Joyce Meyer - A Prayer How To

Ginger Stache: Hi, friends, this is Joyce Meyer's Talk It Out podcast, where Joyce teaches the Word of God in her practical, no nonsense way, and my friends and I talk about the good stuff of living it, and we hold nothing back. I'm Ginger Stache with Erin Cluley and Jai, three friends in very different stages of life. And Joyce is one of the girls, too. We love it when she pops in here.

Joyce Meyer: I wanna know, you don't call me a friend. You say, "These are my friends," and then you talk about me.

Ginger Stache: No, I just said. You're one of the girls, too. Absolutely.

Joyce Meyer: Now, you have to say, "My friends, Joyce, Jai..."

Ginger Stache: And, this is my friend, Joyce.

Joyce Meyer: Thank you. I was kinda of feeling a little left out.

Ginger Stache: We don't ever want that.

Jai Williams: Never.

Ginger Stache: No, and we don't want any of you to feel left out, so come on in here. We'll Talk It Out together.

Jai Williams: Yes.

Ginger Stache: Today, we're going to tell you exactly how to pray and get everything that you want. How to make God do what you want.

Erin Cluley: I'm so glad I'm here!

Joyce Meyer: I'm glad you're doing the show by yourself.

Ginger Stache: I thought if we said that at first, people would stay tuned.

Joyce Meyer: I'm not into lying.

Ginger Stache: It won't work. We won't really be able to do that. But it sounded really good for a teaser, don't you think? Don't you think?

Jai Williams: I wish it worked like that?

Ginger Stache: Yeah. Before we do that, so don't go away 'cause they won't wanna miss that. Last time we were here we were, we were talking about hairstyles.

Jai Williams: Yes.

Ginger Stache: And Joyce has been talking about interest in switching your hair up just a little bit, and it was a fun conversation.

Jai Williams: It's always a fun conversation.

Joyce Meyer: Well, I found a lot of really good hairstyles, and when I showed 'em to my hairdresser, she said, "The only problem is, Joyce, they're all wigs". And she said, "Your hair won't do that, no matter how hard we try".

Jai Williams: Well, every so, every time, ever since I've known you, I've probably have had a different hairstyle almost every time you've seen me.

Joyce Meyer: Oh, yeah, I just wish I could do that. Well, I just decided, because you've been so gracious and so loving to me, I have a card that you can read later, just a thank you card, just because you're amazing. But I got you a little gift. Oh, don't tell me it's a wig.

Jai Williams: I'm not telling you anything.

Erin Cluley: Oh, it is!

Jai Williams: It definitely is! She's gotta a cute little bang.

Joyce Meyer: Oh, I can just hardly wait to go home and put that on.

Jai Williams: It's got a cute little bang and a little bob.

Erin Cluley: That's cute.

Jai Williams: Maybe something you could just switch up.

Joyce Meyer: Can you imagine how silly I'm gonna look in that?

Jai Williams: I don't care, I think you're gonna look adorable.

Erin Cluley: We wanna a picture of that when you take it. I wanna see it.

Joyce Meyer: Now, Ginger could pull this off.

Erin Cluley: Uh-uh, you can too.

Jai Williams: No, I think you can. Here's the thing, we just got a tip that you are actually, at home being able to be like, a free woman by yourself. So, you can actually, try it on with no one there to laugh.

Joyce Meyer: Well, thank you so much.

Jai Williams: You're so welcome.

Joyce Meyer: I will have so much fun with this.

Jai Williams: What do you get the lady that has everything? A wig.

Ginger Stache: Yeah.

Joyce Meyer: Well, anyway, when I went,when we went through everything I could and couldn't do, the only thing we decided I could do was have the same hairstyle and make it shorter. I have just got my haircut about as short as it could possibly go, and we still... It's like...

Erin Cluley: It's cute.

Jai Williams: It's your look.

Joyce Meyer: However, we're not talking about prayer, so we probably need to that.

Ginger Stache: Well, here's a great way to get started. I think when we talk about prayer, it's easy to get confused and think there's a special way that I have to do it or do's and dont's. And we are going to talk about "How to" because there are things that are important. But we tend to overcomplicate things. So, we're gonna start with a clip, from Joyce, from a teaching where she talked about the power in simple prayer. Let's listen to that first.

Joyce Meyer: But he taught me that prayer, effective, life-changing, dynamic prayer can be so simple, just so amazingly simple. I have one great grandchild and he's, I guess Jeremiah's about 3, and his mommy one night had a real bad stomachache and she was laying in bed kinda doubled up in pain. And he went over and laid his hand on her said he was gonna pray for her. And he said, "Jesus, mommy, ouchy. Amen". But listen, she said she almost immediately, the pain stopped and she started feeling better. Actually, I came to a point in my life at one time where God actually challenged me. He said, "I want you to ask me for what you want and need with as few words as possible". Hmm...Yeah, it's harder than you think. You know, it's hard when you've done something wrong to say, "Father, I'm so sorry, forgive me for that. Thank you". No, we want to go on. "Oh God, oh God. Oh, please forgive me, God. Please, please, please, forgive me. Oh God, I've been so bad. Please forgive me. I promise I'll never do it again". Yes, you will. Don't even waste your time making promises you can't keep. You're better off to say, "I'll definitely do it again if you don't help me". So, why don't we learn that the power of prayer is not in how many words, or how eloquent, or how long, but I believe it's two things, I think it's faith. Do I believe that God hears me? Do I believe he cares about me and wants to be involved in my life? Well, I can't read the Bible and not believe that. And I think that prayer must be sincere. You're gonna see in scripture today that the Bible says that the fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much, makes tremendous power avail. I love that in the Amplified. When we pray, tremendous power, whoo, is made available.

Ginger Stache: It seems like that would be something that we just grab on to and we say, "Yay," and we run with it, and yet, we still get confused in our own mind of, "How should this work, and what if I say the wrong thing? And," and why do we complicate prayer so much, Joyce?

Joyce Meyer: I think, that we think, we have to impress God.

Ginger Stache: Oh, yeah.

Joyce Meyer: And if you've ever noticed, if you're ever in a position where you need to pray in front of somebody, or in front of a group, it's like, half the time you don't even,you're not even really talking to God. You're saying what you think will impress these people.

Erin Cluley: But my words are really big.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, right. And so, it was really interesting when God told me, "Ask me for what you want with as few words as possible". I challenge you to try it for a few days. It's actually harder than you think. For some reason, we think the more we say, the better it is. And I think it's just because we wanna sound eloquent. We wanna, you know, impress God. And you know, just like, "I know, what I did was wrong. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I receive your grace," and go on.

Jai Williams: Yeah, I know my roots, I know my roots in complicating prayer came from that very thing of being in church groups or at school, or,because I went to a Christian school. And I had all of the Christianese the cliché things to say. But I remember being in line, or like, in a circle, or we'd hold hands, or whatever like, that we'd be in a group, and I remember my heart used to just beat so hard, like,or fast like, "Who are they gonna call to pray"? You know, like, I'm not thinking about anything about talking to God or what I'm thinking,I'm just like, "What if I say something dumb? Or what if I, " you know. But I know that mine came from my roots of like, being a kid in church, hearing all of these people that I respected and loved so much seemed like, they were the ones,and cuz we tend to put people on pedestals, too, because they,I'm like, if that's how "The real Christians" pray, then I need to live up to that. So, I began to mimic that, in a way, to a point that I remember when I turned probably about 25 or so, I was just like, "God, can you please take all that out of me? Like, I don't want to pray like that". I don't want to feel pressured to be like, "Father God, in the name of Jesus," like, I always would start it the way that I heard it when I was little. And so, I think that's where my roots came from.

Joyce Meyer: Obviously, we have a reverential fear of God. And that just really means respect. And we always should have that, and we know that he's a holy God. And so, we wanna do what's right in his presence, but God is also our friend. And that's,scripture says that. And so, prayer is just talking to God. I mean, that's really all it is. And if I was gonna sit and talk to Ginger, I wouldn't all of a sudden become some other person, you know? And so, I think that people, if we can not complicate prayer. And the book I wrote on prayer, it's called, "The power of simple prayer," if we can keep it simple, and believe that God's not expecting us to become some other person when we pray. And there are no, like, if you don't say certain words, you know, then you're gonna be in trouble and God's not gonna hear your prayer. And I think I, my life was changed by James 4:2, which simply says,it talks about what causes strife and jealousy and envy and all these things among people. And then, it simply says, you try to get all these things yourself, "You have not because you ask not". And I love that. So, why can't we just ask God for anything we want, because Jesus said, "You can ask me for anything". And the bottom line is, is you don't really have to worry, because if it's something that's not his will, you're not gonna get it anyway. And so, we don't have to be afraid to just,you know, things that the Bible covers, I always say, "I know this is your will". But if I'm asking for something that's maybe a little more carnal or, you know, something that, you know, I'm not sure about, I just say, "If it's not right, please don't give it to me". I don't want anything that is not God's will for me.

Erin Cluley: One thing I loved in the teaching we just listened to of yours, was the story that you told of your great grandson who prayed and...

Ginger Stache: It's so sweet.

Erin Cluley: It's so sweet. And having kids has really taught me how much we can pray more simply. A couple of weeks ago, we were talking to the kids about what happened that day. And payton said, "Well, my sad thing today was my teacher got a paper cut". And she was deeply impacted by this paper cut. It must've been,there was a lot of blood. And so, that night, when we were praying together, she said, it was her turn to pray, and she said, "I pray for miss Davis' paper cut". And then that was it, and then, we moved on. And it,and then, she listed a few other things and I thought,first, I thought, "Well, that's cute and silly". But then, I thought, like, "That matters to her, so that matters to God". And so, God will probably heal her paper cut tonight because Peyton came with such sincerity in her request to him.

Joyce Meyer: Well, see, that's what God wants.

Erin Cluley: Yeah.

Joyce Meyer: He wants sincerity. He doesn't want us to put on or become some other person, or, I mean, the Bible says, don't repeat words and phrases over and over and over again, like, you know, I think, we think we have to become real religious when we pray.

Ginger Stache: Not trying to put on a show, we're trying to communicate with someone who loves us.

Joyce Meyer: That's exactly right. And there,so, like you said, you need to know God loves you and you need to know that he wants to bless you. He wants to give you what you want, but he won't, if it's not right for you. And we should all be satisfied with that.

Ginger Stache: I remember a time when I was probably, in my twenties, you know, I grew up in the church, grew up in a Christian home, always had that dialog, I guess, I would call it, with God. Then, I got to a point where I was working in Christian television, around all these people, like you were saying, jai, who really knew how to pray. And I was like, "Whoa, I've been doing this wrong for years".

Joyce Meyer: Yeah right.

Erin Cluley: You gotta start over.

Ginger Stache: So, I started really getting kind of caught up in this, "I don't know if I'm saying the right words". Like, "When do I need to say in Jesus' name? And when do I plead the blood of Jesus? And when do I bind what"? And...

Jai Williams: "Loose".

Ginger Stache: Exactly! And I got to where I was like, "Ah! I don't even know how to pray anymore". So, I know there are things that are important, and there are things in the Word of God that make a huge difference. I'm not trying to make light of any of that. But I really let myself get kinda tied up in knots. So, what would you say are some of the keys to things that make prayer effective?

Joyce Meyer: Well, I do think that we need to pray to the father, in Jesus' name. That's biblical. And...

Ginger Stache: Yeah, I think that's worth really talking about, cuz it's not just good thoughts. When people say, "I'll be thinking about you," that's nice, but please pray for me. You know, so, I think that's important. Who are you praying to?

Joyce Meyer: Who are you praying to? You're praying to God, the father. Jesus said, "You ask the father, in my name". And you know, I know sometimes people pray to Jesus, I don't,you know, I don't think you're gonna get trouble if you do that. But I address my prayers to God, the father, in the name of Jesus. And sometimes, I'll just say, "I come in Jesus' name, because I know that I have no right to come before you in my own steam and power.

Erin Cluley: That's the reverence in perspective.

Joyce Meyer: Because in the Amplified Bible, and I love this, it says when we pray in the name of Jesus that we're presenting to God, all that Jesus is.

Jai Williams: Yeah, that's good.

Joyce Meyer: So, see, I can't pray in the name of Joyce. Otherwise, I'm presenting what Joyce is, and I'm gonna be in real trouble. So, there is,it is important that you understand what it means to pray in Jesus' name. And that also helps you understand why you can come boldly to the throne, like it says, "Come boldly to the throne". We don't have to come ashamed or,you know, that's why it's good if there is anything between you and God to get that straightened out right away. You know, if there's sin that you haven't confessed or something, you need to take care of that first, get that done. And then, I think we just, you know, I don't think our prayers should be all about ourselves and what we want. You know, a lot of times I start out with people that I know that are sick, and I'll ask God to, I mean, there's one woman I know that's been sick for quite a while. And I just, I pray very simply that she'll have a good day. You know, that God will comfort her, and keep her pain level down, and that she'll just have a good day, and he'll give her grace. And,you know, so, we need to remember to pray for other people, just think through who you know, that's going through something, pray for them. We need to pray for our nation, you know. We have serious problems, and we need to pray that God will show us what to do or do something himself. I cover my kids every day, I put a covering over them. Ephesians 6 lists all the different aspects of spiritual warfare, "Put on the breastplate of righteousness, put on the shoes of peace, put on the helmet of salvation," and then, it says, "And cover everything over with prayer". So, when you think about that, like it's written, you can put a prayer covering over people's lives. So, when I pray for my kids, I pray that they'll be healthy, and that God will protect them from accidents. And I pray the same thing for Dave, and for myself, and for our partners, and our ministry. And a lot of thanksgiving in prayer. And here, again, none of these are rules.

Ginger Stache: Right.

Joyce Meyer: But, you know, Paul's prayers were full of thanksgiving, and he said, "Every time he prayed, he thanked God for his partners". And so, there are some things that you can pray, every time you pray. So, I thank God a lot of mornings, because I pray out by my fireplace in the winter, I thank God for my fireplace because it's something that I just enjoy so much. And I thank God for clean, running, hot and cold water. And you know, so, prayer should be full praise, worship, thanksgiving, petition, casting your care on God, if you have any worries. I love that, Philippians 4:6, "Be anxious for nothing". So, if I am, you know, I'll, "Help me not to worry about this". Just,it's really just things that you need and want, just asking God for them. And the Bible says, Mark 11, I love too. It says, "You ask. You believe that you have received, and you will get it". And the thing I always say is, "It doesn't say when you'll get it".

Erin Cluley: It doesn't.

Joyce Meyer: And so, I mean, that's a great point there, because in between asking and receiving is where a lot of people lose it. You know, because in here, you know what you're gonna get? The devil's gonna try to make you doubt. So, what I like to do is, when the devil comes at me in there, I like to say, and I say it out loud, "God is working".

Erin Cluley: That right there, in that middle part's where it gets hard. Because I'm asking and nothing is happening. Or sometimes he's so quiet. You hear nothing. So, it's so easy to get frustrated in, that middle's a hard spot to be.

Joyce Meyer: Well, and you know, so many people never have victory in their life because they don't make it through the middle of anything. They don't make it through the middle of trials or tribulations or hard things, you know, they get,or even like, success in ministry or business or whatever, you know, you're not gonna build anything without going through some hard times. You're just,you're just not. But if, I just think it's so important for people to realize that when they ask God for something, if it's something that's right for them, and you can ask God for something that's right for you, but it may not be the right timing in your life. So, we need to trust God's timing too. And then trust that if it's right, God will give it to you, not your way, but his way. His ways are above our ways. His thoughts above our thoughts. So, you pray. Then, you cast the care on God of how he does it and when he does it. And I really, I really like my little thing, "God is working". And there is a scripture. I think, it's in 1 or 2 Thessalonians, "As long as your believing, God is working". Isn't that good?

Ginger Stache: Yeah, it is.

Joyce Meyer: So, if I just keep believing, I don't care what it looks like, God is working. And he'll either give you what you ask for or he'll give you something better because you're not smart enough to ask for the better thing yet.

Erin Cluley: So true.

Ginger Stache: That's one of those things that I do pray for a lot is, "Lord, help me to know what things I'm missing. Help me to know what I need to adjust in my life. Search my heart, and know me, o, Lord," those kind of things. And show me what direction, I think we're all praying for what direction to go all the time. But going farther than that it's like, "Lord, don't let me miss a nudge from you". And there are so many things that really make a difference. And I think that's where it's that personal relationship. It's not just a big God who's got puppet strings. It's a God who wants to love us and guide us and help us. And so, those kind of conversations, I think, are what means so much to me, is not making prayer, something I set aside, and I only do it in the morning from 7:00 to 7:15. You know, it's all day. It's walking with Jesus and talking with him throughout everything that I do.

Joyce Meyer: It was so life-changing to me when I realized that,you gotta get over being religious before you can really pray.

Erin Cluley: That's so good.

Joyce Meyer: I mean, as long as you've got these religious ideas about prayer. It was,that you have to be in a certain spot in a, so, I remember when I first, you know, got into a more stronger walk with God, and I always would walk around and pray. Pray with my eyes shut. I mean, I'd walk into walls.

Erin Cluley: That is dangerous.

Joyce Meyer: And I mean, I prayed loud. You know, Dave would sit and look out the window with his eyes open and pray. And I remember looking at him and thinking, "You ain't praying".

Joyce Meyer: "You're not praying".

Ginger Stache: "Dave, that's not gonna work".

Joyce Meyer: Because I had this idea that you had to pray with your eyes shut, you know? And so, we get all these goofy ideas about it. But like you said, you can pray anytime, anywhere. You can pray silently, you can pray out loud, you can pray with people, you can pray by yourself. There,if you read the Bible, you don't have all these rules about how to do it. It's is your heart sincere: do you really mean what you're saying, and are you honestly talking to God? That's why I got such a revelation like, you know, in our conferences and I pray quite a bit about different things. And I've caught myself so many times, saying more that I think will impress the people than actually forgetting about them and really sincerely talking to God.

Ginger Stache: Like, preach praying?

Joyce Meyer: Huh?

Ginger Stache: Like preach praying.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah.

Ginger Stache: Where you can tell sometimes, and I've done this, where you're praying, and you begin to give your kids, who are listening, the message that you want them to hear.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, totally.

Erin Cluley: That's good.

Joyce Meyer: So, it's,and I think people have to realize, prayer is not something you have to do. It's not an obligation. You're not gonna get in trouble, if you don't pray every day. Prayer is a privilege. I mean, when you think about, just imagine, having the privilege of going to the God who created everything and can do anything, anytime, anywhere, and being able to ask him in Jesus' name, for what you want or need. I mean, I can't think of any greater privilege. And so, so many things, I hate this statement. "Well, God, I guess there's nothing left to do but pray". And how many times do people say that? When that should be the first thing we do, not like, a last-ditch effort. "Well, I guess I'll pray. I've tried everything else".

Ginger Stache: And how we can pray about absolutely anything. I remember last week when my friend Joyce,I'm making that clear. She's my friend. You called and you were talking about thinking about your hair. And I remember, as soon as we got done, I'm like, "Ok, God, show her really something that she's just gonna love with her hair". That was it. I didn't drop to my knees and, you know, make it a big ordeal. But those are little things that God cares about, that we care about. We can pray for one another. It can be so simple and so quick and seemingly insignificant. But it's not. It's like you said, it matters to us, that matters to him.

Joyce Meyer: And it's very helpful to the person you're praying for. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking that you're not helping people when you pray. To be honest, and I really mean this, I don't think that I could do what I'm doing and stay alive, if people didn't cover me in prayer. Because, I mean, the enemy hates anybody that's doing anything that's advancing the kingdom. And I really, really, really appreciate the people that pray for me. It amazes me when I run into somebody that says, "I pray for you every day". It's like, "Wow".

Ginger Stache: What a gift.

Jai Williams: I can, I can, you know, "Amen," that. Because in that season, you know, when you talked about what you just mentioned about that point from when you pray to when it actually comes to fruition or whatever. And for me, I just know that the thing,one of the things I've prayed for 20, almost 20 years now, was that my family was safe, and that he would cover my family. You know, my family, because I had such a, you know, a tough time with my parents and things like that, my family that I married, and had my daughter, you know, that was my like, comfort, you know? And so, praying for them on a regular basis was normal for me. And so, it was hard, it was hard for me, when that all went away, and it felt like God did not answer my prayer. When the one thing, you know, the main thing that I prayed about was, you know, "Keep our family strong. Let us see it to the end". We had so many ministry goals, together, as a family, that you know, that we were just like,we'd just started, like, you'd even come to some of our events that we were just really in ministry like really doing things together. And I'm like, always praying for that. But then, when that fell through, and then the marriage went away, it's kind of like, "God, where were you and where are you"? And those,that moment between that time where it almost felt like God failed me, I know that I couldn't even really open my mouth to pray. Where I know that it was the prayers of friends and family that were really getting me through. So, like, I know I needed those prayers.

Joyce Meyer: Sometimes, people are hurting so bad they can't pray. You know, and I just, you know, like, I really appreciate it when people pray that I'll feel good and be healthy and have energy. There's nothing worse, I don't think, than just feeling bad. You know, especially for people like us who have a lot to do, and you need to be creative and your mind needs to be sharp. And you know, I'm not 29 anymore. So, you know, I'm working pretty hard for somebody my age. And I need to, I need people to pray for me that I'll feel good and be healthy. And, you know, be protected from the enemy. And so, every time you pray for somebody, you help them. Don't ever think that those prayers are wasted because they're not.

Erin Cluley: One thing I've learned, a lot, is like, when God drops someone on your heart, pray right then. Because I cannot count the amount of times where I've done that and thought, "I'm sure they're fine, but ok," I'll pray for them and whatever comes to mind. And I'll talk to them that next day and they're like, "You have no idea what I was going through at that moment". You and I had that conversation. And it's nothing to do with us. It's God, if we listen to him, will drop those people and we need to follow through with it, but.

Ginger Stache: And don't say you're gonna pray and not do it, whatever you do.

Erin Cluley: No, do it then.

Joyce Meyer: Sometimes, people don't know what, I mean, I had,God dropped a couple on my heart last week that I normally don't think about. And so, I knew to pray for 'em. And I didn't know what to pray. But you know, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit shows us what to pray when we don't know how to pray in Romans 8. And so, I just simply prayed, "I don't know what they need. I don't know what they're going through, but I ask you to help them with whatever they're going through. Meet the need that they have. Strengthen them. Help them". And see, that's the thing. We don't have to know everything to pray for somebody. You just,you know, you're opening,every time you pray for somebody, you're opening a door for God to try to work in their life. But something I wanted to make sure I said on this program today is: when you pray for somebody else, you always have to keep in mind that God's not going to make them do something against their will.

Jai Williams: Yep, learned that.

Joyce Meyer: So, it's really important because sometimes if you pray for somebody, and it doesn't happen, that doesn't mean God didn't hear your prayer or you were praying wrong. Everybody has a right of free choice, and he's not gonna make them do something because you're praying for them to do it. He'll,it opens the door for him to work on them, or to work in their heart. But,prayer's just awesome.

Ginger Stache: That's so important right now, because I've been here, I know you've been there, I know so many people who are with us right now, are perhaps, in that place where it's, "I don't know, I'm praying. I've not seen anything happening. I don't know if this thing is working. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I don't know if God loves me enough to answer or to hear my prayers". So, when we get to those places where we've been in a hard spot or we haven't seen the answer that we think God was going to do, how do we push through that and continue in prayer? And I'll just say it, why do we do that?

Joyce Meyer: Well, Luke, 18, has got the answer. It talks about the persistent widow who kept, just kept it up, and kept it up, and kept it up. And I've even said to God, "I'm not gonna shut up until I see breakthrough". Like, I prayed for my father, not every day, but on and off for 40 years, to be saved. And finally, he gave his heart to the Lord, three years before he died, but you know.

Jai Williams: It worked.

Joyce Meyer: It worked. And Jesus,Jesus said, "When I come back, who will I find in faith," and it's talking about prayer. And so, you don't, the Amplified Bible says about Matthew 7, where it says, "Seek and you'll find, ask and it'll be given". It says, "Ask and keep on asking and it will be given. Seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking". And now, I've heard people say, you know, "If you pray once and you really have faith, then you'll never pray about it again". Well, I don't necessarily agree with that. You know? You know, even Jesus prayed for a blind man and prayed again, so. Because his eyes weren't open right away. So, I think we just keep at it. You know, unless God shows you that you're praying for something that is really not his will, you know.

Ginger Stache: I'll tell you something that's really helped me, in that area, too, is when you really take account of what you see God do, when you really, I like to call it like, gathering those answers to prayer. You talk about thanksgiving, gather those things in that you see God do. He's not doing everything I'm asking for, and probably, because he knows what I need far more than I do. But I've seen amazing things, in prayer. And the more of those things that I've seen, the stronger my faith has gotten. And then, those times that I am disappointed, where it's not what I want, I look back on those other things. I mean, I'm just amazed at what God has done at times. Things that I've seen: physical healing when we've prayed for it, people who've come to Christ that I thought, "That is not gonna happen". You know, those kind of things, the impossible happening when you gather and hold on to those things, it's the fuel that you need for those prayers that are more hard.

Joyce Meyer: I would say in the last two or three years, I have just gotten so much more faith and prayer because of what you're saying, because of really paying attention to the things that God does. And Ephesians 3:20 says that God, "Is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond, anything that we could ever dare to hope, ask or think". And so, I really believe that God wants us to confidently pray bold prayers. And I remember one time, and I've said this before, but, I mean, I have prayed some of the most ridiculous sounding things. I mean, I prayed, one day, that God would let me help every person on the face of the earth. And I thought, "Now, that is stupid. No one person is gonna help everybody on the planet". But I kept feeling like God wanted me to pray that. So, I just did. Well, I don't know that we've got every person, but I mean, we're on 450 TV stations in two thirds of the world, and 100 languages, so there's a whole bunch. Well, you know...

Ginger Stache: God's not done.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, God's not done. What if I would have said, "That's silly. I can't do that". You know, it's like, sometimes, you're, you ask God for such big things, you're almost embarrassed. Because you think, "I don't deserve that". And that's the good thing about it, is we don't deserve it. That's why we come in Jesus' name.

Erin Cluley: Yeah, I've been working on that, or feeling that a lot lately, because, I think, I grew up in a church where we, "You pray boldly and you expect," and I was taught that, and that was great, and then, life happened and things didn't turn out like we prayed or hoped. So, therefore, I think, I kinda got, it's safer to just say, "Well, whatever you want to do, God, just show me where you want me to go, and I'll do what you want me to do".

Ginger Stache: Safer's a good word.

Erin Cluley: Yeah, because it protects my heart, if I don't pray boldly. "If I don't ask this, then I won't be disappointed when I don't get it". So, he's just been really instilling in me, or putting on my heart lately that, "You need to ask for bigger things". Just like you said, he'll do in the way that he wants to, if it's the right thing. But that's me limiting him. He'll make his own decisions.

Joyce Meyer: God reminds me that all the time, "You're not asking for big enough things. You need,you need to pray more boldly. And, you know, you were talking about how you were praying about your family and it didn't turn out the way you thought it would. And I think this will help you, but I think it'll help a lot of other people listening too. I remember, one time, when God told me, "Because I'm God, if, "Plan a," doesn't work out, I can make, "Plan b," better than what, "Plan a," would have been.

Jai Williams: I believe it.

Joyce Meyer: And so, "Plan b," stands for better. So, see, you're on, "Plan b," now, but it can actually be better than, "Plan a," would have been because God is God. And that's the thing we have to remember: all things are possible with God. I was talking to a girl yesterday, and I thought, "The grace of God," I mean, this girl, she told me, the abuse that she went through growing up. And she actually, was beaten. She had 32 different bones in her body broken, over a long period of time. I'm like, "What in the world, was wrong with the hospital, they didn't call somebody in to help you"? Well, back then, they didn't do that, that much. But she said,she's like, I am with my,she said, "I can't, I don't feel sorry for myself. I'm not sorry it happened because I know that God has used all of it in my life". And I said, "Have you been able to completely forgive the mother,the stepmother who did it"? And she said, "Totally". And I thought, "How great is God that somebody can treat you that bad and then give you the grace to stand and say, 'I'm not sorry it happened because I know God has used it in my life and I'm not mad at the person who did it'"?

Ginger Stache: And that goes back to what you said that is so important, and I think will set a lot of people free in this, that God is so good to do that for her. And yet, some people would say, "Well, why didn't God stop it from happening in the first place"? But it's exactly what you said. He's not gonna take people's freewill way from them. There is still sin in the world. That's just a fact of our lives. But God didn't leave it there. He redeems those bad things that happened. And that changes our prayers. It's not, "There's no point in this because, you know, bad things happen". It's no, pray that God will do what he can do through the bad things that happen.

Joyce Meyer: When my dad was sexually abusing me, I snuck off to church with some relatives, and got born-again when I was nine years old. And I prayed all the time that he would stop, that my mother would leave him, that she would divorce him, or, you know, whatever. And it never happened. God didn't get me out of it. He got me through it. But I remember, as I got older, and started really walking with God, I did ask him, "Why didn't you put a stop to that"? And he told me just exactly what you said, because when parents have children, they have authority over those children, until they're at an age where they can make their own decisions. And so, he couldn't make my dad, you know, he's not gonna go against somebody else's free will. But, I mean, God has done so much for me. And he's made my mess, my message, and my miracle, and,look at how many people can be helped through things that have happened to you, if you won't get bitter. I'm writing a book right now, called, "Blessed in the mess," talking about how, no matter how big of a mess you have in your life, God will give you double blessing for your trouble if, if, if, if, if, if you do things his way. And that's the thing that we have to get our heads wrapped around, you know, if,you can't hold the unforgiveness, you can't feel sorry for yourself, you can't feel bitter. You know, you have to do things the way God wants you to.

Jai Williams: I'm working on it. I am. I am. I've come a long way. But I mean, that's,but that's why it's important to surround yourself with friends and people that can remind you of this. Because when you're in your own mess, you know, like when you're in your own like, trial, it's easy to spiral and, because that's Satan's job to greet you, to try to,in the morning...

Ginger Stache: Spin the top.

Jai Williams: Yeah, like, he just wants to steal those mercies from you in the morning, like, he wants to,he wants to steal your joy as soon as you,and so, I don't, and I've been saying this, I'm like, I've had such a difficult time communicating primarily like I used to, which is actually a blessing because I feel like God has stripped me from a lot of religion like that I used to have when it came to prayer and communicating with God. Like now, I still, I talk to him all the time, and it is nothing like what I used to do in the little circles, holding hands. It's literally, me talking to him because I have lots of questions, and then, I have lots of like, things that I'm just like, "God, what do you want me to do right now? What do you want from me"? And so,but other than that, like, it's just important for me to have strong people around me that can say, "You gotta keep going, you got to keep," and hearing testimonies is like,of course, your testimony. But hearing what you said, the other lady being able to fully say, "I have no bitterness and no," I'm in the middle of it, and I'm still growing. Like, I've been a Christian...

Joyce Meyer: Well, took a while. It took a while for me.

Jai Williams: Ok, thank you.

Joyce Meyer: I think I forgave him in degrees. I mean, I think, sometimes, you forgive people that have hurt you really bad. It's almost like you forgive 'em in degrees. You know, it's like, I mean, when God got to the point where he told me to take my mom and dad and take care of them, take good care of them until they died, that was like, kind of the last layer for me. It was like, "You've got to be kidding". I told you, at first, I rebuked the devil. I said, "This can't be God," you know. And that was probably the most powerful thing that God ever asked me to do. I think it did more damage to the kingdom of darkness than anything else.

Ginger Stache: I think there's so much to be learned by praying the Word of God. I can't tell you how many scriptures you've just naturally shared with us as we've been talking. And you know, we want to pray for God's will, but we have to know his word to know what his will is. And so, praying those words, praying what scripture says over our kids, over us, it does make prayer a different thing. And there are so many prayers in the Bible that are really helpful too. You know, the way Jesus prayed, the way Paul prayed, the prayer of Hannah, and Jabez, and so many different people that God honored their prayers. I love looking at those and saying, "What was it"? You know, "What was it that that God saw in their heart that made this prayer worthy of being printed in the Bible"?

Joyce Meyer: If you hit a day where you don't,you're just like, "I don't know what to pray". You know, you can take any chapter in the Bible and you can pray through it. You don't have to just read it. You can pray through it. I heard one man say, "Pray the news". In other words, when you read the news, don't just read the news and say, "Well, the world's a mess," you know, you can pray...

Erin Cluley: That's a good idea.

Ginger Stache: Oh yeah, that's great.

Joyce Meyer: You can make the news your prayer. But something I wanna make sure I say is, I think it's important to pray about is, our weaknesses. Areas where you know you're weak, pray about them, ahead of time. Like, if you know that eating is an issue for you. Don't wait till you sit down in front of a chocolate cake and then, you know, pray after you've eaten half of the thing. Pray all the time, "God, help me be strong in that area. You know, that's a weakness for me". And I know, for me, that my mouth has gotten me in trouble so many times in my life, and I'm doing so much better, but I don't wanna think, "I got that one taken care of". Probably, I would say 70% of the time when I pray, I pray, "God put a watch over my mouth lest I sin against you with my tongue, and let the words in my mouth, and the meditation in my heart, be acceptable in your sight". So, whatever, you know your weaknesses are, don't just wait for them to show up and then repent. Ask God to strengthen you in those.

Erin Cluley: Do you start your day like that, is that one of the things you do, first thing in the morning, is...

Joyce Meyer: You know, the first thing, I do when I put my feet on the floor, is I say, "This is gonna be a great day. Good things are gonna happen to me today. I'm gonna feel good. I'm going to be creative". You know, and then, when I get my coffee made and sit down, that's yeah,

Jai Williams: Love it. One thing that I really used to do, I'm probably gonna start back up, but I used to use a,because I'm very meticulous when it comes to like,because I can easily forget, when I get to prayer time it's like, "Oh man, what was it that was gonna pray for"? So, I use an app now. Like, so, it's like a planning app, where I can actually, put like, I've made categories for each thing. So, I have one category that's like gratitude. So, all the things that I'm thankful for, and I can add to it all the time. I do have a category that like, things that I'm weak in, that I know that I need strength in. And so, like, at least, and then, I have friends. Cuz if I tell a friend that I'm gonna pray for them, I usually pull that app up and like, just put it in there so that when I sit down my next,

Joyce Meyer: That's very good.

Jai Williams: You know, so then, I can actually remember because I can get forgetful throughout the day. But like, if that's something that might help someone, you know, like, there are apps out there, where you can, actually, it's not even a prayer, it's not a Christian app. It's just a planning app. I use for everything, honestly. But it's an app that I use that I can make these little categories and add to it throughout the day. I have scriptures that remind me of God's faithfulness, and things like that. And things that he's done for me already, I have a category for that. Family, friends. So, that just has helped me and that might help somebody else.

Joyce Meyer: It's fun if you have a prayer list like that, and then, you watch God answer those prayers and you can cross them off your list.

Jai Williams: Yeah, and I have, because this particular app, you can drag things over. So, I do have an answered prayer column too.

Joyce Meyer: That's good.

Jai Williams: And then, sometimes, that column ends up being in the gratitude column, too.

Joyce Meyer: Sometimes, we pray about things and God answers those prayers, and we forget we even prayed about 'em.

Erin Cluley: That's why I love journaling so much. Because if I write down my problem, and then, you go back, that, I think, fuels me for when I hit the next thing. Just like you were saying, the history you have with God.

Ginger Stache: These things are so practical, though. I think they're great. They're exactly what we need to have, these tools to make this prayer relationship even stronger.

Joyce Meyer: Well, I hope people listening or watching are starting to relax, and realize that, "Man, I could be comfortable doing this, I don't have to put on airs, I don't have to put on a show, I don't have to be in a certain posture. I don't have to get out my religious voice". I mean, you've heard people do that, you know.

Jai Williams: My British accent.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, your religious voice. You can just, you know, be yourself and talk to God, and.

Erin Cluley: Yeah, one thing I learned from you, it was a while ago, and so it changed my life, because you said something, and you are Joyce Meyer, so, I would imagine you study all the time. But you said, if you only have 15 minutes because you're a young mom, and you're, you know, my time looks different, "That's ok. You just do it as you can, and as you go". And the freedom, I felt in that cuz I had thought I was doing it wrong, "God's probably upset cuz I can't sit there for an hour". But hearing you say that and then flipping my perspective to during the day, like when I'm in the car, on my way to work. "God, here we are. Help me be creative today. Help me think new ideas," wherever I'm going, but it's ok if it looks different for each person.

Joyce Meyer: Anything you do is better than doing nothing, if you think about it like that.

Erin Cluley: Yeah, it is.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, that was what got me started exercising. I always thought, "I can't exercise. I don't have time. I travel too much...Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah". And the Lord spoke that to me, he said, "Anything you do is better than nothing". If you exercise two minutes, it's better than nothing. And so, it's the same way with prayer or with Bible study or, you know,and of course, the Bible says a lot about meditating on the word. And so, in Joshua, it says, "Meditate on the word day and night". Well, obviously, God doesn't expect you just to do nothing but meditate on the word. But, you know, to meditate means to roll over and over in your mind or to mutter. And I always say every woman knows how to mutter, so there's no problem with that.

Erin Cluley: We're super great at it.

Joyce Meyer: I love to just take scriptures like, "Be anxious for nothing, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, make your request known to God, and the peace that passes understanding," I'm trying to do that more and more in my life, just take scriptures like that, you know, "This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad," things that I know that the word says, "We overcome evil with good," and meditating on scriptures about giving, "Give and it'll be given unto you," "Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will men get back," you know, and so, that you're praying, even when you do that. Just to keep, keeping that word, the more you meditate on the word, the more you believe it.

Ginger Stache: Yeah, something that I love so much now, as a mom, and as a gigi, I love when my girls call me, it makes me so happy when my girls call me. Or when I get a call from, you know, our three-year-old granddaughter...

Jai Williams: My best friend.

Ginger Stache: And she says, "Hi-low," it's just this, yeah, Jai and her, are really tight, now. It's just the sweetest sound. Their voices are the sweetest thing to me. I don't care that much about every word that they say, I crave that connection and that communication. And I listen intently, and I want to give them good things, and I want to show them how much I love them.

Joyce Meyer: And if we just think about, just like, what you just said, how you feel about your kids, and think about God, who is perfect, and how he must feel about us. And he loves just to hear your voice, you know. A lot of times I'll just say, "I love you, Lord," you know. And that's all there is to it. I might do that 15 times a day. "I love you". But that's really what God wants you to do, is love him. We don't have to impress him. We just need to love him.

Ginger Stache: Yeah, and thinking about, if when I go to God in prayer, if it gives him that kind of joy, which I know that it does, it gives him so much more. He has so much love for me than I can imagine. So, that tells me so much about that relationship and what it means, not just for me, but for our relationship, for growing closer to him. So, I don't know. I love prayer. I don't always do it right. I don't always do it enough. I don't always do it well. But I'll tell you there's maybe nothing more important.

Joyce Meyer: I bet you do it right a lot more than you think you do. See, that's the thing that people think. You know, it's like, God just loves to hear from you, you know. Something that I've realized, it's really helped me in my relationship with God, is so often, when people do things for you, or they even compliment you, that it's really God using them. But it's him working through them. It's not,yes, you appreciate them doing it, but it's God giving you the encouragement that you need.

Erin Cluley: That's beautiful.

Joyce Meyer: I went through a thing, a few years ago, where I got to thinking, you know, "Do I even know what I'm talking about? Am I teaching the right thing"? You know, there was some big movement that was, you know, where the teaching was quite a bit different than mine, and everybody seemed to be getting on the bandwagon. And it was really interesting. I mean, I had a couple of people call me, that I didn't even know, knew my name, and say, "You just have no idea how much your teaching helps me". I had one guy who's actually a, I mean, he's really like a theologian, which I'm not. You know, I mean, he went to school and got all the degrees and knows it all. And he said, "I've never heard you say one thing that I felt was not accurate". Well, see, I realized that was,God was,he was working through them to let me know, "You're doing the right thing". So, just keep that in mind, that a lot of times, when people do things for you, it's good to thank the people, but it's actually, God working through them to encourage you, and build you up.

Ginger Stache: Well, we just encourage you right now, to start somewhere. Like, Erin was saying whatever time you have, whatever moment you have, whatever thought that you wanna share with God, just do it. That is what prayer is. So, start simple. Don't try to overthink it. Know how much God loves you and wants to hear from you. And we do have a free resource for you. It is called, "How to pray". It's a digital booklet, a free download that you can get. So, go to: joycemeyer.org/talkitout to get that free resource. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Tell your friends about it, make comments, like it, share it with other people because the more the merrier. And the reason that we want this, is we just love telling people about this relationship, about Christ. We just love telling people that there's so much more to life than they realize. So, thank you all so much. I really appreciate it.

Joyce Meyer: You're welcome, and I'm just gonna sleep so much better now, knowing that I'm your friend.

Jai Williams: With your wig on.

Joyce Meyer: With my wig on. I will put my wig on, and look at myself and say, "I'm Ginger's friend".

Ginger Stache: Would you just snap me a selfie when you do that?

Jai Williams: Please!

Joyce Meyer: Absolutely.

Ginger Stache: I would appreciate that so much.

Jai Williams: We all need this.

Ginger Stache: Thank you all. We'll see you next time. Bye.