness of your sins is not just for theologians. Thinking that your sins are not completely forgiven will fundamentally affect your relationship with Jesus. While He is all ready to bless you, give you favor and make you a success, unbelief in His finished work robs you of the ability to receive His goodness, His blessings, His unmerited favor and His success in your life.

The cross of Jesus qualified you, but unbelief in the main clause of the new covenant disqualifies you. Meditate on what God says about your sins in the new covenant and free yourself to receive from Him today. The new covenant is based entirely on His unmerited favor. There is nothing for you to do, nothing for you to perform, nothing for you to accomplish. Your part in the new covenant is just to have faith in Jesus and to believe that you are totally forgiven and free to enjoy the new covenant blessings through His finished work!

Today’s Prayer

Father, thank You for showing me why it’s so important for me to believe that all my sins are forgiven. I don’t want my relationship with You to be affected by doubts about my complete forgiveness. I choose to meditate on what You have declared about my sins in the new covenant and see myself receiving all that I need from You today, only because of what Christ has done for me at the cross.

Today’s Thought

I am totally forgiven and free to enjoy the new covenant blessings through Jesus’ finished work today!

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 46

You Can’t Lose Fellowship With God

Today’s Scripture

Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness… —Daniel 9:24

T
HERE ARE SOME
Christians who believe that you can lose fellowship with God when you sin, and you need to confess your sin to God and obtain forgiveness to become righteous again. They claim that your
relationship
with God is not broken when you sin, but
fellowship
with Him is, so you need to confess your sin to restore fellowship with Him.

As a new covenant believer, you are righteous not only until your next sin. You have everlasting righteousness!

It sounds very good. But believing that your fellowship with God is broken when you sin will affect your ability to come boldly to His throne of grace to receive from Him. In reality, both the words “relationship” and “fellowship” share the same Greek root word
koinonia.
¹
This means that even if you fail, relationship and fellowship with God are not broken. Why? Because your sins and failures have all been paid for at the cross. How can you ever lose your righteousness in Christ when it is based entirely on His perfect work and not your imperfection?

To see how we have everlasting righteousness in Christ, look at the prophecy in the Book of Daniel about Jesus’ work at Calvary. Daniel 9:24 describes His mission in no uncertain terms: “…to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in
everlasting righteousness.
” Beloved, we can rejoice today because Jesus has fulfilled every iota of this prophecy! The blood of bulls and goats in the old covenant only provided limited and temporal righteousness for the children of Israel, and that is why with every new failing, the sacrifices had to be repeated.

But in the new covenant, the blood of Jesus put an
end
to sin and gave us everlasting righteousness! Listen carefully to this: Jesus does not have to be crucified repeatedly whenever you fail because every sin has already been paid for on the cross. We need to trust in just how complete and perfect His finished work is. Today, as a new covenant believer, you are righteous not only until your next sin. You have
everlasting righteousness!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I thank You that the blood of Your Son Jesus has put an end to sin and given me everlasting righteousness! And because I have this gift of everlasting righteousness that is not dependent on my works, my fellowship with You cannot be broken even when I mess up. I can still come to you boldly to receive grace and help. How can I not be victorious in life with Your grace and help!

Today’s Thought

Because I am in Christ, I have everlasting righteousness!

Today’s Reflection On Favor

DAY 47

Our Part In The New Covenant Of Grace

Today’s Scripture

Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. —Acts 13:38–39

W
HAT IS OUR
part in the new covenant of grace? Our part in the new covenant of grace is to simply
believe!
What should we believe? We are to believe in Jesus! But follow me closely now, this answer may not be as straightforward as it seems. If you were to ask people on the streets if they believed in Jesus, you would probably get all kinds of answers. There would be those who believe that Jesus existed as a historical figure, moral philosopher, charismatic leader or prophet. Sadly, the truth is that believing all these things about Jesus will not save them.

Your part in the new covenant of God’s unmerited favor is to believe that you are completely forgiven of all your sins, and that Jesus’ blood cleanses you from all your unrighteousness and lawlessness.

So let’s establish what it means to believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to first and foremost, believe and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior who died on the cross for all your sins. To believe in Jesus is to believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation and that once you receive Him, you receive the gift of eternal life. Furthermore, to believe in Jesus is to believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that all your sins—past, present and future—were all punished on the cross and that today (this is where the last clause of the new covenant applies), all your sins and lawless deeds He remembers NO MORE!