Joyce Meyer - Be at Peace with Yourself
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Well, thank you for joining me today on, "Enjoying Everyday Life". The last two days I've been talking about ways that you can increase your peace. Peace is so wonderful, and turmoil and anger and frustration and upset are just so awful. Think about it. Are you at peace most of the time? Or are you worried, and anxious, and frustrated about something most of the time? Well, we're gonna start with basics today, and by that I mean we're gonna start at what the root of the problem is sometimes. And I wanna ask you, "Are you at peace with yourself"? Because to be honest, if you're not at peace with yourself, you're not gonna be at peace with anything else in your life.
It's amazing how many people just really are mad at themselves, and really just don't like themselves. They may be mad at themselves because of a poor choice they made in the past, or some sin they committed, or they don't like the way they look, or, you know, they don't like their skill set. They don't think they're smart enough, or talented enough, or they compare themselves with other people, and always think they need to be something that somebody else is. But 1 Peter 3:11 says, "Turn away from wickedness and shun it, and do right. Search for peace and seek it eagerly".
I love that. Seek it eagerly. It's not gonna fall on you like ripe cherries falling off a tree. You gotta seek peace. Why? Because the devil is constantly trying to take it away from us. He wants us to be upset all the time. When we're upset, we don't really connect with God as well. It's more difficult to be led by the spirit, when we're upset. Many times we'll say and do things that upset other people. He loves it when we're frustrated and upset. "[don't merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, and go after them!]"
So, the Bible tells us to be at peace with God, which is number one. If we're not at peace with God, we're not gonna be at peace with ourself or anybody else. And the only way to be at peace with God is to... I might say, come clean with him on a regular basis, you know, don't try to have hidden sin in your life, and think you're hiding things from God, because he knows everything. So, you might as well talk to him about everything. If you've got things in your life that you think you're hiding, God knows. And the Bible says that someday everything that's hidden is gonna come out in the open anyway, so you might as well bring it out in the open now. Talk to God about it. Be at peace with him. Love him and receive his love for you.
Then as you do receive God's love, you can love yourself. You don't have to love the way you act, but you can love the you that God created you to be. Don't always be against yourself. And then if you love yourself, in a balanced way, I'm not talking about being in love with yourself, but just loving yourself. Then you can love other people. I always say it like this, you cannot give away what you don't have. So, God spreads his love in our hearts when we receive Christ as our Savior. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost," the Bible says. So he gives us that love so we can. We couldn't even love God, if he didn't show us his love first. "We love him because he first loved us". I think it's 1 John 4:19, that says that.
You know, spiritually mature people press past their mistakes. I think some people think it's actually spiritual to sit around and think about how wretched they are all the time. But it's really not. Paul said in, Philippians 3:12-15. These may be scriptures you're familiar with, but I want you to listen to these today. Let me ask you, "How do you feel about yourself? Do you base your worth and value on what you do, or who you are in Christ"? You see, God cares more about our who, than he does our do. Now, he wants us to do what's right. But you can never do what's right, until you know who you are in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ. That means when you're born again, when you receive Christ as your Savior, he comes to live in you, and you live in him. He becomes your life.
Paul said, "In you I live and move and have my being". He said, he was talking about wanting to reach the place of perfection. He, Paul, wanted to be everything that God wanted him to be. And God does want us to be perfect, but we're not going to be perfect as long as we're in this fleshly body, but we can have a perfect heart. And that means that we so want to do what's right. We will make mistakes, but thank God forgiveness has already been provided for us, so we don't have to waste our time feeling guilty, and condemned, and feeling bad about ourselves. All we need to do is confess our sin, repent of them, be willing to turn away from them, with God's help receive his forgiveness, it's there, receive his forgiveness and go on.
Well, very few people do that, because we often think that if we feel guilty for a while, that we're helping pay for our mistake. But you don't need to pay, Jesus already paid. So, Paul's talking about this place of perfection. He said, "Not that I have already attained this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me his own". So, Paul's saying, I let go of what's behind and I press on. See, you can't take hold of what’s out here, if you're still holding on to what's back here. I mean, it's just common sense tells you that. You gotta let go of what's behind, to take hold of what's ahead. "I don't consider, brethren, that I've captured and made it my own [yet]: but one thing I do [it's my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead".
Now, boy, I love this, because Paul said this is more important to me than anything. Let me ask you a question. Did you get up today and bring yesterday's mistakes into today with you? Anything you do wrong, you repent, you receive that forgiveness, and you press on. We can literally live in the forgiveness of God. Oh, that sounds so good. I suffered so many years with guilt and condemnation, so many years I didn't like myself. And when I started receiving Bible teaching, I heard a lot about loving people. And I wanted so much to love people, and I just couldn't seem to do it. And God finally showed me, he said, "You can't love anybody else because you don't love yourself".
You can't be at peace with anybody else if you're not at peace with yourself. If you're not receiving God's mercy, you can't be merciful to other people. We have nothing to give anybody except what we receive from God. I receive his peace, I can be peaceful and pass that peace on to you. He uses words like: straining forward, pressing forward. So, it's obvious that the devil tries to hold us back. But he has no real authority over you except what you give him. He may try to make things harder, but he cannot keep you from doing the right thing, if you're determined to do it. I believe we need to live with a holy determination. Not that we can just do things by our own willpower, but we take the grace of God, and we press forward with it.
"I press on," see, there he is. He's pressing, straining, pressing. "I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and the heavenly] Prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward". Now, listen to this. "So let those [of us] Who are spiritually mature and full-grown," is that you? Are you spiritually mature? "Have this mind and hold these convictions:" he's saying if you're spiritually mature, then do what I'm doing. What I've been saying, do that. "And if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God will make that clear to you also".
I think when I first started reading this, I was kind of afraid, you know, I did something wrong, and I just repented and let go of it that fast and went on that, wow, what if I'm making a mistake? But he says here, if you're doing something wrong, God will let you know. You know, we don't have to imagine all the time we're doing something wrong. We need to trust God that he'll show us if we're doing something wrong. You waste your time being self-critical. The Bible does say to examine yourself. I like to take an inventory once in a while, just sit with God and, "Am I doing anything that's displeasing you"?
You examine yourself, but without a critical spirit, you don't need to criticize yourself. The devil will do that enough for you. Other people will do that for you. He'll use other people to criticize you. When you're born again, the Bible says that you receive as a gift from God, the righteousness of God, because of your relationship with Christ. You are made right with God through faith in Christ. I love that, I love that. The first thing God wants to give you is rightness. You're right with him. Would you ever dare have enough faith to actually think about some of the things that you do right? You know, there's a very strong possibility that you do more right than wrong. But the enemy would have you only think about everything you do wrong all the time.
You know, our guilt or innocence is not based on how we feel. I feel bad about myself. Well, you know, in 1 Corinthians 4:3 and 4, Paul was being judged by people for his faithfulness. People were saying, "Paul hasn't been faithful". Paul said, "I'm not conscious of anything against myself, and I feel blameless: but I'm not vindicated and acquitted before God on that account. It is the Lord [himself] Who examines and judges me". I love that. Paul said, "I'm not guilty just because I feel guilty, and I'm not free from guilt just because I don't feel that I've done anything wrong". And prior to that, he had said to the people who were judging him, "I don't care what you think of me".
The only thing Paul cared about was what the Lord thought of him. And he trusted God to show him if he was really doing anything wrong. He didn't even judge whether he was or he wasn't by how he felt. You know why? Because Paul knew that feelings were fickle. Yes, you can feel guilty about something, and it's a false guilt. Because once you have repented, and asked God to forgive you for something and received that forgiveness, there is no more guilt. So, if you feel guilty after that, it's a lie. It's not truth. You know, God loves you very much and he is not surprised by anything that you do.
I remember when the Lord put that on my heart, "Joyce, you are no surprise to me, I knew everything you would ever do wrong before I ever invited you into a relationship with me". You know that? God knows what you'll do wrong next week. Psalm 139:1-4, "O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] And have known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising: you understand my thoughts afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and you are acquainted with all my ways". Oh, my goodness. "For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], behold, o Lord, you know it all together".
So, my goodness, God already knows what I'm gonna say tomorrow. He knows every mistake I'm ever gonna make. He knows every right decision I'm ever gonna make. He knows every decision you're gonna make, everything you're gonna do right or wrong, and he loves you anyway. And he loves you because you've received his son. You have believed. He loves us because we put our faith in him, not because we do everything right. God picked you out, you know that? You know sometimes I think about it like, going into a grocery store and picking out fruit. You know if you go to pick out four oranges, you look those oranges over, and you pick out the four best ones you can find.
Well, God picked you out and he picked me out. And I guess he thought we were worth having or he wouldn't have picked us. It says, "Even as [in his love] He chose us [actually picked us out for himself as his own]". Isn't that beautiful? "In Christ before the foundation of the world". This is something that was decided before time ever began. God saw down through time, and he saw you. He knew everything you would ever do or wouldn't do, and he picked you out for himself. He picked us out, "That we would be holy and blameless in his sight". Wow. "Blameless in his sight, above reproach, before him in love. For he foreordained us, (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as his own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of his will [because it pleased him and was his kind intent]".
Why does God love you? Because he wants to. There's really nothing you can do about it. You can either reject it, or receive it, but he's gonna love you either way. So why not receive it? Right now, if you've never received the love of God, why don't you just, even say, "God, I receive your love right now". You know, it's the love of God that brings healing to our wounded souls. It's time to stop being mad at yourself. You know, in the world we are often picked out to be picked on. But with God we are picked out to be picked up. I love that.
The Bible says that we're saved by grace, and grace is God's favor, his unmerited favor. Grace is also the power of the Holy Spirit to help us do whatever we need to do with ease. Grace is like oil. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of grace, and he's represented by oil many times. And oil makes everything easy and smooth. So, we need to understand grace. And the Bible says, "We're saved by grace, not by works," Ephesians 2:8 and 9. "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you're saved (delivered from judgment and made a partaker of Christ's salvation) through [your] Faith".
Through your faith, you don't have to have a good record, a long record of good works. If you have not received Christ as your Savior, you can do it right now, through faith by simply saying, "I put my faith in you. I believe Jesus, that you are the Son of God. I believe that you died for me, that you paid for my sins. And I receive you now. I want you in my life". And you know what? God will take you right now, just the way you are, and he'll spend the rest of your life working with you, helping you to be more and more and more like Jesus.
And there's a phone number on your screen right now. If you would like somebody to pray with you, you call that number and we'll pray with you. Or of course, you can pray yourself, but if you have questions, we have a booklet that we would like to get into your hands. It's a little free booklet about what to do now that you're saved. It says that we're saved by grace. "It is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you're saved, through [your] Faith. This is not of yourself [it's not of your own doing, it came not through your striving], but it is the gift of God". Salvation is a gift, and we receive it by faith. "Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [it is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]"
But now, listen to this. When we come to Christ, how do we finally come? It's like, "God, I can't do this. I need you, I need your help. I've messed my life up. I can't fix it, help me". But the Bible says in Colossians 2:6, that the same way we're saved is the same way we ought to live. "As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] Walk and (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to him". So, I'm saved by grace, and every day I live by grace. Every day I trust that whatever mistakes I make, God already knew that I was gonna make them. There's forgiveness already provided for me. Jesus already died on the cross. There's forgiveness. His blood is on the mercy seat in heaven, crying out mercy for us. Receive God's mercy now.
Don't stay mad at yourself anymore for something you did wrong 20 years ago, 15 years ago, this morning, 5 minutes ago. Learn to live by faith now. Believe that you're right with God, through the blood of Christ. Not through your works, but through the blood of Christ. Righteousness allows us to enjoy peace with God. We're talking about peace, how to have peace. Know you're right with God. Romans 5:1, "Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] Have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and enjoy] Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the anointed one)".
So, what's he telling us? Because we are justified and we've been made right with God, let us then receive that peace that God wants us to have. You no longer have to be mad at yourself. You know what? When you have peace, then you have joy. You know, how you believe greatly affects your life. If you believe that God's love is based on your performance, you're gonna always be trying to earn his love. Instead of receiving as a free gift, you'll try to earn it. And every time you fail, you're gonna be discouraged, condemned, and feel guilty, withdraw from God, and feel ashamed. But if you know that God loves you, then you'll know that your worth and value is in nothing except, your relationship with him.
When Jesus does come, if he were to ask, "Why should I let you into heaven"? The only answer that is a correct answer is to say, "Because I believe that Jesus died for me, and rose from the dead". Don't give God a list of your good works, because he doesn't care about that. He only wants to know that you have faith in him. Don't forget, call that number on your screen, if you have any questions about salvation, or you want somebody to pray with you. Thank you so much for joining us today. God bless you. Bless you, bless you, bless you. Have a wonderful day. Amen.