Joyce Meyer - I Go To Church, Why Isn't My Life Better? (08/18/2019)
This sermon centers on Psalm 27:4, challenging believers to shift from seeking God's presents to seeking His presence. The speaker shares a personal journey of being challenged by God to stop asking for things and instead seek Him solely for who He is, emphasizing that a foundational, daily relationship with God is the key to true power, protection, and the fulfillment of all other desires.
From Seeking Presents to Seeking Presence
You know, obviously, when we're born again, it's like a major. It's major in our lives. When you finally completely turn your life over to God, you're filled with His Spirit, boy, that was like, wow, whew, man. But this, what this scripture says was actually even, in some ways, greater for me, not than the new birth, but. I had to learn this important lesson, and you have to learn this important lesson before God can do for you all that He wants to do. "One thing if I ask of the Lord, and that will I seek." Seek is a very powerful word. That means go after with all your might. What is it that you're going after in life? And so maybe you need to answer that question. What is it that you're seeking with all of your heart?
Is it more money? A promotion on your job? More of this, that, something else, more popularity. All that stuff is fading away, and it's not going to be around for very long. When it's all over, there's only going to be God. So this is the time to make sure you've got a good relationship with Him. So, "one thing will I ask the Lord, and that will I seek after, inquire for, and insistently require, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord, in His presence, all the days of my life. To behold and gaze upon the beauty, the sweet attractiveness, and the delightful loveliness of the Lord, and to meditate, consider, and inquire into His temple."
The Turning Point: A Challenge from God
Now, I have to stop there and give you a little background on why this was so important to me. Most of us, when we learn to trust God, and I don't know if there's any way to avoid this. Most of us, when we learn to trust God, we start trusting Him for what we want. We start trusting Him for, to fix all of our problems. We pray about those problems. We're always after God to change this person so we can be happier, change that circumstance so we can be happier. Give me a better job. Give me more money. I need this. I need, I need, I need, I need. I want, I want, I want, I want. And for most of us, our list is probably pretty long.
And so actually, what we really want is we want God's presence, P-R-E-S-E-N-T-S. Yeah, you know where I'm going. And to be honest, He'll let us do that for a long time because He is establishing relationship with us. He's showing us that He's good, that He wants to take care of us, that He wants to do things for us. It's the same way we treat our children when they're little. Mom and Dad do everything. Everything the kid just receives. They're not satisfied very long. They want another toy and do something else. But they're kids. We get it. So, but you know, the time comes when your kids get to be a certain age where you ain't liking that too much anymore. It's like, hey, maybe I'd like you to do something for me. Maybe I'd like you just to stop by sometime just to see me, without coming just because you want something. Come on. Is anybody in the house today?
As I'm going along, I've got my little ministry. It's pretty little, but it was growing a little bit. I was unhappy most of the time and always had a problem with this, that, and something else. I was telling God, well, if he'd do this, I'd be happy. If he'd do that, I'd be happy. If he'd do something else, I'd be happy. Actually, Dave and I went to the bookstore one day to get some books. And Dave picked out some books, and I picked out some books. And he came out with a book in it by a woman named Madame Guyon, who lived in the 16th century, and this book was about seeking the presence of God, not P-R-E-S-E-N-T-S, but P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E.
The Foundation of a Powerful Life
And I was looking in his bag, and I just felt drawn to that book. So I said, do you mind if I read this before you do? Well, I should have read my own book, but actually, it was very life-changing for me because through reading that, God just got this across to me. You know, first of all, we all need to spend time with God, and we know that. We need to spend regular quality time with God, and we know that. But the devil fights people on that more than anything else. He'd rather you go to church three times a week than to spend a half an hour a day with him, just you and him.
And so I'm busy in ministry, and, you know, I'm doing my thing, and, you know, I'm real happy because I'm working for the Lord. Problem was, was I wasn't spending any time with him. And that has to be the foundation of any life that's going to be really powerful and successful. You cannot stand what comes at you when you're a powerful person if you don't have a strong relationship with God to go back to all the time. Because I can tell you, if you think you want to be well-known, the more well-known you are, the more the devil's going to come against you. And if you don't know that only God is holding you up, it'll destroy you.
And so, God had been dealing with me about putting him first and spending time with him and, you know, just seeking him for who he was and not what he could do for me. And it's a long story. I have time to get into all of it. But I actually came to the point where God challenged me. He said, I don't want you to ask me for another thing until I tell you you can. Not one thing. I don't want you to ask me for nothing except me. Yeah, wow, you got it right, sister. That was so hard. Well, God, will you... will you... change... never mind, Lord, I just need you. Come on, this is good for us. I just need you. I need more of you in my life.
Recharging Your Spiritual Pacemaker
Well, Lord, I didn't... I didn't get the raise at work that I deserved. And will you... Never mind, Lord, I just need you. Well, they didn't treat me right. And I think you need to deal with... Well, never mind, Lord, I just need you. Can I have more of you? And I think it was something like about six months before I kind of got through that thing. And I'll just tell you what God spoke to me. He said, if you don't put me first and seek me on a regular basis for who I am, you cannot do what I want you to do and stay alive. Now, you can do with that whatever you want to, but that's what God put in my heart. So... You know, I guess I could say to you, most of you have asked the Lord for a lot. Do you want it or not? Really? Are you sure? Okay, then it's time to grow up.
You don't get to go to God all the time just for what you want. You go to Him first, and the first thing out of your mouth is, God, what can I do for you today? What do you need? How can I serve you? Who needs a miracle and you want to work through me? Who needs a blessing and you want to... If you're looking for somebody to work through today, Lord, here I am. Here I am. It's me. God gave me this example that I thought was really good. Sometimes it takes a practical example to get a point across. And my uncle, who's long since gone on to be with the Lord, he had a pacemaker. And I don't know how they work today, but back then they had to be charged every so many days or your heart wouldn't work.
So I called my aunt one day and I said, David, I'd like to take you out for dinner today. Maybe you'd like to have a good steak. Can we take you out? And she said, well, honey, we can't go today because your uncle has to charge his pacemaker today. And I said, well, can't he do that later? Come on now. She said, can't he do it later? I wonder how many times we think we can put God off till later. See, let me tell you something. You start out over here on a journey. And you got God's best out there in front of you. But there's lessons we have to learn along the way. And each thing that we learn, then we take that with us. And because we learn that, then that can take us to another level. And then we learn something else, and then that can take us to another level. I'll tell you what, and I just mean this sincerely, our journey with God can be the most exciting thing that we can possibly imagine if we'll look at it properly.
The One Thing: Dwell in His Presence
One thing. Well, I'll tell you, there was a lot more than one thing on my list. Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing have I asked of the Lord. And that's the thing I'm going to seek after. And he said, I want to walk in his presence. I can lay aside my list of presents that I need. And if I just have your presence... Because you know what? When you have Jesus, to be honest... And I'm not just talking about, you pray a sinner's prayer, and now you're born again. I'm talking about, if you have the presence of God in your life, and if he is number one in your life, and he is the center of everything that you do, you are going to end up having everything else you want to.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the secret petitions and hidden desires of your heart. Put God first. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, his way of being and doing, and all of these other things will be added unto you besides. Now, I don't think anybody has to be legalistic about their time with God. But I do think that you need to be seriously committed to it. And I think it just might put a smile on God's face. If you're getting ready to have your morning time with God, or your evening time, or whatever it is, and somebody calls and wants to take you out for a free dinner. No, you know, I can't do that right now. I got to recharge. I got to plug in here. Oh, well, you can do that later. Well, actually, no, I will die if I don't do it now. Come on. Wow.
The Reward of Putting God First
Okay, now let's read the rest of this, because now it gets really good. Verse 4, so if I seek him first, if his presence is what I seek. Verse 5 says, "For in the day of trouble he will hide me in his shelter. In the secret place of his tent he will hide me. He will set me high upon a rock. And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me. And in his tent I will offer sacrifices and shouts of joy. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord." So when I put him first, all these other things are going to work out good in my life.
And then I'm going to conclude this teaching today by us looking a little bit further in Psalm 27 to verses 13 and 14. David said, "What, what would have become of me had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living? Wait and hope for and expect the Lord. Be brave and of a good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord." Okay, so, what I want you to do is go home with a new attitude. Something good is going to happen to me. But my number one goal is to seek God for who he is, not what he can do for me. I just want to love you, Lord. I want you to use me. It's time for me to grow up. I don't want to be a baby anymore, giving you my whole list of everything I got to have every day to keep me happy. Your will be done in my life. I love you, Jesus. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Amen. Come on, let's get up and give God a big shout. Woo!