Joyce Meyer - 7 Ways the Devil Tries to Deceive People

This morning, I wanna start off by talking to you about seven ways that the devil deceives people because you have to understand that the devil is a liar. He's the father of lies. He doesn't know how to do anything but lie. And deception means to believe a lie. So, if we were to say, "A person is deceived", that means that they're believing something that's not true, but it has actually, become their reality because they believe it.

Do you realize that whatever you believe becomes your reality, even if it's not true at all. You can believe that somebody doesn't like you, and you go through all the same torment that you would if somebody really didn't like you. And maybe, the person has never had one bad thought about you in their life, maybe they haven't even thought about you at all. Sometimes we think everybody's thinking about us all the time. What we're doing and what we're wear, you know, a lot of times you're the last thing on their mind.

And so, let me just pose this to you today, for you to take home and think about. How many lies do you believe? I would venture to say that there's not one of us here in this room, myself included, who doesn't still believe something that's not true. Now, well, you just kind of tuck that away, take it home with you and when you have your time with God, start asking God to reveal to you lies that you believe because every lie that you believe represents something the devil is stealing from you that God wants you to have.

And you know, we all have a little different bent to our ministry those of us that are called into ministry. And besides seeing people saved, and helping hurting people all over the world, I really, really, really wanna see people, I want Christians to be spiritually mature, not stay babies their whole life. And I really wanna see people have what Jesus died for them to have. There's nothing sadder than a Christian with no victory. We need the victory to make other people hungry and thirsty for what we have. And the victory doesn't mean necessarily, you have no problems. It's more about, do you let the problem have you?

So, we have to know our enemy. 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be alert and of sober mind". See, the mind is so important. Think about what you're thinking about. The next time you get depressed, take a moment and think about what you're thinking about. Or, the next time the devil invites you to a pity party and you're sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, just ask yourself, "Now, what have I been thinking about"? Well, you've been thinking about what you don't have, what people don't do for you, what you're not. And you can turn that around by simply thinking the way that God thinks. And the way he thinks is written in this book. This is your go-to. See?

The more you know about this... I am so grateful for what I know. And I'm 43 years into this so, naturally, I know quite a bit by now. But I got it the same way you'll get it, one day at a time, one year at a time, refusing to give up. Just think five years from now what you'll know that you don't know now. And the devil doesn't want you to know anything. He'll do everything he can to keep you from having any knowledge. "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". Okay, say right now, "It's not gonna be me".

Satan was once a beautiful, magnificent Archangel. He was in charge of worship. Matter of fact, it appears that his body was made up of musical instruments. So, every which way he turned, he got a different sound. An Archangel, there's a handful of Archangels. They're above the other angels. And he got so full of himself that he rebelled against God and he said, "I will lift my throne above the throne of God".

Well, you know that doesn't work for the devil and it won't work for any of us. It's God's way or no way. And so, long story short, he ended up getting kicked out of heaven with 1/3 of the angels that were following him and he's been here on earth ever since trying to get back at God by trying to do harm to God's children. You know, as a parent, it hurts you worse to see your kids hurt than it does if you were hurt yourself. And so, God has provided a way for us. We are not left without help. And the thing that we have to realize is we have been given authority over the devil.

When God created Adam and Eve, he gave them authority and put them in the garden. When they sinned, they gave that authority back to the devil. He said to Jesus, when Jesus was being tempted out in the wilderness those 40 days and 40 nights, he said, "These are mine and I'll give them to whomever I desire". Well, he does have power here because Adam gave it to him, but Jesus stripped him of that power. He took it away from him, that authority, not power, and he gave it back to anyone who would believe.

And so, I love Luke 10:19, especially in the amplified Bible. It says, "Behold", which means, "Look and see". "I have given you power and authority over all the power the enemy possesses". And the thing I want you to notice is, God's saying to you, "I have not only given you power, but I've given you authority over all the power the enemy possesses". He didn't say the devil had authority. He says, "You have power and authority. The devil only has power".

When you have authority, it's a wonderful thing, but it does you no good if you don't use it. If you don't exercise it. And I think too many people are just sittin' around just letting the devil just beat 'em up, and frustrate 'em, and aggravate 'em, and steal from 'em, and torment 'em. And they don't even try to fight back. You know, you can't win the war if you don't go to the battle. And fighting the devil, it's not like... Man, I...

When I first found out about having authority as a believer, back in the seventies, I mean, I would scream at the devil and yell at the devil. "I rebuke you. I rebuke you". And you know what? After years, my rebuker was worn out and the devil still had the upper hand. You know what it really means to resist the devil and he will flee? This is what I believe. I think it means when you have a problem, resisting the devil does not mean to resist the problem, it means to resist acting like the devil while you've got the problem. C'mon? I mean, God told me that, years ago. "Stop trying to get rid of the problem, just stop acting like the devil".

And see, that's what he wants. We have a problem, so now, we're mad at everybody and we're being hard to get along with, and we're being rude, and unloving, and we don't want to keep our commitments 'cause, "I've got problems". The thing to do when the devil's coming after you is do more right than you've ever done before in your whole life. Come on, this is a super big secret that Christians just don't get. Romans 12:21 solves the whole thing. "You overcome evil with good". You understand that? You overcome evil with good. You don't hate your enemies, you buy 'em a present. Do you get that? Ew, alright, so deception, deception, deception.

One of the things the devil does is he tells you lies about God all the time. He tries to make people doubt the existence of God. Tries to convince people that if there were a God then all these bad things wouldn't be happening in the world. The devil tries to convince people that they're not created by God, but in fact, there are the result of a cosmic accident that occurred billions of years ago, and that their closest relative is the ape. Well, it's no wonder people in the world are discouraged. I mean, would you rather think that you're the next best thing up from an ape? Or, that God created you with his own hand in your mother's womb and he has a plan and a purpose for you, and he loves you. 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Resist the devil at his onset". Please remember that. The longer you just put up with the enemy, the more deeply rooted he gets in your soul.

Joyce: Well, the Bible tells us that the devil is a liar. But you know what? It also says that God has given us power and authority over all the power that the devil possesses. And so, we need to ask God to help us resist the devil the moment that he begins to attack us and that means we need God's help in recognizing those attacks. So, Ginger's with me today to discuss your questions on how to fight the enemy.

Ginger:Well, Lillian starts us off today with, I think, a really great question. One of those things that, for any of this to work, we have to understand this. And she asks, "What actually, is the authority that we have over satan"?

Joyce: Well, it means that, you know, like, for example, you have authority over your own home. It's your home and what's in it belongs to you, gifts from God. And so, if an intruder comes in, you have a right and authority to kick him out. And even, if need be, "Legally", if you have to do harm to him, if he's in your property, you can do that. Well, satan really, has no right to our lives either. But he is a liar and he is the great deceiver. Now, you see, Adam gave his authority to the enemy that God had given him when he and eve disobeyed God. But as God always does, from that moment, he had a plan of redemption and that was to send Jesus to take that authority back for us. But sadly, Ginger, so many people don't know anything about their enemy. They're not even sure they believe the devil's real. He's not a very pleasant subject to talk about, so, let's please don't talk about that. But we blame so many of our problems on people and circumstances and even on God when it's really the devil that's behind those. You know, he can work through circumstances.

Ginger:I'm bad about that.

Joyce: And he can even work through people that don't know any better than to let him work through them. And this is a subject that I think, we need some teaching on, on some kind of a little rotating basis. We don't need to talk about the devil all the time. But to ignore him is one of the worst mistakes that we can make.

Ginger:So, knowing that, I love your example that we have the authority to throw him out of our lives because what Jesus did for us is huge. It's a game-changer.

Joyce: And just to verbalize it, like, this morning, I don't even remember now, what it was but I had some kind of a thought that's this certain thing that I'm gonna be doing wasn't gonna turn out well. And see, we need to recognize right away, that's not God. If God tells you to do something, he's not gonna also, tell you it's not gonna turn out well. And so, I immediately, said, I mean, I said out loud, "Devil, you're a liar. This is gonna turn out good. I resist you and take authority over you in Jesus' name, get out of my thoughts". And so, I think confessing our faith, speaking out against the enemy is a good thing. Now, I know some people think, "Talk back to the devil. I'm not gonna do that". Well, you know what? Jesus did. In Luke chapter 4, satan tried to lie to him, and often, in taking scripture out of context. But Jesus knew the word. And it literally, says in Luke 4, "The devil said to Jesus", and, "Jesus said to the devil, 'it is written'", and he quoted him a scripture. The Word of God is our defense against the lies of satan.

Ginger:So, that's why, the word being a part of us, so naturally, is really important. Jewels, from Oklahoma, asks, "How do you fight the devil? I mean, I pray. I pray a lot. But in this day and age, the struggle is real. Life is always throwing us obstacles in the worst way, and it makes it too easy to give in. Is there a specific prayer that I should use or what should I do"?

Joyce: Well, really, what I just said is helpful. But, to be honest, I think more than doing something, a lot of it is about knowing who you are, that you're God's child and he loves you, and he wants to bless your life, but that you also have an enemy that's constantly trying to steal from you. John 10:10 says, "The thief", who is the devil, "Comes only to steal, kill, and destroy". But Jesus said, "'i came that you might have and enjoy your life in abundance (to the full, until it overflows)'". So, we need to remember that all those bad feelings and bad thoughts and you know, bad prophecies about what's gonna happen to us in the future, you know, "You're never gonna own your own home". "You'll never get out of debt". "This relationship's never gonna be healed". "Your child's not gonna amount to anything". We need to realize that is not God talking to us. You know why? Because all things are possible with God.

Ginger:Yeah. Well, this is a question from Cindy, but it certainly, could have been my question recently, or a lot of other people who are watching, as well. "I find the more spiritual warfare I do, like, reading all of your books on this subject, the more it seems the devil comes at me. Is this common"?

Joyce: Yes. You know, we just finished, not too long ago, a seminar and a book on how to fight the devil and win. It's called, "Your Battles Belong to the Lord", and we both... You and I both, talked about how we experienced more of the enemy coming against us. And even, at that conference, I remember you saying to me, "It's gonna be a while before I'm gonna want to do another spiritual warfare conference with you". It's just this simple. The devil does not want you to know the truth because the truth will make you free. John 8:31-32, "If you continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free". Now, it's not like this little magic thing, you read a scripture and now you're free. But when you apply that scripture to your life, that's what breaks the power of the enemy over us. He's a liar, but Jesus said, "I am the truth".

So, the Word of God is so powerful, but we have to believe that. You know, there's a scripture that says that the Israelites heard everything that we heard but it didn't do them any good because they didn't believe. And I was thinking about that this morning, how no matter what God has given us, if we don't believe it's ours and behave as if it's ours, then the enemy's gonna come right in and steal it. And you know, I don't want people to feel like, that all there is to do is just, fight the devil, fight the devil, fight the devil, fight the devil. Because really, if you stay real close to Jesus, spend time with him, and if you know the word, you meditate on that word, speak it out loud when you need to, you won't be in a fight all the time.

Ginger:Well, and the way I see it, we have two options. We can stay weak, stay where we're not really being very effective, don't have the life that God wants us to, and not have to fight the devil real hard because he doesn't have anything that he cares about. Or, we can walk in what God wants us to be and do. We can have peace, and joy, and the power of Christ living in our lives and have to know how to fight back because we have an enemy who's not gonna love that and I'd rather have option two.

Joyce: And fighting back is really just resisting. It's just saying, "No". No is a glorious word. "No, devil. I don't believe that. You're lying, again. And I caught you". And so, you know, being a victorious Christian requires more than sitting in a building for 45 minutes on a Sunday and listening to somebody talk to you. It's pretty much a full-time thing. And it's the way we live, it becomes our life. Back in Jesus' day, they call Christianity, "The way". And it's the way that we live.

Ginger:Yeah. Here's a question from Pam, in Illinois. She says, "Satan had me in his control for years before I was saved five years ago. Now, he puts thoughts in my head I don't want and causes me to go back into my past when I want to look forward. Even when I'm praying, a thought will come out of nowhere and interrupt my praying. So, how do I keep from getting frustrated", when satan's playing these games with her?

Joyce: Well, first of all, you have to realize that, that same thing happens to everybody. And she's been saved five years, so, she's got some experience with God. But obviously, not what she will have five more years from now. You know, I've been studying the word and really seriously developing a relationship with God for 45 years. So, when I talk about it, it may sound a lot easier than what it is to the person that's going through it right now. But the key is, is to cast down those wrong thoughts. It says it in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, "Casting down imaginations and every high and lofty thing that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God, taking every thought captive unto the obedience of Jesus Christ".

You know, let's just look at it like this. The devil will do whatever you put up with. And so, if you just put up with it, then he'll just keep doing it. But if you say, "No", long enough, he'll get the idea. And you know, in the beginning, when I first started learning about this casting down wrong thoughts, I remember saying to the Lord one evening, "I am so worn out. I feel like all I do all day is cast down one wrong thought, cast down another wrong thought, cast down another wrong thought". And he showed me something very good. He said, "Just think about good things and then the enemy won't have any room to put bad things in your mind". So, the more we think about what we can do for other people, how we can be a blessing, what God's done for us, things like that, there's no room for the enemy to get in.

Ginger:Yeah, that's great. I love that idea. Alright, I think we have time for one more.

Joyce: Okay.

Ginger:This is Sean, from Michigan, "How do I fight the devil with severe OCD and anxiety? I over-think everything I do and it destroys any happiness, any means to relax. I've given my life to Christ, but this is tearing me down".

Joyce: Well, I don't know how severe his situation is but some people's are severe enough that they need to get some professional help. If he's gonna go for counseling, I strongly recommend that it be a Christian counselor that can mix the Word of God in with whatever advice that she's giving him. Sometimes, people have chemical imbalances in their body and they may need to take some medication.

Ginger:And there's nothing wrong with that.

Joyce: A lot of Christians had the idea that it's wrong to take medication. And a doctor told me recently, I said, "I don't like taking that particular thing because it makes me feel weak". And he said, "You should thank God, everyday, that he created what you need". Now, taking medicine can be abused. That doesn't need to be our first line of defense, nor am I telling him run and get three or four bottles of pills. You know, it's a combination of learning to trust God more, and learning to not get so upset about stuff.

You know, I used to be hanging from the chandeliers all the time, upset about something. And my husband and I would go through the same things together and he'd just be peaceful and calm. And it would really irritate me. I thought, "Why is he so lucky that he's just so peaceful all the time and I'm upset all the time"? But I was allowing myself to be upset and it really was because I had not had enough experience with God yet to really know how to trust him. You know, when we're trying to trust God that may be good, it's a way to get started, but we have to come in to truly trusting God before that rest and peace comes to us. I do know that God is faithful and he will not let him down, and if he continues to seek for an answer in Christ, he will find the right one.

Ginger:That's very encouraging. Thank you.

Joyce: Good, thank you.

We have to start off by knowing that the mind is the battlefield. Gotta guard your heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life. Pay attention to what you're thinking when you're driving down the highway, kind of blank headed and next thing you know, you're thinking about all these bad things about somebody, or how this person drives you crazy. You can't just own that thing and go ahead and think on it and meditate on it. You need to say, "No". That's a very good word to learn out loud. "No. I'm gonna think about something that's gonna benefit me, not something that's gonna upset me and make me mad". Amen?

So, the first thing that we'll talk about, "The 7 ways the devil attacks", and I hope I get to all of 'em. "7 ways the devil attacks", the devil wants us to be a fault-finder. 'Cause boy, if we can keep our mind, or if he can keep our mind on all the faults of everybody else then we never see our own. And we can't do anything about somebody else's but we could do something about our own if we would work with God. The devil wants us to be fault-finders, focusing on all the faults of others and being blind to our own faults.

If a believer sees nothing wrong with himself and a great deal wrong with others, then the devil has won. And all the social media, ugh... Please, please don't get on social media and tell your friends all about what somebody else did. When all you're doing is spreading a rumor that you don't even know is true. And even if it was true, according to the Bible, we're not supposed to spread it. And I'm glad you're clapping, but I want you to get this. Do not, as a child of God, get on that thing and spread rumors and gossip.

Most of the time, when people are talking about somebody else, they don't even have a clue what they're talking about. We only have one hope in the days that we're living in. And you'll hear me talk about it tonight, but I'll be talkin' about it throughout the weekend. We only have one hope of getting out of the mess that we're in and that's love. The main message in the Bible is God loves you and he wants you to love everybody else, including yourself. That's the royal law of liberty, according to the apostle James. And if we do that, we fulfill all the law and all the prophets.

So, if you love people, you will not judge them. You will not gossip about them. You will not tell their secrets. Because love prevents us from doing all that. So, anytime that we do those kind of things, we are not walking in love. And there's all kinds of, you know , good scriptures to back up this thing about not judging. I'll just read you one that you're familiar with. Matthew 7:1-5, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye"? I love the translation that says, "The telephone pole in your own eye".

So, I mean, if we're gonna believe what the Bible saying, he's saying, "We judge people for these little things about them that irritate us, and we've got much bigger problems. But if the devil can keep us busy looking at what's wrong with everybody else, then we stay blind to our own deal". Romans 2 says, "You have no excuse, no matter who you are, when you pass judgment on somebody else for the same things you judge other people for, you do yourself". "Huh? No". You know why? We've always got an excuse for ourselves, but for other people there is no excuse. "There is no excuse for you to behave like that". I say, "We look at others through a magnifying glass and at ourselves through rose colored glasses".

Backup to Matthew 7, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, 'let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there's a plank in your own? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to remove the speck from your brother's eye".

Anger and unforgiveness, it's involved in all these things. Then, one of the number one problems we have in the world today is hatred. Hatred, division, it's in the church, it's between denominations. It's certainly in the world, but we won't even bother talking about them. Let's just talk about us. I wonder how many people actually walked in here today, that you could say with an honest heart, there is nobody, not one person that I am mad at right now, or offended at? C'mon now. You've gotten quiet. I think we should be able to go to bed every night and say, "God, thank you that I'm not mad at anybody".

See, you quiet, quiet. This is a serious issue. You know why? Because in Ephesians 4, it tells us plainly, "Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Don't give the devil any such foothold". So, when we stay angry, we're opening a door for the devil. Don't go to bed angry. Come on, I remember those years, dumb, dumb, dumb, when I would go to bed mad at Dave. I mean, I could sleep on the seam of the mattress because I didn't want him touching me. "I'm not gonna touch him". And then, he'd have all the cover and, "I'm not asking him for any cover". Then I'd just lay there and freeze all night. He had a good night's sleep. And what did I get? A headache, a stomachache, tired the next day from no sleep. It's stupid. The stuff we do is stupid. It didn't change Dave. Dave is still the same. It's just now, I've changed and the stuff don't bother me anymore.

Come on. Can I get a message across to you? God is not interested in changing all the people that you think bother you. He brought you here to change you, so they don't bother you anymore. God's not gonna get rid of everything in the world that aggravates you. He wants us to get to the point where it doesn't bother us. C'mon. This is what spiritual maturity is. Do you know what? The amount of time that we're all here, let's don't blow it and be miserable all the time over stuff that we can't do anything about. You didn't hear me. You can't change your husband. "Well, I'm gonna try". Well, go ahead, and I'll see you next year and tell you the same thing all over again.

Come on, I remember with the kids growing up, "If you're gonna live in my house"... C'mon, how many of you have given your kids that speech? "If you're gonna live in my house, my house". Well, they did live in my house and I guess we helped 'em some, but... I've got great kids, now. You know, just 'cause your kids don't do everything the way you'd like 'em to do it, that doesn't mean that they won't grow up and be great human beings. Teach 'em right, give 'em a little bit of space.

Come on, who are you mad at? You're not justified in it, no matter what they did to you. I'm sorry, but that's Bible. No matter what they did to you, you are not justified in not forgiving them. Now, c'mon, don't get mad at me, early. Because it was the devil working through them to start with, and the only way you can get the devil back is to forgive and pray for them. And as far as judging other people, the only thing we really should do when we see a fault in somebody is pray for them, not judge them and criticize them. How many of you think if you put more energy into just praying about these things, things might go better?

Number two: way the devil tries to deceive you. He wants us to be proud, and think... See? Think again. Think that we know it all. We know more than everybody else. C'mon, how many of you ladies have a husband that's never wrong? Well, I won't say anything else 'cause mine's here. And you know, fault-finding, for that matter, is the fruit of pride. You gotta be so careful that you don't think you're superior to other people. Maybe you do have some strong gifts, and talents, and maybe you are faster than other people, or you learn quicker than other people but that's only because God gifted you in that way. And you didn't get to pick your gifts, and they didn't get to pick theirs.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and mind and lean not to your own understanding: in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight". And I love verse 7, "Do not be wise in your own eyes". Not to be insulting, but you're not as smart as you think you are. And you know what? You can have all kinds of education and have no wisdom. Man, I've been wanting to write a book on proverbs, and I didn't know how in the world I was ever gonna write a whole book on proverbs because it talks about probably, 200 different subjects.

Last weekend, I thought, "You know what? I'm just gonna sit down here and start". It's amazing. A lot of times with God, you just gotta put your foot in the water and then he goes to work. Well, I'm on chapter 7, now. But the thing is, is it's wisdom. The reverential fear and awe of God is the beginning of wisdom. Well, where did that go? What happened to the fear of the Lord? You know what the fear of the Lord is? It means that you recognize God's power and how strong he is and how sovereign he is to the point that you would rather do anything other than offend him.

See, that'll keep you from talking about other people. That'll keep you from getting full of yourself and being proud because we have not, "I'm afraid God's gonna hurt me", but a reverential, "I know who God is, I know what he can do. I know that he means what he says". It's the beginning of wisdom. We cannot even have any wisdom at all if we don't have reverential fear of God. And who's teaching that? When's the last time you heard really good sermon on the reverential fear and awe of God?

Yes, God loves you, but you need to hear other things other than he loves you. And yes, his grace is amazing, but that's not the only thing the Bible talks about. Our God is an all-consuming fire. He's merciful. But he deserves reverence and a knowledge that... Well, I'll just put it like this, "Don't mess with me". Now, you may not like that way of putting it because we all want to think that, you know, God is just sugar and spice and everything nice. But he's only gonna put up with wickedness and evil and sin and hypocritical behavior for so long, and then because he loves us, he deals with us. Not to hurt us but because he doesn't want us to stay that way.

You know what? I'll tell you the absolute truth. I would be afraid to get up here, in this pulpit, and try to preach if I was mad at my husband. You say, "Well, why would you be afraid"? Because all I have is my anointing. I'm not fancy. I don't sing. I don't play a musical instrument. If the preaching's not good, I can't go get my guitar and sing you a song. And so, I've walked out on these platforms thousands of times and looked at all these thousands of people and they're waiting for me to say just the right thing. "I came for a word from God". Everybody loves to put that on you. And I can't get up here angry, and bitter, and resentful, and pretending.

If you wanna carry God's anointing, you gotta live the life. You can't just have the bumper sticker. You gotta live the life, and you have to live it when nobody's looking. Because God sees everything. And that's also made clear in proverbs. So, be not wise in your own eyes. I tell God all the time, "I cannot do this without you. I am nothing without you. Any success that I have is only because of you". It's healthy to remind yourself that if God doesn't help you, you're finished.

You know, Paul was extremely intelligent. I mean, how many ever degrees you coulda in Paul's day, he had them. And I think education is wonderful. I say, "Get all of it, all of it that you can". I know some people that are just so smart. And I wish sometimes, I was that smart. But you know what? I would rather have wisdom, which is actually, sanctified common sense. I would rather have common sense than to have a PhD behind my name. I've got an "HsD", a Holy Spirit degree.

And yeah, that would be nice to have the others. I didn't get that opportunity and I'm grateful for people that do, but even most people aren't as smart as they think they are. 'Cause God's still it. So, Paul, brilliant Paul, with all the degrees that you could have, he said, in 1 Corinthians 2:2, "I have resolved to know nothing except Christ Jesus and him crucified". Isn't that interesting? So, what revelation was Paul coming to? I've got all this stuff but what good does it do me without Jesus?

Number three: the devil wants us to think that God doesn't hear and won't answer our prayers. So, either won't pray or we won't persist in prayer. Because prayer is probably the most dangerous thing to the devil. When a righteous man prays tremendous power is made available. And I'll tell ya, I don't know why, but just in the last two years, I've been drawn more and more toward paying attention to my prayers. And it just blows me away, the stuff that God does for us, if we just ask him to. And most of the kind of stuff I'm talking about, it's not even great big things, it's little things. But things that mean so much to me, the things that cause me to know that God cares about me and that he's working in my life.

Matthew 7 says, "Ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking". We gotta be persistent. "I'm not gonna shut up, God, till I see a breakthrough". God likes that. He likes that kind of persistence. That's not being rude, that's being persistent. Pray about everything. Everything that comes up, just pray. This morning, I was ready to walk out the door and my assistant said, "Do you have your contacts in"? And I said, "Oh" so, I was leaving right at the minute I needed to leave to get here when I wanted to be here and now I had to go back and put my contacts in.

So, the first thing I said is, "Lord, I need you. I need you today to help me get these in the first time". And he did, he helped me. So, that's when we remember to say, "Thank you". Come on, pray, pray, pray, pray. Pray about everything. You don't have to be on your face, or on your knees, or in a closet, or in the dark, or with your eyes shut. I mean, it's good to have those set apart times with God. I have that every morning. But pray your way through the day. And don't let the devil lie to you and tell you that God doesn't hear your prayers.

You say, "Yeah, but the things that I've done wrong, why is God gonna listen to me"? Because you don't go in your name, you go in the name of Jesus. And the Amplified says that when we go in the name of Jesus, we're presenting to God all that Jesus is. Don't you love that? "I ask you to do this for me in Jesus' name, not because I deserve it, but because he does".