Joyce Meyer - What Has Jesus Done for Us? - Part 1

You know, how you feel about yourself, what you think about yourself is probably one of the most important things in your life next to receiving Jesus, because he died for us to have much more than just a place in heaven. He wants you to have a really great life, right here, where you’re at. And that’s not dependent on how much money you have, or what kind of job you have, or how much education you have. A lot of your joy comes from how you feel about yourself. And I found, a long time ago, that most people who have problems, serious problems, most people who are dysfunctional, depressed, discouraged, it’s not really because of their problems.

It’s how they feel about themselves and how they see themselves. And maybe you grew up in a Pollyanna family where everything was wonderful, and you got told all the time how great you were. But I didn’t have that, and probably a lot of you didn’t have it. Matter of fact, I was told the opposite: I was «Stupid, no good, would never amount to anything,» all that stuff. And it took me a while to learn to like myself. And then I took another step and began to love myself. Now that really makes the devil mad. And see, we’re very tempted to think, «Now, wait a minute. Isn’t that a little bit haughty? Aren’t you in danger of getting in pride if you start to think good things about yourself»?

And I don’t know why religion has made people think that it’s wonderful to feel like nothing and nobody and to be poor and have nothing, that doesn’t even make any sense at all. But people feel like you’re really religious if you’re like that. And I guess religious is what you are, but that’s not having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, we all have trouble, and we all have problems, and we always will from time to time. But that’s where God shines the best. Because I do, I mean, I believe that «All things work together for good». I believe it. I’ve seen it too many times in my own life, and I’ve seen it in other people’s lives. But there is a catch: you have to have a good attitude while you’re going through the problem you’re going through.

So, maybe that’s a take home for somebody today. See, you may be having a problem thinking, «Yeah, yeah. All things work out together for good». But one of the best things you can do when you’re having a problem is go be good to somebody else. I learned that years ago. And I mean, I just get, when the devil attacks me, I go give something away. When he attacks me, I call somebody up and bless 'em. You don’t have to fight with the devil. You can defeat him with love. Romans 12:21 says, «We overcome evil with good».

So, if you can just see yourself the way God sees you, think of yourself the way God thinks of you, man, you are on your way to a life of victory. And I don’t mean you have to go tap somebody on the back and say, «Look, I’m valuable, wonderful, precious, the apple of God’s eye. I have favor». But you need to know that you are those things. And you need to know that in yourself. And I’m gonna highly recommend that you confess them out loud every day. I don’t think a lot of people really, deep down, know who they are. Those two little words «In Christ,» they are all over the New Testament, and they are two of the most important words that you will find. Because who I am, in my works, is nothing. Who I am, in myself, is nothing.

But when I change families and I come over into God’s family, now I’m a new creature in Christ. Old things pass away, and everything becomes brand-new. The fear of inadequacy is one of the greatest fears that people have. And that fear is, «I’m not…» «I can’t…» «I don’t…» «I didn’t…» «I lack…» we always wonder if we’re enough. If we’re enough for the job, enough for somebody to love. You have so many situations where people are hurt by other people and they take it onto themselves, like, «Well, there must have been something wrong with me. I wasn’t enough, or you wouldn’t have».

When I was a kid and my father was abusing me, I thought, «Surely there’s something wrong with me». But it wasn’t me. It was him. He had a problem. But I had to have Jesus in my life to find that out. And if you’re blaming yourself for somebody else’s mistreatment of you, right now, this morning, is a good time to say, «The devil is a liar. And I am not gonna believe that anymore». Let me say it again. 'cause I really feel like somebody needs to hear that. If you’re blaming yourself for something that somebody else did to you that hurt you, don’t take it as your fault.

Now, if it was your fault, then receive it, get forgiveness, and go on. But there’s about a 99% chance that it wasn’t your fault. There are people who just hurt other people, and that’s all there is to it. Have some active faith, believing, «I can overcome. I can do whatever I need to do. I’m not gonna be held back». And that’s exactly why I’m where I am with the beginning that I started with. There’s no earthly reason for me to be doing what I’m doing. It’s definitely God. But no matter what God, now, listen to me, no matter what God wants to do for you, he cannot do it if you won’t agree with him. You understand that?

The word «Confess» means: to say the same thing, and all, in the Bible, we’re taught to confess the word. And that means to say the same thing that God says. So, when God says, «You are fearfully and wonderfully made,» then you need to start your morning with, «I am fearfully and wonderfully made». I mean, I’ve got a list this long of the good things that God says about us, and I’m starting to commit 'em to memory just by saying them every morning. And you know what I found? The more I get up in the morning and say, «God loves me, I’m right with God. He’s made me righteous through the blood of Christ. I’m justified and sanctified. I am redeemed. I have got gifts and talents. I am valuable. I am precious. God rejoices over me with singing,» and on and on and on.

I mean, I start to get pretty happy. I’m serious. I mean, I’ve been doing this a long time. And it’s not just a few little words on pages. It’s a reality. When you become a Christian, you change families. Yeah, I got a believer out there. God will always give us whatever we need, to do whatever he asks us to do, but only if we agree with him. Some of you maybe have, God’s been telling you some things and showing you some things, and they’re just more than you can take in. So, you don’t agree with him. But you just start agreeing with him and see what starts happening in your life.

2 Peter 1:3 says, «His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life». Everything. Not just a few things. I like you, brother. Everything. Everything. And you know, we have to think about this: everything. I remember when I was being sexually abused by my dad thinking, «Well, I am gonna overcome this and I’m gonna get away from him as soon as I’m 18 and can get a job and support myself, but I’ll always have a second-rate life». I had no idea that I could have even a better life because of it. I thought I’d always have a second-rate life.

Well, so what did I do? I went and married the first guy that asked me, and he was just as crazy as I was. And we were married five years, but we probably didn’t live together six months out of those five years. Every time I turned around: he would just disappear. He stole from me and went to prison for writing bad checks and yada yada, yada, yada, yada. Desperate people do stupid things. And I was so afraid, now, listen to me, ladies, I was so afraid that nobody would ever want me that I’d desperately grabbed at something that I knew down deep in my heart was not right. Come on, there’s somebody here that was worth you coming. Please believe me. You are better off with just you and Jesus, than you and Jesus and somebody who wants to mistreat you and take advantage of you. But God’s given you everything that you need for a godly life…

Now, wait a minute. «Through», here’s something for you. You know, we work together with God. We just don’t go float on a cloud and he does everything for us. We’re partners with God. He shows us what to do. He gives us the ability to do it. But we have to do the doing. Otherwise, faith has no action. And James said, «Faith without works is dead». Well, it really is. I mean, faith always is in the lead. But good works, should always follow real faith. We don’t do good things to get God to love us. We do them because he loves us. We don’t do them to get something for ourself. We do them because the spirit and the nature of God is in us, and we just can’t help ourselves. I mean, I have just gotten downright nice.

And I’m sorry, I just can’t help it. And boy, I used to be a snot. Not very good. But all these things come to us «Through our knowledge of him». Not through grandma’s knowledge, not through mama’s knowledge, but your personal knowledge. Coming here once a week, that’s not enough. That won’t do it. You can even go to church twice a week. You can watch me and Joel every morning. Which I highly recommend. And it still won’t do it. You’ve got to have your own personal relationship with God. And I’m gonna tell you what that takes, time. «I’m too busy to spend time with God». Well then, you better cut something else out of your life because nothing’s ever gonna work right until you put him first.

«Well, I don’t know what to do when I spend time with God». Well, it’s not so much about what you do as it is that you give him the time. If you don’t do anything but sit there and say, «Well, God, I don’t know what to do,» he’ll show you. I tell you, we have to learn this word and we’ve got to get it down on the inside of us. John 16:15. Jesus said, «All that belongs to the father is mine». Now, watch this transfer. «That’s why I said, the spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you».

So, God sent Jesus, and when Jesus ascended on high, he sent the Holy Spirit to be in us. And we need to not just have a little tiny bit of the Holy Spirit, we need to be full of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes we’ve gotta get a daily refill because the world can suck it out of you. Amen? You know, a large majority of churches don’t even teach that. There’s a lot more that don’t than do. I never heard anything about being filled with the Holy Spirit the nine years that I went to the church I went to before God actually really touched me. We need a touch from God. Each one of you need a personal connection with God. «Well, I go to Joel’s church and it’s the biggest church in the country, I heard».

Well, good for you. I like Joel. If I lived here, I’d probably come here. But that’s not enough. Paul said, «Some of you say I belong to Paul. Some say», you know, this one, that one, another one. The thing is, is we belong to Jesus. You always gotta keep him first. But then Jesus said, «You’re gonna be better off if I go away. Because when I go away, I’m gonna send the Holy Spirit». Wow. So, that means right now, today, we’ve got it better than the people did the three years that Jesus walked the earth. We’ve got it better. Because we’ve got the Holy Spirit in us. And Jesus told his disciples, he said, «There are many things that I wanna tell you, but you’re not ready for 'em».

And see, we’re all that way. There’s all things, right now, that God would love to teach us, but we’re just not ready for it yet. So, the Holy Spirit lives in us as our teacher, and he teaches us things as we’re ready to receive them. So, we’re always learning. Always learning. Now, listen, I know you know this, but we gotta be reminded. The Holy Spirit is our teacher. I’m a teacher. He’s the teacher. And I pray for the anointing, but I pray when I’m gonna teach for people to get it. It doesn’t do me any good to say it if you don’t get it.

So, if you’re just here today just to put in your time and say, «Well, I check off my went to church calendar». Then really, to be honest, you might as well just have stayed home. But when you come, you need to come ready to learn something, ready to grasp something, ready to get something that’s gonna make a change in your life. And you don’t need to come to church just to get your blessing. You need to come ready to be a blessing to somebody else. I bet you could find somebody in here today that needs a hug, or needs a smile, or needs a compliment, or maybe they need a $50 gift certificate to take their kids out to lunch because they haven’t been able to do that in three years.

There’s always needy people. And it’s amazing what one little blessing can do for somebody. And you have the ability to change other people’s lives. Can you get ahold of that? You have the ability to change other people’s lives. People come up to me quite frequently, «Oh, you’ve changed my life». Well, we know it’s the word through me that changed their life. But I said, coming over here this morning, just kind of as a joke, I said, «Oh, woe is me. I have to go to work for God again this morning».

What a privilege it is to be a child, you’re an ambassador of God. His ambassador. You’re not normal. You’re above normal. You’re not average. You’re above average because you can change lives. It’s not just a person on the pulpit you need to admire. You better take a good look at what God’s put in you because you can do something greater than anybody has ever done. «No, not me». Well, okay, then I guess you won’t. The only way we can fail is if we quit trying. You can fail at things, but that doesn’t make you a failure. The only time you’re a failure is if you give up and quit.

I’m gonna read you a story and see if you can tell me who this is: «When I was seven years old, my family was forced out of our home because of a legal technicality. I had to work to help support my family. At age 9, while I was still a little backwards and shy, my mother died. At age 22, I lost my job as a store clerk. I wanted to go to law school, but my education wasn’t good enough. At 23, I went into debt to become a partner in a small store. And three years later, my partner died, leaving me with a huge debt which took years to repay. At 28, after developing Romantic relationships with a young lady for four years, I asked her to marry me, and she said 'no.' at 37, on my third try, I was finally elected to the United States congress. Two years later, I ran again and failed to be re-elected. I had a nervous breakdown at that time».

I can believe that. «At 41, adding additional heartache to an already unhappy marriage, my 4-year-old son died. The next year I ran for land officer and lost. At 45, I ran for senate and lost. A few years later, I ran for vice presidency and lost. At 49, I ran for the senate again and lost». This guy’s got some guts. «At 51, however, I was elected president of the United States». «Who am i»? Abraham Lincoln. Now, just think about this for a minute. Now, just think with me. What if he would have quit? Do you know that our whole world today could be different?

Now, think about that. I was thinking about it. Our whole world today could be different if he would have said, «Well, as many times as I’ve failed, there’s no point in trying again». Wow. But he kept it up, and kept it up, and kept it up, and kept it up until he just flat wore the devil out. And that’s my goal. You just keep it up, and keep it up, and keep it up, and keep it up. No, when you get knocked down, get back up again. And you get knocked down and you get back up again. Every day I get up and say, «I believe something good is gonna happen to me today and something good is gonna happen through me today». And you say, «Well, what if it don’t»?

Then I get up the next day and say the same thing. Get up the next day and say the same thing. We talk about the early years, and I wish sometime I had the time to just sit down and try to make people understand what it was like. I mean, it was just almost downright silly. But I had a dream. And I didn’t give it to myself. God gave it to me. I was making my bed when God spoke to me. And he really spoke to me more with a desire, an overwhelming desire to teach his word.

I was listening to a teaching cassette tape, first one I’d ever heard. And I was so impressed by what I was hearing, and it just blew up in me. «Someday I’m gonna do that and I’m gonna go all over the world and teach the word». And from that day until this, I’ve never quit. But I taught five years, a home Bible study, twenty-five people in my living room floor, I didn’t get paid for that. I quit my full-time job in order to be able to study. And for six years we needed a miracle every month just to pay our bills. Oh yeah, there’s sacrifice if you wanna serve God, but there’s also great rewards. Amen.