Joseph Prince - How to Win Without Losing Your Soul (01/26/2026)
All things may not be good, but God works them together for our good because He knows the future and loves us enough to sometimes disappoint us to bring us to His best place. In Genesis 26, Isaac sowed in famine, obeyed God by not going to Egypt, and reaped hundredfold blessings, showing that true prosperity starts with knowing God, fearing Him, and trusting His ways over the world's.
God Is For You – Understanding His Purpose in Hard Times
All things may not be good, but all things will work together for good. Because God knows the future. God knows where and how we all should end up, you know. And He will disappoint us because He loves us. He will risk, amen, you being angry with Him, you know, misunderstanding Him, as long as He gets to love you and bring you to the place where He wants you to be.
You must understand that God is for you, for you, and not against you. Therefore, God is for your happiness. And God knows the things that He tells us, you know, are things that are for our own good. Amen? In the Bible, the greatest success is to know Him. Amen? And then we make Him known. Praise the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So, let me tell you this. The greatest thing you can learn is to know the Lord Jesus. Amen. Is to know God's love. And to know that you are not just an accident in this world. That God meant for you to be born. You have a call and you have a purpose in life. Amen?
You Are Uniquely Designed by God
And God has designed you in such a way that there's no two fingerprints in this world that are alike. There never was someone like you. And there'll never be anyone like you. Amen? Your voice prints, everything about you. You are unique. Amen? There's only one of you. And we need you. I know there are places that say, you know, we don't need you and all that. But let me tell you this. We need you. Amen? You know why? Because only you can fulfill the call that God has for you.
So, what I'm trying to say, money is important. Alright? But money is not to be our idol. Amen? We use money to serve the Lord. We use money and love people. We don't love money and use people. We love God. Let money come. Amen? Let money come. If your name is money come, it just so happens, okay? Praise the Lord. But you pursue the Lord and let money come after you. Amen?
Lessons from Genesis 26 – Famine as a Time to Trust God
Alright, Genesis 26. There was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And the Bible tells us that this famine was besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. So, even Abraham, the blessed man of God, the man that we bless ourselves by, we are blessed with the blessing of Abraham. Amen? So even he experienced famine.
But let me just tell you this. Famine is the time where you stop and assess your life. Where you stop and say, why is this, why is there a famine? Why am I in an environment of famine? It can be a famine of favour. Things are all going against you instead of for you. So Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar. Then the Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt. I repeat, do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I shall tell you.
So even when things are going wrong, amen, keep on coming to church. Keep on spending time in the Word of God. Read the Daily Devo. Amen? Pray. Even when things are going wrong, trust. Even if there's famine, there's good coming. Amen? Good is coming in your future. Dwell in the land. Don't go down to Egypt, the ways of the world.
The Reward of Dwelling in God's Presence
When you spend time with God and you give God that time, the Lord knows it. He rewards you with quality time. The Bible says one of the benefits of wisdom is that length of days, long life and peace. Obviously, length of days and long life are two different things or else they won't be put in the same sentence. Length of days, long life and peace. Shalom. Shalom is more than just peace of mind. It is health, well-being, wholeness.
So God says dwell in this land. Dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants, I give all these lands. Next verse, God says, I'll make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven. Drop down. See what Isaac did. He obeyed God. Then Isaac sowed in that land. Now, you don't sow in a year of famine.
So there are believers who say, you know what? It seems like I've been giving to God. I've been tithing. I've been giving to God. And yet, there seems to be nothing happening. Famine. What do you do? Keep on persevering. You belong to Abraham's family. And Abraham's family sows in the year of famine. Alright? Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. Obviously, this is the blessing of the Lord. Amen? And the Lord blessed him.
From Sowing to Supernatural Prosperity
And the Bible says, the man began to prosper. I call this a thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold blessing. But watch this. The man began to prosper. If you haven't begun yet, alright, don't forget, before the "began" is the sowing. Then he began to prosper. He continued prospering. That's a sixtyfold. And until he became very prosperous, that's a hundredfold. Amen?
Now here is where you can get criticized by people saying you are preaching the prosperity gospel and all that. I got no time for people like this. Amen? Because many times there are a lot of hypocrites. Why do I say that? They have three, four cars. They have a big house. And then they are criticizing people for encouraging others that they can prosper.
What I'm against is materialism. I'm against greed. I'm against people that love money, avarice. You know, they love money more than people, more than God. That is what I'm against. I'm against pastors that don't want their people to prosper. I think something is wrong. Now something is wrong also if the pastor is living such a lavish lifestyle and, you know, just all about money and all that. Something is wrong.
True Prosperity Makes the World Envious
But if the pastor is, if you look at the church and the church is prospering, the church is growing as a whole. Amen? The pastor is bringing the people into the land. Amen? Are you listening? Amen? You want to be in a church like that. So don't be taken by people like, you know, prosperity in the Bible is all about spiritual things. I agree. Number one is to know God. Didn't I say that just now? I spent so much time saying that, isn't it?
So, you know, sometimes people like to take a statement out of context, but we've got no time to just address all these people. Amen? We just go on preaching the truth. So in case you're thinking this is just spiritual, look at the next line, for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.
Now, the Philistines are people who are the enemies of God, enemies of the people of the land, the Jewish people. Usually they end up as enemies, okay? Goliath was a Philistine. Philistines are not spiritual people. They don't go by spiritual eyesight. Obviously, they are looking at palpable, visible, tangible blessings of God on Isaac. So much so they envied him, they are jealous of him.
Do you make the world jealous of the blessings of God that's on you? Do you know that one of the connotations of the Hebrew word berak, which is blessing? It's actually to be envied. And in the Amplified Bible, it brings it up. Blessed to be envied is the man who fears the Lord.
Avoid Egypt – The Place of Double Distress
So God says, do not go down to Egypt. What about Egypt? Egypt in Hebrew is the word Mitsrayim. It's plural. It's double straightness. Literally, double distress or double stress. If you look at the land of Egypt, it's very flat. God says, the land of Israel is hills and valleys. Amen?
But here, it says, do not go down to Egypt. It is a flat land. And on both sides of the land, it is sandwiched by desert. And the desert will blow its dry sands into the land of Egypt. Egypt hardly has rainfall. Very little rainfall. And the only sustenance is the river Nile. But they do not know its source. They enjoy it, but they do not know the source. Isn't that like the world?
When God says, don't go down to Egypt, don't go down into a place of double pressure, double distress, double stress. Literally, Mitzrayim means double distress or stress. God doesn't want you to go down to a place where you'll be hemmed in on both sides. The land of Egypt is hemmed in on both sides. You have Libya and you have Sudan. So it's literally sandwiched by desert. And the only sustenance that it has for its drinking water and washing and all that is the river Nile. And they don't even know its source.
Isn't it like the world? They enjoy even the blessings on this earth, amen, is still from God, amen. Every good and perfect gift is from above, the Bible says, and from the Father of lights. But they do not know its source. You and I know its source. That's why we always worship, we acknowledge Him, we thank Him, we give Him glory, we even tithe to show that He's the source of all our blessings.
The Land Flowing with Milk and Honey – Heaven's Blessing
Deuteronomy 11. Acknowledge the Lord and you prolong your days. God brings you to a land flowing with milk and honey. Notice again, it's not a land of milk and honey. It's a land flowing. Flowing is an idea of copiousness, plenteousness, abundance. Amen? Superfluousness. Flowing of milk and honey.
For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot as a vegetable garden. But the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of heaven. So in Egypt, they get their water from below the river, alright? And they have to work it.
It's a lot of effort. God can just bless you. And you are blessed. The world, like I said, they spend so much of their health to get the wealth and then later on they spend the next half of their life using their wealth to get back the health that they have lost. You know, it's like when God blesses you, you are in a place where you love the Lord. You got time with your family, time to come to church, time to smell the flowers, time to enjoy your loved ones. Time to everything there is a season. God gives you that. And you enjoy the goodness of God. That's true prosperity. Amen?
And the blessing comes from where? In Israel? Drinks water from the rain of heaven. Notice the rain of heaven. Where is heaven? Up. So our blessing is from there. Amen? Animals are designed to look down. That's why they are animals. Man is designed to look up, face up. Man is designed to look to God. Beasts of the earth face down. Amen. We are men to have a connection with God. God designed you to be loved, to be cared for, to be provided. So we know our source is from God.
Wisdom from Above – The Principal Thing
I want to bring this to a close. But before that, let me just say this. You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 22, by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. By humility and the fear of the Lord. How many people, when you tell them, advise them how to handle money and that. They don't want to listen. There goes the riches.
Actually, humility is like wanting to learn from people. How they excel. What do they do. Amen. Humility, teachableness, humility, and the fear of the Lord. What does it bring? Riches, honor, and life. People seek after these three things. Amen. Today, in the world, right? Riches, honor, and life. They seek for esteem from their colleagues, from their fellow men. The Bible says, honor. You have honor and life. Amen.
Proverbs 9 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. The fear of the Lord. Do you know the devil doesn't have wisdom? He has corrupted wisdom. Because the Bible says, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So he has not begun. Because he doesn't fear the Lord.
For some people, they have not even begun. They have natural wisdom. They have knowledge. They are smart. Many times book smart. But they have no wisdom.
Praying Daily for the Spirit of Wisdom
I'm going to show you this real quick, and then we're going to close. The Bible says, Ephesians 1. The very first thing you pray for, therefore, I also, after I heard your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints. Many times when we hear people are doing well. They have faith in the Lord Jesus. And they have love for all the saints, we stop praying. Paul is the opposite.
When I heard about it, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The number one prayer is that you keep on praying. Every day is to ask God for wisdom. The spirit of wisdom and revelation. The first place is in the knowledge of Him. To know Him. When you see Him, it's hard to unsee. No amount of temptation in the world can distract you anymore because you have seen Him.
It's the spirit of wisdom and revelation. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. You have eyes in your heart, your inner man. You can see things before your physical eyes see it. That's how the spirit of wisdom and revelation operates. Yes. You see God with the eyes of your heart. Amen.
And then, notice that the prayer you pray every day is to ask God for wisdom. Colossians chapter 1. It says, For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
The very first area is to be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. And that brings you to being strengthened with all might according to His glorious power for all perseverance and long suffering with joy. You are strengthened so that you become a very cool, calm, collected person. And you will fulfill the keep calm and carry on. You're truly calm. A person who is poised. And that's what the world needs. Multi-millionaires, they want to be that kind of person. You don't know the turmoil they go through. God wants you to be a person strengthened with all might. It takes strengthening with all might for you to be a patient person. It takes strengthening with all might to persevere in the midst of trials, adverse circumstances. Amen?
Closing – Seek Wisdom and Acknowledge Christ as King
So, I close with this. The very first thing you ask God for is always wisdom. Christ is made unto us first, before righteousness even. Wisdom. And then righteousness. And then holiness and redemption. Christ is all this to us. But first wisdom. Wisdom is the principal thing. Hebrew, reshith. Wisdom is the reshith thing. In the beginning, God created – bereshith. Reshith is the very beginning. The very first thing you ask God for is wisdom. Amen?
The wisdom from above is first pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated. The wisdom from below is sensual, demonic, self-seeking. Where there's envy and strife, there is confusion in every evil work. There is a wisdom from the world. It always makes you proud. It makes you self-seeking. It makes you sensual. But the wisdom from above is like Jesus. Pure, gentle, easy to be entreated, humble, good fruits.
And that's what King Rehoboam lacked. The humility. Listen to the people. You're a servant king. Without people, there's no king. That's a good statement. Amen? You must never forget. Leaders, whatever field of leadership you are in, remember this. You are there to serve. A king like Jesus. He was a king and yet you see Him by the shores of Galilee, casting out demons, bringing relief to the oppressed, healing the sick, cleansing the leper. This is a king. The king of Israel. And He uses His power to heal, to set free.
And Pontius Pilate said, shall I crucify your king? And they say, we have no king but Caesar. And for 2,000 years, they've been serving Caesar after Caesar. Whereas the king is waiting for them to say, you are our king. He's going to return. But as you and I, right now, we acknowledge Him as king. And we therefore live in His kingdom, where His kingly sway is over everything that we are over. Remember, our families, our jobs, our ministries, our career, our relationships. There's His kingly touch on all that. There's an authority that the world knows not of. Amen?
And that's what it means. Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Do His way of doing things. And righteousness, peace, and joy may flow. So, don't follow the ways of the world. Don't copy the world. I've got no time for that. People give me books, you know, business books or whatever. It's okay. If you're a business person, you can read all that. But I find that many times when I study those books, I don't even have to. I'm able to organize. I'm able to administrate. Amen. I can talk to people that are more qualified than me and see the very areas they need to change or have revelation in. Now, I'm not saying that in a boastful way. I'm just saying I'm nobody but for the wisdom of God. And I still desperately need His wisdom. And so do you. So make that our prayer every day.