Joyce Meyer - The Supernatural

Joyce Meyer: Welcome to, "Enjoying Everyday Life". Today, we have an interesting program for you, it's about the supernatural. Are you interested in that subject? Ginger and I will candidly talk about what we mean by the supernatural. We may be ordinary people, but with God, we can live an extraordinary life. Please stay with us all the way to the end of the program because I want to pray for you.

Ginger: Joyce there's some sort of need or interest in people about the supernatural. So, I would love for us to talk today about the supernatural. Is that something that you had an interest in at any point in your life?

Joyce Meyer: Well, I think that I was hungry for the supernatural. I don't know that we always know what it is that we're hungry for and supernatural doesn't mean weird, spooky, you're not talking about fortune tellers and things like that. God does things that are beyond the natural. What I call it is "Super" — "Natural".

Ginger: Well let me ask you about that though, because, yes, that's who God is, but sometimes that interest takes people to that other side of what you're talking about.

Joyce Meyer: Well yeah I was, because I was hungry for the supernatural, to see some of the things that we see Jesus did in the New Testament. You know, the healings, the casting out of demons, the things that Paul talked about, speaking in tongues, just the miracles that they saw. And you know, you hear all kinds of things, "Well that went away with the early church", and you know, it's amazing the things that we believe without even checking 'em out for ourselves. But because I was hungry and I wasn't getting what I needed from the church, the enemy stepped in and tried to bring some deception into my life. I was working with a girl that was very much into astrology not astronomy, the study of the stars but charting her life by the stars, and I know there are lot of people...

Ginger: A lot of people are.

Joyce Meyer: That do that, but it's against the Word of God. There's nowhere in the Bible that it tells us to plan our future based on the stars. I mean God wants us to come to him for advice, not the stars and, but I mean she just lived her whole life by that, I mean she didn't even get a haircut unless the stars lined up. And so, she wanted to do my astrology chart, which I didn't even know what that meant, but I was starting to get interested when thankfully God interrupted the enemy's plan, and he touched my life. And this was back in the seventies, there was a great outpouring, a revival type outpouring of the Holy Spirit all across the earth, not just one denomination, but it couldn't be denied because it was everywhere. And people were being touched by God, filled with the spirit, baptized in the Holy Spirit, however, you want to put it, different people talk about it in different ways. I always, my thought is, is that when you're born again you receive the Holy Spirit, you can't, you know you're baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, you can't receive Jesus and not receive the Holy Spirit, because they're all one, one God, three persons.

Ginger: Yeah, which is supernatural in it's self.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, yeah, you can't figure that one out. And so, supernatural, I think, just basically means it's things beyond what a natural person could do. And we were so hungry for those things and God touched my life, whether you want to say he filled me or baptized me, but I think that we receive the Holy Spirit or we're baptized in the spirit, when we're born again, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're filled with something, and the way that I like to say it is, "You can have the Holy Spirit, but does he have you"? And so, I'd like to read this scripture. God brought this to my mind this morning and I had them print it out for me. Romans 12:1 in the Amplified, "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and I beg of you in view of all the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies"... Now, that's somethin' I have to do, I have to make a decision that I'm gonna dedicate everything about me to God, not just 45 minutes or an hour on Sunday morning or not just praying a desperate prayer when I need help, but that I'm going to live for Jesus and for his glory. And so, I just have to get bold enough to say to our viewers, "Are you doing that"? Is Jesus a sideline in your life, or is he the main line in your life? Paul said, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain". And, "In him I live and move and have my being". And so, I wonder sometimes in the "Church world" today, if people are being taught strong enough messages about dedication and surrendering your life to God and living for him and using your will to choose his will and not just always trying to get God to do what you want. But I love the Amplified because it breaks it down, it says, "Presenting all your members and faculties". So what is that? My mind, my mouth, my thoughts, my attitude, my finances, my talents, whatever. Any area of my life that I'm holding back from God is one that the Holy Spirit can't fill. And so, I was just actually reading a book, I'm in the middle of reading a book by Billy Graham, and I'm actually reading several books right now, not all the same time, but I have several books on the Holy Spirit. I feel like we need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And I want to stay as full of the spirit as I can, and for my anointing on my life to be as strong as it possibly can be. And so, I think that to study in the area that you want help in, is very wise. But Billy Graham said that, he believes, "You're baptized by the spirit when you're born again into the body of Christ, but that there are fillings and many fillings". Because the Bible says to, "Stay filled with the Holy Spirit". And there were many times even after the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 that waited in the upper room, when they would be filled with the Holy Spirit. You know, back in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come on people for certain tasks or jobs that God gave them to do, but he didn't live in them. My gosh we've got it so much better because Jesus said, "You're going to be better when I go away because if I don't, then the Holy Spirit can't come, and he has been with you but he will be in you". So, the Holy Spirit, which is already supernatural, how do you think about that, lives in us and how do you, how do you even work that out in your head?

Ginger: Right.

Joyce Meyer: You know, but God's spirit dwells in us and we are, our greatest goal should be to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit. God's not calling us to run our own lives. Yes, we have free choice, he doesn't want a bunch of robots that have no choice but to do what he wants, but he wants us to surrender our will and to do what we know we should do. Not be saying, "Well, I know I shouldn't do this, but". And how many times do we say that? "Well, I know I shouldn't do this, but". "I know I shouldn't probably see this movie, but". "I know I shouldn't eat this, but". "I know I should exercise, but".

Ginger: And the Holy Spirit helps us with all of that.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, "I know I should apologize, but". Well, if you're following the Holy Spirit, then you're not gonna do what you want to do, because you've already dedicated all these parts of yourself to him, and that's when life can really really, really, get good. And it goes on to say, "Be (devoted and consecrated) and live a life that's well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable, (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship". So he's sayin', "It's not unreasonable for me to ask you to dedicate every single part of yourself and your life to me". Now, gee, we can stop right there and just have a 10-part series, because how many people right now, I mean, is your entertainment devoted to God? Are your friendships devoted to God? Is your conversation devoted to God? Or you know, are your thoughts devoted to God? How quick do we obey God when we know he's asking us to do something or do we need 25 confirmations and, you know, other things? And Paul talks about the gifts of the spirit, there are supernatural gifts of the spirit that are available to us, and the Bible even tells us to covet them. Covet is a strong word that almost means might like to lust after, I mean, he wants us to really want these supernatural endowments of power, which is what it is. Who wouldn't want that? You know? I wanna be filled with the spirit because that enables me to do what I do, with ease. My goodness, I couldn't imagine trying to do what we're doing, and I know people probably don't understand this, but when we get on here to do stuff like this, I don't know ahead of time. I mean, I know what we're gonna talk about, but I don't have a plan. I don't have a message put together, I'm trusting God to supernaturally bring out of me the right answers and to bring out of me what people that are watching, need. I don't know who's watching, but God does and he can answer questions for them that I wouldn't even know how to answer. So, we need to be filled and refilled, I always say, "The world can suck everything out of you in one day".

Ginger: Yeah.

Joyce Meyer: So I think even to pray every morning, "God fill me with your spirit, fill me, I want to be full, completely full of the Holy Spirit". So, maybe, there are people watching that have never asked God to fill them with the spirit and I suggest that you start there. And then ask God to give you and to use you in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. And there's many gifts: teaching is a gift, organization is a gift, business is a gift, giving is a gift. There's a lot of different kinds of gifts. But Paul talks about what I would call some of these more supernatural gifts and he says, "To each one", so that means everyone, "Is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good". So, they're for the good and the prophet of all, they're not to show out or to say, "Look what I can do", but they're for the good of all. And I don't think the gifts of the spirit are given just so somebody can show out in a church service, I think that you know, obviously, a gift can function in a church service, but I think that they're more for our everyday, ordinary life. So, this natural life becomes a supernatural life. "To one is given through the spirit the utterance of wisdom", or a word of wisdom. "To another a word of knowledge by the same spirit". It's one spirit, but he functions in different ways. So, let's talk about a word of knowledge. I believe that I have that functioning in my life, all the time and I'm sure you've experienced this. I can't, I misplaced something, I don't know where it's at and I'm frantically trying to find it in the house, well, I've learned now, to stop and say, "Holy Spirit would you show me where that's at"?

Ginger: Yeah.

Joyce Meyer: And I can't even tell you how many times I'll get like a picture in my mind of where that thing is, and go and it's right there.

Ginger: Me too.

Joyce Meyer: Or a word of wisdom, knowing what you should do in a situation when there's no real natural, you don't have any natural information, but you just know what God wants you to do and so that "Knowing" is a supernatural gift from God and that's, most of the time, how God speaks to us, through just knowing. "To another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing". Well, what is this gift of faith? We all have faith, "To every man is given a measure of faith", the Bible says. So, what then, is the gift of faith? Well, that's to have faith, beyond reason, faith that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to have.

Ginger: Supernatural faith.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, supernatural faith. I never really got it until a friend of mine one time, we were talking about the ministry, and I mean, this thing that God has done through us, it's totally impossible in the natural. I mean, I don't even know how to tell people how impossible it is. You know, I had no training to do this, no schooling to do this, I've never taken one class in public speaking, I didn't even do that good in English when I was in school and yet I'm speaking to people all over the world through television and all these other different things, everyday. And we didn't have a lot of training in leadership or management and yet, we have almost 500 people working for us and several different foreign offices and it's God. See, when you open yourself up to God, he can flow through you, and enable you to do things that you couldn't ordinarily do. And 'course the amount of money that we need to run the ministry is just, it's beyond my thinking, I don't, I don't even really get into it because it would scare me silly. And a friend of mine, who's also a minister, said to me one day, "Don't you realize that God has given you a gift of faith for this ministry"? Because I look back and I think, "How did I have the courage to step out, and even think that I could do this"? There would have been no reason at all for me to think that I could do something like this. I mean, back when I started not that many women even taught the word or preached and it wasn't very popular. And I had to pay the price for a lot of the decisions that I made, like being asked to leave my church and losing friends and different things like that. So, sometimes when it's so easy for you to believe something and it seems so hard for somebody else, maybe instead of getting a prideful spirit thinking, "Well I don't know why you know"... You need to realize that maybe you're functioning under a gift of faith and instead of judging other people, you need to pray for them. "To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy"... And prophesy is not normally in the New Testament for telling the future, so much as it is encouragement and encouraging words for people. Or you might get a sensing of what somebody's going to do in their future, but I always caution people to be careful about saying, "God told me to tell you".

Ginger: Yeah.

Joyce Meyer: I think that's an area where people can get hurt.

Ginger: And that's where all of this comes into balance.

Joyce Meyer: Yeah, and that's one of the reasons why people are afraid of the supernatural, because they've seen excesses. I heard one man, one time back in the revival in the seventies, he said, "Well, I'd rather have a little wildfire than no fire at all". And we need a balance. We need a move of the spirit in our churches, a supernatural move of the spirit, but we also need the steadiness, the stableness of the Word of God. And here again, this is where you get in trouble, you either don't have the spirit and everything's dry, or you have the spirit and ignore the word and then it just gets out of balance and out of hand. And so balance is so important. The ability to distinguish between good and evil spirits, the discerning of spirits. If you're functioning with that gift, you'll know if somebody is evil or if they're good, or they have an evil intent or if it's somebody you need to be careful of because they're dangerous. And how many times, even like in hiring people, have I looked at an application that, I mean I don't do this anymore, but in the beginning and the person looks perfect on paper and yet I just don't feel right about 'em. And you know, like most people you think "Well, that's gotta just be me, maybe there's something about this person I just don't like". You know, because they've got all the qualifications, they've got the experience, on, and on, and on. But invariably, if I've done that, then eventually, that person ended up causing trouble and I should have listened to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. And then there's tongues and interpretation of tongues. It's interesting that, that one gift, although it's the last one on the list, and that doesn't mean that it's the least worth while, but the church has fought over that more than any of the other gifts.

Ginger: Right, yeah.

Joyce Meyer: And we just need understanding and we need teaching and I believe that we all really need and want the supernatural and the best thing I can tell you is to study. First of all, read what the Word of God says about it, you know people just like, "Oh, man, you know, those people that speak in tongues, they're weird and I'm not", you know? "Stay away from them". And yet the apostle Paul said, "I wish that you all spoke in tongues". And he said, "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you". Not everybody receives the same gifts and we acknowledge that, but don't be afraid of the gifts of the spirit. And so, I don't wanna leave you, like, I kinda feel like, with the amount of time we have that I just kinda opened up this big thing. But here's the thing, I want people to start praying that God will teach them and lead them in this area. That God will use you in the gifts of the spirit and give those gifts to you so your natural life can become supernatural. And when you get sick don't just run first for the medicine, pray, pray that God will heal you. And he may do it supernaturally, or he may do it through medicine. I believe that all healing comes from God. And so, today, you gotta be careful, even about what kind of medicine you take, or you know, what kind of medical advice that you seek, because not everything is good. So, even in that, we need discernment. We need those words of wisdom and words of knowledge. And the way these things begin to function our life is through making them a matter of prayer and through desiring them, instead of just ignoring them. And we do have a couple of resources available if people wanna call and ask what they are. I wrote a book quite a while ago on intimacy with God, and I talk about all the Fruit of the Spirit in there and also talk about the gifts of the spirit, and then we've got a little book about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. And begin to pray that God will fill you with his spirit. Don't be satisfied to just try to make it on your own but ask for and receive that fullness of the Holy Spirit, but just remember, in order for God to fill something, it's gotta be empty.

Ginger: Get yourself out of the way.

Joyce Meyer: So we have to be empty of self in order for God to do the filling, so.

Ginger: So the supernatural, it seems like it's something that people either crave and run to, or are very afraid of, and we need to seek God's word and seek his face in all of this. That balance is something that we can only find in Christ.

Joyce Meyer: Right.

Ginger: We can't do it on our own, it's that emptying ourself out so that he can fill us up.

Joyce Meyer: And don't be in a big hurry, and be careful. When you start praying for supernatural things, the devil would love to...

Ginger: Oh yeah, show ya a few tricks.

Joyce Meyer: Show you a few tricks. And so you got to pray you know, pray that the Holy Spirit will really guide you and let you know what is right and what isn't. But I just believe if you're really hungry for more of God, and you start telling him that, and you start praying to learn in these areas, and look up all the scriptures: read the book of acts, I mean, what happened in the book of acts? I mean, do we really think that we don't need as much power as they needed? I mean, our world is in a mess today, I mean, a huge mess and we need all the supernatural, divine help that we can possibly get because nobody, the problems we have today are not gonna be fixed by the government, they're only gonna be fixed by God, and us turning to God and making right decisions and doing, you know, the things that we need to do.

Ginger: Boy, that's so true. Thank you.

Joyce Meyer: Let's all be hungry for more of God and less of ourselves.

Well my time with the Lord is precious to me, and I want to help you fall in love with this important and enjoyable time of your day. My new devotional, "Quiet Times with God", gives you daily encouragement with scripture and a power thought for you to meditate on throughout the day. So, get your copy of this new devotional and begin growing spiritually by spending time with God.