Joseph Prince - How to Break the Spiral of Fear and Depression (02/07/2026)
This sermon contrasts the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, which brought death, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Mount Zion at Pentecost, which brought life and salvation. The key message is that the gospel is grace, not law, and believers are called to operate from the place of mercy and righteousness in Christ. A major emphasis is on praying in the Spirit as a means to receive God's peace and intercede beyond human understanding.
From Mount Sinai to Mount Zion: Law vs. Grace
The gospel is not preaching the law. It is preaching grace, the finished work. The law is good, but it cannot make you good. The law is holy; no one can be holy through the law. So we are no more on Mount Sinai when God gave to Israel the Ten Commandments. And Israel is the only one that God gave the Ten Commandments. The rest of us, the Bible says, every man has in his conscience the work of the Lord written in their conscience. But Israel was given the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Say Mount Sinai. This is Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia today, not the hospital. So when God gave the Ten Commandments, what happened to the men down there? They all died. Okay, got it? And the Jewish people tell us that is the Feast of Pentecost.
Pentecost means 50. Like you say, Pentecostal, the 50th day. It's the 50th day from Passover: Pentecost. God gave the law and 3000 people died. Fast forward to the new covenant: in the upper room the disciples were gathered, the 11 apostles, and they had to choose someone to replace Judas and then they were all in the upper room. And the Bible says this upper room is at Mount Zion. Say Mount Zion. It's at Mount Zion. And on the day of Pentecost, and it's so telling because Acts 2 says in verse 1: When the day of Pentecost was fully come, God waited because the law was given on the first feast of Pentecost. Under grace, God waited until the day of Pentecost came, which they celebrated.
Pentecost Contrast: Death Under Law, Life Under Grace
And they were all gathered together. It was very crowded in Jerusalem because a lot of people came to celebrate Pentecost. This time, God gave what? The Spirit, not the law. And Paul...Peter went out and preached and 3000 people got saved. So when the law was given, 3000 people died. When grace was given, when the Spirit was given, 3000 people were saved. So God said to me a long time ago, "Move your pulpit from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion," amen. "Start preaching from the mercy seat, not from the judgment seat," amen. And something else happened on the day of Pentecost when God poured out his Spirit, that the church world has been still reticent to acknowledge or to accept.
All of them, all 120 of them in the upper room, they were gathered there, and Mary was there as well, mother of Jesus. They were all gathered there. And the Holy Spirit came and they all began to speak with other tongues, "as the Spirit gave them utterance," the Bible says. Now notice, they spoke, not the Holy Spirit. A lot of people when they ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, their mouth is closed. God never forces you. God never makes you. You understand? All right? The Law demands, grace supplies. So the supply is there, the flow is there. You open your mouth and let the flow out. It may be words unintelligible to you and most of them are.
You won't know what you're saying but that's the beauty of it because for so long, your mind has been bullying you. Your mind has reasoned you into depression, into a place where mentally you feel like you're losing it. Your mind, the way you're lodging it, making everything out to be your mind. Unless I can understand, I will not believe. Although there are many things you don't understand, yet you believe. So here, okay, let's go right to the Word. Actually, I've been teaching you the Word throughout the whole thing, already. Ephesians 6. Look at the end of Ephesians 6. That's where we left.
The Armor of God and the Sword of the Spirit
Because the rest of it, the pieces of the armor is all that you have received. Remember that, amen? You have...having put on, having girded your loin with truth, having on the breastplate of, having on, past tense. It's already done. The breastplate of righteousness. You are righteous by faith. Put it on your chest, amen. Because that's where the devil attacks your heart. Diabolos in Greek means an accuser, literally. It's a court term, a prosecutor. He finds faults with you. So make sure you have the breastplate of righteousness on. This is not your righteousness. If your righteousness... it's your righteousness, the devil poke holes in your breastplate.
It is his righteousness that you are wearing. Are you listening or not? You feel accused? Confess under your breath: "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ". And believe it. That's what God looks at, okay? So then, it says, "Having your feet shod with the preparation that comes from the gospel of peace, always ready. A soldier must always be ready. Never be caught by surprise, amen? And then above all, taking up the shield of faith, actually having taken up the shield of faith by which you quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. The only thing you receive is this.
"And take..." the word "take" in the Greek is actually receive. Receive the helmet of salvation, which is hope of salvation, and the sword, the most offensive weapon. The only offensive weapon of the entire... the rest are all defensive. This is offensive, right? "And take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit". We look at the word "praying always" and we think that that's how it starts off, right, in the Greek. But in the Greek, the word "dia" comes first. And the word "dia," D-I-A, I just said D-I-A but that's not how they write it, of course.
Praying in the Spirit: The Key to Divine Intercession
Dia means by means of, in...through. And the one who actually is in its translation of the Bible that got it is Young's. Young's put it like this: "Through all prayer". Through or by means of all prayer. So how do you receive the helmet of salvation? How do you receive the sword of the Spirit? So he gives us a language that we don't understand because we cannot wire trap ourselves. Thus if we pray, for example, you pray for your son, it transcends time and space. It transcends time and space. Why? You can pray for your future. You can pray for your past where the trauma set in and caused this fear that you have today.
That even psychiatrists will have to probe and probe and probe and you have to pay a lot of money to find. And sometimes it's not even accurate. It's not that problem, it's another problem. But the Holy Spirit knows how to go back into your past, amen, and deal with it or go to your future. Like for example, you're praying for your son, all right? And you don't even know you're praying for your son. You just sense there's a restlessness. You need to pray. You're praying for your son, all right? What you're praying for your son, you don't even know. But you're praying for your son.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, as he's crossing the road, there is a man who is drunk during daytime. He just had too much drink. He's passing by that moment at the right time...wrong time. And the prayer is saying, God protect the boy, hinder him from crossing at that time. A lot of deliverances that God gives us, we cannot even thank him for because we don't know. We thank him for what we know. He is under-thanked. And we are under-thanking. So we come together on Sunday, we give him all the praise and the worship, amen, for who he is and for all that he's done.
Understanding Grace and the Power of Tongues
For all the things that we know and the things that we don't know, amen? Many years ago, our church, before this grace revolution happened in New Creation Church, in the early '90s, I was preaching. Those years are all those "Pray in Tongues" series. You know what happened after a season of "Pray in Tongues"? It launched forth the grace revolution in 1997. That's why people under grace, when they pray in the Spirit, they understand grace. Because grace, you cannot understand grace. Grace is not logical. Law is logical. Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad. I understand that.
I understand that. Everyone in the world understands that. Do good, get good. Even a child understands. Don't have to teach your child. Do good, you get good. Do bad, what do you get? Bad. But you can receive good, you don't deserve...ah! Amen? We balk at that. And anyone who preaches that, we don't understand, so we assassinate him, his character, I mean. My character has been assassinated. I don't know why it gets stronger and stronger by the grace of God. Yeah, it seems like people throw rocks, right? And then this foundation just raise it higher.
More people get to hear about me because of the criticism, you know? So I don't want to say welcome, okay? I just say, "Let God be God". What do I do? I don't pay attention to those things. I forgive the people involved. Whenever I hear about someone, I forgive the person. I even take communion for the person or persons. I take communion for them. But then you know what? When I get up, I move on. I move on, amen? Because I know this calling from God. You cannot understand grace. You see, tell me you understand this or not.
Everyone that Jesus healed, okay? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you can see the healing of Jesus's ministry. Everyone that he healed in the Gospels, he never tell them... he never compelled them to follow him. Yeah, he did tell some fishermen, "Follow me," but he didn't heal them. I know what you're thinking. He did say, "Follow me," the fishermen. But everyone that he healed, he never used that as a pretext. "Now I heal you, uh? Now you follow me". Jesus never buys hearts. He wins them by the attractiveness of grace. I want to share with you a secret before you go, all right? And you see with me now.
The Practical Mechanics of Praying in the Spirit
How did Ephesians 6:18 talk about praying in the Spirit? "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," right? By the way, go back to Young's verse. Show them. Young says: "Through all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit". So "at all times" is the word "kairos". That means what? Pray at every opportunity you get in the Spirit. Pray. That's a gift that came on the day of Pentecost. Paul says, "I would that you all speak with tongues". But in the church, he rather not everyone just pray in tongues out loud.
And that's the only time you pray. Don't try to impress each other with your spirituality. He's saying that. But rather you speak words that people understand. Yes, in the church. Notice the words, these four words: "Yet in the church," I'd rather you speak. But then he says what? "Forbid not to speak with tongues. I would that you all speak with tongues". Then Paul says, "I pray in tongues more than you all". Now, notice the word, "praying at all times in the Spirit". I told you, "at all times" is "at all kairos," every opportunity you get, amen?
Now, praying, notice what? What prayer? Prayer and supplication. Keep those two in mind. Prayer and what? Prayer and? But both are done in the Spirit. Now go back to the New King James, and it says that "praying always with all prayer and supplication". Notice all prayer and supplication, all right? I'm going to give you the Greek so you will hear this word and get familiar with it. So you know, if I mention it again, you will see it. Prayer is proseuche. Supplication is deesis. Proseuche, deesis. So you won't think that, "Oh, it's only the same in English but not in the original".
You will see it. Just tuck it somewhere. Proseuche, prayer, supplication, deesis. Keep it, okay? Notice the twins. And both are done in the Spirit. Both are done what? In the Spirit. Dimensions of prayer, okay? Are you with me so far? Now watch this. Let's go to Philippians chapter 4, verse 6: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by," what? That is proseuche and deesis. Exactly the same words used where? In Ephesians 6, for praying in tongues, okay? Praying in the Spirit.
Receiving God's Peace Through Spirit-Led Prayer
So, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving," also, the Bible says, when someone invites you to dinner or whatever, all right? The Bible says, "Pray in English". It doesn't say English there, but pray in your own known language because the guy you pray in tongues, it says this, for truly you give thanks well. One translation: You truly give thanks excellently. That means if you pray in tongues, it's giving thanks as well, excellently. But it says, you truly give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
Doesn't understand what you're saying. Doesn't know when to say amen and start eating. So when people ask you to pray over the food, don't go amen? The guy is...all right? You will see a flying fork hit Pastor Mark. And the wife says, "Darling, it's not your fault. It is the fork," okay? So it says: "Let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus". Now we all want the Peace of God to guard our hearts and minds.
The word "guard" is a very strong military word that's used in the Greek over here. It means a military garrison guarding your heart and mind from all fears, worries, anxieties which cause... these thoughts will cause you to go into a spiral of oppression, depression. Pray in the Spirit. "Let your requests be made known to God". Now this word, "requests be made known to God" sounds passive. It's not like you are making every anxious request that you have, request about anxiety, to God. No, it is being made known to God by someone.
The Holy Spirit as Our Helper in Prayer
Now I'm going to show you the Greek right now. The Greek for this one is actually present passive imperative. Passive, not active. Present passive imperative. That means you are not the one making known. If it's you making known, like your part is this: be anxious for nothing. That is active voice. So what do you do? You pray. Your part is to pray in the Spirit and the Spirit makes known to God. Now, when you pray in tongues, but then every day, how do you maintain it? The Spirit-filled, constant filling. In Ephesians, it says: "Be being filled with the Spirit". Passive imperative. Again, present passive imperative.
In other words, you are not actively filling yourself. You are not the player here. You are singing. That's you. You are just singing. It says: "Speaking to yourself," next line, "in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs". That's you singing, you know, praise the Lord. "I sing praises to your name, O Lord. Blessed be the Lord, God Almighty". I tell you, on your way to work, when you sing like that even under your breath whether you're in an MRT or in your vehicle on your way there, it changes everything. You know why? Because you are being filled with the Spirit.
But notice you are being filled. It's passive. So same thing here. When you are praying in tongues and prayer and supplication we have established, again, the proof is there. From the same word, proseuche deesis, prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Although the word "in the Spirit" is not here, it's the same thing because Bible interpret Bible. When these two things appear together, are you listening? And then not only that, this "be made known" is not you making known. If it is you making known, it's active. This one is passive.
Okay, so in the middle of the night, you have this pain or you have a worry or whatever and your stomach is like, you know, butterflies in your stomach, okay? You're feeling knots down there. What do you do? Now, some people say, "Get up, get down, cast your cares to the Lord. Just cast your cares". That's fine. I'm not knocking that. You can use that as a prime... as one of the use of the... but I believe the primary word here written to people in the New Testament, people who understand about praying in tongues because it's rampant in the early church.
They pray in tongues all the time. So they understood Paul when he says by prayer and supplication. So what they do when they are anxious, you just say this to the Lord: "Lord, I do not know how to pray for this condition". You know there's a verse in Romans 8, verse 26: "Likewise, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we ought". Come on, come on, come on, amen? So how many realize that many of us, we don't know how to pray as we ought? It's only Pastor Mark, amen, and Pastor Lawrence.
The rest of us humans, we don't know how to pray as we ought, right? Am I right or not? So, we need the Holy Spirit, amen? But don't forget the Holy Spirit is God himself. And he's been sent, one of his offices today is to be our helper, amen. The one who comes alongside and helps us, amen. Now the Holy Spirit don't make the praying for you. It says, "Likewise," Romans 8.26. "Likewise the Spirit helpeth". The word "helpeth" is the word "sun" in front in the Greek, which means join together, join helper. You must still pray. He'll give you the words. So I tell Justin, even funny words come up. Just say it as you're praying in the Spirit, amen.