Joseph Prince - Thrive Even In Tough Seasons

I believe that God has so much more for us and he wants us to receive this Word in season for all of us during this time. As you know, the whole world is right now in a global recession and it’s going to get worse as time goes on. But remember that we are people who are in the world, but we are not of the world. We have a Father who cares for us and if he cares for the sparrows and not a single one of them falls without his knowledge, how much more will he care for you? Amen, so we rest in our Father’s love and we learn from him how to prosper even during times of famine. If you look in the scriptures, you’ll find that every time there’s a famine, there’s a time that God’s person, whoever he has for that hour, whether it’s Abraham, whether it’s Isaac, whether it’s Joseph, they come into prominence.

God’s people will come into prominence during this time, whether it’s in their workplace, whether it’s in their companies or wherever in their ministries, they will come forth during times of famine. It’s not during prosperous times. When I say times of famine or prosperity times, I’m talking about the times out there in the world, okay? But it’s during times of famine out there in the world that God’s people begin to shine. Because we demonstrate God’s light, not in the midst of light, but in the midst of darkness. We demonstrate God’s ability and power to supply, to provide during times of famine, during times of lack. Something very interesting about famine, you find that God’s people, always during famine, God gives them wisdom for that famine.

In different cases, different famines, you find that God gives wisdom to Joseph to know how to operate during that time. He would recommend to Pharaoh to appoint a man with wisdom to handle the coming famine. And of course, he didn’t recommend himself, but in a way, indirectly he did. Because Pharaoh says, how can we find anyone else that has the kind of wisdom like you have? And he appointed Joseph to be his right-hand man. And that’s when Joseph got promoted. But that’s the wisdom that God gave Joseph during that time of famine. During the time of Abraham, God told Abraham to be honest and own up. And when he lied about his wife, all right, he came to a place where he had to come clean and he own up.

And the Bible says that the first thing he did was that when he came out of Egypt, he built an altar to the Lord. In other words, he prioritized his relationship with the Lord. And God is saying, «Get back to where you lost. You went down to Egypt. Now get back to the place where you first built the altar». And the Bible says, «He built the altar between Ai and Bethel». And that’s where he came back to, okay. He’s always remembering where you fell, from where you fell, because of your unbelief or lack of faith. So you see that with Abraham, it was a coming back to where he was, where he fell from. In the case of Isaac, the Bible says there was a famine in the days of Isaac, like the first famine of the days of Abraham.

Now many years have transpired. Isaac is now an adult. When Abraham went down to Egypt during that famine, there was no Isaac. But many years have come and gone and now Isaac is facing a famine. But again, there’s a wisdom, a specific wisdom that God gave to Isaac and that wisdom was to sow, was to sow during the time of famine. If you look at the ground at that time and the Bible says it’s like the famine of Abraham. If you look at Abraham’s famine, it says that the famine was severe and severe famine looks like this. The ground looks like this. Now imagine that kind of ground and you are told, «Sow into that ground». Now you know that you got to do it by faith. You can’t do it by sight. By sight, everything is dry, arid. In the natural, you would think that nothing will grow out of this. And that’s the very challenge that is before God’s people today.

When God tells them to sow into the gospel, it is not like an investment in something that they can see in the future, the returns on. They can see the dividends. They will have a share and they will partake of the profits. But it is something seemingly like in the natural, it’s dry. And that’s the very area where God says, «Sow into that area». You see, the Bible doesn’t say that where your heart is, there will your money be. There will your treasure be. It’s the opposite. The Bible says, «Where your money is, where your treasure is, there will your heart be». In other words, wherever you put your seed, your money in, your heart will follow. If you sow into the gospel ground, your heart will be into the gospel, amen.

That’s how you change the direction of your heart. People try to, you know, turn the whole thing around and say that, no, no, you know, people will always put their money where their heart is. No, it’s the opposite. Their heart will follow where their money goes. And if you put your money in the gospel ground, even if you don’t have a vision about the importance of the gospel and how the gospel can transform lives, but you start by faith, looking at the gospel like it’s dry and you just sow into it, you will find that you will yield dividends, amen, like Isaac did. And exactly that’s what happened to Isaac. The Bible says, «And Isaac sowed in that land,» that land of famine, «In the same year,» not another year, «In the same year of famine, he reaped a hundredfold». So the Bible says, «The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous».

So there’s this 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold growth, even in prosperity. He began to prosper first. Began, there’s a beginning. All in the same year, he continued prospering until he became very prosperous. Thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold. And of course, that caused the Philistines to envy him. The Bible says, «He had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants». And the Bible says, «The Philistines envied him». So, don’t think for one moment that the world will not criticize you or say things about you if you prosper God’s way. They will even come against that teaching of prosperity as if, you know, the Bible doesn’t have these teachings. It’s okay for the new age to teach it, it’s okay for the world to promote it, and it’s okay for their people to prosper, but not God’s people, right? They have saying, right, that as poor as a church mouse.

Why a church mouse? No, my friend, if you study the Bible, look at all these verses. «Isaac sowed in the land. He reaped in the same year a hundredfold. He began to prosper, continued prospering, became very prosperous». Why do you think the Holy Spirit put all these verses there? For us to be discouraged from sowing, from giving, from believing God for a harvest? You know, there are people who say things like, «Well, you are giving to receive. You are sowing because you want to harvest». Yes, that’s the very thing the Bible encourages us to believe for. That’s why these verses are there. God says that Isaac sowed in the year of famine, in that land that’s dry and arid, and he reaped. And God told us about it.

You know, if God doesn’t want to encourage us, why did he tell us what happened to Isaac after he sowed? And God went into detail telling us that he began prospering, continued prospering and became very prosperous. Why did Jesus say, «Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will man give into your bosom»? Notice the expression. It’s very specific. It’s in detail. Even the process. How is it going to come back to you? Why did Jesus say… if Jesus didn’t want us to expect a return, if they expect us to believe for a harvest, why did he encourage us with the result of our giving, with the harvest of our giving? Amen, he could just have said, «Give in the name of the Lord. Give with a motive to bless others». He could have said that. No, he wants us to be encouraged. He wants us to believe that when we give, we will reap, amen. It will be given back to us, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, men will give to our bosom.

So, is this teaching of prosperity in the Bible something that God is saying to us that it’s not his will for us to prosper and to be poor is to be humble? Poverty is holiness? You don’t find that in the Bible. You don’t find that in the lives of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, even all the heroes of faith in the Bible. The Bible says, you know, all of them prospered in their various fields. Whether, you know, they are a king, when they walk with the Lord, they begin to prosper. In fact, there’s a verse about one of the kings of Judah. «As long», notice the way it’s phrased, «As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper». Notice that? How that seeking the Lord and prosperity is tied up together.

So child of God, God wants you to be encouraged. God wants to prosper you. The reason this is such a burden, if I can say that, for me, a burden that I want to dispense off, you know, it’s not a heavy burden but, you know, it’s like, God arrested me recently and told me, it’s time for me to preach this in its biblical context, amen. There is an extreme, of course, you know, where people talk about prosperity. It’s always about receiving and there’s always a blessing. One person or just a group of person and not having a vision for the gospel. It’s all about me, my. And it’s about possessions and more possessions. That’s not God’s idea of prosperity. God’s prosperity is to prosper you first and foremost in your walk with him, in your life with him, amen.

And that’s what happens when you become righteous through Jesus’s blood, amen. «For God made Jesus to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,» amen. So we are righteous. That’s the greatest prosperity of all. In fact, with that righteousness comes all the blessings of the righteous. Like the Bible says, «Blessings are upon the head of the righteous». That’s you. That’s me now, amen. We can receive those blessings, amen. And then the Bible says about our children. «The seed,» that’s your seed and my seed, our children, «The seed of the righteous will be delivered,» amen. We can claim that. It is ours now.

When we pray, we can know this in our hearts that God is hearing our prayers and our prayers avail much. Why? «The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much». And you are that righteous man now. I am that righteous man, amen. The Bible says in Proverbs, «The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous». Who is the righteous? You and I. We are the righteous. Look at that. Is that in the Bible? Yes, it’s in Proverbs 13 verse 22. It’s right there. Why is God encouraging us? What is it saying to us? That there’s a transfer taking place here. The wealth of the sinner, the sinner is tasked with gathering and gathering and working hard and doing all he can to get a lot of wealth. But God is saying, «He’s storing that wealth» for who? For the righteous.

My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, if you are suffering, all right, in any way during this famine of lack or shortage in any area or you’re in debt and you can’t imagine how you can pay off your debt, first and foremost, you’ve got to release that faith in your heart to see a God who wants to prosper you. Because of all the teachings that we hear, you know, that is so rife now on YouTube and social media and, you know, wherever you find people are talking about this, it’s always like in a negative way about tithing and about, you know, you hear phrases like health and wealth gospel, you know. And I agree, all right?

Let me say this. I agree that there are extreme teachings on this where it’s all about greed, it’s all about covetousness, it’s all about the love of money. I’m not referring to that. I’m not talking about prosperity for self-aggrandizement. I’m not talking about for self and only for you and yourself and your family. No, it is prosperity with a purpose. We’re talking about Abraham now as an example of how God blessed him. And you see that when God called him, God says, «I’ll bless you and you shall be a blessing». What does that mean? That means I bless you so that you can be a channel. You can be a blessing. And of course, we know that the greater plan of God is the gospel of Jesus Christ because «In your seed shall all the nations be blessed».

That’s the gospel right there. That’s what Paul says in Galatians and Romans, in that very verse, «In your seed shall all the nations be blessed». So God blesses us even financially, all right, or with great possessions in his Word so that we can channel these things, amen, for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can I have a good amen? Amen, and sometimes we feel like we are looking for the latest creation, the latest innovative ideas to make money. But friend, these facts come and go, amen. And you may make money for a while, but you’re gonna lose a lot in the process. But God’s way is this.

When God blesses you and God prospers you, «The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he adds no sorrow with it». And the word «estev» there is sorrow, all right, is the word, painful toil. He adds no painful toil in that labor. Whereas some of these other things, you may or may not prosper in only one area financially. Yes, you may have a bigger house now. You may have one more car, all right, but what you give up to get all that, just in one area, money. God’s prosperity is more than just money.

One of the saddest things is that I feel like there’s a whole new generation, you know, they were in favor and they think that this favor message and all that, it is some, you know, preachers who try to make people feel good. No, friend, favor of God is a valid central teaching of the Bible. In fact, the word favor, you can actually say is grace because grace is undeserved, unmerited favor. And to be full of grace means to be full of favor, amen. And the Bible says clearly that in Exodus 12, «The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians». That’s key. When God gives you favor with your bosses, amen, that’s when promotion starts. That’s when increment in your salary happens, amen.

When God gives you favor in the eyes of your clients, they’ll do, they want to do business with you compared to someone else that, you know, in the natural, have more experience and maybe can offer more, but for some reason, they gravitate towards you. They like you, they trust you. And a lot of business is done like that. When people have that confidence in someone, they give the person the business, amen. That’s called favor. And God can give you favor in spite of your experience, in spite of your education achievements. It’s not dependent on all that. It’s the Lord who gives favor, amen.

So look to the Lord for favor, amen. Look to the Lord for favor. I learned down through the years that you can trust God for favor. But you say, «But I don’t deserve God’s favor». No, friend, grace is undeserved favor. The more undeserving you are, you qualify, amen. All you got to do is to receive it, amen. God wants you to receive favor. Why not receive favor today? Amen. We also see in the life of Joseph, the Bible says that God gave him favor in the sight of first and foremost Potiphar and then later on before Pharaoh. God gave him favor. It was something that God gave, God imparted and he promoted him. With every favor that God gave Joseph, he was promoted.

In Potiphar’s case, he was a slave when God gave him favor. And the Bible says that whatever Joseph did, God prospered. All that he did, the Lord prospered. Everything under Joseph’s hands. So much so that Potiphar put everything in Joseph’s hands. Now think about this, Potiphar, like many of our employers are the ones who are in a position to promote us, okay. Many of them, they are not believers, okay. I assume that probably you’re working in a place where the person is not a believer. If the person is a believer, all the more God can speak to him. But in this case of Joseph, Potiphar wasn’t a believer. But the Bible says, «Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. And all that Joseph did, the Lord caused to prosper in his hands».

So he saw that Joseph, that the Lord was with Joseph and that Joseph was prospering in everything that he touched because of the Lord. Now, how do you assume that came to Potiphar, okay? By observing with his eyes, amen. Whatever Joseph did, whether it was planting crops, you know, it became a great harvest, a bumper crops that year. Whether he was handling a group of servants and they all became highly motivated under his charge. Whatever it is, we see that Joseph prospered and it was evident for a heathen to see. Someone who didn’t believe in God, they go by their eyes. So what’s going to happen is that I believe that when God gives you favor, the world will see it. Your boss will see it. Your clients will see it. And the people under your ministry and even sinners that we reach out to will see it, amen.

So friend, God gives you power to get wealth to establish the covenant of grace. Wherever you find the covenant of grace being preached, being proclaimed, that is the ground. If you line up your life with that, your giving and all that, your sowing, your tithing, your giving with all that, amen, you will definitely receive that power to get wealth. Praise God, hallelujah. God definitely gave that power to his people. Now again, you know, some people may say, «Well, you know, I don’t believe in this health and wealth gospel». Friend, I don’t believe in that also. I don’t believe there’s a gospel called the gospel of health and wealth. There’s no such thing.

The Bible says, «The gospel is the gospel of grace and peace». But the result of the gospel is always, always, all right, provision, amen. The first area, God provides what? Righteousness as a gift. And then God provides for us in our soul and our realm, «Come unto me and I’ll give you rest». Praise the Lord. Peace that passes understanding. For our bodies, he gives health, amen. And for our outward life, just like 3 John 2, God’s will for you, «God’s desire for you, above all things that you prosper outwardly and be in health even as your soul,» your inward man, «Prospers,» amen. In every dimension, that’s God’s kind of prosperity, amen.

So God will give the power to get wealth to someone who sees his vision, his plan, his purpose to establish which covenant? The covenant of grace, amen. And they’ll put their money there. Praise the Lord. Because that’s where, amen, God is working. That’s where God’s provisions are flowing, amen. In Israel’s time, where was God working in? God was working towards building the tabernacle and that’s where all the wealth that God gave them, the great possessions was going towards. Now, of course, it’s not everything they had went over there. In fact, they were told not to bring anymore. So when God blesses you, there’ll be definitely be things left for you. God blesses, like Jesus says, «Give, it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down».

Now, he could have stopped there also. It would be enough. Good measure, pressed down, means what? You gotta press it down because it keeps on coming up. But then he went further by saying, «Running over». What is running over? Have you ever experienced the running over blessings? There are some people who say, «Well, God supplies our needs,» all right, God meets our needs, not our wants. Well, my Bible says, «The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want».

There is no want in Psalms. There is no want to them that fear him, all right, God takes care of your want. In fact, the running over, why is there the running over? Have you ever experienced the running over blessing? See friend, God wants you blessed running over so that your blessings will flow to others, amen. But are you blessed? Are you blessed in the process? Yes, you are blessed in the process definitely, amen. Because you are the channel through which the supply flows through. Definitely there will be more than enough for you. The only problem we have is that it stops there like the Dead Sea in Israel.

The Dead Sea has inlet, it has no outlet. And that’s why it’s called the Dead Sea. Nothing can live in the Dead Sea. But up north in the land of Israel, the Sea of Galilee is thriving with fishes. Why? Because there’s inlet and there’s outlet, amen. Would you call the sea blessed? Yes. Why? Because it’s a channel. It’s allowing itself to be a channel. So, you’ll be blessed when you become a giver? Definitely you’ll be blessed, all right. And the running over is a blessing, plenty for others and plenty for you and your family. Praise the Lord.