Joseph Prince - How Does Faith Work?
This is an excerpt from: Power To Renew Your Youth
The way faith works is like this... I'll close with this, okay? Yeah, I'll close with this, all right? Real fast, two verses. 2 Corinthians 4:13, "Since we have the same spirit of faith," like Joshua, like Caleb, like Abraham, like Moses, "We have the same spirit of faith". Do you have the same spirit of faith? "How does it operate, Pastor"? "According to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak". So, if you say, "I'm getting old," you know, "I'm always sickly," all right, you believe that, or else you wouldn't be saying it. And now you have what you say.
Recently, in fact was it only very recently, the Lord said this to me. You know, old people complain a lot. It's a fact. It's sad, because they only have a pessimistic view of everything, so they complain a lot. Nothing to complain, they complain that there's nothing to complain, all right? So, let me just say this to you, what the Lord said to me. "Is it, son," he told me, "old people complain a lot, or a lot of people grow old because they complain"? You see, the natural. I tell you what's the natural. You know what, you wanna know the natural tendency of Pastor Prince? When you see something, find fault. When you see something good, find fault. Don't look at me in that kind of face. You are the same in the natural. We are slow to praise, quick to criticize. Is that natural? Natural. You are supposed to live in the supernatural, in the Spirit, by faith.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God. "It's a fight word! I see the problem, Pastor Prince. You blind, you don't see the guy's fault, lah? Like, you don't see this fault, lah"? You know, you choose what you wanna see. I'm not denying the facts in the natural might be here and there, you see the failure of the person here and there or whatever, but there's so much good if you look up for it. And it's not natural, it's not natural. It's natural to complain, it's unnatural to praise. Even in our relationship, it's unnatural to praise. It's unnatural to say thank you. You all understand, right? The word thank you and the word grace is the same, charis. Which means if you experience grace, you will say thank you, amen, and thank you also brings even more grace.
That's the meaning right there. We all teach our children to say thanks, why? In the natural, they are in the natural, in the natural. We are teaching them to be supernatural, not to live like the world. Learn to say thank you when someone gives you something, or else they'll be in for a lot of hard knocks, the school of hard knocks will teach them to be grateful for what they have. So, let's teach them before the school of hard knocks teaches them if you love your child. Grace people need to correct their child.
Now say, "Oh, never mind, grace, never mind". No, no, that's misapplication. If you love your child, you will correct your child, 'cause if you don't, the prison or the correction department, when they correct, it's not the same. You do it with love. Correct them when they're young. I'm so glad God bring them to the world small. Imagine if God brought them to the world teenagers. Phew. Isn't God good? Amen.
So, keep this principle, and I told you two verses, right? And one more verse I'm gonna show you, every... your greatest gift is, what? What is your greatest gift? Salvation, am I right? Salvation, am I right? Am I right? Is salvation your greatest gift? How do you get salvation? Jesus did everything, yes, but how do you appropriate it? How do you... spirit of faith, I believe, and I speak. Romans 10:9 and 10, "What does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.'" So easy to be saved. It was hard, it was painful, it was torturous for Jesus, but it's easy for us. The Word is so near you. You don't have to climb up the Himalayas, swim in the deepest ocean, all right, pass your PSLE.
All right, you just have the Word is so near you. Speak it out. The word of salvation, "It is in your mouth and in your heart". Always remember, it must be in your mouth before it drops in your heart. "Okay, I don't believe I'm young, I don't believe I'm healthy, I don't believe I'm strong". Confess. Every time take communion, say, "Lord, by your stripe, I am healed. I'm young, I'm strong, I'm healthy. As Jesus is young, strong, and healthy at the Father's right hand, so am I in this world, young, strong, healthy. As Jesus's mind is, so is my mind in this world, amen. I have perfect recall of everything," praise the Lord.
You gotta confess that. "But it doesn't manifest yet. Why, Pastor Prince"? That's why it took, Abraham, listen, the day God promised him was 20 years ago that he would have a son, "In your seed". But it wasn't manifested until he was 99 years old, and God says, "Change the way you talk about yourself. Call yourself, 'I'm a father of many.'" Bang, the next year the boy came.
So, the missing element was this. Belief in the heart was not enough. "I believe, I believe. Pastor Prince, what you say I believe, I believe". Have you spoken or not? Say it. So, how do you get salvation? In your mouth, then it drops in your heart. If you don't believe it at first, put it in your mouth, put it in your mouth, it will drop in your heart, and then you start believing, and then you start, out of the abundant heart, the mouth speaks, all right? "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus", confess what with your mouth? Jesus is your Lord. "Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved"
So, confess with your mouth, believe in your heart. Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart. That's the spirit of faith. To appropriate anything Jesus did for us at the cross, including healing, including renewal of youth and strength, amen. And now watch this. "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth", with the heart you believe, with the mouth, "Confession is made unto salvation," confession is made unto healing, confession is made unto protection. Amen.
Do you have the same spirit of faith, or are you a spirit of complaining, a spirit of the world, a spirit of bitterness, a spirit of fear? Or do you have the same spirit of faith, like Joshua, like Caleb, like Abraham? I believe, and therefore I speak. I believe, therefore I speak. And I'm not denying the natural, but I believe God's Word above the natural. I believe the supernatural, which is more concrete than the natural, which is subject to change. And I'm done, praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus, hallelujah.