You shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace!

Isaiah 55:12: For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace.

God is indeed doing a new thing in your life!

This is the time to let go of all your past griefs and sorrows to Jesus. This is the time to let go of all your past regrets and failures. This is the time to let go of all your past hurts and shame. He has indeed carried all these on the cross. Surely Jesus has borne your griefs and carried your sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). He was wounded for your transgressions, and bruised for your iniquities. The chastisement for your peace was upon Him, and by His stripes you are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

Beloved, do not look back to your past. God is preparing you to enter a new season. It's time to move out of your past griefs and sorrows. It's time to shift out of your past griefs and sorrows. Leave them all on the cross, and start entering into His joy and peace. I sense fresh new grace coming your way. A new season always comes with fresh new grace. Yes, good and new things are indeed coming your way!

In Isaiah 55:12, the word ‘joy’ is ‘simkhaw’ in Hebrew. It means ‘exceeding gladness, fullness of joy, pleasure’. The word ‘peace’ here is ‘shalom’. It does not just mean ‘peace’, but it can also mean ‘prosperity, health, wellness, wholeness’. So, everyday in your life, in this new season, you shall go out with 'exceeding gladness, fullness of joy, pleasure', and be led out with 'peace, prosperity, health, wellness, wholeness’.

You shall receive your 'open doors'. You shall receive the favor of God and the favor of men. Believe and receive it. And not only that, you have the Holy Spirit leading you as you go out. Isaiah 55:12 says you are being 'led out with peace'. Romans 8:14 says, ‘as many as are led by the Spirit, they are sons of God.’ You are indeed His child, His beloved child. Romans 8:17 says, ‘as children, we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ’. An heir of God is one who 'inherits' and 'shares' the richness of His kingdom and His glory.

So, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for the richness of His kingdom and the richness of His glory is here. Beloved in Christ, in all that you do today, start to go out with joy, and be led out with peace! Amen!

God gives you every good thing!

Psalm 84:11: For the Lord is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

God will not withhold any good thing from you. Because you are His beloved child, and He is your good heavenly Father, He gives you every good thing! He gives you good health, He gives you good providence, He gives you good talents, He gives you spiritual gifts, He gives you wisdom, He gives you 'open doors', He gives you breakthroughs, in short, He gives all! In fact, He even gave His only begotten Son, Jesus to die for you, so that you may have everlasting life! (John 3:16)

Psalm 84:11 says God is both your 'sun' and your 'shield'. The word ‘sun’ is ‘shemesh’ in Hebrew, which means ‘brilliance, glory, ray.’ The word ‘shield’ is ‘magen’ in Hebrew, which means ‘defense, protector, covering.’ So, God is your 'brilliance, glory, ray', and He is also your 'defense, protector, covering.' The psalmist wrote God will give grace and glory. The ‘sun’ is a picture of God’s glory, while the ‘shield’ is a picture of God’s grace. Beloved, God wants you to experience both!

Let’s cross refer now to Exodus 33:18. Moses asked God to show him His glory. But there was a problem there. Moses, human and sinner as he was, would surely die when faced with God's glory (Exodus 33:20). God's glory is God's very presence, His holy presence. He is perfectly holy, and would never condone sin. But instead of saying 'no', God said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by". You see, God made a way for Moses. God did not withhold. Such was God's love for Moses! So, He put Moses in the cleft of the rock, and as His glory passed by, His hand covered him. The ‘rock’ here is a ‘typology’ of Jesus. He is our Rock and our Fortress (Psalm 18:2). The word ‘cleft’ here means ‘cracked, broken’. So, the cleft of the rock here is a picture of Jesus Christ being ‘cracked, broken’ on the cross in order to cover you from the judgment for your sins. Jesus is your covering. This is grace!

God also said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassionon whom I will have compassion (Exodus 33:19). Notice the sentence 'I will proclaim the name of the Lord' here. It simply means 'God will manifest His character'. A 'name' always carries a 'character', and God's foremost character is ‘love’. God is love (1 John 4:16), and the first fruit of His Spirit is also ‘love’ (Galatians 5:22). So, God manifested His goodness, His love, His grace, and His compassion to Moses. Today, He is also manifesting His goodness, His love, His grace, and His compassion to you!

Beloved, just as God did not withhold any good thing from Moses, He will also not withhold any good thing from you. He will even make a way for you. Receive His goodness, His love, His grace, and His compassion today. You can, because of what Jesus has done for you on the cross, once and for all.

Receiving your breakthrough

Acts 16:26: Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.

It's breakthrough time! I thank God for the 'captives' are being set free and 'bondages' are being broken in many lives. There's an anointing here to break every bondage and chain that may have hindered you in the past. Receive it now. It's time to be set free, and whatever the devil meant harm for you in the past, God is turning it around for good to you now!

What is a breakthrough? It's an act of breaking through the enemies' defenses. It's a major 'milestone' in your journey towards your God-given destiny. It's also when one is being set free from captivity or bondage. I see the chains of debts being broken in you. I see a breakthrough in your career or business. I see a breakthrough in family relationships. I see new doors being opened in your ministry. Some of you have been hindered by ill-health in the past, and you are now entering a new season of breakthrough in your health. It's time to receive, just as when Paul and Silas received their breakthrough when they were imprisoned (Acts 16:26).

Friends, if God has spoken to you about a goal or a destiny, and somewhere along the way, you have been 'derailed' by the devil, or the destiny seems like it's going to be 'aborted', then be encouraged, for I heard these words for you, that the 'good works' that God has begun in your life, He shall bring it to full completion (Philippians 1:6), and it shall not be aborted.

Paul and Silas were on their way to a destination too. It was a prayer meeting in Lydia's house (Acts 16:15-16). However, their journey was 'derailed' when they were beaten and thrown into prison. It all started when Paul had to cast out an annoying evil spirit from a slave girl who did fortune-telling for her masters (Acts 16:17-18). The masters got angry for the loss of their income, and reported them falsely to the authorities. So, instead of reaching their destination, they were thrown into prison for allegedly causing trouble in the city. In the prison however, Paul and Silas stood firm in the Lord, even in the midnight hour (Acts 16:25). They did not blame. They did not find faults. They did not complain. Instead, they continued to pray, and they continued to praise and worship. Suddenly, the breakthrough came in the form of an earthquake. This earthquake totally shook the prison to the very core, and the prison doors were opened, the shackles were broken, and the chains were loosed. They were indeed set free. Beloved, there's such anointing being released on you right now. What you can do now is to receive it.

And you know what? Things got even better for Paul and Silas after that. They had the prison-keeper and his family saved and baptized (Acts 16:27-33). Eventually, they reached their destination, the prayer meeting (Acts 16:40), plus some great testimonies to share too!

Growing spiritually

2 Corinthians 4:16: Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Your ‘outward man’ is your physical body, while your ‘inward man’ is your spirit. So, ‘the inward man is being renewed’ in this verse here means ‘your spirit is being renewed’. The word ‘renewed’ here is ‘anakainoo’ in Greek, which means ‘restored, renovated’. Just as a house can be renovated from time to time, your inward man is to be ‘renovated’ day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). The Bible says 'you are being transformed from glory to glory' (2 Corinthians 3:18), and that's how you grow spiritually, in the ‘inside’ of you.

When you grow in the ‘inside’, you will grow in the ‘outside’! In other words, when you expand in the 'inside', you'll expand in the 'outside'.

Let’s look at Psalm 75:6-7 now. It says, ‘for exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another.’ In King James Version, this word ‘exaltation’ is written as ‘promotion’. It is ‘ruwm’ in Hebrew which means ‘to rise, to raise, to go up, or bring up’. Here, you'll realize that real promotion in life doesn't come from manipulation of people or 'trying to make things happen' in fleshly ways. These carnal ways may work for a while, but it won't last for long. Friends, know this, a real and lasting promotion comes only from God! It is God who can make things happen for you, and it is Him who opens a way of promotion or expansion for you!

What is the co-relation between spiritual growth (in the ‘inside’) and promotion (in the ‘outside’)? Does one results in the other? The answer is yes. How much you grow in the ‘inside’ will eventually determine how much you grow in the ‘outside’. It’s in a direct proportion. Before promotion in an area of your life comes, there’s always a time of preparation where you are to grow spiritually in that area first.

To grow spiritually is to become more and more like Jesus. It doesn’t really depend on how long you have been a Christian, how old you are, how much experience in life you have, how many bible verses you memorize, how regular you attend church, or how active you are in church ministry, even though these are all good. When you grow spiritually, you are actually growing in the ‘character’ of Jesus. Let me give you an example. If your capacity to sincerely love has expanded from loving your own family to loving others in the neighborhood or in your organization, you have grown spiritually in the area of ‘love’, and there's an expansion in your capacity to 'love'.

Remember when you were a child and the first time you were given 'pocket money' to spend? Why do you think your parents gave you those 'pocket money' at that time, and not before that? Because they felt you were ready. Because they felt you should be responsible enough by then. It's the same how God entrusts you with bigger things in life. It may be an expansion in wealth, an expansion in business, an expansion in spiritual ministry, or a promotion in your career. He'll promote you when He knows you are ready.

Beloved, let's make it your aim to grow spiritually everyday. As you are being transformed from glory to glory to be more like Him day by day, you'll begin to see an expansion or a promotion in all that you do in the 'outside'!