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, and I believe that god can heal you every where you hurt.
Well, thank you for joining us today on enjoying everyday life.
I’m talking this week about the importance of studying God’s word. At least that’s what I talked about yesterday.
I’m gonna be talking about it again today. And tomorrow. Today, I’m talking about believing god.
But believing god is believing the word.
Because when you study the word, You’re really studying the nature and the character of god and his heart for his people.
And so so many people say, read the Bible. And yes, it’s great. Read the Bible.
Any any chance you get, read the Bible. But we need to go deeper than that.
I think that reading the Bible is kinda like the surface, but studying the Bible you go deeper.
A lot of people think because they go to church on Sunday that that’s well, I hear the word.
Well, that’s good too. But you need to invest time in studying the word of god.
Mark 424 in the amplified Bible says, and he said to them, Be careful what you’re hearing.
The measure of thought and study you give to the truth that you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you.
And more besides will be given to you who hear. I love this.
It’s basically saying exactly what I’m trying to say. You hear the word.
Be careful at what you’re hearing is accurate coming from a an accurate Bible teacher.
And then the measure of thought and study that you give to that truth that you hear is the measure of virtue and knowledge like real knowledge, not just head knowledge, but revelation knowledge.
You know, I always say we we don’t need more information. We need more revelation.
It needs to get from here to here. It needs to be incorporated into our into our lives.
We don’t just need to hear it but we need to do the word.
There’s power in the word to help you do it because the Holy Spirit works through the word, and he will give you the grace to do it, but sometimes you may have to study for a period of time.
For example, if you need to forgive someone that’s hurt you, well, you might hear somebody say you need to forgive your enemies.
Well, you might think, well, I can’t. It’s just not fair. They don’t deserve forgiveness. It’s too hard.
It’s too hard. But if you study yourself, and it takes time.
But investing time in the word of god is just that it’s investing.
It’s not wasting It’s investing.
And you know, we all have the same amount of time, and it’s really up to us what we do with it.
And you, anybody, anybody who really wants to, can carve out some of their time to study the word.
And when you spend time in the word, you’re spending time with god.
And you’re not doing it for him.
It’s not like an obligation or something you owe God but you’re doing it for yourself because you’re learning how to live right and how to recognize what’s right from what’s wrong And you have an enemy, a spiritual enemy, Satan, the devil, and demonic power evil forces.
And the way that they gain access into our lives is through wise, and deceptions.
And the only way that you can ever recognize when the devil is lying to you is if you know the truth of god’s word.
I’ve been studying the word of god for 45 years, and I can tell you that it has completely transformed me.
And the Bible says that we are to be transformed That means change from the inside out into the image of Jesus Christ.
So we look in the word and we we see Jesus all through it. This is what he would do.
This is what he wouldn’t do. And then as we study that, we become transformed.
Well, if I really wanna forgive somebody, but I’m having a hard time doing it, I don’t need to just say, well, I can’t.
It’s too hard. Or I’ve tried and it doesn’t work, I need to just keep studying those scriptures, keep meditating on those scriptures, keep thinking about those scriptures, until I’m able to follow through and do what the word tells me to do.
One of the best decisions that you can ever make for yourself is to stop hating people and stop being mad at them What’s the point in hating somebody that’s out having a good time and couldn’t care less if you’re mad?
Maybe they don’t deserve your forgiveness, but you do deserve peace and joy.
And so you do yourself a favor and forgive.
Now the word believe Jesus said, you believe in God believe also in me.
You can believe or you can doubt. It’s up to you.
And I just wanna start by saying if you have to make a decision that you’re gonna believe what the word says because the word says it, not because you think it’s right or you feel it’s right.
This is not about head knowledge. It’s about revelation knowledge.
And you can’t figure everything out.
There’s a lot of things that god tells us to do that just plain don’t make any sense.
Like, if you wanna have more money, you gotta give away some of what you’ve got.
Well, anybody would think, well, that makes no sense.
If I give away some of what I got, I’m gonna have less.
Well, in the world, that’s the way that works, but not in god’s kingdom.
In god’s kingdom, you give first, and then you receive actually more back than you gave.
He says the first will be last and the last will be first.
Well, that doesn’t make much sense either.
Forgive people who have hurt you, who have abused you, and treated you unjustly.
And the Bible says that when we do that, that god is a god of justice, and he will bring justice into our life, he will be our vindicator.
Well, I spend your life trying to get somebody back that hurt you when if you turn the whole situation over to god, he can take care and you can be happy in being enjoying your life in the meantime.
But I have several scriptures here all that talk about just believing and I want you to listen to these.
Then Jesus said to the centurion, in Matthew 813, go and let it be done just as you believed it would be.
Wow. So he says, you’re gonna get what you believe.
Be it under you even as you have believed. Wow. Think about that.
Well, Sometimes it wouldn’t be surprising what you ended up with if you looked at what you believed.
You said, well, I I can’t help it. Yes, you can.
You can you can believe the word or you can doubt the word. It’s up to you.
And your servant was healed at that very moment.
Be it under you even as you believe.
You know, if you’re a negative person that’s always finding something to grumble and complain about and never happy.
You’re a doubter, and you’re just you’re gonna have a miserable life. But if you Say yes.
I I’ve got problems. There’s problems everywhere. Problems everywhere you look. But god is greater.
I believe that god is greater. I believe that god is for me and not against me.
I believe the word of god, and I believe that god will take everything that happens to me and make it work out for my good.
If you believe those kind of things and you’re full of hope, then you’re gonna have good things happen to you.
If you don’t, then you’re gonna also get what you believe and just keep having problems after problems after problems.
I had had so many bad things happen to me in the younger years of my life that I actually got to the point where I expected bad things to happen, and that’s exactly what I got And I had to learn how to believe the word of god and believe the promises of god.
There’s over 7000 promises in the word of god.
Surely, you can find a whole bunch of them that you can get in agreement with.
And believe. Mark 923, everything is possible for the one who believes.
Now I added in here everything the word promises is possible for those who believe.
Be it under you even as you believe. Well, That has to be within god’s will.
I’m not gonna become a multibillionaire just because I decide to believe that I’m gonna be one.
God has a will for us, and he has promised to meet our needs, and I can believe that.
I can say god’s gonna my needs according to his riches and glory by Christ because he promises that he will in Philippians 4 19, but even that promise is made to those who are giving into kingdom work.
So if you study the word and you you see what god is promising, and you get into agreement with that and you believe that, then you will get it.
Therefore, mark 1124.
Therefore, I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, here again, has to be according to god’s will.
Whatever you asked Farm prayer, believe that you have received it, which this is so interesting.
You believe you have received it even though you can’t see it and you will get it.
Well, see, we walk by faith, not by sight or feelings.
So we pray for something in god’s will, And we believe that we’ve received it in the spiritual realm.
And then while I’m waiting to get it, which is a testing time, I keep believing it, and I keep believing it, and I keep believing it.
My father who abused me was born again at the age of eighty.
And we I Dave and I got to baptize him and I saw him really changed.
You know, that I prayed for that man’s salvation on and off for a good 30 years.
You believe and you keep on believing. You ask and you keep on asking.
Mark 16 16, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Believes what?
Believes that Jesus is the Christ, that he bore your sins, that he died on the cross for you, that he paid the penalty that you owed.
He balanced your account with god.
And if you believe in him, you repent of your sins, you’ll be saved.
Romans 1513, I love. Now, may the god of hope. He is a god of hope.
Not a god of hopelessness, but a god of hope.
Fill you with all joy and peace in believing. It’s all over the place. In believing.
One time I’d gotten all down and was feeling depressed and had lost my joy and Didn’t know why.
And god led me to this scripture in Romans 1513.
He said, well, You feel the way you feel because you stopped believing. I had started doubting.
You know, Satan will tempt you to doubt.
He’ll lie to you and he’ll he’ll he’ll put every negative thing in front of you that he can come up with that’s ever happened to you.
See there, if god loves you, that wouldn’t happen.
Now just just look at how long you’ve been waiting for that to happen and looking at everybody else is getting that, but you’re not getting it.
You have to remember to say, devil, you’re a liar, and I believe that god’s word is true.
What makes us right with god believing? Romans 116 or Hebrews 116.
What must we do to please god?
We must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
I believe that. I believe that god is in this very room right now.
I believe he lives in me. I believe he lives in every believer.
And I believe that god has got so many wonderful things planned for you, but you gotta get in agreement with him.
Start agreeing with god and stop agreeing with the enemy.
Acts 1631, they believe in the lord Jesus and you will be saved.
And I love Hebrews 43. Now we who have believed do enter the rest of god.
Oh, now this is a big one because the world is full of people who are just stressed out.
And burned out and they’re weary and they’re worn out from worrying, and they they they don’t entering the rest of god is not like I’m not talking about laying down and taking a nap.
It’s an internal rest. Actually, when you study the word in the original language, it’s not arrest from work, but arrest in work.
And you see, I’m working right now. Believe it or not? This is hard work.
But I’m at rest while I’m doing it. You know why?
Because I’m not worried about whether or not you’re gonna like it.
I’m not worried about whether or not you’re gonna like me. I did my part. I studied.
Now I walked up here trusting god that he would do the rest.
You can enter the rest of god. It’s the most wonderful place to be.
Now let’s talk about our position in Christ, and I wanna start by saying that as believers, we actually live in two places.
God lives in two places.
He lives in you, but he also has a throne in heaven. Our father who art in heaven.
But then there’s other scriptures that says I will come and dwell in you, and you will be my home.
Well, my feet are on this platform, but I’m gonna show you a scripture in a few minutes.
It says I’m seated in heavenly places. With Christ Jesus.
So how can I be here and be there?
Well, I’m here physically, but spiritually, My heart is already in heaven.
I know where I’m gonna go when it’s time for me to leave this earth, and I’m not afraid.
I’m not afraid of the things that are going on in the world today because I believe that god has a timing for each one of us and that he will take care of us.
If we put our trust in him.
So many people live their whole lives in fear.
Ephesians 117 through 23, and I’ll explain some of these as I go through.
I keep asking, Paul said, I keep asking. I like that.
I keep asking that the god of our lord Jesus Christ, the glorious father may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you might know him better.
Well, you know what? I think we pray for a lot of wrong stuff.
Oh, we pray for things that aren’t nearly as important How many have you been praying for wisdom and revelation and to know god better?
Probably not nearly as many as been praying to get married or for their spouse to change or to get a different job or to make more money or all the different kinds of things that we pray for.
And it’s okay to pray for those things.
But if we have more wisdom, we’ll end up knowing how to do those things, and we won’t even have to be praying about it.
If we know god better, we’re gonna quickly recognize when the enemy’s working in our lives and when god is working in our lives.
I’ll give you an example. God is always gonna give you time to think about something and make a right decision.
The devil tries to push us to make quick decisions.
So even like all this stuff that you hear on TV, if you call in the next three minutes, You’ll get this free along with your order, but you have to call in the next 3 minutes.
Well, I don’t have I don’t have to do anything in 3 minutes.
I’d rather turn down something supposedly free then make a mistake and put money into something I don’t need to be putting it into because somebody told me I have to do it in 3 minutes.
I’ve been through them when I’ve been out shopping.
Now we’ve got a sale on this, and the store is closing in 45 minutes.
And if you don’t get it tonight, then you’re gonna miss the sale.
Well, then I’ll just have to miss the sale because I gotta think about it.
The only way that we’re gonna make right decisions is if we think about it, But if you don’t know god better, you won’t know that.
Paul said my determined purposes to know him and the power of his resurrection We need to know god’s character.
We need to know how to recognize when god’s at work and when the enemy is at work.
He said, I pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.
And one thing that you can always have, if you have Jesus’ hope.
Things may not be working out in your life right now, but you can have hope.
And hope means the expectation of something is gonna happen to me today, and something good is gonna happen through me today.
I refuse to be an old negative grout