Joyce Meyer - Ways to Increase Your Joy - Part 3

Well, thank you for joining me today on, "Enjoying Everyday Life". I appreciate that you're taking this time to spend with me in the Word of God. It may be the best 30 minutes that you've spent, because you may learn something today that's gonna be life changing. I'm talking about ways that you can increase your joy. And this is the third day that I've taught on this and so let me just tell you what I've said already. One of the ways you can increase your joy is to start your day with God. Have a goal for each day, be productive.

Number three, decide to help somebody else. Live beyond yourself. Reexamine your expectations, maybe you're expecting people to do for you what only God can do for you. Refuse to be mediocre, be an excellent person. Invest in yourself. You're precious and valuable, and as well as doing things for other people, you need to do some things for yourself. And be adventurous, don't let your life be boring. Do something that you've always wanted to do but never had the courage to step out and actually do. The next thing we wanna talk about is say, "No," to worry. Oh my goodness, does worry ever steal our joy!

And you know what? If we don't decide not to worry, we're never gonna run out of things to worry about. Just living in the world today, people can just worry about what's gonna happen, and just worry about all the crazy things going on, and worry about the government, and worry about the election, and worry, worry, worry, worry, worry, worry. But it doesn't do any good. Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair rocking all day, it keeps you busy but gets you nowhere. We have another option. If you have a bad option and a good option, which option should you take? You have another option and that is to cast your care on God. That is to be anxious for nothing and hold on to the peace and the joy that Jesus died to give you. Decide to trust God.

And you say, "Well Joyce, I can't just decide to trust God". Well, that's where you start. You make a decision that you're just gonna trust God. I heard a story just a couple of days ago about Billy Graham. And he was going through some turmoil in his life, and he went out into the woods and was praying and praying and seeking God. And he laid his Bible open on a tree stump. And as he prayed, he made a decision. And he looked at the Bible and he said, "I am going to believe what's written in this book". And apparently, he did that the rest of his life because he became a man who ministered to millions and millions of people.

And I think that we do have to at some point make a decision, "Who am I gonna put my trust in"? Maybe you've been trusting yourself to take care of yourself, and it hasn't worked out very good. So, you could make a decision today, I'm gonna trust God. And you know, that's a decision that will pay huge benefits. Now, I admit just deciding to trust God doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be able to pull it off every time you have a problem. But I believe the way that we learn how to really trust God, is by having experience with God. As you go through problems trusting him to help you, and then watching him work in your life, and it will get easier and easier to trust God every single time that he brings a victory to you.

If you came home today and found your house infested with large, disgusting, germ-carrying bugs, would you just decide to coexist with 'em? Or would you call an exterminator and get rid of them? Well, why don't you call the worry exterminator, which is faith, and get rid of all the worry in your life? You can worry, or you can give that to God. I love Philippians 4:6, "Be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God: and the peace that passes understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting".

When you give God your problems, you can have peace that doesn't even make any sense. You can have a problem that in the natural you should be worried about, but you're not worried because you really believe that God will take care of it. Pray about it. He hears your prayers and he cares about you. And God can do in one moment what you couldn't do in a whole lifetime of trying to figure something out. As soon as worry shows up, pray. The very minute that worry shows up, pray. Don't worry for three days and then pray. I mean, that's better than not praying at all. But the longer you worry, the more deeply rooted it gets in your soul. When you start to worry, thank God for everything you can think of. Thank God for your home. Thank God for hot and cold running water. Thank God for the food that you eat. Thank God for family. Thank God for sunshine.

There's so many wonderful gifts that God gives us that we don't see, because we're so busy looking at what we don't have. Let me say that again. Don't stay busy looking at what you don't have, to the point where you don't see what you do have. And don't stay so busy looking at what's wrong with the people in your life, that you don't see what's right with the people in your life. 1 Peter 5:6 and 7 says, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he might exalt you, casting all your care on him, for he cares for you". Now that's interesting. Humble myself by casting my care? Why is casting my care humility? Because when I worry, I'm saying, "If I worry about this long enough, I can figure out something to do about it to make it better".

But if I humble myself under the mighty hand of God, I say, "God, I'll do anything you show me to do, but I'm not just gonna start doing a bunch of stuff just to try to make this happen. I'm praying and I'm casting my care on you. I'm giving you the problem and I'm waiting on you. If you want me to do something, show me. But if not, I know that you're gonna take care of this". Worry is useless. The next thing that you can do, if you want to enjoy your life, and this is one of my favorites, slow down. Oh my goodness, we move through life so fast, and I am just as guilty as anybody else. The fast, busy pace we live at is one of the major culprits that lessens our joy, decreases our peace, and increases our stress.

Do you have the hurry habit? I have to admit I still do. I've gotten better. I've slowed my schedule down some, but, you know, we do get in a habit of hurrying. And it just becomes a habit and we hurry when we don't even need to hurry. I hurry when I'm brushing my teeth. My daughter was teasing me. She said, "Mom, when you brush your teeth, you're like..., and it's an electric toothbrush". She said, "All you really have to do is just hold it in your mouth, and run it over your teeth". I'll tell you a funny story. One day last week I took a shower. I got out of the shower, and I started drying myself off and my legs felt kind of funny. And I thought, "This don't feel right, I feel like I still got soap on me".

And then I realized I must have rinsed the top half of my body, and didn't rinse the bottom half. You know why we do things like that? Because we're always doing one thing and thinking about something else. I have a habit of taking my seat belt off, and starting to be ready to get out of the car before the car ever gets parked in the driveway. We need to slow down, and enjoy the journey. I'm usually one step ahead of where I'm at in my thinking. Let's do a little self-check. Do you check your phone first thing in the morning to see if you have any emails, texts, news updates, or social media notifications? You know, I think we've gotten to the point where we think we're a little more important than what we are. Oh my goodness, somebody contacted me. I have to get right back to them this moment.

You know how hard it is when you hear that "Ding," letting you know you got a message, not to run and look at it right away? Well, you know, if it's a work phone and you need to do that for work, that's one thing. But we don't have to take the phone to the bathroom with us. One friend of mine says that after she dropped her phone in the toilet, her phone no longer had any bathroom privileges. Well, it's kind of sad if we can't even go to the bathroom without thinking that somebody might call us while we're in there. When you sit down to meet with somebody, or to have lunch with somebody, do you always set your phone on the table, just in case somebody tries to contact you? Surely we can give the person that we're with our full attention.

Do you choose the restaurant or the coffee shop you go to, based on whether or not they have WI-FI? Do you have more apps than you have friends? I get kind of tickled when people tell me how many friends they have on Facebook. Let me tell you something, just because somebody's name is on your Facebook, that does not mean they're your friend. Friendship is a lot more than a text every now and then. If you answered, "Yes," to several of these questions, then maybe you have the hurry habit and you need to slow down. When we hurry, we usually make more mistakes than we would had if we had taken more time, so in the end we end up using more time than we would've if we would've slowed down to start with. I think I'll say that again because that was kind of a mouthful.

When we hurry, we usually make more mistakes than we would've if we would've slowed down to begin with, so we end up using more time than we would've had we done it right to start with. Resist the temptation to overcommit and overextend. When you hear yourself complaining about your schedule, keep in mind that you made your schedule and you're the only one that can change it. If you don't like your schedule, then write down everything that you're doing on a piece of paper, then go back over it and ask yourself, "Is this bearing fruit in my life? Is this bearing fruit in my life"? Or even ask yourself, "Why am I doing this"?

Sometimes you're doing things just to keep other people happy, that really don't even care that much about your happiness. You know, there's a lot of wonderful people in the world, and I have a lot of great friends, but let me tell you something, a lot of people will use you if you let 'em. It's your responsibility to have boundaries in your life. If you have a really good friend, you should be able to say, "No," to them without making them mad. I had somebody recently that helps me with some stuff concerning my books, and there was one certain book and she said, "I just don't think that I have the time to edit that book".

Well, it was a book that was really important to me, and I was kind of disappointed. So I asked her if she'd go back and pray about it again. She did and came back and said, "I still don't have peace about it. I don't even know why. I just don't have peace about it". And I said, "Well, then I don't want you to do it, because I don't want you to do anything, you don't have peace about". And you know, that's the way we should be with one another. I shouldn't even have to give a bunch of reasons why I don't wanna do something. Sometimes I don't even know why I don't wanna do it. If I don't have peace about it, then that means that God's approval is not on it. And we need to learn to not do things we don't have peace about, because that's one of the major ways that we hear from God, is by either having his peace or not having his peace.

And remember what I said, if somebody's really your friend, and they ask you to do something, and you say, "I'm sorry, but I can't," they're not gonna get mad at you. I have a friend that asked me to do all kinds of things, but he told me in the beginning, he said, "If you tell me, 'no,' I won't get mad". And he stuck to his word. And I tell him, "No," sometimes more than I tell him, "Yes". Have boundaries. Live the life that God wants you to live, not the life that everybody else wants you to live. I'mma ask you a question, "Are you a people pleaser, or are you a God pleaser"? Are you living the life that you believe God really wants you to live? Or are you living the life that everybody else wants you to live? Have you spent so much time doing what everybody else wants you to do, that you've even lost sight of what you would like to do? Maybe you need to make some adjustments.

If you're doing a bunch of stuff that you don't even know why you're doing it, or it's not bearing good fruit, why don't you cross those things off your list. And I can tell you when you get done, you'll find that you have enough time to actually slow down and enjoy your life. You know, we need to be balanced. Yes, we want people to be happy with us. We do things for people. I don't have to want to do everything that I do for somebody. But the key is, following the leadership of the Holy Spirit. You know, sometimes somebody wants me to do something and I don't really want to do it, but the Holy Spirit will let me know that I need to do it. I just need to do them a favor. But then other times, maybe there's something I wanna do, but I don't have peace about it. And I know that even though I wanna do it, it's not something that God wants me to do.

1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), vigilant and cautious at all times: for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams about like a lion [in fierce hunger], seeking whom he may devour". You know, that scripture has always been very interesting to me because it's basically saying that when we're out of balance, that it opens a door for the enemy. So, let's just look at it from a practical standpoint. If I don't get enough sleep, if I eat bad food all the time, if I never get any exercise, well that's my prerogative, I can do that, but then when I get sick, I don't need to blame anybody but myself. Do the best you can to take care of yourself, and you'll be a lot healthier than what you may be right now.

People talk about eating a balanced diet, living a balanced life, and you know, maybe you're watching too much television, or maybe you don't take enough time for yourself to watch a movie if you enjoy movies. Maybe you're sleeping too much, or maybe you're not sleeping enough. Maybe you're working too hard, or maybe you're not working hard enough. You need to always pray that God will show you how to maintain balance in your life. Paul said in Galatians 1:10, "If I were trying to be popular with people, I would not right now be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ". What's that saying? You can't please people and please God all the time. He said, "I would have missed the call on my life, if my goal was to be popular with people".

You know, if you want to be a Christian who really follows the will of God, you're gonna have to be willing to make some sacrifices, and one thing you may have to sacrifice is your reputation. When God first called me into ministry, I got asked to leave my church and lost all my friends. They thought I had lost my mind because in those days, women didn't do what I'm doing. It was very, very, very rare. It's not so rare today, thank God, but it was very rare then. I look back and I think, "Boy, I'm so glad that I listened to God, and I was willing to give up those things that I had to give up, in order to do what I'm doing today".

This is a much greater privilege. Trying to make other people happy all the time, can keep you unhappy all the time. And that may be why you don't have any joy right now, because you are just spinning your wheels, you are worn out and way too busy, because you have way over-committed. And you're just running around doing all these things that you don't even feel right about, and don't even wanna do, and you're doing it not even for the right reasons. You know, there's nothing wrong with being on the go, there's nothing wrong with being busy, as long as you're not too busy. But excess can be dangerous. There's nothing wrong with using technology, it's very helpful, but don't let it control you. The world won't end if you turn your phone off for an hour. I love quiet. Love it, love it, love it!

And today, so many places you go, even like music that's supposed to be background music, it is so loud that you can't even hardly think. I think the devil's out to get us, but we can outwit him, by following the Word of God and doing what God says. The next thing I wanna to talk to you about is resisting negativity. Wow! Today, I can wish that roses didn't have thorns. And we do sometimes when we get roses and we prick our finger on a thorn, it's like, "Oh, I wish these things didn't have thorns, they're so pretty". Or we can rejoice that thorns have roses. You know, that's kind of the way life is. It comes with some roses and some thorns. And we have to learn how to enjoy the roses and put up with some of the thorns. I can whine because I have to go to work, or I can rejoice that I have a job.

There's always a way to be positive, if we look for one. Do you know that? There's always a way for you to be positive, if you look for one. I can crab because I couldn't find a parking place close to the front of the store, and I had to walk from the back of the parking lot, or I can rejoice that I have legs and can walk. About this time last year, I was in a rehab hospital because I had a minor back surgery and gotten a blood clot and it did damage to the nerves in my right leg. And I had no strength in my legs, so I was having to get a lot of physical therapy for that leg. And one day I was getting the physical therapy, and I looked over and there was a young girl, looked to be like in her early 30s, and she didn't have any legs at all from the knees down.

You know, at that point I was really glad to be just trying to get that leg that I had stronger. Come on, no matter how bad you think you have it today, there's somebody that's got it worse than you. Don't feel sorry for yourself. No matter how many problems you have, you have more blessings than you do problems, maybe you have just stopped looking at 'em. Start looking at what you do have, and not what you don't have. The devil loves negativity, but God loves positivity.

Psalm 118:24, "This is the day the Lord has made: I will rejoice and be glad". Make a decision. Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice". And Nehemiah 8:10, "The joy of the Lord is your strength". And the last thing I'll talk to you about is being patient with yourself. Wow, is that ever gonna increase your joy! Don't get mad at yourself every time you make a mistake. And don't say bad things about yourself, "I'm so stupid, all I do is mess up all the time".

You should never say bad things about yourself out of your own mouth. Don't expect perfection out of yourself, because if you do, you're always going to be disappointed. Nothing and nobody in this world is perfect except Jesus. Have the courage to be imperfect and not be ashamed. Perfectionism is merely the fear of making a mistake. Don't be a perfectionist, if you do, you're gonna put pressure on yourself, and you're gonna put pressure on all the people around you. Because if you expect that out of yourself, you're gonna expect it out of them too. And you'll never find anybody that you can be satisfied with.

Give people a break. Give 'em a little mercy. God is extending his mercy to you today. Receive his mercy and then give it away to other people. You know I thought about this, the Bible tells us to be patient with other people. Well, God's not gonna tell me to be patient with you, if he doesn't want me to also be patient with me. So, once again let me say, be patient with yourself. I said this in one of the earlier teachings, but I wanna finish up this teaching with this. If you made a list of all the things you love, how long would it take you to put your name on that list?