Joseph Prince - The Spirit's Rivers Of Provision And Healing

We are continuing from last week listening to the Christ within. In our relationships, whether it's our marriage, whether it is our children in terms of parenting, in terms of relating to our parents, if you're a son or a daughter, you need to hear the Spirit. There are times the Spirit will tell you to spend more time with a member of your family. You may have, you know, a whole troop, a whole battalion of children. I'm looking at somebody right now and he's pretending he's writing down. What is there to write down, brother? What revelation am I sharing now that you are writing down? Lift up thine eyes into the hills.

You know, there are times a certain child may need more attention than another. There are times your wife needs more attention, right? There are times, you know, you need more attention, and you want your wife to be in the flow, amen? No amen. "Amen, hallelujah. Praise the Lord". S,o, the Bible doesn't tell you when, the Bible doesn't tell you how, but the Holy Spirit has been sent and the anointing which you have received from him abides in you. You need not any man teach you about the timing and the when and the wherewithals, all right, the wherewithals, all right? You know by the Spirit and anointing within. Christ in you, the hope of glory. So, where will you listen to Christ? He won't been outside telling you. In fact, if you hear voices outside, all right, chances are you are listening to the voice of the enemy.

"Pastor Prince, how about audible voice from God"? You know, honestly speaking, all right, there's no instruction in the Bible that says God will speak to us audibly, so don't ask for it, all right? Don't anticipate it because Satan himself can transform himself into an angel of light, not darkness, and he can tell you things from outside. So, it's best for you to always remember, all right, to listen within because Satan is not within, Christ is and Christ in you is greater than Satan who is in the world. So, anything that is outside is suspect. Anything from inside, deep within, all right is of Christ. Now, not peripheral, not from your feelings, not from your emotions, not from your mind, all right, but from your Spirit.

Now, there are times, granted, I want to say this to you from the start, okay? The Spirit of God will never lead you to divorce your wife or your husband. The Spirit of the Lord will never tell you it's all right to commit adultery. The Spirit of the Lord will never tell you in this particular situation it's okay to lie. So, in terms of morals, the Spirit of God will never compromise. So, if you think you're following the Holy Spirit, all right, that's not the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord will teach you who to marry. It will guide you as to how to keep that marriage alive. And if you'll follow the anointing within, he will turn the water into wine. And we have so many examples in our church of people falling in love with someone that they'll never thought they'll fall in love again with that same person, same partner here. Amen, I've seen more than one case in our church, praise the Lord, of that happening. So, the Lord can do that. Can I have a good amen?

When God's river is flowing, let's follow. Jesus said in John 7:37, "In the last day of the great feast he stood up and cried with a loud voice". He said this with a loud voice, so I'm gonna say with a loud voice, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink! He that believes on me as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow! There'll be a flow on the inside of you"! One translation says out of his inner most being, shall what? Flow. Not shall come forth, not shall trickle. Shall flow, rivers of living water. And the next verse says, "This he spoke of the Holy Spirit," amen? So, from within you will flow rivers. We call it inner witness. We call it inner peace. We call it anointing within. Jesus calls it rivers flowing. Say, "Flow," amen.

So, today you are the temple of God and God's Spirit is wanting to flow out of you, amen, and he wants you to follow the direction of the river. And when you follow the direction of the river, it will bring you to life, fruitfulness, prosperity, health and blessings, amen. In fact, the first time river appears in the book of Genesis it says that wherever, one river goes and brings people to the land where there is gold and the gold of that land is good. That means there is prosperity and success, and that prosperity and success is good prosperity and success. It will not cause you your health, nor your family, nor your time in church, your time with God. Amen, church? God wants you to follow the river. You know, when the river turns right, and, you know, you are on a speedboat and you go straight, how many understand you'll be on dry land? And that's where the enemy is. He goes about dry places, Jesus said, amen?

In the river Satan, you know, Satan, he doesn't know how to swim, so that's why when Jesus cast the most demonized man, the demons in him, Jesus cast those demons out of the most demonized man, the Gadarene demonic, they jumped into the pigs. The pigs had enough pig sense to jump into the water, but not to enough to know they'll drown. They are trying to get rid of the spirits, but for some reason they fell. The evil spirits don't like water, so they jumped into the water, amen? So, I'm not saying go and bathe every day. We're not talking about that kind of water, amen? In fact, those who wash their hands often and those who bathe often, those who have phobia towards germ need deliverance. I'm talking about spiritual water, folks, amen, the water of life.

So, there is a vision that Ezekiel saw, and I think we can learn a lot from this vision so let's look at this vision right now. Ezekiel 47, "Then God brought me back to the door of the temple". Now, listen carefully. Who is the temple of God today or where is the temple of God? Here. We are the temple of God. Turn to your neighbor and say, "You are seated by a temple," amen. Look at somebody else say, "The temple of God is always beautiful, really cool, amen, always glorious," amen? It come in all shapes and sizes. All kind of ceilings, amen? All kinds of walls, amen. All kinds of adorning, hallelujah, amen. Some have plenty of space. Some they are cramped, but it's still the temple of God, amen? Amen, aren't you glad we are the temple of God.

So, when you read this afterwards, please understand, all right, if you are sitting down here and you are someone who reads a lot on the End Times and all that and you say, "Pastor Prince, don't you know that this will really happen one day and all that"? Let me tell you this, I probably study more than you on this aspect, okay? But I think the most practical thing is not studying about the future temple of a future event. That's not gonna help us today in the here and now. What is most important are the truths God wants you to learn because don't forget, greater than the physical temple, Jesus didn't come, all right, to die and rise again so that we'll go back to a physical temple, all right? He rose again and gave us the Holy Spirit after he was glorified so that we'll become the temples of God so that wherever we go, the temple of God is. Wherever we are, God is.

Now, I can show you the physical temple and I can show you Ezekiel's temple, all right, because the dimensions are all given to us. But today, our lesson is not about the future temple. And one day the Dead Sea will be healed, yes. I'm talking about all the meanings that God has for us in this chapter, okay, ready? All right, let's go. Ezekiel 47, Praise God. "God brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple towards the east," towards the east. Say, "Towards the east". "For the front of the temple faced east". Now, east is always the location of the glory of God in the Bible. In Isaiah it says, "They will fear my name from the west and my glory from the east". In Ezekiel 43, please. It says here very clearly, "He brought me to the gate, the gate that faces towards the east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east".

So, God's glory comes by the way of the east, amen? Singapore is in the east, amen. Now watch this now. When you follow the river, the river flows out towards the east. Whenever you follow the river, it is always bringing you to the glory of God. It is always glorifying God. When you follow the river, the river will always face the glory of God, amen. The direction of the river will end up to the glory of God. When Jesus is led by the Spirit, all right, Jesus is a perfect example of the river. Everywhere he went, everyone who touched him lived. Everywhere this river went, everyone he touched will heal, even his clothes, amen. So, it's a perfect example of what God wants done through the body of Christ today, amen? So, the river, when you follow the river, all right, people get healed, people get blessed, God gets the glory because the river faces east, amen?

Now, the next verse says, for the front of the temple faced east. "The water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar". So, let's suppose this pulpit here is an altar, all right? Right side is here. This is the right side, right? Okay, the temple faces east. This is the altar, on the right side is south. That's why it says the right side south of the altar. So, the river comes out like this, watch this now. Comes out on the south side of the altar. The south, which is the right side, and then goes towards the east, amen? Now, right side of the altar means right side is always the place of priority, of importance. Right side is a place of righteousness. All right, Jesus stood up on the beach in his resurrected form and said, "Cast the net on the right side". The right side is always the place of priority. God wants us to prioritize the flow, give the flow the right side, which means prioritize the flow. In all your decision making, all right, prioritize the flow.

I was saying just now, there are times, you know, your inner being is muddled. You're not sure, especially when you're falling in love, or you're making decisions or good things are happening, not bad things. Good things are happening, your emotions are running high, all right? That's not the time to make a decision. How many of you have seen a glass of water with sediments and when you stir it, even the sediments below, you stir it, what happens? All the sediments, all right, they rise. That's not a good time to make decisions when your inner being is all, your emotions are agitated, your mind is thinking a lot and reasoning. You need a place where we need to wait. There is no substitute for waiting or quiet time. "Amen, Pastor Prince". There's no substitute. And when you wait, listen carefully, they that wait upon the Lord, what's gonna happen? The sediments will settle and then you will see clearly what is pure and what is not. You will know what is God and what is not, what is of the flesh, amen?

So, there is no substitute for waiting. Are you listening? I know there are times we need to make a quick decision, but you know what? If someone says you gotta sign on the dotted line today, this offer is only good for today. Then you say, "This offer is not for me". If the guy gives you a ring and say, "If you love me, I'm going to Changi Airport. Catch a cab and find me". Then he goes off, amen, like you see in the drama and all that, amen? Just take the ring and say, "Thank you for the ring, I'll pawn it because I cannot rush my decisions". All right, so it does not work the way it work in the drama, amen? Major decision like marrying someone, you cannot wait for a sign, a shooting star. You marriage will become a shooting star also. Can I have a good amen? So, prioritize, give the right side. In other words, the river must have top priority, amen? It will always bring you to the glory of God.

Then the next verse says, "He brought me by the way of the north gate, and led me around the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side". Next verse please. "When the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles". Again, all this came to a vision to Ezekiel. He was seeing this in a vision from God. "Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist". How many know ankle, knee, waist? On the ankle, you're still very much in control. You can walk where you want, even though the water is flowing this way, can't you walk against the water? How many know that?

All right, but the more God measures you, let me tell you about this measuring reed. It is mentioned earlier in earlier chapter that this man measuring the reed is our Lord with a measuring reed. And what the Lord does is that he doesn't measure you to judge you and send you to hell, he does not. But there is a test that comes to all of us before we are promoted. Years ago I still remember, our church was very small and I looked at someone who had a great voice and I mean, I mean better than others in our small group, and I thought, I'll give him a chance to worship lead. So, I gave him an opportunity to worship lead. That Sunday he came very late, the first time he worship lead. He was not, he was ill prepared and straightaway, he never knew it was a test, amen. I was measuring him and he failed, all right, to come up to that higher level that God has for him.

So, sometimes God does the same. God give you a measuring, and please don't think that God judges you with accidents, with sickness. God does not do that. Many a times you'll be surprised, the greatest test that come to us is the measuring reed of success. And all of a sudden, you know we can stand tall during adversity, but many of us, we fall during success. David fell when he was successful. When he has enough army to send, he stayed back instead of going forth, amen, and saw the woman. Everything was fine, everything was cool in his kingdom, amen. He failed the success test. Are you listening? And then you start making decisions because it's convenient. You start making decisions not because the river on the inside. You make decisions because of your financial success, amen? You know ministries that become successful, let me tell you this, you are listening to someone whose ministry is pretty successful, all right? I'm not saying that, you know, braggadociously. I'm telling you, I know what it's like to be tempted, to make decisions for financial reasons, for profit reasons, but we gotta come back to the flow of the Spirit on the inside. What is the Spirit saying? Even it means, all right, we forego that financial profit or gain.

Now, listen carefully, the Lord measures you with success many a times. People forget that, you know, they think that the Lord measures them always with adversity or, you know, now adversity he does but listen carefully, it is not that kind of sickness, disease and all that. Adversity could mean disappointments. You know, you don't get what you want. So, before God brings you to a higher place and before the increased flow comes, God will give you a test. It's not a test to send you to hell or heaven, understand or not? It's not a test, all right, of sickness of disease. No, if anyone tells you that, no. Okay, but it is a measuring rod. Because God will not promote you to a place where your morals cannot keep you. God will not promote you to a place where you have no self-control. I mean, some pastors in my position will let go of all the ethical values we have in this church and before you know it, they fall. How many understand that in this church, we have a lot of wonderful people? It can happen both ways, how many understand?

All right, he that's ignorant let him be ignorant still because some of you look like you're really ignorant what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the temptations are greater, amen. So, before God gives you a bigger company, before God gives you more money, all right, God want to make sure that God love you so much that God want to make sure that this increase in your life will not destroy you or your family. God loves you so much, God doesn't want it to destroy your health, so God will measure you. And if you show yourself faithful, that the little that you do, you do with your heart, you do with faithfulness and loyalty, God says, promotion, amen. And then God enlarge your inside. You're able to take more. God enlarge you further, you're able to take more. And somebody wants to take a shortcut, they will fall because they don't have that inner capacity and dealing of the Lord. Are you listening, church?

So, every time God brings me through a dealing, I find personally that the anointing increases in my life. Every time I find that I obey him in new areas, not the Old Testament obedience of obeying the law, all right, with no life relationship but in obedience of the Spirit, obeying the promptings of the Spirit. You know, you can obey the law and still be in rebellion against God? God is telling you to spend more time with your wife or family and then you are obeying God outwardly, not committing adultery, nothing, but you're spending a lot of time away from your family and you're still in disobedience because you're not listening to the Spirit within. Or you can be keeping the Ten Commandments outwardly, and you know what? You're eating in a way that God is not leading you to.

Okay, let's put it this way, God's guidance is also eating, telling you to eat and you don't want to eat, you want to diet, all right? And you will die without the cross. All right, diet now without the cross, D-I-E without the cross, what happens? You remove the cross, you know what happen, right? So, when God tells you to eat, eat. Don't diet. Don't try to be skinny because you want to go by your mentality, and that's why people are not following what the Spirit of God is saying, okay? God wants to measure, every time God measures, notice the Lord measures, they increase, the water increases, all right? So, finally it came to the waist. Verse 5, "And finally he measured 1,000 and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim," ha, ha, "A river that could not be crossed".

Isn't it wonderful when the Holy Spirit carries you, all right, you start to do things, say things that, you know, you don't even have time sometimes to pray about, but it comes out because you're so full, amen, you're just full of the Holy Spirit, amen. You start making decisions without even thinking about it sometimes, and we all want to come to that place where, you know, everything that we do is all Spirit empowered, amen? Jesus's sermons is not so much prepared as, for example, he noticed the Bible says how the people take the front row, you know, "This is okay, this is for convenience". All right, and I know their hearts, but I'm talking about the Pharisees and all, they love the chief seats and all that. And Jesus, the Bible says he noticed and then he preached a parable. Obviously he didn't prepare. He saw what happened and the Spirit of God gave him a message on the hour, on the spot, amen?

So, we all want to be full of the Holy Spirit like Jesus without measure, but until we are there, let's pass every test that comes. Can I have a good amen? A test may come, there's a call, all right, to help the church in ushering or children's ministry and you say, "It will cost me my time. I don't think I can afford to lose more time". You do not know and the river inside says, "Volunteer. Give to the Lord. What I've given you, give your service to the Lord". "But I don't have the time". So, at the end, it's a battle between the river and your mentality, the tree of knowledge. But the day you eat the tree of knowledge, you die and then you say, "Nah, I don't want. It's too costly". All right, all this conversation goes on quietly. How many understand that?

Okay, and you step out of the river and you fail the test. And then when the time comes, you want to know what stocks to invest. You find the river is not so deep. It is ankle deep only. And you're wondering how come God leads other people, God leads Pastor Chan, God leads Pastor Mark and God leads this care group leader. God leads this Christian, that Christian, and God doesn't seem to lead you. You're wondering why. Go back and realize where you last disobeyed him in the Spirit. Remember from where you fell. That means before you fell you were on high ground for you to remember from where you fell. To be in the place of obeying God's Spirit is high ground. Can I have a good amen? If God tells you to stand up to your mother-in-law, who is imposing her will on the family, all right, do it. This is the best part. This is what I covered last Sunday, you know? If the Spirit of God tells you to be confrontative, you better be confrontative.

And many of us, we follow a law that says be nice, be gentle, be kind. When you look at Jesus, he's the kindest person ever walked on earth, and yet there are times he's confrontative, amen. We gotta follow the Spirit. Can I have a good amen? If we follow the Spirit, it will accrue to the glory of God and to your blessing. And all the people said, amen. Now he said to me, once the river rises and you have no choice but one must swim. "The Lord said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen this?' Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river. When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other". Now, it does not tell you what trees these are but let me tell you this, the Bible is very consistent. This is the tree of life. How do I know? You see, wherever the river went, listen carefully, the river start flowing already, all right?

So, he followed, followed, followed finally measuring then he followed, measure then he followed, right or not? Every test, the river increases and then God brought him back to the beginning of the river. And this time as the Lord brought him back, he saw that where the river flowed, there were trees on the banks. Isn't that amazing? God will cause fruitfulness to come into your life wherever the river flows, amen. Don't just do things because it is right mentally to you. Don't do things just because it is convenient. Don't do things just because it's profitable. Do things because deep down you know it's the Lord. Can I have a good amen? There is a strong amen on the inside. Do it because there's a strong amen. Praise the Lord. Then when you do that, you find trees of life.

Now, I'm gonna tell you right now what those trees are, trees of life. How do we know? Because in Revelations 22:2 it says, "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of"? Tree of life. We are back again to the garden. "Which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations". Now, some people think, "One day I'll go to heaven and I can eat from the tree and experience the leaves for my healing". No, in heaven, you don't need leaves for your healing because you have a brand-new body that will never get sick, ever. You will never die again.

So, why tell us the tree of life in heaven is for the healing of the nations? No, he's giving you a snapshot of heaven where today if you walk in the Spirit, you are partaking of that tree that is in heaven, the tree of life that God wanted Adam to partake! And I believe that the reason why God made Eve, that's why Eve was always hanging in the middle of the garden, but she point him to the wrong tree! She pointed him to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For some reason God says, "Eat every tree except for one tree," including the tree of life. God only forbade man from eating the tree of knowledge of good and evil because God doesn't want you to live by the knowledge of good and evil, amen. A lot of knowledge today that we have, even in the church, is knowledge of good and evil. It deadens you. God wants you to eat from the tree of life.

You know, there are places that teach you the Bible, traditional places, churches, whatever. They teach the Bible. And yet you can sit down there and it's dead. You feel dead. There's no other way to describe it, I've been there before, amen? And what God wants when the Bible is open, the Spirit is being ministered. There's life in the teaching, amen. Can I have a good amen? Hallelujah. All right, church, now next verse please. "Then he said to me: 'This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley". The word valley here is Arava, the Arava Desert. Today Israel call that desert Arava or wilderness. Goes down into the valley and enters the sea. This is the Dead Sea, by the way. You know why they call it the Dead Sea, those that have been to Israel? Because it is so high in content, the minerals are so high in content that all kinds of minerals, you know, and some of the minerals, I believe, are greatly in demand and will be greatly in demand in the Last Days.

But then let's forget the natural Dead Sea. What it says that the river goes out from the temple, goes from the Brook Kidron, from the Brook Kidron it goes to the Dead Sea where nothing lives. There's no fish. What's gonna happen to the Dead Sea? Let's read. There will be, "When it reaches the sea its waters are healed"! Hallelujah. When these rivers of living water touches your colleagues who are not believers, it touches the people in your family who are not believers. They will live. They'll be healed. There'll live, amen. God wants you to carry your baby and release the river of life on the inside of you. Praise the Lord. "When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. It shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes".

And we see this in an isolated fashion in the life of Jesus. Wherever he went, people lived, even the dead lived. He never attended a funeral that remained a funeral. He always spot funerals, whether it is four days inside already or on the way like the widow of Nain, amen? Because he's such a river. Whoever comes across his way, they live or they're healed. And God wants you to be like that. God wants our church to be like that. Can I have a good amen? Praise the name of Jesus. And there'll be a very great multitude of fish, not just a lot of fish, a very great multitude of fish. Fish in the Bible speaks of souls, salvation, amen. Jesus says, "I will make you fishers of men," amen? Fishers of men. What does that mean? He told Peter he'll be an evangelist, a carrier of good news, amen, and the people in the world are fishers, hallelujah. And fish, all kinds of shapes and sizes, big fish, small fish, sardine, whale. But the Lord promised he'll make you fishers of men. All right, praise the Lord. Can I have a good amen?

So, there'll be salvation, lots of salvation when you allow the river to flow, amen? It is not your efforts, it's the river. Your part is to flow with the river or be born along with the river. Can I have a good amen? Hallelujah. Now, remember the river is not inside you to point out your sins. Some people have the idea when the river, you must listen to the river telling you about your sins. No, the river is there to help you, concerning all things. The river is to show you where you're coming short so that you can avoid that and find the way up, the way through, the way around. The river is there to help you. You understand? Can I have a good amen? God will not remember your sins. In fact, do you know why in Hebrews 11 you have the great hall of faith? By faith Abraham, by faith Samson, by faith Isaac, by faith Moses. Do you know that they all make mistakes and committed sins? But do you know something? In Hebrews 11, their sins are not recorded.

Do you know why in Hebrews 11 none of the heroes of faith, their sins are recorded, you know why? Because of Hebrews 10, the chapter before. Hebrews 10:17 says, "Your sins I'll remember no more". And when God says he remembers your sins no more, God remembers your sins no more. And that's why the river can flow, understand that. God is no more judging you after your sins, no. When God measures you it's to promote you. It's to bless you, to bring you higher. And God will not promote you in a place where you will kill yourself, or you will kill your family, or kill someone else, amen? And God is not dealing with you after sins no more. Thank you, Jesus. All right, let's go on. And these fishermen, there'll be a lot of evangelists. "It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi," say, "En Gedi," "To En Eglaim". Say, "En Eglaim". "They will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea," Sea or Mediterranean Sea. Great Sea is always Mediterranean Sea, "Exceedingly many".

So, there'll be all kinds of fish in the Dead Sea. Praise the Lord. Now, church, in the natural, the Dead Sea is becoming two seas. If you go to Israel, on top of Masada, those who are going to Masada, all right, make sure next week you are going, right? When you're on top of Masada show them the Dead Sea. There's a land bridge now. There's a small sea, the Bible says the next verse, next verse, please. "The swamps and marshes will not be healed". So, there is portion of the Dead Sea that will not be healed. It's given over the salt. And today there is a bridge already and the large portion of the Dead Sea will be healed. And that tells me more people will be saved, more will be healed in the Last Days than there are who are not. If you look at your map in the Bible, you look at back it says Dead Sea. You will find a sliver of land coming out.

But let me just announce to you, that picture or that map is outdated. Today, that land bridge is all the way across. There are now two Dead Seas. The portion that the Bible says it will heal, the north one, is the larger portion, the smaller part. So, there'll be a small portion, not safe in the end but praise be to God, there'll be fishermen from En Gedi to En Eglaim. If you look carefully, look at the verses before, you'll find that first of all, the river brought forth trees. Then from trees it brought forth fish. Then after fish, it brought forth kids and calves, which is the animal life. If you look at the sequence carefully, plant life, fish life, animal life, you are seeing the same pattern of Genesis chapter 1. When God made everything, God made exactly in this sequence, plant life and then God made fish life and then God made animal life.

So, what you're seeing is the river will bring you back to all the blessings that God first had in mind for man before man fell. And all this plant life, you know, animal and life and all that speaks of your blessings. When Jesus wanted to feed the multitudes, all right, a portion in his hands were plant life or, excuse me, fish life. The other portion is plant life. Yeah, plant life, bread, five loaves, two fish. So, we have plant life. We have fish, amen? God will bless you by the land, by the sea, through every animal and cattle. In other words, God will bless you every way. All creation will be yours when you follow the river.

Now, I find in church that one of the biggest problems sometimes, you know, in the body of Christ is that we do things out of our mentality. We do things out of our heart and all that when actually we're not listening to the river. We do things based on what we like or we dislike. And I've learned to always wait because, you know, I don't want to, even when I hear from God, I will not say, "God told me" in an environment of where my leaders are or even in a council meeting. Pastor Prince does not do that. I will not say, "God said". All right, in a ministerial anointing, I will say that because we don't have time for you to confirm. When it comes to the direction of the church, when it comes to, I always let my leaders speak, all right, like the Book of Acts. At the end when we speak, we thrash things out. We even argue. We bring our points and all that.

You know what? God, the Holy Spirit who indwells me also indwells my leaders. The anointing within is also the anointing within them. There is a place in the body of Christ. That's why when you have a strong anointing for the major decisions, all right, like for example, changing nations or going to another country or whatever or some big decision you gotta make and you're not sure, there are leaders in the church who also have the anointing within. All right, besides your wife, you must share with your wife. All right, wives are amazing. They're more intuitive than men. Men spend a lot of time in the logic realm. Women spend a lot of time from their heart. So, your wife, listen to your wife and, you know, feel it out. If you're still not sure, both of you are not sure, bring it to the leaders. Let's all pray together until we come to the place of the early church where they say, "It seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us".

Jeremiah 17, this is what God wants to take place because when you follow the river, you'll become the tree of life. I was reading today in Psalms 1, "He shall be like a tree planted". Those who meditate on God's Word, he's delighted in the law of the Lord and his law, meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted. He's not a wild tree. He's a tree planted. He's not a tree out there in the field. He's a tree planted in a garden, by the rivers of water, planted by God. You will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth your fruit in your season. Your leaf, which is your health, we saw that just now, will not whither. Your life will always be green. That means you're always young, spirit, soul, and body and whatever you do prospers. That's where God is bringing us.

In Jeremiah 17, I would like for all of us to read this together in closing. Are you ready? One, two, read, "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is... he will... never fails to bear fruit". You leaf will always be green when you follow the Spirit. Some people in the ministry, you know, young people see them, for example, they are suffering and they are dying before their time and you wonder, how come they're in the service of the Lord and this is happening to them? When actually we do not know. We do not know what God told that person. Some people are in ministry for different reasons. We do not know. We leave that to God but one thing is for sure, if you follow the river, your leaf is always green. You have no worries in the year of famine. Yes, if the bubble should burst in Singapore, so what? Even it's a year of drought, you have no worries. You will never fail to bear fruit and whatever you do prospers, amen. You'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Can I have a good amen?

I want to say to you real quick, there is no substitute for an open Bible, at least sometime every day, an open Bible and a prayerful heart. "God speak to me". Because God says the river is the Spirit and I just quote just now Psalms 1, meditate on God's Word. Also causes the same thing to happen. But it's not Word without Spirit, which will cause you to dry up. It is not Spirit without the Word, will cause you to blow up. It is Word and Spirit. It's the Spirit of the Word. Are you listening? It's the rhema of God. So, every day when you open your Bible, ask, don't just read the Bible mentally. Don't just try to accumulate knowledge. Don't just go through the motions so that you feel like you have read the Bible. Open the Bible in a time of Communion with Jesus. You have learned much from here, now use it. Use it to feed yourself, amen.

And I promise you, Isaiah 55 will happen. Come to the waters, the open book, come to the waters. Come and buy without money, without price. You know what's gonna happen? God's words, listen and your soul shall live. God's words shall be like the snow that comes down, the rain that comes down, all right? It will not go back to God without causing it to bear fruit first. And it will prosper in the thing where the Lord sends it. And I love the ending. In other words, when you come to the Bible, to the waters like in this Spirit, depending on Christ really wanting him to have Communion with you and you Communion with him, regardless of your understanding of knowledge of Hebrew, he will speak to you. And when you close the Bible, the ending of Isaiah 55 will happen. You will go out with joy and be led forth with peace.

You know what's gonna happen? Everywhere you go instead of the myrtle and the thorn tree will come forth all the beautiful trees. Instead of the briar, excuse me, will come the myrtle tree and all the good, fruitful trees. Where there's a curse, there'll be fruitfulness, amen? There is no substitute. You cannot just say, "I'll follow the river," with a closed Bible every day, closed Bible gathering dust somewhere. No, open the Bible. Ask the Lord for some morsel of food. Ask God, "I want a personal contact with Jesus, Father, quicken me according to your Word". And what little God gives just goes on and on and on, amen? Praise the Lord. God never shuts a window without opening a gate.

Notice the choice of my words? When God open up, it's always bigger. When God shuts something down, it's because God gives you something more wonderful. If God takes something away, it's because he has something greater. You know a little child can be playing with scissors thinking silver and it's shiny and it's nice, but there's a danger the father sees. When the father has a beautiful toy the child will love, all right, but the child's hands are full. You cannot receive until you let go. Amen, so whatever God tells us to let go, trust me, God will take care of us. God will take care of us financially. He will take care of this church. He will take care of your family.

He'll take care of everything, all right? And where you will see this is all around you, you will see, all right, animal life. You will see fish life. You will see plant life. Everywhere there'll be fruitfulness. There'll be life. There's be healing, amen. This is the confirmation that we are following God, amen? So, we don't know where the river is taking us. Last night I was standing down here in closing and I saw a vision of a door and the door was slightly open, like the door was slightly open, all right? And it was not fully open. It was slightly open and the light that came behind the door, the top and the side, was so bright like a sun behind it. It was so bright that, in fact, I was a bit afraid the door will open completely. I don't think our eyes are take it.

So, the Lord in his mercy just opened a little bit, all right, to give us a little glimpse of his glory, but I think that by doing this, the door is now opening. We're about to step into something else. But like God told Elijah later, God told him to go there, but later on God says, when the brook dried up God says, "Go to the widow". And this time Elijah becomes a greater blessing. Not only he gets nourished, the widow's barrel of meal never failed, and that's where God is leading us to be a greater blessing. And all the people said, amen.