Joyce Meyer - How Should I Think To Be Happy? (08/18/2019)
This sermon focuses on the critical connection between our thoughts and our actions, based on Romans 8:5 and Proverbs 23:7. It emphasizes that the mind is a battlefield where Satan plants lies, and victory comes through deliberately renewing our minds with God's Word. The conclusion is that we must learn to think on purpose, resist the enemy immediately, and rely on the Holy Spirit to transform our thinking and, consequently, our lives.
Where Your Mind Goes, You Follow
Thoughts always go before actions. I always say that where the mind goes, the man follows. And I think that's very true. The Bible teaches us in Romans chapter 8, verse 5, that those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires have set their mind on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh. So it's very plain right there. If you're walking after the flesh, if I'm walking after the flesh, it's because I put my mind on fleshly things, and therefore that's what I'm pursuing. Whatever we put our mind on, that's what we're going to go after.
Our mind affects our emotions. What we think comes out of our mouth. It affects all of our actions. Then it goes on to say, But those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Spirit. Now let me just say this. You cannot have a fleshly mind and have a spiritual life. It's not going to work. So we have to learn how to think things on purpose that are going to benefit us. Proverbs 23:7 says, As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. One translation says, or so does he become.
The Mind is a Spiritual Battleground
The Bible teaches us, especially in 2 Corinthians 10:4 and 5, that there's a war going on. That the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations, reasonings, theories, and every proud and lofty thing that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God. Those scriptures are talking about the mind and how there's a battle that rages in the mind. The mind is the battleground where Satan tries his level best to take control of our lives.
Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But Jesus said, I came, and I'm so glad he did, that you might have and enjoy your life and have it in abundance to the full until it overflows. Because every one of you has a blood-bought, Christ-paid-for, God-ordained right to enjoy every single moment of your life. We are not here for misery. We are here to enjoy our lives. Amen? And the devil doesn't want us doing that. He doesn't want happy Christians because happy Christians are likely to infect other people with their joy.
As long as all the world sees is sad, saved people with bumper stickers and a little Christian jewelry, it doesn't say a thing to them as far as suggesting that they might consider wanting what we have. So whether you know it or not, joy is not only... It doesn't only just feel good, it's very necessary. It's the best advertisement that we can have for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Especially when you can go out and be happy when maybe all your circumstances aren't happy.
Fighting Back with Spiritual Weapons
So, the devil didn't just start to work on any one of us yesterday or this morning. He's been at it a long, long time. But we have weapons. Thank God that we have weapons. And the weapons all involve the Word of God. Tonight when we were worshiping God, that was a weapon. We were doing spiritual warfare tonight when we were worshiping God. The Word that I'm preaching tonight is fighting demonic spirits and breaking strongholds off of people's lives. When we hear the Word, speak the Word, meditate on the Word, sing the Word, when we praise God, all of these things are weapons that defeat the enemy.
Now, the Bible teaches us that our mind has to be renewed. And we're going to talk a lot about that tonight. The devil is a liar, the father of lies. He has carefully studied each one of us for a very long time. But I guess my point is, and my question to you is, how long have you studied him? How quickly do we recognize an enemy attack? How long do we put up with the devil's nonsense before we even bother to say, "I know what you're trying to do, and you're not going to do it? No matter what lie you tell me, this is what God's Word says, and that is what I believe."
Resist the Devil Immediately
How long do we just put up with the enemy tormenting us? How many days do we have to be in a fit of depression and full of self-pity before we say, "Oh, I think I'm under enemy attack"? Don't wait till you get so bad that it takes a truckload of Christians to come and prop you back up again. Let's learn how to do what the Bible says in 1 Peter 5: Resist the devil at his onset. Immediately. No. Get behind me. Shut up. You're a liar. That is not true. And I personally am very big on speaking out loud. I think if you're in a place where you can, you can talk back to the devil. Jesus talked back to the devil and there's no reason why we can't. He's our example. You say, well, when did he talk back to the devil? In Luke chapter 4 and other places.
The devil begins early in our life by bombarding our minds with cleverly devised patterns of little nagging, nagging thoughts: suspicion, doubt, fear, wonderings, reasonings, theories. He moves slowly and cautiously. After all, well-laid plans take time. A stronghold is an area where an enemy entrenches himself and controls that area. And so when the Bible talks about how we have strongholds in our mind, we have to understand that that's an area where the enemy, Satan, has worked a long period of time and he now is entrenched in that area and he's caused us to believe something that is absolutely not true.
However, as long as we believe it's true, no matter how untrue it is, it's true for us. And of course, I had many things in my life that I firmly believed that were absolutely untrue, but I did not know they were not true because I did not know the Word of God. I wonder if we have any idea how precious the Word of God is. I'll tell you what, I thank God for what I know. Oh my goodness, I would not take anything for the 37 years I've been studying the Bible. I thank God for what I know. The more you know of the Word, I mean really know, the less likely you are to be deceived.
The Process of Renewing Your Mind
Do not be conformed to this world, fashioned after and adapted to its external superficial customs, but be transformed, entirely changed by the entire renewal of your mind. Be changed by the renewal of your mind. We are saved by the blood of Jesus. We are changed by the power of the Holy Ghost and the renewal of our mind. When you get saved, your mind doesn't get saved. You do get a new mind, you get a mind of the Spirit, you get the mind of Christ, and we'll talk about that a little bit later, but it still has to be developed. It's something that's down deep inside of you.
Old habit patterns have to be broken. Strongholds have to be torn down. How many people receive Christ as their Savior? They're sincere. They pray a prayer of salvation with somebody. They want to turn their life around, but they never really educate themselves. They don't educate themselves. There's not one person here that would ever expect to go be a doctor with no education. The thing I have to get across tonight, just trying to lay a foundation, is that you don't have to think everything that falls in your head. The Word of God, when you know it, becomes a filter for your life.
There is just absolutely no hope unless people learn the truth and let the truth set them free. We have to learn how to think right if we ever expect to live right. And you can do your own thinking and you can do it on purpose. You don't have to think everything that falls into your mind if you've got enough of the Word of God in you that when a wrong thought comes, it doesn't take you but just a few minutes and you think, "That's not God and I'm not wasting my time revolving it around in my mind."
The first thing that you have to make your mind up to if you're going to get through this process—and the renewing of the mind is definitely a process. Everybody say "process." You see, process has a beginning and an end, but it's also got a middle, and many times the middle is a lot longer than we'd like it to be. "When is this ever going to end? When is this going to be over? When am I going to change? When are you going to change?" I hope that some of the things that I share with you this weekend will help you to do something that I did not know how to do.
The Journey of Spiritual Maturity
That nobody was teaching me how to do, but since I did it all wrong and learned the hard way, maybe you could just maybe you could listen to me and I could save you some agony. Spiritual maturity takes time. Lots of time. You're not going to do everything right. Those of you who received Christ tonight: all your sins were forgiven, but not just all the sins you ever had committed, every sin you ever will commit, and you will. We all make mistakes. But the good news about the gospel is that while we are making this journey, if we know who we are in Christ, we do not have to suffer from guilt and condemnation over every mistake that we make.
That also is an attack on your mind. Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and the moment that you make a mistake or even think you made a mistake or it even hints like you made a mistake, he's going to accuse you, and there you go: "See, see, you're never going... how can you even say, how can you believe you're saved and act like that?" And I'm telling you that if you really understand the truth of the gospel, that while you're making this journey, you can enjoy every moment of yourself and your life. I didn't enjoy a lot of my journey, but I would like my pain to pay off for somebody, and hopefully it can be you now.
I did learn, thankfully, maybe about 15 years ago, but I wasted the first maybe 16, 17 years just wandering around in the wilderness. So I just want to say to you, if you're going to make this journey, you have to decide right now, tonight, that you're never going to give up. You're never going to give up. I don't care how many times you fall down, the righteous man falls down seven times, gets up again. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. What is due season? Only God knows and he's not telling. I don't know, we're all different.
Delivered Little by Little
God has to deal with us all in different ways. He's got different plans for all of us. Some are a little more stubborn than others. Some are a little slower learners than others. God delivers us, according to Deuteronomy 7:22, little by little. That's what it says. Deuteronomy 7:22: "He and the Lord your God will clear out those nations before you little by little." Who likes little? I don't like little. There's nothing about little that excites me. I like big, bold, aggressive, all, now, quick. I don't care anything about slow. Little by little. The rest of that scripture says, "lest the beast of the field increase among you."
What in the world does that mean? Well, I believe that beast is pride. And I honestly think, if God came and delivered us, just whoosh! I tell you what, we would want to spend the rest of our life giving victory lessons to everybody we met. There would be not one shred of humility in us, nor would we have any understanding of what people are going through when they go through things. And let me tell you something, when you tell me, "I'm going through this, I'm going through that, I'm having a hard time with this, I'm having a hard time with that," I know what you're talking about. I know, and when I share the word of God with you, I didn't get this out of a sermon book, I am sharing my life with you.
I have lived these things, and I know, that I know, that I know, that I know, that I know, that the word of God works, and if you will learn it and apply it in your life, you can be completely transformed. No, could be, if, maybe, you will be completely transformed by the word of God. It is full of power to bring healing in every area of your life. Every area of your life. I just want to stop for a minute, Father. I want to pray for everybody in here and everybody that's watching my TV that has back problems. I thank you, Lord, from the very top of their spine, all the way down to the bottom, that everything lines up, all the vertebraes are healthy, all the discs are healthy.
I ask you to heal people from injuries. And we ask you to touch them right now, in the name of Jesus. Even people watching TV, touch them right now. Praying the prayer of faith and asking you to heal people with back problems. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Just have a little healing pause right there. Amen. Now, yes, hearing other people help you. God gives the gift of teaching. But I'll tell you what, we all, we just give you pieces. The Holy Spirit's got to put it together for you. And so, you have to take what you know, get your Bible, get with God, and start letting God do the work in your life that only God can do. Amen?
Choosing to Be a Prisoner of Hope
Next thing you've got to do is be positive. And if you're a negative person, with a negative mind, with negative thoughts, then you might as well just get that on with God and get that taken care of. If that takes the next three years, you've just got to get that one settled. Because there is nothing, zippo, zero, negative about God. Nothing. We have to learn to be what Zechariah called a prisoner of hope. And he said, those that are prisoners of hope will receive double what they lost. Double. I'm living in a double blessing from what the devil took away from me in my childhood. Men dishonored me and belittled me. Now God honors me.
But I had to make some serious decisions in my life. And some of the decisions that I'm going to ask you to make this weekend are something that only you can make. Nobody else can make them for you. And I'm not going to tell you that they're all easy. But I will tell you that it's worth it in the end. I was so negative. That was one of the first things that God dealt with me about. I was just so negative. Even a person who is really positive won't have everything work out the way he would like it to all the time.
But the positive person can go ahead and decide to enjoy himself no matter what happens. The negative person, however, cannot enjoy anything. So we just need to make our minds up to be hopeful people that actually believe that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Now, the key there is in the word together. All things work together. Each ingredient individually may not be good, but when you put them all together, they get good. So maybe some of you have still got some ingredients coming, so just hold on.
How God Redeems Our Pain
Example: The abuse in my life was not good. It was not good to be sexually abused for 15 years by my own father. That was not good. But when it was mixed together with everything else that God's done in my life, it has not only worked out good for me, it has worked out good for millions of people around the globe who needed to be delivered and set free. And I could not explain this to you. I spent many years saying, "Well, you know, I wish that wouldn't have happened to me." But it did, so we'll deal with it.
And one day, I was in the midst of saying, "Well, I wish that wouldn't have happened to me." And it was like the Holy Ghost stopped me, and I thought, you know what? I cannot even say now, and I know it sounds crazy, I cannot even stand here and tell you that I wish I wouldn't have been abused. You know why? Because some way, somehow, God did something amazing and miraculous with that. And I know that I know that I know that my life is better because of it than it would have been without it. Do you understand that? So stop being bitter about what has happened to you and what you didn't have, and just add God to throw in some other ingredients and get it to all work out good. Amen?
Take Inventory of Your Thoughts
Renew your mind. Learn how to think about what you're thinking about. Take an inventory of what you're thinking about. When you're depressed, ask yourself what you've been thinking about. When you're having a day full of self-pity, just stop and say, "Now, what have I been thinking about?" Come on now, I'm talking to you. When you're jealous of somebody, just ask yourself, "What have I been thinking about?" You can turn your life around by choosing to think on something good. Now, you know, when an ocean liner has been going full speed ahead in one direction for a long time, it's going to take a little bit to turn that baby around. So remember the little by little rule.
I mean, you're not going to go home tomorrow and start thinking all these lovely, beautiful thoughts. I mean, you know, it may take you a while to wake up in the morning thinking about the Proverbs 31 lady. I don't know. I mean, I woke up many mornings thinking, "There's no point in me even getting out of bed because all I'm going to do is just do one stupid thing after another all day long. I can't do anything right. Nobody cares about me anyway. I'm just going to get up and clean this house and they're going to mess it up. And I'm sick and tired and sick and tired of this and that. Nobody loves me and nobody cares. Everybody just takes advantage of me all day." Man, I'm so glad I don't have to think like that anymore. And if it even starts, I can say no. No. Been there, done that, not going around that mountain again.
You Can't Do It Without the Holy Spirit
Now, let me just say this in closing. You, with the help of the Holy Spirit, because you can't do anything apart from Him. Remember this. There's no point in you going home and saying, "That's it. Bless God. I'm going to change my thinking." No, you won't. Actually, you will get worse than ever if you do it like that. You got to go home and say, "Man, God, was I convicted tonight. You were all over me. Woo. I need a life change. Help me. God, help me. I can't do this without you. God, you got to help me." And then you get up in the morning and say, "God, help me." And at noon, you say, "God, help me." And tomorrow night, you say, "God, help me."
And what's going to happen when you start asking God to help you, you're going to get convicted more. And don't you let the devil take it and beat you over the head and make you feel condemned. You say, "Thank you, God, that you're showing me this subject. Thank you that you're revealing this to me. Thank you." Because anything that God reveals, He's ready to deal with if you'll let Him. Come on. I said, anything that God reveals, He's ready to deal with if you'll let Him.