Joseph Prince - Unlock The Secret To Contentment
One reason why people give up on their life or they take their own life is because they see all kinds of imperfection in themselves, they see all kinds of darkness in their mind, but it's all a lie. Are you listening? A lot of Christians are thinking, "I need to love the Lord more, I need to", stop looking at yourself. Look away from your inferior love to the perfect, everlasting love that loves you without ceasing. And the reason why your eyes see what God wants you to see in the Scriptures and all that, and many people are still blinded, seeking, looking for fulfillment in life, still serving under the sun. It is vanity of vanities. But then to know his love is life.
Okay, we go right to 1 Peter 1. This is where the Lord is emphasizing to us today, all right, the rhema word that he has for you. "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials". So, the Christian life is a wonderful paradox. We live in two worlds, right? In terms of our condition and our circumstance, we are in the world, subject to all the trials, the vicissitudes, the challenges that comes on just normal life. Am I right or not? But there's a part of us that greatly rejoices, the true self, new man in Christ, rejoices. No, no, no, sorry, not rejoice, greatly rejoice, greatly rejoice, right? But then it goes together with various trials.
So, in our condition, listen carefully, in our condition and our circumstance we are still in this world. There's various trials. But in terms of our spirit, our heart and mind, our spirit, our heart and mind, we are in that world. That is the way God wants us to live our life. In other words, we are seeing beauty all around. One reason why people give up on their life or they take their own life is because they see all kinds of imperfection in themselves. They see all kinds of darkness in their mind. They cannot see the light. They see everywhere around them, you know, everyone has the best life, or at least they personify, they present the best life to the social world out there. But it's all a lie, it's all a lie. Are you listening?
So, when you look around, you see nothing but ugliness. You see nothing but pretensions. You see nothing but people trying to outdo one another, so much hatred, so much anger. And social media is pumped by people who are angry. Angry people compared to loving people get more hits, more views, and more shares. So they look around, and this is what they see, all right? No one is sharing their weaknesses. No one is sharing hope. We have the message, and we got to win this generation. Obviously the devil is so afraid of the young generation that's coming up that he is attacking so many of them.
So, I want you to know that I believe you are an ambassador wherever God has placed you, you're not just there, number one, to get money, to supply for your family and you, amen. No, no, that's a too low ambition to live for, okay? You are there as God's ambassador, amen. On your way to heaven, amen, praise the Lord, there's work to be done. Don't be in a hurry to go to heaven. But we can live there already; how? "Greatly rejoice, because", drop down, it says, "Whom having not seen you love".
One proof that all of you are living on the inside. And God wants to redeem all of us from deadness. Yeah, not just sin, deadness. I think we teach a lot on sin and how to overcome sin and the provisions for sin in the death of Christ. We forget that he also redeemed us from death. You are living people. God doesn't want you to have deadness in your life. Sometimes even our prayers can be dead. Now, listen carefully, I'm not against people who pray from books, all right? The prayers are all in the book, and they try to pray. If you are starting out and all that, it's okay. Nothing wrong with that if you pray from your heart, you mean those words from your heart. But I believe with all my heart God wants to redeem us all from everything that's dead.
You know, in heaven, it's a resurrection place. A lot of people today think that heaven is a place of dead people. It's not, it's a living place. The living God is there. The source of all life is there, amen. You see, I shared last week, don't live under the vanity line, all right? The book of Ecclesiastes, always under the sun, under the sun. Nothing here profits, nothing here fulfills your heart. Your heart is too big for this world. You need an object, all right? So, the next book is Song of Songs. Now you find an object. In fact, the object is too great for our heart. We need to expand our heart, amen, and it's above the sun. That's where you find your fulfillment.
So, there is this vanity of vanities, everything under the sun is vanity. All the pursuits you have in your life is vanity. Let's look at that in Ecclesiastes. The very first words of Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon, "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king". Hey, son of David, son of David, king in Jerusalem. "'Vanity of vanities.'" Now, who is that son of David? Solomon. King in Jerusalem. So, he's telling you, why does he introduce himself like this and not like this introduction in the book of Song of Songs? Because he wants us to know, "I am a king in Jerusalem. I can have anything I want". And he did have access to everything, but he says, "'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher". Or you can say emptiness of emptiness.
How many of you have found out that the world promises you a lot of things? What the world does is this. Whatever pleasures you find under the sun, all right, if it lifts you up, only to drop you down. The drop is the painful part. So, in heaven, everything is elevation. Everything, all right, is beautiful. There's perfect symmetry, there's inexhaustible joy, joy unspeakable, the Bible says. Everything you look is perfection, and best of all, we get to see the Lord Jesus, amen. The Bible says in one of the versions, it says, "You are the fairest of the sons of man". One version says, "You are the most handsome of all men". That's our Lord Jesus, amen.
Now, you want to become like him? Amen, when he comes into your life, he maximizes your manhood, for women, your femininity, amen. So, Ecclesiastes says, "Everything I try..." Now you think that, "Well, you know what? He didn't try everything. I've not tried everything". Listen to a man who has tried everything, and he has means to achieve it or to get it, okay? Next chapter, he said... okay, by the way, drop down to verse 3, it says what? Chapter 1, "What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun"? Now, for this point we go to chapter 2, it says, "I gathered for myself, so I gathered myself silver and gold".
How many think that it would be good for us to gather silver and gold? Lots and lots of it. I tell you with the threat of war in the world, right? Hm, hello, is silver and gold still valuable? Is it still valuable? It is, isn't it? So he says, "I gather for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men". We still acquire it. Spotify, you know, we are still listening to music and all that. We think it will satisfy us, all right, he's talking about all the pleasures under the sun. Let's go back to chapter 1 again. I forgot to show you something.
All right, in which he talks under the sun. So, the whole purpose, the key is always in the beginning of the book. It's a book about under the sun. That's why everything is vanity of vanities, right? So, go back to chapter 2, we have him saying he tried the musical instruments of all kinds. "So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. And my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them". Can you say that now? "Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them". No, we cannot, amen. Here is a man unrestrained. In his day and age, he is the police, he is the chief justice, all right, he has access, he is the richest man on earth.
Today's standards, all right, it will be a trillionaire already, still the richest man in history, amen. And yet he says, what? "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, My heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun". So, don't try it. Someone tried it already. He came back an old man, and telling you, no profit under the sun. So, that's his first book, Ecclesiastes. It's a good book. "But, Pastor, it sounds depressing if I read it".
If you know the purpose for it, you'll rejoice. Some things we learn from positive examples, and some things we learn from negative examples, all right? God can use it. So, there is a book, so now we see what life is under the sun. By the way, this is the book that says that "Which has been, is what shall be, and that which is is what has been". You know, life is, like, history repeats itself. This is the book. A lot of good stuff in it. There's a lot of scientific, like, condensation and, you know, evaporation, all that in this book. It's an interesting book. But anyway, let's go to the next book. The book when he was walking with God.
So, this book, Ecclesiastes, was written probably when he fell away from the Lord. That's why it says, "My wisdom remained". But then the wisdom now serves to torture him because he knows what is right, what God wanted me to do, and he did not do. So, it's old age, but look at him when he was walking with the Lord. Now, this is Song of Songs. Why is it called Song of Songs? Shir Hashirim in Hebrew, Song of all Songs. Like you say, Jesus is the King of all kings, Lord of all lords. The innermost part of the sanctuary is the Holy of Holies, amen. The rabbi says that of all the books in the Bible, the Song of Songs is the holy of holies.
And according to the rabbis, they forbid anyone under the age of 30 to read it. They say that you cannot understand it. You might misconstrue it. It's a love between a man and a woman, and it's very descriptive, amen. To the pure, all things are pure. So, they say that only when you come to age 30 you can read it. So, he says in Song of Songs, this beautiful Song of Songs, which is a depiction of the love between our bridegroom and the bride. And see how it starts off. And this is what fulfills. "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine". "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth".
Not let me kiss him. Let him kiss me. I want to experience his love. And I want to experience his love in a very personal, intimate way. Can you see her cry? She's not saying, "I want to know how much I love the Lord". And A lot of Christians are thinking, "I need to love the Lord more, I need to..." stop looking at yourself. Look away from your inferior love to the perfect, everlasting love that loves you without ceasing. And the reason why your eyes see what God wants you to see in the Scriptures and all that, and many people are still blinded, seeking, looking for fulfillment in life, still serving under the sun, doing things under the sun. In their heart of hearts they feel like everything is empty.
"I've tried it, it's empty". If only they knew, fame does not satisfy, fortune does not satisfy, I am not free. I am more in bondage since I became famous. I cannot go anywhere I want to go. It doesn't really fulfill. It is vanity of vanities. But then to know his love is life. And I tell you this, all right? He compares the love. "For your love is better than wine". Let me tell you, when you kiss, you do not just let him kiss me, let him peck me. You know what's a peck and a kiss? A peck is peck, okay? A peck is not a kiss. Notice it's kisses, plural. "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth". Non-stop, unceasing, the same way when the prodigal son came home the Bible says in the Greek, it's actually covered him with kisses.
And in the Amplified you see it kept on repeatedly kissing him. Remember the son right now, he reeks of pigs. He's been in the pigpen for a long time, we don't know how long. By the time he came back and the father ran to him and hugged him, the Bible says the father kept on kissing him. "Let him kiss me the kisses of his mouth". She wants a personal love encounter with the Lord. I want to know how much you love me. I want to live knowing how much you love me. When I study the Word, I want to study on how much you love me, amen, amen. Even the judgments in the, you know, when you read the Old Testament, there's judgments and all that, you always look at it and say, "Hey, wait a minute," like in the Psalms, it says, "God overthrew Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea, for his mercy endures forever".
How can that be? No, not for Pharaoh and his Egyptians. God gave them many, many chances to repent. They still want to go after Israel to enslave them. God warned them, "Let my children go. Let my people go," right? Am I right or not? Today he will say to any force that tries to bind us, "Let my children go". So, if not, God will judge them, because he loves us. See, Israel read that, Israel sees judgment on them. Mercy endures forever. Mercy for me. It's not that God doesn't care for them. God gave them chance. But his love for us, even when you read the judgment, it's all because of his love for us, amen.
That's why God gave you your daughter. That's why God gave you your son, so that you can experience a bit, albeit it's inferior compared to his love, what it's like for a father's love for the child that you so delight in, so that you know also how much he loves his Son, but only very limited because our human relationship is a reflection of his love for us, amen. So, he says, "Let him kiss me". He wants a person, when I say he, guys are there as well. See, guys are so privileged, they get to be the bridegroom and the bride in this story, amen. So, we want his personal love for us. We want to experience his love for us, amen.
How many know he loves you? And God says, "Pray in the Spirit. Keep yourself in the love of God". When you pray in the Spirit, be conscious that God loves you. You know, one time I was meditating on this, and I was overseas. I remember it was very cold. You know, I'm not a person who really likes the cold. But it was kind of cold, but it was sunny. You know the kind of winter time when it's sunny, the sun comes out, but it's still cold, right? Because I'm walking in between shaded areas. There were buildings on either side of me, and the sun was shining, but I couldn't stand, I was feeling cold because of the shelter.
Have you all been there? But the moment I stepped out, I kept myself in the sun, and I refused to go under the shelter or shade anymore, I just walked outside in the sun, it was really good. So, keep yourself in the love of God. Be conscious that he loves you. I said be conscious that he loves you. Right now are you conscious that he loves you? Are you conscious that today you are so privileged, like Jesus today will say, "Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear". Do you feel loved? So, I can't seem to leave this, but we have to go on. "For your love is better than wine". Wine is a picture of earthly joy, right? You can put anything down there. Human relationship, a darling child, or whatever it is, you can put it down there. That is what wine represents. But it says, "Your love, to experience your love is better than wine".
This is life above the sun, y'all. Life above the sun, hallelujah! All right, so this is the life that God wants you to live, seeing Jesus and his love for you every single day. "How does that help me in my practical life, Pastor Prince? You know, Pastor Prince, have you heard the saying: too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good"? When you say heavenly minded, I think what you mean, because you see a lot of people, you know, their mind is up there, they are being religious. Religiously minded. God doesn't want you religious minded. In fact, it was the religious people of Jesus's day that persecuted him. The common people, what you call the sinners, heard him gladly.
Jesus came among them, and one time the religious guy says, you know, a religious group of them said, "Hey, you are eating with sinners". Jesus says, "Those that are well do not need a doctor. It's those who are sick," right? "You don't think you need me, therefore you don't come to me because you think you are fine, all right, but I'm a doctor. So if you come to admire me, you're not pleasing my heart. You just come to follow me, again, that's not just pleasing my heart. Because you can adopt my principles and go and be independent, adopting those principles. You just see me as another teacher. But you come and say, 'I need you to be my Savior. I need you to be my Bread. I need you to be my Living Water.' It is me that I'm giving. Come unto me, not take my teachings. Come unto me. All right, I'll give you rest".
And then you learn. After you come to him, then you learn. Can I have a good amen? Are you with me so far? So, this thing that when you are religiously minded, you're not earthly good, I agree 120%. I agree. Some of the people that are religiously minded, when you go to work, "I'm telling you, they're talking about, you know, I think that life is short, and I think we have to make sure that..." No, they're getting religious. They think that all these things, in their mind they think that by sacrificing or doing a lot of good works and all that, they are meriting points with Jesus, with the Lord. They are not. I'm referring to Christians here.
So, bosses look at them, the best way to impress your boss is to do what Joseph did. Joseph made Pharaoh wealthy. And Christians are saying, "No, no, no, no, my job is not to make him wealthy. I come here, I'm for the Lord". That's being religious. You are duty bound to glorify the Lord in your behavior, speaking the truth, not lying, not playing, you know, office politics, amen, but shine. You ascend there because God honors and trusts you. You want to work in a Christian place? What's the point of the salt being the salt shaker? Everyone is salt. Salt is good among things that are corrupted. In those days, it's the refrigerator. It keeps things from being corrupted. They salt their fish.
In fact, they found, they unearthed a whole industry of salted fish near the Lake of Galilee from the time of Jesus, so salt is their refrigerator. So, if God put you in your company and a lot of corruption, why did God put me here? What an honor. Respect, amen. You are the light of the world. What's the point of the light all being in the light? Very, very bright. Light is good in the darkness. When it's dark, the light shines. Everyone will look and they want to find.
People were longing for hope, some hope in their darkness will see your light. But if all the Christians are just together, together all the time, how in the world are you going to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world? Don't you know you're like a city set on a hill that cannot be hid, amen? Hey listen, today you're getting green pastures. I'm feeding you. But every day you ought to feed yourself. Spend time in the devotional, in the Word of God, because you... don't be someone buried in the world but barren in your soul.
You're so immersed in the world, and you are hungry on the inside, and you think that, I'll go for the next movie that comes. At the end, for a while you're distracted, but you get back there again, vanity of vanities, empty. All right, you're crying for something. That something is found here. It's a someone. In this case now, Ecclesiastes, the heart, right, is too big for the world. Here, the object, the beloved, is too big for our heart. Lord, enlarge our hearts, Lord. That we may be able to see you, Lord, and your beauty.
Lift your hands all across this place, everywhere that's watching this right now. The Lord himself demonstrates his love to you with the kisses of his mouth throughout this week.
I pray in the name of Jesus, Father, that every single one of them will experience that love in a personal way and then demonstrate that love, Lord, in the church, learning that in your house there is abundance, more than enough for all their needs. Father, I pray that this revelation becomes so real. But especially, Father, the revelation of Jesus Christ in all his infinite beauty at the Father's right hand. Help us, Lord, to live above the vanity scene, into the resurrection scene where everything is living. And cause us, Lord, to walk in ways, Lord, that we don't touch death, but in everything that we do, say, and think, it is living.