Joseph Prince - The Key to Healing, Right Believing
I remember many years ago, I was just in my early 30s when the Lord began to uncover some of these truths that I’m sharing with you today about long life and divine health and renewal of youth. And I would say to the Lord then, I would say things like, «You know, Lord, I’m still young,» and at that time, I think I was just in my very early 30s. And I said to the Lord, «There’s plenty of time for me to teach this. In fact, Lord, if I can be an example of long life, healthy long life, it’s not enough just to live long».
What’s the point of living long if your body is wracked with sickness and disease, right? But God wants us to live long just like Caleb, who said at the age of 85, «I’m as strong this day». His strength was still there. God wants to give us a long, healthy life, amen, praise the Lord, where we can enjoy the goodness of God, amen? So, I said to the Lord, «You know, why not I live long? And then people will listen to me when I preach along these lines». And you know what the Lord said to me? The Lord says, «No, the time to preach this and believe this is now, when you are young. The time for the people to hear this is now because when the days come and you are much older in your years, some of them will not be around. They need these truths now».
And that was many years ago now. I’ll be turning 59 this year, and many years have come and gone, and I trust the Lord to keep me strong and healthy, amen? And he has done that, and I’m continuing to believe God, and keep on praying for me, amen? Now, you say, «What was the point of having long life, Pastor Prince? What’s the point of having a healthy life, you know? Isn’t it better to go and be with the Lord»?
Now, if that’s your mentality, you know, I can just say that what do you say to the Lord when you see him face to face and the Lord says that you have not finished your assignment? The apostle Paul, before he was martyred, and like I said last week: The reason why he was martyred, he chose martyrdom. He had two choices before him, and he says that «I desire to be with Christ, which is far better. But, you know, to abide in my flesh, to stay in my body is more needful for you. So, I guess I’ll hang around for a while».
So, he chose. You know, many of us don’t have that kind of choice, but God wants to bring all of us to that place where we can choose, amen? So, when you think about it, right, what’s the point of having a long life? Because the only way it can be a blessing to the people around here is if you are here. Once you are in heaven, you cannot minister the gifts that God has put into you to them. You cannot bring them to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the older you are, with all the experiences and all the revelations that God has given you, down through all the years and all that, with the experience that God has enriched you with, you have so much to give to the people today, to the generation today, amen? Young people that are coming up today, they need to hear your voice.
You know, we talk about the Joshua generation. God is raising the Joshua generation. I’m sure that you’ve heard that before, okay? The Joshua generation is a generation that grew up in the wilderness, but they are not part of those that were under the judgment, and they came out of the wilderness into the Promised Land, and they were older men then, okay? And but they are the Joshua generation. But don’t forget: Joshua generation was led by a man from the previous generation. At that time, he was pretty old in age, but he was still strong with his partner, Caleb, amen? And with all the leaders that grew up in that generation, they possessed the Promised Land. Praise the Lord, hallelujah.
So, if we live long in our bodies, we can be a blessing to successive generations that come, depending on how long you live, amen? You’ve got something, you’ve got a voice, you’ve got a word. There’s a message you can share with this current generation. But if you’re not around, all the charismatize, all the favor, all the gifts, all the talents that God has put into you, all the anointing that God has placed on you to be a great blessing to this generation is lost, amen. Many a times, people misunderstand that verse in the Bible, in Psalms 116: «Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints».
Now, this verse is not saying that the death of his saints is precious. It’s something very precious. Death itself is precious, the death of his saints. It’s not saying that. The word «precious» actually is the word «costly,» like a costly jewelry, all right, a costly gem, something costly. It is very costly in the eyes of God when one of his saints departs. Of course, that saint goes to be with him, but it’s very costly. Costly for what? In terms of all that God has put into that person, now it’s lost. It’s lost in the sense that the person has died. So, when he dies, everything dies with him.
Now, I’m talking about people who die before their time. We’re talking about people who die before their time, those who come to a place where, like «a shock of corn,» the Bible says, full of days like Jacob and all that. You know, he gathered all his sons around his bed, he laid hands on all of them, and gave up the spirit, hallelujah, give up the ghost, the Bible says. It just took off like that, hallelujah, after blessing them. Now, that is something that God wants for all of us, unless you are called to martyrdom. But for the rest of us, God wants us to believe him now that we might live a long, good, healthy life, amen. God says, «When you receive the wisdom of God», wisdom has two hands.
And that’s why, in the book of Proverbs, it’s personified like a woman. She has two hands. The Bible says, «Embrace her,» and you get both hands. Remember what the hands are? The Bible says, «In her left hand are riches and honor. In her right hand is length of days,» amen? The Bible says, «Embrace her». When you embrace wisdom, when you cherish the wisdom of God that is found in his Word, praise God, I’ll live long. Imagine someone who is a sinner saying that «you know, if God wants to save me, God will save me. I’ll leave it to God. I believe in God, but if you tell me that only through Jesus, I can be saved. Well, if he wanna save me, he’ll save me».
Imagine that kind of attitude. Nobody can receive salvation with that kind of attitude, why? Because God respects your free choice. You need to hear the Word, and you need to believe on it. You need to receive it actively. No one can shove any of God’s gifts into your hands. God respects your free choice, amen? You have to believe, you have to believe, and you have to believe the things that are being shared. As long as you see it in God’s Word (amen?) you know it’s in God’s Word.
The Bible says, God even gives you the faith from hearing God’s Word to receive what his Word promises. So, today when we look at this verse, costly is, in the eyes of the Lord, of the death of his saints. It costs him. It cost him that believer was cut off before his time, and it’s a waste because everything that God puts in him… now, if he dies before his time, I’m talking about dying before their time, amen? The context there, if you look carefully, David was saying, «God, you delivered my soul from death». Look at the same Psalm, where you find this «precious in the sight of the LORD, death of His saints». Earlier verse says, «For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling,» amen.
So, David is saying, «I could have died. But, Lord, you delivered me,» why? Then later on in the same Psalm, he says, «Because it’s very costly to you if your saints die,» amen? It’s very costly. God wants you to prosper, my friend, and be in health even as your souls prosper. At the cross, our Lord Jesus «bore our diseases and carried our pains». That’s why, if you look at all the offerings that Jesus on the cross, the five offerings in Leviticus, there’s only one that is bloodless. It’s the flower offering, and there’s the meal offering. But you have the burnt offering, which is a picture of Jesus on the cross, as well as sin and trespass offering, as well as the peace offering.
All this speaks of Jesus on the cross, whereas the meal offering speaks of his life on earth, his perfect life, amen? The fine flower there speaks of his characteristics, his attributes. No characteristic preponderates. Everything is perfect, you know, perfect in its place. Nothing exaggerates. Everything is in its equanimity. Jesus is altogether lovely. But the other four offerings: the burnt offering, the peace offering, «shalomim» in the Hebrew, which is the word «shalom,» wholeness. It meant, the word «peace» there is actually the word «wholeness offering,» and then there’s the sin offering and the trespass offering. All this speaks of Jesus at the cross.
So, in those days, they would bring the lamb to the bronze altar, and they would kill the lamb there. It’s a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. But they don’t persecute the lamb. They do not torture the lamb before the lamb’s death. Before Jesus was put on the cross, he was scourged, he was tortured… for what purpose? All the lambs and the goats and the ox and the bullock, even in times past, they typified Jesus. But when they were offered, they were killed immediately. They were not tortured before they were killed. Our Lord Jesus was tortured. He was scourged before he hung on that cross, why?
Well, the Bible says, «With his stripes we are healed,» amen. So, it’s not just Jesus bearing our sins on that cross, my friend. God wanted us free from sickness and disease. Amen. Praise the Lord. That’s your portion. Every time you take the Communion, discern the body and receive your healing. You might say, «Well, Pastor Prince, I’ve been taking Communion for so many years now, and I’m still believing God for my health».
My friend, it might seem, in the natural, you’re not getting better. It might seem in the natural, but you’re still alive. You are still kicking. Praise the Lord. You know, sometimes it may seem to get worse in the manifestation before it gets better, hallelujah, and perhaps you’re going through that, or perhaps you’re also going through a stage whereby you will be a trophy of his grace, that you will come to a place of complete healing, and you will turn around and encourage all those who have not yet received the manifestation of their healing, and the Lord allows you to go through sometime.
So, for you, you are not among those that receive accelerated healing those who receive, some of them, instantaneous, as we have shared so many times during our testimony time, and as well as also in our church, we have seen people when we would pray for them, there have been those who stood up straightaway because they are healed immediately, amen? But if you are numbered among those whose manifestation seems to come so slow… you know something? God is honoring you with a testimony, with a ministry in the future. Your healing is coming. It’s manifesting. It’s going to be thirtyfold. When it’s 30-fold, you still have the 70-fold. A lot of it is not yet healed, amen? Then comes the 60-fold.
Now you’re on the majority. A lot of your body functions and all that is getting healthier and stronger, then completely. That’s a hundredfold. Thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold. Your hundredfold is coming. And if it’s slow, it’s because God has a ministry and God has a purpose for you: that you will testify, and you will be a trophy of his grace, and you will testify of his goodness, especially in the area of healing, amen? And God wants this message to go out because we have heard for so long that Jesus saves, amen? But it’s time for us also to hear that Jesus heals, Jesus delivers, Jesus gives long life, amen? Jesus renews your youth.
Praise the Lord. Jesus makes you strong, amen. It’s the full message. We call it the full gospel if that is so. But even the full gospel does not cover some of these things: only the healing. But let’s go for the fullness of the gospel. Everywhere Jesus went, the Bible says he preached the gospel, healing every sickness and every disease. When Paul preached the gospel, there’s a manifestation of healing in his preaching. When Peter preached, Peter’s shadow even, the shadow passing by those who are sick, the shadow of Peter would heal the sick. We know it’s not the shadow. The shadow itself is nothing. But God will allow some signs and wonders to show that his will for his people is that they be well, that they be whole, that they be strong, amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
You know, people say that the Bible only promised 70 years to 80 years. And by that, they are saying, from Psalms 90, it says, «The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength, they are eighty years…» But then we showed you clearly that this verse is taken out of its context. This is not God’s will for his people, why? Because this is the experience of the people in the wilderness when they were under God’s judgment. Look at the verse before that. Context is important, my friend. It talks about «All our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh».
Even if you read all the background of this psalm, the psalm of Moses, it talks about the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness. They were under God’s wrath, why? Because they didn’t believe God. Remember that? They didn’t believe Joshua and Caleb when they came back with the good news and the good report. They believed the evil report of the ten spies. And as a result, God was angry with them. God swore that «they will not enter my rest,» and they wandered for 40 years, okay? So, they were under God’s wrath. Look at the verse after this, even for context: «Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath».
But, my friend, you and I, we are not under God’s wrath. We are under God’s favor. Your families are under God’s favor. God has sworn he will never be angry with you. In Isaiah 54, that comes right after Isaiah 53, that talks about Jesus’s work at the cross. In Isaiah 54, because of Jesus’s work, «I swear I will never be angry with you again. So, every time you look at the rainbow, this is as the waters of Noah. As I swore to Noah that the waters will never flood the earth again, so I swear to you I will never be angry with you, nor rebuke or condemn you,» saith of the Lord, amen. Receive that.
Have the assurance that your Father in heaven loves you. Even when you do wrong, there is correction, or he will correct you with his Word, and sometimes through some circumstances that will frustrate you, as long as you go on that path, but he will never use sickness or disease to correct you. He will never do that. He will never use car accidents and bad people coming to harm you. He will never use all those things to correct you. He will correct you first and foremost with his Word. But many people who need correction, true believers who have backslidden, who have left the church when they are corrected, and they are not spending time in the Word.
How do you think God corrects them? Well, God corrects them with…circumstances, amen? Frustrating sometimes, but it will bring them back to the Lord. They will know that there’s no refuge. There is no fulfillment for them out there in the world, just like the prodigal son found that out, amen. Only when he came home, he found true love. He found that, «More than enough, my father’s house has bread enough and to spare». Everything was in the father’s house. But we don’t live in Psalms 19, my friend. This is Psalms 19. If you look at the next Psalm, it’s Psalm 91. Psalm 91, verse 16, says, «With long life I will satisfy him». With what? «Long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation».
Here we see the purpose for the long life that we may see Jesus more and more and more and more, just like Simeon. Remember Simeon when baby Jesus was to be dedicated at the temple? And Joseph and Mary brought baby Jesus. But the Bible says that there was an elderly man by the name of Simeon, Simon, and he was very elderly. And the Bible says he was waiting for the consolation of Israel, waiting for Jesus to appear, because the Holy Spirit showed him. The Holy Spirit showed him that he will not see death until he sees Jesus, the Lord’s Christ, the Messiah.
So, he was brought there by the Holy Spirit because he knew that Jesus was born. And when Joseph and Mary came in, he took the baby in his hands. And this is what Old Simon prayed, he said, «Lord, my eyes have seen Your salvation,» literally, your Yeshua, your Jesus. «Now let me depart in peace». He said, «Let me depart in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation». I believe it’s a type of the Second Coming of Christ. That was the First Coming, right? In the Second Coming of Christ, there will be a generation of believers. The Holy Spirit is saying to them that «you will not see death until you see Jesus». Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
So, we don’t live under Psalms 90, where our days are only 70 to 80 years. We live under Psalms 91, amen? «With long life, God satisfies you and shows you his salvation». How I know that this is a New Covenant Psalm? Because in the very first verse, it says, «He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty».
Now, back then, it was a secret place. What is this secret place of the Most High? Today it’s revealed, amen? What was hidden in the Old is now open in the New. Praise God. And in the New Covenant, we know that every believer is hid in Christ. The secret place is actually the Messiah. The secret place is our Lord Jesus Christ, and we are all hidden in Christ, who is the secret place of the Most High, amen? The promise for every believer who is in Christ, the Bible says you are under the shadow, under the protection of the Almighty, and «the Almighty» here is Shaddai, and then this promise, this entire Psalm ends: «With long life, God satisfies you». Amen. Praise God.
Now, we have covered Psalms 90. Now we covered Psalms 91. Let’s go to Psalms 92. And God is saying, «Not only long life will I satisfy you with, long life, but the quality of your long life will be like this». And it’s found in Psalms 92, the following Psalms. And it says here, in Psalms 92, «The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the LORD is upright».
The reason they shall be fresh and flourishing is to declare a testimony that «the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him». So, we see that God wants to satisfy us with long life. Now, by the way, if it says, «With long life will I satisfy him», notice there’s no age mentioned there? The only criteria is your satisfaction. «With long life will I satisfy him»? So, if you’re not satisfied at 90, you wanna go farther, go on. God is saying the criteria would be long life according to your satisfaction. If you are satisfied with life at a hundred and you say, «It’s time to go,» then you can talk to the Lord about it, amen? But the criteria, in the New Covenant, God says, «With long life will I satisfy you,» amen?
Be satisfied with your life, and then you can decide to go, if Jesus tarries. I believe that he’s coming soon, amen? And we are the Rapture generation. I really believe that, okay? So, Psalms 91 talks about believers who are in Christ. Psalms 92 tells us the quality of that long life. God says here, «The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon».
Of course, we have a spiritual application for all this. The palm tree is an evergreen, a coniferous tree. It’s evergreen, and it’s a very fruitful tree. It produces an abundance of fruits, literally a lot of fruits. And, of course, we apply this spiritually first. In other words, you’ll be fruitful even in your old age. You’ll be fruitful even in your old age. You know, there is a principle in Scripture: First, the natural; then the spiritual, Israel. First, the natural, then the spiritual.
So, you have first the natural. When they won the war in 1967, the Six-Day War, what happened? Well, it launched forth the Charismatic move, amen. The Holy Spirit was poured out all over the world. When they came back as a nation in 1948, it launched forth the voice of healing, revival. Healing was being proclaimed all over this earth. Praise the Lord. And, it seems, back then it was so easy to be healed. People were getting healed all over the place. And it seems like the flow of healing was so stupendous that people were just getting healed right in their seats, and it was easy to be healed in those days, amen. Mm. God wants you to live long and to live strong and to live healthy for his glory.