Joyce Meyer - Power Thoughts - Part 3

TOPICS: Thoughts

Well, thank you so much for being with me here today, on "Enjoying Everyday Life". And I pray that the word that you hear today, is gonna be life changing for you. For the last two days I've been talking about power thoughts, and I'm gonna conclude that teaching today. What is a power thought? It's a thought that you can think on purpose, that's in agreement with God's word, that will add power to your life. Now, Satan offers us all kinds of thoughts that are power draining thoughts: negative thoughts, fearful thoughts, I can't thoughts, I'm not able thoughts, something's wrong with me thoughts. And God doesn't want us to think like that. And I was commenting earlier to somebody, I said, "You know, I went to church for years and I never heard one sermon about thoughts or my mind".

I didn't think I could do anything about my thoughts. Whatever fell in my head, that's just what I thought. And I would venture to say that 99% of them were not good thoughts. I had, had a very negative life. A lot of bad things happened: sexual abuse from my dad. Abuse from the first man I was married to, he ran around on me, wouldn't work. I just did not have a good experience. Actually, when I was in my early twenties, I couldn't ever remember really being happy. My dad taught me to think negatively. And so, my thoughts were all just junky. And I didn't expect anything good to happen, I just waited for the next bad thing to happen. And God has taught me so much. And so much of our life, and what happens to us in life, even our relationships with people, they go back to our thoughts.

And the Bible tells us that we can cast down wrong thoughts, and we can choose right thoughts. It also teaches us that if we don't renew our mind according to the Word of God, that we will never have the things that God wants us to have. How many things are you doing without, that God wants you to have, that he's promised? But, you know, just because God promises something, doesn't mean it's gonna happen without our cooperation. The one thing that we need to do, is to believe what God says. And believing is something that happens in your mind, and in your spirit. And what you say is also important. The Bible says, "Out of the heart the mouth speaks".

So, what we think does come out of our mouths. So, I've done six of the power thoughts, talked about 'em. But we're recommending that you make a year commitment, and you take one power thought for one month, and you meditate on that, speak it out loud. And I know 30 days is a long time, and I'm a person that likes to get things done, get it over with. And I even thought about myself, could I do that? Could I meditate on, think on, the same thing for one month? Well, I know that if I did, it would become part of me. And then it would be something that I no longer had to try to do, I would just do it. I never have to try to go brush my teeth. And we have many good habits like that, but we also have some really bad thinking habits.

And so today we've come to number seven. And number seven power thought that you can think that will really help you is: "I am content and emotionally stable. Wow, I am content, and I am emotionally stable. I'm not moved by my circumstances. I know what I believe about God, I trust him, I believe his word is true. And when I have a problem, I don't have to get all upset". I'm talking about things that you can say that are gonna benefit you in life. I mean, I used to be like what I called a yo-yo Christian. If my circumstances were up, I was up, and if they were down, I was down. Well, you know that up and down, and up and down, and up and down all the time, that alone can wear you out. And I'm so glad, I can't say I'm never affected by my circumstances, 'cause I'm still growing. But, I'm fairly emotionally stable now. And that was certainly not the case 45 years ago, when I first began to study God's word.

And I was not content, no matter what I had, I wasn't content. I didn't even know why I wasn't content. But Paul said in Philippians 4:11, "I have learned how to be content". I wonder exactly what all that took for him. Maybe he finally figured out what I have, that being discontent is useless. Somebody that works for us, I saw 'em the other day, and they said, "How are you doing, Joyce"? I said, "I'm doing good, because it doesn't do any good to be anything else". And it really doesn't. You might as well just be happy and be good, because what you got, is what you got. And you do what you can about it. And if you're waiting on God, you're not gonna get God to hurry by getting all upset. "But contentment with Godliness is a great gain," the Bible says.

Just think about how wonderful it is, to just be content. Wow, that is just awesome. If it's raining, you're content. If it's not raining, you're content. If you've got a lot, you're content. If you don't have quite as much, your content. Just being content. And I know we've had people write in or call in and say, "How can I be content with this problem or that problem"? Well, it has to be, being content in Christ. And, you know, when you trust him, and you really believe that he loves you, some of the other power thoughts we've talked about. When you really believe that you don't have to live in fear, then you know that you can be content right now, because this problem will not last forever. Problems don't last forever, they come and they go. Paul said, "I've learned how to be content".

Now, being content does not mean that you never wanna see a change in your circumstances. A lot of you have problems in your life and you're like, "There's no way that I can be content with this forever". But this is what it says in Philippians 4, "To be content means to be (satisfied to the point where I'm not disturbed or disquieted) no matter what state I'm in". Oh, my gosh, I love that! In other words, I'm content right now, because I believe that God is working on my problem, and I know that this is not gonna last forever. So, I'm gonna go ahead and just believe God, and not waste my day being miserable. Discontentment is useless, it changes absolutely nothing. I think the most blessed thing in the world, and I want you to listen to this, 'cause if you didn't hear anything today but this statement, it's worth listening to the whole program. I think the most blessed thing in the world is to be able to not get what you want and stay happy anyway. Ooh, I'm gonna clap myself, I love that! How blessed it is, how many years did I waste, if I didn't get my way, I was upset. If I didn't get my way, I was mad.

Now, I know none of you are like that, but I was. But how blessed is it if you don't get your way, you don't get what you want, and you can just be happy anyway. That is victory, and that is power. And part of the way you can become that way is by thinking over and over, meditating, roll it over and over in your mind, "I am content. I've learned to be content whether I'm abased or whether I'm abounding. I've learned to be content because I trust God, I believe he loves me, he wants the best for me. And I don't know how long this thing's gonna last that I don't like, but I do know that God will take it out of the way, and maybe in the meantime he wants to use it in my life for something that's gonna benefit me later on".

Oh yes, God sometimes will use some of the hardest things in our life, to teach us some of the greatest lessons that we've ever learned. Misery is an option. I drew a big circle around that. You can be miserable if you want to, but you don't have to. Who says you have to be miserable? "Well, Joyce, my kids are in trouble, and this and this, and that and that, and something else". I know, I'm a person just like you, I go through the same things. I have to apply these same principles to my life. It's not that I've got it all under control and never have any issues. I have to work with these things just like I'm asking you to. And sometimes, you know, something will be more of a problem for me than maybe another time.

And I have to go back to what I know about power thoughts. And I'll tell you, if you get your thinking straight, if you've got stinking thinking, you're gonna have a stinking life. But if you can begin to think according to the Word of God, and whether you see it or not, you believe it's yours, because the Bible says it's yours. I believe I can do whatever God tells me to do, through his strength. I believe God loves me and that I've been made right with God through Christ. I will not fear, I know that God is on my side. I don't have to worry, God is going to take care of me. All the different things that we've been talking about, and how wonderful it is to have a positive, happy, uplifting mind. Being a blessing to other people. I don't have to be selfish, and self-centered, and have myself on my mind all the time. I can be a blessing to other people. Misery is an option. Think and say, "I am content, no matter what my circumstances are, I am emotionally stable in all situations".

Well, you know what? For many years I was not emotionally stable. Dave said one time after I got much better, he said, "I remember when I used to come home from work at night, and I'd drive down the highway thinking, 'well, I wonder what she'll be like tonight'". And you know what? It is not easy to live with somebody like that. I was controlled by my circumstances, and that is not what God wants for us. Just because you feel something, that does not mean you have to do something. You might feel like being in a bad mood, but you can talk yourself right out of it, and go ahead and be happy anyway.

Number eight: God meets all my needs abundantly. Ooh! That's comforting. I spent so many years in fear about money, and fear about not having enough. And you know, because of the way I grew up, and the dysfunctional family I was in, and the way my dad was, he never really did anything for me. I mean, I went to work when I was 13, and I always had to provide everything for myself. I mean, they bought my basic clothes, but like my dad wouldn't buy my class ring, he wouldn't buy my school pictures, he wouldn't buy my graduation dress. I mean, all those things, if I wanted any of those, I had to get them for myself. And so, I just learned pretty early in life, you take care of yourself, 'cause nobody else is gonna take care of you. And so, I had a lot of fear where money was concerned.

Well, Dave grew up in a godly household. And although his family didn't have a lot, matter of fact, they would've come under the category of poor. Most of the clothes they had were hand-me-down clothes. But they had a godly mother who raised them in a very godly way. And Dave just didn't have fear where money was concerned. We were tithers from the time we got married. And Dave just always said, "There's no point in worrying, we do what God tells us to do, and he will take care of us". And he always did. We didn't have everything we always wanted, but we always did have everything that we needed. And God always made sure that we could pay our bills.

And I look back now, and I know that those lean years that we had were good training, for us to learn how not to worry about all the huge amounts of money we need now, to be on television all over the world, and to be ministering worldwide, and to help all the millions of people that we get to help, with food and water and different things that they need. 3 John 2 says, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [i know] your soul keeps well and prospers".

Now, you know, that's a big scripture. And I'm just gonna break it down real quick and tell you, basically what this is saying to me is: I want you to be blessed physically, but only in line with how your soul prospers. In other words, God is not gonna give us more than what we're mature enough to handle, and still keep him first in our life. It's great to have money, but you need to know why God gives it to you, and it's not just so you can be selfish and self-centered. God wants you to have nice things. But he also wants you to propagate the gospel, to give, to bless people, to help people who have less than you. "It is more blessed to give than to receive". And you can get a giving and receiving cycle started in your life, that just will never end. "Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, shall men give into your bosom".

And then you'll always have seed to sow, and you'll always have bread to eat, the Bible teaches us that. God meets all my needs abundantly. Well, develop a mindset that is a mindset of abundance, rather than a mindset of lack. And boy, I could preach on this for a long time, because I went through this. And I'm telling you, because I always had a fear of where money was concerned, even if I had money, I was afraid to spend it. All my talk was wrong. "Well, I can't afford that. We don't have enough money for that. Well, if we spend that money, what if this and what if that. You know, we might need that money for an emergency".

And I remember Dave telling me one time, he said, "Until you get over the fear of money, we're never gonna prosper". And it took a while, but God finally did set me free from that. I had back then, what I now call a cheap spirit. And you might wonder what in the world that is? And I believe in being frugal. I believe in respecting money. I think if you're gonna expect money, you need to respect money. But I wouldn't even when I had money, I wouldn't enjoy it. I remember one time I needed a new car, and we went to the car dealership. And the car that I really, really wanted, the payment on that car would've been $50 more than the car that would've been okay. And Dave said, "Don't just get what's just okay, get what you want".

Now, you know you can't do that if you can't afford to pay for it. But we could've afforded it. I just always went the cheaper route, and then I always had a deprived mentality. Down deep inside I felt deprived, but I was depriving myself. I wouldn't let myself have the nicer thing or the better thing. And you know what? I'll tell you the truth. If you won't spend money, then God may not give you money. We should always save some, spend some, and give some. Whatever money you make, you need to do a little something for yourself, you always need to give to other people, and it's wise to save some for the future. I can't afford to do that, is wrong thinking. Instead, you can say, "Spending money on that right now is not the best choice for me, but someday I will be able to afford it". Sometimes you can't spend the money on that right now.

Somebody says, "Would you like to go on vacation with us"? Well, instead of saying, "I can't afford that," you could say, "You know, that's not the wisest thing for me to do with my money right now, but someday I'll be able to do that". Now, which one makes you feel better? One gives you hope, and the other one makes you feel deprived. And God really had to teach me in this area, that if I wanted him to bless me financially, I had to stop being afraid where money was concerned all the time. "Oh, I really love that, but it's too much money". "I believe I can find this cheaper if I just look long enough". I don't think that they have these anymore, but they used to have a dented can basket in the grocery store. And they were cans that didn't have labels on 'em or had dents in 'em. And so, you never really knew the ones with no labels, you didn't really know what you were getting. But they were ten cents apiece, and so I would spend that ten cents hoping I got peaches, and sometimes I ended up with dog food and didn't have a dog.

Well, that didn't help me. And here I'm believing for God to bless us abundantly, and teaching people that God will bless them abundantly, and I'm digging around in dented cans. And I always bought the day or two-day old bread. And I really, if I'm gonna eat bread, I want it fresh. I like it soft and fresh. One day the Lord spoke to my heart and he said, "Do you really think that I can't afford another 15 cents for fresh bread"? And so, I just had some fear where money was concerned that I had to get over. Now here again, you can't spend money you don't have, but you don't always have to go the cheapest route with everything that you do. Because God loves you, and you're worth a lot, and he wants you to have nice things, and he wants you to be a blessing to other people. I had to develop an abundant attitude, before God could give it to me. God blesses us not because we're good, but because he is good. God cannot give us what we refuse to have. Well, what is prosperity? Some people today don't like that word. It was a word that was abused in the church for a period of time and taught out of balance.

And so sometimes if you even use the word people think, "Oh, you're one of those prosperity preachers". Well, I do believe that God wants to bless us, but I also believe he wants us to mature and grow up. And I believe that I teach the whole council of God's word. But, what is it? What is it? It's having more than enough in every area, not just barely enough to barely get by. It's not just money, but it does include money. Knowing God intimately is spiritual prosperity. Not worrying is mental prosperity. Being stable is emotional prosperity. Having good friends is social prosperity. Being healthy and energetic is physical prosperity. And having your needs met financially with plenty left to bless other people is financial prosperity. Joshua 1:8, tells us the power of meditating on the Word of God. "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth," and he doesn't mean you're not supposed to speak the word. He's supposed to mean the word is in your mouth all the time, and you're speaking it continuously.

"But you shall meditate," let something roll over and over and over in your mind, "Day and night". That doesn't mean you stay awake all night, meditate on the word. But you know, if you wake up in the middle of the night, meditate on the word, and you'll be surprised how quick the enemy will let you go back to sleep. "That you may observe and do according to all that's written in it". It's not just about thinking about it. You think about it, you renew your mind with it, so you can do it. "For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success". Psalm 35:27, "Let those who favor my righteous cause and have pleasure in my uprightness shout for joy and be glad and say continually, 'let the Lord be magnified, who takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants'".

What did David say in Psalm 23? "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack". Don't have a lack mentality. "I'll never be able to have a new house". "I'll never be able to have a new car". "I can't afford this". "I can't afford that". Maybe you can't afford it right now, but have a mindset that the day will come when you will be able to do that. I remember when I had to live on such a tight budget. And I'd go to the grocery store and I mean, I had $70 for two weeks' worth of groceries, and I could not spend any more than that at all. And I had three kids, or maybe even the fourth one by then. And there would be things I'd wanna, I'd like, man, I'd love to buy a steak, but we couldn't afford that. We couldn't get that right then. And I remember going to the store and saying, "This is the budget I have to stick to right now, but someday I'm going to be able to come into this store, and buy anything without even looking at the prices".

Have a vision for your future. Don't just settle with what you can barely get by with, but do what you need to do now, do it with a good attitude. Be a blessing to other people and trust the day will come when you will see an outpouring. The Bible says that if we, "Bring our tithe into the storehouse, that God will open the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, so great that we cannot contain it". I love the fact that God doesn't just dribble out blessings, he pours them out. Money is not evil, but wrong thoughts about money is the root of all evil. Well, the next one, which I'll only be able to mention is: I pursue peace with God, myself and others. Ooh, peace is so wonderful. Boy, that's a good one to confess for a month, "I am a peaceful person and I have peace all the time, I have peace with God, I have peace with myself, and I have peace with people".

And that's what 1 Peter 3: 11 says. Work for peace in your life. Jesus says that he's left us his peace, and that we need to stop allowing ourselves to be upset and disturbed. Stop letting yourself get upset about things that only God can do anything about. Think power thoughts. Think things that are gonna add power to your life, not things that are gonna drain power from your life. And if you wanna think about it in the simplest of terms, I'll repeat what I said on the first day: just be positive, don't be negative. Think good things, not bad things. See the good in everybody. Believe the best of people. Don't just look at what you have right now, look at what you can have if you trust God. There's things that I don't have now that I believe God will do for me. I'm looking for 'em at any time. Every day I ask God to open right doors and close wrong ones.