Finding God’s Will – Pt 2 | Joyce Meyer | Enjoying Everyday Life Teaching
Finding God’s Will – Pt 2 | Joyce Meyer | Enjoying Everyday Life Teaching
Have you ever asked, “What is my purpose?” Today on Enjoying Everyday Life, Joyce Meyer shares what God’s Word has to say and ways to step into God’s perfect will for your life.
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 mean, I could need to hear something from god, and I did I did what most of us do who are young.
Okay. Lord, I need a word from you.
I’m Joyce Meyer, and I believe that god can heal you everywhere you hurt.
Every person in here is called into ministry.
We’re all called to bring people to help reconcile them to Christ and to pray for people.
Everybody here has a ministry. Not just me because I’m up here and not you, because you’re down there, you are called into ministry.
And to be honest, You are probably more important than the few of us around the world who stand up here because you’re the ones that are out there where people really need Jesus.
Most people who need Jesus are not sitting here today. Amen?
And I’ve been trying to get this across to people for many, many, many years.
We are ambassadors for god.
The amplified Bible says we are his personal representatives and that god is making his appeal to the world through us.
Isn’t that pretty awesome?
You are god’s personal representative and he’s making his appeal to the world through you.
So your responsible for your little section of the world, whatever that is.
The people you know at work, the people you deal with at the grocery store, the people you deal with at the gym, everywhere you go, it’s very important that you represent God.
And by saying that, I don’t I don’t even mean that you have to go preach to everybody.
Not everybody’s comfortable with that. I would venture to say most people aren’t comfortable with that.
If God opens the door and you have a chance to talk to somebody, that it’s important to be brave enough to do that, but I think we can preach and never say one word.
Amen?
By living our life as Christians, especially today, because there’s so many on remain ugly people out there that if you just get out in the world and you’re nice, and you smile and you compliment people and you’re good to people and you help people it’s not gonna be very long, and they’re gonna wanna know what’s different about you.
And then pretty soon the doors open for you to tell them, that Christ is your savior, that he has taught you all of these things, and then the doors open for you to talk to them, maybe invite them to church, or something else like that.
Amen. So you represent god everywhere that you go.
God’s will for all of us is found in his word.
And many times, what we need to do is if you don’t know what Let’s just say that you’ve got a good job, but you’re offered another job.
And so you’re not sure really what you wanna do.
It’s a little bit more money, but you really like where you’re at, and So you get kind of caught in between, well, what do I wanna do?
Do I wanna take this new job? Do I wanna stay where I’m at?
Do I wanna take this new job? Do I wanna stay where I’m at?
Well, god, What do you want me to do? God, what do you want me to do? Okay.
Now, hold on to your seat because this is gonna sound a little odd to some of you.
God may not care. See, that’s the thing.
There’s a lot of god gives us a lot of autonomy in our life.
He lets us decide, and I’ll go ahead and tell you this.
About 30 years ago, I had a face lift.
You better be glad I did because I would look very good now if I didn’t.
But, see, I just tell everybody everything.
So it has been 30 years ago, so this is all pretty normal now.
And, uh, I kept praying about God is is it okay?
Do you do you want me to do this? Don’t you want me to do this?
I don’t want to do anything wrong. And finally, you know what?
God said to me, he said, it’s your face. You can do what you want to with it.
Now see, some of you probably think, no. God didn’t say that to you.
Because we have the wrong idea.
We think that we have to get a word from god about every single move that we make, but you don’t.
You have god’s spirit in you. My children are grown.
I don’t have to tell them to make every little move that they make.
They do the things that we taught them to goo to do while they were growing up.
And that’s what god expects from you.
He’s probably gonna tell you a lot more as a baby Christian than he’s gonna tell you as you become a more mature Christian.
Sometimes you hear from godless the more you walk with God, I mean, I used to have some of the most supernatural things happen to me, I mean, I could need to hear something from god, and I did I did what most of us do who are young.
Okay. Lord, I need a word from you.
And I would get some of the most awesome things.
I would take it to Dave and say, I prayed about this and opened up my Bible and dove at it and looked Look what god said, and he’s like, you gotta be kidding.
Well, that was fun until I Oh, you wicked sinner will be on the beginning.
Um, I I’d like another selection Can I get something else?
You know why?
Because as we mature in god, he expects us to walk by his spirit and according to god’s character.
Like we’ve taught all of our children to be givers.
And so now, we don’t ever say anything to them now about giving.
We don’t ask them how much they’re giving or what they’re giving. They’re just all generous.
Integrity was always a big thing with us, and we’ve taught our children to keep their word.
And it’s interesting as I watch them. They will keep their word.
Bible says swear to your own hurt and change not.
What would happen in our world if people would just start keeping their word?
And Christians, and many times are just as guilty as people in the world.
We think it’s fine to sign up and not show up. Oh, I’ll call you next week.
You don’t you don’t intend to call them next week. That’s just a way to get rid of them.
If we tell somebody we’re gonna call them, we need to call them. Amen?
Now you’re all thinking, uh-oh, I got a lot of phone calls to return.
You see, those are one of the ways that we represent god by doing what he would do in a situation.
Do we think that god would ever tell us anything and then not do it?
No, and so we shouldn’t do that either.
So I let my grown children make their own decisions.
I stay out of their business, And you know what?
A lot of times, god will just let you make your own decision. I love what Augustine said.
Love god, then do as you please. And you know what?
If you really, really, really love god, you don’t want to do anything that he doesn’t want you to do.
And it’s all about heart.
If your heart is right, and, I mean, the last thing in the world I would ever wanna do is something that god doesn’t want me to do.
Because I’ve had things that god didn’t want me to have, and there’s no place more miserable than trying to take care of something that god didn’t want you to have.
That is hard work. If you start it, you’ll have to finish it.
So you need to make sure when you do step out to the best of your ability that it is God, but if you make a mistake, that’s okay too, because god will come back and get you on the right track.
Amen? But it’s so comforting to me to know that I don’t have to get some special word from god.
About every move that I make, but I can actually make a decision, and god trust me.
God trust you to make decisions.
So I can decide if I want to take this new job, or if I want to stay where I’m at.
Well, Joyce, how would I make a decision?
Well, you can sit down and just write down the pros and cons of each one.
And then just look at it in a mature manner.
Well, let’s say I’ll make a little more money if I go to work over here.
And it is a little bit closer to my house, but you know, I really just love where I’m at, and I love all the people.
And is that little bit of more money gonna be worth it to me to give up these other things?
Sometimes you just have chat with yourself, and god’s kind of in the middle of that, and you come to a good conclusion, and then don’t be afraid to step out, and find out.
A lot of people never find out what they’re supposed to do because they’re so afraid to step out into step out into anything.
We need to learn how to recognize god’s grace and how to know when it’s not there.
That will help you so much.
You know, there’s very few things that you do your entire life, and there are times to stop things.
And when god wants you to stop something, his grace will lift off of it.
And if you learn how to sense that, and know what it is, you won’t keep trying to do things 10 years after god’s finished with them.
And I’ll give you a good example.
For many, many, many years, every year, I traveled out of the country three times a year for 3 weeks at a time and did mission trips.
And I loved them. I looked forward to them. The work was hard.
The jet lag was bad. The food was usually bad. But I I really enjoyed doing it.
It was fun for me to be on television in a place for maybe 20 years and then go there and have a couple hundred thousand people come out to a meeting and the only way they even knew to come was because they’ve been watching me on television.
So it gave me a good sensing of just what kind of an effect the TV was having.
And this went on for years. I did like 67 mission trips.
And then all of a sudden, Well, maybe kind of gradually, I started just not looking so forward to him.
And then it got worse and I actually started dreading them, and then I just flat out didn’t wanna go.
But I kept going because that’s after all. That’s what I’ve been doing.
And don’t we get like that sometimes well, that’s just what we do.
We don’t know why we do it anymore, but that’s just what we do.
And, um, so Then it got to the point where we would go to a place and set up our crusade, which those things are not shape, and our permit got pulled.
And then we couldn’t have the thing. We went all that distance and couldn’t have the thing.
I went to one place and all the people I was in Cambodia, all the people got inside the arena, and it had electric gates.
And when everybody got inside, they turned the power off, So the electric gates wouldn’t wouldn’t open to let me in.
The worship team was in there. The people were in there. But I couldn’t get in there.
So I said, is there any way I can get in the building?
And they said, well, not unless you want to jump up on the trash can in the back and hop over the fence.
What do you think I did?
I got on the trash can and hopped over the fence and I went in.
But my point is is it started getting harder and harder and harder. Then I got blacklisted in India.
Somebody managed to get my name on a list for me to not get in.
Long story short, I finally got it through my head. God doesn’t want me doing this anymore.
When he wanted me doing it, I had favor and doors were open.
Everything was well oiled, and it just went smooth. Come on. Is anybody listening to me? Yeah.
But then when it started like everything was hard. Everything was challenging.
There was no favor and permits were getting pulled and I couldn’t get visas and I didn’t wanna go anyway.
And so finally, and it was so hard for me to give up because that meant that I was gonna have to watch somebody else do the things that I had been doing, and I didn’t want to.
See, sometimes when we’ve been doing something a long time, we’re kind of like addicted to it, and there’s a part of us that doesn’t want to do it, but a part of us that does wanna do it and doesn’t wanna give it up to somebody else.
And so finally, and I was about 70, at that time, finally, I thought, you know what?
God just doesn’t want me doing this anymore.
And the reason was just simply because it was take see, you have a certain amount of energy for your whole life, I think.
And if you use it all up here, you’re not gonna have any for down here.
Well, you see now I’m 80 and things are getting little bit harder, and so God wanted me to stop doing that because it was getting too hard on me physically.
It was taken longer and longer and longer to get over to the jet lake.
One of the smartest things that I’ve ever heard is this.
Only a fool thinks they can always do what they’ve always done.
For some of you, just hearing that might have been worth you coming today.
Only a fool thinks they can always do what they’ve always done.
And let me tell you something. When God is finished with something, you need to be finished with it.
Because if you’re not, it is gonna be hard, hard, hard work from that point on.
Just relax and don’t make such a big thing.
Out of trying to find out exactly what God wants you to do.
In acts chapter 16, in verse 6, Paul was on one of his missionary journeys, and they were just going to different places, different towns, and I don’t see any place where it said that Paul had a big prayer meeting about every place that he went.
He just went. But then it’s interesting because while they were on their journey, there were a couple of places they tried to go, and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit prevented them from going.
They he wouldn’t let them go to Asia, and he wouldn’t let them go to a place called Bethany.
But I think it’s it’s interesting that they weren’t having this big prayer meeting or where to go.
They just were going. And they knew when something wasn’t right, and when it was wrong.
And some of you are not doing anything because you won’t ever step out and take a chance on being wrong.
Well, I’m gonna put you at ease this morning. You will be wrong sometimes.
So you don’t have to worry about it anymore.
You don’t ever have to say again, what if I’m wrong?
I’m telling you ahead of time, you will be wrong sometimes.
It’s like a friend of mine who is gonna have a baby said, I’m just so afraid it’s gonna hurt.
I’m so afraid it’s gonna hurt. I said, you know what? You don’t have to be afraid of it anymore.
It is gonna hurt. Some things we just need to accept and then go on about our business.
And there will be times when you’re going to be wrong, and that is extremely hard on a perfectionist.
They have a very hard time accepting that they’re gonna be wrong sometimes. But you know what?
Being wrong is part of life.
And sometimes we learn more by the things that we’re wrong about than we do by the things that we were right about.
Amen? I’ve learned a lot by just being wrong about certain things.
And like I said a little bit earlier, the Bible really lays out and tells us what it is we’re supposed to do.
So what I want to suggest to you is that you offer yourself to God, and there’s a great prayer in Romans 121.
It says, I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, and I beg of you in view of all the mercies of god to make a decisive dedication sounds very definite make a decisive dedication of your bodies, presenting all your members and faculties as a living sacrifice, wholly devoted and well pleasing to god, which is your reasonable, rational, intelligent service spiritual worship.
So he says, offer everything that you have and everything that you are to god. Everything.
I tell the Lord that every morning, everything I have is yours, and the Bible says everything that he has is ours.
So I tell him everything I have is yours and everything you have is mine.
Your money is not your money. You wouldn’t have any money if God didn’t give you any money.
So it’s really his money, but you need to tell him if you if you want it.
Let me know. We get kind of funny about our money, don’t we? Turn.
You wouldn’t have any time if God didn’t give you time. Offer your time to him.
Do you want me to do with my time? Give him your eyes, your ears. What are you looking at?
What are you listening to? He didn’t give your ears.
To watch junk on television and to watch dirty things at the movies.
He didn’t give you your eyes to look at things you shouldn’t be looking at dedicate everything that you have an art to god, and that’s how you begin your service to him.
And then just make sure that you’re doing the things that the Bible tells you to do.
A friend of mine was in that thing. She was single and she was in her early fifties.
Beautiful girl, but she just never got married.
And she was praying, Doug, what do you what’s your will for my life?
What’s your will for my life?
And he took her to Psalm 100 verse 2, which says, serve the lord with gladness.
And she said she knew that was what god was telling her that he wanted her to do the rest of her life, serve him with gladness.
And I wonder how many people today around the world that are Christians might be all frustrated about what the will of god is for their life, but yet they’re not even doing the few basic things that Bible tells you to do.
Serve the lord with gladness. And you know what that really means? Be content.
Be content.
If you study the two words, the definition is pretty much the same in both of them.
And how many people are content.
And, you know, I think basically Our Western society has kinda taught us not to be content that we should always be wanting more, more, more, more, and I think even some of the things that we’ve learned in church have taught us to not be content.
Several years ago, somebody said to me, I was at this place in ministry by then.
Somebody said to me, and and I I get asked question a lot, I get tired of it.
Well, what’s your what’s your vision now? What’s next? And I don’t have one.
I don’t have one.
And people almost make you feel like you’re unspiritual.
If you don’t have some big brand new vision for your life.
And so I went to god, and I was concerned. I thought, well, maybe I’m off base here.
Maybe I need to have a new vision. But, see, the thing is, I’m one of those very blessed people.
I’m living my dream. I’m doing what god called me to do.
And it took a lot of years to get here, but I’m here, and I’m enjoying it.
So I was just asking, God, am I missing something?
And you know what he said to me, and it really helped me. He said, no, now you’re being faithful.
And see, a lot of times, you’re gonna get to a place And then all god’s gonna want you to do is be faithful in that place.
And a lot of people get themselves in trouble because they can’t be satisfied just being faithful.
They’re always looking for some new thing to do.
So do what you believe God wants you to do.
Understand that he gives you some decision making power with all your heart want to hear from god.
Be sure you’re doing the general things the Bible says. Be be content, be happy.
Now look at me. I’m gonna close with this. Enjoy where you’re at.
Just just enjoy where you’re at. Amen?
Now, listen, if you’re in here today and you have not received Christ as your savior, please don’t go home without doing that.
And I wanna pray with anybody here that you’ve just never made that decision yet.
The Bible says if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is lord, you will be saved.
Thank god Jesus bore our sins and took our punishment. Isn’t that the best news ever?
So listen. If you’re here today and you said Joyce, I I wanna accept Christ as my savior.
Well, you just slip your hand up, and let me see where you’re at.
I’m not gonna call you forward or anything to thank you. God bless you.
Just nice and high, so I can see you. Thank you. I see hands going up all over the place.
Now I’m gonna I wanna pray a prayer with you and let’s all pray this together with them.
Father, I love you. Thank you for sending Jesus.
Jesus, I believe in you. I believe you’ve died for me.
You paid for my sins. I want you in my life.
Forgive my sins, cleanse me, Now take me just the way I am and make me what you want me to be.
I believe you love me, I’m on my way to heaven, and I wanna enjoy the journey.
Amen. Give God a big praise.
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The mind actually is the battlefield.
That’s where win or lose the war with Satan. He said all he gets to Satan. Thank you.
He uses a lot of it. Today’s mind. You start asking god to heal you, and he will door.
It’s the god of all comfort, and I am so grateful that I know how to call on god.
