The Power of Right Believing: 7 Keys to Freedom from Fear, Guilt, and Addiction (34 page)

W
hen I preached a message series on the Father’s love in my church, a young man, together with several others, came forward after one of the services to receive Jesus as His Lord and Savior. I couldn’t help noticing that there were scars and scabs of dried blood on this man’s face. I thought perhaps he was suffering from some sort of medical condition, so I told my youth pastor to follow up with him in the visitors’ lounge after the service.

In the lounge the young man removed his jacket and revealed a body covered with tattoos. He shared that his face was cut up because he had been involved in many gang fights and had been in and out of prison numerous times. He then looked straight at the youth pastor and asked him somberly, “Can God forgive me for all the mistakes I’ve made?”

The youth pastor affirmed him, saying, “The moment you came forward to receive Jesus into your life, your Father in heaven forgave you of all your sins and made you His child. Right now, that’s who you are—His beloved child.”

Later that day the youth pastor received a text message from this
young man expressing what he felt after he left the service: “I don’t know how to explain this to you. I’m now experiencing a peace in my heart I’ve never felt before.”

My friend, this is what happens when the burden of sin, guilt, and condemnation is lifted off your shoulders and placed upon Jesus. When you open your heart to the Father’s unconditional love, you will experience a peace that surpasses all understanding.

Righteousness Is a Free Gift

No matter how many times you have failed, how many mistakes you have made, and how terrible you think your sins are, the cleansing power and blood of your Savior, Jesus Christ, is greater than them all. God made this promise to you in His Word: “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool” (Isa. 1:18
NLT
). That’s the power of the cross in your life. The moment you believe in Christ, all your sins are washed away once and for all and you are made as white as snow. Have you seen how snow dazzles in the sunlight? That’s how your Father in heaven sees you right now, clothed with the gleaming robe of righteousness.

But Pastor Prince, what have I done to deserve this robe of righteousness?

Well, you’ve heard the parable of the prodigal son. Let me ask you this: What did the son do to deserve the father’s embrace? What did he do to deserve the best robe that the father commanded his hired servants to bring for him?

Absolutely nothing.

The “best robe” is a picture of the robe of righteousness that your heavenly Father clothed you with when you received Jesus. This robe of righteousness is a
free gift
. You cannot earn it, work for it, or merit it. That is why everything we hear about what the father did to welcome his son home is a picture of our heavenly Father’s amazing and unconditional grace.

Our part is to just believe in His goodness and wholeheartedly receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness from Him to reign victoriously over every area of defeat in our lives.

Receive and Reign

The truth is there is no other way to reign in life apart from believing and receiving. Since the Father’s acceptance, grace, and gift of righteousness cannot be earned, the only way to get them is by humbling yourself before Him and saying, “Dear Daddy God, I know that I have done nothing to deserve Your love and blessings in my life. Thank You for giving me grace that is so unmerited. I humbly receive the abundance of Your grace and Your precious gift of righteousness.”

Which do you think takes more humility—to work for and earn your own righteousness or to receive righteousness as a gift from
God? I submit to you that believers who try to
earn
God’s approval, acceptance, and blessings through their service, prayers, and good works inadvertently fall into pride.

In the parable of the prodigal son, the younger son wanted to come home and say to his father, “Make me like one of your hired servants.” Even though he was completely down-and-out, he still wanted to keep his pride and
earn
his own keep as a hired servant rather than humble himself before his father. Of course we know that even though he believed wrongly and was still entangled in self-occupation, the father heaped upon him the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and received him home with great celebration.

The Older Brother Mind-set

As for the older brother in the parable, he got massively angry when he heard that his shameless sinner of a brother returning home was the reason there was music and dancing in his father’s house. His pride got the better of him, and he refused to go into the house because he felt that unlike him, his brother had not done anything to deserve such an honor.

The older brother said to his father, “Lo, these many years
I
have been
serving
you;
I
never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him” (Luke 15:29–30, emphasis mine).

Notice that the older brother was caught up with what
he
had
done to “deserve” the fatted calf that was killed for his brother. His response also revealed what he believed about his father. He related to his father as if his father were a hard taskmaster. Instead of simply enjoying his position as a son, he was busy
serving
his father, busy trying to win his approval through his works.

The older brother believed he needed to earn the father’s blessings, and in his mind he had performed much better than his disgraceful and rebellious younger brother. So he felt that he deserved more rewards from his father and was thus indignant because he thought his brother was being given more. In actual fact, the Bible records that the father had divided to
them
his wealth. According to Jewish custom, the older son always gets a double portion, so the older brother had already been given much more!

Clearly he missed the whole point of what it means to be a son. His eyes were not on his father’s goodness, but on his own performance. There was no relationship with his father. He had a slavish mind-set and was persistently trying to please his father with his service and by the care he took not to transgress any of his father’s commandments. He never understood the father’s heart. Simply put, he never understood grace.

Love Relationship or Business Transaction?

Unfortunately, there are many believers today who are like the older brother. Rather than receive the Father’s perfect love and acceptance by grace, they want to be able to say they have earned His blessings.

Do you think that brings joy and delight to the Father’s heart?

Imagine if you wanted to give your child a special gift as an expression of your great love and your child tells you, “No, I want to work for it. I will earn it myself.”

How would you feel if your child would rather earn your love and blessings by his own efforts than
receive
it? Certainly there are times when a child may “work” for something as a reward. He may get rewarded for doing well in school or keeping his room tidy. But I’m not talking about rewards. Something is very warped if your child cannot receive a gift from you without trying to earn it. It means that your relationship with him mirrors a business transaction.

Sadly, this is exactly how some believers behave today. They have an older brother mentality when they relate to God. They don’t want to receive anything from Him by grace. Like the older brother in the parable, they want to work for it, and their relationship with God becomes businesslike and transactional. Instead of enjoying a love relationship between a Father and His child, they want to go back to the way it was under the old covenant of the law. Under the old covenant, if you did right, then God would bless you, and if you did wrong, you would be cursed.

It really is quite sad because they will inevitably end up becoming resentful and upset with God when they see their “undeserving” brothers being blessed by the Father’s abundant grace. Like the older brother, they end up angry with God and saying to Him, “Lo, these many years
I
have been
serving
you;
I
never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me…”

Believers who still live under this veil of the law are like the
older brother. They hear the music and the dancing, and they don’t understand it. They hear about their Father’s amazing grace, and they can’t comprehend it. They read stories of lives transformed by grace, and they can’t accept it. To them, God is all about keeping commandments, service, and obedience. Rewards should be meted out when right is done, whereas just punishment must be exacted on all who have transgressed.

If that is you, I pray this veil of the law will be removed and that you will experience the Father’s grace in a deep and personal way.

All That Is God’s Is Already Yours

Do you know what the father, who had left the party to seek out his older son, said in response to this son’s complaint? “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours” (Luke 15:31).

My friend, it’s not about
your
love for God; it’s about the Father’s love for you. He is always the initiator. It has always been about
His
love for you. Don’t live life mad, angry, guilty, and frustrated. Come into the Father’s house and find rest for your soul. It’s not about your own efforts. Your Father wants you to know that ALL He has is already yours—not because of your perfect performance, but because you are His child through Jesus’ finished work.

Romans 8:32 declares, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Daddy God has already
with Jesus
given you all things. Jesus is your acceptance. He is your righteousness, your holiness, your provision, and your wisdom. Whatever it is you need in your life, your Father has already given to you through Jesus.

So come home to His embrace. Come home to grace. Come and join in the music and dancing!

Transforming Power of the Father’s Love

It’s interesting to note that in the parable of the prodigal son, both brothers wanted to earn their own keep. I think that demonstrates to us that our fleshly propensity to want to merit blessings from God is far greater than our ability to receive from Him. We are generally more inclined to want to
merit
His love, acceptance, approval, and blessings than to
receive
them by His unmerited favor.

It truly takes a revelation of grace to see the Father’s love and to receive from Him. And the Word tells us that it is only by receiving from our Father His grace and His righteousness that we can reign in this life (see Rom. 5:17). Perhaps that’s the reason we don’t see more believers reigning in life. The key lies in how they perceive their Father in heaven.

Is He a hard, heavy-handed taskmaster to you or a loving, generous Father? Will you allow Him to clothe you in His righteousness and by His loving grace put a ring on your finger and sandals on your feet? Or will you fight to earn your own righteousness,
merit your own provision, and deserve your own possessions by your own works? The power to reign in life hinges on what you believe about God.

Pastor Prince, are you saying then that everything is just by grace and we can live any way we want with total disregard for God? Are you saying that we don’t have to serve Him?

Well, ask yourself this: When someone genuinely encounters the Father’s love, favor, and blessings in a way that is totally undeserving, how do you think he or she will live?

Take a moment to put yourself in the younger son’s shoes: You’ve squandered away your father’s wealth. You’ve run out of money and food, so you decide to go home because you know that even your father’s servants have an abundance of food to eat. But when you reach home, instead of rebuke and condemnation from your father and having to beg him to make you one of his hired servants, he gives you a lavish reception filled with hugs and kisses.

Just a couple of days ago, you were starving and even eyeing the food meant for pigs. But now you are clothed with a fresh, clean robe. You are wearing the ring of your father, authorizing you to make payments in his name. And as if that is not enough, your father has invited all the neighbors, killed a choice calf, and they are having a homecoming barbecue party with music and dancing in your honor.