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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.
Don’t be surprised that you’re going through stuff, God is growing you up.
You may not thank God for it now, but someday you’ll look back, I look back and I thank God.
Now for some of the hardest experiences that I had in my life and some of the places where God put me that were just, I mean like christians doing things and treating people in ways that just were not right and I didn’t understand why I was there.
And you know what? I didn’t learn what to do, I learned what not to do.
And sometimes the only way you learn not to mistreat other people is to be in a situation where you’re being unfairly mistreated.
Come on. And then you, you know, you learn because you know what it feels like.
You just don’t know what I’ve had to go through to be able to help you today.
Job waited. Ruth and Esther waited. I’ve waited.
I’m waiting on some things now. How many of you are waiting on something? Okay.
Well I can’t do anything about the wait but if you’re really listening I can help you enjoy life while you’re waiting.
That’s the key, I can help you enjoy life while you’re waiting.
And boy does that make the devil bad.
John 10 10, the thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus said I came. I love that that that just messes up the devil’s whole plan.
I came. Now we wouldn’t even have to say anything else.
I came that you might have and enjoy your life and have it in abundance to the full until it overflows.
Why don’t you make the devil mad and start enjoying your life?
And I mean learning how to enjoy ordinary everyday life.
Just life. If we can just slow down enough to actually recognize the presence of God, And maybe some of you don’t even know what I’m talking about, I don’t know.
But there is an actual presence of God that you can I’m not gonna say feel but you can discern it, you can sense it, you know it in your heart.
And God is with us all the time, but it’s only when we slow down enough to recognize that that we enjoy it.
And when the bible says have joy in the Lord There’s a joy, a deep down spiritual something that comes to you no no matter how big your problems are if if you can spend time in the presence of God and you know that he’s walking with you, it overrides everything else that’s going on in your life because you just know that he’s gonna take care of it, some way, somehow, someday when he’s good and ready he’s gonna take care of it.
But we’re all waiting on something but we just can’t get God to tell us when.
How much longer, god?
Am I gonna have to put up with this?
When are you going to change my husband?
Because I’ve tried so hard to change.
Come on. Do you get it? I’ve tried and tried.
God, what do you want me to do?
As if we think us doing something is gonna change it all.
And you know what the answer is?
He wants us to believe him, to trust him, to wait on him with a good attitude.
Yeah, but what does he want me to do?
We can’t get off of the doing. We’re not human doings, we’re human beings.
Oh my gosh. Acts 1637.
So when they had come together they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority.
Can you believe that? There’s some things that you’re just not supposed to know.
You you don’t have to know everything. Come on.
Tell somebody next to you. You don’t have to know everything.
Well, that don’t take that long to say that.
See how you are?
I gave you just a little bit of liberty, and you all just got lost doing your own thing.
Now, I gotta try to get you back. Alright.
Luke chapter 18 verse 1, and he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to lose heart.
He said, in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man, and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary.
And for a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me.
Coming, I mean I’ve told God I am not gonna shut up.
And I’m gonna keep at this until I see change.
Let God know that you’re not giving up. That’s not being rude.
And she kept coming to him saying, give me justice and for a while he refused.
But afterward he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man because his widow keeps bothering me I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.
And the Lord said hear what the unrighteous judge says and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night?
Will he delay long over them? I tell you he will give justice to them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the son of man comes will he find faith on the earth?
Come on. That’s better than that.
I mean, that’s saying so much because you know what he’s saying?
You just make sure that you stay in faith. Amen.
That you keep believing and let me work. As long as you’re believing God is working.
And I’ll tell you what we need to be saying more of and I’ve I’ve I’ve been doing this for a good number of years and it’s really really helpful when I’m waiting on something and then I start to think about how God is working and it helps me.
God is working and it helps me because he is.
You know, when you get a breakthrough, God didn’t start just working on that a second before you got it.
God’s working in your life right now.
He’s heard your prayers, he’s working in your situation, but especially when you’ve prayed prayers for other people, you have no control over how long it takes them to listen to God.
Hebrews 11 verse 1.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, but remember what is hope?
It’s a positive expectation that something good is going to happen to me.
So faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Faith is for when you don’t see anything, when it doesn’t feel good, when you have questions that you’re not getting answers to.
And faith is a matter of the heart.
Faith can believe that God is working and that something good is going to happen when everything around them looks the exact opposite.
Maybe we need to just cut loose and have some instruction for a few weeks on just getting back to simple faith.
I believe God. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but I believe God. I believe God’s working.
Something good is gonna happen to me. This is going to change.
Because I’m gonna keep bothering God until he does something.
Come on, I mean that Luke 18, just look at the way that it’s written and the thing is about prayer and it appears to me that God is telling us to bother him.
Go ahead, just keep it up.
He said if an unjust judge finally gave that woman what she wanted, he didn’t fear God, he didn’t respect man, he was wicked and unjust, but just because she refused to shut up.
Well you get it.
And he says, when I come back will I find faith.
I don’t know maybe some of you just needed to come today just to be reminded to stir your faith up again and Sure.
You’re tired, you’re weary, you work hard and you believed God and you’ve been waiting what seems like forever for that kid to change or for your finances to change or for you to change or or whatever.
But I’m here to tell you I’ve been there, done that, still go through it in different seasons at different times and I am telling you by the word of God and from my my experience and the experience of many others that God is faithful And I don’t know how long you will have to wait, but I do know that God will come through.
And I do know that you can enjoy your weight if you will just improve your attitude.
You say, well I can’t help all I feel.
Maybe not but you can control your behavior. You know how I know you can?
Because the bible says we have self control.
Self control means you can control yourself.
In case you didn’t get that.
Well do you know how often we ask how long am I going to have to put up with this?
Or we ask, God, when will I get an answer?
The fact is we’re all waiting on God for something.
We just can’t get God to tell us when he’s going to do it.
And as challenging as that may seem, we must believe that God will help us.
I often like to say that God is rarely early, but He is never late.
I’m joined by Ginger today as we hope to encourage you with some of these difficult questions.
Good morning, Ginger.
Hello, Joyce. I love the way you said that. We it it
does feel like I just can’t get God Right.
To tell do what I want right now. Yeah. It does feel that way sometimes.
In the Bible, it says in due time and at the
appointed time, and I finally figured out
what what does that mean?
It just means when God’s good and ready. When he knows the time is right,
and we
have to trust that he does know when the time is right.
That’s a huge key, and a lot of these questions are people wishing that time was right Yeah.
Now, but we we’re we’re all looking for help, I think,
to get through these
waiting times. So here’s our first question
K.
From Barbara. She says, Joyce, I’ve been praying about a certain thing for the past couple of days, but I’m having doubt and fear that it won’t happen.
I’m making other arrangements just in case, and I feel guilty for even doing that and not waiting for God.
Is that okay, or what should I do?
Well, I know what she means about having a backup plan, but I do think that sometimes if we have our backup plan, then God’s not gonna come through until we try our backup plan and see that it’s not gonna work either.
He wants us to trust him and to wait on him.
Now, I don’t know what the situation is, so Yeah.
I don’t know if it’s something she has to have an answer in 2 days, And, you know, there are times when we do need to take action, but I would say generally speaking, uh, we’re not really a 100% trusting God if we have a backup plan just in case he doesn’t come through.
Yeah. You make a really good point too.
There are things that God will tell us to do while we wait, but that’s not the same as I better do this just
in
case God doesn’t answer.
Waiting on God is not just sitting somewhere going, duh. You know, It’s actually very active.
Uh, the word wait means to wait expectantly, So we need to be in faith, excited, expecting that God’s going to do something Yeah.
At any moment and be prayerful.
You know, we may not be doing anything in the natural, but we’re very active spiritually.
And we’re always listening to the Holy Spirit, So if he wants us to do something in the natural, we’re ready to take that action and do it.
I think that probably just really helped a lot of people is we feel like we need to be doing something Mhmm.
Naturally, but we can be very active
Spiritually.
Spiritually. I like that a lot. Here’s another question from Carol.
I’m losing my job at the age of 49 as a single mom of 2 teens.
I’ve had a difficult life. I want to put all my trust in God, but waiting on him doesn’t seem wise in the face of unemployment and such heavy needs.
How do I wait on him when I need a new job now?
Well, waiting on God doesn’t mean in this situation that she doesn’t go look for a job.
You know, we obviously she needs an income.
She needs to be looking for a job at the same time waiting on God to give her 1.
Waiting on God. God, I’m asking you to lead me to the right place.
I’m asking you to give me favor when I apply for this job.
But waiting on God sometimes means to do nothing except spiritually be trusting him, but there are other things where you do have to be doing something.
I love what Ephesians 6 says, and it’s talking about spiritual warfare.
And it says, do all the crisis demands, then stand firmly in your place. That’s good.
And I love that. So God does expect us to do what we can do, but he just doesn’t want us to get in the flesh just coming up with 1 plan after another how we can get this thing fixed that God’s anointing is not on and his his permission is not on.
Yeah. So we’re really working hand in hand with God.
We’re partners with God. I say that all the time, and it’s it’s very true. I love Ephesians 3:20.
We quote that so often and people love that scripture that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all that we could ever dare to hope, ask, or think.
But the last few words, according to the power that worketh in us. Mhmm.
I never did really know what those meant.
According to the power that worketh in us, but God does things exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond, but he does them through us.
I find many times, Ginger, when I’m waiting on God that he will show me something to do.
Yeah. It’s not that God does everything for us, but he wants us to wait on him to get his instructions.
I remember some specific times that you’ve even said waiting on, um, something to change in your health, and God told you to drink more water or get more rest or whatever that might be.
Or to exercise. I mean
Yeah.
Dave was having a problem 1 time with feeling real nervous, and he’s a man of peace.
He doesn’t normally feel like that.
And he was asking God what to do, and and God showed him that he was drinking too much caffeine.
Every day he was going by a fast food restaurant and getting a 32 ounce drink that was loaded with caffeine and then drinking coffee on top of that and eating too much sugar.
And so a lot of times we do need to hear God show us that we need to do something or not do something.
Mhmm.
And we still may be waiting for that healing, but we’re partners in it with God. I love that. Okay.
Here’s the question for the ages. Very, very straightforward from Trish.
How do I be patient while I’m waiting for my prayer to be answered?
Well, uh, do you know that you can be patient without feeling patient?
Really? No. I don’t know this. I need to know more. Okay.
It’s like I tell people they can be confident even if they don’t feel Mhmm. Confident.
So to be patient doesn’t just mean to wait. It’s how you behave while you’re waiting.
Oh, okay. That makes a lot of sense.
The word the Greek word it comes from says that it’s something that can only be developed under trial.
And so we have to be going through something in order to gain patience, but we don’t start out feeling that way but we can still behave ourselves right, not be angry, not be cranky with other people.
And so we can say God, I’m not feeling patient yet but I need you to help me be patient while I’m waiting for the feelings to catch up with my decision.
Yeah. That’s good. I I feel more patient already.
Oh, thank
you. It’s like there’s a little weight lifted there. That’s good. Okay.
Vanessa says, my husband and I are waiting for a miracle that we need right now.
How do I stay strong when my husband keeps doubting that God’s going to come through for us?
Well it is challenging when you’re trying to be positive and somebody else is pulling you in a negative
Mhmm.
Position. So couple things, 1, you want to stay in the word.
You know, when I have a tendency to worry, 1 of the first things that I start doing is meditating on or quoting out loud every scripture that I know about not worrying, especially Philippians 4:6, to be anxious for nothing.
And another thing that might help her is if she has a friend or somebody else that can have a positive outlook with her Yeah.
To spend some time with them and get some agreement from them, as well as being comforted by God and getting help from the Holy Spirit to stay positive even though it’s tempting to go in the other direction.
Yeah. Waiting is really hard, what especially when people around us are saying.
Right. It is. Yeah.
It’s it’s not gonna happen. It’s not gonna happen.
It’s
not gonna happen. And let me let me say this.
When we’re waiting on God, Ginger, we need to be waiting on God for his will, not waiting on God for ours.
Mhmm.
And a lot of times, we have this specific thing we want God to do, and it may not be the way God wants to do it.
Yeah. So I believe that many times we get what we ask for, but if we’ve asked for the wrong thing we better be glad that God doesn’t give it to us because it means he’s got something better in mind and we don’t know how to ask for it yet.
Yeah. Oh, that’s that’s a really good point. Okay. This is from Adeline.
She says, I’ve been praying for my husband’s salvation for 20 years already. I’m still waiting to receive an answer.
I’m so weary. How long will God make me wait?
Well, I can’t tell her that obviously, but just as an encouragement I prayed for my father to be saved for 40 years.
And I didn’t pray every single day, but on and off I prayed for 40 years, and so Jesus said, who will he find in faith when he comes back?
So I just realized something the other day like somebody said something along the lines of, you know, I’ve been in faith, but this isn’t happening, so maybe faith doesn’t work.
And the first thing I thought is faith doesn’t have an end. You don’t
Yeah.
I mean, in Hebrews 11, we’ve got the great hall of fame of faith people and it says that many of them died in faith without having received the promise.
So it’s our part is to keep believing.
God’s part is to provide at a time when he’s ready.
And so maybe she just needs to keep her mind on her part, you know, I’m gonna keep believing no matter what.
Yeah. You know the heart the hard part with praying for someone’s salvation is it’s very clear in the Bible that it is God’s will that that all come to know him.
And he can get saved before he draws his last breath.
Exactly. You you just don’t know what that timing would look like, and, of course, we all want it now because Right.
We love that person, and we know it’s what’s best for them. But there’s also that person’s will involved.
That’s right. And when anytime I’m glad you brought that up because I’ve shared with people.
Anytime you’re praying for somebody else, you have to realize that their will is involved, and God’s not going to move against your free will in order to answer my prayer.
When I pray, it opens the door for God to deal with you, but you still have to accept Yeah.
What he’s saying.
But God has some really good ways
to get through to people.
Oh, he does. He does. Yes. He definitely does.
And, you know, I’ve seen some amazingly wonderful, wonderful answer to prayer, and I’ve been thinking about prayer even again the last 2 or 3 days and thinking about teaching on it again because it’s amazing.
Bible says in James 42, you have not because you asked not.
And there’s so many things that we could ask God to help us with that we just fly on past and try to do it on our own strength.
Prayer is very powerful. The prayer of a righteous man avails much, Makes tremendous power available and it’s working.
So keep praying, but trust God for his will, not your own.
Yeah. That’s been so helpful. Thank you. Waiting is hard.
It is.
But it’s really, like you said, all about trust and and hope.
I definitely want God’s will and not my own. Yeah.
Well, you know, our hope is found in him especially when we’re waiting.
The Bible says in Romans 1513, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him So that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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The mind actually is the battlefield.
That’s where we win or lose the war with Satan. He said all he gets to say.
He says the law is lost. Today’s mind. You start asking God to heal you and he will restore.
He’s the God of all comfort, and I am so grateful that I know how to call on God.