by Joyce Meyer
Don’t think according to the past, think according to the Word of God.
What you believe determines whether you will receive the manifestation of fullness in your life.
Far too many people testify to emptiness and dryness in their lives.
God has satisfaction, fullness and completeness in mind for us. I never felt satisfied or complete in my life until I was doing what God had ordained for me to do. Fullness only comes through being in the center of God’s will. If you and I don’t get into agreement with God through right believing, we will never make any progress toward the end fulfillment of our destinies.
YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE A DREAM!__________________
Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man] — blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.
Proverbs 29:18
Those with a sad past need to be able to believe in a bright future. The writer of Proverbs says that where there is no vision, people perish.
A vision is something we see in our mind, “a mental sight” as one definition puts it. It may be something God plants in us supernaturally or something we see on purpose. It involves the way we think about ourselves, our past and our future. Remember what I said earlier — it does not cost anything to believe.
Some people are afraid to believe. They think they may be setting themselves up for disappointment. They have not realized they will be perpetually disappointed if they don’t believe.
I feel that if I believe for a lot and even get half of it, I am better off than I would be to believe for nothing and get all of it.
I am challenging you to start believing good things. Believe you can do whatever you need to do in life through Christ. Don’t have a “give up easy” attitude. Let your faith soar. Be creative with your thoughts. Take an inventory: what have you been believing lately? An honest answer may help you understand why you have not been receiving what you have wanted to receive.
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STANDING UP ON THE INSIDE
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STANDING UP ON THE INSIDE
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 TIMOTHY 4:7 NKJV
Ionce heard the story of a little boy attending church with his mother, who kept standing up at the wrong time. His mother repeatedly told him to sit down, and finally she got very strong with him about it, telling him emphatically, “Sit down now, or you will be in trouble when we go home!” The little boy looked at her and said, “I’ll sit down, but I’m still going to be standing up on the inside.”
It seems to me that someone in life is always trying to get us to sit down. They tell us not to make waves, not to be heard or noticed. They want us to simply go along with the program others have designed and forget about what we want personally.
Through the years, many people tried to hold me back from the call on my life. There were those who did not understand what I was doing and why I was doing it, so they judged me falsely. At times their criticism and judgment made me want to “sit down” and forget about my vision from God. There were others who were embarrassed by having a “lady preacher” for a friend or relative; they wanted me to “sit down” so their reputation would not be affected adversely. Many rejected me, and the pain of their rejection tempted me to “sit down” and quietly go along with the group.
But I had a big God standing up on the inside of me, and “sitting down” was not an option to me. He caused me to stand up on the inside and be determined to go forward no matter what others thought, said or did. It was not always easy, but I learned from my experience that being frustrated and unfulfilled due to being out of the will of God is more difficult than pressing through all the opposition.
Standing up on the inside does not mean being rebellious or having an aggressive attitude toward those who don’t understand us. It means having a quiet inner confidence that takes us through to the finish line. It is knowing inside that despite what is going on the outside, everything is going to be all right because God is on the scene, and when He is present nothing is impossible.
In order to succeed at being ourselves, we must be faithful to God all the way to the end. We can never quit or give up.
I believe there are probably very few people who completely succeed at being all they can be. The opposition is too great. It is easy to get defeated. However, those who are determined to remain standing on the inside no matter what happens will cross the finish line! They will be able to say with Jesus, “Father, glorify me now, for I have completed the work You have given me to do.” ( John 17:4,5.)
TWO THINGS THAT INTERRUPT FAITH__________________
But Christ (the Messiah) was faithful over His [own Father’s] house as a Son [and Master of it]. And it is we who are [now members] of this house, if we hold fast and firm to the end our joyful and exultant confidence and sense of triumph in our hope [in Christ].
Hebrews 3:6
I emphasized the word if in this passage because often we don’t like to pay attention to the ifs and buts in the Bible. In Scriptures like this one, we see what God will do, if we will do what we are supposed to do.
You and I have the awesome privilege of being members of the Father’s house, if we remain firm in faith until the end. Going to the altar and praying a sinner’s prayer is only the beginning of our walk with Him; we must follow through and continue in faith — we must keep believing in Him!
Confidence and faith are virtually synonymous; sometimes they can be interchanged without losing the context of what is being said at all. I could give a long fancy definition of faith, but suffice it to say that faith is confidence in God. In simple terms, faith is knowing that if God has said He will do something, He will do it. Even if it doesn’t look like He is doing it right now, it will come to pass in His timing, if we will remain confident in Him.
The only two things that can interrupt faith are 1) the manifestation of what is believed or 2) the manifestation of doubt and unbelief. Once we receive the manifestation of what we have been believing for, we no longer need faith, so it ceases in that case. In the same way, the manifestation of doubt and unbelief — that is, receiving the lies of Satan and believing them — interrupts faith, so that it ceases to exist.
That is why our faith must continue, even when it seems that everything and everyone is against us. In Christ, we can remain standing firm on the inside because we know that our real life is in us, not in the people or circumstances around us.
PUT CONFIDENCE IN GOD,NOT IN FLESH__________________
For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God and exult and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances.
Philippians 3:3
Confidence in God is a totally different thing from self-confidence. As I have already mentioned, we believers are to put no confidence in the flesh. In my ministry, I work to destroy people’s self-confidence and to get them to the point that their confidence is in Christ and Him alone. God opposes our independent attitude, and He will aggressively deal with us until all of it is removed.
We should have a sense of inward triumph, but it can only be found in Christ.
TRIUMPH IN CHRIST__________________
But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere.
2 Corinthians 2:14
As we saw in Chapter 5, according to Romans 8:37 we are more than conquerors in Christ. I believe we are more than conquerors when we know we already have the victory before the trouble ever starts. That kind of confidence is an inward assurance, not in ourselves, but in the God Who indwells us.
My husband Dave is not a man who is afraid of circumstances. Th
ey don’t frighten him or cause him to change his position at all. He has a quiet confidence that no matter what happens, God will take care of it if we will keep our trust in Him. Dave definitely walks with this sense of inward triumph, a more-than-a-conqueror attitude. He is definitely a man who remains standing on the inside no matter what comes against him on the outside.
Over the years, I have watched him in many different situations, and he has handled them all the same way. He casts his care on God and keeps trusting and believing that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 KJV.) When he tries to do something and it does not work out, when someone rejects him, when someone judges or criticizes our ministry, when we are in financial need, or even when he and I are struggling in our personal relationship, he always maintains that quiet confidence that in the end everything will work out all right.
Recently, I talked with a friend who spent much of her life worrying about her two children. One married a few years ago and has a great life, and the other is scheduled to be married soon to a wonderful man. I remarked to her how much time we waste worrying about our children, and how it really is wasted energy. I noted how things usually work out in the end and how worrying only contributes to the problem; it does not provide the answer.
In my earlier life, I went through the same thing this mother experienced. I worried about certain issues with each of my children while they were young. Now they are grown, and all the things I worried about have worked out.
As I have explained, I worried about my oldest daughter, Laura, because she did not like school and got mediocre grades. She was an undisciplined teenager — undisciplined with her personal belongings and her money. She wanted to get married young and have children, and I felt she was not even taking care of herself, let alone prepared to have a family. When she got married at age nineteen, I had nagged her so much that our relationship was anything but good. Dave had told me repeatedly, “Joyce, Laura will turn out fine. She will make it.”
Now Laura is in her thirties and is so well organized that she helps keep me organized. Her marriage is great, she has two wonderful children and all is well. She went through some rough times learning some of the lessons she needed to learn after she was away from home, but learning things the hard way is often the best way — we usually never forget what we have learned by experience.
While I was falling apart on the inside, Dave was standing up on the inside and refusing to let circumstances rule him. I believe we are more than conquerors when we don’t fear trouble. None of us have nice little lives that are totally trouble free — if we bow down to fear there will always be something to fear.
STEP OUT AND FIND OUT__________________
…“Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Luke 5:4 NKJV
The only way we ever reach our final destination and succeed at being our true selves is to take many, many steps of faith. Stepping out into the unknown — into something we have never done before — can leave us shaking in our boots.
Because of feelings of fear, many people never “step out,” therefore they never “find out” what they are capable of.
I believe we are very close to the time when Jesus will return for His Church, and I don’t think He has time to spend months and months convincing each of us to obey when He wants us to step out into something. I believe the more we progress into what we call “the last days,” the more God is going to require radical steps of obedience.
Many people are missing the will of God for their lives because they are “playing it safe.” I don’t want to come to the end of my life and say, “I was safe, but I’m sorry.”
The world has a little saying: “Better safe than sorry.” I am not sure that always works in God’s economy. If I had tried to be safe all the time, I am sure I would not be where I am today. I would never have sown the seeds of obedience in my life that have produced the harvest I now enjoy in my ministry and in many other areas of my life.
I am not suggesting we all start doing a bunch of foolish things that are unwise, but I know for a fact that not everything God wants us to do makes sense to the natural mind. You and I must learn to be led by discernment in the inner man (the spirit) and not by our own carnal minds, or what other people suggest to us. When we step out, we should do all we can to be sure it is the voice of God to which we are responding in faith and obedience and not just some wild thought we have picked up out of the atmosphere where it was placed by Satan to try to lure us into destruction.
Dave and I have found that the best policy is “one step at a time.” When we have something on our hearts, we pray awhile and wait awhile. If it stays in our hearts, we take a step. If it works, and we see that God is anointing it, we take another step.
People who get into serious trouble usually don’t do so in one big jump; more often it is the result of many wrong steps. God has warned them along the way and tried to keep them out of trouble, but they have pressed on in the flesh (following their own carnal desires), trying to make what they want to be God’s will.
Here is a good example of the right way to step out in faith. When Dave and I believed God was telling us to go on television, we did not contract with four hundred stations at the beginning. First, we contacted our partners and asked them to invest in the equipment we needed, if they felt God was leading them to do so. We knew that if God was indeed telling us to go on television, then He would also tell others to help us.
When all the money we needed came in, we took another step. We went on a handful of stations and went back to our partners in the ministry, asking them to help us again by committing a certain amount of money that would enable us to pay the bills for air time the first few months while our program was getting established. Once again they responded with what we needed, and so we pressed forward.
Over the years we have added stations as we have been able to pay for the ones we are already on. We would not have continued to add stations if the ones we were on were not paying for themselves.
As of this writing I have thirty-three published books on the market. Had I written one or two and sold none I would not have continued to write more.
Some people get into trouble simply because they are unable to admit they made a mistake and find a new direction. It is very difficult to get into serious trouble stepping out one step at a time. But those who won’t step out are already in serious trouble because they will never accomplish anything in life.
Another safety factor we have followed is being sure our hearts are right concerning the thing we are doing. We have to be sure we have pure motives and are doing it solely because we believe it is God’s will.
Some people get into trouble because they do what other people think they should do. Others do things to get attention or to imitate what they see someone else doing.
Many ministers were on television a long time before I was. As a matter of fact, I can remember many people saying to me, “Why don’t you go on television, Joyce?” or “Joyce, don’t you want to be on television?” To be honest, I did not want to be on television. I didn’t want the financial responsibility. I had a very successful radio ministry, and I wanted to stay in the “safe zone.” But when God said, “I want you to go on television,” He also filled my heart with desire.
Other people can want things for us, but we must want them ourselves or we will never press through the difficulties that come with giving birth to a new thing.
I wanted to make sure my motive was right for going on television. God is not looking for people who want to be stars — He is looking for people who want to help others. It is always good to take some time to examine our motives. Being honest with ourselves about motives can save us many failures.
Recently we have been greatly encouraged by several people to advertise our conferences in a greater way. While it is true that people won’t come if they don’t know we are there, it is also tru
e that we could waste a lot of money doing things the world’s way that won’t necessarily work in the Kingdom of God.
God has His own ways!
Some of the things suggested to us we felt very good about, and others we did not. I don’t feel it is my job to “sell myself.” It is my job to obey God, love people, be where I believe the Lord wants me to be and, after having done my part to advertise properly, trust Him to speak to people to come. I did not feel I could do some of the things people were suggesting and do them with right motives, so I decided not to even try. I believe God will honor that decision and give the increase we desire.
RADICAL OBEDIENCE OFTEN REQUIRES SACRIFICE__________________
…Truly I tell you, there is no one who has given up and left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for My sake and for the Gospel’s
Who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this time — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life.
Mark 10:29,30
Life In The Word maintains an office in Australia, and we needed two couples from our ministry to go there and manage that branch. In order to move there, the couples basically had to give up everything they had and start over. It would have been too expensive to ship a lot of personal belongings that far.
Two couples did take a step of obedience as they felt God speaking to their hearts that they were the ones to go. They stepped out, but in order to do so they had to make huge personal sacrifices. They had to sell their cars and furniture, leave behind family and friends and separate themselves from churches in which they were deeply rooted. They had to leave everything and everyone they loved in order to obey God and move to a faraway place. Obviously, despite their love of God and their desire to do His will, it was a difficult transition.