How to Succeed at Being Yourself: Finding the Confidence to Fulfill Your Destiny
Page 21
Hebrews 4:16
When you and I pray, we need to make sure we approach God as believers, not as beggars. Remember, according to Hebrews 4:16, we are to come boldly to the throne: not beggarly, but boldly; not belligerently, but boldly.
Be sure to keep the balance. Stay respectful, but be bold. Approach God with confidence. Believe He delights in your prayers and is ready to answer any request that is in accordance with His will.
As believers, we should know the Word of God, which is His will; therefore, it should be easy for us to pray according to God’s will. Don’t approach God wondering if what you are asking is His will. Settle that issue in your heart before you pray.
There are times when I really don’t know what God’s will is in a certain situation, and I tell Him so when I pray. In those cases, I simply ask for His will to be done.
In either case, we should pray with boldness and confidence.
BELIEVE GOD HEARS YOU!__________________
And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.
And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.
1 John 5:14,15
When you pray, believe God hears you!
In John 11:41,42 just before He called Lazarus forth from the tomb, Jesus prayed:
…Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. Yes, I know You always hear and listen to Me, but I have said this on account of and for the benefit of the people standing around, so that they may believe that You did send Me [that You have made Me Your Messenger].
What confidence! To the Pharisees that must have seemed like a haughty spirit. Their response must have been, “Who does He think He is?”
Just as Satan did not want Jesus to have that kind of confidence, he does not want us to have that kind of confidence either. But I am encouraging you one more time before ending this book:
Be confident!
Make a decision that you are a believer, not a beggar. Go to the throne in Jesus’ name — His name will get attention!
I am not even famous like Jesus is, but people like to use my name. My employees like to say, “I work for Joyce Meyer,” my friends like to say, “I know Joyce Meyer,” and my children like to say, “Joyce Meyer is my mother.” They especially like to do that when they want favor with someone, and they think those they are approaching may give them more favor if they mention my name.
If that works for us as human beings, just think how well it must work in the heavenly realm — especially when we use the name that is above all other names — the blessed name of Jesus! (Philippians 2:9-11.)
Go boldly. Go in the name of Jesus. Go with confidence, and go determined to succeed at being yourself.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
1 THESSALONIANS 5:23
To summarize the most important point of this entire book, let me say in closing: you will never sense fulfillment in life unless you reach the goal of being yourself.
Jesus died so that you could be free from comparing yourself with others and free from living in the agony of trying to copy them.
In his book entitled Sanctification, Charles Finney wrote: “…sanctification cannot be attained by attempting to copy the experience of others. It is very common for convicted sinners, or for Christians inquiring after entire sanctification, in their blindness, to ask others to relate their experience, to mark minutely the detail of all their exercises, and then set themselves to pray for, and make direct efforts to attain the same class of exercises, not seeming to understand that they can no more exercise feelings in detail like others than they can look like others.
“Human experiences differ as human countenances differ. The whole history of a man’s former state of mind comes in of course to modify his present and future experience; so that the precise train of feelings which may be requisite in your case, and which will actually occur if you are ever sanctified, will not in all its details coincide with the exercises of any other human being. It is of vast importance for you to understand that you can be no copyist in any true religious experience; and that you are in great danger of being deceived by Satan whenever you attempt to copy the experience of others. I beseech you therefore to cease from praying for, or trying to obtain, the precise experience of any person whatever.”1
Charles Finney lived and ministered in the 1800s. As I teach the Word of God almost 150 years after him, I find it encouraging that the message is still the same.
Sanctification, of course, is the state of perfect holiness and is reached in degrees through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words states that sanctification is “separation to God….the separation of the believer from evil things and ways. This sanctification is God’s will for the believer…and His purpose in calling him by the gospel…it must be learned from God…as He teaches it by His Word…and it must be pursued by the believer, earnestly and undeviatingly….For the holy character…is not vicarious, i.e., it cannot be transferred or imputed, it is an individual possession, built up, little by little, as the result of obedience to the Word of God, and of following the example of Christ…in the power of the Holy Spirit.”2
We are not sanctified by following any other person, but only as we follow Christ as our example. Part of this sanctification or perfection must certainly be the accomplishment of fulfilling our individual destinies, for how can we be sanctified if we are out of the will of God for our lives, or found cringing in fear, doubt, self-rejection and unbelief?
Charles Finney states that sanctification cannot come by means of copying any other person. I agree and also say that none of us will succeed at being ourselves, none of us will be free and able to enjoy our life, by copying any other individual.
My intention when I embarked upon this project, which has required several hundred hours of my time in its preparation, was to help you succeed in being yourself. I believe that to the best of my ability I have completed my goal.
May God richly bless you as you press on toward the high call of being all you can be in, through, by and for Christ Jesus.
PRAYER FOR A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD
God wants you to receive His free gift of salvation. Jesus wants to save you and fill you with the Holy Spirit more than anything. If you have never invited Jesus, the Prince of Peace, to be your Lord and Savior, I invite you to do so now. Pray the following prayer, and if you are really sincere about it, you will experience a new life in Christ.
Father,
You loved the world so much, You gave Your only begotten Son to die for our sins so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
Your Word says we are saved by grace through faith as a gift from You. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation.
I believe and confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Your Son, the Savior of the world. I believe He died on the cross for me and bore all of my sins, paying the price for them. I believe in my heart that You raised Jesus from the dead.
I ask You to forgive my sins. I confess Jesus as my Lord. According to Your Word, I am saved and will spend eternity with You! Thank You, Father. I am so grateful! In Jesus’ name, amen.
See John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 10:9,10; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; 1 John 1:9; 4:14-16; 5:1,12,13.
ENDNOTES
Introduction
1 God will restore our soul.
David said in Psalm 23:1,3: The LORD is my shepherd…. He restoreth my soul… (KJV). We see from reading (back to text)
Luke 4:18 that Jesus was sent to bring restoration to our lives. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me [ Jesus], because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (KJV).
Chapter 1
1Webster’s II New College Dictionary (Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995), s.v. “accept.” (back to text)
2 Webster’s II, s.v. “acceptance.” (back to text)
Chapter 2
1 Based on a definition from James Strong, “Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary” in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1890), p. 58, entry #3810, s.v. “Lo-debar,” 2 Samuel 9:4 — “pastureless.” (back to text)
Chapter 6
1American Dictionary of the English Language, 10th Ed. (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1998). Facsimile of Noah Webster’s 1828 edition, permission to reprint by G. & C. Merriam Company, copyright 1967 & 1995 (Renewal) by Rosalie J. Slater, s.v. “POSSIBLE.” (back to text)
2Webster’s 1828 edition, s.v. “POSSIBILITY.” (back to text)
3Houston Chronicle: Knight-Ridder Tribune News, “After 100 years, things are jelling nicely,” 4 March 1997, p. 1C; David Lyman, Knight-Ridder Tribune News, “Colorful dessert marks first century/100 years of Jell-O,” 16 April 1997, p. 1F, reprinted with permission of Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services; Associated Press, “Family got little dough in gramps’ Jell-O sale in ’99,” 18 May 1997, p. 2D; as reported in In Other Words… (6130 Barrington, Beaumont, Texas 77706), The Christian Communicator’s Research Service 7, no. 3, “Patience.” (back to text)
4(Tulsa: Harrison House, 1995), p. 227. (back to text)
5W.E. Vine, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc., 1984), “An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words,” p. 462, s.v. “PATIENCE, PATIENT, PATIENTLY,” A. Nouns, HUPOMONE. (back to text)
Chapter 8
1 Strong, “Greek Dictionary of the New Testament,” p. 77, entry #5485, s.v. “favor” and “grace.” (back to text)
2 Webster’s 1828 edition, s.v. “mercy.” (back to text)
Chapter 9
1 Paragraph is from Enjoying Where You Are on the Way to Where You Are Going (Tulsa: Harrison House, 1996), p. 40. (back to text)
Chapter 10
1 Vine, p. 468, s.v. “PERSECUTE, PERSECUTION,” A. Verbs., DIOKO. (back to text)
2 A talent was a very large standard of measure. “A talent seems to have been a full weight for an able man to carry (2 Kings 5:23).” Merrill F. Unger, The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Ed. R.K. Harrison, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), p. 844, s.v. “Talent.” (back to text)
Chapter 11
1 Strong, “Greek Dictionary,” p. 40, entry #2631, s.v. “condemnation,” Romans 8:1. (back to text)
2 Vine, p. 119, s.v. “CONDEMN, CONDEMNATION,” B. Nouns., KRIMA. (back to text)
3 Strong, “Greek Dictionary,” p. 39, entry #2607, s.v. “condemn,” 3 John 3:20,21. (back to text)
4 Strong, “Greek Dictionary,” p. 40, entry #2632, s.v. “condemn,” Matthew 12:41. (back to text)
5 Strong, “Greek Dictionary,” p. 40, entry #2613, s.v. “condemn,” Luke 6:37. (back to text)
6Strong, “Greek Dictionary,” p. 43, entry #2919, s.v. “condemn,” John 3:17. (back to text)
7Vine, pp. 229, 230, s.v. “FEAR, FEARFUL, FEARFULNESS,” A. Nouns., 1. PHOBOS. (back to text)
Conclusion
1Charles Finney, Sanctification (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: Christian Literature Crusade, 1994 printing), p. 15. (back to text)
2Vine, pp. 545, 546, s.v. “SANCTIFICATION, SANCTIFY,” A. Noun., HAGIASMOS. (back to text)
REFERENCES
BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
Some Scripture quotations are taken from The Heart of Paul: Biblical Truth in Today’s Language by Ben Campbell Johnson. Copyright © 1976 by Ben Campbell Johnson, published by A Great Love, Inc., Toccoa, Georgia 30577. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing.
Verses marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked MESSAGE are taken from The Message: New Testament With Psalms and Proverbs by Eugene H. Peterson. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995 by Eugene H. Peterson, NavPress, P. O. Box 35001, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80935. Used with permission.
Scripture quotations marked MOFFATT are taken from The Bible. A New Translation. Copyright © 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954 by James A.R. Moffatt, Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., New York, New York.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked PHILLIPS are taken from the New Testament in Modern English, (Rev. Ed.) by J.B. Phillips. Copyright © 1958, 1960, 1972 by J.B. Phillips. Reprinted by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, New York.
Scripture quotations marked WEYMOUTH are taken from Weymouth’s New Testament in Modern Speech by Richard Francis Weymouth. Copyright © 1978 by Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel Inc. Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., New York, New York.
BIBLE REFERENCES
Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1890.
Unger, Merrill F. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Ed. R.K. Harrison. Chicago: Moody Press, 1988.
Vine, W.E. Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc., 1984.
DICTIONARIES
American Dictionary of the English Language, 10th Ed. (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1998). Facsimile of Noah Webster’s 1828 edition, permission to reprint by G. & C. Merriam Company, copyright 1967 & 1995 (Renewal) by Rosalie J. Slater.
Webster’s II New College Dictionary. Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joyce Meyer has been teaching the Word of God since 1976 and in full-time ministry since 1980. She is the bestselling author of more than sixty inspirational books, including In Pursuit of Peace, How to Hear from God, Knowing God Intimately, and Battlefield of the Mind. She has also released thousands of teaching cassettes and a complete video library. Joyce’s Enjoying Everyday Life radio and television programs are broadcast around the world, and she travels extensively conducting conferences. Joyce and her husband, Dave, are the parents of four grown children and make their home in St. Louis, Missouri.
To contact the author write:
Joyce Meyer Ministries
P. O. Box 655
Fenton, Missouri 63026
or call: (636) 349-0303
Internet Address: www.joycemeyer.org
Please include your testimony or help received from this book when you write. Your prayer requests are welcome.
To contact the author in Canada, please write:
Joyce Meyer Ministries Canada, Inc.
Lambeth Box 1300
London, ON N6P 1T5
or call: (636) 349-0303
In Australia, please write:
Joyce Meyer Ministries-Australia
Locked Bag 77
Mansfield Delivery Centre
Queensland 4122
or call: (07) 3349 1200
In England, please write:
Joyce Meyer Ministries
P. O. Box 1549
Windsor
SL4 1GT
or call: 01753 831102
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bsp; BOOKS BY JOYCE MEYER
Battlefield of the Mind
Battlefield of the Mind Study Guide
Approval Addiction
Ending Your Day Right
In Pursuit of Peace
The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word
Seven Things That Steal Your Joy
Starting Your Day Right
Beauty for Ashes Revised Edition
How to Hear from God
How to Hear from God Study Guide
Knowing God Intimately
The Power of Forgiveness
The Power of Determination
The Power of Being Positive
The Secrets of Spiritual Power
The Battle Belongs to the Lord
Secrets to Exceptional Living
Eight Ways to Keep the Devil Under Your Feet
Teenagers Are People Too!
Filled with the Spirit
Celebration of Simplicity
The Joy of Believing Prayer
Never Lose Heart
Being the Person God Made You to Be
A Leader in the Making
“Good Morning, This Is God!” Gift Book
Jesus—Name Above All Names
“Good Morning, This Is God!” Daily Calendar
Making Marriage Work (Previously published as Help Me—I’m Married!)
Reduce Me to Love
Be Healed in Jesus’ Name
How to Succeed at Being Yourself
Eat and Stay Thin