Joyce Meyer - The Anchor of Hope (08/24/2019)
This afternoon we dive into hope as the anchor of our soul from Hebrews 6:13-19, seeing how God swore by Himself to Abraham, promising blessing and multiplication. Through faith plus patient endurance—like Abraham waiting long—we inherit God's promises, stepping out boldly even without feelings, letting hope keep our soul secure while we enjoy the journey.
God's Self-Sworn Promise and Multiplication
This afternoon we are going to talk about the Anchor of Hope. Hebrews 6, verse 13. For when God made his promise to Abraham, he swore by himself, since he had no one greater by whom to swear. God didn't have to swear on a stack of Bibles. He looked around and thought, well, there's nothing here greater than me, so I guess I'll just swear on myself that this is going to happen. Saying, blessing, I certainly will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply you. Now God has sworn on himself that he will bless you and multiply you. Every one of you, God has said, I will bless you and I will multiply you. You know, multiplication happens a lot faster than addition. God didn't even just say, I'll add to you. He said, I will multiply you. And that gets into some exponential stuff really fast.
Waiting Long and Enduring Patiently
And so it was that he, Abraham, having waited long and endured patiently. Everybody say, waited long. Say, endured patiently. Say, waited long. And endured patiently. Let's just do it one more time to make sure you got it. Waited long. Waited long. And endured patiently. Endured patiently. Endured patiently. You know, we inherit the promises of God, not just by faith, but by faith and patience. And you know, waiting is part of what we do. And if you don't know how to wait well, you're going to be really, really miserable. You need to learn how to enjoy the journey. Not just endure the journey, but enjoy the journey.
You know, we all kind of wish that we could be where we're at. Go back to the beginning and know what we know now. And I just wish that I would have known back then what I know now. Because I could have enjoyed my journey so much more if I would have. I finally got around to it about 15 years ago. But my hope now is that I can save you a lot of the pain and agony that I went through by just simply saying that we are not going to make God do things any faster than would be the exact right timing.
God's Perfect Timing and Our Desires
God knows the exact right time for you and I to have what we think that we want. And He even knows that some of the things we want are not really what we want. We just think they're what we want. So He doesn't give them to us until we realize that we really want what He wants and not what we thought we wanted. And no, I'm not saying that again. I don't think I could. You know, I really want you to get this today. You know, we talk about being patient and enduring and waiting, but do we really get it that that's just part of it? You know, you don't get around that.
And what I'm asking you to do today is have a new mindset that I'm going to enjoy it. You know, really, our destination, we think it's the most important thing, but it's really not. You know, the journey is really much more important than that destination. Do you know that? It's how we make the journey. And so it was that Abraham, having waited long and endured patiently, realized and obtained in the birth of Isaac a pledge of what was to come and what God had promised him.
The Two Unchangeable Things
Verse 18. This was so that by two unchangeable things, his promise and his oath, in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us. God cannot... What God says has to come to pass. It just... There's nothing else that can happen. It has to come to pass. The only thing that stops it is if we stop believing. If we give up, then we break the power of it, but God never quits and he never gives up.
We who have fled to him for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us. Now, we have this hope as a sure and a steadfast anchor of the soul. And it cannot slip and it cannot break down under... Here comes the key. Whoever... Say, I'm a whoever. Whoever... Whoever... Steps out on it. Now, the stepping out part is important.
Hope as the Anchor – Beyond Feelings
I thought I would tell you something interesting. You know, we lean so much on feelings and we always want to know, you know, what's going on. When it says that hope is the anchor of our soul, you know, your soul is not your spirit. Your soul is not your body. Your soul is that inner part of you that really stands between your spirit and your body. Your soul doesn't really tell you anything about God, but it tells you a whole lot about you. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. Your soul, my soul, tells us what we want, what we think, and what we feel. It doesn't tell us anything about God.
If you want to know about God, you've got to go deeper than your soul. And sadly, the largest majority of people never get out of that soulish or that wilderness living to really begin to walk in the Spirit. Do you know how much we let our mind, our will, and our emotions run our lives? Come on, now just think about it. How much do we live by what we want, what we think, and what we feel?
Stepping Out Without Feeling Anointed
Last night, when I sat right over there, where I always sit, waiting to come to the pulpit, the worship was so good and I knew it was getting close to the end of the worship and I didn't feel anything particular from God. I didn't have any idea what I was going to do, didn't feel specially anointed. I was kind of like, well, God... And I just, you know, sensed the Lord saying, I'm in you, I'm here. And you know, as I walked from over there to up here, I didn't have one clue what I was going to do. This is what faith is, folks. I didn't have any idea.
So, when I stepped out on it... See, some of you are not really experiencing the power of God in your life, because you're waiting to feel before you step out, and God's wanting you to step out, believing that He'll meet you where you're at. And I want to tell you something. This is one of the most important things that I want to say to you this afternoon. Although I did not plan for it to be the most important, I know in my heart that this is very important for some of you to hear.
Hope is what causes us to step out. It's the anchor of our soul that stepping out is the thing that puts the promises of God into action in our life. Now, I'm not suggesting we just be fanatical and stupid. But you know, I'd rather be a little fanatically stupid than to be dead. And cold and just do nothing and never try anything or never find out what God is saying to me.
God Has Never Failed When We Step Out
You know, you pray about what you believe God wants you to do, you do your best to hear from God, then you've got to step out and find out. I have never one time in all these years that I have been doing this, I have never one time, not once, ever had God fail me. Not one time. Not ever. And there are times when I do feel things, but last night wasn't one of them. And you saw God just show up and show out. But I wanted you to know that I didn't feel a thing. It was actually kind of scary how little I felt.
Well, God, looking at 27,000 people, they're expecting a move of God. And I'm feeling just so ridiculously normal. I want you to get that, that it's in the stepping out. And I believe that this room is absolutely full of possibilities. I mean, I'm telling you, this room is full of possibilities. And God didn't bring you here just so you could have a good time, although God is capable of doing that. He likes us having a good time and He will do things just to refresh us. And maybe for some of you that's what it is, but I believe that God has brought some of you here to really provoke you to begin to step out.
It may be little things. It may be something big. But God wants you to live an exciting life where He shows up in your life and all you can say when it's done is amazing. I mean, it was so funny last night because when the service was over, I must have had a hundred people say to me, that was amazing. And the thing is, is none of us even really know for sure what really happened. I mean, we just know that was amazing. And God wants your life to be that way. I said, God wants your life to be that way.
Understanding the Anchor Practically
This anchor of the soul, I think it's very important to unpack this a little bit and let's not just look at it like this, yes, He's the anchor of my soul. What does that mean? So here we know what an anchor is. When you want a boat to stay a certain place in the water, you drop the anchor. Because if you don't, it's gonna float away. But when you drop the anchor, although it can still go a little bit in each direction, it can only go so far.
And so then maybe, you know, you try to go over here in this direction a little bit, and... Oh! It only goes so far. And God has given us hope as the anchor of our soul. What does that mean? That means when I've got the promise of God, and I'm believing, and my mind goes crazy because I'm tired and worn out, and I've waited a long, long time, and my mind says, you're not ever gonna get it. God, this is not for you. Everybody else gets blessed, but you don't. You might as well quit and give up. Oh! Wait a minute. There's that God of hope again. Pulling me back. To say, nope, this is for you.
When Emotions and Will Try to Drift
When your emotions go wild, and you say, I just can't do this anymore. I'm not gonna do this anymore. I'm just so upset that I... Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Okay. See, hope, when you have hope, your soul may get out there and drift around a little bit, but it ain't going too far because you've already dropped the anchor of hope in your life. Oh, yeah, you know, we have little emotions. I mean, mine took off in a couple of directions this morning when I first woke up and I was... I even heard a couple of, what about me? Kind of faint, but in the background there, what about me? when this is over? What about me? What am I gonna... Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Wait a minute.
And my mind tried to drift off a couple of times, and, you know, then... Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! And, boy, your will... Man! Well, I don't want... then I don't think... and I don't feel... and I don't want... and I don't... Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Your will be done, Lord. Not mine. Is anybody getting this... What I'm trying to say to you this afternoon?
I wanted you to see what I believe that really means, because I can't stand just these spiritual-sounding, floaty scripture-type things. Things that we all throw at each other and everybody goes home and says oh that was so good, but nobody knows what it meant. So this is what it means. We are going to send you all home with that anchor of hope. With your soul tied to that anchor of hope. So when things begin to float off here and float off there, you can only go so far. You can have your little five minute fit, but God's going to bring you back. Amen?
Abraham's Struggle and God's Invitation – Genesis 15
Genesis 15, 1 through 6. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, Fear not Abram, I am your shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great. Take this personally, will you? And Abram said what we say a lot. Well, Lord, you've not given me this and you've not given me that. You've given me, in his case, he said, you've given me... What have you given me? I'm going from this world childless. And he who shall be the owner and the heir of my house is this employee of mine, a leasier of Damascus.
And Abram continued, look, you've given me no child and a servant born in my house is going to be my heir. God, I don't have any children. I thought you're going to, you know, I wanted children. I prayed for children. I didn't have children. I've worked hard all my life and everything I've worked for is going to be given to this guy that works for me. Well, God, if you're going to bless me and I'm going to have such abundant, amazing compensation in my life, then God, where, where is it at? What have you done for me?
Verse 4, And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This man shall not be your heir, but he who shall come from your own body shall be your heir. And he brought him outside his tent into the starlight and said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars. If you are able to number them, so shall your descendants be.
Getting Out of the Tent of Circumstances
Now, we've all got our tent. Man, we spend too much time in this tent. If we don't get out and see anything else, it kind of gets like this. Oh, yeah, the promises of God are going to happen for me. All I see is diapers and dirty dishes. And that man I'm married to has got a pot belly now and he's starting to lose his hair. And I'm just sick and tired of this and sick and tired of that. And we don't have any money and the cars broke down. Oh, yeah, I'm trying to believe the promises of God. They're never going to happen for me.
And God says, Come outside of that tent. Wow. Well, maybe there is hope for me after all. And you know what you guys have done this weekend? And it's so good for us. You've come out of your tent. You've gotten out of your tent this weekend. And you're looking up. And you're hearing amazing stories. And you're hearing good preaching. And you're worshiping God. And you're with other anointed amazing people.
And I want to tell you, you have to be careful about spending too much time in your tent, staring at your circumstances and your problems. Because if you do, you will lose your hope. And you will not be able to believe that God's going to do it for you. And let me tell you something. The more like... If you have a home where you're the only person in it that's saved, you need to make sure you've got some Holy Ghost filled Christian friends that are going to encourage you and build you up. And you make sure that you take the time to spend some time with them. Did you hear me? Yes. Yes.
Don't just watch my program occasionally when you happen to get around to it and have time. You get up and you get that thing on every day. And you get that nourishment that you need to get you through that day. And not just mine, but whoever else that you enjoy. You get in that word. You get outside your tent. You can stare at the bill so long that it'll drive you crazy.
Hoping Against All Natural Reason – Romans 4
I love that. I read that for years and didn't have any idea what it meant. He came outside of his tent. Wow. Well, God's pretty big. Maybe he can do it for me. Romans 4, 18. Abraham's just like us. He was a man that wanted something. He had to endure. He had to wait patiently. He had to wait a long time. And while he was at it, he had to come outside of his tent once in a while and get a new vision.
For Abraham, human reason for hope being gone. I love these scriptures. He hoped on in faith. How many of you really don't have any reason at all in the natural to keep hoping? I mean, everything you look at is just like, hey, this is just no way. No way. Well, God's brought you out of your tent this weekend to say to you, you don't even have to have a reason to hope because our hope is not based on reason. It's based on the God of hope. Amen?
All human reason for hope being gone. He hoped on in faith that he would become the father of many nations as it had been promised him. He did not weaken in faith when he considered the utter impotence of his own body. You got to understand how old he was and how old she was. And nothing was working right. And I'm just telling you, if he would have just stayed in his tent, like maybe they had a mirror in that tent, I don't know. And, you know, he's looking at Sarah and he's looking at himself and he's trying to believe he's going to have a kid someday. And he's thinking, hey, no way. I mean, all I see on you is wrinkles and ain't nothing happening here.
And God said, get out of that tent and look up and believe that I can do whatever I tell you that I can do. If you stare at your circumstances too long, you are in trouble. If you look at yourself too long, you are in trouble. If you look at your own weaknesses too much, you are in trouble. Looking away from all that will distract, unto Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of our faith.
Becoming a Prisoner of Hope
I didn't know what I was going to do last night, but God knew. And I stepped out on it, and God showed up. And that's the way I've lived my life for the last 35 years. And you can do the same thing. Oh, I wonder what it feels like to be Joyce Meyer. It doesn't feel any different than it does to be Susie Jones or John Brown or anybody else. We're just people, just like you. And God uses us. And He'll do the same thing for you.
All human reason for hope being gone. He hoped on in faith. Abraham didn't ignore his circumstances. He saw them. He knew how old he was. He knew how old Sarah was. He knew that what God was saying was impossible. But perhaps he remembered some of the amazing things that God had done in the past. And perhaps Abraham, just like us, decided that he was just going to be a prisoner of hope. Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. I'm going to just be ridiculous with my hope. I don't care if it doesn't make any sense to hope. I'm going to hope. I'm going to hope. And I'm going to believe. And I'm going to trust. And I'm going to step out on the promises of God.
See, you have no idea what you're capable of. And some of you will never find out if you don't listen to me this afternoon and say, I'm going to step out and find out. Well, what if I make a mistake? Well, it won't be the end of the world. What if I miss God? He'll find you.
Living Deeper Than Mind, Will, and Emotions
It's vital to understand your soul and how it functions. Let me say again that so many people live in the soul. The mind. The will. The emotions. I could teach on this for the next hundred years and people would still keep needing it. Well, I think. Well, I think. I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think. I want, I want, I feel. I think, I want, I feel. I want, I think, I feel. I feel. I think, I want, I want, I think, I feel. I feel. I think, I want. You just listen to people all the time. They tell you what they think. Well, I think. Well, let me tell you what I think. Well, I think, I think. Well, I want. Well, God, I want. Well, God, I want. God, I want. God, I feel. God, I feel. I feel.
And what he wants to hear us say is, God, your will be done. Now, I don't want to be rude or, you know, sound harsh. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but you know what? It just really doesn't matter what we think. I mean, it just really flat out doesn't matter. It's what the Word of God says that matters, not what we think. And we have to learn to not think about some things. We think about things too much. Stop asking yourself how you feel, and what you think, and what you want, and learn to live a little bit deeper and go a little bit deeper.