Joyce Meyer - Patience with Yourself - Part 2

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. It took me so long to get to the point where I didn’t feel guilty every time, I made a mistake. And I hate to see people just waste their life feeling guilty all the time. Because there’s something you can feel guilty about every day if you want to live on that track. Amen? And I started feeling guilty as a kid when my dad was abusing me because the devil told me it was my fault. Which, how can a five or six-year-old kid possibly think that an adult abusing them is their fault? But you always think if somebody mistreats you, there’s something wrong with you.

«I must not be good enough to be a daughter» because I’ve been rejected as a daughter and taken for something else. And so, I felt guilty. Like, I heard this record in my head for years: «What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you»? And I so desperately wanted to know what was wrong with me. So, then I come into this relationship with God, loved him with all my heart, so much, wanted to do what he wanted me to do, but I carried it to the same extreme. I was trying to change myself. And I was reading in Galatians, chapter 3: «O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians. Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, whom, right before your very eyes, Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified»?

Many of them, I guess, saw the crucifixion. And he said, «What is wrong with you»? «Let me ask you one question: did you receive the Holy Spirit as the result of obeying the law and doing its works, or was it by hearing the message of the gospel and believing it? Was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith»?

All right, now listen. This was a life-changing point for me. «Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun your new life spiritually with the Holy Spirit, are you now reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh»? I was sure trying to. That was a big turning point for me. Some of you that were around when I first started teaching this probably remember how excited I was. It was like, «Wow». I began my new life with Christ just by total faith in him, actually coming to the point where, I mean, when I received the Holy Spirit that morning, Dave, and I had had an argument, and I was on my way to work, and I was talking to the Lord, and I just said, «I can’t go on like this».

I had come to the end of myself, and I think many times we must come to the end of ourself before God can do anything. And it wasn’t just like one of those threats we, «Oh, I give up». No, I meant it, like, «I can’t do this anymore». You know something? Living the Christian life is not hard: it’s impossible. Because you can’t live it. God has to live it through you. So, there’s no point in saying, «This is hard». Just say, «This is impossible». And then you cry out to God, and you lean on him. And so, what I should have done was hear the message about the mouth and pray and say, «God, I feel convicted by that word. I do need to change. Will you change me»?

And then go home and wait to see what he did? And our part is to study the word and to pray. I should have studied everything I could find about the mouth because the word has inherent power in it. It’s full of power. Isn’t that wonderful? You began your life spiritually by believing. Do you really seriously think you’re gonna reach perfection by dependence on the flesh? We can’t do that. And so, this transformation that God says has to happen in us, the changing of the soul is for your will to come in line with God’s will. I think that’s what we are to use our will for. We use our will to come into agreement with God’s will.

«I don’t want to do this, but I will to do it because I know it’s what you want me to do. And I may not wanna do the thing, but I wanna please you, so, I’m willing to do it». And if you’re not willing, pray, «God, make me willing to be willing». And then you got these emotions that we gotta get under control. Amen? And our emotion gets us in so much trouble. Our mind and our emotions. Get your mind renewed. Work with God to get your emotions under control. And when is it the hardest to control your emotions? When you have problems. I remember when, before I… well, maybe I was teaching a home Bible study by then, I don’t know. But it was very early in my walk with God.

And I would listen to teaching tapes all day. Dave was gone to work: the kids were going to school. I’d play my Christian music, and sing my songs, and read my Bible, and listen to my teaching tapes. And I tell you what, I was so spiritual until the people came home. How many of you can be so good until people come around? And I’m telling you, my one daughter was sloppy. And she’d come in the door and throw her books here and her jacket there and her shoes somewhere else, and I would start, «What is the matter with you?! If you’re gonna live in myyy house…»! I lost my sweet spirit real quick. But you know what my testimony is? I’m still here. I didn’t give up. And God’s not finished with me yet.

But the Bible says in Philippians 1:6 that «He who has begun a good work in you will complete it and bring it to its finish, right up until the day of Jesus' return». «Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom you discipline and instruct, o Lord, and teach out of your law, that you may give him power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity», ha-ha, yeah, «Until the inevitable pit of corruption is dug for the wicked». I love this. Matthew 10:27: «What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight».

I learned most of what I know in the dark, in hard times, when nobody was coming to hear me say anything. There’s always a purpose for trials. God’s not just trying to torment you or make you miserable. There’s a purpose. There’s something in you that you don’t see that God is after that’s gonna help you and set you free. Let’s think for a minute about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I love this. Three men were loosed from their bondage in the furnace of affliction. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship an image of gold that king Nebuchadnezzar had set up of himself. The king was furious and commanded that they be thrown into a blazing furnace.

«Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. And he ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie them up and threw them into the furnace bound».

You gotta get this. «The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who threw them in there. And these three men, firmly bound, fell into the blazing furnace. Then king Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, 'weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire'? And they said, 'certainly, your majesty'. And he said, 'well, look, I see four men walking around in that fire loosed from their bondage'».

Where did they get free? In the fire. They went in bound. They came out loosed. Hallelujah! But you know something Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had said earlier when he was threatening them? «Know this, king Nebuchadnezzar, if God can deliver us from this, he will. And if not, we still won’t bow down to you». And they didn’t mean if God was able. They meant if it was God’s plan, if it was the right thing, he would deliver them. But if not, they still weren’t gonna bow down. «You kill us, we’re not gonna bow down».

We need a little stronger commitment today than what some people have. I know it’s not you, but some people are like that. «The satraps, the prefects», I don’t, a satrap. I’m glad I’m not a satrap, «The prefects, the governors and the loyal advisors crowded around them. And they saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies». I love this. «Nor was the hair of their head singed. Their robes were not scorched, and they didn’t even smell like smoke».

Who would look at me now and imagine what I went through? For any of you, for that matter. You all have a story. You hear my story all the time. But if we took time to listen to your story, you’ve got a story, too. You’ve all been hurt. You’ve had to forgive people. You’ve gone through things. You’ve had disappointments, even disappointments with God. You don’t understand why things turned out the way they did. But if you can get to the place where you really believe Romans 8:28, it gets very sweet after that. That «God works everything out for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose».

And you see them being in that furnace was good because it freaked out the king. Three men went in there and four are in there now. Who was the fourth man in that fiery furnace? Jesus. And he will always loose us from our bondages if we won’t run and cower in fear. Stand strong because God is in you. He’s with you. And he will do more for you than what you can even imagine if you just won’t give up. And be patient with yourself. If you’ve been on your own back, constantly berating yourselves and feeling bad about everybody else, «Well, she prays an hour in the morning. I only pray 30 minutes. She reads her Bible through every year. And I still can’t hardly find some of the books».

I still have to look in the front of my Bible sometimes to find one of the books. You don’t have to be perfect. Marilyn Hickey has memorized a large majority of the Bible.

Well, I know a lot of scripture because I’ve studied a lot of scripture and it rolls out of me. But I didn’t sit down purposely to memorize it because that’s not my gift. I know a pastor who memorizes his whole sermon, and he can preach it two or three times. You can lay them right on top of each other and it’s word for word, exactly. Well, I could never get up and say the same thing twice. Even if you gave me the same set of notes. I couldn’t preach the same thing twice. So, you go home and be more patient with yourself and the work of God in you will take place even faster. But always remember, you’ll still be in school. Just hopefully it’s not kindergarten when Jesus comes. Let’s give God praise.

Father, I pray for all of us and all the people watching that you would give us the grace to be patient with ourselves, not to be lazy or not care what we do, but to understand that only you can change us. And you will, if we trust you to do that. We let go of what lies behind and take hold of what is ahead. And our determined purpose is to know you and the power of your resurrection, in Jesus' name, amen.

Luke 11:11: «What father among you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone: or if he asks for a fish, will instead give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, that are for their advantage how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask him».

Now, wanna talk to you for just probably less than five minutes here about the extreme importance of understanding the role of the Holy Spirit in your daily life. We serve a triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. When Jesus ascended on high, he sent the Holy Spirit to represent him and act in his behalf. And he said that everything the father had given him, now listen, «Everything the father’s given me, the Holy Spirit will transmit it unto you».

So, now, the thing you gotta understand is we’re in a daily walk with God and in a continual growth pattern. And only the Holy Spirit knows the right time to deal with us about the right thing, the right time to show us things, even about ourselves, that we’ve never seen before. That’s why I am a big proponent of putting the Holy Spirit in charge of your healing and your wholeness. I’m not against counseling, but to be honest, unless you go to somebody for counseling that really is listening to God, they don’t know when to open up what to you. And if their timing’s off, it can do more harm than good.

The Holy Spirit is the counselor. He is the teacher. I am a teacher. He is the teacher. If I say something, I have to depend on him to take that and make it real to you. Too many people don’t know what they should know about the Holy Spirit. I wanna encourage you to get several books on just the daily ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life and learn everything that you can about the Holy Spirit. And no matter what your particular church doctrine is, there’s one thing that trumps everybody’s doctrine, and that’s what the Bible says.

And the Bible says that we need to all be filled, and ever filled with the Holy Spirit. I don’t think that I miss a day asking God, «Fill me afresh with your Holy Spirit. Lead me, guide me, teach me. I need you in my life. I need you». He’s the counselor, the one who prays through us. Especially when we don’t know how to pray, he prays through us. There are gifts of the Holy Spirit, supernatural endowments of power. Who in their right mind would not want a supernatural endowment of power? Amen? And I’m not gonna go into a long discourse here on what those gifts are and how you may or may not feel about different ones. I mean, I guess the good news is God’s not gonna push anything off on you that you don’t want. But I want it all. I mean, there’s nothing he’s offering that I don’t want it all, in double measure.

And so, I’m gonna just encourage you to learn everything you can learn about the Holy Spirit. And so, you need to get hungry. You need to get hungry for more of the Holy Spirit in your life. You need to be hungry to let God guide you, lead you and guide you and open right doors and close wrong doors. So, I’m gonna just pray that everybody here today would be touched with the power of God. And I’m gonna leave it up to you to continue to ask and keep on asking, «God, fill me fresh today with the power of your Holy Spirit. I am nothing without you. I can do nothing without you. Fill me up to where you are flowing out of me so other people can feel your touch when they’re around me».

Father, we pray in Jesus' name, who is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. John said, «I baptized you with water, but one is coming after me. He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire». Amen. And I personally am tired of lukewarm religion. I want to see people that are on fire, so much in love with you that it is oozing out of them all over. So, I pray that you would cause everybody in this room to be hungry to know more about the Holy Spirit. Don’t let them get away from it. Cause them to dream about it. Put books in front of them, put teachings in front of them. Good stuff God, not weird stuff that’s gonna lead them astray, but good solid Bible stuff about the power of the Holy Spirit. Teach them about the gifts of the spirit. And I pray that every person here would be filled with the Holy Ghost and ever filled every day with your power. We ask it and we receive it in Jesus' name.