Joseph Prince - God Is Fighting the Battle for Your Mind
The Bible says God wish above all things for you that you prosper and be in health, even as your souls prosper. So, Christ took our… he redeemed us bodily as well, and the fullness of it will happen when Jesus comes again. We’ll have a brand new body, but what about our in-between soul, our mind, emotions? So, I asked the Lord what does he have on his heart for you people, and this is what he said, I want to heal their minds. So many of us, we are saved spiritually. I mean, we are born again and we believe in healing, amen? But in between our minds, it’s something that the Lord… it surprised me when he said that I want to heal their minds, because in the beginning when I made man, their minds were not forgetful.
But what has happened, he began to show me that many of us, we have accepted our forgetfulness as normal. We hear reports, we watch, you know, around us other people and all that, and they laugh and people make jokes about it. You know, people joke, like this man went up the stairs and he turned to his elderly wife and he looked up and then he looked down again, looked up and he says, now I do not know whether I’m going down or going up, you know? And people joke about that, and you know, we have moments whereby we enter into a room and we ask ourselves why am I in this room? What did I come here for? Don’t put up your hands. We call this a senior moment, right? But we accept it as normal, people even make jokes about it, but what the Lord said to me is that it’s a curse.
It’s a curse that came in because of Adam’s fall, and Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law on that cross, amen. If you look at Adam before his sin, you look at Adam, when God made Adam, God made all the animals, God made Adam last and God made all the animals and everything else so that man can enjoy whatever he has done. God didn’t make him first on the second day or the third day so that man cannot glory or take part in what God has done. All the glory goes to God, man is the recipient of his love, the beneficiary of all his blessings, amen? That’s the life we have to live. Salvation begins when you receive, not when you do. It’s not your doing that saves you, it’s receiving the finished work of Jesus, amen?
The Old Testament, the old agreement, was that you do and do and do, but no one can do to the level that God requires. God knew that. Man doesn’t know that, so God sent his Son. He died for us and now salvation begins with D-O-N-E, done, amen? We rest in the finished work. Can I have a good amen? So, at the cross Christ redeemed us from spiritual death, that’s our spirit. Christ redeemed us from disease and sickness, that’s our body, and you’ll find all these curses listed in Deuteronomy 28. Then Christ redeemed us in our souls, and that is our mind. It’s the mind that gets depressed. It’s the mind that gets forgetful. It’s the mind.
So, does God just bypass, you know, your spirit, does God bypass your mind for your spirit and then for your body and ignore the mind part? No, God made man tripartite. See, God is one God, but God is tri-unity, three divine persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one. You don’t say three gods, you say one God, amen? Even in the Hebrew language it says the Lord our God is one Lord. In the Hebrew, the Lord our God, Elohim, the Lord our Elohim, Elohim is plural, but then one God is echad. Echad is not singular unit, echad is collective unit. We are all here as one, that means it’s a plural word. Echad is one. The Lord our God is one. Never mind if you don’t understand that Hebrew and all that, it’s okay, amen? But remember when God said let us make man? These words you will find in your King James Bible. Let us make man. Let us make man.
So, the divine person is involved. The Father planned, the Son executes, the Holy Spirit comes and manifests it, amen? So, triunity, the three divine persons in one God, amen? All one God, we don’t say three gods, okay? Always remember that, it’s a divine mystery. So, God made man in his image. We are tripartite, amen. If one part suffers, we suffer. If your mind is restless, the body says, all right, produce disease, produce sickness, and doctors will say, like, stress can cause sickness in your body, amen. Your spirit is not at rest, it can affect your mind, your mind can affect your body. You cannot say that, you know, this part is this part and that part is that part, it’s all co-related, it is all symbiotic, okay? And so, when God made you in his image, you are tripartite, amen. Smile at your neighbor and tell them tripartite.
Okay, so watch this. The Lord said to me he wants to heal your mind. First of all, you must acknowledge this is not normal. You keep on hearing and watching the news, you keep on hearing the news, you keep on looking at man’s report, okay, you will accept that condition. But don’t say things like I’m getting old, I’m being forgetful. The other day I woke up early, and you know, when you just woke up, usually your mind goes in different directions, right? So, my direction was all of a sudden, an old friend, an old person came to my mind, someone that quite some time ago. And I said, what’s his name? I know his name but it just didn’t come to me. Then I told myself I’m not going back to sleep until I know his name. You ever had that? You know, you ever had that?
All right, it’s like, it’s a slip of my tongue, you know? But what is his name? Then I struggled and struggled and the name never came, but I didn’t accept I’m getting old, all right? I said I have the mind of Christ, and that phrase, by the way, is in the New Testament. I have the mind of Christ. Paul says we have the mind of the Lord. We have the mind of Christ. I have the mind of Christ and I know his name, and like this, pop, it came up, his name, amen? So, listen, it doesn’t always happen that fast, but if you will learn to accept instead of saying I am forgetful, speak God’s Word. I have the mind of Christ, amen? And the mind of Christ never forgets, amen. It may not come immediately, but it will come, it will manifest. The more you say it, the more you… see, it is not so much you, it’s you are just releasing faith.
It is God’s Word, but we appropriate God’s promises through faith, and faith is released like this. Believe in your heart, speak with your mouth. Believe in your heart, speak with your mouth. We are made in God’s image. In the beginning, the Bible says, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And God said, «Light»! Notice, God saw darkness at first, but God didn’t say, «Wow, so dark,» it would become darker. Notice, God saw darkness and what did God say? Light be, and there was light, and God saw the light that it was good.
Now, listen, we are made in God’s image, we are supposed to operate by faith, but because of man’s fall they want to go everything by sight. They want to go by everything, actually, a lot of things that’s real you can’t even see it in the spirit realm, whereas now we think that the physical realm is more real when we can see that it gets old, it gets decrepit, it gets broken down, there’s an expiry date, but what is of the Spirit never grows old, it never dies. That’s why the part of man, the spirit, has to be housed eventually after the body decays in heaven or in hell, amen? God so loved the world God gave his Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish in hell but have everlasting life, amen? Thank God for that. Praise the Lord. So, we are redeemed even in our minds, so start confessing I have the mind of Christ, amen?
So, the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus himself said this in John 10:10. Jesus says, «The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly». We have it more abundantly, abundant life. Oh, that sounds so good on my mouth. Life more abundant. Say it, «Life more abundant». Jesus says I come, why do you come, Lord Jesus? Christmas message, right? He came, why do you come? «I come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly».
When Jesus was on earth, even the demons begged him not to cast them out. They begged him not to send them into hell, actually, before the time. Are you come to torment us before the time? They know they are going. There’s a time coming they are going into hell. They know that, but they are still on earth, these embodied spirits. That’s another message altogether. And they cause depression, they cause oppression, they cause sickness, and you know, the Chinese have a saying, they say, oh, this pain comes on the body, «hong,» the wind. It’s very interesting that in the Greek, Greek is the New Testament, it’s written in Greek, Hebrew is in the Old Testament, written in Hebrew. In Hebrew, it is «ruach,» wind. In Greek, it is «pneuma,» pneumatic drill powered by wind. Wind is the word for spirit, all right, «pneuma» or «ruach,» okay, in Hebrew, «ruach,» all right, spirit.
So, evil spirit, evil breath, it’s like a wind. Holy Spirit is also like a wind, and many a times you all feel it even in our church, you can feel the wind during the time of healing. The wind comes and the pain goes, amen? The growth is normal, amen? It is not by might, it is not by power, it is by the Spirit of the Lord. It can happen even during this time when I’m preaching, praise the Lord, because God loves to heal. God loves to restore you, amen. The Bible says when Jesus was on earth, how he… you know, the Bible says how God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit, amen, the breath of God, Holy Spirit, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, amen?
So, sickness is not of God, it is of the devil. Jesus went about healing all that were oppressed of the devil. So, the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but before he can kill and before he can destroy, what does he do? He steals, what does he steal? What do you think the devil wants to steal? Now, imagine if you’re a thief, okay, you can imagine you’re a thief. When a thief breaks into a house, what is the thing that he looks for, all right? I know nowadays you have professional thieves, digital thieves, and when they steal, they can siphon off millions and millions of dollars from one island, and now people are at a loss to know where are they, right?
So, I’m talking about, naturally speaking, a thief, all thieves, what are they out for? To steal, so imagine a thief, okay, coming into a house, what does he go for? Hey, two thieves, look at that, stacks and stacks of toilet roll. You remember last time? We all used to fight in the supermarket for toilet roll. Maybe another variant might come in and, you know, we might have to stay at home, toilet roll, get it! So, the thief comes, toilet roll, do you think they go for toilet roll? No, they go for small items. Toilet roll is too big. What are small items? Diamonds, jewelry, and nowadays they are quite sophisticated. No, this is zirconia, this is not. This is diamond, this is not diamond. This one is fake. This one is fake. This one is the real thing. They go for the valuable items. What do you think the devil wants to steal from you? Well, Jesus answered that.
Look at this in Matthew 13. «Therefore hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word». So, before the devil can kill and destroy, he has to steal. He has to steal. He has to steal the Word from you. «When anyone hears the word of the kingdom,» Jesus is talking here, «And does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside». All right, so Jesus shares a parable of the sower and the seed about the different kinds of response to God’s Word. Even right now I’m speaking to perhaps four different types of soil. There are four different responses to God’s Word, but Jesus said how the devil comes and steals is when this happens, they hear the Word and they do not understand it.
When you don’t understand the Word, you hear it, it’s not that you don’t hear it, it’s not that you don’t come to church. You do go to church on Sunday, amen, on Easter, on your birthday. It’s not that they don’t come to church, they do come to hear the Word, amen? You know what? Anytime you go to church, I’m glad, amen. You’re in a place where you can hear the Word, that’s half the miracle. The devil doesn’t want you at all in church. They are trying to make the church a place where people down there are boring, amen. Have you seen Pastor Mark? There’s no way he’s boring, amen? The people down there, you know, it’s like a do’s and don’ts, you know, that kind of thing.
I’m telling you, the Bible is more advanced than you can know, than you can think, amen. The devil wants you out there, because as long as you are watching Netflix and all those other things and sports and things like that, he knows that those things cannot rescue you from the attack and his assaults. He knows that. He knows that. All right, supporting the, you know, shouting for the greatest good, all right, the greatest of all time, whatever it is. Whether it’s in an entertainment arena, in golf, or in sports, soccer or whatever. you know, he knows.
Does that mean that we don’t enjoy these things? We enjoy these things but don’t prioritize them above the Word, amen. Whatever you do, hold on to God’s Word. It is what produces the blessings and the miracles and the breakthroughs and the healings that you and I need. You’d be amazed how much the Word of God has been robbed from your mind. Maybe you became a believer when you were a young child, but right now it’s been robbed. It’s not normal. The devil has robbed you. Before he can touch your body he has to take away the word of healing from your head. He knows as long as the Word is there, even a small seed.
Have you seen a small tree growing out of a pavement? Have you seen? It breaks the cement. It breaks the pavement and goes up. A small seed has that power. Someone dropped the seed. Maybe he was eating some fruit and he spit it out, it went into the cracks, it started germinating, sprouting, and started growing enough to break open concrete, one little seed. The devil must come quick before it germinates. The devil must come quick before it sprouts. He must come quick before it breaks through his concrete. My advice, don’t just come for germination in the beginning of the year, be here till the end of the year, amen. Keep on hearing the Word.
See, we are not here to be religious, we are here to be spiritual, okay? We’re not here to learn laws, we are here to come under grace, where we see him and we allow him to love us and to do great things for us, amen. And that’s the greatest humility, to allow God to provide for you and not say, no, no, no, I can do this myself, I can do this myself. I can help myself. I can heal myself. I can sponsor myself. I can provide for myself. I can overcome this bondage by myself. Like people who are smoking, I can stop anytime I want to. Yes, never see them stop, all right? We are so proud in that we think we can, when God is trying to bring us in that lesson to say you cannot, you need me. This year, depend on God more than ever. No one is as strong as the one who puts his trust in the Lord. It’s people who are weak that try to depend on themselves, amen.
So, the devil comes to steal the Word, but why? Why is he able to steal the Word? Because the person who hears the Word does not understand it. Now, your New Testament is in Greek, all right? All the English versions come from the Greek. It was originally written in Greek. Your Old Testament, like the stories of David and all that, is in Hebrew. Old Testament, Hebrew, New Testament, what? Greek, okay, you got it? This is New Testament. Jesus speaking and it’s in Greek, and in Greek I want you to remember this word. In Greek, the word «understand» is the word «suniémi,» say «suniémi». Sounds like tsunami, right? You can remember that, «suniémi».
Now, «suniémi» means, «sun» means together, «niemi» means it’s a wisdom that comes from God that other people can see and they don’t see it, but you look at it, you see they they don’t see. You put two and two together. «Sun» means together. You are able to put two and two together and see what God wants you to see. It is from God. You hear the Word and you meditate on it until you see the «suniémi,» and then you have victory, amen. That’s «suniémi,» «suniémi» is putting two and two together, very interesting. Now, look at the four soils. Jesus mentioned four soils, right? Another day I’ll teach on it, but look at the good soil that produces a harvest of thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold.
Look at this good soil. Drop down, Jesus says, «He who receives seed,» the Word of God, «On the good ground,» in his heart, «Is he who hears the word and understands it». And again it’s the word, «suniémi». «Who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty». You see that, amen? So, we want to understand God’s Word. Make this year a year that you understand the Word of God. Reading a novel, reading a book, reading a journal, all that is good, fanciful, nice, and makes you feel good for a while. Nothing wrong with them, they can also distress you to a certain extent, but they cannot help you the way the Word of God can help you, because the Word of God has God’s own substance in it, amen?
You see, the more you hear God’s Word, the more you see God’s Word. It will drop into your heart. That’s when God gives you the understanding. You say I see it. I want you all to be revelation junkies. You want revelation from God’s Word. I see it. You know, David says it’s more to be desired than gold, than fine gold. Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the Bible says, amen? Happy is the man who finds wisdom. Now, notice that what Jesus said will happen. If you really understand, «suniémi,» God’s Word, and «suniémi» comes from God, and when you ask God to give it to you this year, if you really understand God’s Word, it says, «Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them».
Look at the way he said it, «So that I should heal them». It’s almost like there’s a divine necessity. If you fulfill the conditions, if you see my Word, you hear my Word, it drops into your heart and you understand it, I should heal you. I cannot but heal you, interesting. But people, you know, sometimes people want healing like this. Pastor, pray for me. Here’s my head, there’s your hand, touch it. It doesn’t always work like that, amen? I am not the healer. I’ve told you before, I just obey God and God has said lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Sometimes God allowed that means, but sometimes God wants, the norm is that we receive from his Word, amen, by revelation.