Joseph Prince - Faith To Possess The Land
What is the one thing that God wants from us that will cause him to bypass a thousand people and zero in on you with favor and delight? What is that one thing? Faith. The Bible says, "Without faith, it's impossible to please God". You see, faith justifies God in all that he says. When he promises something and we believe him that it will come to pass, that's faith. When we believe what he tells us in his Word that Christ has accomplished such and such and such for us at the cross and we believe it, that's faith, and faith is fully persuaded in God's goodness, in the mercy and the "hesed" grace of God. That's faith. In fact, faith is mentioned a few times only in the Old Testament, and most of the time, it's in a negative way.
For example, "Children in whom is no faith," and then, in a positive way, one time, in Habakkuk, where it says, "The just shall live by faith," and Paul took that, and Paul elaborated on it in when he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. This was his theme verse, "The righteous shall live by faith," or "The righteous by faith shall live". So it behooves us then if "Without faith, it's impossible to please God," and we know that faith always gets God's attention. Why? Because faith justifies God and makes the devil a liar. On the other hand, unbelief justifies Satan and makes God appear to be a liar, and that's why unbelief is the worst thing you can have towards God, and that's why, of all the sins that lead the group that goes into the lake of fire in the book of Revelation, the first two are "the fearful and unbelieving". "The fearful and the unbelieving".
We think of the overt sins as the worst. No, they are sins nonetheless, but they are not the overt sins. The worst kind of sins is unbelief, doubt, fear, lack of trust in God's goodness. That's why the more we discover how good God is, the more we can rest in his goodness because faith is a rest, amen? Faith is a rest. Write that somewhere in your spirit man: "Faith is a rest". So while we are busy outside, just like the tabernacle of Moses, the Bible tells us that every day, the priests will work outside.
So outside, they're busy, busy, busy killing the animals, sacrificing them on the altar, a burnt offering, but inside the temple, the holy of holies, which is a picture of us today, we are the temple of God, but deep down, the holy of holies, which is our spirit man, there is perfect rest. There's perfect quietness, no overt activities there, just the presence of the Lord, and when the high priest enters it on the Day of Atonement, there's such glory, and there's such peace. There's such a rest from all your labors. So the Bible says, "Let us labor therefore to enter the rest," and we are now in that place. Spiritually speaking, we are now, in the eyes of God, seated with Christ in the holy of holies at the Father's right hand, and we enjoy this place by faith, amen? It's by faith, not by sense, not by experience but by faith, praise the Lord.
I trust that this message finds all of you well and prospering in your soul, that's the first area, and then in your body, in your health, and also outwardly in all aspects of your life. Praise the Lord. Thank You, Lord Jesus. I believe that God will prepare us in ways that is personal and unique. I believe that God prepared the church as a whole but also individually for you and your families in a very unique way. So it's a time for you to also pray prayers like, "God give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You. Show me, Lord, what You would have me flow in for me and my family". And then, when you have God's blueprint for your life and you flow in it, you'll see amazing blessings come upon you. Praise the Lord.
And I believe, as I listened to the Spirit, I feel like God wants us to possess more and more of his possessions as it is written in Obadiah, "The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions". It's one thing to have your possessions. It's another thing to possess your possessions. See, many of us, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and his death for us on the cross as bearing our sins, atoning for our sins, the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, but more indeed in the area of sins and rightly so because that's the very first area that God wants us to see. Just like the psalmist says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits". Notice, "all," not just one benefit, "all his benefits," plural. Praise the Lord. And the first one he goes on to say is, "Forgives all thine iniquities". "Soul, don't forget all God's benefits, who forgives all, all thine iniquities".
That's the very first blessing that God wants us to receive. Now, once we receive that blessing, there is more. There is more for us, and that's what I wanna talk about. The next benefit tells us is "who heals all our diseases". So, you know, it is amazing that, when God told Joshua to enter the Promised Land in the very first chapter, the beginning of Joshua, we read this: "Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, the go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel". Notice, God says, "to the land which I am giving to them". God didn't say, "I will give in the future". He says, "I am giving to you now, the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you".
So, "Every place that the sole of your foot would tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses". Notice that God is using the past tense now: "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, I have given you". In other words, it's yours already, but yet, you need to step on it. You need to step on your property. You need to step on your inheritance. You need to step on the land that God has given you. And the Bible says that we need to possess our possessions. And the prophecy in Obadiah is that the house of Jacob, God's people, will possess their possessions.
And I'm so intrigued by the fact that it's the house of Jacob. Many a times God will say "the house of Israel". When God says "the house of Jacob," it's referring to his carnal side. In other words, by saying "the house of Jacob," God is not saying only the house of Israel, the spiritual ones will possess their possessions. But the house of Jacob, even though they are still struggling, but they are believing God. That's the most important thing. They are believing God. So, if they fall, they are falling upwards, amen, as opposed to downwards. They have a heart for God, but they don't have to wait until they're spiritual, until they have grown somewhat in the Lord and then they will possess. God says, "Right now, while you're still growing, the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions". Praise the Lord.
And this is what God says to Joshua: "Every place the sole of your foot will tread upon shall be yours". Every place, amen. So we're discovering more and more the land that God has given us in Christ. And in all that, all these are pictures of the true Promised Land that God has given us, amen, the land of rest as revealed in Hebrews chapter 4. "I swore in my wrath," God said of the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, when they didn't believe God. And what is unbelief? Unbelief justifies Satan. Unbelief, amen, if you don't believe in God, you're actually justifying the enemy, what the enemy is saying. So God says, "I'm grieved with that nation. Forty years was I grieved with that nation". And God says, "I swore in my wrath they will not enter my", He didn't say land. "They will not enter my rest".
So today for the believer, the land of God is a land of rest. Even in the Old Testament, God says, "I'll bring you to the land where you will eat from vineyards you did not plant, you will drink from wells you do not dig, and you will live in houses that you did not build". So what does this mean? It's all based on the work of another. Rest means it's not you putting in the effort to produce that work. It's not you behaving right, then you receive from God, amen? It's not based on all that anymore. It is based on the work of another. Now, when you see that when you believe right, you will live right, it's always that, but it's not the other way around. It's not, by living right, you end up believing right. No, no, it's the other way around, friend, amen? If you believe right, you will always live right, amen?
Even if you fall away, you will never forget because you believe right, what is the right way, God's true nature, amen. The prodigal son had some believing right. When he was in the pigpen, he said of his father, and this is believing right: The father is that generous. The father is that kind. And he said, "In my father's house, there's bread enough and to spare. Even all the hired servants, they eat well," and he believed right about his father. That's what motivated him to turn towards God, and that's why it's so important for us to have a good opinion of God because faith is also a good opinion of God, amen. Like Sarah, "Through faith Sarah received strength to conceive seed". The word "strength" there is "dunamis". Sarah received strength to conceive seed. Why? It says, "Through faith Sarah received strength", dunamis, dynamite power, "to conceive seed," when she was past the age of childbearing.
Now, notice, "through faith". So, let's say, "faith" is "a good opinion of God". Let's replace the word "faith" there, and we won't do injustice to the Scripture there because "faith" is "a good opinion of God". "Through a good opinion of God, Sarah received strength to conceive seed". You've gotta believe that God is a good God. You've gotta believe in his nature, grace, and mercy. Praise the Lord. Now, people say, "Well, God is holy". Yes, he is holy but, because he is holy, he's grace, you need to understand holiness, amen, and that's revealed a lot in the Old Testament before you can understand grace. But, friend, listen, holiness is not the reason for us possessing our Promised Land. If Israel had gone by their holiness, amen, they will never have entered the land.
None of us will possess our blessings if it depended on holiness. No, it was their unbelief that kept them from the Promised Land. It's very clear. They didn't believe God. They didn't believe the spies when they came back and said, "This land flows with milk and honey". Flows, my friend. The idea of superabundance flowing with milk and honey. They didn't believe. It was unbelief, and the Bible says it very clearly in Hebrews 4, so we see, "They cannot enter in because of unbelief". And the word there is from the Greek word. "Unpersuaded," they are not persuaded. The opposite of faith, unbelief. They didn't believe. Their heart is not persuaded that God is so good. In fact, they said in Deuteronomy 1, "Because the Lord hated us, he will not bring us into the land. The Lord hated us. He's gonna deliver us to the enemy". They didn't believe in the love of God for us, and many believers today, they're not possessing the land because they have a bad opinion of God.
You know, "Sarah received strength to conceive seed," and it was because she had a good opinion of God that, even though she's past the age of childbearing, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ," hallelujah. She believed the word of the preacher, amen? And you know that the preacher actually came to their house, one day, with two angels and told Abram, "This time next year, Sarah will conceive, and Sarah laughed". So unbelief was actually part of her initial response, but later on, she trusted God. She came to a place of being persuaded, fully persuaded that God will do the good things that he said he will do for her, amen? So it's okay.
Listen carefully, all right? It's all right if you are battling with unbelief and doubt in your heart, but expose yourself to the Word of Christ. Expose yourself to the Word of God because... you don't have faith? "Faith cometh", how does faith come? "By hearing and hearing and hearing". The idea is this: Keep on hearing. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ". And, again, the context there is hearing through a preacher because, you keep on reading, it says, "How shall they hear without a preacher"?
Now, today, we say, "We can hear God direct. We can hear God direct". Yeah, but there is also a danger that you think you are hearing God, but there is always safety when a preacher preaches openly, all right? His message is, it can be openly tested, amen, scrutinized by everyone, amen, whether it's in line with the Scripture or not, amen. There's safety there, and that faith that comes by hearing is hearing the Word of God from the mouth of a preacher. It's the preached Word that brings faith, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. I wanna share with you a testimony talking about Sarah conceiving, you know, seed in her old age. Here is a testimony from a lady that just came in, a sister from our church, and she says:
My husband and I had had a desire for a baby for many years. In 2019, I decided to go for an IVF as I was getting older. However, it was not successful. In 2020, I tried again and failed again. I was sad and also lost. It was during an online service on Sunday, 8, November 2020, Pastor Prince prayed over someone for a fruitful womb, and I immediately claimed the blessing for myself. He also mentioned that God would resurrect the womb regardless of age. I felt so encouraged after the prayer. In late 2020, I received the news that I was pregnant with twins. My baby boys were born healthy in July this year. God has competed my family with not one but two babies, praise God.
We have a picture here of the twins, beautiful twins, hah-ha, hallelujah. You see, this lady had faith that, in spite of her age, yet she believed. She believed in God. What did she believe about God? That God wants to give her a baby even in spite of her age. Praise the Lord. Now, how did she believe that? She believed that because she kept on hearing the Word from a preacher. In this case, it's me, amen? But imagine your preacher says this, right? "You know, let's not raise people's hopes up, and let's not, you know, when they're a certain age and all that, don't, like, believe, make them believe God. They'll be disappointed". But the Bible says, you know, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for".
People say things like, "Don't raise people's hopes," but the Bible says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for". If we don't hope for it, and hope always has got to do with the future, all right? Faith has got to do with now, but "Faith is the substance of things hoped for". If you don't hope for it, and "hope," Bible "hope," "elpis," the Greek word, is always a positive expectation of good in our future. If we raise people's hopes, praise the Lord, we raise it up scripturally, based on the Word of God, they'll never be disappointed. There's a verse that says this: "Hope that maketh not ashamed, a hope that does not disappoint," why? "Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts". We know and we are assured that God loves us. Praise God.
So I wanna keep on believing. If you're believing God for a baby, amen, regardless of your age, just like this sister here, in the name of the Lord Jesus, receive this prayer right now. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I speak fruitfulness to your womb, and I speak fruitfulness to your husband. In the name of Jesus, you shall conceive and bring forth a child to the glory of God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll mark this sermon because this is a time you receive from the Lord this miracle. Now you are pregnant with a miracle, not yet with a baby, but it shall manifest in the days to come, in Jesus's name, amen, amen. Receive that, receive that. I felt inspired, all right, led by the Spirit to pray that for you. Praise the Lord.
In fact, we are possessing our possessions, people. We are possessing our possessions, amen. And you say, "Where do you find the Bible at the cross"? We talk about the benefits and the land to be possessed. Today whatever Christ has done for us at the cross, that's our Promised Land. That's our possession today. See, all in the Old Testament, even though it's a real land, the land of Israel, which is palpable, which is physical, yet it's all shadows. It's all types. We are in the substance of it. They are in the shadow. We are in the substance. You see, my shadow is not the real me. I am the substance, amen. If you look at me, you are looking at the real me. If you look at my shadow, you're not looking at the real me.
So the Old Testament, everything are shadows, and a lot of people, they wanna go back to the Old Testament and possess the blessings of the Old Testament when, actually, what God has for us is better blessings, better promises established upon a better covenant. We have the substance, amen, praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. So all that Jesus did for us at the cross is yet to be possessed. One of the saddest things that God said to Joshua at the end of his life, towards the end of his life was this. God said to him, "You are old and very advanced in years, and there's yet very much land to be possessed". There's yet very much land to be possessed. Imagine coming to the end of your life and you know, God told him earlier on, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon shall be yours". Maybe they became complacent. Some years after they became complacent, they settled down.
We know that there were two tribes that didn't go into the Promised Land. They were complacent, and they wanted to stay on the other side of the River Jordan, okay? And we know that it's the tribe of Reuben and Gad. And they stayed on the other side. They had much cattle. They felt like the grass there was better, the grass there was greener, and they didn't cross the Promised Land. So, we know what is God's best for us and yet, God's people are not possessing all that God has for us. And I think part of the reason is because every time God restores a truth to the body of Christ, there's always naysayers and voices of unbelief that will come in.
For example, you know, during the time of the Reformation, Martin Luther, God restored the truth of "the righteous by faith shall live," hallelujah, and he began to preach boldly that we are not saved by our works. We are justified by the blood of Christ, amen, "sola gratia," amen, "solely by grace," hallelujah. "By grace through faith, you have been saved," amen, and God restored that truth. But notice that, during that time, God did not yet restore the truth to them about the end times, about the Rapture, about the place of Israel in the end times. The book of Revelation essentially was about the future, yet, at that time, they were not able to decipher or discern the book of Revelation. They were not cognizant of the 70th week of Daniel and all the end-time prophecies, and a great part of the Bible is prophecy.
We cannot neglect end-time teaching although we know there are abuses, but as in everything that God is restoring, there are abuses. That's how the enemy wants to blind people to what is real. You see, why is there counterfeit money? Because money has value. The devil will counterfeit even grace. He will counterfeit different blessings and the gifts of God. So we need to stick to the Bible and see whether this is part of what Christ did for us at the cross. One area is healing, right? There are still people debating today whether healing is in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, but look at Isaiah 53. In Isaiah 53, it says, "Surely he has borne". "Surely," by the way, is the word "aken" in Hebrew, which means "without a doubt". It's the strongest assertion, an expression of strongest assertion. "Surely, aken, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows". Now, the word "griefs" here is the word "diseases," "kholee" in Hebrew. "And carried our makov, pains".
Now, I look at Isaiah here in the New King James, and it says, "Borne our griefs and carried our sorrows". Although one of the derivatives of those words are also griefs and sorrows, but actually the main word here, the idea here is Jesus carried our diseases and our sicknesses, and this is borne out in Matthew 8. If you look at Matthew 8, "When evening had come, they brought to Jesus many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed," how many? "All who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses". "He himself".
So notice he's quoting Isaiah 53, verse 4. But here in the Greek it says clearly, right, it is infirmities and sicknesses. And it's not going by Hebrew or Greek. If you look at the context, it's talking about Jesus casting out demons and healing all who were sick. So, it's very clear the context there is talking not about sorrows and griefs, it's talking about diseases. And Young's Literal Translation brings that out as well. In Young's Literal Translation it says, "Surely our sicknesses he has borne, and our pains, he has carried them". Hallelujah. "And we have esteemed him plagued, smitten of God, and afflicted". And the verse goes on in Isaiah 53 to say, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised," and the word "bruised" here is not just a blue-black, okay? It's the word "crushed" in the Hebrew. "He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement, the punishment, for our shalom, our peace, well-being, was upon him. And by His stripes we are healed".
Very clear, my friend, that in Matthew 8, it tells us the context of "himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses". It's talking about physical sickness and disease and Jesus healing bodies. So, is that part of the work of Jesus at the cross? Isaiah 53 is all about Jesus's work at the cross. Surely he has borne, he has carried in himself, his own person, our diseases, our kholee, and carried in his person on the cross, our pains. And by his stripes, we are healed. By his stripes, we are healed.
And yet, people debate that today. You know, people fight that. There are people who don't believe that. There are people who go by experience, and it seems, when we go by experience, even if we go by experience, we have a lot of people who are healed, who believe this truth, but let's not argue based on experience. We are never to argue based on experience or based on our denominational beliefs. We are to base everything that we believe, and that's how faith comes, based on the Word of the Living God, amen? Based on the Word of God.
Does the Word of God teach that? Now I just showed you what the Word of God teaches. You know, I'm reminded one time that there was a group of scholars who got together to produce a new version of the Bible. I won't say what version it is, all right, to produce a new version of the Bible. And as they sat around and they discussed, just the discussion stage of the meeting, and they talked about Isaiah 53. Someone brought up Isaiah 53, and they said that we have to look at the Hebrew, and the Hebrew says clearly that it is sicknesses and pains, kholee and makov. And another person says, "Yes, I know that's what Young's says, and I know that it is translated that way as well, but if we do that, all right, we are saying that the Full Gospel and the Pentecostals and the Charismatics, they are right because they believe in healing".
Now, friends, since when we translate the Bible based on not wanting a certain group to have the right interpretation and we change, because of that, we change the interpretation? No, friend, just stick to the Word of God, amen? And the Word of God says clearly, if not based on Hebrew or Greek, look at the context. In Matthew 8, Jesus was healing all that were sick, all right? Then it says, "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses," hallelujah. And that's why when we take the Communion, we don't just think about forgiveness of sins. That's in the blood. Jesus took the cup on the night that he was betrayed, he took the cup and the bread and he said about the bread, "This is my body broken for you".
Now, "broken," why? Why was it broken? Obviously, he differentiated the body from the blood, and he says, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood shed for the forgiveness of sin". So, you see, the forgiveness of sins is in the blood of Christ, amen? He says that his blood was shed for the remission of our sins and this cup is that new covenant in my blood. And the body, he says, was broken for you, why? If you study Isaiah 53, you will find that they scourged him and by his stripes we are healed. That he bore... where? In his own body he bore our diseases, and that's why at the cross, Jesus was so hideous and there was no beauty in him that we should desire him, Isaiah says. By the way, the context of "There's no beauty in Christ," is in the context when he bore our sins and our diseases on that cross.
Just imagine Jesus as a person before the cross. He must be very lovely to look at, altogether beautiful. Can you imagine someone, there is no taint of sin in his person, amen? His blood is royal blood, divine blood. There's no filth, there's no uncleanness, there's no sin. There's no deformities in his blood. His blood is pure blood, divine blood, and he, you know, he's gonna shed that blood for all of us at the cross. Can you imagine that blood coursing through his veins? His person is radiant. We see that in Song of Songs, a description of him, "He is altogether lovely," amen? He looked beautiful, amen. He looked lovely, altogether lovely. Every inch a perfect man and yet the Bible says that there was no beauty in him that we should desire him.
And there are people who preach like this who say that all through his life, Jesus looked very normal; in fact, he was not so attractive, and because the Bible says there was no beauty in him that we should desire him. But you must understand the context. The context of no beauty is when he bore our sins and our diseases at the cross. He bore every deformity, every disease, in his own body, all the leprosy. And it was so hideous, God covered the entire scene with darkness for three hours as the victim was being dealt with by the righteous judge of the universe. God wasn't dealing with him as a Father and a Son. As a Father, God wept. But as God, he turned his back because he has to be just and he was carrying our sins on that cross. And when he bore our sins and all our diseases and so much more, friend, that we are still discovering, as God reveals to us in these last days more and more what he bore for us at the cross.
God was dealing with him as God and not as Father. And that's why he cried out, "My God, My God". That's the first time Jesus ever addressed his Father as "My God". "Why have You forsaken Me"? So that we can cry, "My Father, my Father, why have you so blessed me," amen? So everything that God did for us through Christ, amen, don't forget it's God who sent his Son, it was God who designed this wonderful love story, amen? And the beautiful thing about this love story is that it is so real, it's more real than all the love stories you can ever watch in movies and on TV, you know? All the love story pales in comparison with this love story. How God would love sinful men, men that, you know, we ourselves look at ourselves sometime. We say that we're not worth loving, but God look at you and God says, "I love you with an everlasting love. You are dear to my heart," amen?
Yes, we are not worthy of the smallest of his blessings, but you know something? We are dear to his heart. He values us, he loves us, amen? And once he cleanses you by the blood of his Son and once you are safe and born again, friend, you are now made worthy, you are now made partakers, amen, worthy to be partakers of the inheritance, amen. That's why the Bible tells us, "God has made you meet to be partakers," amen? He qualifies you, praise the Lord. But he never calls people that are qualified. He calls for unqualified people, amen, and then he qualifies them that all the glory may go to God. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise God.
What else did Jesus do for us on that cross besides healing? So healing, my friend, is also in the atonement work of Jesus. Now, why is this important? Remember what Jesus said in the Upper Room? You know, one thing about church truths are found in all the writings of Paul and the other apostles in the New Testament, but also in the Upper Room. You know, we study so much on the Sermon on the Mount, but actually, the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus proclaiming the laws or the constitution of the kingdom and the kingdom to come. Actually, he brought, he was bringing that kingdom to Israel, but Israel rejected him, and thereby they rejected the kingdom. So the Sermon on the Mount, although there are a lot of Christian principles that we still adopt into our new covenant, amen, into our Christian life, like love your enemies, amen? But more than that, it was designed as a constitution for the kingdom.
Now we know Sermon on the Mount better than the sermon on another mount, Mount Zion, in the Upper Room. And that's sad, because actually, the Upper Room is pure church truths. In the Upper Room, I say it again, it's pure church truths, truths for the church, truths for the called out ones, the redeemed ones, the Ecclesia, and it's all about church truths. The new commandment, loving one another as Christ loves us; the promise of the Holy Spirit, that he would teach us all things and guide us into all truths. And here is what I wanna come to: that the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth, and three times in the Upper Room, Jesus calls him the Spirit of truth. And three chapters, chapter 14, 15, and 16, covers the Upper Room, and each chapter Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth. "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth".
Now why does he call the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth? Listen, friend. Because the Spirit of truth can only bear witness with the truth. How does he teach us all things? As the Spirit of truth. Now he is the Holy Spirit, amen. He is the Paraclete. He is the Comforter, but Jesus, three times, calls him in the Upper Room the Spirit of truth. "He will guide you into all truth". Now, that means what? We cannot be dealing with falsifications. We cannot be dealing with lies. We cannot be dealing with error. If we believe in error, the Holy Spirit has nothing to bear witness with. And one of the ways he bears witness, according to the Scriptures in the New Testament, again and again it says, "The Holy Spirit bearing witness with signs and wonders".
The Lord confirming the Word with signs and wonders. The Holy Spirit bears witness with them, with signs and miracles and wonders, with the power of the Holy Spirit from on high bearing witness time and time again. So if you believe a lie, you believe a falsehood that's not based on the Bible. Whether, you know, some great theologian says it, whether you believe it because your parents told you that, but you're believing a lie. The Spirit of truth cannot bear witness, amen, by producing that miraculous in your life, by giving you that blessing or that miracle or that breakthrough that you need, why? And that's why you come to God and say, "God, please, Lord. Lord, be merciful to me, Lord. Please heal me. Heal me".
Notice that our prayer sounds sincere, but many a times that kind of prayer doesn't get the answer of healing, why? Because the Bible says in James: "Is any of you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the," what? "Prayer of faith". What prayer? "The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed any sins, they shall be forgiven him". Notice what prayer is it? The prayer of faith. Not the prayer of pleading, begging. And because when you are pleading like that, you don't believe in God. Worse, you don't believe that Christ took your disease on that cross.
When you believe that Christ took your disease on that cross, amen, you believe it's your right. There comes in you a faith that has authority, amen? You'll command that disease to get out of your body in the name of the Lord Jesus and you will do it out of faith and with authority, why? Because you know that Christ took that disease on that cross. But unless someone preaches that to you, you don't have that believing right, how can you? Believing a lie that God has the power to heal, but maybe he doesn't want to heal. I need to persuade him, I need to beg him. It's not based on the finished work, that sure foundation of what Christ did at the cross. It's based on you hoping that God will change his mind.
My friend, God decided to heal you when he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on that cross for your sins, my friend. It's time for us to rise up and possess our possessions. Every place the sole of our feet shall tread upon shall be ours. Let's take healing, amen. Healing is ours. "Pastor Prince, there are people who are not healed. How come"? Well, friend, I know the Bible says, "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick". I know Jesus himself said, "And they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover". So when I see, you know, this kind of thing, it's nothing more than the manifestation has not yet come or there must be a reason, there's an unbelief somewhere that we need to eradicate from that person's life, or what is the person really believing? We need to establish all that, because it's the same argument when you go to an evangelistic rally and there are a lot of sinners there, right?
And the preacher, the evangelist, is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. What's his desire in preaching the gospel? He wants every sinner under that roof to be saved, right? But does every sinner get saved in an evangelistic rally? No, some of them walk out. Those who walk to the front, amen, they get saved, praise the Lord, when they pray that prayer in faith. But there are others who walk out the same way they walked in. They're not saved. Does that mean it is not God's will to save all of them? The Bible says clearly, "The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance". That's God's desire.
So just because of experience, not all receive salvation, does not make it, you know, logical that if we believe in healing, then how come some people are not healed? Because for some reason, they did not receive it. And we need to find out more and more, but how can we find out more if we don't even believe that healing was covered at the cross? When we take Communion, we only think of forgiveness of sins and not healing, when the Bible says: "For this reason," singular reason, "many are weak and sick and fall asleep," which means they die before their time. In the church, I kind of wish they don't, that verse doesn't say "many". Maybe a few. But it says many. "Many are weak" in the church. I didn't say it. The apostle Paul said it. "Many are weak and sick and fall asleep in the church," why? Because "they did not discern," what? "The Lord's body".
Look, it does not say, "They did not discern the Lord's blood". I think a greater part of the church of Jesus Christ discern the Lord's blood, that the blood was shed for the remission of our sins. But it is the body of Jesus. They fail to discern the Lord's body. And right after saying that, because they fail to discern the Lord's body, it says, "For this reason," singular reason of not discerning the Lord's body, that his body bore our diseases. "For this reason many are weak and sick and fall asleep," before their time. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah that we found the answer, amen? "For this reason". You know, many people get frightened when they read that verse and they say that, "Well, make sure you don't have sin in your life, make sure".
Hey, friend, listen carefully, all right? If that is what you are conscious of, then you are doing dishonor. You're not partaking worthily, all right, the Lord's Supper. Why? Because the blood was shed for the remission of sins. It was not shed so that during Communion you remember that you are a sinner, you remember that you still have sins, you are sin-conscious. No, that's partaking unworthily. To partake worthily means, "Lord Jesus, I thank you that through your blood, all my sins have been remitted, sent away, cleansed, amen, obliterated," hallelujah. That's how Jesus said we are to take it.
So what is partaking worthily? Worthily is not a worthy person. It's not talking about the person. It's not the actor; it is the action that it's talk about, all right? "Not discerning the Lord's body" is the action. It's got nothing to do with the person. It didn't say that if you have sin in your life, if you're an unworthy person. Everyone that partakes in and of themself is unworthy, my friend, including myself. But in Christ we have been made worthy, we are qualified in Christ. Praise the Lord. But when we receive the Lord's Supper, we go in with the attitude of the finished work, remembering Christ. Not occupied with our sins, occupied with ourself, occupied with our failures, occupied with our shortcomings. No, no, no, it's not, "This do in remembrance of yourself". Jesus said, "This do in remembrance of Me".
What part of Jesus do we remember during the Lord's Supper? Every time you partake of the Lord's Supper, you proclaim the Lord's death, remembering him in what he did for us at the cross. Even though we say we'll never forget what he did for us. No, friend, God's love language is this: that you receive the Lord's Supper, and that's how you remember him actively in the work that he did for us at the cross. And the Bible says "not discerning," not making a difference. You know, because believers in the book of Corinthians, they were failing to discern, making a difference between the body and the blood.
And today is the same thing. Believers lump the whole thing together when they partake of the Lord's Supper, and they say that you only talk about forgiveness of sins and that's all they talk about. But "every place the sole of your foot shall tread upon shall be yours". If we ask for more during that time, or we claim and receive more, we possess our possessions, and we take the Lord's Supper, we are proclaiming the Lord's death, we're remembering what he did for us on the cross, and then we receive afresh and anew. I wanna read to you a testimony that came in recently as well. This is a brother from Singapore. He says:
I am an 18-year-old student in Singapore. Before I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I was an extremely short-tempered person. Though I've always wanted to be a filial son, I would raise my voice at my parents if I disagreed with them. No matter how hard I tried to be patient with my parents, I just could not control my emotions. One day, I got into a heated argument with my father and I insulted him so badly that he cried. As usual, I went back to my room feeling extremely condemned. So I went online to search for videos on the topic of distress. Then, Pastor Prince's sermon came up in my feed. At that time, I was not a believer and I wasn't really interested in the video.
Now, during that time, he wasn't a believer; note that.
But something in me made me click on that video.
This is what God is doing all over the world, my friend. We are receiving testimonies like this, praise the Lord.
Initially, I couldn't comprehend what Pastor Prince was saying and was losing interest. However, I continued watching and suddenly, Pastor Prince started talking about the gift of no condemnation. That caught my attention. I watched till the end of the video and when Pastor Prince prayed for the people, I started to cry uncontrollably. That day, I said the salvation prayer. I also started listening to Pastor Prince's sermons almost every day to learn more about God's love for me. Miraculously, I have stopped losing my temper easily and have become more patient and understanding towards my parents. Now, I feel blessed to have a loving family and parents who are so accommodating. All glory and praise to God, amen.
I rejoice. I doubly rejoice with this testimony. Not just the fact that he was delivered from the bad-temperedness but also the fact that he got saved. My friend, this is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't you want people to be saved, amen? Look, if the ministry, in these last days, you find that people are neglecting evangelism, regardless of what you say and regardless of how you come against the gospel of grace and all that, the question is are you getting people saved?
People are getting saved and we are receiving testimonies like this, so many testimonies like this. People are getting saved. People are tuning in. And what better time than during the pandemic? People are not coming to church, even without the pandemic, people like this will not come to church normally, right, usually, you know? But because of the pandemic, they're online. They're online a lot, and thank God that messages are online. Praise the Lord. So before you knock it, my friend, how many souls have you got saved?
Come on, amen, "Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them". Whether someone is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, if sinners are receiving Jesus and sinners are being saved, and their life, their character is being transformed, being delivered from bad temperedness, would you call that holiness? How can that be the result, the fruit of a false teaching? So, friend, it's not just healing this one area, but there's so many other areas in our life that we have to possess our possessions. We are still discovering it, just like I said just now, during the Reformation, we don't find them emphasizing certain truths, but even the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Martin Luther didn't talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but then, again, this past century, God restored the truth of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with all the gifts thereof.
And, friend, it's not a debate between "Well, I believe in the fruit of the Spirit," and "No, I don't believe the gifts are for today". Friend, you know, if you see a hundred-dollar note and a fifty-dollar note on the ground, which one do you take? Both, amen? And then God has both for us, gifts as well as the fruit, nine manifestation of the gifts, amen, nine gifts of the Spirit, and nine fruit of the Spirit, nine-fold fruit of the Spirit. We need both. Why reject the gifts, amen? Because the gifts will cease. Where do you find that? Well, in 1 Corinthians, it says that "tongues shall cease," but keep on reading. It says, "knowledge also shall vanish, shall cease". Has knowledge vanished? No, we still have knowledge, "But when the perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away," all right?
Are we in the place of "the perfect has come"? No, my friend, the perfect has not yet come. The perfect will come when Jesus comes again, hallelujah. This whole earth will be perfected, amen, when Jesus comes again, hallelujah, but until then, he perfects our lives, amen. He restores the things that Adam has lost, amen. And he's still in the process, but God can only work with us every step of the way as we possess our possessions. God will not force the blessings in spite of your ignorance. No, remember when you were unsaved? You had to hear, just like this gentleman here, all right, he had to hear the sermon, right? He had to hear the preaching of the Word of God.
Why don't God just save people without the sermon? It's not God's way. God has ordained it. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God," through a preacher, the whole context there, and then faith is released to receive that portion which is already yours. It's got something to do with man's free will. God ordained it this way because God cannot force the blessings against your will. You gotta want it. You gotta desire it. You gotta release faith for it. "Faith for it" means you believe that God wants to give it to you, and you can see God's desire because he has done that at the cross of Jesus Christ, that whatever Jesus took on the cross upon himself means that he wants us to enjoy the blessings, amen?
Another area is the area of provision. Here is where some people, you know, you lose them because they're, "Oh, you're talking about, you know, prosperity gospel". I've never preached the prosperity gospel. I've always preached the gospel of grace and peace. That's how Paul calls it in Acts 20, the gospel of grace. It's never called the prosperity gospel, and you need to define "prosperity" because the Bible talks about prosperity a lot. It says that the Lord prospered all that Joseph did. What does that mean? The Bible says of the man who meditates on God's Word in Psalms 1, "Whatsoever he does shall prosper". "Whatever he does shall prosper". However the Bible interprets that, I received that because it's clear it's God's will, God's blessing on the man who meditates on God's Word, amen.
The apostle John says, "Beloved, I pray above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your souls prosper". What is he saying? All right, you cannot say, "Oh, that prospered their soul". No, he includes soul prosperity in that verse as well because he says, "I pray that you'll prosper and be in health, even as your souls prosper". So there's your soul prosperity. They're covered already. So what's he saying about the first part? "Prosper and be in health". So, friend, we don't believe that God wants us, you know, materialistic, having avarice in our heart, greedy for money, thinking of money the whole day. That's idolatry. That's loving mammon and not God. No, friend, but, on the other hand, we'll be remiss to teach that God wants us, you know, always in need, you know, poor, "poor as a church mouse" is the expression. No, friend, and many people that come against this teaching, actually, they have two cars, they live in landed property, and they are doing well, and they are preaching against this.
You know, there's inconsistency here, friend, and since when we believe something because, you know, our denomination teaches it even though it's not in the Scripture, you know, or "We never seen that happen before, so we don't believe that"? Or, in church history, if you go by church history, you must go all the way back to the book of Acts, and the book of Acts tells us every one had their needs supplied however God does it, amen. Do you believe that God wants your needs supplied, even your material needs, amen? It says clearly you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this verse: "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich".
How do you explain that? It's very clear, it's talking about the context of the cross. The only time Jesus was made poor was at the cross. One of the last things he saw was actually the soldiers, the Roman soldiers gambling for his clothes. He was made poor. I believe he was destitute of even any clothing on him, completely drenched in his blood on that cross, poor. Why? You know, it's the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. My friend, the whole universe is his. Everything belongs to him. "All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made," but he came manifested in the flesh, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God incarnate, in flesh, in human flesh, fully God, fully man, amen. And at the cross, he was made destitute.
This wonderful person, this Savior, this Shepherd gave up everything for his sheep, and the context, you cannot say the context here is "that though He was rich, for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become", poor? No, it doesn't say that. "Might become rich". But you say, "Oh, Pastor, this is referring to spiritual riches". My friend, the whole context, context is king. Never take a verse out of its context. The whole chapter here, chapter 8, and then chapter 9, where you find Paul commending the Macedonian believers and all that for their liberality, and then he tells the Corinthians, you know, "You gotta emulate them. They are very generous with their finances".
When they heard about the poor saints in Jerusalem, they all, even though they didn't have enough, they all contributed. And Paul says, "God loves a cheerful giver," context of finances in chapter 9. Chapter 8, chapter 9, he talks about this whole subject, and that's where you'll find, "God loves a cheerful giver. He who sows bountifully shall reap bountifully. He who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly". Why does Paul say, "He who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly; He who sows bountifully shall reap bountifully"? What does "bountiful" means? That all of us become millionaires? No, I've never preached that. I've never preached that God will make us multimillionaires, very wealthy. I've never said that. I said that God would bless you with more than enough because, all that God does, it's always more than enough so that we have enough to give to others, amen?
"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack," but I have to have excess to a certain extent. Why? To give to others, to be a blessing. And that's what Jesus did when he blessed, you know, one of the miracles of Jesus is provision. The five loaves and two fish, not only he blessed them with the food, and they ate "as much as they would," not "as he would". "As much as they would," as long as they were hungry, they took and took and took, and the miracle kept going on, hallelujah. But at the end, when they were full, there were 12 basketfuls left over. So, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, for your sakes He became poor at the cross, that you through His poverty might become rich". And the context there is referring to even material needs, amen, friend. And that's what God is restoring also in these last days, this truth.
"Now, if our denomination does not believe that, does that mean this Scripture is wrong in its context? Does that mean Jesus didn't do this work? He didn't manifest this grace"? We gotta believe God's Word, my friend, amen. We're gonna listen to the Holy Spirit through the Word teaching us, amen. Thank God we follow spiritual leaders as long as they follow Jesus, amen. Praise the Lord. So have you possessed this possession, or do you allow voices to hold you back from believing it? "Now, Pastor, is it important I believe that 'Jesus became poor that I, through his poverty, might become rich?' Is it important for me to believe that"? Yes, friend, because "Faith comes by hearing". Even though the land is yours, "Every place the sole of your foot shall tread upon will be yours".
Unless you possess it, it will not become yours even though it is technically, legally yours. It's paid for, all right? It's yours. Legally it's purchased, amen, and Jesus purchased all these blessings, amen, that he wants us, this "land" that he wants us to possess through his blood. That doesn't mean he comes automatically on us, and the Holy Spirit of truth cannot bear witness in our experience of it unless we are believing the truth. The Holy Spirit of truth bears witness with the truth. If you believe the lie, "No, God doesn't want us to be rich and all that," then, you know what? You won't be able to receive the supply. It's not that God doesn't want you to have it. It's that you don't believe that God wants you to have it, and therefore, because you believe the voices of unbelief and not based on Scripture, you believe a lie, the Holy Spirit cannot bear witness in your life with that supply. Just like, if you don't believe healing is for today, that healing is in the finished work of Jesus Christ, then, even though it's yours, the Holy Spirit cannot bear witness of it in the manifestation of it in your body.
Have you noticed that churches that preach, "Jesus saves," you have salvation there happening? And then there are churches that preach, "Jesus saves, and Jesus heals". You have salvation and you have healing. Then there are those who preach, "Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus baptize in the Holy Spirit with all the gifts of the Spirit as well manifesting". They have that manifestation in that church. And then there comes this group called the Full Gospel People, and they call it "full gospel" because they believe Jesus saves, Jesus heals, and Jesus baptize in the Holy Spirit, but there's so much more that Jesus did for us, amen, in terms of stress, how he took our griefs, our sorrows, amen, our depression, our worries, our cares, by the crown of thorns. Why? Because God said, in Genesis, after Adam's sin, God says, "Thorns and thistles will the ground bring forth," and Jesus wore the crown of thorns.
What does that mean? That means he took your worries and cares. "Thorns" in the sower and the seed talks about "cares of this life," worries, cares. Jesus took it all. That's why he wore the crown of thorns to redeem you from worry, fear, anxiety, depression, and in the garden, he sweat blood because, in a previous garden, in the very first garden, Garden of Eden, after man fell, God said, "By the sweat of your face You will eat bread". It won't be easy from now on because we have sin. Thorns will come forth from the ground, and you will sweat for your supply. You will sweat for what you need. You will sweat to get the things that you desire. Sweat means stress, effort, laborious toil, but then, what started in the Garden of Eden was finished in another garden when Jesus sweat blood.
That's where the Passion began. The Passion of the Christ began, right? In the garden, when he sweat blood, a condition that medical science calls "hematohidrosis," which means, under extreme levels of stress, the capillaries burst, and it mingles with the sweat. Only very few cases, even down through history. Under extreme duress, extreme stress, that will happen, and Jesus sweat blood, and the blood fell to the ground, the Bible says. My friends, when Jesus sweat blood, you know what he did? The blood of Jesus has the redeeming quality. When he sweat blood, Jesus redeemed you from the curse of the sweat that came because of Adam's fall, hallelujah. Today, amen, through rest we receive, amen, all that we need, hallelujah, amen. We don't have to stress out because Jesus took our stress, amen. We don't live by laborious toil anymore. We live in the rest. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus, hallelujah. I just preached myself happy. Receive that, my friend. Praise the name of Jesus right now, wherever you are watching this, amen. I feel like there are people who are depressed.
There are people who are not able to sleep, amen, believers and unbelievers as well. And I believe that, right now, as the Word goes forth, it's like the Holy Spirit is painting a "hazon" vision in your spirit man. You can see Jesus in the garden, sweating blood, and the blood fell to the ground that was a cursed, and because of the redeeming quality of the blood of Jesus, it redeemed the ground that you walk on, hallelujah. It's all paid for, my friend, amen. What started in a first garden was finished in the Garden of Gethsemane through Christ sweating blood to redeem us from the curse of painful toil, stress, worries, and cares. Receive that in Jesus's name right now, the deliverance and the redemptive work of Jesus in this area. Christ, through his blood, has redeemed you from worry, fear, and cares, and right now, in the name of Jesus, receive his peace.
And for those of you who have never received Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord, my friend, the very first area that God wants us to be cognizant of what Christ did at the cross is that he bore your sins. He bore my sins on that cross. He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. Why? So that you and I can become justified, acquitted from our sins in him, amen. The divine exchange took place on the cross. Jesus bore our sins. We carry his righteousness. He was cast out that we might be brought in so close, so near to God. He cried out, "My God, my God," so that we can cry up, "Abba, my Father, my Father, Daddy God," amen. Jesus became sin at the cross that you and I might become the righteousness of God in him. Pray this prayer with me right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for all my sins. He bore all my sins in his own body on the cross. Thank you, Father, that Jesus took my place and was condemned that I might take his place as a son before you. I am now the righteousness of God in Christ, acquitted from all my sins. Father, I thank you that you raised Jesus from the dead, hallelujah. Jesus Christ is my Lord, my Savior, my Healer, and my Shepherd, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And, my friend, here comes to supply, amen. You are saved. Your sins are forgiven, and the Lord, in the days to come, will manifest himself as your Good Shepherd leading and guiding you, and surely goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. He will bring you to green pastures, lead you beside the still waters. Even you go through trials or difficulties in life, it's as if it doesn't touch you on the inside. It may touch you on the outside, but the Lord will lead you beside the still waters, amen. Praise the name of Jesus.
And, Father, touch everyone who is sick, Lord, in their body right now because the supply for healing has been purchased at the Cross. Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases. Just place your hand on that area right now that's afflicting you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I speak destruction to that disease. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command that cancer, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be uprooted and be thrown into the sea in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I command healing to flow into your body in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for healing them, Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick. Thank you, Lord. Be healed, be well in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen, amen. Stand to your feet. Praise the Lord. Receive the blessing for this coming week. Now may the grace, the favor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of your Father God, and the fellowship, the friendship, the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you and your loved ones throughout this week in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the people said, "Amen".