Joyce Meyer - Trusting God - Part 2

TOPICS: Trust

Well, thank you for joining me today on, "Enjoying Everyday Life," where I love to have the opportunity to share the Word of God with you because I know it's life-changing. I'm talking about trusting God. And it's the only way, really, to ever have any peace, is to learn how to let go, and let God be God. You know, either we're gonna work or God's gonna work, but if we're gonna keep trying to fix things ourselves, which, really, is what worry is. When we worry, we're just trying to find a way to fix our problem. And it's interesting, in 1 Peter 5:6, it says, "Humble yourself unto the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you". And verse 7 says, "Casting all your care on him because he cares for you".

So, those two scriptures don't seem like they would go together, but really what he's saying is, the way to humble yourself is not to worry, because when we worry, we actually think that we can figure out our problem. And we have to learn, first, that we can't figure anything out unless God gives us the answer. So, most of us have a little problem with self-reliance, especially in the early days of our walk with God. And most of us have grown up learning not to trust people, and then we have a tendency to put that off on God, but he's not like people. He is faithful and reliable. It's impossible for him to lie. So, what he says in his word, he does. Self-reliant, independent people find trusting others to be difficult, because people will disappoint you. And sometimes, God will allow us to go through things just to show us that relying on ourselves doesn't work.

2 Corinthians 1:8 and 9 says, "For we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing distress which befell us in [the province of] Asia, how we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life [itself]". So, whatever Paul, and the people with him, were going through, it must have been pretty tough, because he said basically, "We didn't even know if we were gonna live," and probably didn't care. They were going through so much. "Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the very sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God who raises the dead".

So, God allowed them to go through that difficult time, which I'm sure they didn't understand at the time, just like we don't understand. "Well, God, I'm trying to be good. I'm trying to serve you". And, you know, we give God our list of good traits, and the problem stays, and we don't understand why. But then we live life forward, but we understand it backward. How many of you understand things now when you look back at them that you didn't understand when you were going through it? And how many of you know that most of your spiritual growth happens in the tough times, not in the good times in life?

"We felt within ourselves that we had received the very sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God who raises the dead". 2 Corinthians 3:5 says, "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God". I say pretty frequently in my prayers, "God, I am nothing without you. I can do nothing without you". I like to call myself "An everything nothing". Everything in Christ, nothing in myself. And I think we have to remind ourselves, you know, all it takes for a human being is to have a couple of successes. And boy, we're off and rolling, thinking we're it. And we need to remember that any success that we have only means that God who's gotten a little bit more of our flesh that he can work through, and he gets the credit. Amen?

Romans 12:3, "For by the grace of God given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought to". That's a good instruction. You don't have to think badly about yourself, but really any success that we have, we need to thank God for it because it's just him working through us and not let that success give us a haughty attitude. Because you know what happens? When we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, then we begin to look down on other people. And we judge them because "They're weak and they can't do this" and "They, you know, they're..." "We're fast and they're slow," and you know, blah, blah, blah.

And so, you can't judge other people unless you're also thinking too highly of yourself. "Don't have an exaggerated opinion of your own importance, but rate your ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him". If you ever have the thought go through your mind, "Well, they just couldn't run this place without me". You can just try us if you want to. Philippians 4:13, "I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me I'm ready for anything and equal to anything through him who infuses inner strength into me: I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency".

Relying on ourselves is one of the biggest mistakes that we can make. You should remind yourself every day, "I can't do anything without God". "Nothing that I do is gonna succeed without God". God does not work while we work. He waits until we wear ourselves out and then he works. John 5:30 is what Jesus said. This is such a good scripture. It's long in the Amplified, but so good. Jesus said this, "I am able to do nothing from myself", he's talking as the Son of Man "Independently, of my own accord, but only as I am taught by God and as I get his orders. Even as I hear, I judge I decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to me, so I give a decision, and my judgment is right (just, and righteous), because I do not seek or consult my own will", wow, "I have no desire to do what is pleasing to myself..."

I don't know that I'm quite there yet, but I'm working toward it. "My own aim, my own purpose but only the will and the pleasure of the father who sent me". Now, one of the reasons I think it's very hard for us to trust God is, "What if I don't get what I want"? See, that's just like... But what if we cared more about what God wants than what we want? But that's really what makes us unhappy, is all the stuff that we want, that we're gonna fight to try to get, try to make happen because we're certain that that's what we're supposed to have. But if you really trust God, you can know, that you know, that if it's really what you're supposed to have, that at the right time God will give it to you.

And you know, God does answer every prayer, but sometimes he says, "No". I don't think we realize that like we should, you know. Jesus asked three times not to have to go to the cross, but he went, so I guess God was saying, "No". And so, we don't need to fight to get our way, we need to say, "God, your will be done". What's the Lord's prayer? "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". His will be done. And so, that fear of not getting what we want keeps us from trusting God. And if it looks like this prayer that we're praying about what we want is not gonna happen, then it's very hard for us to just back off and say, "Well, your will be done".

We find little ways of trying to finagle around and manipulate and get our way. And that's what causes all of our problems. You know, trusting God, and we talk about faith and trust, putting your faith in God for something you want is probably the lowest form of faith. You know what the highest form of faith is? Trusting God when you feel like you're going through hell, and none of it makes any sense. But you trust God anyway and you know that he loves you. This time, last year, I was in a wheelchair because I had damaged both of my legs. I had a blood clot in my back that caused a huge issue with my right leg. I mean, like it had absolutely no strength in it. I couldn't put my weight on it at all.

And so, while I was doing rehab, finally got good enough that they let me go home with a walker. And what do I do? I fall and break the other leg. And you have to be talented to do that. And so, I mean, really, when you look at it, it's like, "Come on, God". And I just asked God from the beginning, "Let me do this right. I don't wanna complain, I don't wanna murmur, I don't wanna mistreat other people, I don't wanna be grouchy". And one of the things that God really put on my heart was "Take it one day at a time". If we can learn to just take our life one day at a time, God will give us the grace that we need. Just like he gave the Israelites the manna that they needed for one day at a time. And if they tried to gather more, it got rotten and stinky.

And sometimes people say, "My life stinks". Maybe that's because you're trying to gather too much manna in one day. You're spending today trying to figure out tomorrow instead of just enjoying today. Do you know that you can enjoy your life while you have a problem? If you really believe that God is handling your problem and working on it, you can enjoy your life while you have the problem. I mean, I don't know if the only time we think we can enjoy life is when everything's perfect. We're not gonna get much joy. Trusting God does not guarantee that we will get what we want. But it does guarantee that we will get what God knows is best when all things are considered. And you know, we don't, we look at things from our viewpoint. We don't look at things from a kingdom perspective.

So, in Luke 22, Jesus three times says, "Father, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, your will be done and not mine". I mean, he had to really not want to go to the cross. I mean, he sweated great drops of blood. That is actually something that can happen under the most extreme pressure. He had just been betrayed by Judas, really abandoned by his disciples, because he asked them just to pray with him one hour. After everything he had put into their lives, "Can you pray with me just one hour"? And they all fell asleep. It's a good thing he had a strong faith in his father because nobody on earth seemed to be helping him much. But you know, he didn't get mad at them. He didn't mistreat them. He didn't turn away from them. Why? Because he knew human nature.

Well, I'm sure that God, the father, didn't enjoy seeing his son suffer and probably would have preferred to save him from it if that one thing was all he needed to consider. "He's suffering. I don't want him to suffer like that". But you know what? He had us in mind. And he was willing to allow his son, and it was actually God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. So, you might as well say he went through that suffering himself. He was willing to do that for us because he had a kingdom perspective. He saw all the people throughout all the centuries that could be saved and end up living in eternity with him.

So, it was good that he didn't give Jesus what he asked for. And sometimes, it's good that he doesn't give us what we ask for because we're only considering ourselves and we don't see the rest of it. We don't see what God sees. We don't know what he knows. And that's why it's so important to say, "God, I know you're good and I trust you. This doesn't make any sense to me". But you know what? It's not your job to figure out what God is doing. That'd be a good take home. "It is not my job to figure out what God is doing". Romans 11:33 and 34 tells us, tries to tell us anyway, if we can understand it, how deep his wisdom and knowledge are.

"Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unfathomable, (inscrutable, unsearchable) are his judgments (his decisions). And how untraceable (mysterious, and undiscoverable) are his ways (his methods, and his plans)". So, what's that telling us? You can dig around all you want to, but you're not gonna discover all the time what God is doing. Ask God for what you want, but joyfully accept what he gives you. The Bible says, "You have not because you ask not". I feel the freedom to ask God for anything. But you know, I also add sometimes, "And if it's not your will, please don't give it to me". Because unless I can find chapter and verse for it, I don't know for sure that that's what God wants.

And then, one of our big prayers is praying for God to change other people. "You have to change my husband," "You have to change my son," "You have..." You know, we want him to save people that we love, which is only natural. But we have to remember when we pray for somebody else that they have a free will. And God will not break their free will to give you your request. What happens when you pray for people is it gives God an opportunity to work in their lives. But the bottom line is, is they still have to be the one to say, "Yes". We can't say that for somebody else. So, there's really no point in making yourself miserable over somebody who's not serving God, because you can't make somebody love Jesus. The best thing you can do is be a good example to them. Be salt and light. Salt makes you thirsty.

So, let your life make them thirsty for what you have. Who is in the driver's seat of your life? Well, I heard a story about two teenage girls who were spending the day together, and one of them was a very spontaneous girl that often just came up with things just off the cuff. "Let's do this". And so, she suddenly decided she wanted to trade places with the girl driving the car and proceeded to try and do so while the car was in motion. Although the driver of the car initially resisted, she eventually joined in the experiment, and soon they ended up in a ditch with a severely damaged automobile. I recommend letting God do the driving, and don't try to switch seats with him or you'll end up in a ditch too.

Don't be hyper focused on what you want. Talk to God more about what he wants. "Your will be done". I mean, I spent so many years praying for what I wanted. I'm almost ashamed of it now, when I look back. But that's part of the baby stage of Christianity. We think, all of a sudden, "Wow, we have this person in our life that's gonna do everything we want him to do". And he does give you a lot of what you want. "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart". But desires of our heart can sometimes get mixed up with the desires of our flesh. And just because I want something doesn't mean it's really a heart's desire, especially if we're talking about things. I don't suggest that you pray to be a millionaire.

I don't suggest that you pray to be the head of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Sorry that job's taken. And I don't give up easy. There's a lot of patience that's needed when it comes to trusting God because boy, his timing is just not our timing. His soon is not our soon. "The Lord is coming soon". And that's already been, Paul was saying that, and that's already been 2,000 years. With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. The Bible says it's kind of like a farmer who plants his seed.

And then, Mark 4:26 and 27 says, "And then he continues sleeping and rising night and day". I like to say it like this: "He plants his seed in the ground and then he gets up and goes to bed, and gets up and goes to bed, and gets up and goes to bed, gets up and goes to bed". And he's full of hope. He's in faith. And so, he'll go out to his garden to look to see if anything's coming up yet. You see, while nothing's coming up on top, there's a lot going on below the ground. You've gotta have roots downward before you can have fruit upward. And so, there's a big work that has to go on inside, works that nobody can see before we ever see anything.

And that's the part where we have to be patient. Because what would happen if the farmer went out every day, "Well, nothing's coming up. I might as well dig that seed up and just forget about that one". No, it says "He keeps up his patient vigil over it," which means he waters it, he pulls the weeds, he waters it, he pulls the weeds, he waters it, he pulls the weeds, he waters it, he pulls the weeds. He makes sure that he gets sunshine. And then one day, boop, there it comes. And that's the way God is. He loves suddenlies.

Paul was in prison, and they were singing at midnight, midnight, when suddenly an angel came. And I don't know how long they'd been singing, but probably long enough that they thought, "This ain't working". But I don't think they were doing it to get something. They were genuinely praising God. We experience a lot of very ordinary days while we're waiting for that one special day to come along. And you know, and most of life is really pretty ordinary. And if you can't put up with that, those are the days where you just spend loving God and being a blessing to people and being thankful and enjoying what God has given you.

Genesis 5:7-8 says, "So be patient, brethren, as you wait until the coming of the Lord". It doesn't say be patient if you wait. Everybody's gonna wait. But you know what patience is? Patience is not waiting. Patience is how you act while you're waiting. And the Greek says that "Patience is the Fruit of the Spirit that only grows under trial".

You can't get it any other way. Boo. So, let me say again, before we close today, don't get so focused on what you want that you forget to enjoy what you have. I think I'll say that again. Don't get so focused on what you want that you forget to enjoy what you have. Amen? Thank you for being with us today. And we send blessings your way. I pray that you'll have an awesome day, and you'll remember this word that you heard today and let it help you. God bless you.