Resist the Devil – Part 2 | Joyce Meyer | Enjoying Everyday Life Teaching

How do you know when the devil is at work in your life? Today on Enjoying Everyday Life, Joyce Meyer discusses some of the tactics of the enemy and shares the tools God gives us to fight back and win.

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.

I’m Joyce Meyer.
I’ve seen god’s power transform my own life, and he will do it for you.
I was not an excellent person.
I didn’t know that much about excellence because I had seen a lot of mediocrity growing up.
And so one of the things that god wanted to teach me was excellence and, of course, obedience, but how to be an excellent person because he wanted me to have an excellent ministry, not have a mediocre or something, but something that I could be proud of and that the world could respect.
And, So interestingly enough, God taught me a lot of lessons in the grocery store, which, like I said, I know some of you’ve heard some of these stories, so I’ll go through them quick.
One of the one of the things he started dealing with me about was putting my grocery cart back in the place marked off for grocery carts.
Now I hate to tell you this.
It’s a little embarrassing, but it took me 2 whole years.
Before I got fully obedient to that.
Because the first the first time I’ve kinda sense God wanted me to, you know, not lean it against the car next to me.
And it’s amazing. We were harder trying to lean the grocery cart somewhere out in the middle of the parking lot than we do if we just take it back and put it where it goes.
And, God would just say things to me.
Like, if you own this store, what would you want people to do?
You know, there is that little annoying a scripture that says do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
It doesn’t say treat everybody the way they treat you.
It says, treat them the way you’d like them to treat you.
And, I mean, I had every kind of excuse.
When nobody else puts theirs away, why should I? I’m in a hurry. It’s raining. It’s snowing. Whatever.
Finally, I got to the point where I took it back every time.
And I’ve heard some funny stories about those grocery carts.
One lady told me she was leaving her car and going back with her grocery cart, and there was another lady that was had left her car was going back, and they looked at each other.
The one woman said Joyce Meyer, right? And she said, that’s right.
How many of you started putting your grocery card away?
See what a ministry I have.
The grocery stores should give me pay me royalties or something.
And then another thing I did was You know, if you go to the grocery store hungry, it’s very dangerous because by the time you get to the last aisle, you realize you got more than you can pay for.
Especially if you’re on the kind of budget I was back then, we had $70 every 2 weeks for groceries, and we couldn’t spend $71.
It had to be 70 because we lived on a very tight budget.
And I had all my coupons and going to the grocery store was quite an event.
And by the time I would get to the last style, I would realize I had to start taking things out of my cart that I didn’t really need, but I didn’t go put them back where I got them.
I just you know, I’m I’m the goofball that left the lettuce in the cleanser.
And I remember when god started to tell me, go put it where he got it.
Now these are these are this is where I started learning obedience and the little things of life.
And, you know, what what I’m encouraging you to do is do life with god.
In other words, god is not just for church on Sunday morning, but do life with him.
And whatever he tells you to do wherever you’re at, and you say, well, I don’t hear god talks to me like you do.
Yes, you do. When I say god told me, I don’t mean I heard an audible voice say, John, Go put your let us back where you got it.
You have the same thing.
You got this little you just kinda, you know I’m gonna be know that it’s like that still small voice.
It’s the the whispers of god.
And you can ignore them if you want to, but down deep, you know.
And we know when we walk away and we didn’t do what god told us to, we know.
And I guess you heard my cheap chicken story. Right? No.
How many have not heard the chicken story? Uh, well, you deserve to hear it.
I was a big coupon clipper and they would have chickens on sale.
I forget now, but they’re you could get them pretty cheap. You know?
Let’s say there were 3 for a dollar or whatever.
And then and God called my attention to the fine print on the coupon.
It said 3 for family, please. Well, I didn’t want 3. I wanted a bunch.
So I took my kids with me.
And we all got 3.
And then I’d get in line and pretend like I didn’t know. Oh, yeah.
And I’m teaching a Bible study in my home. Understand?
And then one day I was standing there in fear, and I thought, I don’t think I gave my daughter enough money for tax.
And and the lord said, don’t you know if you have to hide to do something?
There’s something wrong with it? Here I am.
Got a call of God on my life to go to the world and teach the gospel.
But I had to go to Bible School first, and I went to the school of the Holy Ghost.
And He taught me things like integrity. Tell the truth.
Do what you do with excellence. Be a person of your word.
If you tell somebody you’re gonna do something, do it. These are the things that are important, even little things.
Like, if you tell somebody, I’ll call you and we’ll go to gun we’ll go to lunch.
Don’t say that if you don’t mean it. Sometimes that’s just our way of getting rid of somebody.
If you tell them that, do it.
How many people irritate you now because they don’t do what they said they were gonna do.
Well, are they sowing, or are you reaping?
A few of you got that, didn’t you?
You know what I mean by that?
Are they sowing a bad seed or are you reaping off of a bad seed that you sowed in somebody else’s life?
Well, we’ll just go on.
And then I remember one time I was in the, I think I was in a JCPenney store and I was going through a rack of clothes, and I noticed some hangers in the floor.
And I felt like God wanted me pick, you know, not hangers, but clothes had fallen off the hangers.
The floor. I felt like God told me to pick him up and hang him up.
And I thought, why should I clean up somebody else’s mess?
And then I heard, do you would you like somebody clean your messes up someday?
And now I have all kinds of people that help me.
And I couldn’t do what I was doing if I didn’t. I will tell you the honest truth, and I believe this was all my heart.
If I would have never obeyed those little things that god told me, I would not be standing here today.
I was preaching about those chickens one time, and I was in a church in Tennessee, and the pastors and some of the leaders were sitting up on the platform and When I told about those chickens, the pastor jumped up and pointed at the church, and he said, pointed his wife.
And he said, you’ve turned me into a thief.
Because when I got through the checkout Lane that day with my kids and all my chickens.
God said congratulations. You’ve just stole some chickens.
In the pastor pointed his wife, and he said, you’ve turned me into a thief.
And he looked at the church, and he said, but it wasn’t chickens.
It was toilet paper, and it was for the church. Come on.
You know how we are. You know, it’s like First Corinthians 56, do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
Little foxes, spoil the vines, Song of Solomon 2 15.
Matthew 2521, his large under him well done, our good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things.
I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the lord.
I love that. Enter into the joy of the lord.
When we do what god asked us to do, we have joy.
And we have peace. Why?
Because we’ve behaved righteously, and the Bible says in Romans 1417, the kingdom of god not meat and drink, but it is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
And I believe it comes in that order.
You do things right, you know who you are in Christ, knowing that he’s made you right with god makes you wanna do things right, Then you have peace.
And when you have peace, then you have joy. And that’s the kingdom.
It’s not getting everything we want.
It’s having a right relationship with god and having peace and joy in your life.
The opposite principle is also in effect.
If you’re not faithful in a few things, You’ll never be made ruler over much.
As a matter of fact, you’ll lose a little bit that you have.
Matthew 25 says, the man who had received one bag of gold came back said, Master, I knew you were a hard man harvesting where you had not sewn, gathering, where you had not scattered.
So I was afraid, and I went, and I hid your gold in the ground.
Here, you can have back what belongs to you, and the master said, you wicked lazy servant.
So he didn’t do anything. What god gave him.
He didn’t, you know, god’s given you talents. What are you doing with him?
God’s given you abilities. What are you doing with them?
You say, well, I don’t have any. I don’t have any talent. Yeah. You do.
Everybody does. And you know what?
A large majority of the church is just called into the health ministry.
And that’s not a little thing.
I don’t know what in the world I would do without the people who helped me.
I couldn’t I couldn’t have this ministry.
If I didn’t have 100100 of people who helped me, every one of you, who even send in $10 a month, you’re helping.
Some people are called as givers in the body of Christ.
Some people have gifts of organization. We have all kinds of gifts.
I talk. And so praise god.
I get to exercise my gift all over place. I just talk. I have a gift of communication.
I can get my point across. He said, you wicked lazy servants.
So you knew that I harvested where I had not sewn and gathered where I had not scattered.
Well, then, you should have put my money At least on deposit with the banker, so I could have gotten a little interest.
1st 28 says, now you take the bag of gold away from him and give it to the one who has 10.
So the man who did nothing with what he had lost what he had and it was given to the one who would take it and do the most with it.
I’ll just be honest with you.
If you wanna do something with the gifts god’s taken, you it’s gonna require some work.
Work, w o r k. Work.
You say, well, I work hard enough as it is, but are you doing anything that’s bearing good fruit in your life?
Are you just wasting time? You say, well, I’m too busy as it is.
Write down everything you’re doing on a piece of paper. Come on.
I dare you write down everything you’re doing on a piece of paper.
And then first cross out everything that’s bearing, no fruit.
And then go back through the list.
And cross off things that you’re doing for a wrong motive.
You’re doing it because aunt Susie, you’ll get mad if you don’t.
Or you’re doing it because you’re trying to please people.
Let me tell you something. So many people today are overly busy.
I’m busy is getting to be the most tiresome excuse. Did you hear me?
It’s just a very tiresome excuse. People say to me, I bet you’re busy.
And I say, no, I’m fruitful. I’m not busy. I’m bearing good fruit. Amen?
Now I want you to listen to what I’m gonna say.
God will never give you so much to do that it has to stress you out to do it.
And how many people, even in this room, your beautiful, wonderful people, but how many of you have got way too much stress in your life, and it’s because you’re doing too much.
Let me say again, god will never give you more to do than what you can do peaceably.
If you can’t do it with peace, then it’s not god giving it to you to do.
I’m not stressed down anymore because I’m doing too much, but I will tell you that I made myself sick more than once.
Doing way too much. And it was all good stuff.
Just because it’s good, doesn’t mean it’s godly.
I heard somebody that took that in. Amen.
I mean, I was killing myself working for god.
Let’s remember Afrodite is in the Bible. He almost died working too hard in the ministry.
And god healed him, but he sent him home and told him to rest.
In December of 2017, I had a falling apart session.
I mean, everything just My nerves, my body, everything just went to put.
I got something called burning mouth disease, and my mouth felt like it was on fire.
The place where my gift comes out of.
And my mouth was so dry.
And I had such a bad taste in my mouth, my coffee, which I love in the morning tasted like dirt.
And on top of that, most doctors had never even heard of it.
A little more now, but it’s just Most of it’s caused from stress and just overwork and I had just worked and worked and worked and worked and worked.
And on top of that, I was trying to walk five miles every day, and I mean, I am determined every day.
I would go home from a conference like this and go walk five miles, which was stupid.
I need to rest after a conference like this.
So but it was good things. I was helping people. I was exercising.
And so finally, I checked into a hospital.
I know a doctor in Houston, and he checked me into a hospital down there, and they gave me a nice private room.
And they ran every kind test on me that they could run.
And they said, you have severe adrenal fatigue.
And here’s your prescription.
They did give me some medicine, but they said, we want you to go home and rest for 18 months.
And here’s what I said. What do you do?
What do you do when you rest for 18 months, I couldn’t even get it to go into my head.
What do you do? But I finally kinda learned to like it.
I can’t wait to get home tonight and just rest.
Go home and eat at one of my favorite restaurants and rest.
And you know what I’m gonna do all day tomorrow? Rest.
And I may even rest on Monday.
I call them pajama days.
I just stay in my pajamas all day.
If you just say no to what you can say no to, you’ll be surprised what a difference it’ll make in your life.
And don’t let people pressure you into doing stuff that you know that god is not wanting you to do.
If people love you, they need to learn how to hear no and stay happy with you.
Come on. And if you’re a young mother and you’ve got 3 or 4 kids, they don’t all need to be in 4 activities each.
For all you do is stay on the road all the time and drive yourself crazy trying to get them there and get them back.
Yeah. It’s good for kids to be in activities, but your kids don’t have to do every single thing they wanna do, and they don’t have to do every single thing that everybody else does.
Okay.
Examples of little things that expose our heart.
Make a phone call to a sick friend.
God puts it on your heart. You need to call them. Well, obey him.
Take the time and call them. Send a thank you card. Apologize for being rude.
Apologize for being late.
Don’t make an excuse. Traffic was heavy. No. Just tell the truth.
I didn’t leave in time. Come on. It’s only the truth that will set you free.
Nothing sets you free, but the truth. And it’s not the truth about somebody else.
It’s being truthful with yourself. If you have a problem being late, everywhere you go, Some people are late everywhere they go.
Now my son is always like 15 minutes early everywhere he goes.
If you invite David to your house at 5, he’s gonna be there quarter to 5.
But then I have other kids. We won’t name them.
Who you can figure they’re always gonna be late.
Now that’s not the traffic was bad.
That was I just didn’t leave on time.
And you can’t cut everything to the last second and be on time.
You gotta leave room for a few things you didn’t expect.
And how many of you know when you’re weighed, everywhere you go, it puts stress on you.
And I don’t like to waste time.
I’d much rather get there right at the second I’m supposed to be there.
But when I plan like that, then sometimes I end up late.
Made a need that you’ve been aware of and really got this little feeling in your heart that God wants you to meet it.
Listen. God said to me one time, why don’t you stop asking me to do things that you could easily do and just don’t want to?
Okay. I’ll give you an example.
Like, Mary Jane at work. Camp Pear went this month.
Oh, god. Please pay Mary Jane’s rent.
Well, do we think money’s just gonna fall out of the sky in her mailbox to pay her rent?
I mean, everything god does, he does, he does through people.
You say, well, I don’t have the money to pay her rent. Well, how much do you have?
Maybe you can do a little of it, and maybe you could get a little bit aggressive, and you could be one of those violent Christians we were talking about this morning.
Who’s energetic and aggressive, and you could think, well, how can how can we get her rent paid this month?
And you can go around and you could talk 4 or 5 of your other board miserable friends.
Come on.
Let let’s get together and pay her Now that’s the way Christians are supposed to behave with one another.
And god just told me he said, stop asking me to do things for people that you could easily do and just don’t want to.
Go ahead, chew on that for a minute.
I got 5 minutes 43 seconds.
Oh, thank god.
Obey what you read in the word, but obey the things that he puts in your heart, the little the little nagging things there.
You know, one of the ways that I know that god wants me to do something is when it just keeps staying with me.
You think about it and then 2 days later, you think about it again.
And then tomorrow, you think about it again.
And it’s like, okay, I’m just gonna do it and get it over with. Amen?
And it could be called somebody. It could be right somebody.
It, you know, Whatever it is.
Life is so much better when you just obey god. You feel so much better.
I mean, if you can think of something right now that god’s been nagging you about, and you just haven’t done it.
Well, Come on. I don’t want not no. I wanna see your hands.
I don’t alright. Thank you. Alright. Then That’s disobedience.
Well, I’m gonna do it. Well, when are you going to do it?
See, that’s the biggest deception procrastination.
We’ve been talking about deception here this weekend.
And god told me one time’s good intentions are not obedience.
And we deceive ourselves. What? My heart’s dry.
I employ one time.
She was late all the time for work, but to be careful, I’ll pull my eyelashes off.
Now that you know I wear them.
She was late all the time for work, and she’d always say, well, my heart’s right.
One morning I called her in, and she said, well, my heart right.
I said, well, let me tell you this.
No matter how right your heart is, if you’re late again, I’m gonna fire you.
And you know what? She was never late again.
So so you might have the sweetest little heart in the whole world, but good intentions are not obedience.
Well, I’m gonna do it. But what’s wrong with now? Prompt, obedience.
Extreme obedience.
Jesus was promptly and extremely obedient to god, even unto death.
And there was given unto him a name that is above every other name that at the name of Jesus, every knee must spouse in heaven on earth from under the earth.