Gratitude’s Generous Impact | Joyce Meyer

Join Joyce Meyer in this inspiring talk about the transformative power of generosity and gratitude. Discover the profound impact of being thankful for what you have and learn how a generous heart can lead to a fulfilled and purposeful life. Joyce encourages us to go the extra mile, not just in financial matters but in all aspects of life, reflecting on the biblical principles of generosity that can bring joy and blessings.

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.

Today, I wanna talk to you about generosity and gratitude.
First of all, let me say that we all have so much to be thankful for.
And you may think that you don’t because you’re focused on what you don’t have.
But if you start on what you do have, you’ll realize that you have more than maybe you think that you do.
If you have a roof over your head, some clothes to put on and some food to eat, you’re wealthier than most people in the world.
If you get outside of the Western world, We’re so accustomed to having so many conveniences and so many things, but the rest of the world is not like that.
And not only to be thankful for things that we have, but to be thankful for what god has done for us.
I mean, if you just think about the fact that Jesus died for us and all of our sins can be forgiven with no condemnation, no reproach from god.
We just think about the amazing mercy of god that his mercy is new every morning.
I mean, there are so many things that we have to be thankful for.
And thankfulness is really important because thankfulness makes us generous, and generous people put a smile on god’s face.
When I’m talking about generosity, I’m not just talking about money.
I’m talking about just the whole way that we live.
You know, the Bible tells us to always go the extra mile.
And so I wanna challenge you today to start doing Always doing a little more than what you have to, not just doing what you absolutely have to do.
This is just an example.
Suppose you got to work 5 minutes early and you stayed 5 minutes past working time. No.
I’m not saying that’s what you have to do, but that’s just the kind of thing that I’m talking about.
To go the extra mile and do more than you have to do.
And if you do that, you’ll be the kind of person that god will be able to promote.
Don’t be stingy. Don’t be greedy. Don’t be selfish.
Be as generous as you possibly can be. Generous people are happy people.
Isaiah 38, but the noble, open hearted, and liberal man devises noble things and he stands for what is noble, openhearted, and generous.
Just ponder the spiritual beauty. Of a generous man.
You know, we talk about the early church in the book of acts and how powerful they were and all the things that were happening there.
And one of the things that we read about them is it says in day after day, they regularly assembled in the temple with United Purpose.
And in their homes, they broke bread, including a large supper.
They partook of their food with gladness and simplicity and with generous hearts.
They were generous people and really they all had everything in common.
They shared everything they had with other people.
Jehovah Jairah is one of the many names of god in the Old Testament, and that means the god of more than enough.
The generous god. Aren’t you glad that god is willing to give you more than enough, not just barely enough to get by on?
In Malachi, it says to bring all your tithes and offerings into the storehouse, and god will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings so great.
That you can’t hardly take them in.
I’m glad it doesn’t say that he dribbles out blessings.
God pours out blessings on his people, and we need to pour out blessings on other people.
Once you make a decision today that you’re not gonna go one day in your life, or you don’t do something for somebody else.
It could just be listening to them, It could be complimenting them, encouraging them, it could be praying for them, or it could be helping them by meeting a financial need that they have.
There’s so many people in the world that are needy.
They need so many things, and we have the ability to provide, and we need to do it and do it generously.
Ephesians 1778 says in him, we have redemption through the blood.
The forgiveness of our sins in accordance with the riches of god’s grace that he lavished on us.
That’s part of the definition of generosity.
To be to lavish more than enough, always more than enough, not just barely enough to get by, but always more than enough.
Come on. I want you to be the kind of person that will go the extra mile and live life with excellence.
But we’re being generous for that moment in time. We are like god.
I love that. Let me say that again.
When we’re being generous for that moment in time, we’re like god because god is generous.
All what he has done for us, how good god is, and what he has done for us.
We should be so thankful and never complaining.
And one of the ways that we can show our appreciation is by being generous to other people.
Beautiful things are excellent, wonderful appealing, and they have drawing power.
We’re drawn to beautiful things. It touches our soul.
We all love a beautiful story, a beautiful piece of art.
The ocean mountains, amazing landscapes. And often when we see things like that, we say beautiful.
It’s just beautiful. And, you know, this is my own thought, but I believe when god sees a person being generous, that that’s what he says.
Beautiful. I think it really makes god happy when we are good to one another.
Generus is defined as liberal lavish, magnanimous, Munificent, free handed, unselfish, and abundant.
In deuteronomy 1511, it says there will always be poor people in the land.
Therefore, I commend you to be open handed toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.
One translation says open your hands wide. I love that. Don’t don’t live like this.
But be open handed. What do I have that you need?
You know, none of us are owners of anything we’re stewards of everything that god has given us.
And so really this morning, when I prayed, course, maybe part of the thing that provoked the prayer was studying for the day, but I said, God, I realized that I’m not an owner of anything.
I’m a steward of everything that everything I have is something you’ve given to me, and I offer it to you today.
For your service. If there’s anything I have that you want, let me know.
You know, that’s a dangerous way to pray because sometimes He may just test us and see if we mean it.
You know what? Generosity is not natural. It’s not what the natural man wants to do.
The Bible says in the last days that people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, both for proud, abusive, disobedient, ungrateful, unholy, but that’s not the way god wants us to be.
In Galatians 5, it gives us a list of the the traits of the flesh.
Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord jealousy, selfishness.
I think it’s interesting that we don’t think that much about being selfish.
We want what we want.
We want people to give it to us, and we’re just gonna do what we wanna do.
But selfishness is listed in the acts of the flesh right along with idolatry and witchcraft.
So that’s that’s pretty serious.
Jesus said, if you wanna be my disciple, you have to forget yourself, lose sight of yourself, and all your own interests, and take up your cross, and follow me.
Well, man, that doesn’t sound like a very fun way to live.
Forget myself, lose sight of myself, and all my own interest, but can I tell you a secret?
If you’ll do that, then god will pour out blessings on you. You know why?
Because you cannot outgive god. In Luke, it says, give and a shall be given unto you good measure, press down, shaking together, and running over.
Will men give into your bosom. Listen to that. Give and it shall be given unto you.
Good measure. Press down, shaking together, and running over shall men give into your bosom?
You know, maybe you’re not used to giving much.
Maybe you think you can’t afford to do that, but you know what?
You can’t afford not to. God even says in Malachi, try me.
And see if you bring all the tithes and offerings into the storehouse if I won’t open the windows of heaven.
Try me. Wow. God’s saying, come on. Put it to the test.
Just do it and see what I do in your life.
And remember, I’m not just talking about money.
He was talking about money in Malachi, but I’m talking about just living with this open hearted attitude where you care about other people, even more than you care about yourself, and you want to make them happy.
To pray for people and to make them feel good about themselves.
They say that people don’t always remember what you said to them, but they always remember how you made them feel.
Every time you’re around somebody, make them feel good.
There’s enough people in the world putting everybody down. The devil does his job.
Let’s go to work for god and make people feel good.