Joyce Meyer - How To Be Led By The Holy Spirit? (08/22/2019)
Our part in partnering with God isn't relying on fleshly efforts or clever self-made plans to fix our bondages—it's simply obeying the Holy Spirit's daily leading and trusting God to do what we can't. So many stay stuck even after trying everything because they're not truly following God's personal guidance. True freedom comes when we yield, surrender our way, and let the Spirit lead us step by step.
Man's Part: Trust and Obey Daily
Man's part is not works of the flesh. If something needs to change in my life, if I've got some kind of a bondage in my life, my part—when I say we're partners with God and man has a part and God has a part—my part is not to come up with some nifty plan of how I can change myself or how I can change my circumstances. My part is to do what God leads me to do every day and to trust Him to do the part that I cannot do.
God Said: Tend to My Business
I remember when God put on my heart, "If you tend to My business, Joyce, I'll tend to yours." You take care of God's business and God will take care of you. Now, you know, self-disciplines are good. Guidelines are good. Our plans are not always bad. But we've got to be ready to let go of all of that if God says, "I have another plan other than the plan that you have." Amen.
Trying Everything But Missing the Spirit's Leading
Now, I've heard some people say—more than one—in the last number of years, and particularly in the last year or so, that, "Well, I've just done everything. I've tried everything. I've been to church. I've served in church. I've been in treatment programs. I've had counseling. I've had deliverance. I've done everything. And I'm still in bondage. I'm not free."
Okay, well, now I want you to listen to me here because this is important that you hear this. You know what? You may have done all of that and still not been led by the Holy Spirit.
Religious Activity Without True Obedience
Well, what do you mean? Okay, well, maybe somebody comes through the church and says, "We're all going to read the Bible through in a year." And that sounds like a good idea. So you get on a journey of trying to read the Bible through in a year, and you're not really learning anything or getting anything, but you're not really even doing it for what you can learn. You're just doing it because somebody said to do it.
So you're reading your Bible, but you're really not paying any attention to what you're reading. Even when you read it, you don't really intend to obey it. Do you know it won't do you one bit of good to be here this weekend if you didn't walk in here ready to learn and go out and do what you learned. Just being here won't change anybody. We go to church to learn how to live this lifestyle that is going to glorify God.
Don't Copy Others—Seek God's Plan for You
Now, I know from personal experience that we can get caught up in so many plots and plans and schemes. And we call everybody up. "Well, I've got this problem. I heard you got free. What did you do?" Can I tell you a secret? Even if you go and do exactly what they did, that doesn't mean that it'll work for you. You didn't hear me.
We spend way too much of our time calling up everybody else, finding out what they did. "Well, how did you lose your weight?" Women get that. Well, you know, I'm not saying that what somebody else did might not work for you. But I will tell you, it will not work for you if it's not something God is leading you to do. But if God is leading you to do it, then it will work for you.
Run to God First
We spend way too much time running to people when we need to go to God and ask Him, "What do You want me to do in this situation?" You say, "Well, I don't know that I can hear from God." Let me tell you something. Hearing from God is not as spooky or supernatural. It doesn't mean you're going to hear voices. It means that you have a knowing. You just get a knowing.
Practical Ways God Speaks
I'm going to give you some practical examples that you're going to get. For, you know, first of all, I was a chubby teenager. So I got on this diet mentality. And anytime that you're dieting, it seems like the way to lose weight is to eat the least amount that you can and go as long as you can without eating. So I got that so ingrained in me that even as an adult who knows better, I still sometimes go way too long without eating.
Now, when you're in your 20s and 30s, you can get by with some of that stuff. But as you get a little bit older, things begin to affect you differently than they did when you were younger. So I have been knowing from the Holy Spirit for probably four or five years that I need to not go so long without eating—that I need to eat a little something every two or three hours.
Resisting the Spirit's Gentle Prompting
But I don't really want to do that because if I eat little bits all day long, then that means I can't sit down and have this big, great, big meal at one time. And I'm kind of like an all-or-nothing person. So it's like I just won't eat all day. Then I'm going to eat everything I want when I sit down to do it. Well, then when I do that, it makes me so stinking sleepy I can't hardly stand it.
So then, because I've had more than my body can handle, I sit down in a chair and I fall asleep drooling on myself. And Dave and I will be watching television, and he calls me on the phone and says, "You know, would you like to get up now and spend some time with me?"
Simple Disobedience Brings Problems
Okay, so now listen. So I didn't do it, didn't do it, didn't do it, didn't do it. You know, when and how much I eat is not going to matter about whether I go to heaven or not. But if I don't listen to God, I mean, I feel so bad. How many of you want to feel better? Can I tell you something? If you'll listen to God, you'll start feeling better.
Some of you would feel so much better if you'd just go to bed at night. Come on, how many of you know that you need to go to bed earlier and you just don't? Then you're going to feel bad. How many of you know that you need to drink more water than what you do, but you really prefer... Okay, so there you go. You hear from God.
You Already Know What to Do
Don't tell me you don't know how to hear from God. Hearing from God means that you have a knowing about what you should and shouldn't do. I think that we think all this hearing from God is all this supernatural... "Ooh, God said," and I saw angels. No, it's just like, "I need to go to bed." Go to bed.
Or how about people who are incessantly late everywhere they go? "Oh God, I got such a bondage in my life. I probably need to go to being-late counseling. I don't know what my problem is. I just can't seem to get anywhere on time. I just need help. I need deliverance. Can you pray for me?"
Common Sense Led by the Spirit
And God has already told you ten times: Get yourself a little better organized at night before you go to bed. Know where your shoes are. Know where your keys are. When the phone starts ringing in the morning and you've got five minutes to get out of the house, don't answer it. Come on, am I telling the truth?
Or maybe for some of you perfectionists, you might have to leave a speck of dust somewhere when you leave. And can I tell you a secret? It'll be there when you get back. If you don't get that dust before you leave, it'll be there when you get back. And yet you let it make you late everywhere you go.
Disobedience Affects Integrity
Now people can't depend on you. Now you're breaking your word to people. Now you're lacking integrity. Now you feel guilty and condemned. And it wasn't because you didn't know what to do. It was because you knew what to do, but your soul didn't want to do it.
You know why? Because we don't let this part of us go to that cross. Jesus said, "Take up your cross and follow Me." That doesn't mean we have to get on that cross and die. But I've been saying it like this: I think there's a couple of sides to this thing.
The Cross We Need to Face
I can come out here and look at it like this and say, "Man, Jesus died on that cross." But I think there's another side to this too—the side maybe that I need to get on once in a while. The side that maybe I need to let deal with me, remembering what Christ did for me when I do it. And that everything is not going to be comfortable, and everything is not going to be easy. But there is a life waiting for you and a life waiting for me that we do not want to miss.
Consequences of Ignoring God's Leading
Okay, so then I started having these weak spells. They started happening about three months ago. And I mean, I was just... Man, I was getting dizzy, and I was getting weak, and my heart was pounding, and I was sweating. And then it would take me like an hour to get over it. "Oh my gosh, I have some kind of heart attack. What's going on?"
And then I had a couple of days where I felt that way all day. So I'm praying, "God, what's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong?" And I knew... I knew from God that it was just my blood sugar—I wasn't eating enough at the right times. All the way back to "You need to eat more often."
God Warns Us Ahead of Time
And I'm not trying to make a health lesson out of this—this is about how to hear from God. And so I'm trying to make the point that even though we hear from God, we still just do stupid stuff. And so stupid seed gets a stupid harvest. Are you with me? I mean, it's just that simple. If I sow stupid seed, I'm going to get a stupid harvest in my life. And there's no reason to complain about it. There's no reason to over-spiritualize it.
"Oh God, I don't understand what's wrong. I'm trying to preach the gospel and help Your people, and now I just feel this way all the time, and I don't understand what's wrong." Yeah, you do.
Following Through Brings Freedom
Okay, so I'm thinking, this is my blood sugar. No, it's my blood sugar. So I thought it was going to be low. I know how to take your blood sugar. Well, I took it and it was higher than it should have been—not like high enough to be serious, but high enough that I needed to pay attention to it.
So I went to my doctor. I got an appointment with my doctor, told her the whole thing. She said, "Yeah, it's your blood sugar. You need to make sure you eat every two and a half or three hours. That'll fix your problem." Now, here's the thing: I knew that already five years ago. God told me—listen to me—God told me what I needed to do before I ever had a problem.
Did you hear me? I believe that God shows us what we need to do ahead of time so we don't ever end up with a problem. But we keep pushing the envelope, so to speak. Then we get a problem. Come on, is anybody home out there? Don't make me come down there and get you.
Make a Commitment to Be Led by the Spirit
The same thing works with spending, taking care of yourself, stuff in your marriage. Wonder how many times, ladies, God's told you to stop smart-mouthing your husbands. Did I really say that? I don't know. Hey, God gets on me sometimes. Come on now. Hmm, should we camp there a minute or not? You guys are getting a little squirmy in your seats.
Here's the thing: Man, if God would give me the grace to some way, somehow, be able to push all of you this weekend to really make a commitment to leave here and be led by the Spirit. Man, if I could just get you to make that commitment.
God Cares About Every Detail
Wow, to just leave here and say, "Man, God, I belong to You. Boy, You paid a tremendous price for me. And I've got everything I need in my spirit. I've got everything I need inside of me for a great life. I've got all these wonderful promises. Now, I just want to grow in hearing from You."
And you know what? As you grow in hearing from God, you're going to make some mistakes. That's part of how you learn. Sometimes you think you're hearing something from God, and it's not God. And you go do some dumb thing, get yourself in trouble. But you're just like, "Well, God, that wasn't You. I won't do that again."
Let me tell you something: The Holy Spirit cares about every... To me, this is the most wonderful thing about this intimate, personal relationship with God—is that He cares about everything that concerns you. Everything.
God Even Cares About Chili
I got up one morning, and my daughter makes chili that I really like. I thought, "Man, I wonder if Laura would make me some chili today." Well, she's got four teenagers, and I'm thinking, "I don't need to be calling her, asking her to make me chili. She's got enough going on in her life." So... No, I just... I'd sure like to have it, Laura, but I don't want to bother her.
Thirty minutes later, she called. "I was just wondering this morning, would you like me to make you some chili today?" Whoa, Holy Ghost, yes. Hallelujah. Now, you know what? You can think what you want to. That kind of stuff sometimes means more to me because that lets me know that God cares about every little thing that concerns me.
No Bondage Can Stand Against the Spirit's Leading
You know, so many people stay in bondage to whatever—everything from smoking to drinking to eating disorders to sexual problems, pornography, gambling. Let me tell you, there's problems in the body of Christ. And the sad thing is, I think there are people who love God. They don't want to do wrong things, but somehow or another, they just don't know how to make it from bondage to freedom.
And so I'm just going to make a bold statement here, and I hope I don't make anybody mad. But if I do, I'll just tell you that I've searched my heart, and I believe this. So if I'm wrong, I believe it. I'm sincerely wrong. Listen, I believe that any person that's in bondage, if you will ask God to lead you out of it and you will study the Word—I believe if you'll be committed to doing each step of the way what God shows you to do—I don't believe there's any way that you can stay in bondage.
Following the Spirit Guarantees Freedom
Now listen, you may go to 100 treatment programs and stay in bondage. You may go to 5,000 hours of counseling and spend $100,000 on it, and you may stay in bondage. But you will not follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit and stay in bondage. It is not possible. Not possible.
Personal Victory Through Yielding
Example: I was sexually abused by my dad. Obviously, I had hang-ups in the sex area. I didn't care too much for it, and that's not a really good thing if you're going to have a decent marriage. So I knew that I needed to get my attitude straightened out.
And don't stone me when I say this, but I invited the Holy Spirit into my bedroom. You're not real sure what to think of that, are you? Okay, listen—when you say sex, the Holy Spirit doesn't go, "Ah!" The whole thing was God's idea to start with, so. And maybe if we talk about it a little bit more in church, we might not have all the weirdness going on out in the world that we do.
So I asked God to walk me out of the problems I had into being a good wife. And it took time. Most things take a little more time than we'd like them to, but... I'm always encouraged if I can just see a little progress. You know, I'm still not where I'd like to be, but hey, I'm not where I used to be. And as long as I'm seeing progress, that's the thing that encourages me. And I think that that's all God wants—is that we just keep pressing on.
Grace Comes When We Surrender
And I hope I'm not being too personal here, but if I am, I'm just trying to help you. You know, one of the things that I just told Dave, I said, "We will not have the lights on. Well, there will be no lights on." And now listen—I just knew in my heart, "Okay, now, tonight, you leave lights on." Oh!
See, you've got to understand, everything in here... Are you with me? Come on. Everything in here was... Oh! But see, here's the thing you've got to understand—please listen to me. Anything that God leads you to do, He will give you the grace to do. Do you hear me? Anything God leads you to do, He will...
So I didn't even have to do it. I just had to surrender. See, I just had to surrender and yield to God. You know what? I'm not having any trouble now eating every two and a half to three hours. And actually, the funny thing is, I was going all day without eating because I thought I'd gain weight, and I've lost three pounds since I started eating every two and a half to three hours. Go figure. All I did was just yield to that.
Simple Steps for Big Bondages
Now, let's just say that somebody has some kind of a sexual bondage, pornography, whatever. Here comes a magazine to the house that's got a lady in her underwear on the front cover. Now, you already know without anybody having to preach to you—if you're a Christian—that you should not turn the first page. You take it directly and throw it in the trash can. You don't look. You just throw it away. That's the leading of the Holy Spirit. Throw it away.
If you've had a problem with alcohol, you don't go out to the bar with your friends. You know better than to do that. Are you with me? It's not that we don't know what to do. It's that we don't want to do it.
Most Problems Have Simple Answers
And there may be a few times in our life when we honestly don't know what to do, but I'll tell you—if you keep pressing in with God, God will give you an answer, and He will show you. And many times—now listen to what I want to say—many times, some of our biggest problems have simple, little answers that, if we will just follow that leadership of the Holy Spirit, things will turn around in our lives.
Yield: Raise the White Flag
Okay, so now watch this. The word "yield" means to give in, to give up, to let go, to back down, to climb down, or to raise the white flag. Oh, I wish God would have given me this example two months ago because then I would have had little white flags made for all of you. Because when somebody in a war waves this flag, it means surrender.
And we all need to wave our white flag of surrender to God. And when He says, this is what I want—I say, "I surrender." I'm going to eat every two and a half to three hours the rest of my life. I surrender. I'm going to give up all this cola and caffeine and coffee, and I'm going to drink water, God. I surrender.
I'm going to go to bed at night. I surrender. I'm going to stop talking back to my husband every time I don't like something that's going on. Come on, have I hit your need yet? I surrender. I'm not going to keep buying things emotionally and charging up bill after bill after bill. I surrender my attitude. I surrender my stubbornness.
Time to Surrender and Pray
Okay, let me ask you a question. How many of you have something in your life—if you walked in here with it, been hanging on to it a long time, and you know that God is talking to you right now, and you're ready to say, "It's time for me to yield and surrender that thing to God. I don't want to take it home, Joyce. I want to give it to God before I leave here"? How many of you would say that's you?
Well, then I got the right crowd at the right time, don't I? If that's you, let's stand up. We're going to pray right now. Pray or surrender. Come on, right now. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord.
Okay, now listen—this is actually quite beautiful because you know what this says to me? Progress. God thinks this is beautiful. He's not mad at us because there's something we need to yield. He thinks it's beautiful.
Prayer of Surrender
So now I'm going to pray a prayer, and I want you to just agree with me for your own life. Father, we bring whatever these situations are to You tonight. We can't fix our own problems. We can't find enough methods. We can't find enough plans. We can't make up enough strategies to ever set ourselves free.
But if we will just surrender to You and yield—simply let it go and yield to You—although that doesn't mean that we won't feel any pain in our soul, it does mean that You'll have another little part of us that You can work through.
So God, we choose tonight to surrender, to yield. We leave it. We let it go. Now give us the grace, God, to go all the way through with this thing and do it Your way. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Everybody give God a big praise.