transcript

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
[00:22] Welcome to 15 minutes in the word with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer. On today's program, Joyce will be teaching from her series, Never Give Up. Did you know the only way we can lose in life is if we quit? The hard part is learning to keep going and trusting God, even when we're in the midst of difficulties. When we're determined to never give up, there is no limit to what God can do in our lives. Now, here's Joyce with today's teaching.

Speaker 3:
[00:50] Let me tell you something, before you get promoted, you're going to have to pass some tests. Amen? And so the devil lied to him and said different things to him. On four different occasions, the Bible says the devil said to Jesus, and Jesus said to the devil, it is written, and he would quote him a scripture. You're learning the word of God so you can not only just believe the word of God, but so you can use the word of God when the devil is coming against you. Let him who has my word speak my word faithfully, the Bible says. Ask yourself, how much time do you actually spend speaking the word of God out loud out of your own mouth? Now, there's some of you who do, but I would venture to say that more people in here do not than those who do. And many times you just sit around by yourself, and the devil literally just fills you full of nonsense and junk that are totally against the word of God. And you have a weapon that you can use, but nobody can make you use it. You have to do it. You have to open your mouth and say, devil, I don't want to hear your lies. This is what the word says. And the minute that you do that, you interrupt that thought pattern coming to your brain. And now you're feeding your faith instead of feeding your doubts. But here again, I'm just going to be real honest with you. And you know, I'm not trying to be insulting, but a lot of Christians are just too stinking lazy to do it. I just wish the devil would leave me alone. Well, he's not going to leave you alone. And matter of fact, if the devil's not bothering you, then you're probably not bothering him. And I just wish the devil would leave me alone. Well, I wish that I had faith. I wish I didn't have doubt. I wish I didn't have unbelief. We have to get rid of that lazy, passive, apathetic attitude and take on that aggressive, bold spirit, the spirit of God that is in us, and start rising up and coming against this nonsense. You can't just go by what you think and what you feel. You know, I think, you know, I feel. We have weapons of warfare. The Word of God in praise. When you sing these songs, don't just mouth songs on the overhead. Think about what you're singing and sing them in faith, because every time you do, it's an affront to the kingdom of darkness. Get with your friends and talk about the great things that God has done in the past. I mean, yes, we all have problems, and yes, there's times we need to talk to somebody. You know, I'm a woman, I understand all that. But you know what, we gotta be very careful that we don't just talk about the problems, talk about the problems, talk about the problems, talk about the problems, because then what happens is we do forget the good things that God has done in our life. And our faith gets weaker and weaker and weaker, when really if we talked more about all the great things that God has already done, then the problem we have now would seem pretty minor. I'm getting myself excited, even if I'm, even if I don't get you excited, I'm excited. For the weapons of our warfare, everybody say, I'm in a war. I'm in a war. But I have weapons. And now it's time for me to use them. And then it tells you that this battle that we fight in verse five is the battle of the mind, inasmuch as we refute arguments. The devil likes to argue with us, theories. He gives us theories and reasons why our faith won't work. And every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God. And we lead every thought and purpose away captive under the obedience of Jesus Christ. Who leads those thoughts away captive? We do. We take the thoughts that come into our mind captive if they don't agree with the word of God and we say out. I'm not sitting around all day devil be in a garbage dump for your stupidity. I believe the word of God. The moment that we voice our doubt, we give it creative power. Doubt may come against your mind, but if you start talking it, see the Bible says in Matthew 6, do not worry saying, what are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? What are we going to wear? You see, that's the way it happens. Into your head, out of your mouth. Don't start doubting, saying. You can't help what comes to your mind, but you can make a decision right there what you're going to do with it. You can say, is this God or isn't it God? And if it's not God, then you just say the opposite of what the devil wants you to say. We need to start doubting our own doubts. And when the devil brings doubt to you, say, I doubt that doubt. You know, these scriptures, the power of life and death is in the tongue. Call those things that be not as though they are. It is written. It is written. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ. It is written. I can let go of what lies behind and press on to the good things that are ahead. Devil, you're not going to trap me in the past. It is written, my sins can be forgiven and God has forgotten them. I'm not going to spend my day remembering what God has forgotten. Now, I want you to listen to what I'm going to say for the next three, four, five minutes. And this is like probably really, really basic, but I still don't think that a lot of people do it. In Romans 10, see, you want to know why some people make it and others don't. This is the reason right here. Some people do their due diligence and they do what they're supposed to do and others won't. The promises of God are for whosoever will, but it's not just whosoever will have a promise, it's whosoever will do what they need to do to have the promise. Stir yourself up, get a little bit mad in the right way, get a little bit of holy anger stirred up in you and say, Devil, you've robbed from me enough and I'm going to do whatever I need to do to take hold of everything that Jesus died for me to have. I'm trying to get some determination stirred up in you this weekend. Get that lazy passive whatever thing that tries. Don't you feel that trying to get on you sometime just that? I'm just so tired of this. I'm just so sick and tired of being sick and tired and I'm so tired of the devil being on me and I just wish I had faith and I wish I had more money and I wish I could lose weight and I wish my kids would mind and I wish my house was clean. Some of you think, oh God, would you just give me a housekeeper? This is just too much. And what you need to do is go in your door and say, I am going to clean this house, and I am going to do it with Joyce. I mean, you know, how do we really expect to have victories in other areas of our life if we can't get victory over a sink full of dirty dishes? I mean, get it working at home behind closed doors, folks. Romans 10, 13. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are people to call upon him whom they've not believed in, and in whom they have no faith, and on whom they have no reliance? And how are we, and how are they to believe in him, adhere to trust and rely on him, of whom they have never heard, and how are they going to hear without a preacher? So he's saying anybody who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they going to call on somebody if they don't believe in them? And how are they going to believe if they don't hear the word of God? Now, if you go down to verse 17, so faith comes by hearing, and what is heard comes by proclaiming the message of God. So how does faith come? How can my faith become so strong that no amount of doubt and unbelief is going to affect me? You have to love the word of God. And let me tell you something, you have to go after the word of God like you go after your natural food when you're hungry. Can I tell you something? If we get hungry, we eat. I don't care if we got to get in the car and go get it. We eat. Please understand me today. The word of God is medicine for your soul. The word of God actually has healing power in it. He sends his word and heals them, Psalm 10720 says, and delivers them from the pit and from destruction. God's word is medicine. No different than if you have a flu and you go get an antibiotic or whatever you get, or you take aspirin and that's medicine for your body. The word of God is medicine for your soul. It has inherent power in it that will heal your life, but you have to love it. You have to give yourself to it. You have to take it in just like you take in food. It is not going to do any good to read a chapter a day out of obligation because you're afraid God's going to get mad if you don't. You have to go to the word like it's your life and you study it and you read it because there's life in here. It will renew your mind. It will teach you how to think. It will teach you how to act. And it will teach us how to live. And when we begin to think right and talk right and make right choices and have a right attitude, I mean, the kingdom of darkness gets nervous because the devil knows that his days are numbered in your life. Over in Amos, it actually says that we should seek God and seek his word the same as we do our natural food. The word of God is not only medicine for your soul, but it is the food that you need to keep your spirit strong. If you're strong enough in faith, then when the devil lies to you, you won't believe his lies. But if you're not strong enough in faith, then when the devil lies to you, you will believe his lies. Let me ask you a question. Why do you believe what you believe and why? And why do you not believe some things that you ought to be believing and why? For example, a lot of people have a real problem believing that God loves them unconditionally. I was one of those people. I grew up being abused by my father, and so anybody who ever said they love me just hurt me or used me. And I didn't even have a good concept of what love was, and certainly not any kind of unconditional love. So I married the first guy that came along when I was 18, because I thought nobody would ever want me, and he had more problems than I did, if that was possible. So we just gave each other problems and we're separated more than we were together, and he'd run around with other women and ended up going to prison. So I just had another five years of pain and torment. I didn't know how to love anybody. I didn't know how to receive love. Well, when Dave Meyer came into my life, and Dave and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary this year. When Dave came into my life, he really did love me, and he knew how to love because he was a strong, spirit-filled Christian, but I didn't know how to receive love. And so, through my relationship with God, I learned what love is.

Speaker 2:
[13:26] Thanks for listening to today's message. Jesus reminds us that we will have challenges in our lives, but he also promises he will never leave us, and to remember he has already won our victory. We need to trust him and keep moving forward. Regardless of whatever may be going on right now, God's plan is unfolding. We need to be full of hope, believing, expecting, and anticipating great things from him. Romans 12-12 tells us to rejoice in our confident hope, be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. So next time you feel weary, remember that God is with you, and that he is the strength you need to make it through to the finish.

Speaker 4:
[14:09] We all go through hard times, and it's so easy in those moments to focus on the problem. But what if you were able to see the trials of your life the way God sees them, and respond to them the way he teaches us in his word? Joyce Meyer wants to show you how in her new book, Blessed in the Mess, even in the middle of life's difficulties, God's kindness shines through, blessed in the mess. Order your copy today at Joyce Meyer dot org.

Speaker 2:
[14:39] Thank you for listening to 15 Minutes in the Word with Joyce.