Joyce Meyer - Unlocking God's Kingdom - Part 2

We walk by faith. We live by faith. But faith is all about believing what this says more than you believe what you see or feel. Come on, is anybody with me, today? And I'll tell you what I want you to do. I want you to turn your faith loose. I think some of you just need to be stirred up again in believing God for greater things. That's what Paul told Timothy, "Stir up your faith," fan that flame. Maybe some of you, at one time, really were believing God for something that was impossible, and you just waited so long and had so much trouble that you've just lost sight of the whole thing. And maybe God wants to reignite you today and get you on-fire again, and get you to stir your faith up. Don't just kinda just like, "Monday... Tuesday... Wednesday... Thursday... Friday... Saturday".

You're not too old to do something new. Come on. And you don't believe me. I didn't even go on TV till I was 52. Who starts something like that at 52? And I've been on television 25, 26 years, so it doesn't take you long to figure out how old I am if you can count. So, don't tell me you're too old to do something. Amen? And don't tell me, "I got too many kids". When I started this ministry, I had three teenagers and a baby. And I'd stick that baby on my hip and we'd just take off and go. Amen?

Alright, Joyce, try to get back on track here. Faith is the key to those kingdom promises. The Bible says we're to welcome the kingdom like a little child. Now, there's some interesting things about kids that we lose as we grow up. For example, whatever happened to recess? We used to get recess, and now we just work all the time. I think we should go back to having adult recesses. What do you think? What'd we do at recess? We went out and played. Amen? Okay, Luke 18:17, "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive," everybody say, "Receive". Doesn't say get, it says, "Receive". "Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God, like a child shall not enter in". In other words, if you're gonna believe things that you can't see, that you see in your heart, but you don't see with your eyes, then you're gonna have to be a little bit child-like.

You know, if a three-year old's daddy tells him to jump off of the side of the swimming pool into water that's way over his head, and daddy will catch you, he jumps. He's not thinking about the water or worried about drowning. All he knows is daddy's faithful. Daddy loves me. Daddy will catch me. And you know what? When God tells you to jump... I said, when God tells you to jump... You don't have to keep working at a job the rest of your life that you hate. You can jump and go do something you like. Even if you make less money, it's better to be happy with less money than to be miserable with a big bank account. We call it, "A leap of faith". Those who are child-like are called, "Greatest in the kingdom of heaven". Jesus called, "At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven'"? Then Matthew 18:1-4. "And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, 'truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven'".

Now, that's not talking about you won't go to heaven. That's talking about entering into this kingdom life that I'm trying to talk to you about today that we can have. In the world but not of the world. In the world, but knowing that there's a whole lot more than what we see. Two things about children that are very important is they are trusting and they forgive so quickly. I mean, little Johnny can be ready to tear Henry's head off and five minutes later, they'll have their arms around each other, walking down the street, best buds in the whole world. Come on, who are you mad at? You're probably thinking, "Oh, I wish so-and-so would have been here today". Well, they're not but you are, so there must be something for you. And see, we receive by faith. God says, "Your sins are forgiven". You receive that by faith. I can't prove it to you in the natural. But if you really receive it by faith, then you don't have to be condemned. When we do wrong things the Bible says that God will be merciful unto us. But we have to receive mercy. We receive Christ into our hearts by faith and thereby, we're born again.

Children have no problem receiving. We're the ones with all the questions. "Well, how could it be that simple? How can you live a life of sin and just pray a prayer and it all be gone? How can that happen"? My father was the most wretched, miserable human being. He was not only abusive, but he was just mean, just ugly mean. And when he was 83 I led him to the Lord. And I can tell you after everything he did, not only to me, but to many, many, many people, the awful way he treated my mother, he ruined my brother's life, I believe, that the moment he received Christ, as his Savior, that every sin was completely wiped away and forgiven. And I believe he's in heaven today hearing this message. Amen? Let's have our kids. Okay. You got my money? Now, kids are not suspicious. They're good receivers. Boy, don't I have a bunch of good-looking kids up here, today? Okay, how many of you guys know what money is? Raise your hand if you know what money is? Ok, how many of you like money? I got some money here. What if I give you money, would you like that? No, you don't want any? Well, you must be one of those people out there.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Thank you, hmm...

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: See, you said you didn't want it, but you did.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Thank you.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: The only thing I'm hearing up here from each one is, "Thank you". God wants to hear a lot more of that. Hey, how about a smile, handsome? Somebody's about to give you money, that's a time to smile.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Thank you. I like your dress. Now, you can buy something pretty to go with it.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Thank you.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Thank you.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Okay, but it's not over. Now, I got $5 bills here. How 'bout that?

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: That's the way it's supposed to work. When God gives us something, we receive it, say, "Thank you," and we get happy.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: You're welcome. Whoo!

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Now, you can really buy something.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Have you noticed that not one person is refusing to receive because they don't think they deserve it? Where is your smile? Man, you'll have to come and live with me awhile. We'll teach you how to smile.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: You're so pretty.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Wow, you look like you work out.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: Okay, you can go. Have a nice day.

Child: Thank you.

Joyce: You're welcome.

Now, not one of them said, "Why do you want to give this to me"? Not one of them said, "Eh, I don't trust you". See, if we learn how to receive from God like that... He says, "I love you," and you should say, "Thank you". "I forgive your sins". "Thank you". "Well, I just can't hardly believe that you would do that, not as bad as I've been". No, shh... "Thank you". "I'm gonna give you favor everywhere you go," whoo! "Thank you". Come on, you getting it?

CANDID CONVERSATION

Ginger: Joyce, I had a situation, in my own life, where I was shocked by something that someone did, and I had instantly broken trust in someone that I thought I was in good hands, but learned that I was not. So, today, in our candid conversation, I would love to talk about broken trust, and those things that happen to all of us.

Joyce: Right.

Ginger: And yet, we don't wanna stay in that place of brokenness. How do we move forward and rebuild trust, maybe not in that person, but in our life in general, after something like that happens?

Joyce: Well, I think, one of the first things to realize is that God does not want you to go through life not trusting anybody, but neither does he want you to totally trust everybody without any reservation. I love, in John chapter 2, Jesus said, he did not trust himself to them, speaking about his disciples, because he knew the nature of all men. Now, I find that so interesting. He didn't say he didn't trust them. He said, he did not trust himself to them. So, in other words, I don't know that it's wise to trust anybody 100%.

Ginger: Because we're all human.

Joyce: Because we're human beings, and we're going to let each other down, we're going to disappoint one another. And so, there is a trust that belongs only to God. And to be honest, if we start trying to give that to somebody else, God may have to let their weakness show up, just to teach you to keep your trust in him. Also, one of the things that Proverbs talks about all the time, that we need to seek and have is discernment. And the discerning of spirits is actually one of the gifts of the spirit. And I've prayed a fair amount, in my life, for discernment. And I plan to continue to do so because you can't trust everybody, you know. There are people that just aren't good people and even though they may look like it on the outside, or things may go good in the beginning, there's just that fine balance between, you can't trust everybody, but you don't want to go around not trusting anybody.

Ginger: Right.

Joyce: And so, that's why we need discernment to know. You know, sometimes I'll just like, I'll get this, maybe, I meet somebody new, and I like 'em, and we're becoming friends. And you know, then I might just get this little discernment, it kind of comes like a little thing in your heart that you're not quite sure what it is that, you know, "Yeah, you better stop telling them so many things about your personal life". You know, or like, I've had my kids tell me sometimes, "You know, you really shouldn't talk about that in front of that person".

Ginger: You learn to listen to those little checks.

Joyce: And so, you learn to listen to those little checks. And the thing is, is I remember, from the way I grew up, of course, I didn't trust anybody, especially, not men. And so, I had a very difficult time trusting Dave because I just didn't really believe that anybody was gonna have my best interest in mind. So, when you get married, and you're supposed to be submissive to this man that you've married and, you know, you have a difference of opinion about a decision, and it comes down to a decision's gotta be made, you need to submit to the man. I remember saying to God, "How can you expect me to trust him, after what happened to me"? And I'll never forget it. The Lord said, "I'm not asking you to trust him. I'm asking you to trust me, with him".

Ginger: That's huge.

Joyce: Yeah, so, we always have to go back to God. But be wise, and you're setting yourself up for just pain and failure, if you get it in your head that, "This person's never gonna hurt me".

Ginger: Right, yeah. No matter who that person is. And in the situation that I was talking about, as we started this conversation, it was one where, it was very clear, this was not a person that I should continue a relationship with. In other situations, it is someone close to us that we need to heal that wound and continue a relationship. So, I think what you're saying is so important that God is not asking us to always have perfect trust in everybody else, but we can have that trust in God alone.

Joyce: Right. Over the course, of the years that we've had the ministry, we've had three different employees steal money from the ministry. They happened to be in a position where they had access to it. And they were like, in all three cases, it was like, "You have got to be kidding".

Ginger: Yeah, just the shock, I'm sure.

Joyce: I mean, it was like the last person on earth that you ever thought would do something like that. And so, the first thing Satan always puts in your head is, "You just can't trust anybody. You really just can't trust anybody".

Ginger: Then, you build up walls, and...

Joyce: But as soon as that happens, now, I say, "No. Just because one person's bad, that doesn't mean everybody's bad". And I refuse to live my life being suspicious. I wanna be wise, but I refuse to be suspicious of everybody and expect them to do the wrong thing. So, it's really kind of, you gotta walk a little fine line with what we're talking about today. And that's why I think that discernment is so important. Tell me what you think discernment is.

Ginger: Discernment is, I think, a gift. It's something that some people have more naturally than others, but it is something that the Holy Spirit can equip all of us with, and it is that ability to sense almost between a and b. It's like discerning, "Do I go this way or this way"? And some of these things God will reroute us and keep us going where we want. But sometimes, it is just a knowing of, "This is not the right thing," "This is not the right person," "This is not the right time," whatever it maybe.

Joyce: It's kinda like driving down the road and the yellow light comes on.

Ginger: Yes. That's a great way to explain it.

Joyce: You know, a lot of people will stop then, which is what you're supposed to start doing, but a lot of people will try to...

Ginger: Hit the gas.

Joyce: Beat that yellow light, get through before the red light comes. And I wonder how many people have had wrecks, you know, because they didn't pay attention to the caution light.

Ginger: That's a great description. And I've learned to really listen to that discernment in my life, because I can be very, very trusting naturally. And so, when I get that feeling, I really have to listen to that because there's a reason that we have that.

Joyce: Well, the thing that gets me in trouble, sometimes, is part of the gift that God has given me, is openness. You know, I mean, I tell everything about myself. I tell everything about Dave. Dave always tells people, "If you're gonna be Joyce's friend, you better get ready to be on tv because she's gonna talk about you". Now, you know, I won't if somebody doesn't want me to. I mean, I don't behave stupidly, and just tell things that I shouldn't tell. But I am very open. I mean, I think, you can probably say that one thing I'm not is phony. I mean...

Ginger: Definitely.

Joyce: I pretty much tell it the way it is. And so, because I'm so open, sometimes, I will tell things around people about my own life that maybe, it's not the wisest person to be talking about, in front of, like that. So, I'm learning, and I've had a couple of hard lessons, even recently, that there are a few things that you need to just keep to yourself. But I think that discernment, I think it just means, be careful. And I don't think it's fair to anybody if you get what you think is a caution, I don't think it's fair to write them off just because of that feeling. I think you need to wait a little bit. To me, it's saying, "Wait, watch, pray". You know, maybe there's something going on in that person's life that you need to pray about, that could keep them from doing something more serious later on. And I think a lot of times, too, we have different kinds of relationships. And some relationships are deeper than others. Sometimes, you can, I mean, I know a couple of people that I honestly believe I could tell them anything, and they would never repeat it, and I would not even have to say to them, "Be sure you don't tell anybody that". But then, there's other people that I feel like, if I tell them something private, I need to say, "I really don't want you to tell anybody that". And then, there's other people that I pretty much know, no matter what I say, they're going to talk and tell people. So, you have to kind of find out where people are at. And sometimes, that caution that you get is just a, "Hang on, and know a little bit more about what you're dealing with here". And I just really hope and pray that people won't spend their whole life cynical, distrusting people. I don't think that's the way God wants us to live.

Ginger: Yeah, and it's definitely not a recipe for peace in our lives. The type of joy that God wants us to have.

Joyce: And if trust has been broken, you know, you've had a bad example, you've had a bad situation, especially if it was a long-term thing or, you know, say a husband cheats on a wife, or something like that, it takes time for that to be restored. And let's just put it like this. Take baby steps back in, but make a decision that you're not going to live your life, and I wanna say this firmly. Do not live your life suspicious of everybody out there, but pray for discernment. I mean, Proverbs says over, and over, and over, that discernment is so important.

Ginger: Really helpful. Thank you very much.

Joyce: You're welcome.

Ginger: Good talk.

Joyce: Thanks.