Joyce Meyer - Your Life is What You Make It - Part 4

Your attitude determines the quality of your life. Your attitude is your outlook on life, especially the way you look at problems. A good attitude, a positive attitude equals an enjoyable life. Not necessarily one that's trouble free, but one that's still good and enjoyable. Have you ever noticed that the apostles, even with the great problems that they had, always seem to keep a positive attitude in the midst of 'em? Thinking that you cannot have a problem and enjoy your life at the same time, is not true. Don't just look at what did happen to you but look at what could have happened that didn't. If you had a car accident and you're still alive, thank God for that.

A friend of mine was in a boat one day, she's gone home to be with the Lord now, but this had been many years ago. And she was actually reading Psalm 91, sitting in the boat, about how God will give his angels charge over you. And the boat hit a big wave, and she fell over and hit her head on the side of the boat. And right away she started, "Well, God, I don't understand this. Where were you? Where were my angels? I was just praying about how angels will watch over me". And God just spoke to her and said, "You're not dead, are you"? Do you know that every day you drive to and from work in traffic and get home alive is a miracle? I mean, it really is. When you think about all the cars out there and the crazy people and... my goodness.

So, learn how to look at what didn't happen that could've happened. Be thankful for the blessings you have. Gratitude releases joy in your life. Amen. Some bad attitudes that will prevent you from being happy. An impatient attitude. More later. A self-pitying attitude. A jealous attitude toward people who seem to have a better life than you do. You know, God put this in Dave's heart one time, and I think it's so good, "You will never get what you want until you can be happy for somebody else that has it".

Now, think about that. You'll never get what you want until you can be happy for somebody else that has it while you're still waiting for it. And you know how that comes? By trusting God that he knows what he's doing. And that his timing is perfect in your life, and he'll give you what you're supposed to have at the right time. And in the meantime, be happy for other people that are blessed. Amen? An angry attitude toward God because you don't understand some of the things that have happened to you. Don't ever blame God for your problems. Don't ever get mad at God because some things have happened to you that don't seem right or fair. I don't know why, but God has blessed me with all the stuff I went through as a kid, and I was praying for God to get me out of that situation. He did not get me out of it, but he did get me through it. And as soon as I was willing to let him use it, he worked good out of it.

And I do believe that millions of people around the world have been healed in their soul because of painful things that have happened to them. Just by seeing an example of somebody who can have a terrible situation and end up with a great life. Amen? And God is no respecter of persons. If he does it for one, he'll do it for another. When you have a bad attitude, you're just defeating yourself. Now, I wanna talk to you about an attitude that a lot of times we don't think about. A responsible attitude. I'm a very responsible person. And I'm glad that God has called me to preach because I never, one time, in 45 years, have ever stood up to teach the word without having studied first and prayed. I never get up here thinking, "Been there, done that a thousand times, no problem. I don't have to prepare". No, it's my responsibility to get up here and be as prepared as I can be. It's up to God how it turns out.

But don't think that God is gonna bless you while you're lazy and do nothing. Another responsibility that we have is to take care of the things that God gives us. If you have an automobile: well... Wash it, get the oil changed, have the tires rotated, do the things that you're supposed to do to take care of it. Any blessing that we have, if we don't do what we need to do to take care of it, we'll lose it. Well, you guys are quiet. See, if we're not accountable, then we will be forced to be accountable. If you're not responsible to get to work on time, and you're consistently late, then you'll be forced to be accountable when you lose your job. If you don't pay your bills on time, you'll be forced to be accountable when they come and repossess the stuff that you own. If you don't take your family responsibilities seriously, spend the right amount of time that you need to with your family, you'll be forced to be accountable when your partner wants a divorce, and your kids don't wanna be around you anymore.

We all have responsibility. I think a lot of Christians don't realize they have a civic responsibility. And I said this last night, but I'll say it again, you have a responsibility to vote. "Well, it's raining, I don't wanna go today". Well, what kind of a country do you wanna live in? All right, I'll go on. Sadly, we think they should fix everything. If a person isn't responsible, they'll lose everything that they have. You know, the Israelites spent 40 years trying to make what could have been an 11-day journey. Their story amazes me. And years ago, I did a big study on that whole thing about why they wandered around out there for 40 years. And they thought it was their enemies, but I found proof in the word that it was their attitude. They had a bad attitude. They even grumbled about the miracle manna that God was givin' 'em every day. Everything that went wrong, they blamed on Moses and on God. Nothing was their fault. They weren't responsible for anything.

A lot of people won't take responsibility for their own bad behavior. It's always somebody else's fault. "Well, if you treated me better, then I wouldn't get angry so easily". No, we have to be responsible for ourself. Don't think like this: "My behavior may be wrong, but it's not my fault". You know, somebody else can act the same way that we're acting, and for them there's no excuse. "There is no excuse for you to act that way". But for us, there's always an excuse. "I act bad because I was abused". "I act bad because I was born on the wrong side of the tracks". "I act bad because, because, because, because". We act bad because we're not being obedient to God. Period, end of the conversation. Somebody asks you for help, you say, "Oh, I would love to help you, but I'm just so busy and pressed for time".

Well, you know what? That's not true. If you would really love to help them, you'd find a way to do it. Because love always finds a way. Amen? "Well, I'm late for work because I got a phone call just as I was walking out the door". Well, who said you had to answer it? You didn't have to answer it. Can I say something? If you're consistently late everywhere you go, stop coming up with a new excuse every time you're late and just admit that you're not managing your time properly. See, only the truth will make you free. And to be honest, to be late everywhere you go is not love. Because it's rude to make everybody else wait. An excuse is a reason stuffed with a lie. A patient attitude, I know you couldn't wait. You were so impatient for me to get to patience. You know, patience is not just the ability to wait. Patience is how we act while we're waiting.

Boy, I remember those days when I was in the school of the Holy Ghost, not that I'm not still there, but man, God didn't let me get away with nothin'. And I don't know why, but I learned so many lessons in the grocery store. That seemed to be my school of education. And I can remember back in those days we had these big Jesus rhinestone pins. Anybody as old as me, and you lived, you know, when they had those...? We all wanted our Jesus rhinestone pin. And they were big, too. And so, I'd have that pin on, then walking around in the store, you know, under my breath, praying in tongues, being spiritual. Get in line, there's a new clerk, she's already a nervous wreck. She runs out of tape. I gotta wait. She's slow. She's making mistakes. Look at every other line to see if there was a shorter line that I could get in.

After all, I was too important to wait: I had things to do. I had my Jesus rhinestone pin, but I wasn't acting like Jesus. Come on, if you're gonna advertise that you're a Christian, then act like him. Amen? There's a story in the Bible where Jesus said he was hungry, and off in the distance, he saw a fig tree that had leaves on it. And he went to it and found no fruit, so he cursed it. And I used to feel sorry for that fig tree. I thought, "Well, it wasn't the fig tree's fault that it didn't have any fruit". But, boy, there's such a lesson in that story, because, actually, if you study it, when a fig tree has leaves, it's supposed to have fruit under the leaves. And so, Jesus cursed the fig tree because it was a phony. And see, I had leaves.

Come on, are you there? You know, you may have the most massive Christian library in your house, and you like to make sure that you lead all your friends through that den where you're...So we can impress them, but how many of them have you read? I mean, people tell me, "I have all your books". And I think sometimes, "Well, you don't act like it". It doesn't make us more spiritual just to have a big Christian library. Take 30 minutes every day and read. Just 30 minutes. Can you spare one hour a day? Take 15 minutes and pray, 15 minutes and read your Bible, 15 minutes and read a good Christian book that's gonna help you understand the Bible, and 15 minutes to listen to some praise and worship music, you know?

If you just take one hour a day and you commit to that. We challenge people: we called it "The 30/30 challenge," and we challenge people to take 30 days and study the Bible, 30 minutes every day for 30 days. And we had so many people tell us that it was absolutely life changing. Sometimes you just need a plan. And you know, if you happen to miss a day, you don't have to get condemned, but the devil doesn't want you to learn anything. He doesn't want you to do anything. And you know, today everything is at our fingertips. We don't have to do anything. We just press a button, and it pops up on the screen. But I'll tell you the truth, the more you dig and the more you work yourself, the more it will get down on the inside of you. Now, we have A.I. and I'm just gonna tell you my opinion of that is you better be careful.

My son, several months ago, said to me, "Watch this". I didn't even know A.I. existed. He said, "Watch this". And he said to the computer, "Give me 150-word devotional by Joyce Meyer on the mind". And I mean, in less than two minutes, it spit out a devotional: sounded exactly like me. The computer had the ability to go out and grab stuff out of my teachings. Well, you know, I'm not about to start doing my writing that way. I'm not gonna do that. When I give you something, I want to have put something into it. I want to have worked at it, something that I can be proud of. Patience is a Fruit of the Spirit that only grows under trial. You can't get patience without trouble.

The Bible says when we have trouble, it will bring out patience and endurance. And I said last night, it brought a lot of stuff out of me before we got around to patience. Oh, my gosh, I used to act so bad when I would have trials and tribulations. And Dave would tell me, "Until you stop getting upset every time something doesn't go right, you're always gonna have trouble". Then I'd get mad at him. I'm so glad that I've learned a few things, and I don't have to get upset every time the devil acts up now. Amen? Ok, Luke 21:19 is a great scripture about patience. It says, "In patience possess ye your souls". That's the King James version.

What does that mean? "In patience possess ye your souls". Well, your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. So, when you're having trouble, if you're not patient, your mind will go whacko. Your emotions will just be all over the place. And your will, will resist the will of God, because you want what you want, and you want it right now. But if we're patient, we can think like God wants us to think. We can stay calm, and we can trust God for his perfect will in our lives. Do you want your soul to possess you, or do you wanna possess your soul? Amen? I spent so many years frustrated.

How many of you know anything about frustration? You know what frustrates us? Tryin' to do somethin' about somethin' we can't do anything about. Like, for example, who are you trying to change right now? Which one of your kids are you working on? Amen? So, listen, don't ruin your relationship with them now by constantly finding fault with them and breaking their spirit and get 'em to the point where they can't stand you. Give 'em a chance to grow up and let God do a work in their life. Amen?

I tried to change Dave, I tried to change my kids, I tried to make my ministry grow, I tried and tried, and I tried till I almost died. And I'm just telling you, if you got somebody that you're working on, you need to go home and let them off the potter's wheel, because you are not the potter. Amen? If you wanna enjoy your life, you gotta be willing to wait on God. I remember when our ministry wasn't growing as fast as I wanted it to, and I was still just doing all this little stuff, and I had a big vision.

I was in California, I was laying across a bed one afternoon, and a man had approached us, and he was a promoter of some sort. And he said, "If you sign on with me, I'll be your agent, and I can get you speaking engagements all over, and blah, blah, and it won't be long, and you'll be known everywhere". Man, I wanted that so bad. But as I laid across that bed, I was so convicted in my heart again that God said, "You wait on me". It's so tempting to wanna get it our way, but it's so much better to wait on God. Is anybody getting anything out of this? The results of impatience: it steals your peace and joy, it causes stress, and stress causes sickness. How well do you do while waiting in traffic? That is one place where my husband can become a different creature.

How do you act when you have a slow clerk? How about a new clerk? Or I love this one, when you can't find a clerk. That's getting pretty popular today. It's like they don't...How do you do when another driver does something you think is stupid? How do you do when somebody steals the parking place you've been waiting for? Come on. How do you act when something doesn't go your way? Can you not get your way and stay happy and sweet? I can now, but boy, it took a long time. Does impatience cause you to disobey God? One honest person over there, in this section. Waiting with hope will give you joy. And hope is the expectation that something good is about to happen at any moment. Amen?