Joyce Meyer - Love and Joy - Part 1

TOPICS: Love, Joy

The world gets very concerned about gifts. We get concerned about gifts, but God is more concerned about fruit. Gifts are given. They don't require much effort on our part. Fruit, however, is developed. It comes as a seed when we receive Christ as our Savior into our spirit. When you receive Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. When you receive the Holy Spirit, you receive the Fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5 teaches us that when the Holy Spirit is in us, we have love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. How many of you believe that those things are in you?

So we don't need to pray for something we've already got. What we need to do is ask God to help us learn how to use them and walk in them. The thing that causes us to exercise the gift of the spirit, or the Fruit of the Spirit, is some kind of pressure being placed on us. How many of you experience pressure in daily life on a pretty regular basis? I want to talk to you today about love because I believe that, hands down, I can prove to you scripturally that love is the most important thing that we learn how to function in. It's not important that I'm known as a great speaker or that you're known as a great singer or that somebody else is known as the greatest businessman in the world.

The thing that's important is that we love people and that every time that we're around people, they feel like something has been added to their life because we were there. What is love? You know, we can give a lot of fancy definitions for love, but I believe that love is basically seen in how we treat people. God is love and he treats us really, really, really good. Love is seen in how we treat people. How do you treat people? How do you treat people especially, maybe that aren't behaving exactly the way that you would like them to? How do you treat people that you're not trying to impress in any way?

How do we treat people that are important versus how we treat people that we view as unimportant. I think these are all questions that we need to ask ourselves. 1 Corinthians 12:31 talks about, it's been talking about the gifts of the spirit in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul was instructing the church in the use of the supernatural gifts of the spirit. And then he said, "But yet I will show you a still more excellent way". Let's look at Corinthians 12:31 and go into chapter 13 from there. "But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all, which is love]".

So love, learning what love is, learning to walk in love, developing that Fruit of the Spirit is the most excellent way that we can choose to live. An excellent person will be a great lover. And then he goes right on from there, continuing into 1 Corinthians 13, the first 8 verses. And yes I am gonna take the time to read them because I think they're important. In the Amplified Bible they're a bit long, but we're gonna take time anyway.

"If I can speak in the tongues of men and even of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion that is inspired by God's love for and in us), then all I am is a noise and a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and I understand all the secret truths and mysteries and if I possess all knowledge, and I have so much faith that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) then I am (a useless nobody). Even if I dole out everything that I have to the poor in providing food, and surrender my body to be burned in order that I might glory", and you know we can do good works for wrong reasons.

Do you know that? God's not just interested in what we do, but why we do it. If we do anything to get attention, then we get no reward from God. If we do anything to be seen or noticed or applauded, we get no reward from God. We only get a reward from God when we do good works out of a pure heart, to glorify God and to help someone else. He said, "If I do them to glory, but I have not (God's love in me), I gain nothing". Good works done for wrong reasons have no reward.

"Love endures long and is patient and kind: love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. Love it is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride)". And I love this one. "Love it is not rude". There's nothing more distasteful than a rude Christian. "Love does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us...)" and you notice that in the Amplified it says that love is God's love in us. And I'm gonna explain that to you in a minute because God has to give us love first before we have any to give away.

"(God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, it is not self-seeking: it is not touchy or fretful or resentful: it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person". Oh, my gosh, how important that is. Learning how to believe the best of every person in every situation rather than always going to the negative and being suspicious.

If every married couple would take out 1 Corinthians 13, read verses 1-8 out loud together every morning, you could pretty much eliminate divorce. If every Christian would read this out loud every morning before they go off to work, it would be amazing the light that we could go out and shed in a dark world. "Love bears up under anything, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures whatever comes without weakening". And the first part of verse 8, "Love never fails". Come on, give God a praise.

Now, I don't know what you spend your time studying, but I know I was a Christian for many, many, many, many years before I ever really spent any time studying love. I studied success. I studied prosperity. I studied faith. I studied power. I studied the gifts of the spirit. I studied spiritual warfare. I studied all kinds of things. But you know what? My Christian life still wasn't working right.

Now, let's just get honest. How many years have you been going to church and what kind of situation is your life still in? Do you have victory? Do you have righteousness, peace and joy? How much time do you spend under condemnation? Are you being fruitful? Are you content? Are you enjoying your life? Do you walk with authority over satan? Or do you still feel like that something's just not right and something's missing and you're tired of just fighting something all the time and you wonder why even though you think you're trying to do everything that you're being told to do that it's still not working and coming together for ya?

Now I see some you going... Is anybody with me today? You know what I'm talking about? Well, the thing that was missing for me was I didn't know anything about love and I think it can be what's missing for a lot of people. When I finally got around to asking God what my problem was instead of everybody else I knew, he said, "You're selfish. Got yourself on your mind all the time". Well, I started an intense study of love because I found out that it's more than a word that we throw around in church. We love everything from ice cream to dogs. And we don't really know what it means. That's why Jesus asked Peter three times, "Peter, do you love me"? "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you". "Peter, do you love me"? "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you". "Peter, do you love me"?

And in John 21 it says that Peter was grieved that the Lord asked him three times the same question, "Do you love me"? Maybe I should just stop for a minute and say, do you love God? Do you love God? Do you really love, God? Well, I think Peter responded the same way but each time that Jesus asked him "Do you love me"? And Peter said yes, Jesus had an instruction for him. He said, "Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs".

Now, if I can put that in plain English for you, I think it's like this, "Church, do you love me"? "Yes, Lord, you know we love you". Then his answer back is "Help somebody. Church, do you love me"? "Yes, Lord, you know we love you". "Help somebody". "Christian, do you love me"? "Yes, Lord. Why are you asking me the same thing three times"? Well, what are you doing to help somebody else? How much time do you spend trying to get what you want compared to trying to help somebody else get what they want? Oh, this is gonna be a little ouchy, isn't it?

You know, we're inherently selfish and if you don't believe that, all you gotta do is watch a baby when they don't get their bottle or their pacifier or get their little bottom wiped as soon as they'd like to. I mean it doesn't take very long at all and they're just like having a fit every time they don't get their way. The flesh is inherently selfish, but God is good and I'm grateful that he comes and plants himself on the inside of us when we receive him as our Savior and that there's hope for us to overcome that kind of a selfish, self-centered, miserable, wretched lifestyle.

Jesus said, "If you're gonna follow me, take up your cross and follow me. You forget yourself, lose sight of yourself and all our own interests". "Well, Joyce, if I don't take care of myself, who's going to"? Oh, well, let's see, uh, God. "Oh, never thought of that". Now, on the other hand, I teach people to take care of themselves. I'm not talking about ignoring your valid needs and not taking care of yourself and just spending such an unbalanced amount of time helping other people that you're ignoring all your own valid needs. That's not what I'm talking about.

You know if we're even halfway honest, we can answer the question pretty quickly, "Am I selfish and self-centered"? Hmm. You guys are gonna be fun today. We develop what we focus on. And if you focus on yourself, then you're gonna develop yourself. But if you focus on love, then you're gonna develop love. You are not gonna become a great lover if you don't study love. I'm asking you how much time have you spent in your Christian life studying love, taking it apart, what it is, what does the Bible have to say about it?

Focusing on love, loving people on purpose, finding out about it, studying every facet of love, praying about being a person who walks in love. I didn't spend anytime on it. And when God got around to letting me know what my problem was, that I was good at talking about it, but I wasn't good at doing it, then I went on an intense, many-year-long study. And probably, if you wanna know the truth, I probably still study that more than I study anything else because I find that it can escape me very fast if I don't keep it in the forefront of my life.

I will not live my life and be a mean Christian. I will not live my life and be selfish and self-centered. If God will help me, I am going to learn how to walk in love seven days a week, 24 hours a day walking in love. And I'm gonna do everything that I can do to try to teach people this. Even though it's not something they get excited about initially, I am going to keep teaching it and keep teaching it and keep teaching it. So, if you don't wanna learn how to walk in love, then you better just stop listening to me now because I'm gonna keep teaching it. Because I'm telling you that getting yourself off your mind and asking God what he can use you for to make somebody else's life better is the answer to all your problems. It is the answer to all your problems.

Love meets needs. Love builds people up. Love believes the best. Love is patient. Love is good. Love is kind. Love is humble. Love is not rude. Love is not touchy. Love forgives. What is it? It's God. Love is the way God treats us. And until we're treating people the way God treats us, then we don't know enough about love. I think I better say that again. Until we're treating people the way God treats us, I'm gonna find somebody in this building to talk to that's gonna pay attention to me. Until we're treating people the way God treats us, then we still gotta grow, don't we?

How many of you think this is an area you could grow in? How many of you believe that God got you in the right meeting today? All right, remember you're gonna develop what you focus on. After 33 years of being a fairly serious student of the Word of God and being a Bible teacher all of those years, I have come to the conclusion, and I honestly mean this so please listen to me. If you've ever believed anything I've said, I want you to believe what I'm getting ready to say now. I have come to the conclusion that if I focus on love, that everything else in my life will be taken care of.

John 13:34-35. "I give you one new commandment," Jesus said. They were used to 10 that had turned into 2,000 rules and regulations for them to follow to please God under the old covenant. Now Jesus comes with a new covenant, a new way of living, a fresh, new, vibrant way of living. And he said, "Now I'm gonna give you one new commandment", and here it is, "That you should love one another. Just as I have loved you". You see, until I know how to love other people the way God loves me, then I still need to grow. "So you too should love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]".

Now, we're gonna have a serious chat, here. Why is the church not having a greater effect in the world? Because we're not doing what that scripture says. We can't even get along ourselves, let alone know how to go out in the world and love lost, mean, hard-to-get-along-with, obnoxious people. Amen? He said, "Here's your answer to witnessing. Here's your answer to leading the lost into a new life with Christ. Get out there in your section of the world and love people". Just get out there. Forget telling everybody. Forget preaching to everybody. Yes, preach and if only when necessary use words. But most of the time, let your life do the preaching.

Come on, yes. Preach to everybody but only when you have to use words. The rest of the time let your life be a sermon, be a living epistle to all men. You can go to your job and have your three fish bumper stickers on your car and "Honk if you love Jesus" and separate yourself from everybody every day and sit in a corner and listen to your tape recorder and act like you're better than everybody else. But the better thing to do is be an example, and then maybe when the person who's treated you the worst, you hear that their car's broken down, maybe then you're the one that goes and says, "I'd be happy to pick you up in the morning and bring you to work if you need a ride".

"Well, why should I do that after the way they've treated me"? Well, because you are a representative of God and because that's what he would do, because he lets the sun shine on the just and the unjust. Well, yeah, now if we start acting like that, that's a little hard on our feelings. We gotta swallow pride. We gotta get rid of revenge. Now the minute that you say to that person, "I'd be happy to come and pick you up," they know how they've treated you. And right away now you're scrambling up their brains because they don't understand.

Now, all of sudden, if you do have a bumper sticker on your car, it might make a little bit of sense to 'em. Otherwise, it makes no sense at all. I remember one time, this is a long time ago I was teaching a little weekly meeting in st. Louis and it was long before I went on TV and started to travel like I do now. And we had a blind couple that came to our meeting every week, and they took public transportation to get there. And something happened to the bus service in the area where they were and they weren't gonna be able to get to the weekly Bible study anymore on a bus. And they asked if I could find somebody that would pick them up and bring 'em and take 'em back.

And do you know they had to stop coming because nobody wanted to go out of their way? Now, how sad is that? Now, obviously everybody's not like that. There's a lot of wonderful people that do things for people all the time, but there's not enough of us. And we need to learn what love really is and that it's more than just a song we sing and something we talk about.

Romans 5:5 says, "The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost". So you have the love of God in you. It's down in your spirit where all the other Fruit of the Spirit is. This is what you're full of. I don't know what it is you think you're full of, but this is what you're really full of. Some people may try to tell you what you're full of, but I'm here today to tell you this is what you're full of, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Don't ever say you can't control yourself.

If you're not gonna control yourself, then at least tell the truth and say, "I don't wanna control myself". Oh, we'd rather think, "I can't help it". No, God has equipped us for victory. He's equipped us to get out in the world. Now, you may have weak self-control 'cause you haven't used it but every time you use it, it gets stronger. You might be weaker in showing love because you haven't focused on it or used it that much, but you have the seed of greatness on the inside of you. And I say greatness because this is what makes a truly great person great. Not what we do in the world, but how we treat people.

How many of agree that how we treat people is probably the most important thing in the whole world? You have that fruit in you but it's way down deep in your spirit. And the truth is is we've got stuff in our soul and sometimes the love of God can get clogged up in us. That's why before we can really begin to walk in love, we have to receive the love of God and let that love heal our souls. I was an abused, young girl. I'd been mistreated by my parents, sexually abused by my dad. My mother didn't know what to do so she just didn't really do anything. I married the first guy that came along. He ran around with other women all the time, ended up going to prison. By the time I met Dave when I was 23-years-old, I could not remember ever being happy in my whole life. All I ever knew was fear and just survival methods.

Well, I got married and Dave was a lovely, loving man, but I didn't know how to love anybody. It wasn't that I didn't want to. I went to church every Sunday. I heard the messages, but I didn't know how to because everything was coming through my sick soul. I had a hardness in my soul. I had a harshness. I had a mouth that wouldn't quit. I got mad every time I didn't get my way. All I knew was about trying to control people with temper because that's what I'd seen my dad do. And I could go and I could learn every kind of principle. I could learn 20 ways to do spiritual warfare and 12 ways to prosperity and 16 ways to healing and 18 steps to victory. But none of it was gonna do me any good until I learned how to receive the love God.