Joyce Meyer - Disappointment with People - Part 2

You know, there’s some things that we just kinda, we’ve known 'em for so long, we take 'em for granted. And it’s good to just stop and think about. I mean, really, if you’re a Christian what do you really ever have to complain about? And I’ll say that to myself too. I mean, what do we have to complain about? I’m looking at a bunch of people that aren’t going to hell. Amen? Eternal beings. Jesus went to a place called Gethsemane and he told his disciples, «Sit down here while I go over there and pray». And he took with him Peter, James, and John. «And he began to show grief and distress of mind and was deeply depressed».

Now, I would hope if some of you were with me, and you could see that I was hurting, that I was grieving, that I was distressed and depressed. I would hope that you wouldn’t just go to sleep. And I’d be very disappointed if you did. So, I have to believe that, that disappointed Jesus. Because he said, «Can’t», what? «Can’t you pray with me one hour»? Wow. «And then he said, 'my soul is very sad and deeply grieved, so that I’m almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and keep awake and keep watch with me'. And he went a little farther and he threw himself on the ground on his face and prayed saying, 'My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not what I want, but what you want'».

We’ve kind of forgotten «Nevertheless» in our language, in our choices of words to pick from. We’re pretty good at saying, «God, I don’t wanna do that». But we need to add in the «Nevertheless, if you want me to, I will». Maybe you wanna get away from some place and God wants you to stay. Maybe you wanna stay some place and God wants you to get away. Maybe you wanna keep something that God wants you to give away. «And he threw himself on the ground on his face and prayed saying, 'Father, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not what I want, but what you want'. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, 'are you so utterly unable to stay awake and keep watch with me for one hour? All of you must stay awake (give strict attention, and be cautious and active) and watch and pray».

I like that. Active, be active. Don’t just be a lazy, do nothing, Christian, be active. Make sure that you’re doing something to make somebody else’s life better. And that’s something that you could write down and everybody watching from home, be sure you pay attention to that. What are you doing to make somebody else’s life better? And I know there has to be a bunch of you who have to honestly say, «Nothing». 'Cause sometimes we forget that part of the gospel, where James said, «If you’re a hearer but not a doer, then you’re deceived by reasoning which is contrary to the truth». And Jesus said, in John 13, where he washed the disciples' feet. He said, «I did this as an example to you». And then, in verse 17, he said, «Happy are you knowing these things if you do them».

We know so much. But we don’t really know it until we do it. Until we’re doing it. I wonder if there’s anybody here today or anybody watching that you’re mad at somebody. Well, then you still need to hear a forgiveness message again. And again, and again, and again. No wonder Paul said, «I never get tired of telling you the same things over and over». And I used to think, you know, I had to have a new message every time I got up and taught. And God taught me, said «It doesn’t have to be new: it just has to be now». Whatever the right word is for that day, it doesn’t matter if you’ve heard it before, today you need to hear it again. «The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak». We should always pray that we won’t come into temptation.

«Again, a second time he went away and prayed, 'My Father if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done'. And again, he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down with sleep. So, leaving them again, he went and prayed for the third time, using the same words». I think it’s amazing that he, three times, I mean, he must have really not wanted to do that. And three times he prayed. «Father if there’s any way, I can get out of this, but your will be done and not mine».

And I think it’s good for us to realize how much he didn’t want to do it, but he did it. And we need to learn from that that we don’t have to want to do what’s right to do it. You don’t have to want to forgive somebody to do it. You don’t have to want to do what’s right to do it, you just do it. Matter of fact I think when you do what’s right, when you don’t feel like doing it, I think that’s when you’re growing spiritually. If you do it and it’s easy for you that’s because you’ve already grown in that area. «Then he returned to the disciples and said, 'are you still sleeping? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of especially wicked sinner [whose way or nature it is to act in opposition to God]'».

And although this apparently disappointed Jesus, there’s never any indication at all that he held it against him. Not in any way, he didn’t treat them any different at all. Are we able to do that when somebody disappoints you? Are you able to treat them just as if nothing ever happened? «Ew! Now, Joyce, did you have to go and say that? I was doing okay when you were talking to me about Jesus, but… If we’re gonna talk about me, now that’s a different story». Oh my, my, my. I guess Joseph was disappointed with his brothers who sold him as a slave just because they were jealous. He was the baby of the family. And, you know, a lot of times siblings are jealous of the baby of the family. Because the baby always seems to get special attention.

We’ve got a baby in our family. His name is Daniel. And he’ll say, «I love my mommy». And if I act like I’m a little irritated, sometimes, he’ll pick me up and carry me around the house and say, «Oh, mom. You know you can’t get mad at your baby». The rest of the family calls him, «The platinum child». Well, you know, by the time you have the last one, I mean, in our situation, we actually, he was the only one that we actually had on purpose, all the rest of 'em, we just got. I mean, we love them all just as much too, but we planned to have Danny when we had three teenagers and Dave said, «Are you nuts? We can go anywhere we wanna go and do anything we wanna do and you wanna have a baby».

I really felt like God put it on my heart. Well, look at today. I’d be in bad shape without him. Amen. In John 2:24–25, there’s a very interesting scripture. It says, «But Jesus [for his part] Did not trust himself to them, because he knew all [men]». Now, it doesn’t say that he didn’t trust them, it says he didn’t trust himself to them. In other words, he didn’t just throw his life wide open to them and you don’t ever wanna say, «Finally I’ve found somebody that will never hurt me». It’s foolish to think that because there is nobody that you will ever be in close relationship with that won’t disappoint you in some way, at some time. Sometimes you need them, but they’re oblivious, they don’t even know that you need 'em.

«Well, I was there for you, and I needed you and you’re not here for me». And, you know, when you’re hurting, especially that makes you very vulnerable to the other things that people do. But you know what really, really, really helps me? A little scripture in 1 Corinthians 13, I think it’s verse 5, that says, «Love always believes the best of every person». And I mean, seriously, that has helped me so much when somebody hurts my feelings to just, right away, believe, «I’m gonna believe the best. I’m gonna choose to believe that they didn’t intend to hurt me, they didn’t even know they hurt me». 'Cause you know what? Most people that hurt you don’t do it on purpose. They’re just being them on a day when you would rather them not be them.

Maybe you got out of bed and left some hormones in bed, and somebody decides to pick on you that day. You know how we are. I don’t know what was wrong with me this morning, but I woke up and I tell you what, I could have gotten in a bad mood quick if I wouldn’t have worked on it. You know, our bodies are crazy. I felt fine when I went to bed. But I was really hungry and after I ate, I felt better. You know, sometimes we’re just in a bad, foul mood and it’s just, we didn’t get enough sleep, or we ate the wrong thing, or we need to eat and we’re not eating. People that have a tendency to have low blood sugar, you eat a bunch of sugar and then get up the next day and see how you feel. Hmmm. I can tell you guys are right with me.

«He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man, [he needed no evidence from anyone about men], for he himself knew what was in human nature. [He could read men's hearts]». You know the story of Joseph and the terrible things his brothers did to him, but everywhere that Joseph went, God gave him favor. I think that’s so much fun. His brothers hated him, it says in the New Testament. They hated him, but God gave him favor. He was sold to Potiphar and before long he was in charge of Potiphar’s house. And then Potiphar’s wife wanted to have sex with him, and he resisted her and would not do it because he was a man of God. She lied about him, and he went to prison for 13 years for something he didn’t do. But God gave him favor with the jailer.

I mean, if you’re gonna be in jail, you might as well be in charge of it. That would be my attitude. And he helped the butler and the baker by interpreting a dream. And they got out of prison and went back to the palace, and he said, «Remember me». Well, they just forgot all about him. But then when the king had, when Pharaoh had a dream, the butler and the baker remembered that Joseph could interpret dreams. And they sent for him, and he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream. And he became second in charge to Pharaoh. Only Pharaoh had more power than he did.

And so, there was a famine in the land, and he was in charge of all the food. Well, guess who got hungry? His brothers and his dad and so they went to present themselves. They didn’t recognize Joseph, but he recognized them. And at first, he talked kind of rough to them just to see what they would do. And then he revealed himself to them and they were afraid, you know. He said, «You don’t need to be afraid, I’m not gonna hurt you». He said, «What you meant for harm, God intended for good». And he went on to say, «I will take care of you».

So, he got 'em housing and took care of 'em for the rest of their life. Now, that’s what it means to be a godly person. If you ever wanna get the devil back for things that he’s done to you in your life, the only way you can do it is by overcoming evil with good. That’s why forgiveness is so important. Praying for your enemies. «If your enemy’s hungry, give him something to eat. If he’s thirsty, give him something to drink». Ooo, the devil can’t stand it when he comes against you, and you respond in love.

Well, I guess Moses was disappointed with the Israelites. Man, they murmured and complained a lot. They blamed Moses and God for all their hardships. When Moses took a little longer than they expected to come down from the mount where he went to get the Ten Commandments, they had gotten tired of waiting. And so, they talked Aaron into helping 'em make a golden calf to worship. So, they collected all the gold Jewelry, melted it down, made a little golden calf and worshiped it. And these are the guys that saw God part the Red Sea, had manna rain down out of heaven every day, their bread, water out of a rock. They saw miracle after miracle, but as soon as they didn’t get what they wanted as fast as they wanted it. Wow.

I’ve had a few disappointments with people in my life. You know, I was married when I was 18 years old, not to Dave. And if it was possible, he had more problems than me. And he hurt me so many times, he abandoned me twice in other cities, left me in Mexico, left me in California. I’m 18 years old and I’m abandoned in a motel in Mexico and didn’t know where he went or why he left or when he was coming back. And during the five years we were married, I probably went through that scenario of him just not coming home 10, 12 times. And then, after three or four months, he’d show back up and «Oh, I was so wrong, and I love you so much».

And I was so dumb, I just kept taking him back over and over and over. You know, when you’re desperate for love, you do stupid things. Amen? And needless to say, after getting out of my Father’s house and away from my family and then jumping right into that five-year nightmare, I was just a tad disappointed with people. The bad thing was when I met Dave, by then, I was taking all my pain out on him. It’s amazing how we do that, sometimes we’re hurt and we’re trying to get back from somebody what somebody else owes us and you can’t do that. Thank God we’ve been married now 57 years, and we have a wonderful relationship and four great kids and 12 grandkids and 10 great grandkids and gosh, we sound old, don’t we?

There’s some interesting things that happen when you get a little bit older. There was a man that worked for us that I had known for 20 years, 20 years. Would have never, ever thought that he would have done something like this, but he was stealing out of the offerings at the meetings. And oh, Danny, boy, he’s got a gift of discernment. He kind of sensed something was wrong and he marked some of the money and we caught him. And he would sit in the car with us, «I love you guys so much, I just love you so much». And you’re like, «How do people do that»? They reason it out some way.

A man who pastored at our inner-city congregation was having sex with his sister-in-law in the church. Oh yeah, I know what it means to be disappointed with people. Two other long-time employees were caught stealing money. One guy stole some money… he was helping count the offering after a meeting. And he took $500 and put it in his wife’s mailbox here, she worked here too. Like, well, if you wanna give your wife money, don’t give her ours. And you know what? I can pretty much promise you that three of those people thought they’d put it back. That’s how we deceive ourselves, «I’ll put it back: I’m just…» they didn’t intend to steal it: they were just in a desperate situation and needed some help and so «I’ll help myself to this and then I’ll put it back».

We’ve had employees caught in adultery, watching pornography, at work, on their computers. Oh yeah, you think, everybody you work with is not a saint. You wanna believe the best of people, but you also wanna be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove. Keep your eyes on Jesus and don’t let disappointments with people turn into disappointment with God. You know when that first guy stole from us, the guy that we’d known for 20 years, the first thing that I said was, «I will never trust anybody again». And the next thing God said, «Yes you will, because you can’t live like that».

See, you can’t take that attitude, «I’m never going to trust anybody again». And those of you who have that attitude, today is the day to change it because you cannot have relationship, you cannot have love in your life if you’re not going to trust people. And why does satan arrange for us to hurt each other? Because he wants us to close our heart off from love because we need that more than we need anything else. We need love. Don’t blame God, don’t stop going to church and don’t make a decision you’re never gonna trust anybody again.

And then, lastly, as we close this exciting message. Paul had to have disappointment with people, 2 Timothy 4:16–18, «At my first trial no one acted in my defense [as my advocate] Or took my part or [even] Stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them»! Lord, have mercy. No wonder he wrote two thirds of the New Testament, what a heart. «Everybody left me, they all forsook me, they didn’t even stand with me. God forgive them». And Stephen, while he was being stoned, «God forgive them». And Jesus on the cross, «Father forgive them for they know not what they do».

Surely, we can forgive the little, teeny, tiny offenses against us. Amen? You know, Paul went through so much in his life and yet he was faithful right up until the end. Forgiveness is our protection against bitterness. Keep believing for something good to come out of your disappointments. Romans 8:28, «For we are sure to know that God being a partner in their labor, all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good,» there’s that word «All». «All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose».

You know Jesus said, «In the world there will be tribulation but cheer up, I have overcome the world». And in the Amplified Bible it says, «I have deprived it of the power to hurt you». So, see things can come against you, but if you stay in Christ and you keep the attitude that he tells you to have, they can’t really hurt you, they can’t do you any permanent harm. You know my first husband who mistreated me so bad there’s no evidence in my life now that I was ever hurt like that. And God gave me an extra good second one. Amen? So let me pray for you and for everybody watching today.

Father, I pray that when we are disappointed with people that we’ll remember all the things you went through and how you handled it in such love. And I pray that if anybody needs to forgive somebody who’s hurt them or disappointed them that this message will have fed their faith enough to the point where they can let it go now. Where they can just let it go and say, «Father forgive them for they know not what they do». We love you, Lord, and we wanna be like you. We want to handle things the way you would handle them. So, please help us. Keep us from deception. In Jesus' name, everybody said… Amen.