A Life Worth Living (5 page)

With Christ in the centre, you will find that the husband draws strength from Christ, the wife draws strength from Christ and they both begin to rely less on drawing strength from one another. In marriage, it’s a tragedy when what the wife is supposed to draw from the Lord, she draws instead from her husband, and her husband cannot give her what she needs because we husbands make lousy gods. Our wives may sometimes offer us burnt offerings at meal times, but we husbands still make lousy gods!

It’s the same with husbands who demand from their wives things that can only come from Jesus. The husband expects her to understand his fears and insecurities. But he is meant to cast these to the Lord, to talk to the Lord about them. When he tries to cast them onto his wife, she may not understand and she may become angry. But Christ understands because He knows us best. And when Christ is in you, He holds you together. Your personality is integrated with His. This makes for a wonderful life — a life worth living!

Marriage Is Not Just About Husbands Loving Their Wives And
Vice Versa

You know, marriage is not just about husbands loving their wives and wives loving their husbands. You might say, “But Pastor Prince, Ephesians 5:25 says, ‘Husbands, love you wives.’” But it doesn’t stop there! It says, “
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.”
Therefore, husbands are supposed to focus on how Jesus loves them because the more husbands know how much Jesus loves them, the more they will be filled with love themselves. Then, the wives will receive the overflow and the benefits of that love.

Husband, love your wife as Christ loved the church. Ephesians 5:22 says, “
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”
Put Jesus in your marriage, and you and your spouse will have the grace to fulfil these roles.

I tell you this, some young people are really dumb. I’ve met young ladies who don’t want their boyfriends attending church youth meetings because they are afraid that other young ladies might snatch their boyfriends away. Don’t let that kind of thinking rob you of blessings gained from attending church. When your boyfriend or husband comes to church and listens to anointed teaching, the more full of Jesus he becomes. The fuller he gets, the more he wants to share and the more he wants to spill over God’s love into your life. That’s the manner of God’s love. When you’re so full of Christ’s love, you want to share it. Your partner is usually the first beneficiary.

The problem in relationships and marriages where both partners are not filled with Christ’s love and don’t have Christ in the centre is that we find two empty vessels trying to give and receive from each other. And we know that two empty vessels clashing against each other make a very loud noise. Husbands and wives, you need to be filled with Jesus to experience successful marriages. You might say, “Well, Pastor Prince, I don’t spend time with Jesus, but I can still flow in God’s grace!”Yes, grace will still be there and mercy will still be there, but you won’t be able to manifest the fullness of Christ in you. To do that, you’ll need to spend time with Him.

chapter
4

Jesus’ Victory Ensures Our Victory

chapter 4

Jesus’ Victory Ensures Our Victory

Victory In Life Because Of Jesus’ Victory Over Death

J
esus’ sacrifice on the cross was ordained by God. His death was no accident. He came for this purpose, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. The devil had power, but Jesus destroyed his power so that He could deliver all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14–15) That’s why Jesus died — to set you free from the fear of death. Death holds no more fear for a believer.

When a non-believer dies, he wakes up more dead because he is in hell. When a Christian dies, he leaves his body, and all the pain and defects associated with a physical body. As a result, he feels that he is even more alive. And he says, “My goodness, you call this death? I feel more alive now than I was when I was in my body!” You see, your physical body restricts you.

So don’t fear death. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has conquered death for you and given you life everlasting.

Romans 6:4–5 also tells us:

⁴
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
⁵
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection
,

Church, just as we died with Christ, we are raised with Christ. His resurrection has removed the sting of death. But do you know that Jesus was also raised for your justification? (Romans 4:25) For if Christ was not raised from the dead, then you don’t have forgiveness of sins. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”
But the fact that He was raised to life means that you
have
forgiveness of all sins. (Colossians 2:13)

There are many Christians who are not living in victory today because they don’t know that Jesus’ resurrection not only removed the sting of death, but it also justified them. So they are still sin-conscious and afraid to draw near to God. The more we realise that we are forgiven and that there is no condemnation should we sin, the more we will have the strength to “
go and sin no more”
(John 8:11), the more we will have boldness to draw near to God and live in victory! Hebrews 10:19–22 reminds us:

¹⁹
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
²⁰
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
²¹
and having a High Priest over the house of God,
²²
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water
.

A New And Living Way

In the old covenant, under law, people could not draw near to God because they were sinners and God is perfect. In Exodus 19:21–22, God said to Moses on Mount Sinai:

²¹
… “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish.
²²
Also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.”

Here, we see that the people could not come near and worship God. Why? Because they were sinners and God is holy. God is perfect and they were imperfect. In other words, God was telling them, “Don’t come near Me or My glory will destroy you.” So under law, the more they came to God, the higher their chances of perishing!

However, today, we are no longer under law. The new covenant reveals to us that we are under grace. The blood of Jesus covers us and our sins have been forgiven. Hebrews 10:19–20 says:

¹⁹
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
²⁰
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us…

So we see that under grace, we can have boldness to come into God’s presence by the blood of Jesus — and we will not perish! In fact, it is “
a new and living way”!

Worshipping Jesus Brings Wholeness

The more we come into God’s presence, having been consecrated by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:20), the more we live. Thank God we now live under grace! Hebrews 10:20 calls it “
a new and living way”
. Why is it called a “living way”? Doesn’t God know that everyone whose heart is beating is alive and living? Of course He knows, but a “living way” here means that the more you come to God, the more every part of you — spirit, soul and body — will live.

The Bible says that under law, those with marks or defects — those who were crippled, hunch-backed and diseased — could not come near and worship God. But under grace, all those with marks or defects could come to Jesus. They worshipped Him and He made them well, He made them whole. Under grace, they found a new and living way!

I love the passages in the gospels (Matthew 15:30–31, Luke 4:40) where it says that the multitude brought all those who were lame, blind, dumb and maimed (“maimed” implies missing body parts!) to Jesus. I can just see them queuing up to seek healing from Jesus and being made whole! We all have physical defects or imperfections, and the more we worship Him and the more we come to Him, the more He makes us whole and the more we live.

You know, worship is a privilege. When the worship leader in your church says, “Lift your hands!” you are not doing it for his benefit, you are doing it for your own benefit. Every time you lift your hands to worship the Lord, every time you draw near to Him, an imperfection in you is being corrected, and you are being adjusted and made whole. That is a new and living way!

How Does Jesus Speak To Us?

So the more you draw close to God today, the more He makes you whole in every way. God wants you to come to Him and commune with Him. In fact, the Bible says in John 7:37, “
If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”
What does Jesus mean? He means that He wants to satisfy our thirst for His presence, for His closeness, for His intimacy, for His loving words.

Many people try to hear from Jesus by expecting Him to speak to them through another person as He did in the old covenant. Some Christians still run to prophets to hear God’s word for them. Or they run to conferences for prophetic words. In the old covenant, people heard God speak to them through prophets. They heard God speak to them through a third party.

Today, there is no need for prophets to direct us. They tell us things to confirm what God has already placed in our hearts. That’s because in the new covenant, God says, “
None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”
(Hebrews 8:11) You will see that this is true in the book of Acts. When the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets and teachers there to separate Paul and Barnabas for the work He had called them to, it was no surprise to them. (Acts 13:1–3) It was just a confirmation.

Many today also expect God to speak to them directly in an audible voice. In the old covenant, that was how God spoke to the prophets. And that’s why some Christians still expect God to speak to them in a deep booming voice like in the movie,
The Ten Commandments
. Only very rarely does He speak to us audibly today.

Under the new covenant, we hear God’s voice from within. We no longer rely on God to speak to us through a third person or in a clear, audible voice. Today, God tends to speak to us from inside us. If God wants you to call someone, He won’t say, “Call So-and-so!” Why? Because you and God are one. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says,
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

Christ speaks to us, in us and through us because we are one spirit with Him.

Because we are “
one spirit with Him”
, God now speaks to us through the Holy Spirit who is within us. So when you will feel like calling So-and-so, do it straightaway. You don’t have to ask, “Is this God?” You just go ahead and be led by that desire. Today, God very rarely speaks audibly to us. Instead, He leads us by an inner “knowing”, an inner desire or a still, small voice in our hearts.

God Is Leading Us All The Time, Every Day

Christ speaks
to
us,
in
us and
through
us because we are one spirit with Him. We are therefore tied to Him in one spirit and with one voice. And God does not normally speak to us in a spectacular fashion, nonetheless, His voice is supernatural. And we who are sensitive to His Spirit will hear His voice.

When you practise hearing the Father, often, you’ll hear Him speak to you with loving words like, “Well done, son! I’m glad you gave that up for me,” or “I’m glad you’re doing that, son!” That’s how He speaks to us most of the time. He won’t tell you, “Go down this alley, buy four numbers that I shall give thee and surely you shall strike the first prize. It shall be the biggest lottery win in history, and it shall set you and your family free in the Year of Jubilee. So it shall be, for I have spoken unto thee.” Some Christians expect Jesus to speak to them like that! They run to prophetic conferences to try and find Jesus speaking like that.