What Is Love – Part 3 | Joyce Meyer | Enjoying Everyday Life

Real love is not just talk, it’s action. Today on Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer, you will learn how to step out boldly in faith, and affect other people’s lives with the love of Jesus. Trust God and do good!

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.

Cuddle a cactus or hang out with that guy.
We all have a person in our lives that we prefer to avoid, but that’s not how Jesus wants us to live.
Joyce Meyer is here to help us have successful relationships, even with those we may find less than delightful.
Her book, loving people who are hard love teaches us the danger of anger and how to avoid strife.
And if it helps to have a bit of caffeine before relating with anyone, check out this mug.
It reminds us that god has a plan for us so we can have a great day.
Right now, get loving people who are hard to love, and the good morning, this is god mug through the Joyce Meyer Ministries app at joycemeyer.org or call us at 180709 2895.
This program is made possible by the partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries.
You can separate how you feel from what you’re supposed to do.
So if you start praying for your enemies, it is very difficult to keep hating somebody that god’s power, transform my own life, and he will do it for you.
The key to everything is found in god word.
I’m Joyce Meyer, and I believe that god can heal you everywhere you hurt.
Manku, 546 says if you only love those who love you, What reward will you get?
Even tax collectors can do that, and he picked on tax collectors because they were among some of the most hated people back then.
So Jesus is saying, I don’t want you just to love the people that love you back.
I want you to love the people that are hard to love. Yeah.
You don’t sound too interested in that.
So, What is love? Well, god is love.
And many times when I have my thank you session in the morning, which I’ve made a habit out of doing it every morning now first thing when I get up.
And, uh, I don’t even start trying to pray or asking god for anything till I first tell him everything I’m thankful for.
And So I’m I’m thankful for him. Really thankful for Jesus.
Why am I thankful for the Holy Spirit that he lives in us? I’m thankful for conviction.
I’m thankful when I sin that god convicts me of sin that he loves me too much to just leave me alone and let me be in a mess, but he’ll correct me.
Those whom god loves, he chastises.
But we talk about love a lot we we love everything from ice cream to god.
And I think we have to really know what the god kind of love is.
I said last night, there are 4 Greek words that are translated love in the Bible, so they don’t all mean the same thing.
But Agape, which is the god kind of love, divine love, the love that can love people that are hard to love, the love that can love enemies and people who have treated you unjustly.
That’s from the Greek word agape. Foleo is a friendly kind of love.
Eros is a romantic kind of love.
And storage, I guess, is how you say it, is love for your family.
But we specifically wanna talk about this god kind of love.
And I read a definition last night that I wanna start with again today of what agape is.
It could be defined as charity.
However, we often think of charity nowadays as giving away money or things which doesn’t even begin to encompass all that agape is about.
Agape love, please Listen, these words, is unconcerned with self and concerned with the greatest good of another person.
Wow. Agape is not born out of emotion.
Loving somebody has nothing to do with how you feel.
You cannot like somebody and still love them.
Because love is really how you treat a person.
It’s not how you feel about them or what you think about them.
Has nothing to do with what they’ve done to you. It’s how are you gonna treat them?
Or if if they’ve been mean to you, are you gonna be mean back? No. That’s the world’s way.
But we’re called to a higher life.
You gotta let go of the lower life, and then you can have the higher life.
And, uh, god tells us gives us the formula for loving our enemies.
Try for them. How many people really pray?
Last night, I asked how many people were mad at somebody and at least 65% other people raise their hand.
Now, you know, that sounds funny, but it’s really very sad.
And it it has me very concerned because as long as I’ve been preaching, I can go anywhere at any time, and I can ask that same question and anywhere from 65 to 90% of the people in the room will raise their hand that they have unforgiveness in their heart.
This is a huge big, big problem, and it is shutting down the power of Christianity.
It’s keeping us from changing the world, and the devil has us holding on to something that does not bother our enemy.
They don’t care if you’re mad at them.
They are out having a good time and could not care less if you’re mad at them.
So you’re only hurting yourself. You’re playing right into the devil’s hands. And why don’t you forgive because you feel?
We have to learn to live beyond our feelings, and you can.
You can separate how you feel what you’re supposed to do.
So if you start praying for your enemies, it is very difficult to keep hating somebody that you pray for all the And so You know, it says bless your enemies.
You think, well, I don’t want them to be blessed.
But see, we’re we’re not talk god’s not gonna if you pray for god to bless your enemies, that doesn’t mean he’s gonna give him a new car.
The first thing he may bless them with is some truth and reality about their behavior.
Come on. You know how to pray.
They don’t. As believers in Christ, we not only have a privilege of knowing him, we have a responsibility to show the world who Jesus is.
Come on. If you are gonna be a Christian, be a real one.
Don’t be somebody who just has a bumper sticker on your car and a cross around your neck and a big Bible and go to church once a week and live like the devil the rest of the week.
An unbeliever maybe can’t forgive, but you can because you’re full of god.
And he’s put his forgiveness in you that means whatever you have in you, you can give away to somebody else.
Amen? And I’m gonna have to talk about this some today because some way, somehow, I I feel I have to try to get it across to people how so desperately important all this unforgiveness is It it has to be dealt with because we are just Christianity is not impressing the world.
They think we’re half goofy and phony and hypocritical and But if we’ll just really walk in love, I mean, real love, the kind of love I’m gonna talk to you about today, not just a word, not just something we say, but really get down to what it really is and start applying it especially to people that are hard to love.
Wow. You know, there’s a whole bunch of us.
I mean, there are people like us all over the world.
And if if we’ll all get ourselves off of our mind long enough, to start really letting god use us.
I do believe that Jesus can change the world through us.
I mean, I like I really believe that. I’m not just saying it. I really believe it.
You heard just a couple of these testimonies this morning.
AJ in prison for murder. Hating god.
Now he works for the ministry. I mean, god is so amazing.
So agave isn’t born out of emotions, feeling, familiarity, or attractions, but from the will and is a choice.
So anyone of you can decide to forgive somebody And just because you still feel like your skin crawls every time you see them, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t love them because love is not how you feel.
It’s how you decide to treat them. I’m gonna pray for them. I’m gonna bless them.
If they need help and god prompts me to help them, I’m gonna help them and I don’t care if I ever get anything back I’m gonna do this because I love god and because of what he’s done for me.
And this is not something that you just do one time 1 and done.
I mean, we better get really, really good at forgiveness because it’s only gonna get worse the closer we get to Jesus returning.
And they get good at it.
Like the minute somebody is even in the middle of offending you, just say, uh-uh, now I’m forgiving them.
Been there, done that, not gonna live.
You know, e like I said last night, they may not deserve your forgiveness but you deserve peace.
So do yourself a favor. And forgive. You’re not doing your enemies a favor.
When you forgive them, you’re doing yourself a favor.
Jesus said in Matthew 25, I was hungry and you fed me.
I was naked and you closed me. I was sick and you visit me.
I was in prison and you came to see me.
And they said, well, lord, when when he said, if you’ve done it to the least of these, my brother, and you’ve done it under me.
Now if we really read those scriptures and take that in, What he’s saying is however you treat people is how you’re treating me.
Now I I maybe need to say that ten times, but I won’t.
Jesus is a people person.
And if I mistreat somebody, he takes it personally. And he doesn’t like it.
With our pilot when he called me and told me that they couldn’t get the plane out of the The hanger.
Yeah. The thing where they keep it, because the the hangar door came off the track and so I got a little frustrated.
Wasn’t being patient like love is. And, uh, I called him back and apologized.
You know, we’re not we’re not going to all be perfect at all this stuff.
We’re gonna make mistakes, but the minute that you know that you have misbehaved and been rude to somebody or treated them wrong, be man or woman enough to humble yourself and call them and say, I was wrong, and I’m sorry.
It will not kill you to say I was wrong.
And I’ll tell you something.
People respect you when you admit that you were wrong rather than making excuses for it.
Amen? I told you last night that We had quite a day yesterday, and it those days just they bring that impatience out of me that’s still there.
But the good news that I didn’t tell you, and I thought about this last night was the impatience and the frustration that I felt lasted no more than 5 minutes.
And I was able to work it out with god and get over it.
You know, 40 years ago, that would have been like a never going away thing.
I would have ruined my day and my week. I would have been mean to people.
I would have been rude to people. I would have felt sorry for myself.
Would have complained and moaned and groaned. And so we are growing church. You’re growing. I’m growing.
And as long as we’re growing, god’s happy about that. Paul said I’ve not arrived.
And I can tell you I’ve not arrived but I have decided that I am going to keep pressing on.
God is love and where love is god is.
I love that. You gotta think about that for a while. Here’s a story that makes the point.
This is a story written by Leo Toelstoy.
About a shoemaker named Martin.
It’s a little bit of a long story, but it’s worth it.
It begins with a background on Martin’s life.
He was a fine cobbler as he did his work and never promised to do anything that he couldn’t do.
He stayed busy with his work in his basement, which only had one window.
And through this window, he could only see the feet of people as they walked by.
He was still able to recognize most people by their shoes as he had worked with most of the shoes at least once.
He had a wife, but she died, and all their children had died in their infancy except one three year old son.
After he thought about sending him off to live with his sister, he decided to care for the child himself.
Martin, however, was not destined to have a child as his son died a few years later with a fever.
Okay. Now here’s a man.
He lost his wife, and every child he had He denied god, wondering how he can allow such a thing to happen to him.
One day a missionary visited Martin, and Martin told him all about his hardships, and the missionary told Martin he should live his life for god and not deny him.
Because god’s will is the ultimate deciding factor in our lives.
You see, really, it doesn’t matter what I want or what you want.
The only thing that matters is what god wants.
Because let me tell you something and get this clearly when all of this is said and done and all of this world is currently passing away, The only thing that’s gonna be left is god.
And you don’t wait till then to try to get a right relationship with him.
We spend now getting ready for there.
And even if you live to be a 100, that’s like one piece of sand on all the oceans and all the world compared to eternity.
Forever is a long time, and I wanna live it in the right place.
So it’s worth whatever I have to give up, whatever pride I need to swallow.
It’s worth saying I’m sorry when I need to. It’s worth not hating people and forgiving people.
It’s worth obeying god.
He said the only thing that really matters Martin is god’s will.
So the man suggested that he get a Bible and start reading it.
So he bought a Bible And at first, he only read it a little bit on holidays, but as he read more and more, it became his daily habit.
His life began to be filled with peace and joy.
After his day of work, he would sit down the lamp and read.
Well, one night, Martin read a passage about a pharisee who had invited Jesus into his house, And in the house, the woman anointed and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears.
Well, Martin thought of himself as the Pharicy in that story as he was living only for himself.
Ask yourself, who are you living for? What are you living for?
And and even more importantly, what kind of a legacy are you leaving?
When you’re gone, what will be what would you leave behind to be remembered by?
See, I I’ve decided a long time ago.
I thought, well, I wanna leave 100 good power pack books And I’m way beyond that now.
But, you know, most of the books that have impacted my life were books written in the 16th, 17th, century.
So if I work real hard now, I think people can be getting saved off my stuff 2, 300 years from now if Jesus Terry’s.
Amen. I’ve left instructions with my family keep my stuff on TV as long as you possibly can.
And, you know, they don’t have to know I’m dead.
Dave listened to a guy on the radio for years.
It was dead and didn’t know he was dead.
They’ll just think that I’m the never aging woman.
It’s the word that helps people.
And I’ve told them if it gets to the point where you can’t keep it on TV anymore and if for some reason my ministry can’t keep going, I want you to promise me that you will put all of my teachings online free of charge for people to listen to anytime they want to.
That is my legacy. I have spent the last 45 years of my life studying the word and trying to teach people what god is teaching me, and I’m called to do it.
I didn’t just choose to do it. I’m called to do it. People asked me if I’m gonna retire.
I can’t even imagine such a thing.
What in the world would I do with myself if I retired? Hope I die doing this.
When’s my time to go, I’d love to go preaching.
My kids don’t like it when I say that.
They say that would be awful.
Anyway, Martin thought of himself as the pharisee as he was only living for himself.
As he slept that night, he heard the voice of god telling him that I’m gonna visit you tomorrow.
God told you I’m gonna visit you tomorrow.
Well, the next morning, Martin skeptically watched out the window for god.
While he was searching for god, he saw Stephanovich shoveling away snow.
And Martin invited him in for a warm drink, and they talked for a little while.
Martin stole stole Stefano bitch about Jesus and the pharisee and He was moved to tears, and he left, thanked Martin for the food, both for his soul and his body.
Martin later saw a young woman outside with a baby not properly dressed for the cold.
He invited her in, gave her some food, warm, closed money.
Martin also told her about Jesus, she thanked him and left.
Then he saw a young boy stealing from an older woman.
He went outside and settled their argument and extended love and compassion toward the both of them.
Well, that night, while Martin worked, he wondered why god had not visited him.
The three figures appeared to him in his home, whom he had showed hospitality to that day.
They said that when he helped them, he was helping god.
Martin then realized that god had indeed visited him that day.
And accepted him very well. This is what we have to understand.
We’re all looking for god Oh, I’d love to see Jesus.
I wish he would come and just sit on my bed and talk to me.
And I hear these stories about people old Jesus came and talked sat on the edge of my bed and talked to me for 30 minutes.
Well, I nothing like that’s ever happened to me.
You know, I’ll just tell you nothing like threats were happening to me.
I, But I’ve learned that I can see Jesus every day if I just love people.
Because God is love. I want you to get this. God is love.
At any time you’re loving somebody, god is there. Ma’am?
So anytime you feel like you need a visit from god, just go do some random act of kindness for somebody.
The world is hurting. We wait and look for all these spiritual things.
God, I wanna feel you. Well, go do something for somebody.
So last night, I read First Corinthians 13 4th through 8. I’m gonna read it again.
I’m sure that you’re all pretty familiar with it. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is humble.
It’s not jealous. Not envious. It believes the best of everyone. Good stuff.
But what does all that mean? Well, so we started last night. Love is patient.
Henry Drummond said patience is the normal attitude of love.
Oh, I wish I was one of those people that would have been born patient.
And easygoing and laid back, but not me. No. Not me.
I’m like, I care about everything.
If it’s not the way I like it, I’m gonna change it.
Oh my goodness. Patience.
Is an attitude. This is from the Greek. Patience is an attitude that grows only under trial.
So the only way Well, you guys are so excited.
I can already stand it. And so Love is patient, but it only grows under trial.
That’s why the Bible says when you have trials, you should be exceedingly joyful knowing that the trying of your faith work as patience.
And when your patience fully patient, then you are fully mature and you’re perfect and entire lacking in nothing.
1 one translation says wanting nothing. Thing.
Can you imagine how much peace you would have if you wanted nothing and you were satisfied with whatever god gave you?
My goodness. The discontentment can drive you crazy. Amen? It’s patience.
Under undeserved affliction. Patience and well-being.
It’s a fruit of the spirit. It perfects Christian character.
It may involve waiting, but patience is not really waiting. It’s how we behave while we’re waiting.
Second Corinthians 318 and all of us who with unveiled faces contemplate the large glory are being transformed.
That means changed entirely into the image of Christ with ever increasing glory.
Amplifieds us from glory to glory.
And the word glory means the manifestation of all the excellencies of god.
So that means that if you stick with god in the word, you get a little more excellent a little more excellent and a little more excellent and a little more excellent.
And if you’re not careful one of these days, you’re gonna look like Jesus.
Amen. And one of these days, you’ll be so full of him.
You won’t be able to stay mad at anybody.
Because it will hurt your spirit too much to do it.
Cuddle a cactus or hang out with that guy.
We all have a person in our lives that we prefer to avoid, but that’s not how Jesus wants us to live.
Joyce Meyer is here to help us have successful relationships, even with those we may find less than delightful.
Her book, loving people who are hard love teaches us the danger of anger and how to avoid strife.
And if it helps to have a bit of caffeine before relating with anyone, check out this mug.
It reminds us that god has a plan for us so we can have a great day.
Right now, get loving people who are hard to love, and the good morning, this is god mugged through the Joyce Meyer Ministries app at joycemeyer.org or call us at 1807092895.
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess.
The problem was she didn’t even know she was a princess.
So this feisty godmother, lovingly known as mama Joyce, is gonna tell her like it is.
Oh, and the beautiful princess
is you. So suck it up buttercup.
This is real life. And it’s time to grow beyond those insecurities and learn to walk in your true identity.
You are a regular princess, babe. Come on down for a weekend of truth and tunes.
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