Joseph Prince - Activate the Grace Covenant Through Tongues
I'm gonna share with you today about praying before the trial happens. You know, Jesus said to his disciples in the Garden in Gethsemane, he says, "Pray that you enter not into temptation". And the word "temptation" there is testings and trials. So Jesus said, "Pray that you enter not". Some Christians say, "Well, the more trials we have, the stronger we become". You know what? If Jesus taught me to pray that I enter not into testing, I'm gonna pray that I enter not into testing. If I'm in testing, I'm gonna trust God that I'll be strengthened, all right, by the faith that I use and the love that I exercise, all right, I believe if I'm in it, I'll make the best of it. But Jesus taught us to pray. Even in the Lord's Prayer, he taught us, "Lead us not into temptation". And the word there is: testing trials.
So why don't we just pray that God every single day, every single day I pray this for me and my family, all right? I pray that God will lead us not into temptations. I pray for you that God will lead you not into testings, temptations, and trials, amen? It's the best prayer you can pray. Now, if the Lord tells us to pray to enter not into testings, I really think it's something we need to look at seriously. I really believe that some trials we go through, we don't have to go through, okay? Now it's not for us to judge another. I'm talking about ourselves, okay? If someone goes through a trial, our place as a believer is to weep with those who weep, amen. It's not to say you don't have faith or things like that. That's not your place. Your place is to weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice, amen? But I'm teaching here and I'm teaching from the Word of God and the Word of God tells us clearly we need to pray that the Father lead us not into testings, amen, pray that you enter not into temptation.
So for this, I'm gonna share with you something that recently Pastor Mark, our Chinese pastor, he asked me a question, very interesting. Actually I've answered that question in a message I preached in February of 2004. And the message is called "Just a Groan Will Reach the Throne". I remember that title because it's such a cute thing. "Just a Groan Will Reach the Throne," amen? And Pastor Mark asked me this question: "Pastor Prince, if the children of Israel, they were under grace," and they were, because the children of Israel, before they were delivered out of Egypt, until they were brought to Mount Sinai, they were actually under the covenant of grace. The covenant that God cut with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Ten Commandments were not given yet. Until Israel came to Mount Sinai, after they were delivered from Egypt. Then God gave them the Ten Commandments, which is something that they asked for, not knowing, all right, their flesh. They presume on their own righteousness which they had none.
So if we look carefully at this truth, it begs the answer, "If it is true that they were under grace, why did God allow them to go into bondage? Why did God allow the children of Israel to serve under the hard taskmasters, under the whiplash of the Egyptians? Why did God allow that if they were under the covenant of grace"? There's something very, very mystical about the human heart when it is ruled by the flesh. Do you know that you can be oppressed for a long time and you still play the strong man? And I submit to you there is something that God was waiting for in the children of Israel, and that was we know that God always wants man to depend on him. The greatest posture of a man is dependence on God, all right? The greatest blessings you will ever receive is when you depend on God. And the flesh always makes you think, "I can handle it".
So for many years, when they were under the whiplash of the hard taskmasters of Egypt, one thing they did was this. They said, "We can take it. We can take it". It was not until, believe it or not, I did a check: from the time Joseph died, the Bible says, "There arose a king that knew not Joseph". Now, Joseph had favor with Pharaoh, so when Pharaoh says, "Bring your father and all your brothers and all their families and their flock", and all that, into the place called Goshen in Egypt, that Pharaoh was a pharaoh who favored Joseph and the nation of... I mean, the people of Israel. At that time, they were not a nation yet. They were still a family, right? He gave them the land called Goshen. Goshen means nearness. And do you remember when the plagues fell on the land, all right, the people that were in Goshen, they had light in their dwellings when Egypt was suffering darkness that was so thick they can't even see in front of them.
By the way, the darkness is not natural. It was judicial because if it was natural, it could be solved with a lamp or a light, a candle, amen? But even a candle cannot put out the darkness. Why? It is not natural, it is judicial. It's a punishment from God, amen, amen? Are you listening? But the Bible says in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were, there were light in their dwellings, and I submit to you this light is supernatural as well. When people look at your family, they see the light. You might not even know that you are shining, but your family is shining. The world is aware of it. They see the light in your dwellings. And it's supernatural light, amen? But for so many years, after Joseph died, the children of Israel, they were still in Egypt. "There arose a king that knew not Joseph," the Bible says.
And then he was afraid because God's people were multiplying, amen. And you all know the story. They were just producing, and God's people are so blessed, they are producing. And this king says, "Look, if they continue this way, they'll take over the entire nation of Egypt. Let's subdue them, let's subjugate them, and let's put them under our power, our strength, all right? Let's make them slaves," okay? And that happened for many years. There was no Moses yet and I calculated the time from that time until the time God responded and sent an 80-year-old deliverer called Moses. It was about 215 years. That's a long time, folks.
So I asked the question, "Why so long"? Because our flesh, like I said just now, sometimes we are oppressed, we are under pressure, we will not even cry out. See what happened? Exodus 2: "Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them". Wow, wow. Long before God acknowledged them, God who knows all things, obviously, God knew they were in bondage, but there is something about covenant, all right? No doubt, covenant involves two parties. You understand we have contracts today.
Actually, to use a contract, the analogy of a contract, it's not exactly covenant. Covenant is inaugurated with blood. Contracts are not. A wedding, a marriage, is not a contract. It's a covenant, and there's blood shedding. And that's why God instituted the marriage covenant that blood will be shed? Now, watch this. God cuts covenant, not for his own sake. Man made contracts, because I don't trust you, you don't trust me, all right? You might be trustworthy now, but 5 years from now, your heart might be changed. So we need to have a contract, a win-win situation. Am I right? With a contract so that no one can change their minds about certain agreed procedures or points of agreement. Am I right? Okay, we do that because both parties are not trustworthy, wholly trustworthy.
But with God, why does God make covenant? Not for his sake. He is trustworthy, the thrice holy God cannot lie. I like that in Titus. It does not say that God will not lie. Some people say God is almighty, he can do whatever he wants to do. And I say, "Yes, he's almighty, but there are some things God cannot do. God cannot lie". So why does God make a covenant? God makes a covenant so that you will have the assurance. It's for your weakness so that you will know God will not change his mind tomorrow. Now, we are under, because of the lack of time, I'll just go straight to the point. We are now no more under the covenant of Mount Sinai. Under the covenant of Mount Sinai, God says, "If you keep all these commandments then I will bless you, then I will rid you of your enemies. If you keep my statutes and my judgments, then I will bless your crops, I will send the rain".
It is if you will, then I will. But in the New Covenant, the Bible says God says, "I will put my laws in your hearts, I'll be your God, you'll be to me a people", all right, all will know me from the least to the greatest, because I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses. And all their sins, I remember no more. So, we are no more under the covenant of Sinai, we are now under the New Covenant, where God remembers our sins no more. Why no more? Why the phrase "no more"? Because once under the covenant of Sinai, God says, "I will by no means forget your sins, but I'll visit your sins to the third and fourth generation". Now, God says, "I'll remember your sins no more". Why? Because God in his holiness has remembered our sins at the cross. And God imputed to Jesus all your sins, all my sins. All means from the day you were born until the day you see Jesus, all right? All means all.
God put all your sins on Jesus. He was punished for all your sins. He took your place, his blood efficaciously washed away all your sins and then God raised him from the dead without your sins. The idea there is that if one speck of your sin remain on Jesus, God will not have raised him from the dead. Are you listening, people? The Bible tells us that God raised his Son because of our righteousness. The moment we were cleared, God raised his Son. As a proclamation that the same body of Jesus that bore our sins 3 days ago, now is without our sins.
What does that mean? Your sins are all put away. It's taken the church 2,000 years to understand that, but a lot of preachers are afraid of this teaching, all right? It's not even a teaching. It's the work of our Lord Jesus. Don't blame me, blame him. He gave us this grace, I didn't. He really put away our sins. So much so that God says in the New Covenant, "Your sins, I remember no more". That means, "I'll not remember your sins to punish you. I'll not remember your sins to punish your children to the third and fourth generation". Are you with me? Is this helping you? You understand that?
All right, so we are under covenant of grace. So, in a covenant of grace, what is our part? You read carefully the New Covenant, you'll find that God says, "I'll be merciful. Your sins I remember no more. I'll put my laws in their hearts. I will be to them a God. None will teach another. Know the Lord. All shall know me". It's a unconditional covenant. Our part is to believe. Can I have a good "Amen"? Our goodness does not disqualify us. Our goodness does not qualify us. It's not based on us. It's based on Christ. And the children of Israel, they were actually under the covenant of grace, based on the covenant God made with Abraham. When God gave Abraham the covenant and they're actually under the covenant of grace. Yet, God was waiting for something from them. Something as simple as saying, "God, I depend on you". But they can't say that.
There's no record they ever say that, all right? Then maybe God says, maybe they'll cry, "Oh, God". There's no record. The groaning you see, in a while's time I'm gonna show you, is nowhere do you find they groan to God. Nowhere do you find the children of Israel in Egypt, they cry out to God. All it says is God heard their groaning. God came down to the lowest level where they activated a covenant by saying, "Oh"! God says, "There's my covenant being activated. C'mon, angels, go forth". Are you listening, people? All right, you cannot pray good prayers. Okay, never mind. What can you pray? One line. "Father, help me". Cannot also. "Abba, Father, help". Cannot. "Abba, Father". Cannot. "Abba". Ow! There's a prayer. Just a groan will reach the throne. Just a groan will reach the throne. Here is our foundation for that, all right? The Bible says: "God heard their groaning".
Now, notice, they cried out. Doesn't say they cry to the Lord. They cried out, by reason of their bondage, all right, their cry came up to God. Didn't say they cried to God. They cried and their cry came up to God because of their bondage. So God heard their groaning. God remembered. Where was God before this? Was he forgetful? Is God a God that forgets? Yes, he is. But when he forgets, he forgets judicially. God is not forgetful, but he does make himself forget. For example, when he put your sins on Jesus's body and he punished Jesus for your sins, God is so holy he will not remember that same sin twice, now in your body. That's how God makes himself forget. His holiness makes himself forget the very sin that he has forgiven.
Man says, "I can forgive. I cannot forget". Show me in the Bible where God says when you forgive your brother, you must forget. It's good you can forget, but you cannot forget, forgive. But you know something, when you think back about that incident, the sting is no more there. Are you with me? Okay? So what an amazing grace. Now, do you know they are crying out to God. I'm gonna fast forward something here for you to understand and you will see how God's grace is magnified here. Now, I'm gonna fast forward to the children of Israel, they came out of Egypt and all the way through the wilderness, 40 years and all that, and now they enter through the River Jordan to the Promised Land. And Joshua is their new leader. And Joshua said something very profound. Joshua reminded them of something in the land of Canaan.
Look at this, Joshua 24: "Now therefore," Joshua exhorted the children of Israel, "fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served", listen, "Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD"! You know what he's saying, literally, at that time? They were in bondage under the hard taskmasters but they were worshiping other gods in Egypt. And yet when they groan, God remembered his covenant. The grace of God. Are you listening, church? They were worshiping other gods, the other side of the river, in Egypt. That's the reason why the ten plagues came. Every one of the plagues was a punishment on the god of Egypt. And the law was demonstrating that he is the God of all gods. He is the Lord of all lords. He's the true living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And you know, it magnifies God's grace because when they're crying out, they weren't crying out to God. They were just crying out, because of the pain. And yet, God heard, and God remembered his covenant. So that phrase, "God remembered his covenant," go back, Exodus 2. That phrase, "God remembered his covenant," is a phrase which means God remember to execute it. God remember to do something about it. Are you with me? Okay, amen? For example, if someone comes, let's say you're renting a house and someone comes early and say that you must give up this house, somebody else is interested in this house. Then you remember, wait a minute, I remember this covenant, this contract. It's supposed to be 3 years. It's only 2½ years now.
So you remember to execute, remember to defend yourself All right? So God remembered the covenant. Are you with me? Before that, let's go back to Joshua 24. Let's see what Joshua said. "If this seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourself this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD". Can you say that of yourself? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I don't care what the world says, amen, we will serve the Lord. But they'll make fun of you as a Christian. So what? We will serve the Lord, amen. Praise God. They can call you a nut, but you know what? I'm a blessed nut. I'm a blessed nut.
And at the end of the day, it's God who makes the words of men stick. If all men put together say bad things about me, and God cause all their words to fall to the ground, what is that? But if God causes one word I speak to stick, that is the power of God, amen? So it doesn't matter at the end of the day how many people criticize you. It is how many words God makes stick. Some people can read bad things about you and God can make them forget. Don't think for one moment just because somebody write bad things about you, that God make it stick. I love the phrase where it talks about the prophet Samuel as he was growing up. God did let none of his words fall to the ground. The reverse is also true. Bad things can be written about you, your past will never come back to haunt you.
If somebody text about your past, you know what? God can cause those words not to stick. But everything good about you, God can make it stick. This is our God. Give him praise, amen, praise the name of our Lord Jesus, hallelujah. Sometimes, God will not forget to remember and sometimes God will remember to forget our sins. Okay, never mind, I thought I was being funny but... Now, the thing about us is this. What are you going through today? Are you going through a physical bondage? Are you going through some challenges with your teenage boy or girl? Are you going through some addictions? What are you going through? Is there something that is a bondage to you? You feel like, spiritually speaking, there are Egyptians around you that are taskmasters bullying you. It's almost like you are under this bondage and you'll never get out of it.
Have you ever cried out to the Lord? Have you ever cried out to the Lord? "How do I do that, Pastor Prince"? Come here, I'll make you cry. Crying is one of the easiest things that, the moment you are born, you cry, amen? So God is so good that God says, "The easiest response, the very first response of a baby born in this world is cry", all right? God says, "When you cry, you activate my covenant. You don't have to pray perfect prayers. Just cry, and there's activation of my covenant. I'll remember my covenant and I'll respect you". In fact, the phrase that says: "God acknowledged them," go back to Exodus 2. All right, the last line. In the Old King James, "God looked on them and God had respect unto them". Isn't it precious? Isn't it beautiful?
So all these years, nearly 200-over years, all right, of being under bondage, increasing measures at different times, all right, they were saying, "We can handle it. We can handle it. We can handle it. We can handle". Never had God in their thoughts. Never had God in their minds. I remember when I was serving in the National Service, in my process of becoming a boy to man, I remember we had to run up with a machine gun, night training, and we had, I had this particular sergeant and it's not just me saying it, okay? The entire camp when they heard that my platoon was under this sergeant, they all shook their heads. Even other instructor says, "Good luck," all right? Because he was known to be a sadist.
And he would make us run up and down when other sections and all that, they are finished their training, night training, they were having their bean soup and night snack and what not, you know, whatever they were serving us in those days that they call food, you know? You know? We were still running up and down, my section, we were running up and down, shooting, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. They said, "Not good. Not good. One more time". Then we would run. And we were all very tired. We could look around. We saw people having their night snacks, everyone else was finished. We were not finished. Then one of the runs up there, I forgot how many times, I remembered I was a Christian. I remembered. I'm not an ordinary person. I'm serving my country but this no ordinary citizen here. It's no ordinary crew-cut, skinny, you know, dull-looking guy here, all right? He's a born again, Spirit-filled child of God.
So the next run, I remember I said, you know when you run up the hill, all right, upwards, you got no time to say, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. My kingdom come," you know, you've got no time for that. So I ran out there, "Father, Father, help"! That's what I prayed. I'm actually calling the Father and I say, "Help". "Help" came out, at least I was not just groaning. I did call upon his name, and that's all I can pray, "Help". Okay, that night, we slept. We hardly took out night snack because we were so worked up, all right, that we could hardly eat. So we went to bed. Tomorrow is a new day. There's still training out there.
The next day, this same sergeant, famous sadist, he say, "All of you, come, come, come, come, come, come. Sit around me, sit around me". He sat down there and said, "I think, ah, I've been very hard on all of you". "You think, ah? Now, 'You think, ah,'" you know? All right, he says, "I think I've been very hard on all of you, okay? From now on, we'll take things easy. Okay"? No one's there say okay also. And then we look at him say that, "I'll tell you, I'll tell you what happened, okay? Tell you what happened. Last night, one of your faces came up to me in a dream". And he says that, "And when I saw that face, everything inside me felt very bad. I felt like I've been mistreating you all.
So I just says, okay, yeah, from now on, take it easy. All right? You know whose face I saw now"? He said at the end, all right, then pointed to me, "This guy's face, this recruit". And that was, all of us were the same, you know. Our mouth half open, you know, don't laugh. Hey ladies, we are doing it for you, you know. You all laugh. While you all shop down Orchard Road, we are running up there. Okay? "You know, this guy here". He says. You'll find this story in "Unmerited Favor," my book, because it was that time the Lord really taught me, all right, favor works, favor works. By the way, from that time onwards, this guy, went the other extreme. When other people are training, he says, "Relax, relax. Why train so hard"? All right?
Then he tells us, "Hey," down here we got a jamboo tree, which is, you know... What do you call that? Guava, guava fruit, you know. "Go ahead, go ahead. No one looking, you go ahead. Okay? But if you get caught, don't say it's me. Okay? Go, go, go, go, go". You know, and I remember when the time came, when I passed out, all right? The passing out day and not passed out, okay? When I left the army, I remember going back to collect some form of something, all right? And I was walking near the parade square and I heard this familiar booming voice calling me across the parade square, and he was that sergeant. He remembered me after all this time. And that's a long time after I left, you know, and he, "What are you doing now? Long time no see you," you know, and until now, I still remember that incident clearly, God is my witness. I cried out to God, it wasn't a perfect prayer, and God made that man dream of me.
You know what? Let's forget about all this. Just suffice to say that you can find more of the story in "Unmerited Favor," and I've been trusting God's favor ever since. But I think is the funny thing is that the first time we ran up, I didn't call on God, and God was still my Father, I was still under the covenant of grace and nothing happened. The tenth time I was running up, God didn't do anything. God allowed whatever I allow. Are you listening? In some churches where they don't teach God heals, no one gets healed. God allows the pastor to teach whatever he teaches, and if people wanna listen to him, God allows that to happen. God allows what man allows, doesn't mean it makes it his will.
That's why God will hold the pastor responsible. In the seven churches, God held every pastor of the seven churches responsible. Amen. You rise or fall based on your leadership. You see, the entire nation didn't go into the land of Canaan to spy out the land, it was their leaders that went into the land. And when the ten spies came out, only Joshua and Caleb... the 12 of them came back. Only Joshua and Caleb says, "We can take the land," the ten said, "We cannot". Because their leaders say they cannot, the entire nation could not. Are you listening?
It's not a matter of like any church you go to is the same. No, no. There are many great churches in Singapore, there are many great churches in the world, but you gotta discern which one God wants you to go because that church can hold you back from your destiny or it can lead you into your destiny. If they teach things like, you know, sometimes God will take someone away, it makes you open up to that possibility when it's not God's will. Are you listening? All right? Sometimes disease happen to you because God wanna teach you a lesson. If you believe that, you'll be open to disease happening. Are you listening people?
All right. So I'm here to tell you, it's vital we understand these things. God will allow, as long as I was not crying to God, God allowed me to be oppressed. The children of Israel, more than 200 years, God allowed them to be oppressed until they groan. God says, "That's all I needed. I was waiting for that". And there is a cry of dependence without them even knowing it. Are you with me, church? All right, let's go with the New Testament and let's see, what is this cry? Okay? Look at Romans chapter 8, verse 26. "Likewise, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit also helps in our weaknesses".
Now, this word weaknesses, any Greek scholar will tell you is the same word used for disease and sickness. For example, Matthews chapter 8, verse 17, Jesus himself took our infirmities and the context there he was healing physical sicknesses. That word there is the same word used here. The Holy Spirit helps in our weaknesses, but many a times when this verse is quoted, it's usually referring to emotional weakness or spiritual weakness or mental weakness, but my friends, let's not limit the Word of God. The word here in the Greek most of the time, okay, 70 to 80% of the time in the New Testament is used for physical sickness.
So I submit to you the Holy Spirit helps you when you are under attack physically. But how do we release that now? "For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought". How many agree that even though we understand Jesus died, for example, that's the one area, it is helpful for us to look at this area because we can understand this healing, for example, how many know when Jesus received that lash on his back, you know, he fell down and he got up again. His bones were exposed, flesh was flying, blood everywhere. Do you know that by his stripes we are healed? There's a purpose for everything that Jesus went through. You know, Jesus could've just died on the cross instead of going through the scourging.
Why go through the scourging first? Why was that necessary? In the mind of God, there's a verse in the Bible that says, "Wounds bring healing," in the Book of Proverbs. By his stripes, we are healed. So he went through lashing and beating where the Roman soldier has a cat o' nine tails where they tell us it is like, you know, like the octopus... What do you call that? Tentacles, yeah. You know, it looks like that. It's called cat o' nine tails and they have crushed glass and bones injected into it. So one lash doesn't fall away, it's embedded in your skin. So once it's in your skin, what they do is that they jerk it. And they did that, some people say 39 times, the Bible doesn't say 39 times, especially Jesus, they hated him because their governor could not get any response from Jesus.
So they're trying to get a response, and they beat him and he stood up. They beat, why? Why that? Why not just send him to the cross? Because the Bible says with his stripes, we are healed. One lash, your cancer died. One lash, your diabetic case is over. If you see that when you take communion, all right? It's for the failure of discerning the body, not the blood. The Bible says, "Not discerning the body, many in the church are weak and sick and they fall asleep, they die before their time". Reverse the order. If we discern the bread is the broken body of Jesus when he receive the lashes, we will not become weak, will become strong. Instead of sick, we become healthy and we will leave long. Yo, amen. Are you with me?
Let's go on. How many agree that we do not know how the pray as we ought. We know that Jesus paid for our healing, right? Watch this, he paid for our healing here, but here we have a new symptom in our body. So how to bring that, what he did into this, what you are experiencing, we do not know. Many of us we pray as if we know. The best way to pray is based on this verse. "We do not know how to pray as we ought". So what I do is this, all right, this is what I do, and I'm talking about physical symptom. Any other area for that matter, can be finances, can be like, "God, I do not know what's happening in my family, it seems like we are always getting into strife, or I do not know what's happening to my teenager. We are always getting into disagreements," or it may be like your financial life has always been going down, down, there's no breakthrough. Just tell the Holy Spirit.
What I do is that if there's a physical symptom, I just say, "Holy Spirit, I do not know how to pray for this". Now, I know God's will, that by Jesus's stripes I'm healed. He paid for it already, but how to get what he paid into my body, I do not know as I ought, that's why we engage lawyers. You see when you are being indicted, you don't tell the judge, "Judge, can you wait for me two to three years I'm going to NUS, National University of Singapore, I'm gonna study law, and I'll come back and I'll defend myself". You don't have to spend that time, why? You can engage a lawyer. Who is a lawyer? Someone who knows all about the law. Okay? You know, ladies, if you like a good argument, marry a lawyer. If you want someone to really appreciate you when you grow older, the more you grow old the more he appreciates you, marry an archeologist.
Now, let's come back to this, come on, y'all don't get distracted. Okay? What does a lawyer do? The lawyer knows all about the law. Now watch this. One of the terms used for the Holy Spirit is that he's an advocate. Say advocate. He knows all about God's laws and by-laws, he knows how the laws of the universe works. He knows how the laws of health are violated. He knows what brings health, healing. He knows all about this, he's the Holy Spirit, and he knows what you like. So, when you engage him, he takes all that he knows about what Jesus did and he knows more what Jesus did than you know, than anyone Pastor Prince cannot fully express, and he will do it and bring it into your place where you need it. Are you listening church?
That's why the Holy Spirit helps us. And the word help is not like let the Holy Spirit pray. The word help is "together with". We help together with. In other words, I open my mouth, he prays through me, all right. And we come to the next line. "But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered". Now, the word groanings here is stenagmos. All right? Stenagmos, which cannot be uttered, cannot be uttered is very interesting in Thayer's definition it cannot be uttered. We think of it in the English as you're not able to say it. But actually the word cannot be uttered means it is not a known language. And Thayer says it is used in classical Greek as love secrets, you are speaking love secrets.
You know, you and your wife, you have a certain term, right? Especially in front of other people. You can say something, she understands you. She can say something, you understand her. Am I right? God bless their marriages, Lord, I pray in Jesus's name. Bring them into intimacy, Lord, I pray in Jesus's name. You know? Amen. You can look at your wife across the room, amen, one touse of the eyebrow, one touse of the nose, one cross-eyed, and she understand exactly what you mean, no one else understands. Lord, help them. Don't groan, don't even raise eyebrow. Okay, never mind. Now, that word there means love secret. It is not, you cannot even say it, but the word groanings is very interesting, the word groaning here.
How does the Holy Spirit help us? With groanings that is not uttered in a known language. For example, if English is your known language, there is a groaning, a love secret that you have to help, and the Holy Spirit helps you, but you have to give vent to it, all right? That God calls it the same as the groanings of the children of Israel in Egypt. "Pastor Prince, how do you know it's the same groaning"? I'm glad you asked. Now, the word here stenagmos, that's why I gave you the great stenagmos, right? If we find that the groaning of the children of Israel is stenagmos, we got a winning combination. Am I right? But then the Old Testament is in Hebrew where this story happened, the New Testament is in Greek.
So, how do we know is stenagmos, this word stenagmos appears only one other time, only one other time in the New Testament. And you know, where is it? When Stephen, the deacon Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit was sharing the story of the children of Israel and how they were in Egypt and he used this, watch this. Acts 7, Stephen is sharing and God said this, "I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their are groaning, stenagmos, and I've come down to deliver them". In other words, speaking in tongues, my friend. When you pray in the Spirit, it's activating the covenant that is equivalent to the groaning in the Old Testament. That's why he came on the day of Pentecost.
I'm telling you, when you pray in tongues, you are activating the covenant. Amen. Glory be to God, hallelujah. Amen. I do not know how to pray, so this is what I do. All right? I see Jesus provided it, I see the pain is here, so I say, "Lord Jesus, I have this symptom in my body, but Lord Jesus, I trust your Holy Spirit, Lord", let him pray regarding this symptom. I'm telling you, church, sometimes it is within a day, sometimes can be a few days, keep on praying about it. All right? Every day say, "God, I trust your Holy Spirit to make perfect intercession about this pain." or about your son about your finances. I'm telling you, even if it will happen, but even if it doesn't... nothing happens, knowing that someone great, someone who is all-knowing is praying for you is so therapeutic, you'll be stress free, you'll be worry free.
See, don't run to me to pray for you, you know. The thing is this, don't run to Pastor Henry or Pastor Lawrence to ask them to pray. I mean they're wonderful people, but there's someone who is perfect in his knowledge. Amen. Inexhaustible in his wisdom. Amen. And he loves you completely. He's the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent and he prays perfect prayers. So, just letting him loose on the inside of you. Your part is just to let loose. I'm telling you, just knowing something is happening. That pain may still be there. But you know what? Something has been done to it. Amen.
I'm telling your church, I can't begin to tell you how many good things have happened in my life in this church as a result of this prayer gift. I cannot imagine living without this gift. God gave me one gift all these years, they have so many benefits that I can't begin to tell you. I have a series on the benefits of speaking in tongues. Many Christians don't understand the benefits of speaking in tongues. Why do you think the devil is fighting this gift so much? Of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, entire denominations are split up over this one gift. Tell me if the devil is not behind it, that he's so deathly afraid of this gift because it activates God's covenant, it rips God's people off their bondage. It sets God's people free.
No wonder the devil is fighting it tooth and nail. But let me just say this to you. What was God's... must go back to the original blueprint. Go back to the original blueprint. Acts chapter 2, "When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as a fire, and sat upon each of them". Verse 4, "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance". Amen. They were all filled, they all spoke with tongues.
Now, some people think the Holy Spirit spoke with tongues. No, they spoke with tongues, the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. You tighten your mouth and sealed it really shut, no tongues will to escape. Amen. This is not evil spirit taking you over, you know, evil spirit taking you over. You know, some people talk like that, but it doesn't mean evil spirit, but, you know, the thing is that you can stop anytime. I can stop anytime I want to. I can start anytime I want. That is truly God's Spirit, it never forces you. It never takes you over. No, no, that is not God; that is you. Okay? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. When Jesus walks in, you'll see what calm, cool, majestic, collected, beautiful.
But why is it when the Holy Spirit comes in, we all speaks Those are the charismatics. Aren't you a charismatic pastor? Listen, charismatic means what? Grace people. We are of all people charismatics. Amen. But it's never a thing to be discussed about, this gift. Look at this, "As the spirit gave them utterance". This why utterance is so beautiful, I'm telling you in the Greek it says, "To speak out, not a word of everyday speech but one belonging to dignify and elevated discourse". Wow. That's why if you want a language that even your English to be elevated, words that transform people's lives, pray in tongues a lot, and many of times when you're talking to people you may not even know you are prophesying the interpretation of the tongues. Songwriters pray in tongues and the interpretation comes out in your writing.
Now, on the day of Pentecost, go back to Acts chapter 2, verse 1. It's a day of Pentecost, all right? The first Pentecost was the giving of the law. And you ask any Jewish person that knows their history, they will tell you the first Pentecost, all right, was when they came out of Egypt. God gave what? The law on Mount Sinai. What happened later? Three thousand people died, okay? What does the law say? "You shall not. You shall not. You shall not". Focuses on men, men's efforts, men's doings, men's works. Got it? Now, 2,000 years after that? Sorry. One thousand five hundred years after that? The day of Pentecost. God waited until had fully came at 9 o'clock in the morning. If you study carefully Exodus when God gave the law, it was in the morning.
Now, that's strange because most of the Jewish feasts start at 6 p.m. in the evening, but there's one feast that starts at 9 o'clock in the morning because God gave the law, if you study carefully, in the morning. And we know it's 9 o'clock. So here God waited until the day of Pentecost was fully come in the morning, 9 o'clock. And God gave what? Not the law now, the Spirit. And what happened? Three thousand people were saved. The law kills, the Spirit gives life. Are you with me? Now, watch this. When they all spoke in tongues, they ran out, all right, and they started sharing or speaking in tongues, all right? And the people from different parts of the world heard them speak in their own language. What? What things in tongues?
Look up here verse 11. "We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God". Those who came said, "Hey, we hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God". The first Pentecost, God's works, which are wonderful, are not seen, it's men's works. Why? "Thou shall not. Thou shall not. Thou shall not. Thou shall not". God is talking about men's puny works, which men had none. Over here in the new Pentecost, the new tongues is to declare the wonderful works of God. The focus is not what I do now, is what he has done, what he is doing.
When you pray in tongues, your sense of grace become really strong, all right? This word wonderful works of God is used only one other time by Mary in prophecy, Jesus' earthly mother, all right? And it's the word megaleios, which is beautiful. It means the glorious perfections of God and his marvelous doings. Think about it. They received tongues and they started preaching in tongues. You know that when you talk about what God is doing, what God has done through Jesus's finished work, what God is doing in our lives today, what God will do when he comes again, now what God is doing, God's wonderful works, we just get happy.
When you talk about how you're doing, how am I doing, how are you doing, we are doing, not bad under the weather, why you're doing under the weather, under the circumstances, why you're doing under the circumstances, not bad, not bad, how you doing, how you doing, how I doing, forget about our doings, let's talk about his doings. The first recorded song in the entire Bible, every time the Bible mention a subject for the first time, there's something important. The first recorded song, you know when is it? After Israel came through the Red Sea on the other side. Study the song. It is full of dying glory, dying power, dying right hand, dying, dying, D, dying, you, you, yours, you, yours. I is eclipsed. Which means what? All songs is about him and his work, not about I and my work. Are you listening, people?
What is the problem in Romans 1? "The good I want to do I do it not. The evil I don't want to do I end up doing". So if I don't do the evil, the good I want to do, it means that my evil is present now. I, I, I, I, I, I. The problem with flesh is what? I centered. You got it? Solomon's problem in Ecclesiastes: "I built me vineyards. I got me men singers, women singers. I got me a garden, an orchard. I planted this. I planted that. I built this. I built that. I, I, I". At the end, vanity of vanities, emptiness of emptiness 'cause I should never be the center of your life, he should. I said he should. Are you with me? The wonderful works. When you pray in tongues, you're talking about his wonderful works even though you don't understand.
"Oh, Pastor Prince, what's the point"? I'm bringing this to a close. "What's the point of praying something that I don't understand"? That's the point. If you understand, you will mess it up. And God loves you too much to give you a prayer that's so powerful that you understand with your puny mind. "I don't understand, pastor". Okay, let me explain. Supposing a mother just sent her primary school son, okay, to school, and she comes home. She's a homemaker, takes care of the family. She is cooking, and she just heard Pastor Prince's message about praying in tongues, even though you don't understand. So she goes... And she's baking a cake. The cake is blessed. Y'all know that, all right? She's praying in tongues. And, you know, all the while her tongue, she doesn't know this. Watch this. You're making intercession, right?
Just now we read. We are making intercession. Our groanings are making intercession. She's praying for her boy in school, that she knows nothing about. And the boy is about to cross a little, mini road to go to the tuck shop to buy something. And there is a very impatient cab driver who just alighted, you know, a passenger and he's in a hurry to go off, and he's looking somewhere else, and the boy is looking somewhere else, and the twain is about to meet. Okay, now watch this. She's praying, her prayer is saying, "Father, protect my son. Protect my son. Protect my son. Protect my son. Send an angel, Lord. Send an angel, Lord". And she's oblivious. She is smiling. Mind thinking of cake, but the prayer is praying for the son, all right?
And then there, all right, the angel slap the cab driver. He wakes up and he sees the boy. He jams brake. And the boy sees it and he's rescued. He goes over the other side. He thinks nothing of it. The cab driver thinks nothing of it. They go off. They go. And the boy comes home, all right, or the bus bring the boy back. And the mother says, "How was your day, boy"? "It was like any other day". It wasn't. Now, imagine that you understand what you are saying. You're baking your cake. "Oh, God, I feel this flow coming up. Oh, rescue my son, Lord. Rescue my son, Lord. Rescue my son. He's about to be knocked down by a cab, Lord". You know what a mother will do? Her apron will fly out. She'll start running, she'll beat the marathon runner, she'll beat every other train record, and she'll be there in no time.
I'm telling you. And for the next 1 month, the boy is not going to school. Aren't you glad for this wonderful method? That she's praying something urgent and she's still smiling and focusing on her cake. Thank you, Lord, for delivering my son. You are such a good God. Not even knowing she's praying for his deliverance. You can't imagine the number of times God doesn't get the praise from things he kept us from. We only give him praise for the things that we know he got us out of. That's why I started by saying, "Would you like to know how to pray for things in your future even before you step into it"? I'm telling you no wonder the devil is fighting so hard against this gift.
The apostle Paul is considered even by unbelievers as a brilliant mind. He was the one that God trusted the gospel of grace to, wasn't Pastor Prince, okay? All those watching, wasn't Pastor Prince. It's not me who started this, it was Paul. God says, Paul even calls it, "My gospel," Paul says. Paul was the one that God raised. And I think that there's no other apostle greater than him. I think that's undisputed. And you know something about Paul? Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 14: "I thank my God". Why do you thank God, Paul? "I thank my God". Yeah, why do you thank God, Paul? "I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all".
You know who's he referring to? People in Corinthian. The people in Corinthian were abusing the gift. They were coming to church and they were yelling in tongues, they were screaming in tongues, they were going like... And that some Christian are doing that now, you know, and they think that tongues is for show, but it's not, it's a powerful weapon. You don't play around with your M16. Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta You know? You don't play around. You know, the apostle Paul gathered all of them in a sense. Corinthians, they are all radical of praying in tongues in church, not in their personal life. And Paul says, "You know I can put all of you together, all of you who are praying in tongues. I can say this in an undisputed manner. I thank my God I speak with tongues more than all of you put together".
Wow. That means he must have prayed waking up, he must have prayed, all right, while he's having his breakfast, he must have prayed while he took his donkey or camel to go somewhere, he must have prayed while going from town to town, city to city. He must have prayed in tongues all the time for him to be confident to say, "I speak in tongues more than you all". Not only that, he says, "I thank my God". It's something he thanked God for. Wow. John G. Lake, a great man of God whom I highly respect, he's gone to be with Jesus now, and, you know, he used to be an evangelist, a healing evangelist in South Africa, and it was during the time of the bubonic plague. People were dying like flies all over the place. And no one dared to go into a village to bury them properly because it was highly contagious, the bubonic plague.
And John G. Lake, this man of God, and his team went in. And although for a while, the medical team that was even afraid to go in, the medical team says, "It's strange. How come you and your team you don't seem to contract any of this disease"? And John G. Lake says, "Do you have a microscope"? And this medical staff says, "Yes". He said that, "Take some of this froth from the dead bodies of these people who died of plague, all right"? So they gathered the froth and put it on a specimen glass. They can see the germs moving. "Now, put the germs on my hand," he said. So they put the germs on John G. Lake's hand. The moment the germ touched his hand, died, instantly died. Then John G. Lake smiled and said, "That, my friend, is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus". Amen.
Now, the thing is this. John G. Lake said these words, and I quote, he says, "Praying in tongues is the making of my ministry". All right? One of the best statements of John G. Lake about praying in tongues. He calls it, "The making of my ministry". And he raised dead people, all right? He prays for the sick, the blind see, the deaf hear during his lifetime. Isn't that interesting that those who pray in tongues are the people who see the miraculous? Those who don't claim this gift is for today, they see nothing. They don't see any signs and wonders. Isn't it interesting? Now, let me close with two verses and then we are done. These two verses are related. Watch this in Acts 2. The same chapter they receive the gift of praying in tongues, Peter stood up.
As the people gathered, all right, Peter stood up and preached in their own language, probably in Hebrew or Aramaic, and he was quoting the Psalms. Peter said, "For David says concerning Christ, 'I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.'" Now, I must tell you first sin is defined as falling short of God's glory. Y'all know that. Sin is not, you know, color of your hair and the kind of clothing you wear. Sin is forfeiting God's glory, all right? Romans 3, 23 verse, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". It's falling short of God's glory. God made man and man was the reflection of God's glory, all right? The animals was not a reflection of God's glory. Everything on earth is not a reflection. God made man last because man is created for God's glory.
Look at Isaiah. God says, "I have formed him, everyone is called by my name whom I have created for my glory". God made you for his glory. I'm telling God man you for his glory. Your body was never to fall sick. Your mind was never to be depressed. Your spirit was never to be cut off from God. You were made for God's glory. Glorious, shining light, that's how God made you. When Adam sinned, he was put out. But let me show you this. Back to Peter's sermon. Peter is quoting Psalms where David says, "Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Hades," or hell, now watch this, "Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad". Can you memorize this part here? "Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. My flesh rest in hope".
Now, with this in mind, watch this. Let's go to the actual quotation from Psalm 16 and then we'll close. Psalm 16 David says, "I have set the Lord always before me. He's at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh will also rest in hope". Something changed. David says, "My glory". Peter 14 David said, "My tongue". Actually the Holy Spirit's interpreting it. He's telling us the key to God's glory is your tongue. The tongue no one can tame except the Holy Spirit. Are you with me? Church, let's put that in juxtaposition, okay, so you can see in comparison. "Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. My flesh will rest in hope". "Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices".
Where it says my glory, Peter says my tongue. We found the key. Can you see this? Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Peter changed that word glory to tongue. Why? It must be one and the same. The glory man lost on the birthday of the church, the day of Pentecost, God restored. And I believe that if you want to walk in the glory of God like John G. Lake did, if you want to walk in the glory of God like the apostle Paul did, start praying in the Spirit, start praying in tongues because your tongue and God's glory is linked. The more you pray in the Spirit, you'll walk in a zone called glory, the glory zone. What Adam forfeited, you will inherit, you will enjoy, you'll walk in it. And in that glory zone, all of a sudden you'll feel so good.
"I feel so alive. I feel so good. I feel like loving the whole world. I feel like forgiving everyone. No one can hurt me because God is with me". Amen? You know, in the glory zone, no weapon formed against you will prosper. Amen, church. I want to encourage you. Have you been praying in the Spirit lately or have you been handling your problems with your own strength, your mouth sealed tight? Have you been doing that? Time to activate. And put aside everything right now.
Just for a while we're going to pray. I'm going to pray for you at the end of service, okay, and we're going to pray for those who have not received this gift or those who have received it once upon a time, but you have not been using it and you've been using your own strength, your own smarts to try to overcome the problem in your life. You're using your own intellect, your own logic to sort things out. God is saying, "Use my glory. Use my glory". Sin is coming short of God's glory. "Use my glory". Amen? Praise the Lord.
Every head bowed. Every eye closed. If you are here, my friend, and you have never made Jesus Christ your personal Savior, my friend, God love you so much God sent his son Jesus Christ to take your place on that cross. You see what happened is that God is love, but God is light. Because God is light, God sees all our sins perfectly, but because God is love, God sent his son to become the substitute, the lamb of God who takes away every sin that his holy eyes sees. There's nothing that escape God's eyes. So when God sent his son and when Jesus carried our sins, no sin escaped. That substitute work of Jesus Christ, that atoning work of Christ, not a single sin escaped.
My friend, if you believe that, you are perfectly justified. If you believe that, you are completely forgiven. And on the third day, as a proclamation that Jesus has effectively put away your sins and mine, God raised his son from the dead. So, my friend, if that is you and you want this blessing, you want this boon, you want this benefit, then pray this prayer with me. Without being born again, you cannot receive the gift of tongues, you cannot receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So pray this prayer with me right now. If you want to be forgiven, you put your trust in Christ and pray this prayer. Say:
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is the son of God who died on the cross for my sins, who was raised from the dead because all my sins have been put away. He sat down at your right hand as a testimony. His work of putting away my sins is finished. Thank you, Father. Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior and my God. I'm saved, I'm blessed, I'm glorified in Jesus's name. Amen. Amen. Amen.