When, God, When? – Part 2 | Joyce Meyer | Enjoying Everyday Life Teaching

When you’re waiting on God to do something big in your life, are you calm and serene or anxious and worried? Learn how to be peaceful at all times, on this episode of Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer.

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.

Every one of you who have a dream in your heart and you’ve been waiting a long time, I want you to close your eyes and just listen to this.
If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come.
It will not delay. I do what I do because I’ve seen god’s power transform my own life, and he will it for you.
The key to everything is found in god’s word.
I’m Joyce Meyer, and I believe that god can heal you everywhere you hurt.
Well, what kind of problems would it create if we knew when everything was gonna take place?
Well, first of all, life would be very boring because we need a little mystery.
I like to watch mysteries.
And we wouldn’t have to trust god to bring things to pass in our life if we knew when everything was gonna happen.
And that wouldn’t be good. Because trust in God is one of the main things that we need to be doing.
That’s a large part of our relationship with him. Not knowing keeps us from getting spiritually lazy.
Hello? Not knowing keeps us from getting spiritually uneasy.
It keeps us pursuing god and seeking god and praying and and learning and wanting to grow.
But if you knew everything and you knew when everything was gonna happen, you wouldn’t want any of that.
Guess what god knows what he’s doing.
And if we knew when we might be tempted to live in sin until the time got close.
No. You say, yes.
God withholds knowledge from us on purpose, and we need to believe that our times are in his hands.
And that when the time is right, no devil in hell and no person on earth can stop god from moving in your life.
Did you hear me? Well, it it’s just if the devil would just get out of the way.
No. No. The devil can aggravate you, but he can’t stop god.
You keep your eyes on god.
And when the right when the time is right, God will do in your life, what he wants to do in your life, and nobody will stop him.
Hey, man? John 137, Jesus answered him what I am doing.
You do not understand now. But afterward, you will understand.
How many of you had some went through some things that you just did not understand at all.
Spent a few years being totally confused and miserable and Almost lost your faith a number of times, and now you look back and you you you know now why that had to happen.
Isn’t it fun? I’ll give you an example.
When I was still doing my little home bible study, because of having a full time job, I didn’t really have time to study properly and get any sleep.
And, um, you know, I was raising kids. I had kids.
I had a full time job, and So I started feeling like God wanted me to quit my job.
But the problem was if I quit my job, we were gonna be short $40 every month of having enough money to pay our bills.
And that was and then was not even having it.
That was not even looking at anything for clothes or car repairs or home repairs or anything like that.
That was just to pay the bills.
And, uh, but I just kept feeling like, that’s what God wanted me to do.
Well, I partially obeyed god, and that never works. You say, what did you do?
I got a part time job. Come on. Anybody know what I’m talking about?
Well, god, I wanna obey you, but I’m a have a little backup plan here, just in case.
Just in case you don’t come through, I’ll have a little backup plan. Well, you know what?
You’re not gonna get your breakthrough until you get rid of your backup plan.
Oh, you didn’t like that. I’ll tell them. Come on.
You’re not you’re not gonna get what you want until you get rid of your backup plan.
Yeah.
I’ll preach to you more if you act better. Just think about that.
And so I finally I got fired for my part time job, which I knew immediately was God because I was I’d never been fired from a job.
I wasn’t the kind of person that got fired from a job.
But I mean, from the time I went to work at that place, I couldn’t do anything right.
I mean, it was ridiculous. The mistakes that I made, I would have fired me.
And So I quit my job, and I was so scared.
Oh my gosh. I was scared.
And for 6 years, every month, supernaturally, some way god provided that money that we needed to pay our bills And I can tell you, I look back now, and those were some of the most precious years in my life and such bonding times with god when I would see the little things that he did for me that I knew was him.
Couldn’t have possibly been anybody else.
But you know, I was really, really, really getting tired of living like that.
When? When? When? I made this big sacrifice When are you gonna come through with some prosperity for us?
We’re tithing, we’re giving, I’m preaching, I’m teasing.
You know, we love to give god a list of all of our good qualities.
Like, you you owe me something.
Look at all the good stuff I’m doing here, god, and you’re not doing anything.
And, um, so my pastor came by, wanted to share A good report.
He had a speaking engagement, which I was just desperate to have anybody ask me to come and speak anywhere.
They never did. And, uh, he came by and he’d gotten this big offering and 2 or 3 people said they wanted to partner with him, and he was all excited.
And he told me his good news, and I did what we do.
Oh, praise the lord, but Thank you, Jesus.
And, Well, at least I was trying to act like I knew I was supposed to act.
And, uh, then all of a sudden, it was like he he said, Oh, is it okay that I’m telling you this?
I don’t and I’m like No. I wish you’d shut up, but I didn’t tell him.
How many of you when you’re just you feel like you’re hurting so bad, you feel like your guts are gonna fall apart.
You don’t appreciate hearing somebody else’s great testimony. Come on, be honest.
So e even with giving your testimony, there’s a time.
Right. I mean, you know, if somebody looks like they’re about to fall over dead with the flu, that’s not when you should tell him that you started to get it last week and God healed you.
That’s the time to have a little bit of compassion. Amen?
And so I pretended like I was real happy for him.
And when he left, I went threw myself across my daughter’s bed, and I cried and cried and cried and cried and cried and cried.
And when I got up from that bed, I said, Jesus, I don’t care if I ever see one result.
I will continue to tithe and give offerings until the day you come back to get me.
And our finances changed from that day.
Let me go back to what I said earlier. We gotta stop serving god just to get a result.
Do you hear me? We know there are promises.
It’s fine to believe for those promises, but how we behave in our relationship with god cannot be based on whether he’s giving me what I want or not.
He’s already given us more than anybody could possibly ever deserve in a million lifetimes.
Well, I didn’t understand why we were going through that.
It didn’t make any sense. We had sacrificed. We were trying to do what was right.
Well, I know now, I fully understand it because then Wayne needed $40 a month.
You would fall right out of your chair.
If I told you how much it cost to run this ministry now every month, And you know what?
I never think about it. God brings the money in.
We don’t charge for our conferences.
And It used to be $40 a month.
But see, that’s where I learned how to trust God.
You gotta learn how to trust god for your socks and underwear before you can trust him for a worldwide ministry.
Come on. And I still have a notebook at home where I wrote my little prayer list to god back in the seventies.
Dear god, I need 12 new washcloths and Troy, and I need a new skillet.
And I’ll never forget the day that somebody knocked on my door and answered the door and didn’t recognize the person.
She said, I hope that you do not think that I am Stark Raven mad, but I felt like god told me to bring you 12 new washcloths.
I’m that’s the kind of stuff that knits you to god.
I mean, because I knew that that had to be god.
And see, saying we trust god is one thing, but when we really trust god, we enter his rest.
Trying to trust god is frustrating.
But when you really trust him, you really don’t worry about the situation because you know that god will take care, but you don’t know when you’re not trying to figure out when you don’t know how, you’re not trying to figure out how, you’re just, you know, gotta do it.
And if god doesn’t do it, then maybe it’s not supposed to be done.
Come on. You know, it’s just possible.
Remote, I know. But it is just possible that you’re believing god for something that you’re not supposed to have.
Oh, that didn’t go over good at all, didn’t it?
Well, we’re gonna see how spiritual they really are.
It’s just possible that you’re believing god for something you’re not supposed to have.
I’m being unfair to you because I tell you first.
And so you have to take the hit and they’ve had time to think it over by the time I get over there.
But that that’s true.
I mean, if god wants you to have it, can’t god give it to you?
And if he doesn’t, then it’s either not time or it’s not right.
And if we’re really smart, we’re not gonna want anything that god doesn’t want us to have, and we surely don’t want it out of season, Because if you’re not prepared to take care of it, then it just becomes a burden to you.
John 1612.
Jesus said, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them wonder what god knows that I don’t know.
You know, I’m getting a little older.
I ask god sometimes How long am I gonna live?
And when I do die, how am I gonna die it gonna be painful, or are you just gonna take me in my sleep?
You know, you start to think about some odd things when you get And, uh, just let me say a word to those of you that are in your twenties.
There’s a song that says once I was young, but now I’m old.
And you’re gonna get there. Trust me.
Every day, you’re aging.
But I’m gonna write a book on how to age without getting old.
I seriously am working on a book called aging gracefully.
I mean, you got, you know, age is a number, but old is a mindset.
I don’t tell you stuff like that. I don’t know.
Someday it’ll just be over and I’ll go.
If you knew exactly how greatly God was gonna use some of you in this room, you would be so full of yourself.
It would be pathetic. Okay. Here’s a statement I wrote down.
I want you to get this.
Being greatly used by god and staying humble requires a lot of spiritual maturity.
Good morning.
Being greatly used by god and knowing it’s not you, but god, and that god’s not doing it because you’re so good, but in spite of you, And given god all the glory takes a lot of spiritual maturity.
You gotta, you gotta stay really close to god. To handle it.
I remember the Lord telling me one time, you’re so proud of yourself because you work for me, but The problem is you’re not spending any time with me.
And, you know, some of the guiltiest people about spending time with god are those who work in full time ministry.
Well, not anymore, honey.
That’s the first place I go every day, because god’s let me know 100% for sure.
I cannot do this and him not be my number one priority.
My times are in your hands.
What about when god only shows you part of something?
It’s kinda like the appetizer. You know what?
Act on what you know But don’t worry about what you don’t know.
See, a lot of people won’t act until they know everything And so they never know everything because they won’t act on the little bit that they do know.
Take whatever opportunities in front of you. Be faithful over little things. Come on.
Be faithful over little things Be faithful over little things.
Well, I tell you what sister Joyce, if I had a $1,000,000, I’d give it to you.
No. You wouldn’t.
Because if you got 10 and you wouldn’t even give that, Here it is.
Um, 31, 14, 15, but I trust in you. Oh lord, I say, you are my god.
My times are in your hands.
Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors.
Abacus 23 For still, the vision awaits its appointed time.
It hastens to the end. It will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it, it will surely come. It will not delay.
And every one of you who have the dream in your heart and you’ve been waiting a long time, I want you to close your eyes and just listen to this.
If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come.
It will not delay. One more time.
If it seems slow, Wait for it.
It will surely come. It will not delay.
Everybody say at the right time, Now, your journey may be long, but you can decide the night to enjoy it.
You can enjoy the time that you’re waiting on God if you’ll make up your mind to do it.
Don’t be moved emotionally. Jesus refused to be moved emotionally.
Don’t try to birth something premature.
Ecclesiastes, everything is beautiful in its time.
But it’s not so beautiful out of its time.
And the devil will provide opportunities for you.
When I was so, like, so strongly wanting my ministry to grow and be bigger.
Oh my gosh. It was just all I could think about. Yeah.
Big, big. We just we’re addicted to big. We gotta everything’s gotta be big.
And a promoter. Yes. They have promoters for preachers too.
I was out in California and he contacted us and said, if you’ll sign on with me and let me be your agent, I can get you all kinds of engagements and make you famous.
Well, temptation.
We can work around god’s plan and get things moving here.
Come on. You know what I’m talking about.
But that afternoon, I laid on my bed and was praying before I went to do the meeting that night.
And I knew in the pit of my gut, that was not what God wanted me to do.
And so I finally just said, well, God, either you’ll promote me or I’ll never get promoted because I’m not gonna do it in the flesh.
Come on. Don’t make the mistake.
Of trying to do what Abraham and Sarah did and get something going yourself because god’s not moving fast enough to suit you.
And finally, let me say that the Bible talks about 2 covenants, the old and the new.
The covenant of works, the covenant of grace, the covenant covenant of working and following rules and regulations and then thinking that you deserve something because of that are the covenant of trusting god believing him, being obedient to him, and letting him do things for you because of his favor.
Is represented. These covenants are represented in Galatians.
It talks about how it’s represented by 2 different women, Hagar, and Sarah.
And if you know the story, and that’s good.
If not, I’m just gonna tell you just enough So you’re not totally lost.
God gave Abraham a promise that he would have a child from his own body.
But he and Sarah were both past childbearing years. So it had to be a miracle.
And in Rollins 4, it says Abraham, all human reason for hope being gone, he hoped on in faith.
See, even when you don’t have one natural reason to hope, you can hope on in faith, because god can do the impossible.
And it said, no doubt or unbelief made him waiver concerning the promise of god.
Don’t think the doubt and unbelief won’t come against you because it will.
Let it come, but don’t let it change you.
No doubt or unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God.
So he believed god, but in the process of this waiting, Sarah got a bright idea.
That she would take Hagar, her handmade, and give him to Abraham as a secondary wife, where we already know any woman in the room knows that’s stupid.
I noticed Abraham didn’t turn her down, but, you know, so she got pregnant gave birth to ishmael.
His name means man of war.
Finally, after a good number of years, had gone by.
God did visit Sarah, and she had a baby named Isaac.
And his name means laughter. So you got your choice.
You can do it your way. And have war?
Or you can wait on God and laugh all the way home to Jesus. Amen.
Amen.