Joyce Meyer - Finding God's Will for Your Life - Part 1

I wanna talk to you today about finding God's will for your life. A lot of people worry about that. They're always wondering if they're in God's will or what is God's will. And so, the first thing I wanna say is just calm down. Because if you want God's will, if you really, really want God's will, then God will guide you into that. And in the meantime, you just need to work with the Holy Spirit to learn how to obey the general will of God for your life, which is laid out in the Word of God. There are some specific things that the Bible tells us to do. And I think a lot of people don't realize that God gives you a lot of space to make your own decisions.

You know, if I told one of my kids to go out and play, I wouldn't really care, or to go play, I wouldn't care if they played with a puzzle or a train. I wouldn't care if they played in their room or in the backyard, I just want 'em to go play. So, God tells us certain things in the word, but then we have a lot of autonomy in there. And I think a lot of people make a mistake always feeling like they need some special word from God about everything that they do. And God just wants you to follow what you know would be his character, and what you know would be his will for your life. So, one of the three things that we get more phone calls at the office about than anything is, "What is God's will for my life"? And some of you may wanna know what God's will is for your whole life in general. You feel like you need a certain vision or a certain dream, and not everybody is going to have that.

Some people are called to do just this one, some specific thing, but a lot of people are called to just get in their little section of the world and represent Jesus. And that's special. It may seem ordinary to you, but anything you do with and for God becomes extraordinary. And I wanna tell you, and I mean this sincerely, you're needed in the world we live in today even more than people preaching up on these platforms week, after week, after week. Because the people who need to hear what I'm saying probably aren't coming to church, and may not be turning on Christian TV unless they get me accidentally, which a lot of people do.

But I believe that God has got every place in the world covered. I believe that God has got some of his people absolutely everywhere. And just imagine what would happen if every person, who was a Christian, was actually really doing their job. And that doesn't mean you have to preach everywhere you go. It just means that you should live the life in front of people. Because, I believe, in the times we're living in, that there is becoming more and more a very clear line between who is serving God and who isn't. Because dark is getting darker, but at the same time, light is supposed to be getting lighter. And I was just reading in Matthew 5, the other day and just, I don't know, it just struck me. I know the scripture, but it just struck me. It says that "We are the light of the world, and you should not hide your light under a bushel or under a basket".

And see that's, I think there's too many Christians today that are hiding their light. And they're trying to blend in too much. And we are in a time when we absolutely must... Now, please listen to what I'm gonna say, you absolutely must stick to the Word of God. Because there is so much deception in the world. And the devil is having an absolute fit because he knows his time is short. And what I mean by that is he is lying, lying, lying, lying, lying. And then lying some more. Deception, in our society, is absolutely insane. I mean, when you think about some of the things that people believe now it's like, "What, huh? Huh? What"?

And here's a very good example, and I saw this on television. A policewoman had come to question a man about something and in the process of their conversation he told the woman that he and his wife had an open marriage. They can both go do whatever they wanna do with other partners and that's fine. Well, he could tell by her response that she didn't approve. She didn't outright say that. But he could tell by her response she didn't approve. And this is what he said, but this is the way the world is today. He said, "Do you realize that you judging me is worse than me doing what makes me happy"? Wow. And the Bible says that "In the days that we're living in that if God did not shorten those days for the sake of the very elect no man could withstand the deception that is coming on the world".

And so, we have to shine. We absolutely have to shine. And I mean, we have to shine brightly. Amen? And it is important to do God's will and we all know that the first and foremost thing is to learn the word and then do the word. It doesn't do one bit of good to come to church and underline everything in your Bible if you're not gonna go home and do it. So, doing the word, actually, James said, "If you hear the word and you don't do the word, you're deceived by reasoning that's contrary to the truth". You see, "If you don't obey the word, man I can judge you and criticize you, but if I don't obey it, I've always gotta reason that justifies my behavior".

In Romans 2:1 it says, "You who judge other people, you do the same things they're doing". We kind of look at ourselves through rose colored glasses and we look at everybody else through a magnifying glass. And each one of us is only gonna have to give an account for ourselves. And Jesus is coming back. I mean, he really is. And this is our time to be getting ready for it. So yes, we need to know God's will for our life, but it is important that you don't worry about that or be concerned about it. If you are willing to do whatever God wants you to do, let me tell you, God knows how to make sure that you hear him. Amen. I can tell you right now anybody here who wants God's will, God has unlimited ways of getting that across to you. So, you don't need to be concerned.

There are some things that the Bible specifically lays out. First of all, in Psalm 100 verse 2, the Bible says, "Serve the Lord with gladness! Come before his presence with singing". Well, one of the ways that we can be a witness to the world is to just be happy. I mean, there's very few really happy people in the world. And sad to say a lot of Christians aren't happy. And they're not happy because they focus on their problems instead of their blessings. And we all have a lot more blessings than we have problems. The Bible says, "To look away from everything that will distract unto Jesus who's the author and the finisher of our faith".

Now, listen I'm gonna say something important. That even means don't stare constantly at what you think is wrong with you. Your own faults. Sometimes we get too wigged out about that too. You know, God knew everything that was wrong with you and was gonna be wrong with you when he got into a relationship with you. God's not going, "Oh, man, I didn't know you're gonna be like that". You are no surprise to God. Amen? And he'll work with you, and work with you. You can't change yourself, but if you're willing to change, God will change you. Amen? "Serve the Lord with gladness". Well, the word "Gladness" means: "Contentment, enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction". Contentment. Let's talk about that.

You see, I believe that real spiritual maturity, which the Bible says "We're to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ". I think real spiritual maturity is to be the same no matter what's going on in your life. And to not be all happy and Christian when your circumstances are good. And then, when they're not, be a crank and hard to get along with and become a whole different type of creature because you have problems. Or just sit and worry about those all the time. Do you know that people who trust God are not supposed to worry? Did you know that? You can't worry and trust at the same time. Now, don't think, for one minute, the devil won't try to make you think about it, because he will. But you can cast down wrong imaginations and think about something good. Philippians 4:11-13, you're probably familiar with these, we're going to read them and really take a look at 'em.

Paul said, "Now I'm not implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned", and we do have to learn this, "How to be content" or glad, "(satisfied to the point where I'm not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I'm in". I like the definition of content. It doesn't mean that you never want anything to change. It doesn't even necessarily mean that you like the circumstance you have, but it means I'm satisfied to the point where I'm not upset about it. Satisfied to the point where I'm not upset about it. Amen? "I know how to be abased", or in plain language, "I know how to have a problem in any kind of circumstance, and I know how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance". He's basically saying, "I know how to have a problem and be content. I know how to have plenty and be content".

How many of you agree with me that we should learn to be the same? Do I have any people that would be honest and say that that's still a problem for you? See, thank you. That was my biggest problem for years. I look back now, and I call myself, back then, I was a yo-yo Christian. You know, up and down, and up and down, and up and down. And you know, when we're like that, the devil will just target you and drive you nuts with one thing after another, after another. And the only way to get him off your back is to stop getting upset about the stuff. See, we always pray for our problems to go away and it's wrong prayer. It's not even biblical. Paul, never one time, you cannot find any place in the Bible where Paul or Peter, or we're never told to pray for our problems to go away. And that's how we all pray. "God, make this go away, take this away".

What Paul prayed is that they would be so strong spiritually that they could handle whatever came with good temper. Man, I love that. I have never had anybody ask me to pray for them for that. I have never, 45 years of ministry, I've never had anybody come to me and say, "Joyce, would you pray, I'm in a time of trial, would you pray that I'll be strong enough to just handle this and stay sweet and continue to help other people and just be stable"? Never had anybody ask me for that. Everybody always wants you to pray that it'll go away. And I'm just telling you, and maybe this isn't happy news, but I'm just telling you that even if the thing you've got right now goes away... See, you know the answer without me even telling you.

Now that doesn't mean that our life is just nothing but trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. But to be honest with you, when we mature to the point where the trouble doesn't bother us that much, then we really don't even notice it all that much. It's like, it just kind of becomes part of what life is. "In the world, you will have tribulation. Cheer up". In the middle of the tribulation, cheer up. Cheer up. Let me tell you something that a lot of people don't know. It is okay for you to be happy while you have a problem. See, I think a lot of people feel obligated to be miserable when they have a problem. See, I hear those little giggles, you know. We do. It's like, "Well, I can't be happy," you know, "I got this thing I'm dealing with".

Well, nothing makes the devil madder than if you're happy when he's trying to make you miserable. Amen? You know what Psalm 2 says about all the mess going on today? "The Lord sits in the heavens and laughs". So, I am so grateful. And man, it took a long time, because I've been around a while. But I am so grateful that, at least for the most part, I've finally come to the point where I understand it, I get it, I know what the devil's trying to do, and I just pretty much stay the same now. And I'll tell you what, it will take so much stress off your life. Happy people have less sickness. They have less stress. They live longer. More people wanna be around 'em.

Do you know, even the people that love you the most don't want to do nothing but hear your problems? Well, one person liked that. Sure, I mean, you can share your problem with your friend, but don't just constantly do nothing but tell constantly. It drains people, it wears them out. We're supposed to be encouraging one another, and cheering one another up, and sharpening each other, and making each other stronger. And besides that, after you talk about it, what good does it do to just keep talking about it and talking about it, and talking about it, and talking about it, and talking about it, and talking about it? The more you talk about it, the worse it seems. Amen?

And so, God's will is that you serve him with gladness, that you serve him with contentment, that you know how to be the same in every kind of situation because "There is no temptation that can come to you that God will not provide a way out". And so, when you're having trouble, which I know many of you today probably are, and you may be thinking, "Joyce, you don't know how I feel". Well, you don't know that I don't know how you feel, because you don't know what's going on in my life, right now. You don't have any idea. And everybody that preaches to you, that doesn't mean that they don't have any problems, themselves. Matter of fact, sometimes we got bigger problems than you do. Amen? And I believe that God wants us to get to the point where we can be a blessing to other people while we're hurting and having a problem. Amen?

Matter of fact, I think that's one of the most powerful things that you can do. And a lot of times when we have problems, we wanna shrink in to ourselves, and isolate ourselves, and just go and have our problem, and maybe feel sorry for ourself. And if we find somebody to talk to, talk to about our problem. Talk to God, tell him about our problem. And no matter what kind of problem you've got, it could be worse. Two and a half people like that. That's all right, I can take it. I'll preach. The Bible says that we "Overcome evil with good". Well, there's so much evil in the world today. And I know a lot of people think, "What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? What should we do? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do"?

Well, Romans 12:21 says you "Overcome evil with good". And to me, that's one of the most beautiful scriptures in the Bible. There's only one way to get rid of darkness and that's with light. And there's only one way to get rid of evil and that's with good. Because God is good and the devil's bad. So, when he's being bad, we need to be good. We don't need to be bad with him. Amen? You know, when I learned that I had authority over the devil, I constantly was rebuking and resisting the devil. "I rebuke you..." and what I was really trying to do was get rid of the problem.

And God spoke to my heart, and he said, "When I tell you to resist the devil, I'm not telling you to resist your problem. I'm telling you not to act like the devil while you have a problem". I've learned a lot of things the hard way. I can save you a lot of trouble if you'll listen. And then, Paul says in verse 13, "I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me". And boy, we love to quote that scripture, don't we? At least that part of it. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". Well, but we have to look at it in context. Paul's talking about, "I can have a problem, and I can still be strong, and I can be stable, and I can be content, and I can behave right, while I'm in the midst of it".