Loneliness is not a question of presence or absence of
a human person beside you. Loneliness is a state of the heart
that is empty, and the Lord says: “There is no misery like
a lonely heart.” “And son, would you like
to know the cure?” “So you can tell my
people tomorrow?” I said: “Yes!” The cure is to be alone with Jesus. The cure is to be alone with Jesus. Now that means loneliness
is different from aloneness. Jesus wants time alone with you. In John 4, you have the story
of the Samaritan woman, okay? Jesus at the well. Do you remember that? She had five husbands and
she was living currently in adultery. But God arranged everything
so that the woman can be alone with the wonderful Shepherd
who sought her. Amen! The cure for a lonely heart
is to be alone with Jesus, who knows everything about you,
but yet draws so near to you. A God who stooped down so low
to even be dependent on her for a drop of water to
quench His thirst. What a God, what a God! Amen! And He says to her:
“Give Me water to drink.” And she says: “How come” “You are a Jew, asking me,
a Samaritan for water.” “The Jews have no
dealings with Samaritans.” And Jesus says: “Woman,
if you knew who is the One” “talking with you, and
who is it that says to you,” “‘Give Me a drink,’
you would ask Him,” “and He would give you
living waters.” And she says:
“How can you do it?” “You don’t have any rope,
nothing, how can you” “draw from this deep well.” And Jesus says: “The water that
you drink from here,” “you would thirst again.” Alright, now don’t forget,
later on we find out she has had five husbands. So do you think Jesus
was talking about the water? When you drink this water
you would thirst again. Obviously, He’s talking about
her search for love, her thirst for true love. If you drink from
human relationships, alright, just solely from
human relationships, you can be thirsty again. But Jesus says:
“But if you ask Me,” “I’ll produce in you
a well of living waters” “and you will never thirst again.” So a lot of people,
they have a thirst. I’m not talking about
physical thirst. I’m talking about emotional
thirst, spiritual thirst. You know, they think that
the thirst can be quenched by going for a holiday. They come back thirsty,
sometimes more thirsty. They feel like the thirst
can be quenched by getting into a relationship,
alright, illicit even, but the thirst is not quenched. So they are looking for the
quenching of their thirst outside them, when Jesus says: “I’ll produce inside you a well,
springing up into everlasting life.” Are you listening? When you are alone with Jesus,
I can’t begin to tell you the number of times, you feel that
something is flowing on the inside. Amen! And when you meet people,
you just speak, people are refreshed, people are blessed,
people are helped. They love to have you around. Amen! Why is it that Jesus
revealed her sin to her? Why is it that Jesus wanted
her to know that He knows she had five husbands? Is the Lord just exposing our sins
to shame us? No, don’t forget I told you,
God arranged in such a way, even His disciples are not around
to hear this. Alone with Jesus. Do you know why He wanted her
to know that He knows everything about her? Because you will never know
that you are loved until you know that person knows
everything about you and still loves you. What’s with us,
that with all our advancement in technology,
with all the social media, we are supposed to be
more connected, isn’t it? And yet, we are not connected. We are supposed to
have more friends, and yet we are never so lonely. What is it about all the
luxuries of modern life and the easy access with a fingertip,
with a touch that we have for this generation that yet,
of all generations, we are the most unsatisfied. You don’t look to the
likes to get your joy. Amen. So we are so connected
to the point that we look for affirmation. We are such a me generation. Alright, we have me-fi, we-fi,
it’s all about me, you know. In the previous generation,
we don’t have that. But now, it’s like we want the
affirmation, we want people to see what we are doing. We want them to see we are
eating Char Kway Teow, we are doing this now. I am now in the toilet,
sitting on the toilet bowl, you know. I mean, in our minds, we think
that people really bother, when actually a lot of
people don’t care. Amen. So, we cannot get our
affirmation from people. And a crowd can be
screaming your celebration, alright today, and shout
for your crucifixion next week. Jesus found that out. Amen. 1 week they were shouting:
“Hosanna to the son of David!” The very next week, they
shouted: “Crucify Him!” And here, Jesus was entering
Jericho, this city of curse. And the Bible says: “He made His way
through the town.” “There was a man there
named Zacchaeus.” “He was a chief tax collector.” Look at verse 3. “He tried to get a look at Jesus,
but he was too short to see” “over the crowd”. Again, there’s the crowd. Sometimes we are so conscious
of the crowd, we don’t see Jesus. It’s not important what the
crowd thinks of you. It’s not important how many
likes you get on your social media. It’s not very important what
people say about you. The question is:
“Can you see Jesus?” Because if you can see Jesus,
you will see His eyes of love for you. You will see that He is
longing for you. You think you are looking for Him. He is looking for you. Amen. So here Zacchaeus was
trying to see Jesus. Can you imagine, right now,
whenever there is a crowd, there is a lot of noise,
a lot of din and bustle and the cacophony of noises
in the midst of the crowd, and he is trying to jump over
the shoulders of the people to take a look at Jesus. And he can’t because
the Bible says that he was short. “For all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God.” Right. So he trying to see. He can’t find a way to see Jesus,
but he wanted to see Jesus. Whenever you want to see Jesus,
Jesus is looking out for you. Let me tell you something else,
the more you want to see Jesus, the more Jesus wants to see you. There is something about the crowd. Amen. In the midst of the cacophony
of all the noises and all that, He will look up and He will
pay attention to one person who is out to look at Him. “But Pastor Prince, all the crowd
is trying to see him right?” No, there’s a kind of look
that looks to you like— It is one thing to look at a
person swimming in the sea. But if you are in the sea
and you are drowning, and you look for the lifesaver,
you look at the life guard, the way you look is different. This is looking unto. Amen. And Zacchaeus had a look unto,
and that kind of look is what brings life. Amen. One look for the Saviour
and you will live. One look and you'll be transformed. One look and you'll be healed. This is how the Lord is like. So all the while Zacchaeus
thought he was looking for Jesus. He didn't realise Jesus
was looking for him. Have you heard of the
prayer called: “Just tell it to Jesus.” “Do you have any
cares or 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 told it
to Jesus before? Have you ever taken a walk,
and said: “God, I don’t know how to pray.” “Lord Jesus I feel You are
walking with me because I know” enough that You never leave me
nor forsake me.” “And can I just tell you Lord,
I am worried about this,” “I am worried about that.” You don’t know that you are actually
casting your cares on Him! Now don’t let anyone hear it. It’s just you and Jesus. And I’m telling you. Just talking to Him. I can’t begin to explain to you. Not exactly everything
in those words, I am 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 that
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 it is.” “I don’t feel—I am not
so anxious and careful anymore.” “Something happened.” Just tell it to Jesus. And then you’ll realise
He is 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 grief to bear.” What is going on? This is not Mr. Bean. It’s no more a hymn. All of a sudden you realise: “He’s my friend! He’s a
friend that 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, it’s like you
look at the clock. Those days, they say the
one hour prayer, so you look at the clock. And I remember they used
that statement, or that question that Jesus asked His disciples. Jesus asked:
“Could you not tarry one hour.” Actually He asked the disciples
in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was not a law. We even twist a question into a law. And we say:
“Can’t you tarry one hour.” So we do our best,
we put our clock, alright? And then we pray. And then we really, really,
really pray. And we really thought we
prayed for a long time. We look up—ten minutes. “Oh my goodness!” Can you imagine me going
to my wife and saying: “Alright. You’ve been asking me
to spend time with you.” “Communicating with you.” “You told me that communication
is the lifeblood of marriage.” “Alright baby, your time
starts now. Phoosh!” She will say:
“I’m going home.” Right? Amen. No. So there is a place
for a prayer of faith. There is a prayer. In fact to talk to Him is faith! You are not happy about somebody, talk to
the Lord. You are angry with 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 to Him, upon Him. The reason? Because He cares for you. He cares for you.
