God is Love

God has good plans for your life, plans to 

prosper and not to harm you, to give you a

 future and a hope 

(Jer 29:11).



For God has not given us a spirit of fear,

 but of power and of love and of a sound

 mind 

(2 Timothy 1:7).



Beloved, I pray that in all respects you

 may prosper and be in good health, just

 as your soul prospers 

(3 John 1:2, NASB).

MUCH BETTER THAN BEFORE

ISAIAH 61:7
Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs. 

God says in His Word that you will receive double for your trouble. If the devil has given you one trouble, then for that one trouble you can expect to receive a double-portion blessing! And if that trouble has caused you to experience shame, God’s promise to you is this: “Instead of your shame you shall have double honor”. God wants to give you a double-portion blessing for every trouble you go through! And don’t think that God is behind your troubles. The devil is the real culprit. Sometimes, it could be the one you see in the mirror every morning! But the moment you respond to God in faith, He gets involved in your restoration. And He does not restore to you the same amount that you have lost. You always get more than before, if not in quantity, then in quality. You will be at a higher place than before. You will be healthier, wiser, financially stronger or more at peace! This was the case with Job. Satan was behind Job’s troubles, but when Job responded in faith, God took it upon Himself to restore to Job all that he had lost. The Bible tells us that Job received double in terms of quantity—from 7,000 sheep to 14,000 sheep, 3,000 camels to 6,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen to 1,000 yoke of oxen and 500 female donkeys to 1,000 female donkeys. And for the children he had lost, God restored in terms of quality—his daughters were the fairest in all the land. (Job 1:2–3, 13–19; 42:12–15) If Job, who was not under the new covenant, could be blessed with double for his troubles, how much more we who are under the new covenant! In fact, God will not only restore double but triple, fivefold or even sevenfold! Such was the restoration experienced by one of our pastors, who was cheated of some money. In the end, he received a sevenfold restoration! My friend, for everything that you have lost, get ready for God’s restoration. Expect to receive double and even more for every trouble!

Meditate On

And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

Luke 3:22

Always Remember You Are God’s Beloved

Immediately after Jesus was baptized, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The devil came to Jesus and said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matthew 4:3). Now, don’t forget that Jesus had just heard the voice of His Father affirming Him with the words “You are My beloved Son.” Years ago, as I was studying Jesus’ temptations by the devil, the Lord asked me, “Did you notice that the devil dropped one word when he came to tempt My Son?”
I had never heard anyone preach this before or read this in any book, but God opened my eyes to see that the devil had omitted the word “beloved”! God had just told Jesus, “You are My beloved Son.” But shortly after that, the devil came to Jesus, saying, “If You are the Son of God…” The word “beloved” is missing! The serpent had cunningly left it out!
The Lord then showed me that for the devil’s temptations to work, he cannot remind you that you are God’s beloved. The moment you are reminded of your identity as God’s beloved in Christ, he will not be able to succeed! It’s no wonder that the devil wants to rob believers of their sense of being God’s beloved. So don’t fall for the devil’s trick. Remind yourself today and every day that you are God’s beloved!
-Joseph Prince