• Godly Living Posts / Quotes

    How to know if God loves you

    God loves you more than you can imagine.

    Check out this devotional written by Pastor Joseph Prince.

    Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

    Romans 5:1–2

    God’s word tells us that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).

    This is a good verse to pray and speak over your children—that they first increase in favor with God and then in favor with man. Your “vertical relationship” with God should always be given priority over your “horizontal relationship” with the people around you.

    Like Jesus, you can increase in wisdom and in God’s unmerited favor. How?

    You have probably noticed that some believers seem to experience a lot more unmerited favor than others. I believe that this is because these believers understand the key to accessing God’s favor.

    Romans 5:2 clearly spells out that “we have access by faith into this grace [unmerited favor] in which we stand.”

    To gain access to your computer or your bank account, you need a password. To gain access to and increase in God’s unmerited favor, the “password” or key that we need to have is faith, faith to believe that YOU, _______________ (insert your name), are highly favored!

    One of the things that I have taught my church members to do is to declare over themselves that they are greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved.

    “How do we know that we are greatly blessed, Pastor Prince?”

    Read Hebrews 6:13–14 for yourself. God wanted us to be so anchored in the sure and steadfast knowledge that He will bless us, the seed of Abraham, that He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”

    “How can we say that we are highly favored?”

    Ephesians 1:6 tells us that by God’s grace (unmerited favor), God “made us accepted in the Beloved.” In the original Greek text, the word “accepted” is the word charitoo, which means “highly favored.”

    “And are we really deeply loved by God?”

    God didn’t just love us. John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” He demonstrated how He SO loved us when He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us.

    I pray that the verses I have shown you here will help you believe that through Jesus, you are indeed greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved. If these truths are still not established in your heart, start speaking them.

    Look at yourself in the mirror every morning and declare boldly, “Because of Jesus’ perfect work on the cross, I am righteous by His blood, and I am greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved! I expect good things to come my way. I expect good success and I have a confident expectation of good!”

    Once you receive Christ, you are standing on favor ground. You are no longer on condemnation ground. God looks on you as His favorite child!

    God loves you as a favorite

    “But Pastor Prince, how can God have so many favorites?”

    Hey, He is God. Don’t try to limit an infinite God with your finite mind.

    The Bible tells us that God counts the very hairs on each of our heads (Matt. 10:30). I love my daughter very much, but I have never counted the number of strands of hair on her head.

    His love for each of us is intimate and deeply personal. In His eyes, we are all His favorites!

    Al lyou need to do is to believe that God loves you. He is love.

    Read similar blogs about who God is here.

  • Godly Living Posts / Quotes

    Desire God’s Unmerited Favor, Not Favoritism

    And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

    Acts 7:9–10

    It is important for you to recognize that there is a significant difference between God’s unmerited favor and favoritism. God’s unmerited favor is based entirely on Jesus’ merit, and we received it through His finished work at the cross. We did nothing to deserve His favor. It is completely unmerited.

    Favoritism, however, stinks of self-effort. Individuals who rely on favoritism for promotion have to resort to apple polishing, office politics, manipulative tactics, backstabbing, and all kinds of compromises just to get what they want. They use all their efforts to open doors for themselves, and in the process, they lose themselves.

    God has a higher and better way for you. It hurts Him to see His precious children groveling like sycophants just to get ahead in life.

    If a door closes, so be it! Believe with full confidence that God has a better way for you. You do not have to depend on favoritism to keep opportunities open for yourself when you have God’s unmerited favor!

    How did God show favor to Joseph?

    That was how Joseph operated. He depended on the Lord for his success, and not on favoritism, which would have required him to compromise his beliefs. When Potiphar’s wife, who was likely one of the most beautiful women in the land, kept trying to seduce Joseph to sleep with her, Joseph stood his ground on the firm foundation of unmerited favor.

    He refused, saying, “There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he [Potiphar] kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).

    From his words, it is clear that Joseph knew the source of his success, favor, and blessings. Also, he did not see giving in to Potiphar’s wife as a great wickedness and sin against Potiphar alone, but against God too.

    He knew that every blessing that he had experienced was a result of the Lord’s favor on him. He knew that it was not Potiphar who promoted him from the position of a lowly slave to become the overseer of Potiphar’s entire estate. It was the Lord!

    Similarly in your life, know and rejoice that it is the Lord who is the source of your blessings and success! You don’t have to resort to trying to win the favor of significant people in your life. It is the Lord’s favor on you that sets you up for recognition, promotion, and increase.

    For more devotionals, go here.