Joseph Prince - Pursue The Healer And Be Healed
We have shared the last few weeks on healing because I've been pressing in asking God, "Lord, if there's things that I'm not believing right, please show me". It's not about doing something more. "God, show me what I can do". Even though we pray, "Lord, what can we do", okay? But the thing is that it's about seeing more, people. It's not about doing more. It's about seeing more.
1 Peter chapter 2, let's look at 1 Peter, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree". Now, I love this because the first thing you need to know is the person of Jesus. Have you noticed that whenever the Bible talks about Jesus carrying our sins, or our diseases, because he carried both our sins and our diseases, amen? In Isaiah 53, "Surely he has borne our diseases", our kholee, and carried our markob, all right, our pains in Hebrew. Notice it says, "Surely he", and the emphasis is not on the work, but on the person. "Surely he bore our diseases and carried our pains".
Matthew 8, verse 17 quoting Isaiah says, "Himself", the person, "Himself took our infirmity and bore our sicknesses". And down here, notice the emphasis, "Who his own self". It wasn't an angel, it wasn't a prophet, it wasn't somebody else, "Who his own self". I pray that you see the heart of the Holy Spirit. Amen, people? "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness".
Righteousness here is a noun, not a verb. A lot of people, when they read this they think that we stop doing sin and we start doing right things. It's not saying that. It's saying you are dead to sins. It's a done deal. You should live unto righteousness, which means what? Believe you are righteous. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. Live into that, amen? Live in that new identity and then he puts a colon. Can you see a colon there? By whose stripes you are healed.
Now, if you study punctuation, you will learn that you put a colon there to, listen, to either share something you want to emphasize. You're saying something and you want to emphasize it, you put a colon and then you emphasize it. So, whatever follows, you emphasize. Another thing is that whatever follows the colon, all right, will translate or give meaning to what goes before. In other words, because you are living as a righteous person, not your behavior, your new identity, you are now saying, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ". You walk in righteousness consciousness.
Now by whose stripes you were healed is yours. Look at Psalms 105, Psalms 105, "God brought them out", children of Israel, them here is the children of Israel. "God brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among his stripes, none feeble". So, there was a time where God's people, not a single person was sick. Now, do you know how many people were there that came out of Egypt that day? By the way, the context here is Egypt. Let me prove to you the verse before that says he destroyed the firstborn. That's what happened at the Passover night. The verse after this says Egypt was glad when they departed.
If you are so happy, finally y'all go. In fact, the officers of Pharaoh told Pharaoh during one of plagues, "Hey, please let them go, lest we die". But because of the hardness of his heart, he refused to let them go. So, Egypt very happy when they left. So, the context is very clear that the next day when they came out, there was none feeble and guesstimate of the number of people that came out, three million. Even if you say two million, okay, let me use that very concept two million people.
Now, two million people, who were slaves, people who don't have proper diet, people who lived in stressful situations, doctors, are you listening? Stress is the silent killer, amen. People who don't have enough sleep every day, they wake up about four and then sleep about ten at night because they're slaves. The Bible used the word "heart bondage" many times about what they went through. The Bible says they were serving with rigor, more than once. The Bible says they groaned and they cried out to God, amen, again and again.
These are people that were stepping on straws, amen, making bricks. It's backbreaking. They have to lay the brick and they gotta carry things. It's a backbreaking task. I'm telling you, people, hey, listen, this is not the environment. "But Pastor Prince, probably it's their good exercise". Hey, even doctors tell you, you overexercise, you destroy your body. This is not exercise. This is over-destroying their faculties. They are pushing themselves too far and too much. What kind of diet you think they had? Very little to eat. They probably have beriberi. They probably have things that lack calcium, the proper nutrition and yet at the end, the next day when they came out, none feeble.
The night before in Exodus 12, they ate this from verse 8, "They ate the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw". A lot of people present Jesus Christ as a great example, beware of that. They treat Jesus as a great example. He's a master teacher, he's the great physician. He's an example for us to emulate. Now, that is not gonna get your body healed. You must eat him roasted in fire, which means he died for you. He was under God's judgment for you. We preach Christ crucified. If Jesus lived a perfect life and didn't die for us, we'll still be lost.
Now, God says, "Don't eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water". We call this the watered down version. Don't water down Jesus, amen? "But roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its entrails". I find this interesting that legs is mentioned there. So, when you partake of the Lord Jesus, know that the part of your body, what they needed was strong legs. Many of them had beriberi, the lack of nutritious like vegetables and all that. You get beriberi.
All right, and many of them were suffering from knee conditions and just old age problems, they call it, right? So, they partook of the leg of the lamb knowing that the leg of the lamb is whole, complete. And as they partake it as judge for them, they received the benefits of Jesus's healthy legs. And that caused them to walk the next day. Can I have a good amen, amen?
Look at the next verse, verse 10, okay, "Thus you shall eat it", verse 11, "with a belt on your waist, sandals on your feet, staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It's the Lord's Passover". What does it mean, belt on your waist, sandals on your feet, staff in your hand? Get ready for physical deliverance out of Egypt. Now, what was true for them physically, all right, for us get ready out of your Egyptian disease, for I'll put none of the diseases of Egypt upon you.
So, you must get ready, start dressing up. I'm not referring to physical dressing again. Have an attitude of, "When I partake, I'm getting my physical deliverance". God told them to be in a posture, get ready to go out. "But you don't understand", old man says, "I can't move". Another person says, "The doctor says, if I move, it'll be bad for my heart", you know? But the Lord said, "Get ready for physical... start posturing yourself. Whatever you can do right now, at least show your faith". Can I have a good amen?
They received instantaneously, wow. The next day, they received it. Have we seen manifestations like this? Yes, very often, many a times while people are partaking, we see that happen. But we are answering the question, we want to answer the question, how long? First of all, don't condemn yourself for asking yourself how long. Few people of grace, you know, we believe in no condemnation and we are the worst in condemning ourself for every little thing. We are sick, we condemn ourself. No, you just fell into a pit. Now, let's get you out.
"You don't understand, the doctors told me, I was so disappointed that I have high blood pressure. The doctors told me I have this condition. Now I feel so, now I feel so bad". But really, why do you feel so bad? You just fell into a pit, let's get you out. No one is condemning you, stop condemning yourself. In some circles, you know, it's a sin to be sick. So, no one tells anybody that they are not feeling well, amen? No, just the other day I told, I was doing a shoot and I had sore throat, you know, and I told them we are doing it. Let's do it, amen? Praise God.
I'm not gonna consider my body like Abraham, use Abrahamic faith. Abraham when he was hundred years old, considered not his own body, considered God's promise instead. Strong in faith, giving glory to God. Consider not! I know it's staring you, it's painful, you can feel it. Consider not, consider God's Word. God's Word says, by his stripes, you are healed, amen. So, walk in that, can I have a good amen? So, don't condemn yourself for saying, "How long, how long"? It's okay, all right, but don't stop there. Go into faith.
Some people even have this idea that faith means don't even say how long. It's okay to tell God but make sure you tell God, David did. David says in Psalms 13, "O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand"? Actually, this is from the journal of Pastor Lawrence. It's not Psalms 13, I just took it out, actually. No, it's Psalms 13.
Have you gone through that? Have you had this in your heart, huh? You feel like God has put you aside, amen? So, even David, a man after God's heart says, "How long, how long, Lord"? Maybe he's believing God for something, doesn't see it happen, amen? But look, don't stay there. Look at Psalms 13, drop down. Look at David, "But I have". But makes all the difference. "I have trusted in your mercy". Guess what, mercy here is hesed, grace, "My heart shall rejoice in your salvation".
The Hebrew there is Yeshua. So, you are in the right posture when you don't give up trusting in the grace of God. By his grace, the manifestation will come. By his grace, amen. Thirty fold, sixty, but don't give up, amen, and it's okay to say, "How long, Lord"? Actually, it's a relationship? You know, we in the Word of faith background and all that, we have this idea sometimes that the moment we say, "Oh, I bind that word in Jesus's name", it's almost you can't express anything to one another that's negative.
Hey, you can talk to God about everything. Everything David told God about, David had victory. Even when he shared with God in a negative way, but the very area in all his Psalms you cannot find this. He never told God about his sexual life and that's the area he fell. Okay, now let's go before they came out none feeble, loaded down with silver and gold. Long before that happened, God sent them who? Moses, right? So, this is we are going back now before they were delivered. God sent Moses and Moses was sent to Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Watch this now, the first time Moses and Aaron stepped into Pharaoh's court to ask for the deliverance of God's people, look at this, Exodus 5, "After this presentation to Israel's leaders, Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.' 'Is that so?' retorted Pharaoh. 'And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don't know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.'"
When you read your Bible, you gotta be there, okay? Okay, let's drop down. That same day, the same day that Moses went in for the first time to exhort the king to let Israel go, that same day, "Pharaoh sent this order to the Egyptian slave drivers and the Israelite foremen: 'Do not supply any more straw for making bricks. Make the people get it themselves! But still require them to make the same number of bricks as before.'"
So now, you cannot give them the straw. Tell them to find their own straw, wow. And yet the number, daily number, the daily rate, all right, of those bricks must still be delivered. "They are lazy. Don't reduce the quota. They are lazy. That's why they are crying out, 'Let us go and offer sacrifices to our God.' Load them down with more work. Make them sweat"! Can you hear the voice of the devil? Pharaoh's a type of the devil, can you hear it? "Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies"!
Some of you, you don't realize that you're under a hard taskmaster. For years, the devil doesn't always come and speak directly to you. He may use a friendly people, friendly voices, even relatives, and your colleagues, or your boss even, and even right now when you learn about rest and you try to rest, like while I'm preaching right now, one of the best things to do is sit down because Jesus, he sat down and taught the people. He sat down in the boat, he taught them. He sat on the mountain, he taught them. I don't know why we are standing. And I'm sure that Jesus is strong and healthy, amen, amen? And yet we are standing. Something is wrong. I thought I was starting a new trend, what do you think, shall I?
I know Pastor Mark will love this. He might just fall asleep, all right? Every time some of you do this, you know, without doing anything, whether it's at home or your leisure time, you can't even rest inside. You know why? Inside your mind you say, "Get up, do your work. You won't accomplish much. You're wasting time". That taskmaster is still in your mind and that is the devil's voice.
Many of you, you feel like you're wasting time, all right, I'm not talking about on the computer or watching TV. That's not relaxing. I'm talking about just, just look at a garden or somewhere, look at the beach or whatever, just doing nothing, you know? Do these thoughts come to you? "Get up, do something. Read something. Look at your phone. Someone is calling. Someone is, you know, trying to contact you. Respond". And every time you rest, there's a voice down there saying, "Get up. Do more work! That's why your colleagues will go ahead of you. Your competitors will get an edge over you".
We don't believe that when we rest, it's a posture of faith in God, that God will take care of your business, amen? "That's what I do, Pastor Prince, I don't do nothing. I let my wife... I relax all the time". No, you are a lazy person, all right? That's a real word. Okay so, "Load them with more work", that's the devil's voice. "Make them sweat". Okay, so they have to deliver the daily quota of the bricks at the same time. By the way, brickmaking is terrible, all right? They have to step on the straw, amen. They have to bend down. They have to collect like this, and they have to form the shape and get up down. It's backbreaking work. Are you listening?
All right, drop down. "The Israelite foremen could see that they were in serious trouble when they were told, 'You must not reduce the number of bricks you make each day.' As they left Pharaoh's court, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting outside for them. The foremen said to them, 'May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!' Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested".
Now, imagine, imagine, you are the pastor sent to preach. So, when you preach to them about healing, the very first thing that happened is this testimony. They say that, "Of all the weeks, this week I fell sick". Actually, we were okay, you know. I think you put a sword in the devil's hands, you know? For no reason, we're okay, when I started taking communion, I fell sick. Now, these are the things I want to answer because you might not know it happened to them. These are the same people later on says, "Hey, I'm strong, man. Whoo! I can run. I can fly. I can, I feel I can, I'm a new man".
When there was none feeble among their tribes. But long before that manifestation, these are these moments that we don't see. And leaders, take heart, find comfort in these stories. They are there to encourage us. Moses says, "What's happening? I was sent by God. I saw the burning bush. I saw the signs, my hand and how God healed my hand of leprosy and a sign that God showed me the snake and it become a rod again. I saw all that. I heard God's voice telling me go, and I'll use you to deliver my people. I've heard their cry and I'm sending you. Didn't God send me? Didn't I talk to Pharaoh? Now they're worse off".
Leaders, listen, when your people complain to you and they bring you questions you cannot answer and when you find that results are not happening the way you want it to happen, in fact, it's the opposite, what do you do? Go back to the Lord, don't leave the Lord. Don't say, "I'm going back to sales. I'm going back to my practice. I'm going back to this. I'm going back to that". Hey, go to the Lord. You don't understand, ask the Lord. You want to complain, complain to the Lord. Gonna pour out your heart, go to the Lord. It's the person that's the most person. The person carries the benefit and sometimes he wants us to learn so that others can be blessed.
So, you go to the Lord, that's what Moses did. "He went back to the Lord, back to the Lord and protested, 'Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me?'" I mean, very encouraging to look at Moses, you know? We always having like Charlton Heston, "Let my people go". But actually it's like, "God, why have you brought all this trouble on your own people"?
Would you like to see God's answer? Would you like to see God's answer? I love it. God answers like this, ever since, he told God, look at this, drop down. Then the Lord told Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. When he feels the force of my strong hand, he will let the people go. In fact, he will force them to leave his land"! So, God has a purpose and the purpose is not just for your deliverance. That plan never changes. Your healing never changes, all right? He wants you to be healed but sometimes there is a process by which, before the manifestation come, God is dealing with you and God is dealing with your enemy. Are you listening, people?
By the way, when God says, what? He will force them to leave his land. Do you know that it wasn't until ten plagues happened, even after God said this? Do you know there were days and days before this can be carried out. God will force, that Pharaoh will be forced to leave the people? Pharaoh wanted the people out. God had to deal with Pharaoh, do you understand, amen? At the same time, he was dealing with the people because every plague, I don't have to teach this, every plague that was mentioned, every plague has to do with an idol of Egypt. God was showing they trusted in this, they trusted in the sun, God blotted out the sun. There was darkness all around, amen?
They worshiped frogs and frogs came out, all right, and flooded their land. So, God was dealing for his people as well to learn that he is the true God, the true Jehovah. Do you understand what I'm saying, all right? Now, maybe our delay God is teaching us, God is teaching us, that he's not a formula. He wants you and he wants you to see his person. Can I have a good amen? Child of God, don't be discouraged, okay? Your healing is coming. The manifestation of it and it's coming speedily. Don't give up, give praise to God, amen? Does this bless you? Praise the Lord.