Joyce Meyer - Get Control Over Your Mind, Mouth, and Moods

"Out of the heart the mouth speaks". What's in your heart comes out of your mouth. We can learn more about people by listening to them than through any other source. And we can also learn a lot about ourselves by listening to ourselves. James 3 teaches us that if we can control our tongue, we are fully and completely mature and we can control every other part of our body, wow. Help me, Jesus. Now, not only do we need to stop saying wrong things, but we need to say right things. And the best way to stop saying wrong things is to stay so busy saying right things that there's no room for the wrong things.

See, I think we need to take a much more positive approach and not just always talk about what we shouldn't do, but just talk about what we should do. We overcome evil with good. So let me just talk to you a little bit about what we should be talking about. Let's give more thanks to God. Let's be thankful for more things. Let's get up in the morning and just look around and find at least five things that we can specifically say, "God, I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful that I've got a bed to sleep in and I'm not sleeping out on the street somewhere. I thank God all the time for clean water because I've been in places where people are drinking water that you would not believe that any human being would put in their body. I am so thankful for water".

How about heat and air conditioning? That's a good thing to be thankful for, isn't it, amen? I'm thankful to have all kinds of clothes to choose from. You don't have to be an Einstein to find five things to be thankful for and maybe the next day we could find five more. Maybe even make a list. Let's fight the enemy. Let's fight the negative with positive things. Let's fight evil with good. Let's not let the devil win. Let's not let him use our mouths as a garbage dump, amen?

Ezekiel 37, the first ten verses are a whole sermon in themselves. You can prophesy your future. What do you want to happen in the future? Then start calling those things that be not as though they are. I'm debt-free. That's a good thing to say. I don't care if you're up to your eyeballs in debt. Start saying, "I'm debt-free". Stop saying, "I can't find a job," and say, "I have a job. When I go out and look for a job, I have favor". Do not say again, "I can't find a job, I can't find a job, I can't find a job, I can't find a job, I can't find a job".

Quit claiming diseases like they're your personal possession. "Well, you know, my cancer and my high blood pressure and my diabetes". Let's, you know, maybe it's attacking your body, but you don't have to take ownership of it and become its buddy, amen? You can at least say, "This diabetes that I've got is on its way out because it's not God's best for me". Your words affect your body. Our body has healing abilities. It has regenerating power in it, and our thoughts and our words do affect it, amen? Amen!

I put together this little book a few years ago called, "The secret power of speaking God's Word out loud". And every time I talk about this book, a lot of people yell 'cause a lot of people have it. It's just a wonderful little tool. I have put together scriptures in groups in first person confessions, so when you feel like you're about to be flushed down the toilet, you can get this out and... For example, if you're feeling weak and fearful, you can get out the "Courage" chapter and just take a little walk. "I'm strong and of good courage. I do not fear, nor am I afraid, for the lord my God is the one who goes with me. He will not leave me nor forsake me. I said I am strong, vigorous, and very courageous. I am not afraid. Neither will I be dismayed for the lord my God is with me wherever I go. I said I am strong and courageous. I will not be afraid".

Instead of saying, "I'm just so afraid. Oh, I'm just so afraid. I tell you, I'm just so afraid, I'm shaking. I'm so afraid, I'm so afraid. Oh, God, please help me. Please help me, God, please help me". And God wants to help us, but we've got to get in agreement with Him. How can two walk together if they're not in agreement? We can't be pulling against God all the time and expect him to fight for us. I was in church for so many years before I ever heard anything even remotely like this. It is so valuable to learn the power of your words and the power of your thoughts. And although we may not get total victory overnight, at least we know where we're headed and we can work with God to get better and better every day, amen?

How many of you that have been having kind of a rough time realize right now that part of the reason is because you have not been controlling your thoughts and you've been saying all kinds of stuff that's working against you? Then you're in the right place tonight, right? Ezekiel 37:1: "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the spirit and set me down in the midst of a valley; and it was full of bones. And He caused me to pass around among them, and behold, there were very many [human bones] and they were very dry". Dead and dry. Many bones. "And He said, son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, o Lord, You're the only one that knows!" And God gave him a plan. "So He said to me, prophesy to these bones," now watch this, "And say to them, o you dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord".

You dead dry bones, you just lay there and let me prophesy the Word of God to you. You shall rise up and live again. You shall have flesh upon your bones once again. You look at your checkbook that's in the red and you say, "You will be in the black and there will be a surplus in you. And I will have money to meet my needs and plenty to give away". Now, it doesn't all come just because you say it. You need to follow the other principles in the Word of God too, but here's the problem. You can follow those other principles and keep talking against what the Word says and still never end up with what God wants you to have.

So let's just say that you tithe and you give, but you've got a case of what I call "Poverty mouth". "Well, I'll just never have anything. You know me, always the tail end of everything. Well, there goes my money. Devil steals my money. Every time I get a little bit of money, something else breaks down in this house and takes my money". I mean, we say all the time, "I'm sick and tired of this," and then we wonder why we're sick and tired. Oh, dare I go there? I don't know. Some of these things come back to us. "Oh, yes, I've claimed that for 40 years, now here it is". "It's just raining cats and dogs". Well, how dumb is that?

Don't look at your kids and tell them they'll never amount to anything. What a horrible thing for a parent to prophesy over their child. And if somebody prophesied that over you, you break the power of that prophecy by confessing the Word of God over your life. My father told me I would never amount to anything. And the last 15 years of his life he had to depend on me to pay his bills. And I was happy to do it. Happy to have the grace to be able to forgive him, and to be able to love him and to take care of him. But you can prove the naysayers wrong by believing the Word of God.