A Life Worth Living

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A Life Worth Living

ISBN 978-981-08-8381-2

© Copyright Joseph Prince, 2006

Joseph Prince Teaching Resources

www.josephprince.com

All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the express written consent of the publisher.

contents

Forget The Fantasies

Prosperity With A Purpose

A Christ-Centred Life

Jesus’ Victory Ensures Our Victory

Prepare For Increased Blessing

One Saturday night in early 2004, I woke up with a sense that God wanted to talk to me. “Lord, speak to me,” I responded. I began to speak in tongues for a while and then I interpreted the tongues. I heard the Lord say to me, “The year 2004 will be a year of more, a thousand times more, in every area of your life.”

The Lord instructed me to prepare our church to receive His thousand-fold blessing. The result has been amazing and I give God all the glory for it. My church has seen miraculous increase in many areas. We began hearing testimonies from people who were experiencing supernatural debt cancellations, from people who had won brand new apartments through supermarket draws and from people who were given much larger salaries when they changed jobs. And there were physical miracles as well, including the healing of complete deafness in one ear and the healing of a spinal injury caused by a car accident. In fact, there are just too many to list here.

The message in this book is what the Lord told me to teach my church. Today, I believe this message is for the whole church, the body of Christ. It’s not just a message for my church. What I’m going to share with you is directly from the Lord, so it’s a fresh message, like the smell of freshly baked bread, like the smell of fresh rain. And like bread and rain, it will satisfy your hunger and quench your thirst.

By the way, I believe that when God promised our church one thousand times more, He did not mean one thousand more wives! When it comes to people, it’s quality, not necessarily quantity that counts. So God wants to
bless
you a thousand times more. He wants to bless your family, your business, your career, your relationships, your health and your church. He wants to enhance your life one thousand times more. He wants you to be plentiful and abundant. Only He can give you a life that is worth living!

All those who accept and believe this message will be ushered effortlessly into one-thousand-times-more blessing, into prosperity with a purpose. And it won’t happen by might nor by power, but by God’s Spirit alone.

Are you ready for more, even a thousand times more? If so, God wants you to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these blessings shall be added unto you. But don’t mix up His righteousness with your own righteousness. He wants you to seek
His
righteousness — He wants you to walk in the gift of righteousness that Jesus died to purchase for you. Romans 5:17 says that “
those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ”
.

God wants you to seek His kingdom and His righteousness because a life in which you are on the throne is truly a miserable life! God loves you too much to let you live like that. He knows that only with Jesus in the centre of your life will you be fulfilled and safe. God wants us to stop focusing on ourselves and to start concentrating on Jesus. When we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, God says in Matthew 6:33 that “
all these things shall be added to you”
. In other words, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and God promises that He will take care of the rest. Then, we will experience a fulfilled life.

That, my friend, is a life worth living!

chapter
1

Forget The Fantasies

chapter 1

Forget The Fantasies

Learn From The Mistakes The Bible Characters Made

I
n my role as a pastor, I have met so many people who share with me their pain and hardships. Too many lives have been riddled with trouble, mostly self-inflicted. I have counselled so many people during my two decades in the ministry. Some choose to follow my advice, others don’t.

The Bible is full of truths showing us how to live rewarding and prosperous lives. Yet, so many people choose not to follow biblical blueprints for their lives. Instead, they choose to follow their fantasies and pleasures. They give in to the temptations of fame and fortune that this world promises through movies, magazines and television programmes. I’ve yet to see one person, who after indulging in the pleasures of this world, return to me to say that it was worth it. Quite the opposite — they return and tell me that their lives are empty, that they hate life. I’ve met more than one who has confessed to me that they are suicidal. For them, life is not worth living.

While many choose not to, we can all learn from the mistakes of others. The Bible is one book that can teach us how to live a life worth living. Reading the Bible, you’ll learn from the sufferings of David, Solomon, Samson, Jacob, Lot, Samuel and many others. But there are many people who choose not to learn from the sufferings of others. Even after reading about how David and Solomon made their mistakes and suffered the consequences, they are still prepared to make the same mistakes themselves.

Two to three years down the road, after thinking that they have progressed, they find themselves back at square one. It’s like playing the game Snakes and Ladders. You climb the ladders a few times over the years, but then you land on the snake’s head and slide back down again!

Have You Ever Fantasised About Having More Money And Influence?

Have you ever fantasised about money? Have you ever thought to yourself, “If I had enough money to buy whatever I want, to travel wherever I want, to marry whoever I want…”? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be born in a very rich family, to have lots of influence and power?

One day, when I was very tired, I asked my wife to massage my head and shoulders. She was wonderful. Her hands soothed my sore muscles and I began to relax. But after a short while, she grew tired and stopped. I began to fantasise: What if I was a king? I’d have lots of servants, and they would massage my head and shoulders because if they didn’t, they’d soon have no hands to massage anyone! Have you, like me, ever thought what it would be like to have a massage that goes on forever?

Have you ever thought to yourself, “What if I could have whatever my eyes see and like”? Would that be a life worth living? There is a man in the Bible who lived a life that many men and women would fantasise about. In the book of Ecclesiastes, we see that King Solomon indulged in everything and anything his flesh desired.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 2:1–11:

¹
I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.
²
I said of laughter — “Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
³
I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives
.

⁴
I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards.
⁵
I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
⁶
I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove.
⁷
I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.
⁸
I also gathered 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, and musical instruments of all kinds
.

⁹
So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
¹⁰
Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour; and this was my reward from all my labour.
¹¹
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labour in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun
.

Solomon Indulged In Every Fantasy