Joyce Meyer - Get Control Over Your Mind, Mouth, and Moods (08/21/2019)
The preacher highlights from James 3 and Ezekiel 37 that our words reveal what's in our heart and can bring life or death—control your tongue for maturity, speak God's positive truths boldly to overcome negativity, and prophesy victory instead of defeat.
The Power of Our Words Reflects the Heart
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. Ezekiel 37.
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.
Focus on What We Should Say
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 in the street somewhere. I'm thankful."
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'm 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 then 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?
Prophesy Life: Speak Your Future into Being
Ezekiel 37, the first 10 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?
Using Scripture Confessions Daily
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 because a lot of people have it. It's just, 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.
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.
Breaking Negative Patterns with God's Word
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.
Avoiding 'Poverty Mouth' and Negative Confessions
So let's just say that you tithe and you give, but you 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.
Daily Declarations and Personal Testimony
In Jeremiah chapter 1, God said to Jeremiah, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And I approved of you as my chosen instrument. And Jeremiah said, Oh no, not me. I'm too young, you got the wrong man. And God said to him, Say not that I've got the wrong guy. In other words, God was prophesying his future to him. And he was trying, he was killing his destiny with his own words.
If I were you, I would take some time every day. And in the privacy of your home. Or in your car, driving to work. I still do this every day. Every day of my life, I say, Everything I lay my hand to prospers and succeeds. I am the head and not the tail, above and not beneath. I lend to many nations and I never have to borrow.
And our ministry gives financial help into 150 nations around the world and we have zero debt. We don't have to borrow money. Don't tell me the word of God doesn't work because it does. Now in addition to saying those things, we've used good principles of wisdom. But our words are so important.
I said today, No evil thing can dwell in my body. Sickness and disease cannot survive in me because I am full of light and full of the power of God. I was just driving over here and just kind of muttered that under my breath. Use your quiet time to say something that makes sense. Don't just sit on a stool somewhere and worry.
Stability in Moods and Emotions
Moods. Hmm. Moods. Dave said he used to drive down the highway coming home from work and think, I wonder what she'll be like tonight. Oh, brother, if you're with your wife, you're in for a fight going home. Okay. Now, look, let me tell you something. It is just really unpleasant to live with somebody who's just up and down and all over the board.
The thing that I have appreciated more than anything about my husband is his stability. And I desperately needed that example in my life because I never had any stability growing up. I lived in a wild house. And I honestly believe that one of the greatest ways that we can show people our faith in God is by learning how to remain stable in every kind of situation.
Let's learn to be the same on rainbow days as we are on circumcision days. Now, you're going, huh? All right, God had a covenant with Noah. He sealed it with a rainbow. Wow. He had a covenant with Abraham. He sealed it with a circumcision. Ow! So, whether you get a wild day or an ouchy day, a rainbow day or a circumcision day, you guys are looking at me like I've just lost my mind. Well, I just can't believe you said that in here. Don't pick on me. God said it first. It's in his book. How many of you get it?
I mean, now, really, if you think about it, what sense does that make? If I would have been Abraham, I would have said, God, what's up? I want one of those pretty rainbows you gave Noah. I mean, wouldn't you? I mean, this isn't fair. Why are you picking on me? God doesn't want us to have to have answers for everything. He wants us to trust him. Just trust him. I trust you, God.
Paul said, I've learned how to be content, whether I'm abased or abounding. I trust God that whatever's coming my way right now is going to work out for my good eventually in the whole overall plan of my life. You know, you can't look at your life on any one given day. You've got to look at your life as a whole. Because we all have rainbow days. Even though we have those other ouchy days, we have rainbow days, too. And if we look at everything as a whole, then those difficult days don't seem so difficult.
Remember the day that your first child was born and how excited you were. Maybe that'll help you get over the days when you're not so excited that you got them.
Mastering Emotions and Not Letting Them Rule
All right, I want to say something to you. I want you to listen to this. We cannot control when emotions will or won't show up, but we can learn to not let them control us. And I wrote out here in my notes, this is the best I can offer you. I can't give you a plan to tell you that you're always going to feel the way you'd like to feel. And if I tried to, I'd be lying.
Emotions come and go. They roar in and they subside. They're there when you don't want them, not there when you do want them. You can get angry just like that. Something happens you weren't expecting. But the Bible says, when you're angry, do not sin. It's not a sin to feel anger. It's a sin to let the anger control you.
Well, I can't help how I feel, Joyce. Well, I'll give you that. Unless you're fueling those feelings with your own thoughts and words, then sometimes we can't control what feelings come. I mean, you know, you go to bed some nights and you think you've got all these plans for tomorrow and you just feel all full of zip and you know you're going to do it. And you wake up the next morning and feel like you can't even drag yourself out of bed. You didn't plan that. That wasn't what you wanted. But you don't have to live according to that.
The Power of Choosing Thoughts and Words
One of the greatest things that I learned, I'm talking to you about the things that I've learned that have been the most important to me in my life. Learning that I could think my own thoughts that I didn't have to just think and meditate on whatever fell in my head. That was huge for me. And I wrote the book Battlefield of the Mind and it still, after 17 years, is my number one best-selling book. And I wrote that book when I was learning all these things and they were so fresh in me and so, I was so full of revelation. If you haven't read that book, you need to get it and read it. The Battlefield of the Mind.
Learning the power of my words. Really understanding that when I said things to people that I could tear them down or build them up. That just with my mouth, I can help somebody have a great day or I can cause them to have a bad day. What a power God has put in our mouth.
How we shape the way our children think about themselves when they get older by the things that we say to them when they're little and growing up. And how wonderful it was for me to learn that even though I had had many things said to me that had shaped me in a wrong way and that had wounded me and hurt me, that I could take the Word of God and I could speak that Word out of my mouth and it would cause me to heal and recover from all of those other things that have been said to me that were wrong.
The Word of God in your mouth is stronger than anything that has ever been said to you. Did you hear me? The Word of God in your mouth has power. Let him who has my word speak my word faithfully, the Bible says. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and water the seeds in the earth and cause them to sprout so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth it shall not return void but it shall accomplish the purpose for which I send it. Isaiah 55. The Word of God does not return void.
Commitment to Speaking God's Word
This Word that I'm preaching tonight there are so many amazing things happening in people's spirits in this room and there are amazing things happening as people watch television you're like and there's things happening in our spirit there's healing taking place people's faith is being built up people are getting hope they're getting determination all because God's Word does not return void it accomplishes the thing that you send it to do because I know the power of God's Word that's why Dave and I are committed to continue doing this until we draw our last breath I don't care if they have to wheel me out on a cot someday and advertise that Granny Meyer is coming to town I don't know what this is going to look like when it's 95, but honey, if I can walk, I'll be here.
And we need to be committed to something. I'm committed to the Word of God and to bringing people the Word of God because I know what it can do for your life if you will get it in your mouth and begin to speak it.
And then thirdly, it was so important to me to learn that although I couldn't control every feeling that I had, that I did not have to obey them and bow down to them. Let us stop worshiping our feelings and start worshiping God. Do you understand me? You can feel something very strongly, but you don't have to do what you feel. You have the authority to move on the other side of that feeling and do what you know is right. Did you hear me?
You don't have to bow down to your feelings. You can move beyond how you feel. You can clean your house even if you don't feel like it. You can cut your grass and clean your yard up even if you don't feel like it. You can stick with people that you would like to just punch. You don't have to buy everything you feel like buying. You don't have to eat everything you feel like eating. You say, now you've gone to meddling. Let's just go on and do something else.
Anger, following impulses, self-pity. I'm so disappointed. Well, get reappointed. Well, I just feel like such a failure. I've got a revelation for you. You're not done if you're not dead. Amen?
The Key Role of Balance in Life
One of the big reasons why we have difficulty controlling our thoughts, controlling our mouth, and especially controlling our emotions, is when we get too tired, we don't get enough rest, we don't get enough sleep, we don't have any balance in our lives, we work too much, don't rest, we take on too much responsibility, we get in other people's stuff trying to fix their problems when they don't even want to fix them. Come on now, I'm talking to somebody. And then there goes the emotions. It's very interesting to me that the answer to many of our problems is balance.