Sometimes following God means confronting a problem you’d rather forget. On this episode of Enjoying Everyday Life, Joyce Meyer shares her testimony and stories from God’s Word to encourage you.

Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives.

With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way.

Free too.
I’m Joyce Meyer, and I believe God can heal you everywhere you hurt.
Let’s look at Hagar.
Genesys 16, 8, and 9.
Now you have to know a little bit of the background of the story I’m gonna get into it more in detail later on, but Abraham had a promise from god that he was gonna have a child.
Only problem was Sarah and Abraham were both way too old to have children.
And so, I mean, it was not humanly possible without a miracle.
And so they were tired of waiting. Is anybody in this room tired of waiting?
Well, you see what happens then if you’re not careful when you get tired of waiting is you start coming up with a bright idea.
Well, god’s not doing nothing, so I know what I’ll do.
And, boy, that gets us in so much trouble.
And so she gave Sarah said, I know what I’ll do.
I’ll give Abraham, my handmaiden as a secondary wife.
Well, I would think any woman would know better than that just right off the bat.
Now I know that that was a little more something they did in that culture, but I don’t care what kind of culture you got There’s no woman that wants to share her man with another woman.
I mean, that just is not working in any culture.
And so you’ll see more about what happened with all that later, but but it ends up that HAGR who ended up having a child named him ishmael, which means man of war.
She ended up running from the whole situation because Sarah was mistreating her, and he said the hagar Sarah’s made.
This is god. Where did you come from? And where do you think you’re going?
And she said, I am running away from my mistress, Sarah.
And the angel Lord said to her, go back to your mistress and humbly submit to her control.
Well, somebody please tell me what even sounds remotely fair about that.
Now I had a job one time in ministry and whew.
I didn’t feel like I was being treated right.
Uh, you don’t even know how bad I wanted to get away from there and go do my thing that god had called me to do.
Come on. I mean, we know we’re anointed. We know we’re called.
And so if you’re not gonna give me a place, I’m gonna make my own place.
But I knew down deep inside that god did not want me to do that.
Come on. We gotta live a little deeper if we wanna have god’s plan in our life.
We talked about this last night. Some having some discernment. Amen?
And I knew that wasn’t what god wanted me to do.
I mean, I really I mean, I heard very clearly from god.
If you wait on me, I’m gonna make this thing beautiful.
But, boy, if you get out ahead of me and start your own thing, how many people just fool around all their life with some little sick silly thing because they don’t wanna wait on god’s genuine thing.
To come through for them. Amen? Like, how many women marry the wrong guy? Yeah.
Well, I got noise from all over this building now. Why don’t you hear that?
Come on. Don’t get so desperate.
Desperate people do dumb things.
I know. I did the same thing.
When I was eighteen, I thought nobody was ever gonna want me because I’d been abused so long, but my dad sexually And I just married the first guy that came along that showed any interest in me.
And, I mean, I was not even a a an active Christian.
I’d been saved when I was a child, but I was not walking with god.
And I knew. I knew what I was doing was not turn out good, but I was desperate that nobody would ever want me.
So I grabbed what I could, and it turned out to be a 5 year nightmare on top of already had an 18 year.
Nightmare. And so don’t be so desperate to have what you want right now.
I mean, if we can put this into any area in life, maybe you want a new car.
And you you kinda really know that you should wait Get some of the bills paid off.
You’ve got save some money toward that car. But no.
Not waiting.
Then you’re making payments on something for 7 years that when you first take it home, you think is beautiful?
You know what? I’ve figured out nothing looks as good when you get at home.
As it does under the shiny lights in the showroom.
So we need to learn how to wait on god and, boy, if we will.
And if we’ll if we’ll use the sermon, await on god for his timing, You know, I tell you, I got so tired of waiting.
I got so tired of waiting.
So tired of doing little teeny tiny bible studies and preaching to fifty people here and 20 there and 30 over there and 40 over here because I had a big call on my life.
Anyway, it’s gone.
So she ran from god, and god said go back.
So many times I want to run from that job, but god said stay stay stay.
And then by the time it was time for me to leave, god had to make me lay you because I kinda settled in and got pretty comfortable by then.
And that’s the way it is? It’s like, woah, wait a minute.
I used to hate it here, and I’m okay. And now you’re telling me I gotta go.
Yeah. Okay.
I wanna say something, and I want you to get this.
Most of the things that we run from are the very tools that god intends to use to change us.
Most of things we run from are the tools that god intends to use to changes.
Let’s look at Elijah First King’s chapter 19.
All these stories are actually I mean, they’re they’re so valuable, but they’re actually really kind of funny too.
You know, Elijah was a great prophet of god, possibly the mightiest ever and just did unbelievable miracles.
And, If you go back a chapter, you’ll find that the day before this happened that I’m gonna read you, he had single handedly the Bible says, killed and cut in pieces 400 false prophets of bail.
Now that had to be a lot of hard work. I mean, you gotta have some anointing.
Didn’t just kill him and cut him up in pieces. Yeah.
So he was tired. He was worn out.
So the next day, verse 1, chapter 19, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had slain all the prophets of bail with the sword.
Then Jezebel sent a message to Elijah saying, so let the Gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.
Then he was afraid and arose and went or ran for his life and came to beersheba of Judah over eighty miles away.
I mean, I guess he still had some strength. He ran eighty miles.
And he ran out of Jezebel’s realm, and he left his servant.
I mean, there’s so many good messages in this. He now he’s like, I just wanna be alone.
He left his servant, and he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a lone broom or a juniper tree and asked that he might die.
This is hilarious to me.
Here’s this great prophet who yesterday is cutting in pieces, 400 false prophets now because he’s I I really believe it was because he was tired.
Just worn out. So now you see, we respond different emotionally when we’re tired than we do when we’re not.
Amen? And so now one woman. Women have power. One woman.
This great prophet who just killed 400 prophets.
Now one woman scares him He says, buddy, this is what’s gonna happen to you.
And now he takes off, he runs eighty miles, leaves his servant, goes out into the desert, out into the wilderness.
We’re back to the wilderness again. Sits down under one little lonely tree and says, god, just kill me.
Just I just wanna die. But let me tell you something.
You’re gonna respond so much better to different troublesome situations in your life if you make sure that you get some balance in your life and you get rest and sleep and you’re eating healthy.
Well, everyone has problems.
They might be financial, relational, or health issues, among others.
But did you know that god’s given us thousands of promises in his word that provide us the wisdom we need to overcome our challenges?
Ginger’s here with me today with your questions on this topic. Well, that’s true, isn’t it?
We all have different issues that come up at different times.
We all have issues Some of us have more issues than others.
I was gonna talk to you about that, Ginger.
No. We all have so many things that we’re dealing with.
And what I love that that you talk about so well is the fact that god knew everything we were gonna face generation after generation no matter what changes God still knew ahead of time and and he provided Right.
Our our needs and our answers in his word, which doesn’t ever change, which That’s just kind of mind blowing.
So I it’s so helpful to hear how to access it.
Yeah. I can really truly say that I do believe that the answer to any problem that we have is found in god’s word.
And I think it’s hard to believe if you haven’t tried it for yourself.
You think how could every answer be in there? But when you begin digging in Right.
And you begin asking god to help you through things, you you see it.
You it’s like a revelation, which is different than hearing it being told because you know it in your heart because you’ve experienced it yourself.
Say that god can heal you. Anywhere you hurt. Yeah. He can help us with our mind.
If there’s torment in your mind, you know, even things just like overthinking can just absolutely wear you out.
And god even tells us about that.
Yeah.
It teaches about our words, you know, how to think before we speak, and just the answer to everything is there.
So what kind of questions
So so many good ones. This is Sue, and she says everywhere I look these days, I’m bombarded with lies that people tell me you’re true.
I’ve even heard that the Bible isn’t true because it was written by people.
How do I know for sure that god’s word is true and that I can count on it?
Well, I know for sure that it’s true because I’ve had many, many years of experience with it, and it just works.
I mean, I had so many problems from being sexually abused in my childhood, plus a lot of other stuff.
And I can, you know, I didn’t have the money to go for professional professional counseling.
I’m not against that, but I didn’t have the money to go for it.
It just wasn’t even all that popular back when I was having my problems.
And I went to the word of god and the Holy Spirit and god has healed me and restored me and is now allowing me to help bring restoration to other people.
And that’s how you know that the word is true.
If you I hate to say try it, you know, but if you apply it in your life Yeah.
It works.
And what have you got to lose?
Yeah. Yeah. What what what what other options doesn’t cost you anything.
Right.
And so Right. You’re exactly right. What do you have to lose?
Well, here’s a question from Joan. I want to read my Bible.
And I want to study it, but it seems like something always gets in the way. Isn’t that the case?
And then I feel so bad for not doing it.
What practical things can I do to make sure I spend time studying his word?
Well, I think that we have to realize number 1 that Satan is spices it when you study the word.
So he is going to cause everything to come against you from the phone ringing to kids needing things, you know, just
There’s always something.
Just everything. I mean, you, you can even, like, I remember when I used to, I I’d try to study, and I’d start to eat.
It’s stupid stuff. Right? Get sleepy and fall asleep. Yeah.
But you have to form a new habit.
And this is pretty radical, but I heard one minister say that he had such a hard time staying awake in early morning when he would try to spend time with God, that he actually started standing on the edge of the bathtub and reading the word out loud.
So if he fell, he knew he was gonna
hurt himself. Oh, wow. That is dedication.
That’s dedication. But, you know, really here here’s the bottom line.
If we really want to do something, we will. That’s one thing I’ve learned.
If I really wanna do something, I will.
And so It is so important to make god the number one priority in your life.
Because that’s one thing that he says is to put nothing before him.
And so, you know, maybe maybe reading the word out loud would help sometimes that keeps you awake and keeps you a little more interested But, uh
That’s good. For me, writing it down helps too. Something about the process of writing.
I I love, especially if I’m trying to focus on one scripture, you know, like if I’m having a big bout of worry, I might write out Philippians 4, 6, and 7.
I I agree with you that writing things out is good.
And I know the computer is good, and a lot of people use the computer today.
I’ve kept a journal for years years years, and I do it by hand.
And I thought earlier this year, I thought, you know, or last year, I thought I’m gonna start using the computer.
That’ll be so much faster. And I just didn’t enjoy it nearly as much.
And so I just went back to Yeah. A handwriting and it takes longer, but I like it.
Well, and the wonderful thing about doing this is finding what works for you. Yeah.
If if you try something and it’s not going great, try something different, but don’t give up. Alright.
Here’s another question from Carrie, and I think a lot of people can relate to this.
My husband is so concerned about the world today and what’s going on. And I think he’s kinda freaking out.
How do I help him see the promises in god’s word for us during these confusing and stressful times?
Well, one of the things that I like to always remember Ginger is that I wasn’t born in this time frame and neither were you accidentally.
God chooses the time we’re gonna be born in, and he equips us to be able to deal with whatever’s going on.
And, you know, part of helping her husband is we need to know how much faith he has in god to start with.
You know, if he really doesn’t have much of a relationship with god, it’s gonna be harder to convince him that the promises in god’s word are gonna work.
But I’ve kinda gotten to the point where and I, and I don’t mean this to sound disrespect full at all, but give God a try.
I mean, you know, if you I mean, if somebody told you you know, I made, uh, I invested in so and so, and I made a 50% profit uh, you ought to give it a try.
You wouldn’t hesitate at all. And I, so I’m telling you that God’s word and my relationship with him has literally changed my life.
It has saved my life and changed my life. And so try it
Yeah. And her being that living example that he sees when she has peace when it doesn’t make sense
Right.
All those things that god gives us.
That is important. Sometimes talking to people is useless, and you it is better almost to give them An example, I know for me, I really didn’t know anything about peace.
I just, I grew up in a house of turmoil, and I didn’t know how to have peace.
And after Dave and I got married, I watched him for several years, just be so peaceful when we would have problems, and I was the one that was always like, you know, upset all the time.
And and we would get an answer And here, I wasted all this time being upset, and he enjoyed his life while he was waiting on god to come through And that really did become a real example to me that if he can have this, I can have this too.
Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. Okay. Susan asks this.
I hear people talk about meditation all the time, but what does it mean to meditate on the word of god?
And how do I do that?
Well, if you know how to worry, you know how to meditate.
We are always meditating. Aren’t we on something?
Meditation just means to roll something over and over in your mind and to even mutter it softly.
Out of your mouth. And so that’s what meditation is.
It’s not some kind of a weird, you know, mysterious thing that we do.
It just has to do with your thinking.
And, you know, like, I mean, I might, during the day, I might just quote a scripture that comes to my mind.
You know, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit will bring things to our remembrance.
And so I believe that once you develop a relationship with God and you you know the Holy Spirit lives in you and you get some word in you, you can’t expect it to come out if you don’t have it in you.
But if if you get it in you through studying, through bible study with other people, through going to church, through listening to teaching, you know, many different ways.
Thank god he’s provided so many ways for us to get the word in us, I, for me, I find that at different times, god will just, a scripture will just come to my remembrance, and, and I might just, say, god loves me.
And I love him because he first loved me.
He’s filled me with his love, and I can love other people. And that’s meditation.
You know, it’s thinking about something, speaking it, muttering it softly, And the more we do that, the more of your time you use doing that, you’re happier, you’re more peaceful, you’re more joyful, and you have more authority over Satan, who’s our enemy, by using the word of god as a weapon against him than anything else.
Yeah. Your your book overcoming every problem talks about specifically 40 things that the word of god gives us.
What are some of those 40 things?
Well We don’t have time to go into all 40, but there are just so many great things.
Well, for one thing, like all things work together for good to those who love god and are called according to his purpose.
I, you know, the other the other morning, I was kinda surprised at myself.
I, uh, I have a coffee maker that has cylinder on the back of it that you fill up with water.
And I picked it up, and I dropped it. Okay. It’s 4:30 in the morning.
It’s dark. I wanna have my coffee. And I just said, thank you, lord.
All things work together for good.
I went and got my my rags and I cleaned it up, and I can remember when I would have had an all outfit.
Well, for crying out. Wow. Did you get up one study god’s word and just have a cup of coffee, and nothing ever goes right, you know, everything goes back.
And I’m like, man, god has changed me, and that just came out of me.
Well, how’s it gonna work out good if you throw water all over the floor at 4:30 in the morning?
I don’t know, but that’s what came out of me, because that’s what’s in me.
So that’s one of the things god will meet all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
You know, if we God asks us to give in faith, not because he needs our money, but it’s a way that we show that we’re trusting god financially.
And so We believe in tithing, and we give 10% of everything that god gives us.
And he makes that 90% go much further than a 100% would have.
So we trust their scriptures about trusting god.
I love Psalm 373 trust in the lord and do good.
And it’s actually talking about times like we’re living in today.
Fret not yourself over the evildoer, for he shall soon be cut down like the grass, trust in the lord, and do good.
And I love that. It’s not just trust god, but the greatest thing you can do when you’re having a problem is to put your trust in god and go help somebody else.
Yeah.
You’re sowing a seed by helping somebody else, and then god will bring a harvest of your breakthrough.
So the first place to begin is to make sure you know those promises
Right.
So that that you can stand on them.
Yeah. And, you know, it’s I’m gonna tell you it’s not an overnight thing, but every time you take opportunities to listen to the word.
Like, in the morning, sometimes when I’m putting on my makeup and doing my hair, I’ll turn on a podcast, or I’ll I’ll listen to my own program.
Sometimes I actually learn from listening to myself, and, there we have a lot of what I would call wasted downtime, you know, things where it’s quiet, so you, you use that time to worry.
Or you, you use it to think about something somebody did to you and Get yourself all stirred up now.
And we could, instead, you can listen to a book.
On audio, you can listen to me preach, you can listen to somebody else that you like to listen to, I mean, there’s no excuse for not hearing the word today because you got it by radio, by television, by Well, nobody uses CDs anymore, but all kinds of apps and podcasts and downloads.
And I there’s just no reason not to listen to the word.
Yeah. Well, we wanna make sure everybody has the opportunity to know how much god has for them.
Have you been looking for a 365 day devotional?
Well, look no further than the promises for your everyday life devotional from Joyce Meyer.
There’s a focus verse for all 3 165 days of the year, along with a prayer starter.
Get your copy of promises for your everyday life devotional at joycemeyer.org/ 365 Divo.
The biggest thing that we need to do is learn how to think like god thinks, and the only way you can do that is by knowing the word of god.
In words to live by, Joyce Meyer shares how studying the word of god transformed her life.
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Start your pursuit of peace.
The mind actually is the battlefield.
That’s where we win or lose the war with Satan. He said all he gets to Thank you.
This is a lot of it. Today’s mine. You start asking god to heal you, and he will restore.
Is the god of all come and I am so grateful that I know how to call on god.