Joyce Meyer - Stopped Up Wells

We are blessed if we obey, and we are not blessed if we don't. You know, people say today, "Well, under the new covenant God won't curse you. He's not that kind of God". Well, you know what? God doesn't curse us anyway, we do it to ourselves. He said, "I set before you a blessing and a curse. If you do what I tell you to, you will be blessed. If you don't, you will be cursed". But it never says that he's cursing you. It's up to our choice. We bring it on ourselves. And I'm not saying that every bad thing that happens to you or every bit of trouble you have is your fault. That's not what I'm saying at all.

The devil is alive and well on planet earth, and things happen. It was six degrees in st. Louis, this morning, six. And one of our furnaces decided not to work. And I'm getting ready to leave town and... Well, that doesn't mean that I did something wrong, and so, now, my furnace doesn't work. It just means the devil is trying to aggravate me on the coldest day of the year, when I'm getting ready to leave for a conference, but he didn't win, ha-ha. I had a battle plan. I got on my fuzzy housecoat, I heated up my heating pad, I've got a heater in my chair, I turned it on, I turned the fireplace on, and I had my time with God, and was just as cozy as I could be. Stuff happens but there's a difference in that and when you know that something is wrong in your life.

And you know, I heard all the faith teaching and the teaching about believing God for this, and that, and something else, and you know, I finally, years and years, and years ago, I just had to finally, come down to saying, "You know what, God? It's just not working for me. What is wrong"? I dare you to ask God what is wrong in your life and see what he tells you? Come on. "God what is wrong in my life"? Well, you know what he told me? He said, "Well, you're selfish. Your life is all about you. All your prayers are all about you and what you can get". Whoo. "If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land," Isaiah 1:19.

Adam and Eve were flowing rivers one moment, and the next moment, they were stopped up wells. What happened? They were disobedient, just that simple. Adam and Eve were free. They were enjoying the life God had provided, enjoying God, and enjoying each other. Creativity was flowing, Adam had just named all the animals and I, you know, there's like billions of just bugs, I don't know how he pulled that off. I mean, that sounds cute, "And Adam gave names to all the animals," you know? Well, there was more than three or four. And they were in authority. They had authority over everything else on the earth. God said, "Rule and have dominion. You can eat all the fruit on all the trees in the garden, there's just one thing that I want you to leave alone".

Why is it that the one thing we're told not to do, is the thing that we always want to do? Because that's the way the enemy works. So, he told 'em not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God was so good that he never wanted man to even know what evil was. He just wanted them to eat from the tree of life, and let that life flow to them, and through them. So, the devil... How many of you know the devil is real? He's not just a Halloween character. Genesis 2:25 says, "Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame". But the first ten verses of Genesis 3, can you focus for ten verses? "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord had made. And he said to the woman".

Don't think the devil won't talk to you because he will. The thing you need to do is learn how to talk back. "And he said to the woman, 'did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"'"? See how he twisted that? "Did God really say you couldn't eat from any"? "And woman said, 'no, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die"'". And here comes the lie. "'You will certainly not die,' the serpent said to the woman". Now, this right here, was the turning point for Eve, and then Adam, and then all the rest of us. She should have said, "You're lying. That is not what God said. God said, 'you must not eat from it'". "'For God knows'", the devil loves to misrepresent God, "'For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, you will be like God, knowing good and evil'". Uh-oh, "God is withholding something from me, he suggested to Eve. He's trying to keep me from having something good. I could be like him".

That's what got Lucifer in trouble. "I will lift my throne above the throne of God. I will be like the Most High". "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it". Now, let me just straighten something out. Eve gets blamed for this whole thing. But may I remind you that Adam was the head of the house? And he knew what God said. And he should have told Eve, right away, "You should not have done that. You better repent really quick, and I'm certainly not eating it because God said not to". But he just took it, and ate it.

Well, I better not say anything else. Don't be a man who wants to be the head of the house when you want to be, but then, when it comes to responsibilities, you don't want anything to do with it. I'm moving on, movin' on. "Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they realized they were naked: so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for their selves". They began trying to cover their sin. "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord because they were afraid". And so, there it goes. When we do what God tells us not to do, then we wanna hide from God, and we become afraid, and fear rules our lives.

Jonah disobeyed God. "The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai: 'go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me'. But Jonah ran away from God and headed for Tarshish". And if you look on a map it's the exact opposite direction of where God told him to go. How many people, I wonder, are going the exact opposite direction of what God told them to go in? Heh-heh, nobody here, I bet. Maybe a few people who wouldn't dare come into a church, but you're watching by tv. You're looking, you're searching, and you thought, "I just gotta check this out". "'Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me'. But Jonah ran away and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break into pieces".

Well, I can tell ya, in just a few minutes here, you're gonna see that Jonah's well definitely, dried up. "And God prepared a great fish". A whale, we suppose, to swallow him. And he said, and I love this, "In my distress, I called upon the Lord". Sometimes the distress that we get is a gift. Come on. Yeah, that's right. How many of you sought out God and got into a relationship with him when you were in trouble? Ah-ha, how many of you have done most all of your spiritual growing when you were in trouble? See? Not preaching on that tonight, though. "He said: 'in my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me: all your waves and breakers swept over me'. I said, 'I've been banished from your sight: yet I will look again toward your holy temple'".

He's start, that, right there, is where he decided to repent. Now, watch what happened. "'the engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me: seaweed was wrapped around my head'". I mean, this proves you can pray from anywhere. "'to roots of the mountains I sank down: the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit'". Wow. Man, you may have disobeyed God and you feel like you've been swallowed up by something, and like seaweed is wrapped around your head, but if you will repent, God will lift you up again, out of that pit. "'When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, "Salvation comes from the Lord"'. And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry ground".

I love this part. If you go to the next verse, chapter three, verse one, it says, "And God said to Jonah, 'go to Nineveh'". That's my favorite part. He could have avoided that whole detour. Because God did not change his mind, and he's not gonna change his mind about what he's told you to do either. Amen? Now, here's another thing that will stop your well up: living in the past. You gotta let go of the past. God says, "Behold, I do a new thing". And I'll tell you the truth, not that you can't remember them fondly, but sometimes you have to even let go of great victories from the past. And I'll tell you why. If you keep clinging to them, you'll fail to realize that God's got something even greater than that for you. Amen?

The greatest thing that you can ever remember happening to you, God has got something greater, but you can't keep just staring at the past. Forget past sins, forget past mistakes, forget the people that have hurt you in the past, forget even all your past victories, and forget the life of sin that you lived, especially, the things you enjoyed about it. "Well, I remember when I used to go clubbing on Friday night and here I am sitting and listening to her go on, and on, and on". Well, let me tell you somethin', the hangover you'll have in the morning, will be better than the one you used to have. And some of you are so far gone in Jesus, you'll get yourself up early in the morning and come back for round two.

Genesis 19:17 and 26, "As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, 'flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere along the way'! But lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt". Might say, her well was concreted shut. You know, the river of God can only flow in your life as you move forward. If we were supposed to be looking back, we'd have eyes in the back of our head, and we don't. Come on. The eyes are in the front of your head because you're supposed to be looking straight forward, not to the right, not to the left, and especially, not behind you. Yeah, come on. And she looked back because she didn't wanna leave some of the things that she had in that life.

And listen to me, don't be concerned about things that you may have to leave to serve Jesus. "Oh, I'm just having too much fun". No you're not. You don't even know what... You may know what fun is, but you don't know what joy is. And you don't know what it means to lay down at night and have complete peace. You don't know what it means to not have to be afraid of death, but to actually look forward to it. Amen? You may think you're happy, but you're not. And you don't have anything to compare it to, until you really open up your heart to Christ and let him come in. Nothing feels better than a cleansing on the inside. You can get in the bathtub, or the shower, and wash the dirt off your body, but only the blood of Christ can wash the dirt off your soul. Amen? Thank God Jesus died for us. Whoo. You gotta move forward.

The next stone we'll talk about is hatred, malice, ill-will, jealousy, and envy. Let's see, wow. Eww, jealousy and envy, hatred, mistreating others, ill-will. Man, we are about to get in trouble here. Joseph's brothers cast him into an empty well that had no water in it. Genesis 37:23 and 24, "So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the ornate robe that he was wearing". Which they were jealous of, because it was a special robe his father had made him. He was the baby of the family and kind of favored. And you know, it still goes on today, brothers and sisters are jealous of the baby of the family. I know, we've dealt with it in our family. It's like, "Well, he gets everything he wants".

Well now, they've gotten smart. When they want something, they send him to ask for it. He's my baby. He's 40 years old, six foot, five. And he can still pick his mom up and carry me around. You know, you just usually, it's not that you love one of your kids more than the other, but your baby is just, well, your baby. Does any parent here know what I'm talking about? "They took him and threw him into the cistern. And the cistern was empty:" that's a well, "There was no water in it".

Well, you know, I imagine when they went home and told their father that Joseph had been killed by wild beasts and they saw the grief that their father had, and how bad they had hurt him, I don't imagine they slept very good at night when they thought about what they had done all out of jealousy and hatred because Joseph was the baby, and his father favored him a little bit, and he had a dream. You know, sometimes people hate you if you have a dream. There's actually, people that don't want you to do any better. Come on. They get jealous if you think you're gonna do any better. They don't wanna do anything with their life and they get mad if you wanna do something with yours.

I had a dream, after God spoke to me about ministry, and I pretty much lost every friend I had. People are not always ready to dream with you. They probably had nightmares, guilt, fear of being caught, dread, regret, and many other negative emotions. Their act of throwing Joseph in a dry well turned them into dry wells. Ew, I like that. The Bible says in acts 7:9, "Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him". "But God". See, if you're being obedient to God, no matter what somebody else does to you, if God is with you, who can be against you that will make any difference. And nothing is more fun than when God lifts you up in the midst of your enemies, and they have to stand by and watch it.

Come on. You don't have to try to get them back, pray for them, bless them, and let God be God. They tried to make a slave out of Joseph but their sin kept them enslaved. Jeremiah 2:13, says something I really like, it says, "My people have committed two evils, or two sins. Number one they've forsaken me the fountain of living water, and number two, they have dug for themselves wells that have no water in them". Have you ever been a well-digger? Eh, that went over your head, okay. You're thirsty, you're dry, you're life is not working, so you say, "I know what I'll do". And you go dig your own well. And you work at something, and you work at it, and you work at it, like maybe, trying to climb the ladder of success. And then you get to the top and find out your ladder's leaned against the wrong building.

So, you can dig your well, and dig your well, and dig your well, but it still does not have in it what you want. Only God can give you what you really want. C'mon, some of you single ladies, you think, "Oh, if I could just get married". You're begging God 24 hours a day to give you a husband. And then, there's a few people in here that have got one they'd like to give you. "Oh, if I could just have kids. I just want kids, God, give me kids. I want kids. Bless my womb, Lord, I wanna have the kids". And then, you give it about 15 years and you're like, "When will these kids leave"?