Joyce Meyer - How Your Mind Affects Your Outlook On Life (08/22/2019)
Joyce Meyer prays for healing through the preached Word and teaches that our thoughts shape everything in life. We must recognize Satan's lies, take control of our thinking, destroy mental strongholds with God's truth, renew our minds constantly, take responsibility, choose positive beliefs, and partner with God to overcome negativity and enjoy abundant life.
Opening Prayer for Healing
Father, we thank you for the Word tonight, and as I've already prayed, I'm expecting you, God, to heal people tonight while the Word is being preached. I thank you that people can receive physical healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing, mental healing, any kind of healing that they need. You send your Word, Lord, and you heal them, and you deliver them from the pit and from destruction.
Pay Attention to Your Thoughts
Okay, a few opening comments. How much thought have you ever given to your thoughts? Do you ever think about what you're thinking about? If you find yourself in a bad mood, a low mood emotionally, you feel like you're really getting down in the dumps, getting discouraged, why don't you take a few minutes and stop and think about what you're thinking about? And you'll find that the way you feel is connected to the way you're thinking.
Are you aware of how much your thoughts affect every area of your life? They affect the words you speak, your moods, attitudes, your relationship with God, yourself, and other people, and every decision and every behavior that you make.
You Don't Have to Accept Every Thought
And no, you don't have to just think whatever falls in your head. You can do your own thinking. You can do your own thinking. I'll go slow. You can do your own thinking.
You see, the reason why it's quiet is because this is something we never think about. We never think about how we think. You know, we just wake up in the morning, the devil says, you're depressed. And you say, I'm depressed. You just get right in agreement with him. Yep, I'm depressed.
He says, it's going to be a lousy day. You get up and the first thing you say to somebody is, it's going to be a lousy day.
Satan Targets Your Mind
We have to learn to recognize the lies of Satan and to understand that more than any other thing, he uses our mind. He lies to us. He brings deception into our lives. He tries to steal everything from us that Jesus came to give us.
And we can't just sit passively by and wish we didn't feel this way and kind of hope something happens. You know, that kind of hope really isn't hope at all. Hope is expecting that something good is going to happen. He's not, well, I hope God does something.
You know, the Bible says that the kingdom of God has suffered violence and the violent take it by force. And I love that. The kingdom of God has suffered attack and the energetic take it by force is a better translation.
No Drive-Through Breakthroughs
And so we need to stop just thinking that everything good is just going to fall on us. And we need to realize that God is giving us a life plan in the Bible. He said, I am the way. And so you might say, in here is the way to live.
Now you can't circumvent it. Doesn't matter if you like it or not. God's not going to change his mind. In here is the way to live. And any problem that you have, the answer to that problem is in this book.
And so we learn what's in here, and this takes time. You get better and better and better, but nobody's going to have total victory overnight. This is not a drive-through breakthrough. You can't just, you know, you can drive through and get just about everything a day, but you cannot get a drive-through breakthrough.
You're going to have to go through to get the breakthroughs that you need. Amen?
Mind Renewal Is Foundational
And changing our thinking, learning how to let the Holy Spirit show us when our thoughts are wrong, learning how to recognize the lies of Satan, and learning to think the way that God thinks about every situation is the very basic foundational thing that has to take place for any kind of real transformation in our lives.
Do you ever feel like that you're losing your mind? Well, perhaps you are. Perhaps you've lost or given up the control of your thoughts. So really, when we say, I feel like I'm losing my mind, it's because we're letting the enemy do our thinking for us, and he's filling our minds with worry and fear and anxiety and threats and every kind of torment.
What Can I Do? Think Something Else
You say, well, I just don't know what to do. What can I do? Well, think something else. Think something good. Good always overcomes evil. Well, I can't help it. You know, I'm just a worrier. Well, the first thing you might do is stop saying that. Don't ever say again, I'm a worrier. Don't say that.
Perhaps you've never even known that you could control your thoughts. First scripture we're going to look at, we're going to look at lots of scripture this weekend. 2 Corinthians 10, 4 and 5.
For the weapons of our warfare... Everybody say, I'm in a war. ...are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and the destruction of strongholds.
Strongholds Are in the Mind
Now, a stronghold is a place where an enemy will barricade himself in and from that vantage point control what's going on. So, the devil tries to build strongholds in our minds that are lies and deceptions, but they're things that over a period of time he convinces us to believe, and as long as we believe it, it's our reality. Even if it's not true, it still becomes our reality because we believe it.
For years and years, I believed...I...this was my thinking. I will never...because I've been abused, I will never be able to have a really good life. I'll always have to have a...like a...a second-rate life because of what happened to me. And that was the way I believed, and so that became my reality.
Belief Creates Reality
Do you realize that what you believe becomes your reality? You can't go beyond what you believe. If you believe that you don't have any confidence, then you're gonna behave as if you have no confidence, even though Christ is your confidence and he is living in you.
But if you don't believe that you have confidence because of your relationship with him, then you'll behave as if you don't have any, So you'll be the one that won't get the job. You'll be the one that won't get the favor. You won't get the benefit. You won't get the breakthrough. You won't be liked. And it's all because of the way you feel about yourself. Not because that's the way things really have to be. But it's what you have let the devil convince you that has to be that way.
Now there is not a person hearing my voice right now that cannot benefit from this and see very good and positive changes in your life. And I'm talking about right away.
Start Seeing Change Right Away
Now, that doesn't mean the whole problem is going to be solved right away because it takes time to renew your mind. It takes time to learn how to think right. But let me tell you something. Every day that you're going in the right direction is another day you're not still going in the wrong direction.
And so even if you haven't arrived yet, it's better to be on your way to somewhere good than to keep going back to something wrong all the time.
In as much as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings, now those are all processes of the thought life. So he must be talking about strongholds that are built in the mind.
And every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God. So everything that doesn't agree with the truth that we find in the Bible is a lie.
Everything Against God's Truth Is a Lie
Everything that we believe that does not agree with the Word of God, I don't care if it's the 21st century or the 27th century or the 30th century, God does not change. He is the same.
And you know a lot of the stuff that's going on in our world today and people think it's the modern way to live. I feel so sorry for people who don't know the Word of God. And it's part of our job to make sure that we're doing everything that we can do to get as much truth out as we possibly can.
Because the only thing that's going to defeat those lies is the truth of God's Word. Everything that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God.
We lead every thought... Somebody say, every thought. Every thought. We lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ the Messiah.
And you know, to me it's exciting to understand that I can have a measure of control over my life by learning how to think the way God thinks.
Free Will to Choose God's Way
I'm glad that God has given me free will. And I can choose to use my free will to line it up with God's will. You don't use your free will to go do whatever you want to do. God has given us freedom because He doesn't want puppets. He doesn't want a bunch of people that He made serve Him.
He said, this is what I want for you. This is what's going to work out good for you. I want you to love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. I provided a good life. I provided a good life. This is the way to live. But now you can do whatever you want to.
And as we use our free will to choose His will, you are going to have a life that is so amazingly wonderful that you're not even going to hardly know what to do with yourself.
Stinking Thinking Leads to Stinking Life
I don't care how saved you are. If you have stinking thinking from daylight till dark, you're going to have a stinking life. Amen. I don't care how saved you are. You can have your whole Bible underlined in three different colors. But if you have stinking thinking all the time, you're going to have a stinking life.
When somebody says, my life stinks, then you might as well just say to them, well, then it's because you've got stinking thinking. What kind of life do you want?
You know what I think? I think bottom line is, is people want to be happy. You know, all the things that people go out and buy, you know, just people want to be happy. Credit card debt is not like, I don't know. It's just the highest it's ever been in history. And it's people trying to buy a little bit of happiness.
But what you can never buy in a store is free. Right here. Because your happiness is not in what you own. It's in knowing who you are and who you belong to.
Jesus Came for Abundant Life
John 10, 10. The thief comes only in order to steal, to kill, and destroy. Jesus said, I came. Boy, I could stop right there and shout. I came. So now all of a sudden, we have this holy interruption into Satan's plan.
He comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. Jesus said, but I came that they might have and enjoy life. Not just walk around breathing, but being miserable. Have and enjoy your life in abundance to the full until it overflows.
God wants you to have so much joy joy, that it's bubbling out of you and splashing all over other people. And joy can be everything from hilarity to a calm delight. And I like the part about just a calm delight. I think that's the way that God wants us to live.
Satan Injects Lies About God
Well, Satan doesn't want us to have this kind of good life, so he injects every kind of lie into our minds that he possibly can. Lies about God. Like, I don't know, you might have walked in here tonight believing God was mad at you. Because it's something you did, or something you didn't do.
Well, I've got good news. God is not mad at you. God actually loves you, and he never for one second in your whole life ever stops loving you, no matter what you do.
Now, that doesn't mean that you're just going to get by with a lot of goofy, bad behavior. God will chastise you and correct you, but even that he does out of love. Because God loves you too much to leave you alone in your mess. Isn't that good news?
I love the chastisement of God, because it lets me know that he's watching over me, and he's not satisfied to let me live a subpar life.
Stop Blaming Others
It's possible to have a negative mindset and a negative attitude that is destroying your life while you spend your life blaming others instead of taking responsibility for making a change.
I'm going to read it again. It is possible for me, for you, for anybody watching my TV. Yes, we know you're out there. To have a negative mindset and a negative attitude that is destroying your life while you spend your time blaming everything that's wrong in your life on somebody else and never taking responsibility.
Well, now somebody's thinking right away, well, it's not my fault. No, it's the devil's fault. It's not Charlie's fault or Sam's fault or Joe's fault or Mary's fault or Maude's fault. It's the devil's fault.
We war not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and wickedness in high places. Our war is with the enemy. He finds different people of the situation that you're in right now.
But I will tell you this. Only you and God working together can fix it. Only you and God working together can fix it because the person you're mad at is never going to come back around and fix your problem.
No matter how long you stay mad at them or how long you hate them or how bitter you become, they're just going to be out somewhere having a good time while you're miserable.
So you might as well just give that up and just say, okay, God, I am ready now to agree with you. I will take responsibility for where I'm at right now. You show me what needs to be done and give me the strength to do what you want me to do and I'm never going to look back again. I'm going straight forward from this day on.
The Story of Charlie – A Parable
Now, I'm going to read you a parable by Joyce Meyer. It was springtime and everything was beginning to blossom. Spring is usually a time of year that people really enjoy. The deadness and the cold of winter is over and spring reminds us of hope and new growth.
Julie was doing spring cleaning. Cleaning her closet from winter to spring clothes and thinking about planting some colorful flowers in the yard. Everything felt bright and filled with hope but then her husband Charlie came home from work with some bad news. He had been fired from his job.
Julie found it difficult to have any empathy for him because this was the fourth job that Charlie had been fired from in a seven year period of time. Although Julie was normally very positive and peaceful, the news Charlie brought home was upsetting to her.
He told her not to get upset that he would indeed get another job. But Julie knew there was a deeper problem that Charlie wasn't willing to deal with.
The Common Denominator
If you find yourself in the same situation over and over, you're the only common denominator that's in that situation every time. This actually is true. A lady came to a pastor friend of mine and she said, next week I'm getting married for the seventh time and I want you to pray that this man is going to treat me right.
Now let me tell you, that's the height of deception. I mean, if you're on number seven, there's a good possibility it's not the other person's fault. Thank you.
Charlie wasn't willing to face his problems or deal with him. If he'd been fired from one or perhaps even two jobs, she might have agreed that it was simply an irritable boss or other employee problems. But after four jobs, she knew that somehow Charlie was to blame.
Not only had he been fired from four jobs, he was also unable to keep friends. You see, Charlie was very difficult to get along with. He was negative, complained frequently, and had an ability to darken any atmosphere within a few minutes.
Charlie's Pattern of Negativity
Charlie had been angry with his boss, whom he said didn't recognize his talents. And Charlie felt certain that he had been treated unfairly. He was angry with his coworkers because he said they didn't like him and they had complained to the boss about him.
Anger wasn't news to Charlie. In fact, he'd been angry about one thing or another for most of his life. He felt that he was not as naturally talented, not as privileged as most people, and he resented it.
He often complained that life had dealt him a bad hand. Life threw me under the bus was a favorite self-pitying statement of his. He blamed his parents, teachers, and peers for his lot in life. He blamed everyone, but no fault was found in Charlie.
Although it was true that Charlie had some disadvantages growing up, he also had some opportunities as well to have and enjoy a good life. You never have disadvantages without having some opportunities somewhere in your life. That's all right.
How We Finish Matters Most
You know, I don't mind if we go slow. I can even come back and do it again tomorrow if we don't get it tonight. I like to say that how we get started in life is not nearly as important as how we finish. We may not be in control of our beginning, but we can be in control of our finish.
It was not my fault that my father sexually abused me, but it would have been my fault if I would have let it ruin the whole rest of my life.
Now, you know, this makes some of you happy and others, there's a possibility I might be making you mad right now. Well, please don't leave because if you do, you're just going to stay in the same mess, keep going around and around the same mountain, and then maybe somebody else will tell you the same thing ten years from now, and maybe you'll believe them and maybe you won't, but no matter how unfair life has treated you, you working with God as a partner with Him is the only thing that's ever going to fix it.
The truth was that Charlie had been fired from his job because he was a very negative-thinking person. He had an entitlement attitude that made him feel he deserved better treatment without doing his part to deserve it. Hmm.
He was repeating the same pattern that he had followed his entire life. And he would repeat it again and again and again unless he was willing to stop blaming everybody else for what was wrong in his life and take responsibility to start making the changes that needed to be made.
Somebody say amen. Amen.
Enjoying Life Begins with Choices
Now, we'll get back to Charlie in just a little bit. Enjoying life begins with a choice. The first choice is to believe that all things that have happened to us can work out for good. No matter what they are, all things that have happened to us, all bad things, unpleasant things, unjust things, unfair things can work out for good to those who, number one, love God, and number two, are called according to his purpose.
And let me just simplify that. Who love God and who are willing to do what he shows them to do.
I'll never forget a girl that attended a conference that I did many years ago and it was a conference where the, it was, it happened to be a ladies conference and the ladies were all sitting at these round tables in this big banquet center and three, four sessions we had and at the end the lady came up to me and she said, well, I found out what my problem was this weekend.
And I said, what's that? She said, well, she said, I've been abused and I've had a lot of bad things happen in my life but she said, as I sat at the table it seemed that God had placed me with several other ladies who had had almost identical backgrounds as I've had.
Isn't it amazing how God will set you up sometimes? And she said, by the end of the weekend this is what I found out. They're all free. Everything that God told them to do that they did He also told me to do but I never did it.
Do What God Tells You
We may not be able to change every circumstance in our life but we can change our outlook. I know it doesn't make any sense but I cannot stand here and say that I'm sorry I was abused by my dad.
Enjoying life begins with a choice. The first choice is to believe that all things that have happened to us can work out for good. No matter what they are all things that have happened to us all bad things unpleasant things unjust things unfair things can work out for good to those who number one love God and number two are called according to His purpose and let me just simplify that who love God and who are willing to do what He shows them to do.
I'll never forget a girl that attended a conference that I did many years ago and it was a conference where it was happened to be a ladies conference and the ladies were all sitting at these round tables in this big banquet center and three, four sessions we had and at the end the lady came up to me and she said well I found out what my problem was this weekend and I said what's that?
She said well she said I've been abused and I've had a lot of bad things happen in my life but she said as I sat at the table it seemed that God had placed me with several other ladies who had had almost identical backgrounds as I've had isn't it amazing how God will set you up sometimes and she said by the end of the weekend this is what I found out they're all free everything that God told them to do that they did he also told me to do but I never did it.
We're expecting a lot these days and we're not willing to do much to feel like that we've earned it or deserved it, and it's not good for people. The only way you can ever really appreciate anything is to know what you put in to have that reward in your life.
Nobody will ever know what this ministry means to me. As close as Dave is to me, nobody but God will ever know what this ministry means to me because I know what I've had to go through to get from where I was to where I am.
We may not be able to change every circumstance in our life, but we can change our outlook. I know it doesn't make any sense, but I cannot stand here and say that I'm sorry I was abused by my dad. I don't know how God works it out, but He is God and He can do some very unusual and amazing things.
And somehow or another, He's worked it out for my good and for the good of a lot of other people. And I know that I have a better life now than I would have if it wouldn't have happened to me.
So we can all stop feeling sorry for ourselves because we got a bad start in life and just say, God, here, you take this mess. Let me see what you can do with it. God gathers up the fragments of our life that nothing be wasted.
Here's a good statement for you. Nothing good happens accidentally. Joyce Meyer said that.
Choose Life – Deuteronomy 30:19
Deuteronomy 30, 19. I want you to see these scriptures. It's just important. Deuteronomy 30, 19. I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the cursing. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live.
So let's just apply this to our message tonight. What if He said, I've set before you the opportunity to think good thoughts or bad thoughts? If you think good thoughts, you're going to have a good life. If you think bad thoughts, you're going to have a bad life. Now you choose which way you want to think.
Is anybody in the room convicted that you need to get before God and start making some progress in the way you think? Half of you? Well, I'll get the rest of you. Just wait.
Overcome Evil with Good – Romans 12:21
Romans 12, 21. I love this. Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome and master evil with good. To me, that's one of the most powerful scriptures in the Bible. You overcome evil with good.
I didn't get the devil back for what he did to me by going out and hating everybody. I got him back, and I get him back every time I open my mouth and preach the word to help people.
You're not going to get anybody back by hating them, but you can sure make a dent in the wickedness in the world by getting up every day and seeing how you can be good to everybody that you come near.
Can I just throw this out there for good measure? Don't mean it to be rude, but get yourself off your mind. I mean, it's really just not all about you. And it's really just not all about me.
You know, we're going to believe something, so why not make it something good? You're going to have to fight a good fight of faith. It's a fight. We're in a war. The devil's always going to be the devil.
But instead of dreading it and resenting it, get excited about it. I got a purpose every day. Every day of my life, I have a purpose to not let the enemy control my thoughts and to not let him dictate what I'm going to say.
I don't have to talk according to my circumstances. I can talk according to the Word of God. Every day of my life, I have the challenge of loving people that aren't necessarily all that lovely. Come on.
Anybody can go to work and hate everybody that's not nice. But we don't need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. You don't need to come to this seminar to do that. You can go do that without any God factor in your life at all.
But when God comes in, it changes things, at least it's supposed to.
Renew Your Mind Constantly – Ephesians 4:22-24
Ephesians 4, 22 through 24. Strip yourselves of your former nature. Put off and discard your old, unrenewed self. That literally means stop acting like you used to act before you became a new creature in Christ. Amen.
Well, I've tried, Joyce, and I just can't. You know, it's not about trying. It's about believing God and trusting Him and fellowshipping with Him and spending time in the Word. And God does the work in us that needs to be done if we learn how to go to Him.
Put off your old, unrenewed self, which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion, and be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Constantly. Oh, I wish it didn't say that. And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude.
I wish that it said, and one time only in your life, you have to have a good attitude. And after that, everything is going to go good. No, but we have to do this day after day after day after day.
Somebody say, I'm excited. A couple of you looked at me like, I ain't saying that.
And put on the new nature, the regenerate self, created in God's image, God-like and true righteousness, and holiness.
So, I look at these scriptures like a sandwich. You've got 22 and 24, with 23 right in the middle. 22 says, put off your old life. Let's just make it really simple. Stop acting like you weren't saved.
And over here, start behaving the way God wants you to. But the bridge, how do I get from 22 to 24, is 23. And having your mind constantly renewed, and a renewed attitude constantly, and that's the answer. That's the answer.
The way to have this victory of living the new life that God has given us is to learn how to think the way God thinks. And it's not an automatic.
I get up some mornings, and I mean, before my feet hardly hit the floor, I start having some of the craziest thoughts. I mean, like, just stuff that makes you want to think, hello? And I actually, I will talk myself and say, Joyce, we're not going there. Been there, done that. Not going there. I know it's the enemy.
And see, the enemy is going to try early every morning to get your thoughts, because if he can get your thoughts early, he can get your day.
And you know, in the mornings, you're kind of groggy and sleepy, and you know, it's like, oh, do I really have to start fighting the devil already?
But if you begin to look at it like a challenge, it can actually get to be fun.
Focus on What You Have
Always think more about what you do have than what you don't have.
How about if we finish Charlie's story? Would anybody like to do that? You want to know what happened to good old Charlie, don't you? I made him up, you know, there is no... but he fits a lot of people.
An unwillingness to count his blessings is one of Charlie's biggest problems. I like this statement. A man named William Arthur Ward said, God gave you the gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used even one of them to say thank you? Amen.
One of his biggest problems was he had an unwillingness to count his blessings. I think we would all agree that he probably wasn't thankful for much, if anything at all.
All of his blessings were clouded by negative thinking. Instead of thanking God that he had a job, he resented not having a better job. Instead of realizing his parents did their best for him, he believed they didn't love him enough to provide better opportunities.
He compared everything about his life to those who had more than he did, but he never realized how much he had, how much more he had than a majority of people in the world.
Charlie's Turning Point
What happened to Charlie in the long run? Well, he did lose one more job and was on the verge of losing another when a Christian man he worked with invited him to go to church with him and his family.
Julie already attended church regularly, but Charlie had always refused to go. This time he said yes, and it turned out to be just the right thing at just the right time.
Charlie had finally been miserable long enough and he was ready for a change. Has anybody in the building been miserable long enough and you're ready for a change?
See, if you were expecting me to come out and give you some magical word over your life tonight that would turn all your problems around, I'm sorry, and actually sometimes when people try to do that it irritates me.
God does many, many miracles but the greatest miracle that he does is to change a human being. And that happens as we study and get to know him and stick with it and don't quit and don't give up and we watch and see what God can do in our life.
He was finally ready for a change. Is anybody watching TV right now ready for a change?
When the opportunity came at the close of the service to receive Jesus he surrendered his life to Christ.
You're going to have that opportunity here in just about 15 minutes. And some of you that have not made a decision yet to receive Christ as your Savior, if you're Charlie then tonight it's time for Charlie to get saved.
Charlie took a bold step and joined with many others in saying yes to Jesus.
Gradually over the years we just might as well tell the truth. Gradually over the years not overnight gradually over the years Charlie learned about the new way of thinking and the new life that Jesus offered and he did change.
He and Julie went on to have two amazing children. Charlie held on to his job and was even promoted several times. I love stories with good endings don't you?
I wish every story had an ending like this but sadly we know that every story does not have an ending like this.
Mind, mouth, moods, and attitudes. Wow. They sure have a lot to do with our life don't they?
Steps for Your Breakthrough
How do your thoughts affect your outlook on life? If you need a breakthrough what can you do? First of all you believe. Just believe like a little child you believe. I believe. You're going to believe something it might as well be something good.
I believe that something good is going to happen in my life. That's a good place to start. I believe that God has got a good plan for me. I believe that my future is going to be much better than my past was.
I believe I believe I believe devil do you hear me? I believe. Amen. I believe I believe I believe I believe I believe.
Then start asking God for what you want and need you have not because you ask not when you go to God in Jesus name you're presenting to God all that Jesus is not all that you are none of us deserve God's help that's what's so wonderful about the new life in God is your friend, and he wants to meet your needs.
Keep asking him, asking him, asking him. And if you're not getting what the Bible says you can have, then ask God to show you the truth. Yeah, uh-oh. And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
You know what I say all the time, it's not the truth about Dave that'll make me free.
Take Responsibility for Your Life
Take responsibility for your life. Take responsibility for your life. And I can still hear it. Well, it's not my fault. Okay. I'm good with that. It's not your fault.
But once again, you partnering with God, and beginning to do what God shows you to do is the only way to fix the problem. Somebody else is not going to come and fix it. Only God can fix it. And he's not going to just do it for you. He's going to do it with you and through you. Amen?
Spend lots of time with God. You say, well, what do you do when you spend time with God? You just do whatever. You can sit and do nothing. You can read. Above all, you talk to him honestly.
It's not so much what you do when you spend time with God that's important. The thing that's important is that you gave him the time. Do you hear me?
Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Some of you, honestly and truly, if you would just get up and spend 15 minutes every morning with God, your life would change so radically that it would be unbelievable.
Stop trying to work God into your schedule and start working your schedule around God.
Dwell in the Secret Place – Psalm 91:1
Psalm 91.1, He who dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty, whose power no foe can come against.
Do you see that? Look at that. He who dwells, lives, and remains in the secret place of the Most High. He who spends time with God on a regular basis. He who recognizes that His presence is with you and in you all the time. He shall remain stable.
You need emotional stability? This is where to get it. You feel like you're about to go over the edge? Go get somewhere, in a closet, in a bathroom, anywhere you can be by yourself, for two minutes, three minutes.
Go lock yourself in the bathroom stall at work if you feel like you're about to rip some other employee's head off. And say, God... Okay, Joyce, breathe. Give me the strength, Lord, to go back out there and act like you want me to act.
Come on, you've got to fight for your life.
We got the cutest letter from somebody in Russia. I preach in all these other countries in their language, and so... I mean, I don't know the languages, but they translate them. I mean, I speak about 93 languages, aren't I amazing?
And... You know, even though the translation's good, a lot of times, what we say still doesn't make any sense to them. And so, this person wrote and said, could you please tell me where the secret place is? I only have a barn and a hut.
I love it. So, he who dwells in the secret place... Oh, it was a closet. She said, tell me, can you tell me where the... Was it the closet? Anyway, you get the point.
The Living Power of God's Word – Hebrews 4:12
You know what? The Word of God... I want to put a scripture up. You know, I'm going to get about 10% of this message done tonight, but I guess you're getting the point.
Hebrews 4.12. Let's look at this scripture. If we really take the time to look at these things, they're amazing. For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power.
You know why many of you worked all day and you traveled to come into this building and sit with thousands of other people to listen to some woman... Tell you to take response. You know why? Because the Word of God is alive and full of power.
Every Word of God is like a power pellet. It has power in it. That's why I have believed for years, and I am still believing, that while the Word is preached, people will be healed. And filled with the Holy Spirit.
While Peter was preaching, people were filled with the Holy Spirit. They didn't have to stop and even have a certain prayer. While the Word was going forth, people were healed. They were filled. They were touched. They were delivered. Demons had to flee. Because the Word of God is full of power.
Meditate – Chew the Word
You know, the Bible says that we're to meditate on the Word of God. And another way that you could look at that is chewing it. Because to meditate just means to roll it over and over in your mind and to even mumble it and murmur it quietly.
It's like chewing your food. You swallow your food whole, and you don't get any nutrition out of it. But the more you chew it, the more you break down the nutrients in it, and the more it gets into your body.
So I can quickly read a chapter every day, and it doesn't mean anything to me. And I can think, oh, I'm a good Christian. You know, I got my checkmark today on my Read Your Bible calendar. But it didn't do me any good at all.
But you could take Psalm 91.1, and you could meditate on that for a whole week. And all of a sudden, something would fall from your head to your spirit.
And what you're going to learn is every time I'm in trouble, I'm running to God. Because He's the only thing that's going to keep me stable.
For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power, making it active, operative, energizing, and effective. Do you know the Word of God is operating on you right now?
It's sharper than a two-edged sword. Penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life, the soul, and the immortal spirit of joints and marrow.
The Word of God is sharp enough to get into our lives and divide every motive and to show us exactly what's right and what's wrong and what to do about every situation.
You do not have a problem that God will not lead you out of if you will listen to Him.
Don't be like the woman who God told her everything He was telling everybody else. The only difference was they did it and she didn't.
Whatever He Says – Do It
Whatever He says to you, do it. John 2, 5. They wanted a miracle. And Jesus' mother turned to the people and said, whatever He says to you, do it.
What a simple formula for a successful life. Whatever Jesus says to you, do it. Whether you agree or not, do it. Whether it feels good or not, do it. Whether you think it's a good idea or not, do it. Even if it doesn't make any sense to you, do it.