Since I was a young boy, I began going to church with my family, reading the Bible on my own, and even started tithing when I was 12 years old. Later on in the years, I began attending church and Bible studies on my own.

Without realizing it, I came to believe that God would bless me if I did a better job of keeping His commandments. If something bad happened to me, I would always think I had done something wrong to offend God. And when I had sinned, I’d expect God to punish me. As a result, I began to find ways to punish myself, thinking that that was what I deserved.

As I grew older, I never drank, never dabbled with drugs, or had sex. I had a perceived holiness and even my family would ask me to pray because they thought I was closer to God. However, I felt devoid of love and the ability to give love. I used to wonder if I would even cry if a family member passed away as I hadn’t cried in many years.

One night, after coming home from work, I felt extremely depressed and alone. In my complete desperation, I looked up to heaven in anger and said this out loud, “Jesus, You said You came to give me life and life more abundantly. Where is this life that You spoke of?”

I didn’t receive my answer immediately but it arrived a few weeks later when I received Pastor Joseph Prince’s book, Destined To Reign, in the mail. Out of the blue, my Dad whom I hadn’t seen or talked to in years, got the book and sent it to me.

When I read your book for the first time, I thought it was ridiculous—of course we are supposed to try and keep the law! I also thought that what you wrote about Jesus not being the center of the church was an outlandish claim. But as I continued reading your book and reading the scriptures about righteousness being a gift, I began to think about it everywhere I went.

God began to remove the scales from my eyes. I felt like a man on a deathbed being nursed back to health. I reread your book and started declaring myself righteous in Christ. It was extremely difficult at first because according to the commandments that I lived by for many years, I wasn’t. But as the book points out, I could because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

As I confessed my righteousness in Christ, my life began to change almost instantly. Each truth you revealed became something that gave me more life and this made me rejoice because I realized that nothing could do for me what Jesus did.

Because of the divine exchange on the cross, I find myself lacking nothing. If I wanted something, I would just ask God for it and it would be answered. However, all these things have become unimportant and added up to nothing for me in comparison to the gift of righteousness that Jesus has given me.

Within a space of 2 years, I became a completely different person. I truly felt like a dead person brought back to life. I now truly understand the meaning of 2 Corinthians 3:6—“who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

For 20 years, I tried to keep God’s commandments. On the outside, I looked holy and people would always encourage me by complimenting how good a person I was. But on the inside, I felt as dry as a desert. I had to pretend I was doing a good job keeping God’s law and had to convince myself I was.

As I watched you and learned, I have become more alive and stronger. At church, I would sing with tears of joy in my eyes—something that never happened before. I want to tell everyone about the good news that has given me so much life. This never happened before because I didn’t even know how to tell others to keep the commandments to be accepted by God. But now, I have something to share with people—that because Jesus has paid for your transgressions, you can have peace with God. Now, instead of judging people everywhere I go, I can love people everywhere I go.

Joseph Prince, I thank God for you all the time and I pray for you. I was dead and now I live for the letter kills but the spirit gives life! Here am I, God, a life you’ve changed!