Joseph Prince - Freedom from the Spirit of Depression (02/15/2026)
God ain't no respecter of persons, but He sure is a respecter of faith. In Cornelius's house, as Peter preached forgiveness through believing in Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell instantly on the Gentiles, purifying their hearts by faith alone—not effort or process. True holiness starts with faith, brings joy, victory, freedom, and delights the Holy Spirit, leading to a life that glorifies God.
Faith: What God Truly Respects
He's no respecter of persons. However, he's a respecter of faith. I'll tell you that. Something about faith that makes God bypass hundreds of people just to focus on the one that has faith. Amen. There can be a multitude touching Him, pressing on Him, a lot of superstitious touch and all that. But when the touch of faith comes, it stops Him in His tracks and He will turn around and look at the one person who has faith. And that's why faith is the greatest holiness because the Bible says that our hearts are purified by faith. Acts 15:9: "Having purified their hearts by faith." I think Pastor Lawrence alluded to this right in your sermon. See, they didn't listen. I was listening. I was listening very intensely that people are saying, how do you purify your heart? Oh, you do this, you do that. We are putting more effort in holiness and all that. Actually we want holiness. All of us want holiness because holiness actually leads to a life of victory, freedom, peace, love, joy, and the best part of it, it glorifies the Lord. Amen. And we all want to glorify the Lord, but how to get there from here, that's a question.
The Path to True Holiness
And where I think some people would dispute my teachings, which I believe is based on the word of God, would be how to get there from here. A lot of how to get there from here is by efforts and by disciplines and all that. And I believe it's by faith, more revelation, more faith, more experiencing of the holiness of God, and then it works out in your conduct as well. Okay? Do you understand that so far? Amen.
Peter's Visit to Cornelius's House
The story I was just talking about refers to a time when God spoke to Peter to preach in Cornelius's house. That's the first time the Gentiles had the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Peter was first unwilling, but then God gave him a vision. And after that vision, he realized that God is calling him to preach to the Gentiles. He came to this Italian house run by a centurion. By the way, all centurions in the New Testament, you find that they all appear in a good light. All centurions in the New Testament appear in a good light. Even in the book of Acts, the one who took care of Paul and saved him from the madness and the frenzy of the crowd is a good illustration. Not all of them are saved, but one or two became believers. But you can see like Cornelius, he got saved. We can see it's always a good effect, a good impression.
Peter Overcomes Prejudice
So Cornelius was from the Italian regiment. So as they were having the meeting and all that, Peter knocked on the door and they had a crowd there. And Peter's first announcement opener was like this—this is how you open a speech in case you don't know how to open a speech. Learn from Peter. "People like me normally don't fellowship with people like you." Talk about this generation saying things like that. He says, "People like me don't fellowship with people like you. But God has taught me that I should not call any man common or unclean." Y'all know the vision that God gave, right? "What God has cleansed, don't call common or unclean." And that's how the Jewish people treated the Gentiles. So Peter also had his own prejudices and he had to learn that the Lord's heart is bigger than just Israel.
God's Heart for the Whole World
And the reason He raised Israel, and He's not finished with Israel yet—they have a place in the covenant. Even in these last days, they play a major part. You find that God's heart is for the world. Jesus Himself said to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." But the reason He chose this nation is so that everyone can see that if this nation follows Him, how blessed they are. They'll say, "How wise is this nation whose God is the Lord! Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord." They'll see, obviously it's going to be manifested blessings where they can see God's goodness, God's grace on this nation, but they failed. Then God says, if you fail, then all the nations will see. When the curses come, when bad things happen, they'll see why did this happen to this nation? Because of the curses that came, but praise be God. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Amen. Amen.
The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles
So he's in Cornelius's house and the Bible says he was preaching and preaching. By the way I quoted that just now, that's from Peter's lips where he says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. He was saying, no, the Holy Spirit didn't fall at that time. And Peter himself, the preacher wasn't expecting the Holy Spirit to fall. But when he came to this point, he says about Christ, "To Him everyone who believes receives forgiveness of sins." The Bible says at the very next verse, while Peter spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word. And they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
God Doesn't Wait for Permission
No one called for anything because Peter most likely might not have prayed for them to receive. He might even think that God gives the Holy Spirit only to the Jews. So God didn't wait for his permission because this occurrence never happened again. So it was unique in that situation. Of course it's going to happen still today while I'm preaching, things happen. Amen. Why not? While Peter spoke these words, amen. But it's got to be words from the Holy Spirit because Peter in and of himself has no healing, no power. Amen. It's got to be the words of the Holy Spirit and you're always praying for me, right? That when I preach you will hear the rhema of God.
Purified Hearts by Faith Alone
And I always pray also, I endeavor to preach as the oracles of God. Oracles of God doesn't mean that every word must be from Scripture, line upon line, everything from Scripture. Yes, it must be based on Scripture. And I think I have a lot of Scripture verses down through the years. I preach a lot from a lot of Scripture verses, but speaking as the oracles of God means you speak as if God is speaking through you and God will never deviate from the Scriptures. But it's not speaking Bible chapter and verse. Amen. So while Peter spoke, the Holy Spirit fell and the word "fell" is this very same word in the Greek as when the prodigal son came home, the Father fell on him and you read the word in the modern version, "embraced him." The word "fell" means embrace him. So the Holy Spirit embraced everyone in Cornelius's house until they started speaking in tongues.
What Gladdens the Holy Spirit
So what was the words that so gladdened the heart of the Holy Spirit because we know that the Holy Spirit can be grieved. If the Holy Spirit can be grieved, He can be gladdened. Amen. We can bring delight to Him. What makes Him happy? When He hears words like "to Him everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." That's why this message, every time you preach it, if nobody gets saved, you make the Holy Spirit happy. Hallelujah. You gladden the Holy Spirit in you. Amen. I can feel it when I preach about the cross and Jesus Christ, you make the Holy Spirit happy. Amen.
The Jerusalem Council's Affirmation
Okay, so that is a very telling thing. While he spoke those words, the Holy Spirit fell. So later on, the Jerusalem Council called Peter to the carpet because the Jerusalem council is run by James the half brother of Jesus. He said, "We heard Peter, you went to Gentiles and you spoke to them." He says, "Yes, and this happened, this happened, this happened." And he says, "Well, I have this to say that something is happening to the Gentiles. So while I spoke, the Holy Spirit fell on them the same way He fell on us in the beginning. Who was I to withstand God?" He said, "And God purified their hearts by faith." Amen. God purified their hearts by faith.
Instant Purification, Not a Process
He said that now their hearts—that "their" there is referring to Gentiles, the Italian regiment, the "mafia" who were inside there even. Amen. God purified their hearts by faith and that was their purification is not a process. Hearts made holy is not a progression. One instance—if you believe correctly, you believe right? And there's "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," your heart is purified there and then. Amen. And then your progressive change happens because now you have a clean heart.
Why the Heart Matters Most
What's the point of doing right works if your heart is evil? You do the right thing, but your intention is impure. You are doing for selfish reasons, but because you don't want to be penalized, you have right actions outside to impress people. But God looks at the heart. Amen. We want the heart to be purified. The very first beatitude when Jesus opened up the Sermon on the Mount, He says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Amen. Amen. Amen. So without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And I believe that that is really a revelation of seeing the Lord because we all know when people die, they will see God. Right? Even unbelievers, you'll see God from afar. But here He's talking about seeing God now.
Faith Gives Birth to All Virtues
So how do you become blessed as the pure in heart, to be pure in heart? How do you do that? By faith, it's not your works. Can I have a good amen? Okay, let's go home. Alright. Praise the Lord. You heard that you're blessed. It takes a lot of people a long, long time to realize that faith is an important thing. Faith is what gives birth to all the virtues and the graces of the Spirit. Amen. The fruit of the Spirit comes by faith. Amen.
Adding to Faith in God's Order
It's true that Peter says, you must preach things like add to your faith virtue, moral excellence, then knowledge, and then brotherly kindness, charity. If these things are bound in you, they will make you neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, but you should read the next verse. He who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten that he has been forgiven from his old sins. If people lack all these godly qualities—can you imagine someone, a woman, guys, if you're single, imagine you're going to spend the rest of your life with a woman who is godly, kind, loving. She has kindness because kindness is mentioned there. Amen. She has sweetness, temperance, self-control, amen and love. Best of all, she loves you. Wow. Even when you are short tempered, you don't feel good that day. You're a big jerk in the way you speak to her. She has patience. Whoa, pastor, I'm married to one by faith. Amen.
Jesus as the Perfect Non-Anxious Presence
So we are all in the process. We are all in the process. Amen. None of us are married to a man like that or a woman like that. But I'm just saying imagine being married to someone like Jesus. Amen. A Jewish rabbi said that every family to be successful—he mentioned family, but also companies can learn this as well—to be successful, to have a family life that's successful, you must at least have one person there who is a non-anxious presence. What does that mean? When things go wrong, there is someone there who is a non-anxious, cool person who can think through the problem if everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
The Lesson from the Headless Chicken
By the way, I saw a news report recently because my son told me that there was a chicken, true story, a chicken whose head was cut off and still lived for more than one year. So when Justin told me that I laughed, but when I Googled it, it's there. Don't Google it now. Apparently they chopped off the head, the brainstem was still there. So the rest of his life, this poor chicken, headless chicken, they had to feed him with an eyedropper and finally there was more than one year they'll bring him on a circus everywhere he goes, make money for the owner until one day the owner heard him choking and then he died. And that goes the headless chicken. I myself have seen when I was young, the decapitation of a chicken and he's still running around without a head. He was still running around. The poor guy didn't know he's dead. That shows revelation is not of the head. He doesn't know he's dead. He is running around. And finally he had a revelation in his heart that he's dead. Then he died.
Christ's Calm in the Storm
So every family, every company needs a non-anxious presence that when things are going crazy, a time of turbulence in the family or in the company. There is a person who is a non-anxious person. Actually we can aspire to be that person, but Jesus is the kind of person, even when there's a storm, they had to wake Him up, right? He got up, He rebuked the storm and He turned around to them and says, "Where is your faith?" Amen. And He went back to sleep. I love it. I mean imagine that demons begging Him. What a picture. Demons begging Him. "We know who You are" and He says, "Hold your peace. Be silent"—in the Greek, "be muzzled." He doesn't want promotion from demons. We are all today crazy about advertising ourselves, our products or whatever. We don't care about who advertises them, right? Jesus doesn't take advertisement from demons.
Holiness That Draws Sinners
Even demons know He's holy, but not a kind of holiness like "stand away from Me, I'm holier than you." No, no, no. It's a holiness whose eyes burn at sin, at injustice, unrighteousness, but eyes that beckon the sinner near and they could feel that about Him. They knew that He doesn't approve of their sin, but He loves them and His love will cause that sin in them to be destroyed. That's the way the Lord loves you. Can I have a good amen?
Grace Separates Sin from the Sinner
Under the Old Testament, under law, when Moses came down the mountain, he saw the golden calf being worshiped by Israel. What did he do? Well, all those who worshiped, he killed all of them, right? Yeah. He had all of them killed. There's no solution for saving people under the law because it was of the flesh. It was natural, it was material. The spiritual hadn't come yet, but when Jesus came down the mountain, there was a boy who was demon possessed and the father ran to Jesus and they all ran to Jesus. And then the father says, "I've asked Your disciples to cast this demon out of my boy. And it's terrible, sir. My boy is tormented. He's like self-harm every day. I'm concerned about him doing some harm to himself. He would throw himself into the fire or something. He would throw himself into the deep water. I have to save him and other things as well." There's no record in the Bible of all this, but he probably did things to himself to harm himself. And today there's a generation that's harming themselves, hurting themselves.
Faith Brings Healing and Restoration
What's the solution? "We asked Your disciples to cast this demon out, but they can't do it." What did Jesus do? I tell you this. Jesus said, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." And the father said, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." I love it. Amen. The Lord will help your unbelief because God loves faith and where He finds faith, you find Him working, you find Him doing healing. Amen. But let's say you feel your faith is weak, tell Him, bring all your troubles to Jesus plus your lack of faith. And that is faith. That is faith to bring your lack of faith to Him. Amen. Does it stop Jesus? No. Jesus is the one, the only one there who believes all things are possible because He believes so He can believe for you. And He cast the demon out this time. He separated the demon from the boy. Moses could not under law—they could not; all those who were demon possessed at the foot of the mountain all killed. There's no separation. But under grace there's a separation. You are not your sin. This cancer of sin is trying to destroy you, but I'll separate it from you and I will love you and I will hate it and cut it out because it's trying to destroy you. But I love you. And He separated—the demon left. The boy was restored. That is grace. Amen.
True Love Hates What Destroys
But it's not the kind of grace whereby, oh, we accept your sins and we accept you and we accept all the problems that you have and all that. Now you need to understand if someone has a problem and you say you love them, you don't handle that problem in their lives. They're dying slowly and you let them die slowly. There's no love. Amen. True love wants to kill that cancer. And I always say this, how much do you hate the cancer in someone you love? Someone you love has cancer and they are slowly becoming weaker and weaker. You can see them wasting away. They've lost all their muscles and their fat and they're just skin and bones. And you look at that and there's no hatred in your heart for the cancer. That's how God hates sin. You understand? But how much do you love that family member? You love that person, but the cancer is in the person.
God's Intense Hatred for Sin
So you need to know this about God. God hates sin exactly in the same intensity that He loves you. Because if you love someone, you will hate the problem. I passed by a hospital the other day and it was a cancer hospital. I had these thoughts playing in my mind to just lay hands on everybody down there. I don't know how they would respond, the authorities, if I do that, maybe one of them might start walking and healing. They were in wheelchairs and all that—just in my mind. You must always do things led by the Holy Spirit. Not because someone tells you to jump down, angels will come and catch you. You cannot do that. But I passed by and I was thinking to myself the number of people that were there and I was thinking this disease, I hate this disease, but in a way because I do not know those people. My compassion for them was supernatural from God. But it's not a family kind of love—God knows them.
The Coming Darkness and Our Light
When you watch someone on TV and they experience a tragedy, you don't care unless you've been watching that particular character for some time. And then if the character is a dog and at the end the dog died, you'll cry more than if a whole group of people die that you do not know. Why? There's no compassion. They didn't build the empathy right? Do you know why God hates sin? Because God loves you intensely. You know why God really is against sin, rebellion? Because this is like cancer in you. Amen. With every generation. I don't know why? When will the world wake up and realize that even the lifestyle they promote—fame, being famous—this will make you happy. How many people who are famous have taken their lives? How many people who are famous are into drug addiction and then their lives are cut short? They didn't plan to die early, but they overdosed. How many famous people do we know that have done that? How many famous people have taken their own lives? They have fame, which is what our young people want. That's why they get into social media and all that. They want fame. They want to be recognized, right? It doesn't satisfy. Money doesn't satisfy. Amen. And the Lord has said from the very start, "I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly." Amen.
Arise and Shine in the Darkness
I look at the generation today. Last few weeks the Lord spoke to me about certain topics that He wanted me to share. And I know that this is time for me to just share with all of you that I think is coming upon the world. When the Bible says "Arise, shine," that means the world is in a bad state and it's telling the church in Isaiah, "Arise" in Hebrew, kumi, kumi, uri, uri—shine, rise and shine. That means what? Rise from what? There must be a low level that we have fallen into and it is a time of darkness. The next verse: "For darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord will arise upon you and His glory will be seen upon you." Amen? So you all know, right? I've shared before that when things are really dark and there's a spark of light, okay? How dark it is, the darker the better. You can see the light in a clearer way than if you see during the daytime. But because of the darkness, you can see the light no matter how far it is. Just one light.
Depression as Gross Darkness
The darkness that Isaiah talks about, it's going to happen in the last days. Darkness covers the people. It is not physical darkness; it is depression, gloom. The world gets dark. But people who describe themselves as having depression, it's like the world becomes dark. It's like they step into a room, it's a bright room, but all of a sudden the room becomes like nighttime. That's how they describe it. They're suffering from depression. Whereas some say, pastor, this is not relevant to me. I don't suffer from depression. Listen, all of us at certain times in our life experience a certain measure of depression. Why? If you're a believer, you're under attack this way. You need to put on the armor of God and the helmet of salvation. If you don't watch it, this depression can become what Isaiah says: gross darkness covers the people. Gross means heavy, almost to the point that you can feel it.
The Spiritual Root of Depression
And this is bad because I'll tell you what's going to happen. I believe there's a revelation here from the Lord and I can prove to you from the Bible that depression, negativities and pessimism and worries and anxieties that formulate themselves into a state of depression, regardless of whether you're on medication or not, don't matter. It's daily. And until we see it's daily, we'll not try to do anything about it. Alright? Medication deals with the results—I mean the symptoms usually—but doesn't deal with the root. If you are on medication, please continue. Okay? Listen to your doctor, but understand the problem is spiritual and it's in the Bible. Amen. The people who are depressed, even ministers get depressed. They can shut themselves in the room and all kinds of negative movies are playing in their mind. That's just negative, always negative. Amen.
Godly Sorrow vs. Worldly Sorrow
What is happening? Well, it's dangerous because long before the devil tries to produce a disease or sickness in your life, you know what he does? He produces depression, sorrow of the world. It's called sorrow of the world. In 2 Corinthians 7:10, it says, "godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation." Now, Paul is writing to Christians in Corinthians. So this salvation here is not salvation from hell. He's not telling them to be saved. Don't forget the word salvation is an all-inclusive word. It's not just salvation from hell, being saved from eternal punishment, saved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. It's also a word they use for healing. For example, when Jesus heals someone, He said, "Your faith has saved you" to the woman with the issue of blood. Look at the word "saved." It's from the word salvation—sozo. Amen. Many times the healings that happen in the New Testament are physical healing, but the word salvation or sozo, the verb form is used.
Jesus Bore Our Griefs and Sicknesses
So it's telling you godly sorrow actually leads you to wholeness, leads you to peace of mind. So it's a godly sorrow that produces that change of mind. When something bad happened and you realize that maybe you went to the doctor and then the doctor tells you something bad, but it's not so serious, you have a chance to turn around. You come back and you say, "How stupid I was to keep on having this habit, to do what my friend said or to smoke." And now there's something awry in the diagnosis of the doctor on your lungs. Now you're saying, and doctor says, okay, still early stage, whatever, we can do something about it. What happened then is that there's godly sorrow if you're a believer, because the first thing you think of is God. This is the temple of God. You might think why God allowed it. We always blame God when God is perfect love that casts out all our fears and that's how He loves us. But we always want to blame Him. And then we don't sit and ask ourselves, how did we allow this to happen in our lives? Okay, so understand this. The only sorrow that God allows you to have is godly sorrow. And of course another place where He allows you to is He says, "Weep with those who weep." There are times something happened, like a loved one goes to be with the Lord. The Bible says, weep with those who weep. But know this, let us not weep or mourn like those people with no hope for we know we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. When He comes in with the shout of the archangel, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God. We shall not go first. They will precede us. Amen. They shall arise first. Amen. And then we'll join them together. We shall be with the Lord. Amen.
The Reality of Eternal Life
The dead in Christ are not dead. They are more alive than we have grown accustomed to this encumbrance of our body with all these weaknesses that we think we are alive. They don't have encumbrance anymore, but the real them is alive. See, you are not your body. When I talk to you, I am talking to your spirit. Right? I'm looking through your eyes. Amen. But actually it is not you that's in the body. The moment your spirit leaves your body, your heart stops beating. Even your heart is not the thing. The source is the spirit and the soul. So when you step out of the body, the body will drop because it's just a vehicle. It's your earth suit if you would in heaven. In fact, it's not exactly an earth suit. It's a glorified body that you have that's still a body because God made us originally spirit, soul, body, but in heaven, it's a different kind of heavenly suit, amen. That cannot grow old, cannot be bored, cannot lie, cannot sleep in the pastor preach none of these things, and will never die. Amen.
The Joy of the Lord Is Our Strength
So let's rejoice in a way. We rejoice, we cry because of the temporary separation. Like your son will be in a far country studying in a university somewhere. You cry because of the temporary separation. Oh, you cry tears of joy because finally he's leaving. Hallelujah. Darling, he's leaving. Amen? I do not know, but there'd be tears. There'd be tears, initial tears. Okay? So whatever it is, if that's the case, amen. It's temporal. We know that we miss the person, but the person who is there actually should be crying for us because when he's there, it's perfect happiness. There are no hospitals there. There are no funeral parlors there. No one dies there. Even the flowers never fade. Amen. We live forever in our young state forever. No more pain, no more tiredness. So they look down at us and then we say they're crying over me. I'm crying over them. You know what I'm saying? But we understand being human. We cry for a while. So that's godly sorrow, okay? But sorrow of the world produces death. You see that the Bible says produces death. You better take it seriously. Sorrow of the world works death.
Jesus Carried Our Sorrows at the Cross
Perhaps you had a bout of a bad season with your spouse. And right now as I'm preaching this, you just quarreled with your spouse last night and these are the words you said to your spouse, okay? Whether or not you operate in that. And now you are in the state whereby it all depends on how and when this message comes, right? But that kind of thing, we all go through that, right? Come on. If you have a perfect marriage, stand up. None, none, none. Amen. It is ever going from strength to strength, from glory to ever increasing glory. Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord.
Marriage Built on Grace and Forgiveness
And remember this, when you marry someone and you say, "I do," I do take the person, right? They didn't tell you "I do what?" Okay? I will tell you right now, you better write this down. Those of you who are not married. All right? "I do grace. I do forgiveness for the rest of my life." Okay? That's what you need to do in this house. We do grace in this house. We do forgiveness, which means I'll always have to forgive my spouse, and my spouse might have the mentality, I'll always have to forgive him. You cannot want to talk to each other. If you still want to do the childish thing for a while, okay? For a while, it's okay. Understandable. You're still in the flesh. I understand that. Amen. But don't let it go too long. "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." Amen. Amen.
Rejoice Always as a Safeguard
So if you're in that state right now, and I'm preaching this right, you say, pastor, I'm in godly sorrow. No you're not. You are in sorrow. That sorrow shall not be prolonged. Okay? I just advise you that sorrow shall not be prolonged. Praise the Lord. See, it tells you in this New Testament, it tells you sorrow of the world produces death. This is serious business. But then Jesus, listen, Jesus at the cross, Isaiah 53:4, "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Now this is interesting. King James Version says, He carried our griefs. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Can you see that? New King James and other translations actually say griefs and sorrows. But actually in the Hebrew, the word there is choli for griefs, sorrows—choli can be used for griefs, but most of the time, like 12 times, choli is used for sicknesses. Five times for diseases. Only four times for griefs. So you see the emphasis, right? And then the word makob carried our sorrows. Makob is sorrows. And again, most of the time the word is used for diseases. Is there sorrow? Yes, there's sorrow.
Jesus Took Our Infirmities
But how do you know then that Jesus carried our diseases and our pains? First of all, I'll show you Young's translation. Young is the Hebrew scholar. Young says, "Surely our sicknesses He has borne and our pains He has carried them." So you see, it's not our sorrows. It is actually our pains and our diseases. And if that is not enough, Bible interprets Bible. In the New Testament in reference to this, it says that Jesus went around—heal all who were sick—and that He might fulfill what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." Do you see that? So this is in Greek very clear. The context is healing. The context tells you it's not sorrows. It's referring to He carried our diseases because when He went around healing all who were sick, it's like paying through visa. He has not yet died. But whenever someone gets healed and they go away, Jesus says, like to the Father, put that on My tab. He'll pay for it at the cross. Amen.
The Oil of Gladness on Jesus
So the context is very clear, but what it tells me is this, the Hebrew word for choli and makob is also grief and sorrow, and therefore it is in the disease. Could it be the very thing since the etymology is there, there is also the root of disease, grief and sorrow. It should not be prolonged in your life. And that's why the Lord says the joy of the Lord is our strength. Amen. You see, if I say the joy of the Lord is my strength, listen, the joy of the Lord is my strength. That means the joy of the Lord. The Lord has joy. I don't believe in this Jesus that walks around with a funeral face. "Peace be still." "Why is it you don't have faith?" "Bring him to Me." Then in the upper room, "These things I speak to you that My joy, My joy might remain in you." "That My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." I believe He did it with a smile. And "these things I speak to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But these things I speak to you that My joy might be in you and that your joy might be full." I believe they had so much joy. These disciples with Jesus see the joy. It's His joy, the joy of the Lord. That is my strength. It is not my joy. Can I have a good amen?
Jesus Anointed with Gladness
But Pastor Prince, I remember years ago I was preaching in a youth group in a school somewhere in Singapore, and I was preaching about Jesus and how joyful the Lord is, and a young man stood up while I was preaching. "Pastor Prince, I would have you know that the Bible says there's a man of sorrows. Isaiah 53:3, right, 'A man of sorrows.' He's despised and rejected by men. See, a man of sorrows." But I just read verse four for you. The context there is referring to the cross, referring to His suffering, His passion. So I told this young man, yeah, where do you find that verse? "Isn't the Bible?" I said, no, which part of the Bible? He says somewhere in the Bible. I say, I quote to you, okay, Isaiah 53, "A man of sorrows." The only time He's called a man of sorrows is when He went through, He carried our sins and went through it. He's always joyful. In fact, I'm going to quote you right now. Hebrews chapter 1, he says, "And unto the Son," I'm quoting word for word, "unto the Son" the Father says unto the Son, He says, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows." Imagine that—He's anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Amen? Amen.
Final Call to Rejoice and Be Free
We need this anointing, this oil of gladness upon our young generation, upon our people because they're under special attack with depression. All kinds of young people are taking their lives all over the world and they're increasing. They're even doing it in Singapore. We need to reach out with joy. You might think that they're happy because when you see them in the group, they're joking and all that, but probably it's the kind of joke that is laughter that is empty. Deep down, they're not happy. Amen. So if Jesus is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows, have you seen—Pastor can stand down here and laugh for hours, right? If He's anointed with the oil of gladness above all His fellows, referring to all the believers, all His disciples, all that, He's the most joyful one. Knowing this, that "My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." Yours is still not full. I want it full. Amen.