Joyce Meyer - Everyday Trust And Belief In God's Word (08/21/2019)
Joyce Meyer shares key lessons from her 37-year walk with God, emphasizing always believing like a child—trusting God deeply in spirit over mind, feelings, or circumstances—using her cancer experiences and Lazarus' resurrection in John 11 to show that only believing leads to seeing God's glory, enjoying the journey, and living free from grave clothes of doubt and unbelief.
A Serious Walk with God – Beyond Sunday Religion
Well, this weekend, I'm talking about 10 of the things that have been what I feel are some of the most important things that I've learned in my 37-year journey of walking with God. Now, I was born again a long time before that. I actually was saved when I was nine years old. But I didn't really even try to walk with God or have a relationship with God until Dave and I got married. And then for a long time, it was just, I was sincere in my heart, but I learned a lot about religion, but I still didn't have that relationship with God through Christ.
And when I finally got serious, and you know, there's a difference in just going to church and being serious. How many of you know that? There's a difference in just going to God when you have a problem and you want Him to solve that problem, and God being the center of your whole life and letting Him be involved in everything that you do. And to be honest, God doesn't want to live in a little Sunday morning box that a lot of people like to keep Him in. Let Him out. Come on, God, you can come out for 45 minutes. It's Sunday morning. Then go back in your box, and I'll just take it from here the rest of the week and let you know if I have a problem.
Serious Seekers – God Wants All of Your Life
So, if you're not real serious, then what I'm saying this weekend is not going to mean a whole lot to you, but I believe you are serious or you wouldn't have taken the time to be here. Now, we may have some people channel surfing right now, and you don't know how you feel about any of this. Well, I'm just encouraging you to stay with us for a little bit because I'm going to tell you some things today that's going to help you really enjoy your life and have a better life than perhaps you've ever had before in your whole life.
So, I had a real rough childhood like many of you, got a bad start, but I'm happy to say that just because you have a bad start doesn't mean that you can't have a good finish. And I personally believe that it's how we finish that's the most important thing. So, no matter where you're at right now or no matter what you've done or what's been done to you, I want you to know that God has a great plan for your redemption and He wants to walk you out of your mess and into what we fondly call the Promised Land in the Bible.
The Journey – From Bondage to Promised Land
And the Promised Land actually was a real place that the Israelites traveled to, but it was a type and a shadow of our walk with God. We come out of bondage in Egypt, which is bondage to sin, and we all, like it or not, travel through a wilderness. And that wilderness really is our own soulish, selfish, carnal living. We're learning in that period of time how to trust God, how to receive the grace of God, how to keep God first in our life, and so many other things.
Now, if you never learn those things, then you never will make it to the Promised Land. You may go to heaven when you die, but you're not going to enjoy your journey here. And I don't know about you, but I'm all for enjoying the journey. I want to enjoy every single solitary second, every nanosecond of my life. I want to be able to enjoy it.
Always Believe – Faith in the Spirit, Not Just the Mind
I want to talk to you today about always believing. Coming to Christ like a little child and just say, I believe. I trust you. I believe. I may not see it. I may not feel it, but I believe. I've been thinking about believing and about faith. You know, it's not something you do with your head. Now, our mind gets renewed. And I think now, and probably for many of you who've walked with God a long time, I do believe all this stuff in my mind, too, because my mind's been renewed.
But there are still times when my mind can't get a hold of something. When I look at a situation, and even sometimes not just for me, but in other people, I'll look at their situation or look at that person and just, you know, I want to believe, but with what I'm looking at, it's like, I don't know. But thank God, we're more than just a mind and a body. We are first and foremost a spirit. And it's with our spirit, man, that we believe.
Faith Is Substance and Evidence – Beyond Feelings
I didn't see Jesus die, but I know that I know that I know, I know that he did. See, a person who doesn't understand faith would say, well, how do you know that? Well, I just know because God has revealed it to me in the spirit, just like many of you. Really, salvation is an amazing thing. How God will just give you that faith to reach out and believe. But you do have to be willing to ignore or go beyond your own thoughts and your own feelings.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. But faith is substance and it's evidence. It's just not a material evidence or a material substance. And I just want to say to you this morning by way of encouragement, that the spiritual realm is really much more real than the natural realm. We are not in here by ourself today. There are angels in this building. Amen. I said there are angels in this building. All of us have a guardian angel. You have an angel that goes with you everywhere that you go.
Never Alone – Choose Belief Over Torment
Now, I've never seen mine, but I believe the Word of God. And when you decide to believe and just get away from all the doubt and unbelief and the double-mindedness and the trying to figure everything out... See, I believe that we're never alone. Never alone. Even when you feel alone, you're never alone. Because God said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, but I am with you always, even unto the very ends of the earth.
God is with you, no matter how you feel. It is amazing how wonderful life can be if we just decide to get out of this brain. Come on. And just go deeper to what we sense in the Spirit. I'll give you an example. I remember one time doing a meeting. And we had planned this special meeting. It was on a holiday weekend. And we thought, well, it would be a special thing. You know, lots of people would come out. Well, as it turned out, it wasn't too well attended, which is kind of a downer for a minister anyway.
From Torment to Peace – Listening to Your Heart
So I probably already had a couple of strikes against me before I even got up on the platform because I'm disappointed because all the people didn't come. And then I didn't feel too great about my message that weekend. And so when I got done, I started the thing that we do until we learn better. Oh, I shouldn't have done this. You know, it's pointless to think about how you shouldn't have done something that you've already done. I mean, if you've made a mistake over here and you wasted that day, then don't spend today regretting the mistake that you made yesterday because then you waste today.
So even if I shouldn't have done the meeting, I did it. I had a choice to believe, well, this was a big mistake, or somebody here today got helped. Somebody here needed what I had to say. Believing is wonderful. Believing keeps you happy. And I don't know about you, but I've just decided that I'm going to be happy.
Believing Makes You Happy – A Choice in the Spirit
You see, I've lived more of my life than what I've got left. And that's kind of an unusual thought when you get to that point. You see, I realized a couple of years ago, I've already done two-thirds of this. I've got about a third left and I want to make it count. Amen? I want to make sure that I don't waste any of my days and I want to really enjoy my life. And that's the second thing I'm going to talk to you about today. We're going to end with enjoying your everyday life. But first, believing.
It's something that we can choose to do, but it has to be done in the Spirit. We believe the Word of God. Believing is an absolutely amazing thing. So, I was having these regrets. Probably shouldn't have done this meeting. Had the wrong message. Nobody got anything out of that. Dave and I started our drive home and I was just tormented in my mind.
Shut Off the Mind – What Does Your Heart Say?
Is there anybody here today that realizes that when you live in your mind, you can live in total torment all the time? Because your mind does not agree with the Word of God. It agrees with the world. And so, when your mind, your mouth, and your feelings all pile up on you, you better have somewhere to go. And that's like deeper into the Spirit.
So, this is what I felt that God put on my heart. He said, shut your mind off and tell me what's in your heart about this situation. I want you to start trying that in your life when you start getting rattled and all upset. Just shut your mind off for a minute. What's in my heart? What's in my heart? What's in my heart?
Well, I believe I did preach today what you put on my heart. As a matter of fact, if I really tell you what's in my heart, Lord, I don't think it was bad. I think it was pretty good. And, you know, I thought we were supposed to do this. You didn't tell us not to. And it wasn't attended great, but it wasn't horrible. And so, yeah, everything's pretty good.
From Doubt to Knowing – Faith Over Feelings
I mean, just in a few seconds, I went from being tormented, full of doubt and unbelief, and misery, and thinking the whole thing was a failure, to knowing... See, there's a difference in thinking and knowing. If you can get a hold of this today, I think it's gonna elevate you to a new place.
We spend way too much time in our mind. And believe me, the devil offers us all kinds of thoughts that do not agree with the Word of God. We have to learn to believe what God says, and we grasp it by faith. We reach out and we grasp it with the Spirit. I want to live more in the Spirit. I want to walk more in the Spirit. And not just walk in my feelings, or my own mind, or, you know, my own will. But in the Spirit. Is anybody with me today?
Trust God Through Trials – Cancer Testimony
We want to begin to walk in the Spirit. What is my spirit saying about this situation? Is it really hopeless, like my brain wants me to think it is? Are all things possible with God? Does God still have a miracle for me? Does he love everybody equally? If he's ever done anything for anybody, surely he can do something for me. He's no respecter of persons. So believe him. I think you can decide to, if you want to. Or you can keep making yourself miserable all the time, trying to figure things out in life.
Always believe, in Romans 1:17, it says, In the Word there's a righteousness revealed that leads us from faith to faith to faith. A righteousness revealed that leads us from faith to faith to faith. That righteousness is that right standing with God. Oh my gosh, things begin to change when you know that God loves you. And you know that God is not mad at you.
God Loves You – Problems Don't Change That
And you don't even say, Well, you know, how could I have this problem in my life if God loves me? You say, Yes, I have this problem in my life. But that's no sign or symptom that God doesn't love me. God loves me. And I can trust him to bring me through this problem. And I can trust him to take it and use it for good in my life. Amen? God loves me and I trust him.
Some of you know that I had breast cancer. I wasn't expecting to go to the doctor and get that report. I just went for my little check-up thing and had a mammogram, got a call back. There's something on here that doesn't look good. It's small, but we really feel like you should get it checked out. So, got the biopsy, thinking that was all going to come back fine. Well, it didn't come back fine. Came back and said, although this is a very small tumor, it is a very fast-growing type of cancer.
Facing Cancer with Trust – Positive Declarations
And so, back then, they really just recommended a mastectomy. They didn't do the other things that they do today. And so here, within like a week's period of time, I went from a woman of faith and power preaching the gospel all over the place to seemingly being in a position where none of what I was preaching was working for me.
But God spoke some things to my heart very early in that little journey because, you know, when you hear things like that, fear just hits you. And there were some things that God told me to say and some things that He did not want to hear me say. Don't ask me why. I want to hear you say, God loves me. I trust Him. All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
Declarations During Crisis – God’s Faithfulness
There were five things like that, all really positive things, and I walked around for the seven or ten days before the surgery saying those things over and over and over. And when doubt and unbelief would hit my mind, I would say, I trust God. I trust God. God's going to take care of this. He loves me. All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
They tell me that when I woke up from the anesthesia, that I was saying all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. And the people that were there waiting for me to come to, you know, we're in that kind of dreamy land state, they said, you were so sweet. You were ministering to the nurses and loving everybody. I said, see there, it is down in there somewhere. You just got to knock me out to get to it.
Clean Reports and Healing – Trust Pays Off
Well, as it turned out, you know, they checked my lymph nodes like they always do. And, and none of the cancer cells had gotten to my lymph nodes. So I didn't have to have any kind of treatment after that. Every year I go and get checked. And every year I get a clean bill of health. Every year.
Now, but about three years ago, I was having some back problems. And so they did a MRI on my back and the report came back. There's some spots on your spine that we're concerned about. They knew I'd had cancer. You got to tell them that. So they looked at it and I had to have some more tests. And then I had to have a whole bone scan. And, you know, they said, we're very concerned that the breast cancer you had is metastasized to your spine.
No Fear – God’s Hands Hold You
And so, you know, you got these two weeks in between, you know, where you're waiting to get the test, waiting to get the test back. And you know what? I can honestly tell you that I just really wasn't all that afraid because I just thought... Now, I didn't want it to be cancer, but I just thought, God, I'm in your hands. I'm gonna live till you're done with me. I've had a good ride. And I believe that you can take care of this. And I refuse to start getting this negative attitude and living in fear.
Well, when it came back, they did a bone scan on my whole entire body. So I'm here to tell you there's nothing in there that's bothering anybody. I mean, I got it all. And this is what they said. Well, there's no cancer. I said, okay, so what are the spots on my spine? And they said, well, it actually looks like a cancer had metastasized to your bone and it healed itself. I thought, no, it didn't heal itself.
Encouragement for Bad Reports – Call on God
So I wanted to share that because there may be people here today that you've had a bad report from the doctor. You just, maybe people, I mean, there may be people laying in the hospital right now watching this program. And you're like, there's no hope for me. I'm so scared. This is not gonna work. I'm gonna die.
Instead of saying all that, just say, God, I trust you. I trust you. And you know what? If you're watching from home and you've not received Christ as your savior, please call the number on your screen and let one of my workers pray with you and lead you into a relationship with Jesus Christ. You do not have to be alone with your situation. God loves you. He cares about you. And he's got a good plan for your life. Just believe.
Believing Costs Nothing – Unbelief Costs Joy
Can I tell you something? Believing doesn't cost anything. Unbelief makes you miserable. Believing makes you happy. You know what I've said publicly, hoping that a lot of unbelievers will hear this. You know, if you're an atheist or an agnostic or you've decided that you don't believe that God is real, if you're wrong, you're in big trouble. But if I spend my whole life believing in something, even if it turned out at the end that it wasn't true, which I know is not going to happen, but I still wouldn't have lost anything because I've been so happy I can hardly stand it.
So I say give it a try and see if you like it better than the way you're living. God loves you. He created you. You're not an oops or a bleep or a boops or a burp or whatever. The world was created by God with his very own hand carefully and purposely. We didn't just have some time when some cell out of the ocean crawled up on the beach and began to evolve into what we now have. Nobody's ever bothered to tell you where that first cell came from, by the way. Believe. Believe.
Lazarus Story – Believe for Resurrection
Let's look at the raising of Lazarus in John chapter 11. You don't have to wonder if your kids are going to turn out alright. You can believe they will. And even if they're in trouble right now, you can believe they're going to change. Let me ask you a question. How many of you want to enjoy your life? Alright, you cannot do that unless you learn how to believe.
We go from faith to faith to faith to faith, not from faith to doubt and unbelief and back to faith. And, well, I can believe this, but I can't believe that. We just believe. It drives the devil nuts. Come like a little child. And just believe.
In John chapter 11, there's a wonderful account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. And we can get many great examples out of this, but let's start in verse 5. John 11, verse 5. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. They were his dear friends, and he held them in loving esteem. Therefore, because he loved them, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he still stayed two days longer in the same place and didn't bother to go and help him.
Because He Loved Them – He Waited
Because he loved him, you would think that he would have ran right over there and fixed the problem. But do you see that? Because he loved him, he waited two more days. See, you think when you're having to wait, that means God doesn't love you. According to this, it's a symptom that he does love you. Because maybe God's got something deeper in mind than your immediate relief.
You know what, if I didn't go through that whole cancer thing for any reason other than to stand up and give other people hope. Sometimes we go through things and it doesn't even have anything to do with us. It's something that God's using us for for somebody else's encouragement later on in life.
Resurrection Power – Problems Don’t Limit God
And you don't have to figure out what you did wrong or what your sin is or, you know, why doesn't God love me and all that junk. You just say, God's got a plan. God's got a purpose. I love him and the devil is not going to win. This is going to work out for my good.
He loved them. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore, he waited. And didn't go help them right then. You're not getting as much out of that as I do, but it just... That just amazes me. I want to talk to you today about always believing. Coming to Christ like a little child and just say, I believe. I trust you. I believe. I may not see it. I may not feel it. But I believe.
Verse 21. Lazarus, of course, is dead now. Martha said to Jesus, when he finally did show up, Master, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. Well, how often do we think? Well, God, if you would have been here, this wouldn't have happened. And what God wants us to know is, it doesn't matter that it happened. I can still give you a resurrection.
You’ve Got a Resurrection Coming
Why do we think that God is able to help us not to have problems, but he's not able to solve our problem, even though we've had it for a long time? Can I just tell you, you've got a resurrection coming. Amen? If you had been here, let's don't ever say that to God. Why did you let this happen? I don't understand. You could have done something about this. Why didn't you do something about this?
I used to wonder about that with the abuse that I went through in my childhood because I prayed when I was a kid, and I asked God to get me out of that situation. I even prayed things that weren't so good, like I prayed for my dad to die and stuff that really wasn't great. I prayed for my mother to get the courage to leave him, and that didn't happen. And so even though I prayed, nothing happened.
God Brings Us Through – Trust Without Why
But you know what? I've given up trying to figure all that out. What I do know is that God didn't deliver me from it, but he did bring me through it, and I came out strong. If you would have been here, then this wouldn't have happened. Verse 23, Jesus said to her, your brother shall rise again. And Martha said, well, I know that he's going to rise again in the resurrection on that last day.
And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection. And the life. Verse 32, now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she dropped down at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you would have been here. So Mary and Martha both got the same story. If you would have been here, my brother would not have died.
Jesus Moved by Unbelief – He Wept
Now, I want you to watch these next few verses. When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who came along with her also sobbing, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And I can tell you, he wasn't moved and it wasn't their tears that was making him feel that way. It was their unbelief. Watch this. He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed.
And he said, where have you laid him? And they said, well, come and see. In verse 35, and Jesus wept. He wasn't weeping for Lazarus. He already knew he was going to raise him from the dead. He wasn't weeping for Mary and Martha because they'd lost their brother because he already knew he was going to raise him from the dead. Matter of fact, he waited and let him die so he could raise him from the dead.
Only Believe – See God’s Glory
Whew, I love this. Jesus wept. I wonder how often he weeps over our unbelief. I wonder how often Jesus cries because he just wants us to trust him. To just say, God, I trust you. I don't understand it. It sure hurts. It doesn't seem fair. But I trust you.
And if you're up for it, I think it's even a great thing to get to the point in your life where we stop asking God why about everything. Some things just aren't any of our business. There are some things that are just deeper in God that we are, there's no way we're going to understand it because it's a spiritual thing.
Yeah, well, you're not liking that too much, but... I mean, if we need to know why something happened because it's going to be a good, valuable lesson for us, then God will tell us. But if we don't need to know, he's not going to tell us. So why drive yourself nuts trying to figure out something that only God knows and he's not telling you?
John 11:40 – Believe and See Glory
John 11:40 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Many times if I sign a book for somebody, I'll write that scripture in, John 11:40. Because this is what it said, Jesus said to her, did I not tell you and promise you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God. The King James I like even better, it says, only believe and you will see the glory of God.
Now the word glory, if you look at, if you study that word, it means the manifestation of all of God's excellencies. The bringing out in the open where it can be seen all of the goodness of God and God's most excellent things. So when God says, if you will only believe, that's all he, only believe. Only believe. That's why we're called believers, by the way.
Look at the Whole Life – More Wow Days Ahead
Only believe. You will see the glory of God. You will see the manifestation of God's goodness and excellence in your life. Can I encourage you not to look at one day in your life, or one month in your life, or even one year in your life, and start determining all these things about God from that one year. Look at your life as a whole.
You know, if I wanted to just stare at the first 18 years of my life, I'd probably want to go hang myself. And then to tell you the truth, the next five weren't all that great either, because I married a guy just to get away from the situation I was in. I thought nobody would ever want me, and he was goofier than I was. And so, you know, that was just another five-year nightmare.
Take Off the Grave Clothes – Live Free
So by the time I was 23, I could never remember ever having been happy. Never. I could not ever remember ever having been happy. Never. So I didn't have a great start. And if I just looked at those years, I'd be in a really bad mood right now. But I've got to look at all the rest of it, too. I've got to look at what God's doing now, and how He's using that, and how that fit into my life. Amen?
You know, there may be some terrible things that have happened to you, but God's still got some other ingredients to add into your life. He's still got some other stuff to throw into that life-happening thing that's going to make it turn out pretty good. Going to make it tasty. So maybe you've had a lot of ow days and not a lot of wow days, but I think you've got some more wow days coming. Amen?
Now listen. Jesus said, roll away the stone. Oh, Lord, He's been dead four days. He's already stinking. Like that matters. Roll away the stone. Lazarus, come out! And out He came. Still wrapped in grave clothes. And then I love what Jesus said. Take off the grave clothes.
And you know what? That's partially my message today. Many of you have come out, so to speak. You are born again, but you're still going around in grave clothes. You're wrapped up in gloom and doom and bad attitudes and, you know, just... Take off those grave clothes. Get them off. Lift up your heads and lift up your hands and say, I trust God. I believe and I will see the glory of God.