Joseph Prince - Boost Your Faith and Health with One Prayer
We need to pray, amen? Prayer is something that you need for yourself, your families. You do not know what the future holds, amen? But thank God, God knows everything from the end to the beginning, from the beginning to the end, amen? God is in the timeless zone, amen. God knows. That’s why God gives us this prayer. And straightaway, I wanna call your attention to the fact that the very first thing on the birthday of the church 2,000 years ago, the very first thing God gave them was a prayer language. What a beautiful thing, amen?
Look at this. Look up here… Acts 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. It filled the whole house where they were sitting,» all right? «And there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one set upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to», what? «speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance».
Now, notice verse 1 says what? «When the Day of Pentecost was fully come». Do you know that the first Pentecost was actually God giving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai? That was the very first Pentecost. Any Jewish person would tell you that, who knows their feast days. The very first Pentecost was giving of the Ten Commandments, giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. There was also a tempest of wind, there was lightnings, there was fire. And here, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, under the New Covenant, God gave not the Law but the Spirit, and not on Mount Sinai but Mount Zion, amen.
And there’s also fire, tongues of fire. Over here, when God gave the Law 40 days after, 3,000 people died at the foot of Mount Sinai. Over here, when God gave the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and preached, and 3,000 people were saved. Three thousand died; three thousand were saved. The Law kills, but the Spirit gives life. Nothing wrong with the Law. The Law is holy. The Law is from God. The Law is righteous. But the Law cannot make anyone righteous. The Law cannot bless anyone. The Law says, «You have to obey me completely before I can bless you,» all right?
The Law cannot sanctify, or make holy, anyone. There are people who believe that they can become holy by trying to keep the Law. The Law was designed in such a way to show your imperfection. Like the plumb line shows the building, or any structure, that’s deviating from the straight line, likewise, the plumb line of God’s law shows how we are perverted, how we have gone astray. We cannot compare each other with one another, amen? You cannot compare among ourselves. We must compare with God. And all of us are sinners. Some of us commit the sin outwardly, and some of us commit the sin inwardly. It’s still sin. So, we are all sinners. I wanna tell you how much God loves us. It’s amazing how much God loves us.
Now, I wanna share with you something about praying in tongues today that’s going to help you so much (amen?) in the area of stress, anxieties, worries, panic attacks, as well as physical troubles in terms of infirmities, chronic illness, or even disease. So, tongues is a gift from God, and here and there you will hear me say weapon from God, or a device, or an instrument from heaven, made in heaven, amen? Today I’m going to focus on one benefit that I think that many of us have been robbed of. You may have that word in you last time, but has the devil robbed you of that word? The first thing the devil comes is to rob you of that word. And that’s the area, the benefit, there are many benefits of praying in tongues.
For example, and I may touch on this in the weeks to come, but let’s say you’re praying for your child. Your child has gone, the school has reopened, right, this week, amen? Some parents say, «Hallelujah». So, the thing is that your child is going to school. But supposing you are praying and all of a sudden your prayer changes, and you are praying in English, all right? You are praying in English. You understand what you are saying. And then the Holy Spirit is inspiring you, giving you a vision about an impending accident that may happen to your child. What do you do? Sure, you start praying for your child’s protection, right? But not only that.
Knowing the propensity of human nature, you will, one, not only pray for your child, you will say, «This week, you’re not going to school». Amen. Because why? You’re afraid because of what you know now. Sometimes what you know can cause you to be afraid. But supposing you have a language that you don’t even know you are praying this, that the devil has planned in such a way, all right, to harm your child, and he’s prepared this drunken, all right? The devil has prepared him on the same day, at the same time, your child is coming out. So, he’s prepared the whole thing and all that, and you’re praying this and you’re singing. «I’m praying for my child, Lord. I pray that the drunken driver will not be there at the right place, at the right time for my child, Father, in Jesus’s name».
And you’re singing, you’re happy, you’re cooking, amen? You’re changing diapers, or you’re working, and you’re just walking along, and you’re carrying your file, and you’re praying for your child, who is in danger this coming week, and you don’t even know it. Now, which is more stressful: the first prayer in English or the prayer in the Spirit? Of course the one in English, right? Because you are praying for your future. Yet you do not know what’s happening, amen. When we pray in the Spirit, we are praying beyond the boundaries and the limitations of our knowledge, amen.
You are praying for the future. You can pray for the future. You can even pray for the past when that fear came in or you do not know why you are experiencing today. You can fight, you can ward off, you can shake off that fear or timidity, and God the Holy Spirit is helping you reach out and healing that part of you, and God is able to reach to the future and touch that because God is timeless, or exactly he is outside time because he created time. That’s why the cross, as far as God is concerned, happened only yesterday. The freshness must be there when you take the Communion. It’s not like something 2,000 years ago. That’s a language and a comprehension of man’s idea of time. God lives outside time.
So, friends, listen, when you pray in tongues, today I focus on one benefit, not about intercession. The benefit is how it builds up your body and keep you (all right?) in a place where you are built up so that stress, worry, fear, anxiety, panic attacks will not have any more leeway or any more victory over your life. You can be free from addictions, and you can even be free from physical infirmities. Are you ready? So, can we just focus on this one area first, amen? And in the days to come, if the Spirit of God sees fit to focus on this, we’ll focus on other benefits. There are myriads of benefits. Like I said, one gift, amazing benefits. The Bible says he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto man but unto God. You have a hotline to God himself, hallelujah! So, put aside man’s opinions, put aside all the denominational prejudices, and focus on the Word of God, amen. Rest.
Jesus himself says, «These signs will follow them that believe. In my name, they will speak with new tongues. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover». Those same people that don’t believe in praying tongues? Invariably, always it’s connected. If they don’t believe in praying tongues, they don’t see the gifts of healings operate. They don’t see the sick healed under their ministry. So, they must come up with excuses for that, amen? But it’s always together. Those who believe in praying tongues see a lot of healings happen in their ministry, amen? Why is this teaching important? Because we preach like this: People will know every time they pray in tongues, and the devil says, «You are just making it up, stop it,» and they get discouraged to stop it, they don’t realize that they are stopping their health, they are stopping their wholeness, they are stopping their health from springing forth speedily. Are you listening, people?
Let’s go to that quotation in the Old Testament. It’s from Isaiah 28. «For with stammering lips and another tongue will God speak to this people». Ever felt like your tongue sometimes is like stammering lips? You say, «Pastor, my tongue is not like Pastor Lawrence’s tongue, so smooth, so fluent». Hey, yours get first priority, stammering lips, hey? Pastor Lawrence and Pastor… is another tongue, amen? And who is speaking? God is speaking. God will speak to these people. «To whom God said», now watch this.
Now there’s an additional benefit. This is why it always pays you well to look up the reference. And the context here says God is saying, «This is the rest,» definite article, «ha menuchah,» definite article. «This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest». And this is the «margeah,» the refreshing. «Yet they would not hear». You know, God is offering you R and R: rest and refreshing. Guys, you know, right? After your term and exercise in the field and all that, overseas, you have R and R days, right? Rest and refreshing. Literally, rest and recreation. This is God’s rest and refreshing. God is saying this is the rest. «The» is a definite article. And the word «rest» here is actually the word «menuchah». It helps you to remember the manuka honey.
All right, same pronunciation, «menuchah». All right? «Menuchah». This is the «menuchah». In other words, there’s a place of rest. In the midst of a world full of stress, worries, anxieties, with bad news almost every day (amen?) some bad news, some fake news, and all kinds of news, you know, put in a mix, and the threat of war, rumors of war, and all kinds of terror, you know, attacks and things like that? It’s very easy for our hearts to be fearful, but God says there’s a place called «menuchah». This is the rest. And the whole context there is referring to stammering lips and another tongue.
When you pray in tongues, you literally tranquilize yourself. You bring yourself to a resting place. And this word, «resting place,» God says, «This is the place you may cause the weary to rest». A lot of people are weary. They are tired. They are tired. They are just tired. If you read Daniel, it says that the spirit of antichrist in the last days will weary the saints of the Most High, weary the saints. They will wear out the saints of the Most High. One of the things the devil does is that he just wears you out. He wears you out. You read things in social media. It wears you out. You hear bad news. It wears you out. When they call evil good and good evil, it wears you out.
So, the saints of the end-times will be worn out, but the Bible says this is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest. To rest here is «noach». «Menuchah» is a noun; «noach» is a verb. «Noach» is the name Noah. And when grace was first mentioned, it says Noah found grace. In other words, rest finds grace in the eyes of the Lord. God loves it when you rest. When you rest, you are saying, «God, I’m trusting you. God, I’m not working, but you are working. Lord, I’m not doing, but you are doing». God loves it. That’s why rest finds grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Rest, «menuchah,» is also the place of the Promised Land for the believer today. In the Old Testament, the Promised Land is a land where they will enter the land and drink from wells they did not dig, eat from vineyards they did not plant, live in houses they did not build. In other words, the Promised Land is a literal land of which they did not do the work, amen? Like a rest. You just enter in. But what is our rest today? Our rest today in Hebrews is actually the rest of God. Watch this: This same word, «menuchah,» in Psalms it says, «God swore in My wrath,» about the children of Israel that refused to believe him, all right? And God says, «Enter the land».
What I just told you just now, «I’ve given you a land flowing, not just filled, but flowing». Idea of over, superfluence, abundant, superfluous. It’s exceeding and flowing with milk and honey, and yet they say, «No, God hate us». They say, «God brought us to this land,» and it broke God’s heart, and God says, «I swore in My wrath, 'They will not enter My rest'», Hebrew, «menuchah». An interesting thing is that Hebrews 4 talks about this same passage and says, «Let us labor, therefore, to enter the rest». I wonder if the labor is praying in tongues. Because praying in tongues sometimes is like a labor. You pray, pray, pray, pray. After one day, people ask you, «Any change»? Yes, dry mouth, tired tongue. And you pray, pray, pray, pray. Now two more days. «Is there any change in your body»? «Yes». «What is it»? «Blur, tired,» amen?
And spiritually, all right, it seems like nothing is happening, and there’s a spiritual attack on you. The devil is saying, «Give up, give up. You’re just making it up. Stop it, stop it»! And then you’re still praying in tongues, and all of a sudden you realize something is happening, but deep down inside first. It’s long before God removes your disease, long before God removes your depression, long before God destroys that addiction in your life, all right? By your praying in tongues. First of all, the first few days, I believe, he’s dealing with your fears, your panic attacks, your anxieties, your depression, your stress.
And that’s why, after you pray in tongues for the first day, you don’t say, «The pain is still there. The condition is still there». No, God is dealing from the inside out, and I’ll show you more of this. And I’m telling you, people. Listen carefully. Stress is becoming a real problem, especially in these last days. Jesus says man’s hearts, and I believe he was referring to the literal heart. It’s hard to find whether the Bible is referring to a literal heart or a spiritual heart because both use the word «kardia,» in the Greek. So, Jesus says man’s kardia will fail because of the fear of looking at what is coming upon the earth.
So, be careful when you look at the news and things like that, all right? We’re not saying put our heads in the sand like an ostrich and all that, pretend things don’t exist. No, we have to be aware, but make sure that there’s strength on the inside, that you don’t get depressed from the outside. God says this is the rest and the refreshing. When you pray in tongues, there is a rest, there is a release, there is an untying of the knots on the inside when you go You need supernatural means.
Now, if the means to combat stress and panic attacks and depression and anxiety must depend on you being on one location where there is a running river and there’s greeneries and there’s a mountain and all that, then you know what? What’s gonna happen when you come back to the real world? Some people, they have the luxury, they have the money to be able to spend time, to take time, to go somewhere abroad and relax for even then for a while. Because wherever you go, there you are, you know? You can be in a beautiful setting, and yet you’re worried inside. So, it cannot depend on that. It might be something more portable. You can bring this weapon, you can bring this gift wherever you go, and you can operate with loud sounds, blaring horns, children crying out for your attention in the midst of all the hustle and bustle the frantic pace. You can still pray in tongues and experience the menuchah, the rest.
The word «You may cause the weary to rest», I said just now «rest,» the same word as «noach,» Noah, and the first mention is «noach». The noun is «Noah,» all right? «Noach» was first mentioned when the ark rested on Mount Ararat, and the date is given. It’s exactly the date Jesus rose from the dead. In other words, rest is not possible until Jesus rose from the dead. In the Old Testament, David never prayed in tongues, Elijah never spoke in tongues, Hezekiah never spoke in tongues, none of the prophets, not even Daniel spoke in tongues.
Only after Jesus rose from the dead, for the first time, the gift of tongues was given. I met this brother who is now a leader in my church, a leader of good standing. At that time, he shared this testimony. I was well aware of his circumstances and all that, and he shared about how, for a number of years, he was not able to sleep properly, so much so that he only can sleep one or, at the most, two hours at night. So, the doctors gave him sleeping tablets. He came to a place where he took three sleeping tablets and still slept one to two hours. Then he increased it to six sleeping tablets and, again, only slept at the most two hours. Then he said, after some time, he developed sinusitis.
The right side of his facial cavity, cheekbone cavity, had a lot of mucus, and he had to go, in fact, he had two operations over that condition, and he had to go to the hospital to have it drained. All this while, his job was being affected. His money was also being drained, amen? And then the doctors gave him something, some antibiotics and some painkillers and all that, to combat sinusitis, and he took those stuff, and then those stuff caused him to have gastric. He had to take medicine for his gastritis. After for a while, all of a sudden, he felt he was besieged by panic attacks, so much so that he cannot go to work. He can’t even step out of the house, he told me. He can’t even take a bus. He started worrying and started, the amazing thing is that his appetite fell, but he put on 10kgs.
Almost after days, he put on 10kgs. He didn’t understand. He was not eating well. And, you know, it’s like panic attacks, gastritis, sinusitis, can’t sleep at night, and the panic attacks. And it got worse and worse, the panic attacks, so much so that the wife had to stay home with the kids here and there, helping him to cope with the problem. And then he came to a place where he went to the doctor again. The doctor gave him some tablets for anti-anxiety. He says, all in all, he took about 30 medicines in one day. He said that it was terrible.
Then one day, as he was showering, he told me he heard God speaking to him, and God said to him, «Son, pray in tongues. Pray in tongues». And he said, «I only managed to get a few syllables out in tongues, and the few syllables brought rest immediately. Just a few syllables, it brought rest immediately. Then I loved it. I began to pray more. And as I prayed more, I found that, one by one, all my symptoms started to dissipate, not immediately but slowly. Then I found that gastritis was gone. After for a while, the sinus problem was taken care of».
And all of a sudden, he found himself free from depression, anxiety, and from the panic attacks. And he told me, «Pastor Prince, every day I did two things only: pray in tongues and listen to your message. Pray in tongues. Listen to your message. Pray in tongues. Listen to your message. And every one of those problems are normal. Today I sleep peacefully». He got a good job. In fact, the Lord told him, «What do you like to do»? «Oh, I like to repair computers,» he says. Then God says, «Do a job repairing computers,» and he did that. The last I know is that he’s doing well. I don’t know whether he’s in a different sector now, but he’s, today, a brother of good standing, a leader, a care group leader in our church, and blessing many people and ministering to people with addictions, amen.
And it all started with a little trickle of water, rivers of living water, a few syllables that became a rivulet, that became a river and a torrential river, waterfall, right into the ocean. Praise God. Start praying in the Spirit. I believe, I believe the first few days when you’re praying to the Spirit, the Spirit is not battling the problem you have, not the panic attack, not the depression, not the addiction, not your physical disease. I believe that it’s battling your fears. It is clearing out your stress, worries, anxieties. I believe God wants to do something inside before he touches your body. Are you listening? And for that, I’m gonna show you a template, and then we’re gonna close. Are you all blessed so far? Everyone that’s watching this, this is timeless, okay? Like God’s anointing on everything, it’s timeless. Wherever you’re watching this right now, do the same in Jesus’s name, amen. Say:
Heavenly Father, I am confident that you will give me, right now, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Inundate me. Fill me. Baptize me with the Holy Spirit. Jesus has been glorified. Therefore, the Holy Spirit has been given. And I receive, right now, your Holy Spirit to overflowing. In Jesus’s name, amen.
Count to three right now, and then release yourself in the heavenly language. One, two, three. Go ahead. That’s right. Go ahead. Now increase your volume. Now speak undertones. You can do this at work. You can do this at home, when people are around. The Bible says, «Speak to himself and to God, quietly,» amen?
You are in control. Listen, you are in control. The spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. When an evil spirit takes over, you have no choice. He makes you shout and he makes you scream, all right? And then the Holy Spirit stops when you stop, amen? In other words, he will not force you. He’s a gentleman. You cannot wait for the Holy Spirit to open your mouth. He will not do that. You must open. You speak, he gives you the language. That’s how God works. Evil spirits will force you and won’t let you stop. That’s not God’s way. That’s why this is the gift of the Holy Spirit.