Joyce Meyer - Patience with Yourself - Part 1

TOPICS: Patience

Well, thank you for joining us today on «Enjoying Everyday Life». Are you enjoying your life? I think sometimes we get so busy, caught up in the everyday business of life that we don’t even know if we’re enjoying our life. And enjoying your life doesn’t necessarily mean you went on three vacations this year, or you got to spend a lot of money on something you wanted. It’s a quiet contentment where you can enjoy really anything, anywhere you’re at. Thank God, over the years, God has changed me, and I can be pretty content and happy wherever I am. But it took a lot of work.

And that’s what I wanna talk to you about today: the process of being transformed into the image of Christ. The Bible says in Romans 8:29 that we’re «Predestined to be transformed into the image of Christ». And if you wanna be transformed into the image of anything, you gotta focus on that. If you wanna be like Jesus, you’re gonna have to do more than spend one hour in church on Sunday morning and get a 20 or a 30-minute sermon. You need the word every day, how much of it you feel you have time to get. You do that. But please just remember, you find time to do what you really wanna do.

And I mean, I’ve studied the word for 49 years and I still get the word in me every day, some way. If I don’t have time to read the Bible in the morning, I listen to someone, sometimes myself. I learn from me, sometimes, you know, or at least I’m reminded of things that I’ve said in the past that were good. And I think, «Oh, maybe I’ll tell that again». I love to listen to other people too, and I’ve listened to a variety of people lately. And we have to have the word to grow. If you wanna grow in God, you can’t depend on somebody else spoon feeding you the word all the time.

In Mark, chapter 4, the Bible says, «The measure of thought and study that you give to the truth that you hear is the measure of virtue and knowledge that will come back to you again». You have to think about that. It’s not just me standing here preaching. Well, what are you gonna do with it when you leave? You know, did you hear something today that kind of like, «Yeah, I need that»? Well, you need to jot it down in here, if you’re not prepared in here, as soon as you get out of here and then go home and let that be your Bible study tomorrow. The measure and thought that you give to the truth that you hear is what you’ll reap back. It’s not just what somebody else teaches you, but what you reap back.

And I think that’s something that needs to be cleared up with a lot of people because I do think that there’s been a longstanding thought, «Are you a Christian»? «Well, I go to church every Sunday». And it’s really not going to church that makes you a Christian. It’s really being transformed into the image of Christ and your personal, intimate relationship with God. I love what the apostle Paul prayed in Philippians 3, verse 9, and verse 11. Verse 9, he says, «I pray that I will be found and known as in you not having any righteousness of my own, but only that which you give through Christ». And then further down he said, «My determined purpose is to know him».

So, what is your purpose? You know, we had people send in some questions for an event that we’re gonna be doing and people want to know, «How do I know what my purpose is»? So many people calling here wanna know, «How do I know what my purpose is»? And you know, I honestly think if you’re chasing after the purpose the Bible tells you to chase after, if there’s something specific God wants you to do, you won’t miss it. He’ll let you know what it is at the right time. And you may have something bubbling around in your heart that is true and it will happen, but the time’s not right yet. I remember when I was a nine-year-old child, my parents sent me to Sunday school with some neighbors, I think, just to get me out of the house. And it was a Lutheran Sunday school they took me to.

And I remember I would lay in bed at night and reteach the pastor’s sermons in my head and think, «Now if I was saying that, I would say.». And «If I was saying that, I would say.». Well, see, those were all signs of the hand of God being on my life. But I didn’t know that at the time. But like, what is your purpose? Well, Paul said, «My determined purpose is to know him and the power of his resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while I’m in the body». So, he said, «I wanna know that place that you can live in where you can be going through all kinds of trouble and be lifted above it and yet still walk the earth».

Do you know that spiritual maturity is having a problem and being able to be good to other people while you have it? I think that the thing that God cares about the most is how we treat other people. It’s so important how we treat other people and what we’re willing to sacrifice for other people. Are you willing to volunteer for something even if you don’t get paid? Today that’s not as popular as it was when I was coming up. People want you to sign a contract and tell 'em what you’re gonna pay 'em before they ever even agree to do anything. I don’t really believe that that’s God’s way.

The Bible says that in Philippians 2:12–13, «Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed: not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose». Now, what in the world does that mean? «Work out your salvation»? «Wait a minute, Joyce. I thought that we weren’t supposed to work for our salvation. You can’t get it by works. It only comes by grace. You’re confusing me. What do you mean, 'work out my own salvation'»?

Well, work it out is a lot different than working for it. God gives you the gift of himself when you’re born again. Through the Holy Spirit, he comes to live inside of you. The very thought that we are the house of God is something that should just almost shatter us, like, «Gracious sakes, I am the home of God». It’s so hard to really grasp that, isn’t it, that God lives in you? That’s why you can talk to him anytime, anywhere, about anything. You don’t have to be in some certain posture. He’s in you.

And, you know, I don’t know if you knew who she was, but madame Guyon was a nun in the 16th century. And she was actually, finally put to death for teaching people that they could pray silently. Because the church, at that time, had a formula for everything, and it was all in a book, and it wasn’t really coming from your heart. It was just something that somebody else, and she wanted a relationship with God, a personal, intimate relationship with God. And the church got very angry when she began to share that and teach that with people. But her work is still affecting people today. It was one of the books that affected my life greatly.

I don’t agree with everything that was in it, but I got the part that what I needed most was an intimate relationship with God. It wasn’t about how many times a week I went to church or how much money I gave or how many good works I even did. And God does want us to do good works, and he has prepared good works ahead of time for us to do them. But you can’t get the cart before the hearse, the horse, the hearse, the horse. The hearse or the horse. And that means that you do good works, but you do them because you love God. Listen to me, not to get God to love you.

See, a lot of times when people do good things, they’re trying to win points with God, and then they can expect that God owes them something. «Well, you should answer this prayer after, I’m due that. Why didn’t you answer my prayer»? No. Everything that God gives us is a free gift, and everything we give him should be a free gift with no strings attached. Amen? Just to be able to know him and the power of his resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead. And the Amplified Bible gives a long description of that, that I might know him intimately and know the wonders of his person. And it just goes on and on, to make it really personal. You should read it yourself.

Let your homework one of these days be Philippians 3:9 and 11. And then he goes into 12 and 13 about how «One thing I do, it’s my one aspiration, letting go of what lies behind and pressing on to the good things that are ahead». Paul had been arresting Christians and putting 'em in prison. And the Bible says he was given grace because he did what he did in ignorance. He really felt like that he was doing something for God. And God picked Paul to show his grace through because Paul was the least deserving of anybody.

And see, when you’re the least deserving or you’ve done your worst and God does something for you, then you learn what grace is. It’s the favor of God that cannot be earned or deserved. I always say that grace is God doing for you what you can never do for yourself with any amount of struggle and effort. But when he does it for you, it’s with ease. And it’s very good for you to learn what it feels like when you’re doing something with the grace of God on it, and when you’re doing it by yourself with no grace. You can tell easily what God’s finished with when you do that, when it’s time for a change, or what God wants you to do. Because I do not, for not even a moment, believe that God calls us to do things that we hate.

Otherwise, John 10:10 makes no sense. «I came that you might have and enjoy your life and have it in abundance to the full, until it overflows». So many people hate their job. If you hate your job, then get another one. Don’t spend your life doing something that you hate. Find something you enjoy, and you love. I don’t feel like I go to work every day. This is not my work. This is my life. It’s just what I do. And I hope and pray to do it until the day God takes me away from here. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I didn’t do this. Work out your own salvation.

Well, what that means is what God has put in your spirit, you work with the Holy Spirit to work it out. See, your spirit’s saved, your soul’s not saved. We always say, you know, «Did you get your soul saved»? Well, that’s the part that takes a while, because your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions.

Now, you know, if you’re born again and two months later you die and you’ve never learned a thing, you’re still gonna go to heaven. But the Bible says that we have rewards waiting for us for the good things that we’ve done in Christ. Several places in the Bible that says Jesus comes and he has his rewards with him to give to people according to what they’ve done on the earth. But whatever you do, it must be with the right motive. And boy, if you wanna hear a room full of quiet people, you just talk for a while about motives. Because we move so fast in our society that we barely even know what our motives are. And after I’ve done something good, how do I feel about myself? Do I pat myself on the back and think I’ve done good? Or am I humbled that God would choose to use me?

You know, when you’re born again, if you’re serious, you fall in love with Jesus, you start studying the Bible, and you want so bad to change. You hear the sermons, «Do this, don’t do that, do this, don’t do that». And you find it so hard to change, and you get so frustrated with yourself. «Well, I’m trying»! Anybody ever said that? «I’m trying». See, God never asks you to try. He asked you to believe. You believe that he can change you, and you commit to following what he speaks to you in your heart. It’s not that you don’t have anything to do, but you can’t do it without God. I would hear a message, I mean, this is actually true. I would hear a message about the mouth.

Well, obviously, I had a big mouth, and I was always saying things I shouldn’t say. I wasn’t very tender spoken, let’s say. I wasn’t very gentle. And God understood that, people didn’t. But God understood it. And God knows the why behind the what. See, that’s how you give mercy. You understand the why. You understand why somebody’s doing something, not just what they did. And so, I would hear that sermon, «That’s it. I am gonna go home, and I am gonna shut my mouth».

See, the flesh always overcorrects. We go from one extreme to the other extreme. I was out of balance, talking too much, saying things I didn’t need to say. So, then my answer was to say nothing. So, I would go home and I just, I wouldn’t say anything. «Mm-hmm, mm-hmm». And then people would say, «What is the matter with you»? And then that would make me mad. I thought, «Well, if I talk too much, you don’t like it, and if I don’t talk at all, you don’t like it. You can’t please people».

And then, the next thing was, I would feel bad about myself because I made yet another mistake. And I tried so hard, and it just didn’t work out. And the thing is, is you have to be… now, listen to what I’m gonna say. You have to be patient with yourself while you’re growing up in God, because this is not gonna stop. No matter how good you get at mouth control, there’s still gonna be a day when, «Whoops». You need a fresh lesson. So, your soul is your mind, which must be renewed. You cannot change if your mind is not renewed. And the renewing your mind comes by learning the Word of God. And you don’t, you learn some of it each time, but you don’t really learn it until you’re doing it.

See, just because it’s underlined in your Bible or highlighted in yellow does not mean you know it. And I can remember when I had my Bible all underlined and colored in, and I still do it all the time. See? I should get in a part where it really looked like I was studying. And I can actually remember sitting in church hoping the person next to me, yeah, those sound kind of like guilty laughs to me. Hoping the person next to me noticed how spiritual I was. But that doesn’t mean I knew anything just because I had it colored in. You don’t know it until you’re doing it.

«If you hear the word and you don’t do the word, then you’re deceiving your own selves by reasoning contrary to the truth,» according to James. And that’s so true. Just like what we read about Saul. He knew what God said to him. And he actually got himself convinced that, «Well, I did what God said. I killed all the bad stuff. I just kept the good stuff and I kept that to sacrifice to God». Now, I mean, how demented do you have to be to go that far down the line? «I disobeyed you for you».

And we can tell ourselves lies, too. And reasoning is something we have to be very, very careful about. You can’t take away or add to the Word of God. And so, you have your mind that has to be renewed. You have your emotions that have to be controlled. How many of you ever make emotional decisions and then later you’re very sorry and wish you would have taken more time to think about it? Oh, everybody. Everybody. And I’ll tell you, when you learn to just wait and get a little bit quiet and see if it’s right, I tell you, I can make wrong decisions just out of excitement. That doesn’t mean I’m bad. We just get excited.

And several years ago, there was a piece of property next door to my daughter that was for sale. And we get along real good and have a great relationship. And I got this bright idea that we should build a house next to her. And Dave didn’t really want to, but women do have power. And I did convince him. And we even went so far as to start having plans drawn up. We’d put some money on the table, and we had this place designed on paper. I mean, we were going for it. We bought the lot. And about three or four weeks had gone by, and one morning I was just taking my morning walk, and all of a sudden, I thought, «I don’t wanna move. I don’t wanna go through the effort of building a new house. I like my house».

Well, now, I’m thinking, «Well, people are gonna think I’m an idiot». I’ve told everybody about this house and how, you know, «God put it in my heart to build this house». You know, a lot of times it’s not God putting something in our heart, it’s us putting it in there, 'cause it’s what we want. And I just decided I was gonna swallow my pride and just tell people, «You know what? I miss God, I don’t wanna move». And we just put a stop to the whole thing. And I told Dave, «I don’t think I wanna move». And he said, «I never wanted to to begin with». There are times when you should listen to your husband. But there are times when he should listen to you, too. The Bible does say «Submit ye one to another».