Joyce Meyer - God's Love and Acceptance (02/01/2026)
Many people feel unloved, rejected, and hurt, but God offers unconditional love and full acceptance in Christ—not based on performance. Drawing from 1 John 4:16, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 1:5-6, and more, Joyce emphasizes knowing God's constant love deep inside, recognizing it in daily life, receiving it by faith, and resting in the truth that nothing can separate us from it. Even in pain or past rejection, God meets us where we are, forgives, heals, and transforms us.
Feeling Unloved and Rejected – A Word in Due Season
Well, good morning or good evening whenever you're watching the show. And welcome to "Enjoying Everyday Life". You know, I have a feeling that there are some people watching right now that you don't feel loved, and you don't feel accepted, and you're hurting. And this is gonna be a word in due season for you.
But even if you are doing fine right now, it's also gonna be a good word in due season for you for what to do the next time you feel this way. Love and acceptance is one of our main basic human needs. God created us to be loved and He created us to be accepted. Accepted for who we are, not for what we do.
God offers us unconditional love. Now, you know, it's hard for us to get that through our head because in the world there's not very much that's unconditional. There's usually conditions on everything. "If you will, I will". And "If you don't, I won't," and that kind of thing.
But God just... He sent Jesus to die for us when we were still in sin. And He's loved you your whole life and existence. There's never been a moment in your life when God has not loved you.
Receiving God's Constant, Unconditional Love
But if you don't receive that love, it's not gonna do you much good. And maybe if you haven't been loved by people, especially if it was parental love that you missed, then you may really have a hard time receiving God's love because He's a Father.
And He doesn't want you to be rejected, although you will be, surely, by somebody. Because in the world, the devil is alive and well on planet earth. And one of the ways that he tries to hurt people is through having somebody reject them.
Rejection is an awful, awful pain. I mean, I can remember in grade school they used to... when we played softball, there would be two captains and then the captains... all the kids would stand around and the captain of each team would pick somebody to be on their team.
And I remember how hard it was and embarrassing to stand there and be one of the last people picked. Oh, that was painful.
My daughter-in-law called me the other day and her and my son have four boys. They're 17, 15, 11, I think, and 4. And the four-year-old, man, he is just a tiger. He's go get him.
And so, my daughter-in-law was... they were watching the movie "Inside Out" and it's a cartoon movie where it's talking about all the emotions that are inside. So, she was explaining the different emotions to them. And she got to embarrassment and the four-year-old said, "Well, what's embarrassment"?
And she explained it to him. He said, "Well, I've never been embarrassed, not once, in my life". And so, he's got some living yet to do. But I thought it was interesting. He's like, "Well, I haven't been embarrassed". I thought, "Well, I hope you stay that strong because there will certainly be something that will try to embarrass you".
And when you feel embarrassed you feel like you need to shrink back.
Knowing God's Love Deeply – 1 John 4:16
But there is a scripture in 1 John 4:16 that we are gonna take some time with because I'm gonna read it to you first. But you know, we read scripture and so often we don't get a thing out of it. We just read it maybe trying to fulfill our obligation.
And I think that, it's my own personal opinion, I think you have to read slow and think about things to really get the most out of them. Now, maybe there's some people who don't have to do that, but I have to look at things a little bit.
1 John 4:16 in the Amplified Bible says, "And we know [understand, recognize, and are conscious of, by observation and by experience] and believe [adhere to and put faith in and rely on] the love that God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him".
Now, so let's just say somebody reads that to you or you read it, or a pastor reads it in church. Well, what did you get out? Well, maybe, you heard "God loves you," which is good.
But now, let's go back and take this apart. "And we know..." Know. It's not talking about a head knowledge but a knowing way down deep inside. A knowing that is so strong that nobody can ever take it away from you, that God loves you. That's the way He wants you to know.
Being Conscious of God's Love in Daily Life
And we "(understand)..." We don't understand why... how God could love us, but we understand that He does because He is not a man that He should lie. And all over the Bible it says He loves us.
And we "(recognize, and are conscious of)..." Now, this was really a life changing scripture for me because what it told me was God is loving me all the time, but I'm not paying any attention to it.
God is loving us all the time, but very often we just chalk it up to coincidence or we just don't even notice it. You know, God gives you favor, and sometimes people do things for you that they wouldn't have to do at all. And that's God loving you.
I actually keep a journal of the things that God does for me that I think is just God showing me love. And if you begin to really notice, really be conscious and aware of, you'll say, "Oh, that was God showing me love".
And a lot of times, matter of fact, I think most of the time, it's little things that only mean something to you. They mean something to you.
You know, God gives you favor, He opens doors for you. He answers prayers. Sometimes you will ask God for something, and there might be some time that goes by before He does it. And then God does it and you forgot that you even asked for it.
I want you to start watching for the love of God in your life. It's just, it's fun. God wants us to be like little children. It's fun to watch for God's love in our life.
"Well, God, that was You again, loving me. Thank You".
We Can't Earn It – But We Can Believe It
We cannot earn or deserve God's love, but we can believe that He offers it because He is good, not because we are good. And that's the best news!
You see, God doesn't love you because you're good all the time. Because we're not good all the time. I'm not good all the time. I'm not bad all the time either. I do probably now more good things than bad things.
When I first started out, it was more bad than good. But we're in a transition. We're in a transformation. The Holy Spirit is working with us, and we're being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
And so, every year I get a little bit better. And God tells us that we are to acknowledge the good things that are in us. Philemon 6... there's only one chapter, so it's Philemon chapter one, verse six, that our "faith is made strong by acknowledging every good thing that is in us".
But God doesn't love me because I'm good. Because no matter how good I am, I'm not good enough for His love and His favor and His comfort. But He loves me, and He loves you all the time.
And we are accepted by God.
Accepted in the Beloved – Ephesians 1:6
Now, if you've been rejected, which you probably have, maybe you've experienced rejection on the minor side. You just didn't get invited to the party.
Or maybe you've been through something like I went through where I was rejected by my father as his child and forced to do sexual things. Or my mother, who knew what he was doing and just had too much fear in her life to deal with it.
So that was abandonment, it was rejection. And I've been rejected in other situations. Matter of fact, I have learned over the years that just before God is ready to promote you into something new, the devil will attack you with rejection, trying to get you to quit and give up.
And it's usually somebody that you really care about that rejects you.
But Ephesians 1:6 says, "We are accepted in the beloved" or "in Christ". Now, that little phrase "in Christ," it's the life changer.
Because when we go to God in Jesus' name, we're not presenting who we are, we're presenting who Jesus is. That's what the Amplified Bible says.
And He loves us and accepts us because we're in Christ. We don't come and present ourselves and everything we are.
But when you're born again, when you receive Christ as your Savior, from that moment on, you are considered by God to be in Christ.
The Bible says that "we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus". Well, no, I'm seated right here on this TV set. No, the Bible says I'm seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.
No, I'm sitting right here in this chair. Well, you see, people that are in a relationship with God actually live in two places. You're there in heaven, but you're waiting to get there. But spiritually you're there. Physically, I'm here, but spiritually I'm there.
Seated in Heavenly Places – Living What We Already Are
And what does that really mean, that I'm seated in heavenly places? Well, God's rest is available to me. And I can enter His rest anytime I'm willing to. Or I can worry and fret and try to figure everything out.
But in Christ, I am already seated in heavenly places. We're redeemed in Him and reconciled in Him, justified in Him, sanctified in Him.
Yet everything that He's made us to be, we are walking out in our life now. We're becoming what we already are.
And I know it scrambles your brain, but you know, in the world, we have to do something before somebody says we are that. But in God's economy, He makes us what He wants us to be and then He works with us to become that.
Like the Bible says that in Christ we're made right with God. "We're the righteousness of God". Well, in the world you would have to do everything right to be righteous.
But in God's kingdom, He gives you righteousness in your spirit when you're born again. And then the Holy Spirit works with you to do right and to learn to do more right in your life.
You see, God never requires us to produce something that He didn't first give us. So, He's given us peace. John 14:27. Therefore, we can have peace anytime we want to.
He says, "My peace I've given you. Stop allowing yourselves to be disturbed and fearful and intimidated". So, we don't have to get all upset about everything. Because God's peace is in us.
And we just need to learn how to receive what is already ours.
I wonder how many gifts and presents that God tried to give us... I'm talking about spiritual things, here on earth, that when we get to heaven, we'll find still unopened, because you have to believe.
That's how... I'm seated in heavenly places right now, because I believe what the Bible says. He says I'm there, so I say, "I'm there". God says He loves me, so I say, "He loves me".
You know, you have to cross over a line where you stop trying to figure everything out and you take God at His word.
If you would start really studying the Bible and decide ahead of time, "I am gonna believe what it says," you'd be amazed how your life would change.
But, you know, there are people, they might spend their whole life in church and yet never know who they are in Christ.
So, what they do is they spin their wheels trying to become what they already are.
It would be... I'm sitting in this chair. So, if somebody came and demanded that I get in the chair, I would have a rough time, 'cause I'm already in the chair.
And that's the way we are with God. He's made us to be something that we are in the process of becoming.
God Sees the Finished Product in Us
But He views us and sees us like the Amplified Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21. That He views us as being right with Him.
And God can look at me however He wants to. See, He sees a finished product.
When I first started teaching Bible studies in my home, I did it smoking cigarettes and sitting on the floor in short shorts. Now, see, some of you are like, "Eh-eh, I don't believe that God would use anybody in that condition".
Well, God not only saw where I was then, but He saw where I would be if He worked with me. So, He put up with some stuff that wasn't right. Although He still saw me as righteous.
Thank God, He loves us too much to leave us where He finds us. I'm so grateful that He works with me.
And I love when He convicts me of something that I'm doing wrong, because if He doesn't show me, then I can just be stupid all my life and be doing something wrong that I don't even know is wrong, because I've never had any conviction.
You need to thank God for the things that He shows you.
Ephesians 1:6. "We are made acceptable in the beloved". So, you can say, "I am accepted. I'm not rejected. I am accepted".
Proven Love While We Were Sinners – Romans 5:8
Romans 5:8. "But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ [the Messiah, the Anointed One] died for us".
Well, that is certainly good news. We have a hard time believing that God loves us because His love we don't have to earn. In the world, you have to earn it.
Ephesians 1:5 says, "For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted as His own children through Jesus Christ". It's in Christ, through Christ.
"[Because]..." Why did He do it? I love this. "[Because it pleased Him and with His kind intent]". It pleases God to love us because He is love.
And so, love has to have action. So, He has to have somebody to love, because that's who He is.
And He'll love you even if you don't love Him back. He'll love you even if you don't believe He exists. He will still love you because that's who He is.
God meets you where you're at, and I love that.
"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls".
God will take you just as you are and bring you into His rest if you ask Him to.
James 4:2 says, "We have not because we ask not". You have a privilege as a child of God, of praying and asking for whatever you want or need.
You know, you can never ask for too much, because if God doesn't want you to have it, He just won't give it to you.
Jesus Meets Us in Our Doubt – Like Doubting Thomas
What about doubting Thomas? We call him Doubting Thomas. He was one of the 12, and yet he had not seen Jesus yet.
Some of the other disciples had seen Him after His resurrection, and they told Thomas about Him and he said, "Well, I will not believe that He was raised from the dead unless I can put my hand in the holes in His hands and the hole in His side," from where He was stabbed.
And do you know that Jesus came to Thomas, put His hands out, let him feel the holes? Let him feel the holes in His side.
Now, He did say that you're more blessed if you believe and you have not seen. But He did meet Thomas where he was at.
And you know what? You that are watching right now, and you think, "Well, I am so far away from God, He could never find me". Well, let me tell you, He knows exactly where you're at right now.
And He's already standing very close to you just waiting for you to ask Him to come into your life.
He'll forgive all your sins immediately if you're repentant of them. And that means willing to turn and go in a new direction.
If you really want a new life and you really wanna live for God, which is what it means to be a Christian... it's to be... means to be a follower of Christ.
If you really want that, you can have it right now, no matter what you've done in your life.
My father lived a wretched life and he brought so much trauma into so many lives and ruined so many lives, and yet he was born again at 83.
And I saw him change, literally become sweet. Did he deserve that? Well, after the life he lived, I would think not. But God is good and He's good to everybody all the time.
It's never too late for you. And you've never done too much bad that God's good can't swallow it up.
Honest Faith and God's Help in Unbelief
Mark 9:21, "Jesus asked the boy's father, 'How long has he been like this?'" He was a boy that was demon possessed. And this demon would throw him into the fire and throw him into the water and try to kill him.
So, the father went to Jesus, and he said, "How long is..." Jesus said, "How long has he been like this"? Well, he already knew, but I think sometimes He just wanted to know and think about it because it helped him minister to them.
Said, "'He has often been thrown into the fire or water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us.'"
Now, you can hear by his statement that he didn't have full faith. He obviously had some faith because he went to Jesus, but he said, "If You can do anything".
So, he didn't believe that all things are possible with God, but the guy was so honest that Jesus helped him anyway.
"Jesus said, 'If You can?' Well, 'Everything is possible to him who believes.'"
I love that. "Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, 'I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'"
We just need to be honest with God. He already knows. "I really want to trust You, God, but I'm having a hard time doing it. Please help me".
"When Jesus saw the crowd that was running to the scene, He rebuked the demon spirit, 'You deaf and mute spirit,' He said, 'I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.'"
And the boy was set free.
Just cry out, be willing to change and God will meet you where you're at because He loves you too much to leave you in a big mess if you're willing to repent of it and live a new life.
And never doubt God's love. When trouble comes, don't say, "Well, God, don't You love me"? No.
When trouble comes, you say, "God, I know You love me and I know You have a plan for my escape from this trouble to a safe landing place".
Everything that God allows in our life, even if it hurts, it's meant and intended for our benefit.
Some of the best lessons I've learned has been in some of the hardest times in my life.
So, sometimes, when you're hurting, it may be for a future benefit, but that benefit will come and you'll look back and say, "Oh, now I understand why God didn't deliver me from that sooner".
And then you can use your experience to help other people.
Nothing Can Separate Us – Romans 8:35-39
Romans 8:35-39 are four wonderful scriptures. "Nothing can separate me from God's love, not height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate me from the love of God which is found in Christ Jesus".
Now you know, I just wanna pray for you.
If you've not received Christ as your Savior, I pray that you will invite Him into your life today. There's a number on your screen you can call, and we'll be happy to pray with you right now.
If you've been rejected, I want you to believe today that you've been accepted by God.
And if you've been accepted by God, it doesn't really matter who else rejects you.
God loves you. He cares about you. He wants to heal your wounds and all of your bruises.
God bless you. Have a great rest of the day.