Joyce Meyer - Moving On - Part 2

Don’t waste your time feeling sorry for yourself. Dave used to tell me, «You’re trying to get me to feel sorry for you, and I am not going to feel sorry for you». And I was just, I mean, I had so much rebellion in me from the way I had been treated, and he was perfect, but I didn’t know it at the time. You know, Dave and I had a very strange beginning. He met me, well, he didn’t meet me, I was outside washing my mother’s car and he drove up to pick up the young man that lived upstairs that he worked with and he was trying to flirt with me. He said, «Hey, when you finish washing that car, you wanna wash mine»? I said, «If you want your car washed, buddy, wash it yourself». And he said, the thing that went off in him is, «That’s the girl for me».

You either gotta be missing a bubble or two, but he’d been praying for a wife, he was 26, and ready to get married, and oh, he made a mistake. He asked God, «Make it somebody that needs help». Ooh, you better be careful what you pray. But we’ve had a very wonderful life. Hard at times, yes, but we’re still amazed that God has let us do what we’re doing. We just, we marvel all the time. You gotta decide to get well, quit feeling sorry for yourself. Mark 8:34 says, «He called the crowd to him and said: 'whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me'».

Another really important thing is that you don’t just have yourself on your mind all the time, that you don’t spend all your time trying to make yourself happy, but you deposit yourself with God. Just like going through the drive-thru at the bank and making a deposit. Just, I invite you to deposit yourself with God and give your life to helping other people. Now, I know when I say that it sounds scary. It’s like, «I came here to get help for me». This will help you more than anything I could imagine telling you. Does anybody believe that?

You say, «Well, that’s what I do all the time anyway. I just serve everybody and they take advantage of me». Well, you’re not doing it with the right heart attitude. I’m not talking about becoming everybody’s doormat. I’m talking about, God told Abraham, «I will bless you and I will make you a blessing, causing you to dispense good to others». More than anything else you should study love. Another thing that helps is to realize you’re not the only one that’s hurting. No matter how bad, with everything I went through in my childhood, there’s people sitting in here today that, what I went through probably was like nothing compared to what you’ve been through. There’s always somebody else that’s hurting more.

If you wanna get well, sow seed for somebody else’s breakthrough. Be involved in service, give into the work of the kingdom. Yes, I said give your money to the work of the kingdom. People don’t teach much on giving anymore 'cause it makes everybody mad, but I don’t really understand why, they talk to you about money everywhere else you go. You won’t go eat lunch today without them asking you for some money. You’re getting three huge meals here. We didn’t even charge you to get in the place. And then we’re not even keeping the offering. We’re givin' it to disaster relief. And you know, I’m happy to do that. I’m happy to come here and pay for this building and give all the offerings to disaster relief because I know nothin' makes the devil madder than when you bless other people. When life is painful, don’t run from your problems.

I wanna talk to you about several people in the Bible who ran, and I’ll show you that God always sends you back to what you ran from, and you have to face it. You can’t run around: you gotta run through. Hagar ran. Genesis 16:8-9. Sarai had gotten this great idea that since she wasn’t having a baby, she’d give her handmaiden to her husband and told him to go have intercourse with her. I can’t imagine why she thought that was a good idea, but she did. And not only that, he did it: probably gladly. And so, after she got pregnant, then she started having a bad attitude towards Sarai. So, then Sarai goes to Abraham and said, «This trouble I’m having is your fault».

There’s some funny stories in the Bible. «This is your fault». So, then Hagar ran, Sarai chased her off, she ran out into the wilderness. Every person that I find in the Bible that ran, they ended up in the desert or the wilderness. And in Genesis 16:8-9, an angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar, said, «'where have you come from and where are you going'? And she said, 'I’m running away from my mistress SaraI'. And the angel of the Lord said to her, 'go back to your mistress and submit to her'». What? «She’s mistreating me, you want me to go back and submit to her»? Yep, that’s what he said. Moses ran from Egypt. God didn’t tell him to run, he ran. He fled. He felt this calling on his life to deliver his people, but he just got a little bit ahead of God. And he killed an Egyptian, somebody saw him. When he got accused of it, then he ran.

Exodus 2:15, «When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses ran from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well». Forty years later, God sent him back to Egypt. You know, I tried to, when I left home at 18, I thought, «Finally, finally my problem is over». Boy, was I deceived. I packed up my stuff and left and got my own apartment and had a job. Nobody was going to tell me what to do again. Nobody was ever going to hurt me again. And I didn’t realize that I left, but I took the problem with me in my soul. It was all in me, and it showed up in the way I acted and behaved. I have to say that I was one of those ones that Jesus said, «Do you really want to get well»? And I had my excuses too. And he said, «Get up».

And you know, I found out a wonderful thing that if you’ll go through whatever you need to go through to get well, once you have gone through, then you can turn around and go back through, and you can get some other people that were suffering like you were, and you can bring them through. And see, that’s really all I’m doing today. I’m telling you what God did for me and that he’ll do the same thing for you if you want him to. I had to go back and face my dad all the years he abused me. There’s something crazy about sexual abuse. Nobody talks about it. Like that was a case of incest and we all lived in the house together. And my mother knew what was going on, and everybody just pretended like everything was okay. And I lived under this constant threat of «You better never tell anybody».

And I took on the responsibility of keeping my mother from finding out, and she already knew and wasn’t doing anything to help me. Why I felt like I needed to protect her when she didn’t protect me, I don’t understand, but I took on that job. And it was hard work. So, we never talked about it. I left home. When I did see them, which was not unless I had to, nobody talked about it. And when God called me in the ministry, he said, «The time’s gonna come when you’re gonna have to go face him and talk about this». Now, I’m not telling you, you have to do that. I’m telling you what God had me do. And finally, the time came, God said «It’s time». And I went and I was shaking so hard, but I just sat down and I said, «We’re going to have to talk about what you did to me».

Man, he got all flustered. But I had to face it. I had to quit pretending like it never happened. I had to make him try to face it. And God brought me back to many things that I ran from. Jonah ran. God told him, «Go to Nineveh and preach to them because they’re wicked». Well, Jonah disliked them so much, he didn’t want to preach to them because he didn’t want them to repent. Now, what kind of a prophet is that? And so, instead of going where God told him, he went to Tarshish, which on a map is the exact opposite direction of where God told him to go. Is there anybody in here today that’s going the opposite direction of where God has directed you? Yeah, Lord have mercy, you got it right.

And so, you know the story of Jonah, probably, maybe, hopefully. But in Jonah, it doesn’t take very long to read the whole book of Jonah, you should read it, but read it slow enough to get it. He said, «'go to that great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me'. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard». While they were out there, a great storm, a violent storm arose and the ship was about to break in half. And the sailors said, «Let’s cast lots and find out who’s causing this problem». The lot fell on Jonah. They said to Jonah, «What have you done»? And he said, «Just pick me up and throw me into the sea and it’ll become calm». Well, God already had a present waiting for him. A whale that swallowed him.

Now, I know a lot of people think, «That’s not true». Well, how do you know it’s not true? Well, while Jonah was in the belly of the whale, you know, can you imagine how it stunk in there? Seaweed wrapped all around his head. I mean, I would probably be inclined to repent too. He repented and God caused the whale to vomit him out, the Bible says, and God said to him, «Go to Nineveh». I love it. God is not gonna change his mind, sweetheart, about what he’s told you to do. If you’re mad at somebody, even though you may think you’re justified in your anger because of what they did, God commands us to forgive.

Now look, you’re not going anywhere else until you do. Forgiveness is the very first thing that has to happen for you to get well. Your prayers won’t work if you’re mad at somebody. «When you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them, leave it, let it go». Elijah ran from Jezebel. The day before he had killed 400 Baal prophets, and I don’t quite figure out how he did this, but he chopped up 400 prophets, 400 Baal prophets. Can you imagine what a job that was? I mean, think about it like it’s true. Whoo! I bet he was tired. Now, he’d been this mountain of power and strength.

Now he’s tired, he’s worn out, he’s exhausted, and he hears that Jezebel is intending to kill him. And he ran out into the desert, sat down under a tree and said, «God, just take my life. Just kill me». It’s quite a change in 24 hours. And God sent an angel, I love this, he gave him two good meals and a nap. Sent him on his way again. Some of you think you got a huge problem, maybe you just need to start going to bed at night. This is kind of a scratchy message, isn’t it? It says, «Elijah was afraid and ran for his life, but God found him». He found him, refreshed him. Well, I said this. He found him, refreshed him, rebuked him, and then sent him back to work. He told him, «What are you doing here»? He was in this cave where he heard the still, small voice.

I said last night, «God doesn’t yell, he whispers». Try to have some quiet time every day. Try to have some time where you just sit and aren’t playing with your cell phone, and just, even 15 minutes. Start with five if you can’t handle fifteen, and just be quiet and listen. «Well, I’ve tried that and God didn’t say anything». Well, try it again. Don’t spend your life trying to collect from somebody who can’t pay you back for what happened to you in the past. I did that. Poor Dave, I wanted him to pay me back for what all these other men had done to me. And I came across, in Matthew 18, where this man owed his master a bunch of money, and the Bible says, «And he could not pay».

And it just hit me like a ton of bricks, and I thought, «Nobody else can pay me back». But you know what? God can. God can. Who’s in here that’s been hurt pretty bad in your life? I wanna see. Okay. You know, God says that he will give you «Double blessing for your former trouble». That’s what I’m living in now. I’m in that double stuff. But boy, I had to quit running, I had to quit feeling sorry for myself, I had to stop blaming, I had to get up, clean up my mess, forget about myself, start helping other people. And I’ve been at this, 50 years now: I’m not gonna tell you, it’s gonna be an overnight thing. But you’ll gradually just get little better, little better, little better, little better, and then maybe you’ll fall back, and then you’ll get up, get little better, little better, little better, little better.

And instead of being frustrated about how far you have to go, be happy about the progress you’ve made. Celebrate every little bit. And then lastly, I will say, well, before I say the lastly, I’m going to say this. Hebrews 10:30 says, «We know him who said, 'it is mine to avenge: I will repay, ' says the Lord». Somebody owes you. God will collect. Okay, stop blaming and move on. «We war not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and wickedness in high places». There’s only one way, now listen to me, there is only one way to get the devil back. Only one.

Romans 12:21, «We overcome evil with good». When the devil hurts you, you go be good to somebody else. I know it sounds upside-down, but we live in an upside-down kingdom that’s actually right side up. It’s the world that’s upside-down. If you want more, give away whatcha got. The last will be first. The first will be last. A lot of God’s principles are the opposite of what the world’s are. When people hurt you, don’t try to take revenge. Forgive 'em. Pray for 'em. Bless 'em. If they’re hungry, feed 'em. If they’re thirsty, give 'em somethin' to drink. That’s just another way of saying, «If they need somethin', help 'em». Ooh, that hurts. But it hurts the devil more than it hurts you.

«For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but it’s against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spirit forces of evil». In other words, our war is not with people. That’s why Jesus looked at Peter and said, «Get thee behind me, satan». It was the devil working through Peter. It was the devil who entered Judas and caused him to betray Jesus. Now, yes, they had a responsibility not to let the enemy do that. But a lot of times people don’t know enough not to let the devil use 'em. Stop blaming somebody else. Sarah blamed Abram. Adam blamed God. He said, «I only ate the fruit because the woman you gave me».

You imagine that? «I only ate the fruit because the woman you gave me tempted me and I ate it». Poor Adam. You know, I’m not too fond of men who wanna be the head of their house, but every time something happens, they blame it on their wife. Adam blamed God. Eve blamed the snake. Now, I just wanna end by asking you this, how well do you intend to cooperate with God? God will heal you. I can absolutely 100% tell you that God will heal you. He is no respecter of persons. If there’s one person in here that’s been delivered set free, then everybody can be delivered and set free.