Joseph Prince - Hope For Life's Dark Moments And Tough Seasons - Part 2
If you are suffering mental depression, listen to what I'm gonna say, amen? Just live one day at a time. Get up, just do what you're supposed to do, the next thing, and the next thing, and the Holy Spirit will lead you first step by step by step. The secret of the winding stairs. Before you know it, you are on another level. Before you know it, you're in a larger place, to inherit even more. Are you listening? "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet". And I read an account of a man who went to Israel in the 1800s and, back then, they don't have, you know, the modern convenience of the buses, but the guides back then would carry their luggage for them, and they'll be on a camel.
And the guide, when their hands are full, at night, as evening comes and darkness descends, they will tie a lamp around their feet and then the one who was riding the camel was a minister. He says that reminds him of Psalms 119, verse 105 says: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet". He does not see the end journey. Neither can you when you climb up the stairs. If you're suffering mental issues, okay, you've been diagnosed with depression, or whatever it is, you keep yourself in the room, take one step. Maybe just go out there and sit down and watch TV. Then you take one step, just one step. Don't worry about tomorrow. "But I'm not working". Don't worry. One step will lead you to your job. "But I'm not married at my age".
One step will lead you to the right place. Imagine Rebecca went that morning, not knowing that she would meet her, she's about to meet her very, very anointed and rich fiancé or husband-to-be, which is Isaac. But she met the servant, right? And she was just obeying the Lord by being generous to feed his camel. End up, she became the wife of Isaac, Abraham's son, who inherited everything from Abraham. One step at a time. Show them The Message Bible, Matthew 6. It says like this: "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes".
This brings out the spirit of what Jesus is saying: don't worry about tomorrow. This is The Message translation. Enough problems today. And the manna comes daily and there's enough manna for one day at a time. Are you listening? There's enough grace for today, like the manna principle. The manna stinks if you keep it for another day. There's manna every day. He doesn't want you to be worried about tomorrow. Jesus said, "Don't worry about tomorrow. There's enough grace for today". A lady would say things like, it's a true story. Went for a holiday with her friend and she looked at the beautiful place, and many people do this. They look, "Oh, this place is so beautiful. I must come back here one day". And her friend's thinking, "You are here".
How many times we have lived in the future? How many times we have lived in the past in regret? We regret. But we are here with our loved one. We are here at this age. We are here while we're still young. We are worried about old age. We are here, and we regret the past. No, God can accelerate time for you. Jesus, our Lord Jesus, the first beginning of miracles, the Bible says in Cana of Galilee, "On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding". And you know, they ran out of wine. You know that, right, amen? I've shared on this before, if you remember. And they went to Jesus and Mother said, "They have no wine".
Now, listen, the mother said this. I want you all to learn this, from the lips of Mary. It says: "Whatsoever He says to you, do it". And it's always the first step. If he tells you, "Don't worry, you're depressed now. Just get up, breathe, eat, and just start walking out". Just a walk in the park. Just a walk in the park. By the way, talking about walking, the Lord, this is from the Lord. The Lord told me to tell you all: "Start walking again". Do you know a neuroscientist just, and my wife gave me this just, again, this past week, she gave me an article from a neuroscientist who said that people who walk often, amen, people who walk, even 30 minutes a day, people who walk, they are more, it helps their brain. Not just their physical health. Helps their brain. And he's a neuroscientist, amen.
There's something about walking, outside especially, gives you a broad, you know, your mind is at ease. And many, many, Charles Dickens, for example, his ideas and all that come when he's walking. A lot of people get ideas when they walk, amen. Mark Zuckerberg loves walking and talking with his employees. He said the ideas flow. This sermon came to me while I was walking. And the Lord had me tell, you know, wanna tell you all, start walking. If you prefer running, go ahead. No problem. But start walking. Incorporate walking into your life. Find a place to walk, amen. This neuroscientist talks about when you walk and even avoid people, your brain is starting to, you know, produce new, like, you know those tendrils, you know, it's like new veins. You sit at home, do nothing, it's confound. TV, you, and the mountain is growing, you know? Blocking your view.
Get up. Get up. Jesus says to the man who was impotent in his feet, cannot walk for 38 years: "Get up! Take up your bed, and walk". Start walking. Walk your way into wholeness. Walk your way into health, amen? Now, just natural walking... Now, God tells us to walk. There's some power in it. He's gonna bless it, amen? One step at a time. Don't worry about what you can't see in front of you. Just obey the Lord. He might prompt you to do something. He might prompt you to study something. He might prompt you, even your relationship with your spouse, you might be in a place where you feel it's breaking down. How can I get this back? How can I redeem the time? Well, the Bible says you can redeem the time by becoming wise. Ask God for wisdom and he will show you one step at a time. Just do that. Maybe God says, "Talk less, listen. Resist the urge to talk. Just listen. Just listen. Just listen. But how can just that one little thing... just listen".
For some of you, you're hearing God right now for your first step, just listen. Resist all the urge inside you to want to say something, to want to, resist it and just listen. I think that's a word for a number of you having challenges in your relationship with your spouse or even with your teenager or with your son or daughter. Perhaps God is saying something else to somebody else. Well, just do that one thing, will you? Whatever he says to you, do it. And the Lord of time and space, you don't have to worry whether he accelerates or he suspend time or reverses time. You don't have to worry about the wider space and a bigger, and a larger possession. You don't have to worry about all that. One step at a time. When the time is right, you realize you're in a bigger place, a wider place, greater possession of your possessions in Christ.
Have you heard of the prayer called, "Just tell it to Jesus. If you've any cares and anxieties. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus" Do you feel like your friends have forsaken you? What a friend we have in Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Have you ever tell it to Jesus before? Have you ever taken a walk and you say, "God, I don't know how to pray. Lord Jesus, I feel you're walking with me because I know enough to know that you never leave me, nor forsake me. And Lord, just... Can I just tell you, Lord? I'm worried about this, I'm worried about that". You don't know that you are actually casting your cares on him but, in your mind, the law says, "Lord, I come to you, O Father, I come to thee, to do this prayer of... and I beseech thee that in thy great mercies and wonderful compassions that faileth not, thou will bestow upon me, thy child, this great providence and mercy," and God says, "Talk to me like a child".
So, have you done this before, all right, where you walk with the Lord and you say, "Lord Jesus, right now, my heart is full of worry. Today I had some symptoms in my body, and I'm concerned about it. Lord, I just wanna tell you that, Lord. And Lord Jesus, I'm worried about my son, Lord. He's getting a bit rebellious, Lord. Lord, I'm worried about my wife, Lord. She's getting more beautiful. Lord, I'm worried about, I'm concerned about this, Lord". But don't let anyone hear. It's just you and Jesus, you know? And I'm telling you, just talking to him, I can't begin to explain to you, no, not exactly everything in those words. I'm just illustrating. But the more honest you are with him, I can't explain to you, even before you ask, "Lord, give me the grace," it's amazing you know he has imparted strength to you.
By the end of that walk with Jesus, it's like, "Wow, something has changed. I don't know what is it. I'm not so anxious and careful anymore. Something happened". Just tell it to Jesus, and then you realize he's really a friend. It's not just a song, "What a friend we have in Jesus". Is my voice louder than his? "All our sins and griefs to bear". It's no more a hymn. All of a sudden, you realize, "He's my friend. He's a friend I can share with and no wonder prayer..." You know, spending time over coffee with a dear friend, hours pass, and before you know it, my goodness, but prayer is like you look at the clock. You know, you feel like, those days, remember that day, one-hour prayer.
So you look at the clock. And I remember when they used that statement, or the question that Jesus asked his disciples: "Could you not tarry one hour"? Actually, he asked the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was not a law. Even a question, we twist it into a law, and we say, "Couldn't you tarry one hour"? So we do our best. We put our clock, all right? And then we pray and we really, really, really pray. And we really thought we prayed for a long time, and then look up: 10 minutes. Oh my goodness, you know? Can you imagine me going to my wife and saying, "All right, you've been asking me to spend time with you, communicating with you, that you... you told me that communication is the lifeblood of marriage. All right, baby, your time starts now. Pshooh". She'll say, "I'm going home," right, amen? No, so there is a place for a prayer of faith.
There's a... in fact, all these, to talk to him is faith. Some of you are so strong. The problem with us is that we are so strong in our flesh, we endure things. Even our family do not know what we are going through, but worst of all, you don't even let Jesus know. Those who are strong outside, let me tell you this, they appear strong, are those who talk to Jesus inside. They pour their heart so they can be strong for their families or for their loved ones. Let me tell you this, people. There must be a place for you to cry. If you need to cry, there's no prayer. Cry in his presence. Say, "Lord Jesus, can I cry? Lord Jesus, I", you know? Sometimes you, but speak what's in your heart. That's the best prayer of all. Even, "Lord, I don't feel like praying". Talk to him and tell him that. "Lord, I don't feel like praying. I don't feel like reading the Bible". Tell him. "I don't feel like talking to you". Tell him.
You will never find him, you will never find him shocked. I don't know what's happening to me today but, seriously, folks, we are telling you how to be led by the Spirit. How many know when you follow the Lord, health will be there? Healing will be there. When Jesus told the man, "Wash your eyes," he came back, seeing. You can never go wrong, following the Lord, amen? Amen? And some of us are so legalistic, we make legalism out of everything: Communion, prayer, everything. So if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law, okay? The Holy Spirit is a wonderful Spirit. In fact, the Bible says: "Walk in the Spirit". Show them the verse before this. "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh".
I tell you how the church does it, okay? Tell me whether it's true or not. We don't put it in words, but this is what we do: We try not to fulfill the lust of the flesh. If it comes up, we suppress it. This is wrong. We're here, oh no, wrong. We're driving, we get angry... We are trying to suppress it, right? We are trying not to fulfill the lust of the flesh so that we can walk in the Spirit, right? We got the whole thing... What does it say? "Walk in the Spirit," be led by the Spirit, "and you will end up not fulfilling the lust of the flesh". You won't even think about it. Walk in the Spirit deliberately. Tell the Lord, all right, today or tomorrow, just tell the Lord, "Lord, teach me how to walk by the Spirit, how to flow with your Spirit".
And the Spirit will never tell you things that's contrary to the Scripture. Never tell you to cheat someone: "In this situation, it's okay to cheat. In this situation, it's okay to commit adultery". Never, never. In fact, he'll give you the grace not to do those things. He'll give you something better, amen. You're not happy about your marriage? Talk to the Lord. You're not happy about somebody, talk to the Lord. You're angry at somebody, talk to the Lord. Hey, you can even tell the Lord you are angry with him. But talk to him. Tell it to Jesus. He cares. The Bible says: "Casting all your cares upon him". The reason? Because he cares for you. He cares for you. And this wonderful Holy Spirit that God has given us, walk in him, and you will end up not fulfilling, "You shall not..." The "shall not" there is double negative, by the way, "oume".
That's a very powerful double negative. "You will no way, in any way, fulfill the lust of the flesh," when you walk in the Spirit, mm? Do you know that in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came on the prophets, the Spirit of God came on Samson, for example. Show them Judges 14. "So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him". So, the young lion is a picture of the devil, right, right? "And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done". "The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart". I believe Samson is not a big guy. I believe Samson is a scrawny guy, so that the glory might be God's. But the Spirit of God came on him. You see this word, "came mightily" is one word in Hebrew: "tsalach".
Tsalach is the word for prosper. Remember Joshua 1:8, "Meditate on God's Word". Show them Joshua 1:8: "This Book of the Law shall not depart," all right? "If you meditate on God's Word day and night," what's gonna happen? "You will make your way prosperous," Hebrew word "tsalach". Another time, in Judges, it tells us of Samson fighting, and it says in Judges 15: "When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily," tsalach, "upon Samson; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that's burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached..." Right now, God is using a fresh jawbone of a donkey to destroy your spiritual enemies, praise God. Hee-haw, amen. C'mon, church.
"He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it". The Spirit of the Lord came on him. So, whatever function it is, a student, the Spirit of the Lord. But many a times, we ignore his presence, and I'm closing, but let's look at what Jesus says in 14, chapter 14 of John. "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you," how long? "Forever". So why did he say, "Another helper"? In the Greek, there are two words for "another," all right? Two main word for "another". One is heteros. Heteros means another of a different kind, all right? Allos. Allos means another of the same kind. When Paul says, "You are removed into another gospel," he told Galatians that they have left grace into another gospel, it's heteros, okay? But here, Jesus says another is allos. "I'm sending you another helper like me".
If I tell you right now, "Hey, guys, do you have two $50 notes," all right? You say, "Yes, Pastor". "Come here. Let me give you my $100 note". Have you lost anything? Except for what? The shape, the form, right? Jesus, in his person, is going back to the Father, all right, in his tangible form, and he says, "I'll give you another helper," like him. The way he was with the disciples, all right? And the word "helper" is, in the King James, "comforter," in the Greek, "para". Para is always "alongside". Para, whatever comes after para. Parakletos, all right? He is called alongside to help. That's why you can talk to Jesus, you can talk to the Lord, and it's actually the Holy Spirit. The greatest truth that we can receive today is that on earth today, the third person of the Godhead is now dwelling.
There was a time in the Old Testament, the Father was prominent. Then Jesus came. He was literally here in the flesh. Died for our sins. And then when he went back to the Father, he sent another helper, another standby help. And the word here has the idea that, even the Amplified Bible, they put so many words because not one word is enough to describe the helper that's beside us. I'm putting beside because helps you to understand there's a friend beside you, because that's what Jesus says: "parakletos" which is "called alongside to help". It's also expressed as advocate. He knows all about where you're missing it. He knows what Jesus did, and he pleads your case. And he's called alongside to help. Many people don't think of the love of the Holy Spirit, but in the Bible, he's used the word, "The love of the Spirit".
You know the Holy Spirit loves you? But the Holy Spirit doesn't call attention to himself. He calls attention to Jesus and in this Upper Room Discourse, you'll find Jesus saying, "He shall glorify me". Show them that verse, "He shall glorify me". "He will glorify Me. He will take what is Mine and declare it to you". A victory is coming in your life. I prophecy to many of you. You're saying, "Lord, how long? How long am I having this situation with my child, with my body, with..." God says, "Victory is coming. It's coming. It's coming". I prophesy to you, "It's coming," and that's from the Spirit. I know you'll say, "How long, Lord"? Just like the Psalmist, "How long, O Lord? How long will my tears wet my couch"? David says. "How long"? When the Lord brings victory, it will be speedily. Jesus actually said, "I don't leave you comfortless. I'll send another helper. I'll send another comforter".
In the Hebrew, Menachem. I'll send another Menachem, comforter. It's a beautiful word. The Holy Spirit is like the way a mother loves a child. Of course, it's beyond human love, but he loves you. When Peter preached in Cornelius's house, hey, I might show you this, and then I close, okay? All right, the Bible says: "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell". The word "fell" is embrace. "Fell upon all those who heard". It's the same word used of the prodigal son's father when the son came home. The same Greek word is used. The father gave him a bear hug. And what was the word that Peter was speaking? Look at the context. He was saying: "To Jesus all the prophets witness that, through His name," I wanna tell all those of you who are here without Christ, without God, without hope, let me tell you this. "Through His name, whoever believes in Jesus will receive remission of sins".
Forgiveness, the sending away of sins as though sin never was. You're gonna receive it. So when the people heard it, the Holy Spirit gave them all a hug. And you know what happened to them? They started speaking in tongues, overflow. But we make it so legalistic. It's all about love. Even praying in tongues is a response of love. God knows what you're going through. He knows all the fears and the worries in your hearts. And the Holy Spirit knows it. Will you tell it to Jesus, amen?
Can't wait right now for me to stop preaching and go somewhere and be alone with Jesus, all right? Don't bring your best friend along. Don't bring your, you know, because these are very personal things you're gonna talk about or whatever bondage, whatever fears, whatever worries. Say it as much as you can say it out. Say it out of your heart until your heart is completely released from it. You don't even have to ask him, "Give me your power. Give me your grace. Give me your... " Don't even... just talk to him. Just pour out. I'm talking about pouring out your heart to him. And see what a friend he is. And don't be surprised you start seeing miracles in those areas that you talked to him about. Whatever is exposed becomes light in his presence, and all the people said, "Amen". Praise God.