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Joseph Prince - How To Pray Powerful Prayers


Joseph Prince - How To Pray Powerful Prayers
Joseph Prince - How To Pray Powerful Prayers
TOPICS: Prayer

Praise God. I want to share with you something today that I believe is gonna bless you and help you see your Father in heaven differently, have a greater appreciation for our Lord Jesus, and get answered prayers in your life. I'm gonna attempt, by the grace of God, to destroy every erroneous thinking in your mind, especially in the area of prayer. You know, the church has suffered so much from prayerlessness, let alone have people in the church, in the Christendom, telling people, all right, "Well, the reason that God don't answer your prayer is because of this, this, this," and put so many burdens and obstacles along the way that people just give up praying. Because if God is gonna find fault with me, when I pray, how can I get my prayer answered? Might as well not pray.

So, people have different, different ideas. You know, you also remember when I preached a message called, "Why Pray"? Why pray if God is all-knowing? Why pray if God is all knowing, right? And the thing is this: this kind of reasoning, this kind of wrong-thinking, wrong-believing will cause you not to pray because you're saying, "God knows all my needs anyway". In Matthew 6, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught on prayer. Over here, he says, "Therefore do not be like the Gentiles," people who do not know God. "For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask him". So, because of this reasoning, people say, "Look, my Father knows, God knows all my needs before I ask him, so why pray"? And yet the next verse says, "In this manner, therefore, pray". Because the Father knows your needs in this manner therefore... he didn't say, "In this manner, therefore, don't pray". Or he didn't say, "Because of this, don't pray". On the contrary, he says, "Because your Father knows your needs before you ask him, now ask".

So, that is right believing, but wrong believing is saying, "God knows all my needs anyway. He wanna help me, he will help me". You must understand, all right, if this was still the garden of Eden, and we are in paradise, you know, on earth, and that's what God's heart was for man, a garden where there is no sickness, no disease, no death, no one grows old, everyone has more than enough for their own needs, and families would grow in this beautiful garden, there would be no hatred, no murder, no wars, no strife, there'll be no jealousy, because everyone will have everything they want and more left over, amen? But Adam committed high treason.

Now, you say that "Well, God could've stopped Adam". I've told you before, if God made Adam a robot, the world would still be a garden, because there'll be no sin. But God didn't create robots. God made man in his image with a free choice. Now, if man is about to choose something evil, and God used his power to stop that, then God is playing around with man's free choice. So, free choice, for free choice to be free choice, God has to let man be and not influence him in any way with his power. And that's why you must always remember you can pray for someone to be your girlfriend or your boyfriend, all right, to marry someone. That person's free choice comes into play. You can pray for someone to be saved, yes, you can pray, and your prayer will cause the right persuasive evangelist that the person can respond to, to come along his way. He will hear something, see something that God knows his personality type, what type that he likes to, maybe he's a reader, maybe he's a listener. Whatever it is, God will bring those circumstances. They'll be favorable for him to accept Christ. But your prayers cannot make God force that person to receive Christ, or else God would have forced Adam not to take of that fruit.

All right, God gave the entire garden, everything good for man, except for one tree, and that's the tree that man wanted, because Satan came, and in the same story today, he will point to you, one thing he'll tell you that you don't have. He always points to you something you don't have. He doesn't remind you to count your blessings. I'm telling you, you have so many things now. The fact you can come here today, be alive, and let everyone that has breath praise the Lord. All right? So, Jesus didn't say, "Because your Father knows what you need, don't pray". He says, "Because your Father knows, pray". Because we're in a fallen world and because of our choice. In other words, God says, "I have all these blessings right now. I'm about to bring into your life: favor, wisdom". Amen? "Health, wholeness". Amen. "But I need something from your side". What is it? "You must consent. You must agree for me to bless you. I cannot bless you beyond your free will. I cannot bless you beyond your violation. Do you want this blessing? Pray". It's nothing more than an open heart, open mind, open life, open hands.

Remember this: you bring nothing to God. We are all empty. God, the source, brings all his blessings and gifts into your life. Amen? So, prayer is just an expression of, "Here is my open hand". God cannot bless someone, no matter how sincere the person is, if has a closed mind, closed heart, closed hands. And saying things like, "If God want to bless me, God bless me". God cannot do that. He can force his way. I mean, he can make you float like a butterfly if he wants to, all right? He can hang you over Grand Canyon and then drop you. Aren't you glad I'm not God? Amen? God can do anything he wants. He's sovereign. But God respects laws, and God gave man choice. So, man must now express, in this fallen earth, all right, the Bible tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

You cannot just say, "I choose sin, but I don't want to choose the consequence. I choose to put my finger in the fire, but I choose not to be burned". You cannot have that. When you choose sin, you choose the consequence. God cannot do anything about it, but to let the consequence flow. But God sent his Son. Without anyone asking, God sent the greatest gift of all, his own Son, because God loved us. Amen? To take on, so Jesus would take on himself all the consequences of all that we have done, as well as our sins, become liable, all right, as our substitute, suffered under God's heavy judgment for our sins. He who did no sin became sin. Now, that's God's initiative. Are you listening, people? Now, even after Jesus finished everything, he bore our diseases. Not only our sins, he bore our diseases. Does that mean we walk in health? We must still consent with what Jesus did. We must consent with the "It is finished". Because even after we become Christians, his children, we still have a choice. We can choose to hold a grudge, or we can choose to let go.

Even right now, you're not forced or compelled to just sit this service throughout. You can, at any time, step up, walked out, amen? You have a free choice. I've got no power over your free choice. And you know something? God will not exert any power over your free choice. You must say, "Father, I consent to be blessed". And that's why "Amen" is an expression of "So be it". It's a prayer. It's the shortest prayer I know, "Amen," which means if you hear the Word of God being preached, and you say, "Amen," God says, "Angel, that one wants. That lady wants it. All right, pour it on her". Another one say, "Amen". "All right, angel, this one wants it. Pour it on him". Amen. So, the thing is that do you want it? If you want it, you've gotta show God that you want it. Open mouth, open hands, that's prayer.

In 3 John 2, we saw this last week, John, by now he's an aged man. The man who leaned on Jesus's bosom when he was a teenager, one of Jesus's 12 disciples, the one that's called the disciple whom Jesus loved, all right, here he's an aged man. He's one of those longest living disciples. He never was martyred, by the way. He just died in old age, just went on to be with Jesus. So, as an aged man, he wrote the Epistles of John, all right? He wrote the Gospel of John, as well. You all know that. But these are the Epistles, 1 John, 2 and 3 John. In 3 John, all right, he's at his brink. You can see that the final one is the book of Revelation, but at this point in time, he knows what is God's will. He knows. And yet, John, who is aged by now, who has walked with Jesus for so many years, who knew the Lord's heart, because he leaned his ear on the heart of Jesus, he knew the Urim and the Thummim, the lights and perfections, and this is what he said: "Beloved," he's calling us. It's right, he's talking to only believers, not those in the world. "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things. Not only that, and be in health, just as your soul prospers".

Now, the ones that he is writing to, are their souls prospering already? Yes. "Just as your soul prospers," is present tense, which means their souls are already prospering. Now, we have this notion: "Don't have to pray; as long as your souls are prospering, you know, you'll be healthy, you'll be prosperous". Yet, John prayed. John prayed for those whose souls are prospering, that you be in health. He prayed that health will manifest. We know a lot of good people, all right, who don't believe in healing. We know a lot of good people who don't believe in prosperity, but their souls are prospering because they love the Lord. Their souls are prospering because they read the Bible more than you. They spend time with the Lord more than you. Their souls are prospering, but they're not allowing health to manifest. Amen?

So, it's one thing for your souls to prosper, and it's not automatic. You've gotta pray, "Father, cause me to prosper, even as my soul prospers. Cause me to be in health, even as my soul prospers". Can I pray that for you? At the end. Imagine, their souls are already prospering. Yet, he prayed. It's not automatic. He prayed that, "I pray that you be in health, just as your souls prosper". And notice health and prosperity in this one verse came from the lips of a man who knew the heartbeat of God. What does God wish for you, above all things? He's not just, "I just want you to have spiritual things. Disease in your body, never mind, endure it". You know, right? "After all, one day you'll walk on streets of gold". It's not just for the here, you know, in the sweet by and by, okay? One day in heaven, the sweet by and by. It's for the sour now and now. Amen? It doesn't have to remain sour. Pray, pray for your children. "Pastor, how long do I keep on praying"? Keep on praying.

Now, why keep on praying? Why keep on praying? Because there is an enemy. Like I said, if it's garden of Eden and there's no enemy, there's no need to keep on praying. In fact, you'll hardly have to pray. You just think, and God answers. But don't forget, we're in a fallen world. We need to show God our open hands, and that comes by prayer. Even when Jesus was here as a man, he would rise up early in the morning, and he would pray. If the Son of God prays, how much more you and I? The Bible says, "You have not because you ask not". Therefore, you fight. Therefore, you are jealous, you'll envy, you lust, and you cannot have. James chapter 4. It says you lust, you covet because you cannot have. And then you assassinate people's character. You say bad things and all that because you are jealous of what they have. And then the Bible says, "You have not because you ask not". Amen?

So, when we have not, we start... a good case in mind was David. The Bible tells us that David, in that day and age, all right, that the king has a number of wives, okay? Yet, he chose this one man's wife, committed adultery with her. You all know the name of that girl, right? What's her name? Bathsheba. Saw her taking a bath, all right, and committed adultery with her, had a son by her, and had her husband murdered. Then God sent a prophet to David, and the prophet says these words, you can check it out in your Bible. God says, "I took you from the sheepfold to shepherd my people, Israel. I did this, I gave you, I blessed you". And then God says, "If that was not enough, I would have given you more". Did you hear that? Then God said to David, "Why did you do this? Why did you do this"? If our marriage is no longer satisfactory to us, we do not even want our spouse to know, talk to God, talk to God.

You know, you never know how God will inspire changes in your spouse, but don't be the one to do it. You know the one doing it, you know how they do it? It's called N-A-G. And N-A-G got a lot of NG's. You remove the A, the thing is this. It is this insane attempt to try to change our partner, believing that we can change someone who has a free choice, when actually God himself will not do it. God will create circumstances ideal... are you listening, people? Okay? So, pray, pray. If you think that your intimacy in your marriage is not good enough, ask God. "What can God do"? Don't ever ask that. Never ask that. It's a stupid question, okay? Let me take you by the hand, go to the universe, drop you, then you know what God can do. You'll float, all right? Let God be God.

A great theologian once said, "I'm so glad there are things about God I cannot logic out". I need to worship a God that cannot be confined by my logic. I'm glad I cannot understand God. There are some things, I cannot understand God. Amen? Because God is greater than my logic. He is greater than my intellect, and I'm glad. I need to worship a God who is greater than my intellect. So, here, the principle is this. The first thing I want to demolish in your mind is that "If God knows about it, why pray? And if my soul is prospering, I'm attending church every Sunday. I'm listening to Pastor Prince sermons, and I'm reading his books and all that, my soul is prospering".

Yeah, but sometimes there's a hinderance, whatever it is, whether it's a Satanic hinderance, whatever it is. Pray, pray, "Father, in Jesus's name, my soul is prospering. Thank you for that. Now cause my health to prosper. Cause me to prosper in all aspects of my life, Lord. And I pray for my children, Lord. Cause them to prosper, Lord, in Jesus's name. In their affairs of studies, in every other things that they do, Lord, cause them to prosper. Grant them wisdom, Lord". "How often do I pray that, Pastor"? Pray it and keep on praying it. The Bible uses the word, "Continue asking". Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, "Keep on asking". Original Greek, "Keep on asking, and you will receive. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, the door will open," the year of the open door. Asking starts with A. Seeking starts with S. Knocking starts with K. ASK. "You have not because you ask not". This building, how many still remember, years ago, all right, I stood up in Suntech, and I told you all, "I don't know how".

I meet some of my ministerial friends, and they say Singapore very hard to get this kind of place, blah, blah, blah, all the impossibilities, and I just said to God, "God, I don't know how you will do it. That's not my department". All right? Omniscience is not my department. I didn't sign up for that, all right? That means all-knowing. I said, "You know, you know where, you know how". And I made you all stand up together, and we say, "God, somewhere, somehow, Father, in Jesus's name, give us a good place, a beautiful place". How many were there? Amen. Our part is what? To ask. You are sitting in an answered prayer. Right now, turn to your neighbor and say, "You are sitting in an answered prayer". Amen.

We look at the Bible, and the Bible has many references, all right, besides the fact that Jesus prayed every day, rise up early in the morning, had a very busy day, until late at night. In the evening, people were still bringing those who were demon possessed and those who were sick, and he healed them all. Yet, he would rise up early in the morning. Priority number one, he would pray. If Jesus would pray, all right, how much more you and I? Okay? Now, I will come to another wrong thinking we have. "Pastor Prince, gotta pray long". We'll come to that. Okay? You know what? Why don't we come to that now? Okay? It's interesting that Jesus never condemned short prayers, but you have more than one statement in the Bible where Jesus actually condemned for a pretense. He told the Pharisees, "You make long prayers".

So, we have on document that he condemned pretentious, long prayers. You know, some friends, you ask them to say grace, it's the end. Your food becomes cold. You know friends like that? They pray Marco Polo prayers. You know, they travel around the world, you know. They pray for everyone in Timbuktu. They pray for people in Do-re-mi Island. They pray for everybody all over the world. And finally, "Thank God for the food". By then, your face is in the soup. And they think, they think they're being impressive. They think that you are impressed by their spirituality. Many a times, the long prayers are done on your own. Do you understand? In public, your prayers are very short. One of the greatest prayers Jesus prayed was at the tomb of Lazarus. And he looked up, before Lazarus was raised, and he looked up. "Father"! He's like counting, "One, two," Okay? Now, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me and that you hear me always". How long? A few seconds. Then he looked into the tomb. "Lazarus! Come forth"!

By the way, that is English. In Hebrew, Aramaic, it's even shorter. "Cumi!" one word. Okay? All the prayers of Jesus are short. In fact, the shorter we pray, the bigger we make him. We're saying, "It's all you, Lord". People say you've gotta, "Oh, this situation, you've gotta pray hard. Ooh. You've gotta pray hard. I'm sorry, man. Well, I'll tell you this. On this time, let's pray hard. And you'd better pray hard". No. Let me tell you this. You pray hard, you pray soft, it is not you. Okay? It is the one you're praying to. And, of course, now I've touched on some of the denominational people that come against prosperity or health or whatever, all right?

Now I come to the Charismatic people. Then there are Charismatic people who have these thoughts, that you've gotta pray hard, loud, loud especially. "Be healed in Jesus's name"! It's amazing. We think that, you know, we'll be heard because we are loud. We are demonstrative. It's not you. It's the one you're praying to. It's not you. Some of the most powerful prayers that I know of in my life, that have healed people of diseases like cancer and all that, I prayed soft. I'm not saying soft, soft is the thing. No, it's not. I'm just telling you he's the one, the one who loves us and gave his life for us, the Father who sent his Son, he is the one that answers our prayers. So, I understand the expression, when you say, "Pray hard". I understand. But I wonder whether you understand that it's not your prayer, it is him. Amen? "Pray hard". "Ooh, ooh," like they want to give birth.

Now, there is a place, I understand, spiritual warfare. I'm not talking about spiritual warfare here. I'm talking about simply asking God, which, for the most part, is our prayer. Okay? Amen? So, the Bible says, Jesus said in Matthew 6, "Therefore do not be like them". We saw this just now. Look at the context of this, verses before this. "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly," Jesus says, "I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret," how will he reward you, church? He'll reward you how? Also, in secret? Say it. Shout it. Openly! Openly!

"And when you pray," watch this, "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do". "Don't use vain repetitions, as the heathen do. For they think that they'll be heard for their many words". Our Marco Polo friend who prays, he might be a bit sincere also. He thinks that the longer he prayed, now God is obliged. "See, I twist your arm right here, God... Now you have to answer". You know, people have this idea that their many words finally will compel God. No. Let me tell you this. God was compelled to give us the greatest gift long before anybody ever asked him to send his Son, okay? And that was the greatest gift. That was the greatest gift, greatest blessing.

So, you think for one moment that God needs to be coaxed? You need to persuade God? Huh? You think that God is a God that stands down there and say, "Come on, louder, louder, pray harder, come on, come on, that's my heart. I can feel a bit my heart becoming softer already. Yes, yes". Hey, that's your school principal. It's not God. That could be your grandfather. It's not God. It could be your mother-in-law, but it's not God. Are you listening or not? All right, don't project onto God. God gave his Son when the world didn't even care that they were lost. Nobody supplicated to God to send his Son. Are you listening, people? This amazing God. Okay, now, it says here, "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions. For they think that they'll be heard for their many words". Next verse, "Therefore, do not be like them. Your Father knows".

So, make your prayer simple. Make it homely. All right? Drop all this, "For I cometh to theeth in this moment to call upon thee because of thy sovereign grace that is able to turn around all my vicissitudes of life and to triumphs of your mercies, which endureth forever". No, you come to God, say, "Father, I need your help here. I do not know what's wrong with my child, but I know," step back, "know his Son. I know you love my boy more than I love my boy. I'm gonna lay my hands on him. I'm asking you, Father, in Jesus's name, heal him. Heal him, Father". And then, in Jesus's name, don't feel anymore his temperature, whatever. Just believe it's done, in Jesus's name. You can take his temperature later, of course, all right? But the thing is that in the moment, just thank God. Look at God's heart. And some parents, they will say things like, you know, "Oh God, you know, I love my child so much," you know, "let me take his sickness".

So the thing is that this is a form of self-righteousness because there was one who took your child's sickness. Instead of giving glory to him, now you're saying you can take your son's sickness. And by the way, you make a lousy sacrifice. There is sin in your blood. The one who took your son's sickness, has no sin tainting his blood. He is the only qualified one. So you know what? Just tell the Father it is paid for. Tell the Father what? It is paid for. Just because something is paid for, it's not automatic. You've got to pray. Why? Because we are in a place where God wants our free choice involved in this, all right? Another thing is that we are in a place on earth, it's a place of conflict. Satan hates us. God loves us. And the arena of conflict with the powers of darkness is on earth. God is not the one holding your answer back. If answer's not forthcoming, persevere in prayer. Keep on asking God. But don't ask in a desperate way as if God needs to be coaxed. Know that every obstruction, every lack of manifestation, all right, is warfare going on. Keep on asking because you know him. Can I have a good "Amen," church?

Do you remember the story of the children of Israel during the time of King Nebuchadnezzar that came? Because for many, many years, what happened? The king of Judah began to worship idols, and God warned him, rising early and God sent prophet after prophet and God sent Prophet Jeremiah to the king of Judah and warned him about the dangers of his hard-heartedness and worshiping of idols and all that. And finally, God says, "Enough is enough," and God sent the king of Babylon which is Nebuchadnezzar, came into the land of Israel and took captive all the people of Judah plus the king, and Jeremiah prophesied at the time. Jeremiah, by the way, is a young prophet, probably a teenager. One time, God said to him, "Don't say you're a youth. I've put my words in your mouth to plant and to uproot, to build and to destroy. It is my words in your mouth and not you. Not how old or how young you are", all right?

That was Prophet Jeremiah, and Prophet Jeremiah prophesied that Israel, or Judah be taken into captivity for 70 years. Well, one of the captives that were taken captive, he was a young boy at that time, was a young man by the name of Daniel. Well, Daniel lived through many kings in captivity. Until the 70th year, Daniel, let's read, Daniel 9: "In the first year of his reign," Darius, that is, "I, Daniel, understood by the books," now God didn't speak to him. He was studying his Bible. How many know one of the biggest ways God speak to you is through his Word? That's the main way, all right? Now, Daniel was a prophet as well, but God had showed him by books, the Bible, "I understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that God would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem". You know which year was this, now? Seventieth year.

When Daniel read Jeremiah's prophecy, all right, it was the 70th year Judah was in captivity. So in other words, what? Hallelujah, it's the final year. We are going home, right? But look at the next verse. "Then," Daniel says, "I set my face towards the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes". In other words, even though God promised the captivity is only for 70 years, he didn't sit down in his rocking chair and say, "God, que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be". No, he prayed for it to happen. Why? Because God loves participation. God loves the hand that opens and say, "God, let it happen, Lord. Let it happen, amen". Are you listening, church?

Don't just say, "It's God's will", all right? But if there's a hindrance, pray. Ask God for it. Yeah, there are some things that happen to us automatically. Even those things that happen to us automatically, somebody prayed for you. Your grandmother prayed for you. Your brother in Christ was praying in tongues, praying the Spirit, not knowing why he's praying, but he was praying for you. Now, he saw Jeremiah's prophecy. By the way, if you look at Jeremiah's prophecy: "This", the book of Jeremiah, "This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and this nation shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years". This is where Daniel got it from. Okay, the next verse: "It will come to pass," after 70 years, God says, "I'll punish the king of Babylon". So he knows that the end is coming, yet he prayed. He prayed that what God said would happen will happen, not because it will not happen but because he wants to be part of it. Open hands. Are you with me?

So why do we take Communion every Sunday? Because there's a crazy spirit out there and I mean it's a crazy spirit. If it can kill you in an instant, he will kill you. That's how much he hates you. His name is S-A-tan. He's not Chinese, but S-A-tan, all right? The thing is that he hates you. I'm telling you, he hates you. He fact that he can't kill you just like that tells us about how protected we all are. We take Communion to remember what our Lord did because Communion is actually, like in the heavenly courts, is evidence, undisputable evidence, that even though we don't deserve the healing in and of ourself, it was paid for by the blood of God's Son. So every time you partake, we enforce it because Satan is a lawyer, but so is Jesus. The Bible says he's an advocate for us. So these things are legal. You've got to fight for it. Even though someone violates your rights and all that, okay, doesn't mean you can sit down there and play dead. Someone stole something from you. It's gone. What do you do? Sit down there and play dead? No, you enforce it. You take your place as God's covenant child. You don't just cry. You take your place.

Two nights ago, my wife and I thought we're gonna spend some time with Jessica, so just leave Justin at home and, you know, for someone to take care of him and we'll spend our time with our first baby. After all, she's the first, amen. So we took some time with her and had a good time. Went to Little India, had dosas. That's like a pancake, guys, pancake, Indian pancake with curry, all right? So we ate it and, you know, we had a good time together, fellowshipping and all that. And after that, we are going shopping together at Mustapha not too far away, okay? And Jessica, at that time, she's now having this plastic retainers for her teeth, all right? So every time she eats, she has to remove it, okay? So she remove it, she put it in front, on a piece of tissue, and for some reason, I said, "Do a double layer," I said, you know, because she forgot to bring her casing, all right? So I said, "Put a double layer of tissue, all right? It's more protected that way," I told her.

So she put another layer, all right, and wrap it up nicely, and told her mom because she didn't bring her, you know, her box, and she said, "Can you keep this for me"? The tissue and everything, put it in her handbag. At the end before we leave, we made a mess on the table, all right, so as our custom is, we don't like to leave things messy. We took all the tissues down there. Somehow, Wendy was in autopilot because, remember this, all right, this kind of scenario, seldom happened where Jessica would pass her the tissue. And she was talking, talking, and then she, I guess, she threw the tissue. So some time has passed. We just realized. "Where is it"? she asked. Then mother looked for it, I looked for it. And said, "Oh no, because it all looks like tissue paper, most likely, you know, and that dosas shop, it's a busy shop". And right now, more than an hour has passed, all right? It's even busier.

So she was a little bit sad, and you know, I was walking with them and I was thinking, "Shall I go back"? And she says, "It's gone," you know? "For sure, it's gone," right? So I just felt something in my heart that I am not, it's like a voice telling me, "Are you willing to let it go"? It's more than an hour and it's a restaurant. A restaurant that they've been throwing the what? Big garbage, it's a dump garbage, huge garbage can. I said, "Most likely, it's inside there. You expect me to put my hand inside"? I mean, I love my daughter, you know, but put my hand halfway inside. "Hey, Pastor Prince, I see you've got your hands full". I do not know how. So I told my wife, "I'm going back there". She said, "Forget it, darling. It's gone, it's okay," you know? And Jessica said, "No, Dad, it's okay, Dad. It's okay". But I didn't want her to suffer, you know? And I knew that a few days only, your teeth are shifting all the time, in case you don't know, all right?

So the thing is that she is a young tender age, of course, all the more, you know, I want her to make sure that these few weeks she still has it. But how? So I took the vehicle and I went down. I received a call from my wife halfway. She said, "Darling, come back, like, so you can just be with us, you know? Just let it go". Somehow in my heart, I hear, like, I hear a voice, "Are you willing to let it go"? So along the way, I prayed and I told God, "Father, all right, you said in your Word the things which are impossible with men are possible with you. So right now, it is an impossible with men to find it," I said. "Even my wife says it's impossible," all right? I said, "So, in the natural, you tell anyone, all right, they'll say it's impossible. And I'm telling you, Lord, in the natural, it's impossible. But I'm your covenant child, and Father, I'm asking you, restore that retainer. Restore it, Father. I don't know how".

At that part, the thoughts come, how? It's already gone. If you go by logic, you never ask, amen. You know, our biggest promise is this one. So I say, "I do not know how, Lord". I saw the big garbage can. "I don't know how, Lord". And who is gonna help you? Just because it's lost down there, no one's gonna dig for you. So anyway, I went down there quite some time, and by now it's about nearly two hours has gone and the whole place, it's night time now, the whole place is filled up with people and I spoke to the guy who served us earlier and he says, "Oh, I'm sorry," he just spoke to me real fast and because he was serving and he had, you know, a lot of orders and the whole place seems packed. In the natural, it looks bleak.

Now I waited down there for a while. Then he came, he told one of the helpers, the cleaner lady, all right, to look into my case and she asked me what was it? I said that, you know, I explained to her, wrap up, you know? I said, "Wrapped up in the tissue". Said, "Money"? She said, "No, no, no". No, she was quite excited. I say, "No". I need to tell her the truth. I know that money might motivate her even more. Whoa, everything come, you know, but she will not be able to feel it, you know what I'm saying? So I said to her, "It's a plastic, you can feel it. It's wrapped up in tissue". She open up.

Church, God is my witness. By now, a lot of junk already, all right? About two hours or two hours-plus have passed. The place is packed. It's Friday night. We went in Friday evening. We went Friday evening, a nice Friday night. So whole place jam-packed. Even when we were there, it was quite packed. We had to look for a seat. She took one tissue on top. It's a huge garbage can and I look inside, curry, everything. Indian shop, bro. This is an Indian shop. And I thought that I really gotta dig, you know what I'm saying? Am I prepared to do that, you know? Then she took the first one, she press it, nothing. Tissue. Took the second one, press, nothing. I said, "It cannot be on top because on top is all those who just ate", you know, whatever? And she took the third one, she pressed. She said, "Something". Then I took it from her. It was well wrapped, okay? And I opened up. It was Jessica's retainer.

Now, wait, wait, wait. How in the world did something, most likely it was somewhere in between, if I go by logic. Thank God, anyway, when you ask God you cannot go by logic, all right? How the whole thing float to the top, I don't know. How come more than two hours, it was jam-packed on Friday night, all right, that thing can be on top, I don't know. One thing I know is that God, we qualify because the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. If it's just possible with men, God says, "Okay, let men do it". But the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. That's why I told God, again and again, while I was driving there and I said, "I'm your covenant child. I'm not willing to let this go". Now there were other times. Jessica lost her phone, for example, all right? In my heart, I say, "It's gone". I'm not perfect.

So, you know, let me bring you down to earth here, in case you'll all line up and ask me to pray, you know? I'm just like you. There are times I'm stressed. I remember when Jessica lost her phone and some of us were in Malaysia and we were about to drive off, drive back to Singapore and I felt under pressure, all right, because people were waiting for me and I know my friends, my pastor friends, they'll wait. They're not gonna drive off. And it was lost in the hotel somewhere, in my heart, I didn't even wanna pray. In my heart, say, "It's lost". Why? I was under stress. I didn't want the rest to wait. And I'll know they'll wait. Didn't even bother to pray. I probably prayed a fast prayer, you know how we'll pray: "Oh, Father," you know. Throw it out there, hoping, you know? But this wasn't that kind of prayer. It was just a knowing, "Are you willing to let it go"? But God, by now, now I can go by logic, but now he's like, "Oh". Like when Martha told Jesus, "By now, he stinks. Four days already he's dead," her brother Lazarus.

So we cannot go by logic when it comes to the wonderful, omnipotent, all-powerful God who flung the galaxies into place, who loves us with infinite love. And I believe he loves it when we take our place. So those times when I took my place, I'm sharing you a testimony where I took my place, all right? And it's the freshest testimony I have for you. So I wash it thoroughly, and I'm so glad: it was the only time I told Jessica, "Wrap it twice". And another thing is that I didn't have to dig. Somebody dug for me, you know? I appreciated her for that. Imagine, first touch, second touch, third touch was the touch. I mean, it's like, wow, it's like, I'm still reeling from it. So I kept it. After I wash it, I kept it in a new wrapper. I went back there and say, "Y'all next time, you'll learn, huh"? You know, "Don't be careless, don't be autopilot, now, you know? So how, Jessica, huh"?

We shopped first. I didn't tell her anything. Very bad, huh? Yeah, that's me, you know? So all the while say, "Hey, you know, okay, Jessica, disappointed"? She says, "No," you know? Said, "I'm glad. I'm sure you prayed, right? But, you know". After they were in the car, after shopping, they were in the car, then I say, "Here we go". Ha, ha, ha. It was so wonderful. What a wonderful moment because they were, like, "Hah," 'cause as far as they're concerned, it's gone. You know what I'm saying? Are you willing to sit down and let it go when you've been stolen from or even it's your mistake, all right? Remember this about God. He's a good God, all right? And one of the things you can ask God is wisdom, all right? Look at this. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God". You do not know what to pray for? Here's one prayer God tells you. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God".

Now, some of you will never pray this prayer because you know you've got it. I can see that. Some of you act like you've got it already, all right? But this word "ask" is constant, all right, present active imperative, by the way. That means it's imperative. God didn't say, "If you lack wisdom, it's up to you whether you ask". It's imperative. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God". You see, this is one prayer I pray all the time. Some of you, I know you pray this prayer because you are praying this prayer every day because we had a series last time on wisdom and I taught you to pray this prayer every time. But what it has become sometimes, I'm afraid, is this: you pray a cliché prayer. "Father, give me favor, Father, and give me wisdom and give my children wisdom in Jesus's name, amen".

Okay, cover it. It is not that kind of, like, I know when I was driving there, said, "Father, I'm your covenant child. Father, the things that are impossible, it's impossible with men now. It's possible with you," all right? That kind of... your heart is in it. It's not that kind of, ah, just pray you have wisdom and all that. Just cover everything. Ah, everything covered. It's not that kind of thing, you know, church. It's not, I asked God for wisdom already. God has a wisdom for every situation. Doesn't come because someone has degrees to their name, someone has, you know, they are COs or this, of various companies. Wisdom doesn't come by experience. Wisdom doesn't come by accumulation of knowledge. Pharaoh dreamt a dream. Pharaoh had the knowledge of a dream. But Joseph had the wisdom to interpret the dream. And I'm telling you, it's amazing when you ask God for wisdom, God makes you see what you need to see.

We are inundated in this world today with myriads of information and, you know, that's why you never prepare your sermon through the Internet. You've gotta go by the old-time way: sit on the chair with an open Bible and ask God to speak to you. If you try to see what other people are preaching and that kind of thing, and all that, it's one of the coldest and legalistic way to prepare a message. Now, you can get information here and there, all right? Nothing wrong with that. But you don't prepare through it. So "If any of you lack wisdom, let him," what? "Ask of God". Let him what? "Ask of God". Not your pastor ask. "Let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him". Now, liberally without reproach, liberally without reproach. I wanna give you real quick, okay? I think that, I don't use the present, all that kind of thing, in the Greek anymore. Just tell you what the Greek says real quick.

Here it says: "God who gives to all liberally," the word "gives" there is present active participle which means constantly giving. God is constantly giving. I'm telling you God is giving more than you're receiving. Many of it is just sort of wasted in our lives because we have no open hands. We are busy trying to perform with our stress and our straining and our gritted teeth to accomplish the very thing that God is giving for free, okay? So God is constantly giving. You must have that picture of God when you come to God. It's not like God is his hands are folded and says: "Try, try, try harder". No, that's not God. God doesn't have to be persuaded, okay? "He gives constantly to all". How does he give? "Liberally".

God is a liberal God. I'm telling you, God is a liberal God. You know that? God is a God that constantly gives, and gives liberally and constantly, never finds fault. Is that the God that you have in your mind? Is that the God that you grew up with? God is a God who constantly does not find fault. And we come to God... this, I can destroy this, number one. We just destroyed the first one, why pray, all right? All right, if God knows everything, why should I pray? Number two, all right, "If I pray long, God will hear my prayer". We've destroyed that, right? Number three, this third one is that, "Well, if I come to God know you as God knows me, he can see a lot. His perfect eyes, he can see a lot of faults in me".

I'm telling you, God constantly does not find fault with you. Why? Because all your faults God imputed to Jesus Christ when he carried your sins at the cross. And all the goodness and merits and worthiness and righteousness of Christ God imputes to your account. This is the gospel. This is not religion. This is the gospel, amen? We'll close with one verse. Are you with me, people? Are you learning? All right, can I give two more? Two more. Two more? All right, we'll do an experiment, okay, all right? The first one is Romans 8, verse 32. It's a verse that you can meditate and meditate, and every time you meditate you will squeeze some heavenly nutrient and juice out of this verse. And it will bless you. I'm telling you, church, all right, to help you meditate real fast because we only have about a few minutes left. I'm gonna give you real fast, okay, learn to meditate. But if you meditate this verse is not, even after I give you, you can still meditate on it until one day you just scream, man. I'm telling you, you will scream because there's so much in this verse.

Look at this verse: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things"? Now number one, the first part, "He who did not spare His own Son". Who is the "He"? The Father. He did not spare his own Son. Who is the Son? The Son that he loves. Twice the Bible tells us, God opened up the River Jordan and said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased". God said that when Jesus was baptized. And then we have the highest place, Mount Herman, when the Father says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am pleased. Hear him". Jesus pleased the Father like no other man ever did because he lived as a man. He pleased God as a man, though he's fully God. And the Father says, "This is my beloved Son". Who did God give up? Who did God not spare so that we can be spared? The Son that he loved. This is the Father, all right? Change your image. Wrong believing will give you wrong living. Wrong thinking will bring you to bondage. Right believing will give you right living and right results.

So believe right about God. Can you trust a God who gave up the best heaven has, the Son that he loved? He will not spare his heart the pain. Don't forget, there's nothing as sensitive as love. And God is love. How it must have pained God's heart to give up that Son. "And delivered Him," to what? To what? To glory? To fame? No, delivered him up to shame and spitting, persecution, hatred, and finally, death, "for us all". Can we trust this God? Then he goes on to say: "How shall He not with Him". Don't forget, "with him" is there, with Jesus. "Also freely give us all things"? "How shall He not with Him". The Holy Spirit is arguing with you, his wisdom. He wants you to see this divine logic that'll bring you to a place of robust faith and have a right perspective of God. Let's reason together. The Holy Spirit is an amazing disputer. He argues with you like this. He argues from the greater to the lesser. If God gave us the greater gift, how much more the lesser gifts. He argues from the greater to the lesser. If God gave us that one great gift, how will he not give us the lesser gifts?

You say, "Pastor Prince, I want healing". Why would God withhold healing from you? Is healing greater than his Son that he gave up for? That he gave us his Son? No. If God withhold healing, healing is greater than Jesus? No, healing, providence, is all lesser. Hey, listen, Jesus is grace. If God gave us the greater blessing of grace, how will he not give us the lesser blessing of providence, of healing, abundant life, the good life? But, friend, don't measure yourself by your looks or by your money or your income. Shaky foundation. And you become very small when you do that. So, actually, God considers providence, health, family blessings, as lesser. Everything must be lesser than that one great gift. Another thing, all this, if you meditate through, you see the beauty of this verse. You can squeeze and squeeze and it would be inexhaustible in its nutrients.

Another thing you must realize is this. God gave that one great gift unasked. No one asked. If God gave the greatest gift unasked, how will he not give the lesser gifts for the asking, hmm? Are you following the Holy Spirit's reasoning here? Number three, it cost God so much to give his Son. We know it cost God. God is love. It's his only begotten Son. It cost God so much. It cost God so much for that one great gift, will he not give us the lesser gifts that cost him nothing, but only for the pleasure of giving it? The other gifts don't cost God anything. As one flower dies, he makes another flower. If God gave that one great gift that cost him so much, how will he not the lesser gifts that cost him nothing? Fourth, when did God give us his Son? When the church was around, worshiping him? There was no church. When did God gave his Son? When the whole world didn't even care. Even the Pharisees, God's chosen people on earth, did not welcome him. He was born in a manger. When God gave us his Son, the Bible says, we were all enemies of God.

So think of this. If God gave us that one great gift, when we were enemies, now that we are reconciled and have become, like Abraham, friends of God, how will he not give us the lesser gifts? Are you with me, people? Can we squeeze some more? Look at the word "freely". The word "freely" tells us what? The way God gives, the manner in which God gives. It's without price. It's without charge.

Now, if God was obliged to give, he wouldn't use the word "freely". If some of you deserve the gifts and the blessings, God cannot use the word "freely". God would have to go do it obligingly. God would have to do it, all right, grudgingly. But no, God owes no one anything. He's free to give whoever he wants to give, amen. And then how you receive it? Without price. If you say, "But you must be obedient," we all want to be obedient, but he doesn't wait for you to be obedient. Because if obedience is the criteria, it's no more freely. All the people that came to Jesus, they're not even saved; they got healed freely, freely. Everyone that touch him, power. Superman can never come close. Everyone got healed. I'm telling you, people, power went out of him and healed them all, freely, freely.

Now, it does not say, all right, in the past tense, "How can he not with him also have given us freely all things"? That's clearly the past tense, okay? It does not say, past tense. It doesn't say, "Has he not with him also freely given," past tense. It doesn't say "given," right? Even though it's true, God has given us everything when he gave us Jesus. But this is not what the verse is saying. This verse is saying, "How shall", say "shall". You know what's "shall"? Present tense and future tense. It means from now on, if God gave us his Son, I'm telling you from now on how will he not, present and in the future, the forever and ever, God will always show and manifest himself as the one great giver. He gives us hope for now and the future. It is not a past tense. Yes, he has given us, (given, past tense). Yes, yes, but this is not what this verse is saying. It's talking about the future. Whatever exigencies you might be faced with, there is that thing, okay? My time is up. Will you give me five minutes? Will you give me five minutes?

I got one more verse I'm gonna throw it at you. And then we'll do experiment in closing. Ready? Two verses only, all right? Two verses. Because you know why? It's together. Look at this verse, 1 Chronicles 4. This is the prayer of Jabez, and the Holy Spirit deem it fit to record this down. We'll close with this. "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed". Count how many "me," okay? "Me, I," the personal pronoun. "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me"! A lot of "me". Did you hear that? "And God granted him what he requested". God's pronoun is "thou," "thy hand," three times. "I," "me," "my," five times. But you know what God says of this prayer? They say when we pray for health and that kind of thing, they say that we are being selfish.

God calls Jabez, verse 9, "Jabez was more honorable". Why fight for it? Why cheat for it? Why scheme for it? Why in your personal success, do you step on other people? Why do all that thing, when you can ask God? "He was more honorable". The word "honorable" is the word "glory," kavod in Hebrew. He had a weightiness about him, he had the glory. Hey, God says when you pray prayers like this, you're more honorable than people who don't, 'cause I'm telling you, those who don't pray that God protect them from evil, God bless, enlarge their coast, that's prosperity, guess what? They will do the enlarging themselves. Those, all right, who don't ask God to protect them from evil, they're full of fear and worry and their families are full of fear and worry. Why? Because you never know, God might protect, God might not protect them. That was not Jabez' attitude. God gave him what he requested. Is it possible to ask God to protect you from evil?

"Pastor Prince, obviously you don't know so-and-so, Brother so-and-so, Sister so-and-so". I don't know Brother so-and-so, I don't know Sister so-and-so. Jabez, also don't know. Jabez prayed for himself, not for so-and-so. I'm not asking you to pray, based on so-and-so. We pray for ourself. I don't know what so-and-so believed. Do you know what so-and-so believe? You think you know. I cannot answer for so-and-so. I can only answer for Jabez. If Jabez prayed his prayer and God says he's more honorable for praying this prayer, I'm gonna pray this prayer.

Now, this experiment, we'll close with this experiment. Are you ready? You see how long this prayer is. Put on the timer on it. Now, put the prayer, you see, the prayer's up there now. All right, the whole prayer is up there now. For those of you who think, "This was a life-changing prayer. It changed the life of Jabez, and his story only appears in two verses", all right? God granted him what he requested. Will God grant prayers that are long with many words? Are you ready to pray? Don't rush, okay? Take our time. Okay, follow me now. Ready, timer ready? All start saying: "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me"! Wow, I didn't plan for that. I didn't know how long it will be, but 15 is a good number. Fifteen is the number of rest. Good number. But if you pray that kind of prayer, you find that the number is just to tell you some of the most powerful prayers, life-changing prayers, destiny-changing prayers, are prayers that are simple.

Pray in earnestness, in faith, to the one who gives constantly, who probably is glad that somebody is asking. On earth, everyone is so busy doing and working for themselves to produce for themself, God found a Joseph Prince. God found you, put your name there, that would ask God, amen, and would not allow the thoughts of the flesh or the devil saying, "C'mon, like, use your head, lah. It's gone already. C'mon, like, use your head, lah. How can God heal cancer? C'mon, like, use your head, lah". The problem is that you're using your head, all right? And that's why David cut off Goliath's head. A lot of the enemies of Israel were smashing their head, do you know that? C'mon, church, God gives to you liberally. God constantly gives and constantly will never find fault. Give him praise. Give him glory. He is a good God. He spared not his own Son, the Son he loved, but deliver him up for us all. How shall he not freely give us, how many things?

Every head bowed, every eye closed, all across this place. What joy the world outside will never know what we are rejoicing over. What joy to have God's promise governing our lives. What joy and, friend, we need to hear messages like this. We need to hear again and again. It's not just one time, when you are discouraged. Pick up this message and listen to it again and again and yet again. For your homework, take that verse, Romans 8:32: "If God spared not his own Son," and get your own thoughts, revelations. Maybe just one word down there, just that one word, will spark off that faith that you need to receive. God is a God that works with faith. God is a God that works with open hands, open hearts. God will not force and God wants you blessed more than you want to be blessed.

Hey, God wants to give you his gifts and blessings more than you want to receive them. Did you hear me? God wants to give you more than you want to receive. So before you pray for your child, you might think that you love your child more than anybody. Just stop for a while and say, "Wait a minute, God gave me this child. God loved this child as if he's the only child in the universe. God loves my child more than", hard as it for you to imagine that, God loves your child so much more than you can ever love your child. And that gives you a healthy letting go and looking to God. Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place.

♪ And were the skies of parchment made ♪
♪ Were every storm on this earth a quill ♪
♪ And every man a scribe by trade ♪
♪ To write the love of God above ♪
♪ Would drain the ocean dry nor could the scroll ♪
♪ Contain the whole though stretch from sky to sky ♪
♪ Oh, love of God how rich and pure ♪
♪ How measureless and strong ♪
♪ It shall forever more endure the saints ♪
♪ And angels' song ♪


If everyone, right now, with hearts open, with open hands, that's a prayer posture, you're ready to receive. But if you've never made this wonderful Jesus that the Father sent to be your Savior, God cannot force Jesus to be your Savior, even though he sent Jesus to be your Savior. You've got to welcome him with an open heart. Believe that he died in your place on the cross, because you can never pay for your sins. If that is you, wherever you are right now, pray this prayer with me from your heart. Say this out loud from your heart to God:

Heavenly Father, heavenly Father, what a good God you are. Thank you for loving me so much. I know you love Jesus and you love me too, but you gave Jesus up to death on my behalf that I might be saved. He wasn't spared that I might be spared. Thank you, Father. I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. I believe all my sins are paid for, past, present, and future. I receive everlasting redemption. I'm no longer a sinner. I'm a child of God. I have a covenant with God. I'm greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved, because Jesus Christ whom God raised from the dead and set him at his right hand, Jesus Christ is my Lord, in Jesus's name, amen, amen, amen.


This coming week, the Lord bless you and the Lord keep you. The Lord preserve you and your families throughout this week, from every disease-bearing mosquito, from every infection and contagion, from every sickness and disease, from all the powers of darkness, and from all the power of the evil one, through the blood of Jesus Christ. The Lord make his face shine on you, be favorable towards you. The Lord lift up his countenance on everyone, every family under the sound of my voice, and grant to you and your loved ones, his wonderful shalom wellbeing, wholeness, and peace. In the name of Yeshua HaMashiach, amen and amen. God bless you.

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