Joseph Prince - Rest In Jesus' Faith For Miracles

We go right into the Word today, and let's look at Mark chapter 9. It's a very beautiful story. Many of you are familiar with the story. It's repeated more than one time in the in the gospels, all right? But we look at Mark's account. Mark chapter 9, verse 14, "When Jesus came to the disciples". Now, where was Jesus prior to this? He was at the mountaintop where he was transfigured, amen, his face shone. For a while, God lifted the veil of Jesus's humanity and let the disciples who were there Peter, James, and John, whom Jesus brought up to the mountain, and Jesus's face shone, all right, the transfiguration of Jesus. And we are following the story after the transfiguration when he came down the mountain. The Bible tells us when he came down the mountain, something happened. Verse 15, "Immediately when they saw him, all the people were greatly amazed".

Now, why were they greatly amazed when they saw Jesus come down, why? I submit to you because his face was still shining. There was a residual shine on his face, that glow on his face. And you know what the shine says? The shine says, "You are forgiven. You are forgiven. You are forgiven because I have come". So, when Jesus came down, the Bible says when he came down the mountain, he saw, verse 14, he saw a great multitude around them, around the disciples. The scribes were disputing with his disciples. All right, who are the scribes? The scribes in the Bible are people who are experts in the law, all right? They are experts in the finer points of the law. In fact, they add laws to the law. How many understand that?

Okay, and what do you think they were disputing with the disciples of Jesus, the nine of them left at the foot of the mountain? What do you think they were disputing? They were telling the disciples, all right, why they cannot cast the demon out of the boy. And they were using the law. They were saying to the disciples, all right, "Have you done this? Have you done the ritual bath? Have you gone to the Mikveh? Have you finished your prayers? Have you fasted enough? Have you done that enough? Have you done this enough"? How many understand when you hear the law, it was cause your faith to be void? It will cause your faith to shrink, how many understand that?

So, notice that because we'll come back to that later. And Jesus came down and he asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them"? Wow, it's very easy to talk to the flock, huh, when the shepherd is not around. Then Jesus comes on the scene and says, "What talk you with them"? All right, they didn't answer, notice that? They didn't answer Jesus. "Then one of the people in the crowd answered and said, 'Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit'". In other words, the boy was dumb.

So, this boy was demon-possessed. Verse 18, "And wherever it seizes him", this demon seizes him, "it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not. Jesus answered him and said, 'O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.' Then they brought the boy to Jesus and when he saw Jesus, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth". Obviously, the demon was afraid. The Savior has come, the Redeemer has come, all right? The devil can bully your children, but the moment Jesus comes in, that's the end and he knows it. All right, the next verse. "So Jesus asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And he said, 'From childhood'".

I want to tell you something, parents, the devil doesn't respect the fact a child or an elderly person. He doesn't care about the age. Have you noticed that? He will attack whenever he has the opportunity? Okay, now, what do you think? If the devil doesn't care about introducing pornography, okay, to your children when they are about ten years old, nine years old, the devil doesn't care but talking about profanity, vulgarity on the television shows or the movies that they watch, okay? Neither should you bother about the fact that they are young. Never say they are too young to understand the gospel, they are too young to understand the Word of God. Never say that because the devil doesn't think they are too young to understand profanity, amen?

The devil gets them when they are young and when you get them when they are young, all right, those habits will remain to adulthood. The devil knows that, all right? So, you know what? Never have this attitude, "My child is too young. My child is too young". All right, they're never too young for Jesus. All right, in fact, wise is this father because he's engaging Jesus for his child. Now, bring your child to Jesus, amen, hallelujah. "And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him". The father says, "But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us". Said, "Jesus, if you can do anything, if you can do".

Wow, how many of us, like this father, when we are in a desperate situation, all right, we're in dire straits, we always think, "You can do it. Why don't you do it"? If we are honest, that's always our response. "The father says, 'If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said to him, 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes'". Now, many of us, we have read this verse like this, if you can just believe, if you can just believe, wow, y'all can come to that place you can just believe, all things are possible, man, if you can believe. And many of us end the word like the boy's father, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief".

It's as if the whole weight falls on us. But actually you know what Jesus said? You know what Jesus said? I want to show you the Greek, all right, and you'll get the idea. In the Greek Jesus said, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes". In the Greek he says, "If you can", the word "believe" is not there. "If you can, all things are possible to him who believes". Would you like to see the new American Standard Bible? It brings out the Greek. In the New American Standard Bible it says, "Jesus said to him, 'If You can! All things are possible to him who believes'".

He was throwing back the question at the father. The father said if you can do anything. Jesus says, "If you can do? If you can? Hey, all things are possible to the one who believes, to the believing one". He was referring to himself and the thing that proves he was referring to himself is also this last word, believes, all things are possible to him who believes is in the present, active participle in the Greek.

Now, at that time present at that time, who was the one believing? Was it the disciples? Talk to me. Was it the father? Who was the only one who was believing without wavering at that time? Jesus. He was talking about himself. Come on, church. Hallelujah, hallelujah! When your faith runs out, his faith doesn't. When you feel like your faith is so weak, his faith remains the same. So, why not you take your puny faith and hook it to his unshakable faith? Hallelujah! You are to put your faith in his faith on your behalf. So, the father says, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. I'm gonna believe that with you all things are possible". And Jesus himself cast the devil out. Hallelujah! Amen?

I know many of us have heard messages that tell us, if only you have faith, you'll be healed. If only you have faith, your child will turn around. If only you have faith. Then you only end up with this conclusion, "But then I don't have faith". Or you will say, "My faith is weak", all right? Many of us, we are taught, and rightly so, that when you are sick, don't confess your sickness, confess your faith. Say, "By Jesus's stripes". Yeah, y'all know that. By Jesus's stripes, I am healed.

Now how many of you when you have pain in your body, there are times you confess that but you feel like you're more conscious of the pain, the condition than you are of your confession, right? How about trying this, all right? How many believe that Jesus has faith because obviously he knew, he took the stripes on his back for your healing. So, how many believe that Jesus has faith, that by his stripes, you are healed? How about telling Jesus this, whenever you feel weak in your confession, "Lord, Jesus, I thank you that you have faith that by your stripes, I am healed".

That's a marvelous twist. But I'm telling you, all right, it will bring you rest. It is not your faith, it is his unshakable faith. It is not your waveringness, it's his unwavering faith, amen? It's not your doubting, it is his faith, hallelujah. Stop asking yourself, "Am I strong in my faith? Do I have enough faith"? Ask yourself, is his faith strong? Amen? Is he enough? Amen? We are so works conscious that we turn everything, even faith into a work, but faith is not a work. Your faith is something to latch on to Jesus. There is no merit in your faith. All merit is in Christ and Christ alone. Amen, church?

You know, somehow when you say, "Christ is everything to me, except faith. Faith, I must produce my own". No, Christ is all, my friend. Christ is all. He's my everything, including my faith. So, at times you feel your faith is down, you feel like you don't have enough faith, thank God it's not my faith, it's not your faith. You say, "Lord Jesus, I thank you for this situation. You have faith. Everything's gonna be all right". Amen. "Well, how can you say that"? I just did, all right, because I know him, not that I know me. I know him, amen. My confidence in him. My boast is in him, hallelujah. Praise the Lord, amen. Hallelujah, just makes you happy talking about Jesus, amen?

All right, so understand this, even though it's his faith and your faith latching on to his faith, he will turn around and says, "All right, your faith. Thanks for believing in me". Believing what? Believing that you, Lord, can never fail, your faith can never fail, hallelujah? Praise the name of Jesus. Faith is a rest. Say it. Say it again. Whenever you find you're struggling and there's no rest in your life, something is wrong.

You heard someone teach something, and now you're restless. "I must confess, I forgot to confess no, today I forgot to confess my Scriptures, oh, I forgot". You know, that's restlessness, it's not God, okay? Even those days when you are tired, you are fatigued, just say, "Lord, I'm feeling tired", but you never feel tired. "I rest in you, Lord. When I cannot carry myself, Lord, you always carry me. When I cannot hold on, you're always holding on to me". Well, the truth is that he never let you go, only at that moment you are realizing it all over again. Amen, church? Is this helping you? Is this blessing you? Praise the Lord.

Now, I want to show you Hebrews 4 to show you that faith is the rest. All right, Hebrews, "We who have believed", enter what? Do enter that rest. There is a place called rest. All right, now this portion is referring to the children of Israel in the wilderness. Do y'all remember they wandered for 40 years, which is not God's will. And God told them, "I'm bringing you to a land where you'll drink from wells you did not dig. You will eat from vineyards you did not plant. You will live in houses you did not build". What does that mean? It's a rest. It's all been finished, it's a finished work. It's all based on the work of another.

So, here for Christians, all right, it's not a physical land. All right, but is a place of rest. How do I know that? Because here God says, "We who have believed do enter that rest, as God has said: 'So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest'". God was referring to the children of Israel in the 40 years wandering in the desert. God said, "I saw in my wrath", notice my wrath, "they shall not enter my rest". So, wrath and rest are opposites. And under the Old Testament, it was a time they were under God's wrath, all right, in the wilderness, but we are under my rest, okay? "Although the words were finished from the foundation of the world".

Listen carefully, your healing is already finished. Your prosperity is already finished, all right? Your family's well-being is already finished. All right, God finished everything from the foundation of the world. The Bible says the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world. We say, "We don't understand this". You know who understands it? Einstein understands it. Einstein says, "you go into a time machine and you go at a speed of light". All right, when you look back, and you come back about one minute later, all your friends have grown old, but you have not, why? Because you went outside time. Are you listening?

We are in a very slow mo. Everything goes really slow. But God is outside time, that's why God calls himself, "I Am the resurrection and I Am the way, the truth, and the life". It's never, "I was", never "I will be" because this refers to time. He's always present. He's outside time. When Jesus died 2,000 years ago, as far as God is concerned, he died only yesterday. Now, if you take Communion, you must not think 2,000 years ago, you must think just now he died and now the healing is available because there's no time. Okay, are you with me?

So, in other words, God's finished everything for you. When Jesus Christ, "It is finished", it is truly finished. Your healing is paid for, your forgiveness is secure, your prosperity is sealed, your blessings are sure. But then God finished everything and then God goes back in the time zone of men and God says, "You know, I know you can't see it now, I know you can't feel it now. I know you can't sense it now. I know you can't hear it now. I know you can't taste it now, but I want you to believe, believe by faith, your healing is finished, all right, because it is finished", okay?

"But pastor, I still cannot believe", don't worry. Take your little faith and hook it to Jesus's faith. Say that, "Whatever Pastor Prince said just now, Lord Jesus, you understand. You gave the message to him. I just rest in your faith for my future", okay? Are you with me, church? You understand? All right, good. Let's go on from here. All right, now in other words, faith is a rest. When you are really in faith, you are resting, you're not struggling. Go back to Mark 11 please. So, Jesus cursed the fig tree. One night passed, the next morning, they passed by the same place. As they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. Now, the night before when Jesus says, "No man eat fruit from you hereafter forever, you fig tree".

How many know the fig tree died, but when you look at it, it's still green? You know, when you curse that cancer, when you curse that pimple, when you curse that disease, it still looks like it's there but know this, at its roots, it's dead, it's dead. The next day they saw the whole leaf is dead. Jesus knew it died the moment he spoke. The disciples only said it after they saw. "The fig tree you cursed has withered away. Jesus answered and said to them, 'Have faith in God'". Again, this in the Greek is not have faith in, but have faith of God. The Young's Literal Translation brings it out. "Jesus answering said to them, have faith of God".

Do you see that, all right? And even brother Kenneth Hagin, the father of faith, so to speak, of faith teachings. You know, he's considered as the father of faith. He taught this, that in the Greek, the word here is not have faith in God, have the faith of God, have God's kind of faith. How does God's faith operate? All right go back again, Mark 11, "For assuredly Jesus says, 'I say to you, whoever says to this mountain'", now the mountain can be a sickness, can be a mountain of debt, lack, but definitely not your mother-in-law. Okay, don't put your mother-in-law inside there. "Whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea. Be removed, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says".

The word "say", whoever says to this mountain, believe that those things he says, he will have whatever he says. "Says" appear three times, "believe" appear only one time. It's your saying that is missing. If you believe it's Jesus's faith, say it. Pray for the sick, pray for yourself because it's not your faith. Your faith is in his unwavering faith, so just say it, pray it. "But pastor, I don't have faith". Try again, okay? Your part is just to believe and rest in his faith. He's the faithful one, all right? So, your part is just to say it, say it because it's his faith. Jesus says, "Say to the mountain", the last part, "he will have whatever he says". "He will have" is future, right? But say it first before you see it.

Now, he says have the faith of God. Whose faith is it finally? It's his faith. What's our part? To look to his faith. All right, I'll close with this, Hebrews 12, verse 2, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith". Now, the word "our" is not there in the original, okay? Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. That's what it says in the Greek. Jesus is the author, he originates it and he finishes it. The Greek word, author, "archegos" in the Greek, the origin leader, and teleio, the completion. He is the originator of faith, he's the completion of faith. So, you know what? Don't worry about, "Do I have enough faith"? All right, just spend time with Jesus, talk to him, look to him, listen to sermons full of Jesus, and you know what? Faith will be there. Okay, when you touch Jesus, you touch faith. But when you touch water, you touch wet. He's the originator, the author, and finisher of faith.

So, looking unto Jesus, the word "looking" in the Greek is the word "apharao". Apharao is to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something. And it's only used one time in the New Testament, apharao. Hebrews 12, go back to Hebrews 12, looking unto Jesus, which, by the way, is a present active participle also, always looking away from everything unto Jesus. When you are weak, look away from everything from your own weakness unto Jesus and his fullness, all right? When your faith seems so weak, look to Jesus and his strong faith. Don't ask, "Is my faith strong? Is my faith strong"? Ask, Is his faith strong? Amen. Don't ask, "Can I rely on Jesus enough"? Ask, "Is he reliable"? Stop looking at yourself and start looking to Jesus. He's the author and finisher of faith. I told you just now one last verse, right? This is the last verse, okay, Romans chapter 4, verse 14. Look at Romans 4.

Now, let's look at the last verse because of time, "For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect". According to this verse, what voids your faith? What voids your faith? Now, majority of Christians will tell you it's sin. Now, we're all against sin, but wrong answer. You lose your one million dollars. All right, the answer is the law. If you look to yourself, "Am I depending enough? Am I obedient enough? Have I kept all of God's laws or God's commandments? Have I been obedient in every way"? You look at self all the time, your faith cannot operate. All right, the law voids your faith and makes God's promise of no effect. Well, that's terrible.

Now, we go back again to Mark chapter 9 and we'll close. Mark chapter 9 in the beginning says, "When Jesus came to the disciples after he came down the mountain, he saw a great multitude around the disciples and the scribes disputing with them". That's the reason why they cannot cast the demon out. The disciples were involved with the law, disputes about the law. Now, many of you, your translations said, I mean later on, the disciples asked Jesus, "Why could not we cast the demon out"? Jesus says, "This kind does not come up but by prayer and fasting", all right? Don't worry about the word "fasting". It is not there in the original. You will see in the NIV, in the New American Standard Bible, the word "fasting" is not there.

So, all Jesus said was in another gospel of the same story, Jesus says, "Because of your unbelief". Okay, in other words, "You don't believe that it's my faith that works, that all things are possible to the believing one". If you can, hey, all things are possible to the believing one, the one who believes even right now when the father doesn't, when the disciples didn't, and obviously the scribes couldn't. The only believing one was Jesus. Are you with me, all right? So, in other words, stop looking at yourself, look away unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. That's why ministries that unveil Jesus is so important.

Pastors and leaders, every time your people come to church, it's so important that we unveil Jesus to them because when they encounter Jesus, when they touch Jesus, their faith will be springing forth without them being conscious. When Jesus said about the centurion had great faith, the centurion wasn't even conscious he had great faith, all he was conscious of was a great Jesus. The Syrophoenician woman, it's another woman that Jesus had great faith, she wasn't even conscious of her faith. None of them came to Jesus saying, "Jesus, I have great faith, Jesus", none of them, but they were conscious of a great Jesus, amen? Give him all the praise and glory, amen.