Joseph Prince - How to Overcome Thoughts That Overwhelm You (01/26/2026)
Pastor Prince teaches that God raised Jesus from the dead because we believers were already declared righteous through Christ's work on the cross—our justification is the reason for the resurrection (Romans 4:25). This truth brings peace with God, access into grace, and the power to live victoriously above every challenge, seated with Christ far above all things.
God's Love and the Purpose of the Cross
Our Father in heaven loves us. And He sent us His Son to die for our sins on that cross. And He raised Him from the dead on the third day. The Bible says in Romans chapter 4, Christ was delivered up because of our offenses and He was raised because of our justification. Can you see that? He was delivered up for that very reason—because of our offenses, our sins against God. That's why Christ came. God did not send His Son without knowing that His Son would die. God sent His Son for the very purpose of Him dying on the cross for our sins.
The Conversation with Nicodemus
Why? Well, Jesus said it like this to Nicodemus one night, a Pharisee. He came to Jesus by night because he didn't want his colleagues to see him coming to Jesus. He was hungry to know the truth, and he asked Jesus some questions. Jesus looked at him and said, "Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus replied, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter into his mother's womb again and be born?" Jesus answered, "Unless you are born of water and of the Spirit." It's a spiritual rebirth on the inside. Amen. It is the center of the gospel message. Amen.
That Christ died for our sins, yes. But we have forgotten that therein, in that gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed. God raised His Son because we were declared righteous. I like the way Young's translation of the Bible says it: He was raised up because of our being declared righteous. Friend, you have been declared righteous by God. And that's the reason why God raised His Son.
Why the Resurrection Proves Our Righteousness
Now, how does that happen? It means that God could not raise His Son if you had not been declared righteous. Because His Son took the responsibility upon Himself to become you at the cross. Amen. All that you are and all that you have done against God in rebellion, in disobedience, in sinning against God—Jesus became liable for it. Jesus became the Lamb of God. He took your place at the cross. Amen.
So now when God has put away all our sins through the blood of His Son, before God can raise Him from the dead, we have to be declared righteous. Amen. And that's the reason God raised His Son from the dead. In 1 Corinthians 15, it tells us, if Christ is not raised, you are still in your sins. That means He didn't do a good job. He didn't finish it all. Amen. But praise God. Hallelujah. Blessed be His peerless name. Amen. He rose from the dead. That means we have been declared righteous.
And on that foundation, remember, Christ would not have been raised from the dead if you had not been declared righteous. Apart from your works, apart from your morality, apart from you. It's got nothing to do with you. God declares you righteous in another, His Son. Amen. In all that Christ has done, in all that He has accomplished at the cross, God declares you righteous. And on that foundation, because God declares you righteous, He raised His Son from the dead. Amen.
Justified by Faith Brings Peace with God
Look at the result. Therefore, the next chapter tells us—in Romans 5—therefore, having been justified by faith (there you have the word justified), notice, by faith, not by our works, not by our performance. Amen. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let's look at Young's translation. It bears it out: He was raised up because of our being declared righteous. Having been declared righteous, then, by faith, we have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that because you have been declared righteous, you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
It goes on to say in the very next verse, Through Him also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. One more time: Through Christ we also have access by faith into this grace—this grace here. Grace is unmerited, unearned favour. Amen. Into this favour in which we stand. We have access by faith into this favour in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Standing in God's Unmerited Favour
I like Darby's translation for this. It says, By Him we have also access by faith into this favour—undeserved favour. That's grace in which we stand and we boast in hope of the glory of God. You know, child of God, let me just say this: You are standing in the favour of God. God wants you by faith to possess it. Amen.
You are standing on favour ground because of what Christ did at the cross. Amen. And by His resurrection, you are now standing on favour ground. You are no more on cursed ground. You are no more on condemnation ground. You are on favour ground. Praise the Lord.
The Widow's Oil: A Picture of God's Endless Supply
One time there was a widow. The Bible tells us her husband had died and there was a huge debt they owed. The creditors were coming to take her sons and sell them. In those days, if you couldn't pay, your sons would become slaves to pay off the debt. She cried out to the man of God, Elisha. Elisha said, "What do you have in your house?"
You know, the Lord is always asking, "What do you have in your house?" Whatever little you have, watch—it is not debt that you have; it's My blessing on it. God said to Moses, "What is that in your hand?" A shepherd's rod. And with the shepherd's rod, God used it to perform miracles—even to bring water out of the flinty rock and all kinds of miracles. Just from a simple rod that was lifeless, dead, cut off from its roots. Amen. God can do miracles.
So the man of God said, "What do you have in your house?" She said, "I only have a small bottle of oil, a vessel." He said, "Go borrow from your neighbours empty bottles, empty vessels." It shouldn't be hard to find empty vessels. Amen. So she sent her sons to borrow all those empty vessels. And they brought the empty vessels into the house, and she came pouring. And when she poured the oil, she just kept on pouring because the oil never ceased. Amen. As long as she was pouring out, the oil never ceased.
Pouring Out to Receive More on Favour Ground
Now, there's a lesson here for us to learn. When we are favoured by God, we are standing on favoured ground. Amen. Having peace with God. You know something? It is no more like ordinary people, children of Adam. We are now children of God. We are no more from the old stock. Amen. We've been born again. That old stock that we were in Adam all died and was finished off at the cross. We are cut off from its very roots. Amen.
When Jesus rose from the dead, we rose in Him, the Bible says. That's reality, the way God sees it. We rose in Him. Now, watch this: The world, when they pour out, they get depleted. They get tired. But the more you serve the Lord, the more you give out. Amen. The more you pour out, the more there is left behind. Amen. The more you give—even of your time, your energy, your efforts, your love, your attention, even money. Amen. It all comes back even more to you because you are on favoured ground. Praise the Lord.
And the way to have more is to pour out. She kept on pouring out the bottles of oil. And guess what? It just kept pouring. The oil was unceasing. Amen. Just kept on pouring until she said, "Bring me another bottle." And one of the sons said, "That's the last one." And you know what happened? The oil ceased. So the oil waited on the vessels. It wasn't the other way around. With God's supply, it is us—we limit the Holy One of Israel. We limit the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God wants us to keep on pouring, believing. He's always equipping. He's always blessing. Amen. The oil ceased when she stopped pouring.
Raised with Christ: New Creation Reality
You know, when God raised Christ from the dead, we are in Him. Amen. The Bible says you were raised with Christ. Just like you were crucified with Christ—He became you at the cross. Amen. Your old man, your old identity, with all its curse, with all its physical, hereditary defects and all that from Adam—all that is gone. Praise the Lord. You've got to believe it.
The Bible says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. All things have become new. Amen. Believe it. When God raised Christ from the dead, you are in Christ now. Just like you were in Christ at the cross, now you are in Christ. Amen. The new you, born again. Amen. You come up out of the grave with Christ.
Seated with Christ Far Above All Things
When God makes Christ sit down at His right hand—God set Him at His right hand. Amen. And guess what? You and I in Him. God raised us far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named. You are raised far above them all. Now, whatever you're challenged with right now, it has a name, doesn't it? Well, the Bible says, in Christ, you are far above it. Amen.
And when God made Christ sit down at His right hand, the center of the universe, you sat down in Christ. That's a posture of rest. That's the winning posture. Amen. Where you sit down, expecting all His enemies and your enemies to become Jesus' footstool. Because you are in Him, that same attitude that Jesus has—expecting the enemies to come under His feet. Amen. That same posture is your posture today. That same attitude is your attitude even toward this challenge facing you right now. Amen.
You cannot work against it. You cannot perform against it. All you can do is expect. Why? It's all been done. Amen. At the cross, you expect that thing to come under Jesus' feet—all at your feet, because you are in Christ. Amen.
In fact, that passage goes on to say that God wants us to know the resurrection power in Christ. But not only that, when God raised Him far above all principality and power and seated Him at His own right hand, the next verse tells us He put all things—all things—under His feet. Now, you are in Him. You are seated with Christ. Guess what? All things are under your feet.
God's Perspective: You Are Far Above Circumstances
Pastor Prince doesn't seem like, you know, I feel like many times I'm under the circumstances. I'm under the weather. In fact, that's what I tell people: "What are you doing under?" God says, those things are under you—far, far below you. Because you are far, far above it. Amen. That's the true posture. That's how God sees you. And no one sees reality the way God sees it. Hallelujah.
Our eyes can play tricks this side of heaven. Amen. We can see like the pool looks shallow, and if you're not a swimmer, you jump in—oh man, you're gone. Let me tell you this: No one sees reality like God. And God says God's perspective of you today is that you're seated with Christ far above all things.
Now watch this: God put all things under Jesus' feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church. I like the New Living Translation: God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Christ head over all things—for the benefit of the church. Amen. He's head over all things. Listen carefully. We know He's head over all things. But where we need to see Him as head over all things in a practical way is here on earth. Amen. But the reason God did that for Jesus is because God has you in mind—the church.
The Church: God's Dream Fulfilled
The church is not a physical building. Whenever you see the church in the Bible, it is something established by God. It originated in God's heart and mind. And then it was born of God on the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts. Amen. That was the birthday of the church. And since then, God's dream has been fulfilled to have people—Jew and Gentile from all walks of life—to bring a people for His name out of every nation of the earth.
But we fail to see this glorious fact of resurrection and what it means for ourselves—in terms of forgiveness of our sins, in us being born again, in our position now as the many-membered body of Christ called the church. We fail to see how the resurrection has accomplished all this for us. And as a result, we are living in defeat. We are living under the circumstances. We are constantly struggling, stressed, depressed. Friend, that's not God's will for you.
God loves you. Amen. God wants you to be at peace. First of all, peace with God. And then peace with yourself and peace with people around you. Yes, the Bible says as much as possible, live peaceably with all men—whether they are believers or not. Hallelujah. God wants peace for you. Amen. He delights to see you in peace, not in strife, in stress, depressed. God loves you, my friend. Amen. Praise the Lord.
Knowing Christ Through Righteousness by Faith
Now, if you look at the Bible, what it tells us about how to know God and this power of His resurrection—notice what Paul says in Philippians 3: "I want to be found in Him," Paul says, "not having my own righteousness, which is from the law"—the law here is the Ten Commandments. Amen. Righteousness which is from the law. "Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith."
Paul says, I want this righteousness. I want to be found in Christ—not having that kind of self-righteousness where I perform this, I perform that, and I think I'm better than others because I'm extra holy. No, not that kind of righteousness which you get from the law. I don't want that, Paul says. Amen. God has given us a new righteousness, which is Christ Himself. I want to be found in Christ, who is my righteousness, the righteousness which is by faith. Amen.
Not by your performance, not by your works—the righteousness which is a gift given to you, paid for by the blood of Jesus. You take that righteousness—we read just now, God made Jesus to be sin for us. So at the cross, Jesus knew no sin, He did no sin, in Him is no sin, but He became sin. Why? He took our sin. So that today, we who know no righteousness—in us is no righteousness—we become the righteousness of God in Him.
How? We receive what He gave. Amen. He gave Himself to us, and He is our righteousness. So all our sins were transferred to Him at the cross, and all that He is—righteous before God—is transferred to our account. Amen. All the favour of God, the best of all His favours, is abounding towards you, child of God, as if you deserve the very best blessings that God has. And that's what God has given us. Praise the name of Jesus, seated with Christ. It's the greatest blessing of all. If only we have eyes to see. Amen. And once we are there, every other blessing is now upon us—blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Praise the Lord.
The Power of Resurrection Through Righteousness by Faith
Now notice what Paul says in Philippians again: This righteousness of God by faith is the one I want. Why? That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. In other words, the more you believe that you are righteous by faith—not righteous by your works—now you are believing the gospel. You are believing the truth. You are believing the very thing that thrills God's heart. Amen.
The very thing that God wants people on earth today to hear is this truth: That God has taken all their sins and put them on Jesus. Jesus paid it all. Amen. And died and rose from the dead when they were declared righteous. Now, that square with their name on it—that standing of favour—is there. But it must be possessed. Amen. If it's not possessed, you cannot be born again. Amen. You must take that place. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
You need to identify yourself with what Christ has done. Believe. Amen. And receive. Praise the Lord. Notice, He says, only by the righteousness of God by faith that I may know Him—not only know the Lord, but you will know the power of His resurrection, which is what we are talking about.
Pastor Prince, you talk about the resurrection and all that—how we are raised far above all principalities and powers against every difficulty that comes against us that has a name. But Pastor, how do I see that in my own life? Because we do not know the power of His resurrection. But how do I know Him and the power of His resurrection? By understanding more the righteousness by faith.
Once you declare, "Yes, God," you are agreeing with God. God declares you righteous. You declare yourself righteous. Amen. Not in and of yourself. Amen. But in another—in Christ. I'm the righteousness of God in Christ. You will get to know God. You will come to know Him intimately. And then not only that, you will know the power of His resurrection. Hallelujah!