Joseph Prince - Faith Speaks Forth God's Promises

This is an excerpt from: Prosper God's Way During Recession

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4, "We, having the same spirit of faith..." Now, the quotation there is from Psalms. It's saying that, "We, having the same spirit of faith," that faith of David, right? "We, having the same spirit of faith, I believe, therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak". It's not enough just to believe. You gotta speak. You gotta say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ". Then comes another teaching. Now, I mean, it's been coming for some time already, but in the social media and all that, you find people come against Christians, and saddest of all are Christians coming against Christians.

Friend, the social media must be a place where they see our love for one another. And maybe they are not being reached because Jesus says, "By this love for one another, by this shall all men know you are My disciples". Instead of using that platform to attack one another, why don't we use the platform to bless one another and use it for the gospel? Even if we have disagreement, let's revolve around the person, let's agree on the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He's 100% God, 100% man. He died for our sins on the cross. He rose from the dead on the third day, amen? And whatever else is peripheral, shall we? Shall we gather around that?

The Bible never talks about unity of the doctrine. It is says, "Unity of the Spirit". We cannot agree on everything, yes, because you know what? If there are two of us, there are three opinions, amen, among Christians sometimes. But let's not bring our dirty laundry for the world to see. And then you tell them, you know, "You need Jesus". Hmm? So out there in the world right now, social media, they will come against you if you confess, all right, like God. The Bible says in Romans 4, "Abraham was like God," because God quickens the dead and calls those things that are not as though they are. The Bible says that's what we are to be, call those things that are not as though they are. That are not what? Not visible, not sensible to touch, right, nothing that you can hear or whatever, yet, yet, it will always come out in the flesh, in the realm, like this building, amen?

Now we can see it. Now we can feel it. Now we can look at it. We can take pictures of it, right? But it came out of faith when there was nothing, amen? But faith, like God, is a spirit. God brought forth the visible world, amen? Everything visible came from the invisible, amen. So think about it, people. God calls those things that are not in the physical realm yet as though they are there. Isn't it, amen? God calls Abraham, when he didn't have a son through Sarah yet, all right, "You are a father of many nations". "You are a father," not, "You will be". In the Hebrew, literally, "I have made you a father of many nations," when he didn't even have a son through Sarah, his wife. Father of many? God changed his name. God says, "From now on, your name is called Abraham," which means "Father of many".

Imagine the wife calling him, you know, in their old age, to come back and eat lunch or dinner in the fields, "Father of many! Father of many"! All the village start thinking, "Oh, poor lady. Poor Abraham. They want a child so much, they changed their names, you know? One is called 'Princess,' all right, one is called 'Father of many.' Pray for them". "Father of many! Father of..." So like God, calls those things that are not as though they are. God saw darkness. God didn't say, "Whoa, it's so dark"! It will become darker. No, God called what He wanted. What He wanted is light. God says, "Light be". God saw darkness, but God didn't call darkness. God didn't call what He saw. He called forth what He wanted to see. That's God's way. That's faith. I believe, and therefore I speak.

So long before you see, you gotta believe it, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ," before you can manifest righteous thoughts, righteous behavior, righteous actions. Right believing leads to right living, amen. So in this area, you know what some people, the way they say it, it sounds so bad. They make it sound like, like for example, "Health and wealth gospel" sounds bad, right? It sounds bad, "Health and wealth gospel". Honestly, I never subscribed to a health and wealth gospel. I thought the gospel is a gospel of grace and peace, amen? But it does produce. Okay, you don't like wealth? Provisions. You don't like health? Well-being, peace, okay? But when you put it like that, "Health and wealth gospel," it sounds bad because the Bible never talks about health and wealth gospel.

The Bible talks about the gospel of grace. That's where it all starts. When you are made righteous, amen, you receive the blessings of the righteous, amen. Another one that they like to say, "This is the 'Name it and claim it' bunch". They call you all a "Name it and claim it" bunch. This is the "Name it and claim it" bunch. Oh, that church is the "Name it and claim it" church. That's making fun of what? God calls those things that are not as though they were. Jesus heard, all right, that person is dead. Did Jesus confess the death? No, amen? He didn't confess what was in the natural. He confessed what He wanted to see. "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," all right? He did not say, all right, that he was dead.

At one point he said because the disciples, they cannot understand. He says, "I go, you know, to wake Lazarus. He's sleeping". Oh, it's good. If he's sleeping, let him sleep. Then Jesus said, "Lazarus is dead," all right? That's because of their weakness, He came down to their level. But you find that always Jesus always calls those things that are not as though they are. He tells people who are, you know, withered in their hand, "Stretch forth your hand," amen. He called forth what he wanted to see, wholeness in that hand. "Stand, take up your bed, and walk," amen. "Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole," amen. That's faith, amen. And this whole universe bows to faith. I'll tell you this. Why? Because this universe is made by God, not by this cancel culture, not by these people who are now trying to take dominion over the world. It's not. Are you listening?

So when you hear this kind of thing, don't swing to this side. By the way, there are extremes. There are people, "I claim this person's Cadillac. I claim this person's Lamborghini". You don't claim people's Lamborghini. Hello? Wake up. Your God is not so poor so as to claim, and all they claim is Lamborghini, Ferrari, that kind of thing, you know? Okay, you want to, does God answer that prayer? These are the things that give a bad name to the true teaching. It's prosperity with a purpose that God wants us to see, that we can be a blessing to many. So the first thing we need to establish, you gotta believe that, why? Why must we believe? Is it important? I said just now, is it important for us to believe or not believe? Does it matter, Pastor, if I believe? It matters because your spirit, you don't even realize it. Your spirit is open when you believe that God wants you to have it, God wants to prosper you. Your spirit is open.

That's the faith realm. And you begin to see breakthroughs after breakthroughs, miracle after miracle, blessings after blessings, when in the natural there's none. But on the other hand, if you don't believe that, you know, this is for you, all right, in fact you shun it, you won't receive. God will never force you to receive something you don't want to receive.

You know, before you were saved, amen, you might even be against Christ, be against Christians, and make fun of them, make fun of the church, and all that, right? How do you get saved? You heard the Word. There's no other way. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Either someone shared with you the Word of God, about salvation, about Christ, the gospel, or you saw it, amen, the gospel being preached. It is still the Word, amen, being watched, being heard. And then you have faith and then you can be saved. So as in everything, you need to hear the Word, and that's why I'm preaching. Are you listening, people?