Joseph Prince - Speak Your Way to Life Transformation
Faith is speaking what you believe, amen? Like David says in the Psalms, «I believed, and therefore I have spoken». And Paul quoted David in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 where he says, just like David says that «We having the same spirit of faith,» same spirit as what? David, right? He’s quoting from the Psalms. «We having the same spirit of faith, I believed, and therefore I speak; we also believe, and therefore speak,» amen? So that’s the spirit of faith: believe and speak. And because we are made in the image of God, God first speaks and then he sees. God himself never saw good, all right, the product of his words until he spoke. When he wanted light, he saw darkness actually, but God says, «'Light be and light was'; and the light was good».
God saw good after he spoke. So we having the same spirit of faith, we are made in the image of God. That’s how faith operates. And Paul says, «We having the same spirit of faith,» as David in the Psalms, and he’s quoting David, «I believed, and therefore I speak». That’s how we get saved, amen? We say that «by grace, are you saved through faith». And how do we appropriate all that Christ has done for us? By faith. How does faith operate? Romans 10 tells us, «If you confess with your mouth Jesus is your Lord and believe in your heart».
Notice again, believe and speaking. That’s how you exercise faith. That’s how you release faith in your life, amen? So confess, «The law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has made me free from the law of sin and death». Every time you feel tired, every time you feel like there’s a symptom trying to get on you, all right, just confess, «The law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death,» amen? Because that’s your given place in Christ, transcending the law of sin and death in the spirit of amen, amen, praise God. But you need to know one thing. Even though your spirit is born again, your spirit is righteous in God’s eyes, but your mind is playing catch-up. Your mind is being constantly being renewed, amen. The Bible says in more than one place, «Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind». Another place, «Be renewed in the spirit of your mind».
So the mind needs to be renewed to what has happened to us. Once you are safe, you are born again, praise the Lord, you still feel, sometimes you feel like the old man. You feel like you have all these spiritual battles going on in your emotional realm. You feel depression, you feel anger, you feel all these things, as if you’re not safe, as if you still have the old nature. But no, friend. You are born again. All these are in your emotional realm, your soulish realm. It is not in your spirit realm. The real you, you are a spirit. You live in a body.
You know, when God made Adam, God made Adam, his body, from the dust of the ground. And that’s why ashes to ashes, right? But his body came from the dust of the ground. But the real Adam, his spirit and soul was breathed into. It’s like when God made Adam, the body was like a mannequin, all right? Lifeless. He was just standing there. And then God breathed into man. I like the Hebrew word there, «vayippah». The word there, «vayippah». It’s like God breathed into man and man became a living soul, and man has a spirit that came from God. And that’s why men, whether they have their sins forgiven, whether they are born again or not, they will live forever. It’s either hell or heaven, and that’s why men cannot just cease from existence, because he is a spirit.
But then he has a soul, he has a mind, and he lives in a body. But God wants the spirit-man to be the leader, amen, to be the one to lead the soul. The soul is subject to the spirit. That’s why when God baptized us in the Holy Spirit, we start speaking in a language we don’t understand, we pray in the Spirit. And the mind is saying, what are you saying? Stop it, all right? Stop it, this is gibberish. You know, stop it. I don’t understand it. If I don’t understand it, you must stop it. The mind always wants to dominate. The mind… or the body. The body says, «I want it, I want it. If I want it, I want to indulge in it. I feel it, I want to give in to it. If I’m hungry, I want to eat, I want to eat. I want to eat right now,» okay?
And there are people who are led by their bodies. There are some who are led by their minds, by their emotions, their soul, okay? But God wants us to be led by our spirit. It tells you here, «For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Now, to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace». Again, «To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace».
Now, scholars will tell you this, that many a times they are also befuddled by a certain passage, whether it’s referring to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit. I think one of the reasons why in certain passages it’s not clear whether it’s the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, because God has made them one, amen? «He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit,» amen, so it doesn’t matter whether you have to clarify whether there’s a Holy Spirit there or the human spirit. Just know this: When you listen to your human spirit even, amen, you are listening to the Holy Spirit because he dwells there. He dwells there, amen? «He bears witness with… the Spirit himself. He bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God,» hallelujah.
And that’s how God speaks to you. That’s how God leads you from within. Let me show you this illustration. Now, isn’t it good for us to know ourselves, how God has made us? Now, notice, like I said, who you are is you are a spirit. You are a spirit being living in a body. But you also have a soul, all right? Say this after me right now. Say, «I am a spirit, I have a soul, and I live in a body,» amen? Your body is your house. So you have a soul, you are not a soul. You are a spirit, amen? This the real you. You are a spirit, you have a soul, you live in a body, amen? So each part has its own functions that God has given, right?
Of course, your body are the five senses. You have the sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. So those are your bodily functions, all right? In other words, anything that activates this is activating your body. So soul, the function of the soul is this: mind, emotion, will. So your emotions, whether you feel joy or you feel elation, you feel peaceful or you feel depressed, you don’t feel good and all that, it’s just an emotion, all right? It’s all in your soul. It’s not true in your spirit, all right?
Now, emotions can affect your body, and that’s the thing that we’re going to look at as well. But then look at the will. The will is actually in your soul. You decide in your soul, okay? So these are the functions of the soul. And what are the functions of the spirit? The spirit is communion, intuition, and conscience. Now, communion is communion with God, okay? You don’t… like, oh I feel God. It’s true sometimes you feel God. That’s fine and good, but don’t rely on it, amen? You commune with the Father in spirit. «The Father seeketh such to worship him. Those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth,» all right?
So that’s the way you commune with God. And it’s the most intimate communion. And then you cannot also contact God with your emotions. «God, I want to feel you, Lord, in my emotions. So if I feel joy, I feel peace and all that, feelings of felicity, you know, I feel that you are near». No, no, don’t depend on that, because your feelings can go up and down, amen? But in your spirit-man you have communion with God. And now we see conscience. Conscience is the part where… actually, the word «conscience» in the Greek is the same as «consciousness».
Like, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 10, «For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of those things, can never with those same sacrifices which they offer year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered,» why? «Because the worshippers once purged,» once cleansed, «should have no more conscience of sins». The Bible says all this is temporal. «It’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins». And God says that if those sacrifices had worked, «the worshippers would have no more conscience of sins».
So in other words, if my debt has been paid, I should not be conscious of my debt. My conscience should not have debt on it. I should not have a conscience that tells me, «Hey, you gotta pay, you gotta pay, you gotta pay,» right? Especially if you owe someone and all that. But if it’s paid, if you do not know it’s paid, you can still have debt on your conscience. So likewise, the sin debt has been paid at the cross, but we still have sin on our conscience. Why is that so? If Jesus did a perfect work and the Bible says in the same chapter, Hebrews 10, it says, «By one sacrifice,» as contrast with the previous verse, «Those priests stands daily ministering and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices».
Notice, they stand daily. Daily offering, «Offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But Jesus, one sacrifice for sins forever». «But this Man, having offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down». He sat down because his work is done. So if that is so, why are we having this consciousness of sins? Why are we sin conscious? Whenever we are sin conscious, consciousness of sin, it’s actually saying that Jesus didn’t do a good job. We are saying that God’s Word lied. If you keep on reading, it goes on later on, it says the Holy Spirit even, in verse 17, even the Holy Spirit witnessed to us, saying, «Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more».
Now this is a quotation, the last clause of the new covenant, amen, that God has established through his Son Christ with all of us, amen? The new covenant says the reason that all of it works… I will, I will, I will, I will, «Because I’ll be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more». So the Holy Spirit bears witness with us, saying to us, «Hey, your sins are forgiven. God is not dealing with you based on your sins. God is dealing with you based on Christ,» amen. But yet we are so conscious of our sins. And Christianity today, for the most part, is preaching sin for the most part. Instead of preaching the answer, the Lord Jesus Christ, his finished work, the grace of God, the righteousness of God, which is a gift, hallelujah, we’re actually emphasizing on sin, as if the debt has not been paid.
If you look at the Bible carefully, you’ll find that the Bible tells us very clearly that the gospel that Paul preached is a gospel that declares the righteousness of God as a gift, very clear. Look at Romans 1, verse 16 here. «For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ». Gospel means good news, all right? It just simply means good news. «For it is the power of God to salvation». What is the power of God to salvation? The gospel. But what is the gospel then? We must make sure that we get the right gospel. In this gospel, the next verse says, in this gospel, «In it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'»
Notice that in the gospel that Paul preached, Paul reveals the righteousness of God, which is a gift. You see, for a long time I used to read that «the just shall live by faith» and the idea, I wonder if you have the same impression as me, the idea is that the just we know is the righteous, the righteous shall live by faith. In other words, they will trust God for their finances and their supply. But actually, that’s not the emphasis in the Greek. The Greek structure actually says, «The righteous by faith shall live». Those who are righteous by faith, they will live. I like the NET, New English Translation. It brings it out. It says, «'The righteous by faith will live.'»
Notice who will live. Who will live and not die? The righteous by faith, amen. They will have an abundance of life. Now, if you are sick and you believe that you are righteous by faith because of your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and you have received the gift of righteousness and you confess, «I am the righteousness of God in Christ,» guess what’s going to happen to the death, to the sickness? You will live. If you live, that thing dies, hallelujah, amen. The righteous by faith shall live. I even like the Revised Standard Version better. It says, «'He who through faith is righteous shall live.'»
Notice, it’s a far cry from saying the righteous will live by faith. It’s actually he who through faith is righteous shall live, amen. If you believe you are the righteousness of God in Christ, and we’ve been encouraging people to confess that, because why? That’s how faith operates, amen. You confess, «I am the righteousness of God in Christ,» and what happens after that? The Bible tells us the first time you confess that, amen, you are saved. «You confess Jesus Christ is my Lord, you believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness,» amen, praise God. «And with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation». Hey, praise the Lord.
Now let’s go back to Romans chapter 8. In verse 10, it says, «And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him,» so although your body is dead because of sin and your spirit is alive because of righteousness, «but if the Spirit,» this is the Holy Spirit here, «if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you».
Now back to my chart again on the spirit, soul, body. What do you have in your spirit? Righteousness. Can you see that? The Bible says your spirit is life because of righteousness. Now, what you want is that you want the life to touch your soul, to permeate your soul. You want it not just to be contained in your spirit but to come out and touch your soul. And then after that, touch your body. That results in healing, health, wholeness, amen. Now, you want that life. That life is already in you. That zoe life, that life from God is in you. If that life can touch your depression, that’s the end of your depression. If that life can touch your sickness in your body, amen, it will heal your body, praise the Lord.
So that life needs to come out from our spirit and into our bodies. But the problem is what? It says the spirit is life because of righteousness and we are not righteous conscious. So as long as your soul realm, your mind, back to the verse 6 again. «To set the mind on the flesh is death,» notice that? «But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace». So your soul realm is the deciding factor. Are you going to focus on the fact that your spirit is now… now I’m illustrating like I’m the soul, okay? The soul decides to set yourself focused on the flesh or to focus on the spirit. Your spirit, my friend, is life, because why? It’s righteous, amen, because of righteousness.
Now, the Bible says get your mind to focus on that. Listen to teachings on it, amen? Renew your mind to who you really are. And then if you set your mind on the spirit, it’s life and it’s peace, amen, to your soulish realm. You’re going to feel it even in your mind, in your emotions, hallelujah. It’s going to affect your will, praise the Lord. So that depression, where is it? Where is it found? It’s in your soul, in your mind, amen. Sickness is found in your body, but the life and peace can touch that depression and remove it and flood your emotions, amen, flood your soulish realm with life and peace, hallelujah. So where is the point that there’s a break? It’s because we are not conscious, we are righteous, because that life is in that righteousness.
So the more you’re conscious of it, you’re setting your mind on the spirit, guess what? The life comes out and touches your mind. And then when your mind is touched, it goes further and touches your body. That’s when you are healed. Hallelujah, hey! I preach myself happy, amen? So God wants that righteousness, that life from that righteousness, that’s who you are in Christ, God wants you to be conscious of it so that it permeates your soul, your emotions, amen. You know, I’m starting to tell people even that confess it until you feel it. You are already righteous. Whether you feel it or you don’t feel it, once you are born again, you are born righteous. In God’s eyes you are righteous, amen? That’s the crux of the gospel: righteousness by faith, amen?
So you are already righteous. Whether you feel it, you don’t feel it, you are still righteous. But when you feel it, notice that emotions, when you start feeling it, it’s just one step away from your body, amen. So the moment you allow that righteousness consciousness to come into your soulish realm, where you meditate on it, where you start feeling, even the feeling of righteous. «Well, Pastor Prince, how do you explain the feeling of righteous»? You know, I felt that a number of times, many times, in fact, in my life. Even last night as I’m meditating on there, I start feeling that again.
You know, to feel that is life. I want to describe it, but it transcends, you know, my expression would just, it would just beggar my expression because it is like a sense of authority, a sense of newness, a sense of that you are in company with God. You feel like, you know, you have no fear of the future. You feel like when you pray God hears you. And many a times, you take authority. Not just praying all the time. You feel a flow. It’s natural to take authority. Whereas when you’re not righteousness conscious, amen, you fear taking authority, all right?
So when you pray now, you pray instead of a servile spirit of bondage, you pray in the spirit of sonship. That’s how I’m trying, you know. But again, these expressions cannot describe. You need to experience that yourself. Confess it until you feel it, amen. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Let it permeate your soul. Let it permeate your mind, your body. And then it’s just one step from the soul to the body. When your soul experiences it, amen, your body experiences wholeness, life, and peace. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
So, my friend, it’s vital we confess just like Isaiah saw you confessing, amen, «Surely in the Lord I have righteousness». In other words, I am the righteousness of God in Christ, amen. And the Bible says that «all those who are incensed against you will be ashamed». All those who are angry with you, they’ll be put to shame. And the Bible says, «No weapon formed against you will prosper». So one of the devices of the enemy is always to bring in condemnation. Every time you do something wrong, he will heap guilt and condemnation on you. The last thing he wants to hear you say is to say, «I am the righteousness of God in Christ».
You’ve got an addiction to porn. The last thing he wants you to say is to say, «I am the righteousness of God in Christ,» in the midst of your sin. You know, friend, we are taught Christianity is a great confession. Not confession of sin. It involves confession of sin, but the great confession there is not referring to the confession of sin. It’s confessing, for example, in Hebrews 3, it says, «Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession».
What confession is that? Go on, next chapter, chapter 4, it says, «Let us hold fast the confession». «Seeing then that we have a great High Priest passing through the heavens, let us hold fast our confession». Now, you don’t hold fast to a confession of sin. You say it and that’s it, right? But what is this holding fast confession? Go on, Hebrews 10, it tells us, «Let us hold fast the confession of our hope,» King James says, «our faith,» «without wavering,» amen. So, we confess, «I am the righteousness of God in Christ,» without wavering, amen. Keep on confessing until you feel it, amen, until you enjoy it even in your emotional realm, amen?