Joyce Meyer - A Prayer How-To - Part 2
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Ginger Stache: Hey, everyone. Thanks for being with us today. How would you rate your prayer life? I believe we all have something that we can learn growing closer to God and learning how to communicate with him. So, is it fulfilling for you or do you feel frustrated because you're not quite sure exactly how to pray the right words, how to approach God? Well, today, we are continuing our discussion with Joyce on prayer from her talk it out podcast. And I hope this program will inspire you to develop a deeper and more powerful connection to God.
Joyce Meyer: 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.
Jai Williams: 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 one of the things I've prayed for 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, 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 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 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. 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, to 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, 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, 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. It opens the door for him to work on them, or to work in their heart. 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 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 said, "When I come back, who will I find in faith," and it's talking about prayer. And so, 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 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 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, 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 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 free will 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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'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: 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 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. 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. So, thank you all so much.