Joyce Meyer - With God, All Things Are Possible

Well, I have a special word that I wanna bring you this afternoon, and I think it's gonna really help a lot of you, as well as, it'll help me, just by getting to preach it again and hear it. Back around I guess, November of last year, I was watching a television program and I heard somebody say... Now it it wasn't a christian program. They weren't trying to make a Christian comment, but I heard them say, "All things are possible". And it just kind of blew up inside me when they said it and I thought, "That's our word for next year".

And I felt like that God kind of gave me an assignment to stir people's faith up, by just preaching on it and encouraging you to step out, and stop trying to just live in that safe comfortable zone all the time. We need to be brave and bold and courageous and step out into whatever God calls us into, even if we don't understand what it is that God is doing and even if you're not positive you're gonna succeed, because you'll never find out if you can succeed if you're not willing to take a chance on failing. Amen?

Wonder what kind of chance you were taking pastor Tommy when you bought the hospital in LA? And how much faith you've had to release in order to get that to the point where it is? Or the project that you guys are doin' now in, is it Colorado City? And we've been very involved in that and helping all along the way financially. And ya know, it's just amazing how happy it makes your life if you stay busy being a blessing to other people, but sometimes it takes faith to do that, because sometimes you feel like you've got all you can handle and you're already over your head, and then to get involved in trying to help somebody else, it's like, "My gosh". But what God orders he pays for, amen? And where God calls you, he's able to keep you.

You know, we're always asking. I mean, this sounds good, all things are possible with God, you know, the TV program didn't say, with God, but of course I added that 'cause that's the scripture. It's easy to say all things are possible with God but most of the time we think that means that we're just gonna sit back and do nothing and watch God do this big miracle. And I tell ya, that sounds so nice, but it's usually not the way that it happens. And here's the reason why we are partners with God. We have a part and he has a part. Our part is to believe, to be in faith, God's part is to do what we cannot do and our part is also to do anything God asks us to do, to cooperate with whatever it is that we are asking God to do for us.

First of all, your first homework assignment for the rest of this year, James 4:2, says, "You have not, because you ask not". You have not because you ask not. If you ask in faith, God hears you. And unless you're asking for something that is absolutely not his will, you will receive it. Now, the Bible doesn't tell you when you'll receive it. It says, believe you have received it, Mark 11 does, and you will get it. So, you have to believe that you've received it in the spirit, that it's on its way to you, and that you will get it, but you don't know exactly when you'll get it. That's why Hebrews says, "That we receive the promises of God by faith and patience".

There's a test of faith, that we have, and that's when you believe for something, ask God for something and you really believe you've heard from God, and you believe that God is gonna do it, but you don't see anything at all happening. Anybody there right now? And you don't feel that anything is happening, that's where you need the patience, I always say there's a beginning and the beginning is usually exciting because it's a new thing so were excited and boy when you reach the finish line and you actually see the thing done, that's exciting, but there's the middle. I think one of the worship songs we sang this weekend had something to do about God being there in the middle.

And see, that's what we need to realize, that we got to make it through the middle and not give up our hope and faith in God and so many people do that and perhaps some of you have done that, and God has got you and I here this afternoon in order for me to stir your faith up, stir your faith up, 'cause you know, sometimes we can get lazy in faith, or to be honest, sometimes we get used to all this. And that's tragic in itself, it's like we become so familiar with the promises of God, that we can't really appreciate the amazement of them any longer. I recall one time sayin' to the Lord, "God why don't you do the things that you used to do when I first got in a relationship with you"? It just seemed like there was something exciting goin' on all the time. "God why don't you do the things that you used to do"? He said, "I'm still doing the same thing, you've just gotten used to it". Amen?

And so, we need to be a little more amazed. Be amazed that Jesus died for us! Amazed that the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us! Amazed that Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you". Amazed that we can ask God, that we can go to God and tell him our little bitty, pitiful needs and he cares, and he hears us and will answer us. We need to be amazed that God would use us, the weak and the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. I'm sure you are, pastor Tommy, but you should always stay amazed at what God has done through these dream centers.

All things are possible with God! C'mon, you got some miracles comin', but you're gonna have to increase your faith, release your faith and stand steadfast and not get somewhere in the middle and let the devil talk you into throwing your dream away because it's just been too long and it's not going to happen. And I understand that. You know, I've been doing this a long time. I mean, like a long time. This is not my first conference, it's not my first teaching, and it would be so easy to just get hum drum about the whole thing, but I refuse to do that. I am gonna be excited every time God lets me open my mouth. I was just thinking last week, see, I believe that having the privilege of teaching and preaching God's word is probably about the greatest honor that I could ever have. And I wanna always be amazed that God chose me. I wanna always be amazed that he keeps me strong enough to do this.

I made a comment during the break I said, "You know what amazes me"? How many of you think we should be more amazed? You know, what amazes me? That after all these years and thousands and thousands and thousands of teachings and television shows and radio shows and interviews and on and on, that my voice is still so strong. I've only had two times in my speaking career where I had trouble with my voice, and well, one time was through my own foolishness, I preached with laryngitis, and I forced my voice to work and I had trouble with my voice for four months, and I will never do that again. I didn't want to say, "I'm sorry, but I can't preach tonight, I don't have a voice". Instead, I was, "I'm gonna do this". And ya know it's good to be determined, but sometimes you could be stupidly determined.

And then there was one other time that I had trouble, I was in Colorado and I sounded like a frog but I preached anyway, and I didn't have any ill effects from that. But other than that, I can't remember any times when my voice has been anything other than just the way it is and I don't think that's possible except, all things are possible with God. Amen? I don't know if we comprehend what it means to say that God lives in us. And we should never be the kind of people that give up easy. We should know that with God we can do whatever he asks us to do. Now, we can't do what he's asked somebody else to do. So, we need to stop comparing and competing with other people, but anything that God tells you to do, you can do it. God will always give you grace for your place. If you have a special needs child, God will give you grace to raise that child. If you have a difficult situation in your marriage right now, God will give you grace for that place.

Too many people throw in the towel way too quick. I heard about a situation, just while I've been here today, a couple having trouble, they both been in ministry for long time. "Do you think they're gonna make it"? "I don't know if they're going to or not. He can't make his mind up what he wants". I don't know when we're representing God, if we have the option to decide what we want. What would it say to all the people that Dave and I've ministered to all these years, if we would have a problem in our marriage and just throw the towel in and say, "Well, we're just gonna get a divorce". And I'm not tryin' to make anybody feel bad that is divorced. God hates divorce, but he loves divorcees. I was divorced when I was 22 years old, I married the wrong guy and he ran around with other women and just was a thief and all kinds of things.

Sometimes there are reasons why you need to get out of a situation. God's not asking you to be abused, but neither should we just give up easily and just say, "Well, we just don't get along". Well, who does without trying to? "We have irreconcilable differences". Well, reconcile them anyway. Does anybody understand what I mean? See, part of this has become the problem of the Christian not having a good reputation or the church not having a good reputation, because many times you can't really tell the difference between us and everybody else.

Alright, now, don't stone me. Isaiah 43:18-19, this is for you, "Forget the former things: do not dwell on the past. You see, I am doing a new thing". Come on, that's for you. I am doing a new thing, now, somebody's sayin', "Yeah, yeah, I've heard that scripture a hundred times". Well, you're hearing it again and maybe this time God wants you to grab it and believe it. And say, "Yes, God is doing a new thing in my life. And I'm not gonna sit around and feel sorry for myself and look back at the past and think about everything I don't have, I'm gonna take hold of the promises of God, and if anybody can be blessed, I can be blessed"! Amen?

I want to go through three stories in the Bible, these are not parables, these are things that happened. Luke 5:18-19, "Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus because they wanted Jesus to heal him. They could not find a way"... And you know, the story could have ended there. They could not find a way, so they just took him back home. And that's what too many do, they set out to do something and it looks hard or it looks like there's not a way. Well see, you when you don't see any way, Jesus is the way. And I mean this, I'm not just trying to be preachy and do a cheerleading session up here. I mean that God can do through you what you could never do yourself. But you have one job and that's to never ever, ever give up.

"When they could not find a way to do this, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof". Who does that? We don't have many roof climbers today. They took this man, who was on a stretcher, don't know how many of them it took, and somehow or another they climbed up on that roof, and they took some of the tiles out of the roof, and and they lowered the man down, and dumped him right in front of Jesus. Now, Jesus you gotta do something about this because he is in your face and he's not leavin'. "We believe that you can heal him". And Jesus said to him at first, "Your sins are forgiven, but in order that people might know that I have the power to forgive sins, rise up and be healed". Amen? Well, he got carried in and dropped through the roof, but he walked out. Come on. You might get carried into your relationship with Jesus by some of your friends, but honey, you can walk out. And then you can be the one that's carrying other people in the next time.

Luke 19:1-5, this is one of my favorite stories in the Bible "Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through there. And a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus: and he was a chief tax collector and was very wealthy". The tax collectors were hated and they were crooked. And they were all wealthy because once they collected the tax for the Romans, they could add on to that another amount, that they would keep. And so the people despised them, because they cheated 'em all the time. And "He wanted to see who Jesus was". So, he obviously was not satisfied with his life. He was a crook and he had money, but I don't care how much money you've got, if you don't have Jesus, you're not gonna be happy with your money. Your money can't give you peace when you lay down at night. Amen? And neither can your fame, or your place of importance in society.

"He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short", he had a problem too, he couldn't see over the crowd, poor, short Zacchaeus. "Well, if only I would have been taller, I wouldn't have gotten left out of so many things in life". Too many people look at their one deficit and they forget how easy it is for God to override that, and still enable them to do something great and mighty, if they just won't give up. What's your disadvantage? "Well, I was abused in my childhood. Well, I didn't get to go to college. Well, I didn't have parents who loved me. I didn't get to have the right education. I was abused. I was an orphan". Hey, we've all got some kind of deficit. We've all got something we don't have, but we all have something. Amen?

You probably oughta be a little more excited than that, but I'll forgive ya, I know you been listening a long time. But he didn't give up, "He ran ahead of the crowd, and climbed up in a fig tree to see Jesus since he was coming that way". He was inventive, he was creative. "I've got a problem, I'm short. But these little short legs will run and maybe even faster than long legs, I don't know". So off he went, he climbed up in a tree, when Jesus comes by, I'm gonna be able to see him. Is anybody with me today? But this is the part I love the most, you see Jesus likes that kind of attitude. That gets him excited. "So he ran ahead, climbed up in a tree since Jesus was coming that way and when Jesus reached the spot, he looked up", wonder why he did that? Why would he just suddenly, walking down the road, look up at the very exact spot where Zacchaeus was, because he could feel Zacchaeus' faith.

You remember when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus' garment and he said, "Who touched me, I felt virtue (or power) go out of me". Well, she didn't touch him physically, she touched his garment, but he wouldn't have felt that, but he felt her faith touch him. And that faith moved him. "And he said come down from there Zacchaeus, and come down immediately, because I must stay at your house today". Whoo, I'll tell you what those pharisees got so mad, "What do you mean? I'm religious and I do everything right, and I keep all the law and this guy is a cheater and a tax collector and a crook and you're gonna go to his house instead of comin' to mine"? He doesn't care about our religion, he's lookin' for faith. He's looking for who is gonna put their trust in me, see Zacchaeus not only wanted to see Jesus, but he wanted to repent, because that's the next thing he does.

In verse eight, Luke 19:8, "But Zacchaeus stood up", "All the people", well, verse seven, "All the people saw this and they began to mutter, because he had gone to be the guest of a sinner". Uh oh, you sinner, you, Jesus may come to your house. Amen? He didn't come for the healthy. He came for the sick. "Zacchaeus stood up and said, to the Lord, 'look Lord, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay that back four times over.' Jesus said, 'today salvation has come to this house'"... Look at that, all that lifetime of sin, all that lifetime of cheating people and bein' a crook and stealing their money, that fast, he repented. "I don't want to live like this anymore". "Zacchaeus, today salvation has come to your house".

Part 2
Mark 10:46, "Then they came to Jericho. And as Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, BarTimaeus (which means, son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, 'Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!' many rebuked him and told him, 'be quiet'". Well, you know what? That's what they told me. When my life was touched by God back in 1976, the church I was in did not believe in the gifts of the spirit and what was being referred to, and is referred to, in the Bible as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I was so excited because God had touched my life and filled me with the spirit, and I was starting to function in the gifts of the spirit, I mean, I was just so excited. I was teaching my little Bible study at home every Tuesday night, and the elders called me in. The religious, and they said, "You are going to have to be quiet or leave the church".

Well, I left. Now, lookin' back, you know, maybe I was a little bit too mouthy, I don't know but you know, if you're excited about Jesus, you're excited about Jesus. And I wanted everybody else to have what I had. And all I know is I'm still here, and I'm still not being quiet. Amen? You get excited about Jesus, your family will tell ya to be quiet. Your friends will tell ya to be quiet. Your authority at work will tell ya to be quiet. Come on, and I'm not sayin' we should be obnoxious and just try to cram Jesus down everybody's throat, but who can really, truly be saved and keep quiet? When Andrew was called by Jesus, the first thing he did was go and tell Peter. The Bible doesn't say, "When Christ comes into your life be quiet, and don't tell anybody". "Well, you know my religion is a private thing". Well, you find that scripture for me, will ya?

When you're radically saved and you know, you're going to heaven and not to hell and Jesus changed your life, "Shhh... Don't tell anybody". I don't think so. Because of the way the world is now half of Christians are afraid to go into a restaurant and pray. Listen, when you go in a restaurant, you don't have to start screaming out loud your prayers, but you don't have to act like you got a headache either. I mean, how about saying, "Thank you Jesus for our food". You can pray quietly at your table, but you have a right to pray! So that message is all around you, even if you're not hearing any words, "Be quiet. Don't talk about God in public. Don't say the word 'God', you might offend somebody". You know what I've noticed? The unbelievers don't care if they offend me. I'd say maybe we just need to shake things up a little bit, and here again, I'm not talking about being obnoxious, but you can't hide who you are nor do you have to hide what you believe. I believe in Jesus Christ, that he died for me, was raised from the dead, is alive today, and I believe that my life is worthless without him. It's worthless without him. And I don't intend to be quiet.

"And many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'son of David, have mercy on me'"! And I love the next two words, "Jesus stopped". See, that kind of radical faith will stop Jesus, and he'll look around for you, "Come down here, I'm going to your house today". Oh, I'm having too much fun, this should be illegal. "And Jesus said, 'call him'. So they called to the blind man, 'cheer up! Up on your feet, man, he's calling you'. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus". And he went away seeing. Amen? Wow, Matthew 19:23-26, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'truly, I tell you it's hard for someone who's rich to enter the kingdom of heaven'". And why is it? Why would it be harder for somebody rich to enter the kingdom of heaven? Because money and things and position and power have a tendency to draw people away from God. They don't have to feel this way, but if they're not careful, they can slip into a self-sufficiency. It's amazing, the needier you are the more time you spend with God.

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these other things will be added unto you". "'and again, I tell you it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who's rich to enter the Kingdom of God'. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, 'well, who then can be saved?' Jesus looked at them and said, 'with man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" now let's think about about the camel going through the eye of a needle. We hear that, we think of the eye of a needle and this big ole camel trying to get through it and we're like, "Well, yeah". So, then, if you got any money, you don't know if you're happy about it or not. But he was just simply making an analogy and if you knew what the eye of the needle really was, and probably some of you do, you'd see the point of the story.

Camels were loaded up with goods from other countries and they were brought to other cities, in this case Jerusalem, food for people, items that needed to be sold, household items they needed, and there were gates that went into the city and one of these gates was called the eye of the needle. But it was a short gate, and the only way that a camel could get through it. So let me tell ya, the more stuff you have, the more money you have, the more powerful you are, the more famous you are, the more you need. You know, after I have two or three days of everybody clapping and cheering for me and thinking I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread, I get, "God, you, and I know what I am without you. I'm amazed that you use me". Amen? If you're the boss or the supervisor where you work you have an opportunity to be a blessing to people. It doesn't make you better than them, that doesn't mean you get to talk down to them, or treat them like they're unimportant and every night when you go home or maybe a couple times during the day, you need to get on your knees somewhere and say, "God, help me remember that you've put me in this position and you can take me down quicker than it took me to get up here".

Part 3
The Bible also says that, "No man can tame his tongue". We can only do with God's help, and believe me, I know that. How many of you can say an amen to that scripture? Whoo! Man, I could lay in bed every morning and make my plan for holiness. And it lasts until I put my feet on the floor and take a couple of steps. "God, I need you". It's time to stir up our faith. How 'bout believing this? How 'bout believing what the Bible says about how generous God is with forgiving our sins? And when you make a mistake, instead of wasting three days in guilt and condemnation, why don't you have enough faith to say, "I believe that if I ask you, you will forgive my sins"? And you repent of your sin, you ask for forgiveness, you take it as the gift that it is, you don't waste three days feeling guilty, you go right on serving God.

The Lord told me one time, he said, "If you wanna use your faith for something really big then use it to live free from guilt and condemnation". There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I think I could probably fly home without the plane. 2 Timothy 1:6 and 7, Paul's talking to Timothy and he said, "That's why I would remind you to stir up", everybody say, "Stir up". "(rekindle the embers of, fan the flame of, and keep burning) the gracious gift of God, that inner fire that is in you by means of the laying on of my hands with those of the elders at your ordination". So, hands were laid on Timothy and there was an impartation of gifts given to him. But he had let fear come in and he wasn't moving boldly. So, Paul said, "You gotta stir up that gift. Remember at your ordination when hands were laid on you, and God touched you". "For God did not give us a spirit of fear (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but he has given us a spirit of power, and a spirit of love, and of discipline and self-control".

Now, you weren't as excited about that one. C'mon, let's back this train up. For God has given us a spirit of power, of love, and of discipline and self-control. A calm and a well-balanced mind. Everything that we receive from God is received and can be received no other way than by faith. Salvation is received by faith. "For it is by grace, you have been saved through faith". Faith is not the price that buys your salvation, it was bought by the grace of God. But faith is the hand that receives it. And the same way we were saved is the same way we have to live. Romans 1:17 says, in the Word of God, "There's a righteousness revealed that leads us from faith to faith to faith". We don't go from faith to doubt and unbelief, and then back to faith for a little while. Everything we do should be done in faith. Romans 14:23 says: "Whatever is not of faith is sin".

Okay, let me just upset you for a minute, 'cause I'm leaving in 15 minutes and I won't be back for a year. You'll forgive me by then. Do you know that if you're watching a television program and you cannot say that you're watching it by faith? Well, I guess you better turn it off. I didn't think I'd get much out of that. Well, I seem to be out of words here for a moment. How many of you know we're supposed to be led by the spirit. So, if I get uncomfortable with something that I'm doing, and I watch television, it's one of my favorite things to do. But I watch it with the remote control in my hand and my finger on the fast forward button. I mean, there's some good stuff if you can get past the junk. I've got TV channels that are edited, I've got programs where you can get edited movies.

Let me tell you something. You can work at having entertainment that's not full of sin. You can go to a party and not get drunk. Well, how can you stir your faith up? On a practical level, how can you do it. Well, faith has to be stirred up and released. We all have faith. The Bible says that, "Unto to every man is given the measure of faith". Whatever it is that God has called you to do, he has given you the gift to do it and the faith to do it. I don't teach and preach because I'm special and have this great talent, it's a gift. And God gives me the faith to walk out here and actually, believe that people are gonna show up and they're gonna like it. But I can tell ya, I didn't start with that faith, I was so scared. If anybody got up and left while I was preaching, I was sure they didn't like me and I had the wrong message. But I finally had to learn that I had to do this in faith believing that God was with me, and that what I felt in my heart, was the word for the night, was the right word.

And if somebody didn't like it and they left, that's their loss. That doesn't mean I've done something wrong. Amen? When I was talking about submission earlier, I lost a couple. But you know what? I am committed to sayin' what I believe God wants me to say. Because if I stand up here and try to be a people-pleaser, I cannot always be a God-pleaser and a people-pleaser at the same time. You release your faith by praying, by saying, and by taking action. Faith is in us, but we release it. When you pray, you're releasing your faith. If you're really praying in faith, you're releasing your faith, you're asking God to do something for you, you're admitting that you need his help.

And Mark 11:23-26 says, "Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, 'be lifted up and thrown into the sea!' and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him". James 4:2 says, "You do not have because you do not ask". You know what? Get bold in your praying. Pray for things that just don't make sense to your mind, if you feel like God's leading you to do it. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I'm gonna share it with you anyway. Many years ago, I felt like God was prompting me to pray that I would be able to help every person on the face of the planet. And the devil said to me, "Who do you think you are? That's ridiculous. No one person can help every person on the planet". And I agree. But with God all things are possible, amen?

And I don't fancy that I've reached every person yet, but I am preaching in a 101 languages in 2/3 of the world on television, and on the internet and on Facebook. I mean, my goodness, this was back before all this technology was available. We'll now, people can get the Gospel on their phone, on their computer, on television, on radio, on Youtube. I mean, if you're anywhere in the world and you can get a signal, I'm likely to be there. It's hard to watch television early in the morning and not accidentally run into me. How many people tell me that, "I accidentally ran into you on TV"? No, you did not accidentally do anything. God saw your miserable life and he's trying to help you.

I'll never forget the young man in his twenties, whose parents had just been begging him to straighten up his life and he wasn't listening to them. He wasn't paying any attention. He drank a lot, and he was leaned back in his... What do you call 'em? Recliners. In his recliner, drinking his beer, and he was two sheets in the wind, and he said, "So help me, you came on television and said, 'you there, young man, leaned back in your recliner drinking your beer'". He said, "It scared the living daylights out of me". And he said, "I threw that beer down and prayed for God to save me". God is working in ways that we do not realize that he is working in, all of our lives, all the time, and all he wants you to do is stir your faith up, right now, and believe that all things are possible with God. Amen?

Another man told me that he was high on drugs and he was flipping through the channels and he got to the channel where I was on, and he laughed at me, and thought, "I ain't watchin' this junk". And he tried to change the channel and it wouldn't change. Wouldn't change. So, he went and got new batteries for the remote, he thought, "Surely, the batteries were out". And he said, "The only thing on my remote control that would work was the button to turn the sound up". He said, "I couldn't turn you down. I couldn't turn you off. I could not get rid of you". And he said, "Let me tell you, I sobered up. I threw those drugs away. I got on my knees and I gave my life to the Lord". So, I just sit in my little house and I prepare my messages and I write my books and I just believe that God is doing things that I could never do. And I'll never know about all them and I don't want to, because I don't ever wanna get full of myself and think more highly of myself than I ought to. Amen? And God can use you the same way in your little corner of the world if you'll just be willing to believe, and keep your faith stirred up.

"For this reason I'm telling you", verse 24, and here's really the good part of this. "For this reason I'm telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will get it". Okay, we got about 40 people happy about that. Now, you know, if I would have said it'll be yours instantly, everybody would have roared. You will get it. I don't know when you'll get it. But I know you'll get it in the right way at the right time, when you're ready. When God knows you're ready. There's about three things, right now, that have all come up in one day that I've gotta be patient about and trust God, and I'm like, "It never ends". There's always now, something else you gotta wait and see what God does. Just keep saying, "All things are possible with God. And if God can't do it, then it doesn't need to be done". Amen?

Well, of course, then there's this thing on the tail end of this about forgiving people. "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your father who is in heaven may also forgive you your failings and shortcomings and let them drop. But if you don't forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive you". "Well, you just don't understand what they did to me, and surely God can't mean that I'm to forgive them".

I read something last night to you, I think it was, "You don't forgive your enemies because they deserve to be forgiven, you forgive them because you deserve peace". Isn't that good? What is faith? "Now faith", and I like to stop it. "Now, faith", because faith always has to operate in the now. I can't have faith yesterday. Today, I can have faith that God will take care of yesterday. I can't have faith tomorrow, right now. But I can believe, right now, that God will take care of tomorrow. You understand that? Faith is always in the present. Not I'm gonna believe, I believe. And it, "Is the substance", it's a real living, "Substance of the things we hope for, and the things we do not see".

When you see what you want, you don't need faith anymore. Hold fast to your confession of faith, keep saying the same thing that God says, and release your faith by taking action. This is about Lazarus, "Jesus once more deeply moved came to the tomb and it was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 'take away the stone,' Jesus said. 'but Lord,' Martha said, who was the sister of the dead man, 'by now there's a bad odor'". He stinks. And he's not just dead, Jesus, he is four days dead. I mean, he is really dead. Like there is no point in rolling away that stone. Now, let me ask you a question. If he's getting ready to raise Lazarus from the dead, why did he need somebody else to move the stone? They had to take action. They had to release their faith, by not just saying, "Lord, he's dead". They didn't even ask him to do anything. They're just rehearsing the problem. "He's dead". Martha said, "Yeah, he's dead. He's been dead four days and he stinks and there's no point in rolling away that stone".

But the Bible says they rolled away the stone. And can I tell you? If they would not have rolled away the stone, Lazarus would still be in there today, he would be many days dead. And maybe all you need to release miracles in your life is to roll away some stones. Come on, give God a praise. Whoo! Lord, Jesus! Okay, listen, we're gonna all pray what we call, in the church, the prayer of salvation together. And there are people here who've never prayed that prayer, you're ready to give your life to Christ. There are people here who have prayed with somebody at some time, but they've backslidden and fallen back into sin. There are people who don't know if you're saved or not. You go to church, but there's a lot of unsaved people in church. Amen? Now, let's all pray.

Father, God, I believe in you. Jesus, I believe in you. Holy Spirit, I believe in you. I know that I'm a sinner. And I'm sorry for the way I've lived. Please forgive me. I repent of my sins. I wanna turn away from the life I've been living and live for you. I want to be a follower of Christ. I surrender my life to you, right now. And I receive you, Jesus as my Lord and my Savior. Now, I believe you love me. I believe my sins are forgiven. I'm on my way to heaven, and I want to enjoy the journey. So, take me just the way I am, and make me all that you want me to be. Amen.

Questions and Answers
Joyce Meyer: Well today, I've been teaching about stirring up our faith and believing that with God all things are possible. And Ginger is here with some questions about faith for the impossible that you've sent in, in the areas where you need God to do some things that seem impossible to you, but are possible with God. Well Ginger, what kind of questions do you have for me today?

Ginger: Well there are a a lot of situations like that in our lives aren't there? Where it's impossible for man, it's impossible for me, but with God. And I would love to start by just asking you this question because I remember you calling me several months ago and saying, "God has really impressed this verse on my heart, and I want to make it a focus for this year", and this was a long before anything was really changing the way that it has since then. So, tell me about that impression that the Holy Spirit has put on you and why you feel it was so important.

Joyce Meyer: Well, it was in November of 2019, and I actually was watching a TV program and the person was not trying to be spiritual per SE, but they said, "All things are possible". And 'course right away, I thought about the scripture that, "All things are possible with God". And you know, when God is impressing something on your heart, it just seems bigger than what it would if it was just a normal situation, it's kind of like it just, man, it's just like, "Yeah, that's what God wants us to believe for in 2020". Little did we know that we were going to have lots of unique things happening because of the pandemic, and that we were going to literally need to believe that with God all things are possible and you know, we've been seeing it.

Ginger: We have.

Joyce Meyer: We've been seeing some supernatural supply and just you know, we're having to do things a different way now, and God's anointing people to do that and it is really important to remember, that all things are possible with God. How many times do we have a situation and the first thing that comes out of our mouth, is, "Well that's not possible"?

Ginger: Right.

Joyce Meyer: But with God all things are possible, so.

Ginger: My daughter has this little sign in her house that says, "With God all things are not easy, but they're possible".

Joyce Meyer: Right.

Ginger: And so I think that's important as we're answering these questions, it doesn't mean it's all going to just be simple.

Joyce Meyer: It's easy for God, not easy for us.

Ginger: Right, right and you know, often we think, "I believe that God can do it, but I don't know if he'll do it".

Joyce Meyer: "For me".

Ginger: "In my situation, or for me", exactly. So, a lot of these questions go along those lines. Ellen from Texas says, "There's a lot of bad news on TV everyday. The world is in chaos. How can I keep my faith level high and believe that everything is going to turn out for good when I don't see that it's even possible"?

Joyce Meyer: Well, one of the things that really helps me is I don't watch the news. Now, some people may think, well, you know, you should know what's going on. Well, what I do is I look at the headlines on my phone every morning as long as I can stand it, and what I mean by that is, it's just one negative thing after another, after another and the longer this has been going on the more tired I get of it, because I do believe that with God all things are possible. And I believe that, you know, the Israelites they faced an impossible situation when they had the Red Sea in front of 'em and the Egyptian army behind 'em, and God parted the Red Sea. Well, that's certainly in the impossible zone, and I just believe that if we keep our faith in God, and we do have a part, and I think we need to be careful about a lot of negative talk. You know, it's just like everybody's talking about the same thing and to be honest, some people are hopeful but other people, everything they say about it is negative. And our words are important, and so, I think just, you don't have to have a steady diet of what the news is saying.

Ginger: This leads right into this next question, beautifully. Augustina says, "Is it possible to act on faith without speaking or confessing it out loud"? You're talking about our negative words.

Joyce Meyer: Well, I think that faith has to be released for it to work. And I believe it's released through praying, through prayer or through your words, what you say, or through action. So, yes, you know, we're not making a law out of, you have to confess it in order for it to come to pass, but the Bible does say "You have not because you ask not". And I do believe that somebody needs to pray, if it's not me, God will be putting it on somebody else's heart. Now, obviously, he can do whatever he wants to and sometimes he does go beyond the normal, but God really wants to partner with us and he wants us to be active in listening to him and taking action on his word. I always marvel at the fact that when they were at the Jordan river getting ready to cross over to go into the Promised Land, the waters didn't part until they put their foot in 'em. And I like to put it, I mean, sometimes you just gotta put your foot in it.

Ginger: Yeah.

Joyce Meyer: You don't know what's gonna happen, but I mean I've seen many times where like, maybe I've been going to teach and I just did not feel God's presence at all, I didn't know if my message was that good, and get up and open my mouth and the power of God's right there. So, a lot of times God doesn't let us have those feelings because he wants us to do it in just total faith.

Ginger: I think of Indiana Jones taking the step out onto that ledge, even before he could see where it was.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah.

Ginger: Anyway, so, here's another question that says, "I would like to understand why the people I'm praying for keep testing my faith". I love that question.

Joyce Meyer: That's cute. Well, one thing you have to remember when you pray for somebody else is, their will is involved, and God has given each of us free will. So, I can't push my will off on somebody else and make them do what I want them to do, just because I pray.

Ginger: As much as we would like that.

Joyce Meyer: But I do really appreciate something that Dave said one time, and it's stuck with me and I share it often, "Don't be surprised when you start praying for somebody if they act worse". You say, "Why would that be"? Well, because when God starts dealing with people, many times if they don't wanna listen to God or if they don't wanna hear it, they can actually react worse for a period of time. So, instead of getting disappointed and saying, "Well, here I've been praying and you're acting worse than ever". We probably should get excited and think, "Man, God must be dealing with 'em because I've been praying".

Ginger: That's a great way to look at it. Alright, Barbara asks this, "I'm trusting God for healing from cancer. I saw your testimony on your own breast cancer, and there's so much scary information out there, but I want my miracle from God. How can I persevere in this impossible situation"?

Joyce Meyer: Well, it's really a decision and you're either gonna go over or you're gonna go under. You're either gonna be negative or you're gonna be positive. And I really believe in being positive and believing for the most that you can believe and trusting God with the outcome. We can't even control God with our prayers, but I would continue to pray for healing as long as I had a breath in me and trust God that he was going to take care of the situation. So, you really have to decide, "What do I wanna do here, do I"... You know, whatever your situation is, if you're negative which there is a lot of negative information about everything, and if you listen to all that and take it in, whatever period of time you have to wait, you're just gonna be miserable. If you're negative and have no hope and you're discouraged and depressed. And so, people may not believe this, but you can choose to have a good attitude. I mean, I heard one time, "Your attitude belongs to you and nobody can make you have a bad one if you don't want to". I think every day we're making choices all day long and 'course I teach and I've definitely discovered and rediscovered, that what I put my mind on very much effects what I feel. And also I think if you have people around you that do just tend to be negative, now, obviously, you can't get away from your family if it's a family member, but you certainly don't have to spend time with friends that are discouraging and negative. And even your family you can ask them, you know, "I'd really rather you not do that or talk about it in that way, because I'm doing all I can do to stay positive as it is, and I don't need negative input".

Ginger: Final question for you. Lynn from Kansas asks, "How do patience and faith go together"?

Joyce Meyer: Well, the Bible says that's how we receive from God, through faith and patience. And I love what Mark 11 says, I think it starts about verse 23, says, "Have faith in God constantly", and then it goes on to talk about speaking to the mountain, but it says, "Whatever you ask in faith, whatever you ask for in faith, believe that you have received it, and you will get it". Now, that's interesting. So, in God's economy, believing always comes first, and you believe without any, that's what faith is, it's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, you know? So, my faith, sees it in a different realm. It's like it's on its way, but I just love that scripture, if you think about it, it's like, believe you have received it, and that's talking about in the spiritual realm, God's doing it, he's working on it, it's on its way, and you will get it but it doesn't tell you how long it will be before you get it. And we know that God can do things fast, or he can do them slow. And so we have to come to the point of trusting God that if it takes a longer than what we think it should, there is a reason. We may someday know the reason, we may never know the reason but God knows what he's doing.

Ginger: And it is so encouraging and in the most difficult times in our life to know that it's out of our hands and it's in the hands of the one who can do all things.

Joyce Meyer: That's the challenge about faith, is learning how to believe for what you don't see and don't feel but you do have it in your heart. And see, I know God can do anything, and so, that gives me hope. Well, I'm going to pray for you today.

Father, I pray for everybody who has all these questions and they're facing what seems to them like impossible situations, but we believe God, we really believe that all things are possible with you. And just because we are imperfect, that doesn't mean that you still can't do things in our life because you see our heart. And so, I pray for every person who's releasing their faith, believing for something that seems impossible, that they will see and experience your miracle working power in their life and that they will be content and joyful until they do see it. In Jesus' name, amen.