Joyce Meyer: How to Discern God’s Will for Your Life | Finding God’s Will | Women of Faith on TBN
Joyce Meyer: How to Discern God’s Will for Your Life | Finding God’s Will | Women of Faith on TBN
Joyce Meyer teaches on how to discern and find God’s will for your life. Join the conversation as Laurie Crouch, CeCe Winans, Lisa Harper, and Christine Caine join Joyce Meyer to discuss how to trust God’s will and plan for your life!
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please understand you don’t have to make yourself miserable trying to find the will of God for your life just love God you know that’s right tell them what’s in your heart but be willing to do whatever he puts in front of you and it may it probably will take longer than what you thought it would but even part of that it’s part of the test yeah that God gives you to see if you’re going to be faithful or not one of the things we want to talk about today is will you answer God’s call and if you will answer it what is it
this is good for me because I just finished writing a book about uh what is finding God’s will for your life and um I don’t think that you find God’s will for your life I think that’s the wrong way to go about it I think so many people are fr frustrated and trying to find out what God wants them to do and what I believe is that if you make yourself available to God you just say I’m available amen for whatever you want me to do that God will come get you when he’s ready I remember being in a a church
service years ago and it was mission Sunday they talked about missions once a year on Sunday and uh we sang that song here I send me and uh I thought my little heart would burst and I just said God here I am send me and I just I knew I wanted to serve God and I didn’t even know what all that meant but when God called me I was making my bed so I think you just need to go about your ordinary life and one of the things I think that people do is they they wait for this one thing that God has called him to do and what you should
do is do whatever is in front of you lay your hand to it I mean I did everything from clean my Pastor’s house absolutely to go pass out tracks on the street one summer I took a bunch of women with me we put 10,000 gospel tracks under windshields w wow and um if we had work days at church we’d go do those and then when God was ready to call me to do what I’m doing now he came got me I wasn’t trying to find anything I was just living my life and I really want what we say about this today to bring peace to a
lot of people because I hate to see people frustrated about what is God’s will for my life I love that you uh started there miss Joyce because I think when we hear call calling in our culture we usually think vocation or gifting and I’m like well yeah that’s part of it but calling is God’s Mission and God from the very beginning said you know from the the curse in Genesis 3 to glory and Revelation his calling is to draw draw people into himself and when he tells Abraham in Genesis 12 I’m gonna bless
you so you are a blessing so I didn’t just save you from I saved you for I think we’ve made it too narrow and I love talking about gifts and Paul says what he’s called you to so there is a a gift element to it but there’s a macro element to it that even though you weren’t preaching you were doing exactly what God wanted you to do putting you know tracks on windshields and I think there I don’t know sometimes I think whatever your assignment is we tend to gravitate toward platform instead of
God’s pleasure and I’m like just because people aren’t clapping doesn’t mean you aren’t smack dab in the middle of your calling for That season might a lot of those years are testing years God does test our heart when I felt like I really graduated to being in Ministry I taught a home Bible study for five years 25 people in my living room floor and I didn’t get paid for that right you know there was no there was no money involved and God tests our heart he tests us to see if our motives are right and you you
do a lot of things before you get to the place where I’m at now and I’ve been doing this 45 years not 45 minutes so there’s a there’s a test test of faithfulness and you know there’s a lot of hidden years a lot of years where you’re you have this big dream and and but you’re hidden nobody knows about it but you and you know if you think about Paul the Apostle Paul and Barnabas they had been ministering for a long time and then it says the Holy Ghost said separate Paul and Barnabas now for the
work to which I had called them so there was a specific call on their life but they had already been busy doing anything that they could do to share the gospel so every single person that’s a Christian is a minister that’s right we’re called to to reconcile be God’s representatives in the earth well if you feel like you don’t have a calling from God that’s inaccurate we all have a call from God if you don’t know what you’re calling is Begin by prayer not only for yourself but also for other people because we’re
all called to pray As intercessors and we’re all called to help people be reconciled unto Christ however that plays out in your life that’s the way God wants to use you so make yourself available open your heart to him and trust him to guide you I love the Amplified Bible that says that we are God’s personal Representatives he is making his appeal to the world through us that is amazing so every day you go out you need to realize that you you represent God in the way you behave I think I think in the way you dress and I
don’t mean you have to be all dressed up but you know we need to be clean we need to be neat we represent God everywhere that we go you know I love that that the Bible says that we’re all called the word call you can call somebody or you know God when he first started saying the call word is when he said um that there be light and he called forth the light in the midst of the darkness when when he calls you there’s a purpose in that call there’s a destiny in that called when he called forth light well it’s never stopped being
light that was fulfilled right when he called forth The Parting that was done there was a destiny there was a purpose in that call and I think that if we know that we’re called there is a finished work of Destiny and purpose in each one of our lives that we just have to take the faith to step out in right and I love what you were just saying is that of finding your purpose if we’re just if we just get in and just serve each other we’re going to find our purpose right right and and out of that and even
though circumstances might change the purpose is to know him and to make him known right right when God calls you he sets forth a Destiny and the Bible says that all are called and I believe that you are called we all have a calling and a Destiny and it’s kind of like a river you can cross the river you can avoid the river you can just jump in the river and flow with it and I believe that’s what your call is your call is jumping in with both feet both feet of Faith to be swept down through your calling your destiny and your
purpose and God has already has it planned out it’s a finished work that you just get to ride I think people sit back and they want to have Assurance right this is what they want they want all these proofs right but you I always tell you got to step out to find out and you can’t be afraid no because you may make a mistake but all you have to do if I’ve stepped out and it hasn’t worked then I’ve just stepped back right and then I’ve stepped in another direction right and the waters didn’t part in the Jordan
until the until the priest put their foot in it and so you got to put put your foot in it so to speak you got to you have to be willing to be wrong to ever find out if you’re right and we are way way way too fearful of being wrong and what people will think and what they’ll say right it it just doesn’t matter I mean being wrong is part of finding out yeah right what you’re supposed to people I think our generation I put all of us in the same generation than I appreciate that there was such a fear about am I in the will of God I
mean I I know that I was primarily called to be a singer but unfortunately sister CeCe over here took my call yeah you are such a servant so sacrificial humble humble down but even that example sounds so nonsensical because of course I was not called to that right number one I can’t sing uh it’s not a blessing to anyone and of course part of whatever CeCe is going to do in her life and that’s not just one thing I think in in Christianity sometimes we confuse a career with a calling the first thing God calls us to
himself so that’s the first calling is that we’re called to him and so when you called to him you know I was thinking when I was in Pakistan a lot of those women are not sort of agonizing I mean they would be in some places shot dead or killed if they tried to do anything that we’re doing so their calling is to him and then in that every day how can I number one be close to you and then be your light within my context which it’s not even that we’re asking God what his calling is we’re scrolling through
somebody else’s life going oh I like that I like that so I want to do that and everywhere in scripture Paul says or you know the Lord says I’ve called you to this and sometimes that’s resulted in death sometimes that’s resulted in downward Mobility sometimes that’s resulted in going where nobody wants to go Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh it’s like you know this whereas we just think well if it’s God’s calling it’s bigger it’s bitter it’s flesia I know it’s really easy to be
frustrated when you can’t see God’s purpose um Paul talks about that um when he talks about the fact that we see through the glass dimly in other words we’ve got we’ve got human eyesight and we’re trying to figure out a supernatural god um here’s how I would encourage you um if you look back Moses says that in Deuteronomy if you look back at his faithfulness in your life you’ll see that his plan for us really are always good that’s not hyperbolic it’s true and so I’d say sit for a
minute breathe um I always dive into the Psalms because the Psalms are they’re they’re like God’s diary uh God’s people’s diary they record the the dancing and the Weeping of God’s people so you’re not crazy if you’re going through a difficult season you’re just human so I I dive into the Psalms you’ll find yourself there you can find frustration there I love the didn’t edit that out of scripture and then look back remember how he’s already been faithful in your life and those kind of Seasons
where you you don’t feel like you can see his hand if yall just keep putting one foot in front of the other you’ll get to a place where you go oh my goodness and you’ll realize you’ve never been absent from his presence you know I and I I think of even what we’ve all gone through in the last few years and I know you all intimately so um and I I look at people that have been really shaken by what’s happened uh and I think wow it’s interesting because if you call to Jesus even ultimately a global pandemic
economic disaster political soci whatever all the challenges are in the world that everyone’s confronting pretty much I know you guys we didn’t Flinch in terms of our relationship with Jesus our calling to Jesus our calling to what we were doing it’s like well okay I guess I’m at home I’m on IG live telling Jesus Loves You Jesus has got a plan for your life and I’m like I wasn’t I wasn’t fretting about all my Ministry I never even thought about that it was like we’re called so how are we going to make
this happen in this context so I think what we need to understand as a generation Paul says you’re sa to Timothy you’re saved and called so of course we’re all called to live on Mission stay-at-home mom homeschooling 10 kids that’s Global Grammy award-winning singer you know massive media media Ministry um whatever we’re call dance dance dance Lisa’s got prophetic dance with ribbon she’s excels it’s awesome but when I I I think the agonizing so I’ll go back to our generation and I remember at and I’ve
you know all of us have been in Ministry meetings where and particularly women have lined up and especially if they come from a tradition where a woman couldn’t do anything like we’re doing the fear of God like I don’t want to step out of the will of God I don’t want to dishonor God I don’t want to disrespect God and I understand how that cripples and paralyzes you um but I think if everyone really knew all of our stories I never knew a woman could do what I’m doing so I can’t tell you I
used to lie awake at night and think I’m going to do this I didn’t know this existed I thought because I came from a Greek Orthodox background when I got saved I thought I was going to be a nun because that’s all I thought like Mother Teresa I remember my mother going CH dinner cuz I I enrolled in a nunery to I thought I was going to go to a n she I’m sorry and she said Christina no Convent will have you I said Mom I’ll hang out with the monks I don’t know I was like I didn’t know how I was going
to do that life anyway but I’m like I thought Jesus has called me to himself therefore I’ll do anything I’m going to be with I thought I would be with Mother Teresa in India because I thought that’s what you do if you uh call see that heart that heart that heart to do anything there you go whatever that’s it that that’s what God’s looking for that’s right and then he can steer you into the specific thing right he wants you to do it’s crucial to check the posture of our hearts and that’s an
ongoing thing it’s not something you know we pray one time and say Lord give me a new heart uh the right spirit and it just stays there it’s something that we continue to check the posture of your heart is to make sure you’re um in the posture of humility the posture of hearing God’s voice the posture of um Thanksgiving gratefulness gratitude and and checking that asking the Lord I think the best way to check it is through prayer always praying um and and that way you can stay focused cuz when your posture is right then
you’re able to hear clear and it’s easier to obey so keep the posture is so important um it’s totally tied to you accomplish in what God has called you to do it keeps you focused when your posture is right your eyes will stay on Jesus how does somebody recognize what they’re called to do you are to gave us the best hint and that is that you have to step forward and God does say I mean Abraham very first human call you see in scripture is go yeah and he doesn’t say gaze at your Naval and download to
leave something he said leave something leave something that wasn’t necessarily bad you’re comfortable here and we’re such creatures of comfort that I think we get in ruts and then we just kind of try to wrap stuff around where we feel most comfortable instead of going oh wow stepping out is going to involve sacrifice it’s going to involve where I’m not comfortable not what I’m bad at like he didn’t call you to music Ministry um I was actually studying call recently and I was trying to remember
this big word that I forgotten from Seminary and y’all have probably not forgotten it but it’s called meninism which was one of the yeah I never knew it so I couldn’t get it it it was one of the most popular Pagan religions from the 3D to the 7th Century at one point it was the biggest religion that was that was in Conflict Christianity bottom line is they taught that God is higher than us well that’s true that’s straight from scripture but they said because Jesus sullied him himself s by becoming
incarnate anything physical is bad and that where this comes back to calling is that’s where you get that idea that still permeates culture that you have to lie on a bed of nails you have to do something that’s awful that’s hard that hurts you because since we’re inherently dirty as physical beings God is spiritual then you’ve got that dualistic idea that it has to be hard we have to have pain in order for God to be pleased that would be calling that’s where you get all the aestheticism and I think o
we’ve still got a little bit of that then you mix that poison with I’ve got to be famous and have a brand and I’ve got to be an influencer and I’m like we’ve missed some of the Simplicity of calling move go toward the lord there’s a million things in here when he tells us what to do love one another well be a servant F fulfill the prophets as best you can it for us in the New Testament it’s make sure your life EX simplifies the fruit of the spirit that’s a lot to do that’ll keep you real busy you may
not know I’m going to have a media Ministry and preach all over the world but you know huh right now I’m going to put tracks on cars because I have this passion and I want to do it to honor the Lord so I’d say the very first step of identifying the track God has for you is move move toward the lord and move toward the community that he currently has you in also what what are you good at right right doesn’t have to be painful and what do you like right exactly and I think that people like you said they
think they got to be miserable but you know I mean what am I good at I tried to play a guitar I thought but my fingers were too short yeah and yeah you know I they turn my microphone off when I sing in my own conferences they turn it off so I don’t nobody know nobody knows what key I sing in it’s something that doesn’t exist like just put it in be and I’ll flatten it right right but I wanted I wanted to do it all I wanted to sing I wanted to play an instrument you know we see what somebody else is doing and we
want to do what they’re doing but I’m a communicator right I’m able to talk and get my point across and so that’s what I’m good at and I enjoy it so we I think it can be so much simpler yeah than what people make it out to be and that’s that’s my heart when I wrote the book and it was my heart for today that people realize that you don’t have to make yourself miserable looking right just be available I think being available but also think I think it it finds you yeah I think your purpose and
call finds you when you serve the Lord and you determine your your number one priority is to please him right right you know the Bible says that if you seek the Lord with all your heart you’re going to find him so I don’t want you to be afraid to jump in with both feet I don’t want you to be afraid that God’s not going to meet you where your faith is he said you call on me and I’m going to answer you and I’m going to show you Great and Mighty things that you don’t even know God has so much in
store for you your calling and your purpose if you seek after God he’s going to make your path straight he’s going to lead you and guide you that’s where he give give us the Holy Spirit to be beside us to be the helper to help us along the way he’s never going to leave you and he’s never going to forsake you cuz the journey is amazing none of us really knew we would be here right you know but we started out with just saying yes Lord you know and um the testing of your heart and I I think he
always seems to call people into places that they really don’t desire at least at least in my uh case I never desired to be out front um I never desired to sing out front I’ve always loved to sing uh but but I just love the Lord you know and so my my heart was Lord wherever you want me to be because even though I I’m known for singing you know 12 years ago the Lord called me to Pastor yeah I’m like no really so so he doesn’t just cause us to do one thing EX right you know what I’m saying it can change and so I I am
removed myself from the music industry for almost eight years and they were like well your career is going to be gone I’m like well I didn’t start this for my career in the first place God gave me that and if he wants me to go back to it I’ll go back to it and sure enough eight years later I went back to it and he took me higher than I’ve ever been you know what I’m saying so so your your calling will find you if you’re running after him right that’s it that’s right that’s it and and and when you
asked the question earlier how do you recognize that you have your call I think you recognize it by seeing the fruit right of it you know um I remember again going back to singing my first solo I was probably about 8 years old I didn’t want to sing they made me sing I cry through the whole song feel my C Lord and my parents could care less about me crying it was like you going to sing it again and you’re going to sing it again but but at one point I realized people were crying and I realized some somebody bigger it it wasn’t my voice
God God made it very clear at the beginning it is not about your voice but it was the spirit of God that came in and I was like okay this is more than me right you know and I think if we all realized that from the beginning that it’s somebody much bigger than you but we’re called just to we’re called like you said you said something earlier was so good you just said we’re called to minister to him but also to to draw people to him he is personal representative he is personal representative and I think that is just
that’s the biggest calling of all if if any other call becomes bigger than that I think we get confused that’s right I would encourage anyone who’s listening to be obedient to the word of God because the the plans that God has for you are always better than what you have for yourself and so even if it’s something that you don’t desire um be obedient to the word of the Lord be obedient to his leading um because he knows exactly what your purpose is in the Earth and he knows how to get you there you know first and foremost before
you have any Ministry you need a relationship with God I was working at a church and I was so proud of myself because I was working in Ministry and I just thought I that’s so I drive to the church in the morning it was just and I remember when God said to me you know you’re proud of yourself because you work for me but the problem is you don’t spend any time with me and that turned my life upside down and so since then my priority is always God first every morning then everything else has to come after that that’s good you’re not you
will not be a success at whatever you lay your to if you don’t put God first and keep God first and Ministry can draw you away from God really quick so because you get so busy doing the ministry you forget and telling other people about God Amen that you don’t prioritize your own relationship with God and before I get messages to preach to other people I always study the Bible for me right and you know with wow what do I need to change where do I need to grow and uh just keep God first yeah people watching today keep God first and if
he’s not first get him back where he belongs because if he’s not on the throne nothing’s going to work um the best place to start with a relationship with God first of all um this is a love story it’s not a rule book so I’d encourage you to dive into scripture that’s where God reveals himself the clearest but I would say just say to the Lord even if it’s just in the privacy of the car pull over into a rest area or better yet get like a really yummy drink with all kinds of caffeine and sugar and then just say
God will you please reveal yourself to me I’m seeking you I don’t want a religion I want to Rel relationship with you he promises in this love letter we call the Bible that if we seek Him He will be found by us there’s actually an even better promise I think in the Old Testament that says his love is so great for us that he reveals himself to people who aren’t even seeking him yet and so I’d say just be honest with God you don’t have to curate your emotions with him just say I’m seeking you will you
please reveal yourself to me and then dive into this book The Gospel of John is a great place to start that’ll tell you all about the life and Ministry of Jesus how much he loves you but just take the next step you don’t have to understand all the multi-op theological terms you don’t have to understand the Bible or much less how to pronounce soach just take a step toward the lord you’ll find that he’s he’s actually waiting for you you know growing up I I was in a pastor’s home just like you and and
always wanting to be in the will of God right so afraid you weren’t and yeah if it’s this hard being in the will of God what is it like being out of it you know so so I remember my early years it was like I would look at my mom as a pastor’s wife and thought I don’t want to do that I did not want to be a pastor’s wife I love to sing but I wasn’t a soloist I can I can back you up but I always knew I was supposed to be in the ministry well we’re all in the ministry abolutely that was a little
long on me but I I knew I had a call wasn’t sure what that was but I knew I wasn’t going to be a pastor’s wife and I couldn’t just go out and sing on the road by myself what did that look like but I was passionate on knowing that I was called and then my mother-in-law walked in an elevator and I walked in with her and I met my husband and then now now now sitting here but I just really think that you if you have a heart after God that’s it right there and you and you really want to please him and you really
want and and you want to share Jesus with the world God will God will make those things happen that you can’t those doors open that you never dreamed possible I never dreamed of doing this never none of us did just the doors the things that we can’t do in ourselves God will do for you I’m thinking let people go you know did you always want want to run a global anti Trafficking Organization I’m like I didn’t even know it existed 15 years ago so the things that I’m doing and some of the most influential things that I’m
doing I never even knew they existed and I’m thinking as we go into the future and talking to you guys some of the stuff we’re doing you never sat down and thought Oh I’m going to host Better Together We it wasn’t even in our the thing for that it so who knows what God’s got 5 years from now so you actually just need the Same Heart whatever God says I’m in it with Jesus the task may change my functions have changed what I do and how I do it and who I do it to may change um but the fact is he’s called me to him which
means anything I do is aligned to him and I think whether again I come back to if you’re a stay-at-home mother if you’re a single corporate woman running a company our call is to him if we get too caught up in what we do and how we do it then when things change we’re going to get really discombobulated because we we we we can’t separate the call of God meaning us with Jesus with from what we do and and that’s why people then don’t change and it gets Obsolete and I’m thinking y um we have
to continue he keeps calling us it doesn’t stop that call is a continuous ongoing Journey well for somebody who desperately wants God to work in their lives and you want to know what the first step is the first step is is to ask him to and to make yourself available and then do what God puts in front of you it may be something very simple but yet it can be very powerful in the kingdom of God like I went just like Joyce cleaning out the church serving in the youth ministry I never had prayed I never felt a desire I didn’t have seven Angelic
visitations dancing on my dubet calling me to youth but someone said oh we need help with youth I had a car and I could put in my car so and because I felt called to Jesus and then the church said I want someone to drive kids to Youth and I had a license that was it that was my an little did I know and then people go well Christine ran the largest youth ministry in Australia well yes but if I didn’t pick up the kids when I never prayed about Youth and I never cared about youth but I just and to a degree
there is a large element of that still in my life now it’s just like okay God what am I doing today with who and then suddenly I’m like oh well suddenly here I am somewhere in South America with all these millions of people and I just really said yes to driving someone I drove Joyce Meer yeah I just I was her driver driver that’s how we met I was like a youth worker and they they needed a female driver and um and because of course there wasn’t that many like pastors that were female and so I I
first I didn’t want to driver her yeah but she prayed that she would drive me oh wow and I said no I don’t want to drive her we’ll get our own car so every day for five days she paid $55 to get her car detailed in faith that she would drive me wow and the very last day before I got there I decided you know I think maybe I would like to have a driver and then in our off time we could see a little bit of Australia and that’s how I met Chris Kane pray that and she was in this youth ministry and we had a