by Joyce Meyer
Be Rich in Good Works
Paul instructed Timothy, a young preacher, to charge people “to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal and generous of heart, ready to share [with others]” (1 Tim. 6:18). It is obvious by this that Paul felt people needed to be reminded to do these things. The instruction to be aggressive in good works is one worth reminding people of today. I encourage you not only to remind others, but also to find ways to remind yourself. Keep a good library of books and messages on the subject of love and read or listen to them often. Do whatever you need to do in order to make sure that you don’t forget the thing that is the most important to God.
I believe the world is watching Christians and that what they see us do is very important. Peter encouraged believers to conduct themselves properly and honorably among Gentiles, the unbelievers of the day. He said that even if the unbelievers were inclined to slander the believers that they would eventually come to glorify God if they saw their good works and loving deeds (see 1 Pet. 2:12).
If your neighbors know you go to church every Sunday, I can assure you that they also watch your behavior. When I was growing up, our neighbors dutifully went to church. Actually, they went several times a week, but they also did lots of things they should not have done. I recall my father often saying, “They are no better than I am; they get drunk, use bad language, tell dirty jokes, and have bad tempers, so they are just a bunch of hypocrites.” My dad was looking for an excuse anyway and their behavior just added fuel to the fire.
I certainly realize that as Christians we don’t behave perfectly and that people who want an excuse to not believe in Jesus or practice Christianity will always watch us and criticize us, but we should do the best we can to not give them a reason to judge us.
Look for Ways to Bless
I always try to be open for God to show me anything He might want me to do that could witness to others or be a blessing to someone. Just a few days ago, I was getting my nails done. A young girl was in the shop and she was very pregnant with her first child. She had been on bed rest for two months because of early labor pains and this trip to the nail salon was her first opportunity to get out of the house in quite some time. Her baby was actually due in a week and she was getting a manicure and pedicure. We chatted a little, and I started to feel that blessing her by paying for her services that day would be a nice gesture. I waited a bit just to see if the desire stayed with me and since it did, I paid for her services when I paid for my mine. She was, of course, surprised, but blessed. I didn’t make a big deal out of it, I just did it. Maybe someday she will see me on television or see one of my books and remember that I actually did what I say I believe.
I don’t do things like that to be seen, but what people do see speaks much louder to them than words alone. Everyone in the nail shop knows I am a Bible teacher and minister. Although I did not tell the young woman anything about myself, I am sure others told her after I left. So one little act of kindness accomplished several purposes. It made me happy; it made her happy; it was an example to others watching; and it was a witness that glorified God. I had another option. I could have kept my money and done nothing. That would have been easy, but not nearly as satisfying to my soul.
Don’t Worry about What People Think
You might think, Joyce, I would feel really odd just offering to pay a bill for someone I don’t even know. If you do, I understand completely. I do, too. I wonder what they think or how they’ll respond, but then I remember that none of that is my concern. I am only concerned with being an ambassador for Christ.
One day, I tried to buy a cup of coffee for a woman who was in line behind me at Starbucks and she flatly refused. Actually, she made such a scene that it embarrassed me and at first I thought, Well, I won’t do that again. Dave was with me, and he reminded me that was exactly what the devil wanted, so I changed my mind. Such times are not easy, but that incident made me sadly aware of how many people don’t know how to receive a blessing—probably because it never happens to them.
Sometimes I do things anonymously, but at times I cannot hide what I do, so I have decided that as long as my heart is right, that is all that matters. Each act of kindness is my way of obeying God and overcoming the evil in the world. I don’t know what kind of evil things have happened to people and perhaps my acts of kindness will help heal the wounds in their souls. I also believe kindness toward others is a way for me to get the devil back for the pain he caused in my life. He is evil to the maximum degree; he is the perpetrator of all the evil we experience in the world, so every act of love, goodness, and kindness is like stabbing him in his evil, wicked heart.
If you’ve been mistreated and often wished for a way you could get back at the devil for the pain he has caused you, then be good to as many people as you can. It is God’s way, and it will work because love never fails!
I Purchased a Soul with Love
The Bible says that God purchased us with a precious price—the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor. 6:20, 1 Pet. 1:19, Rev. 5:9). This amazing act of goodness reversed the evil the devil had done and opened a way for all men to have their sins forgiven and enjoy a personal relationship with God.
As I have mentioned, my father abused me sexually for many years and his evil deeds damaged my soul and left me wounded and unable to function normally until Jesus healed me. Getting over what he did to me and being able to totally forgive him was a process. At first, I made the decision not to hate him anymore because God made me aware that love for Him and hate for my natural father could not dwell in the same heart. I asked God to help me and He did take the hatred from my heart. However, I still wanted very little to do with my father and stayed as far away from him as possible.
My mother’s mental health was declining for years, and the year I married Dave she had a nervous breakdown as a result of knowing what my dad had done to me and not knowing how to deal with it. She had caught him abusing me when I was fourteen, but, as I said, she did not know what to do so she did nothing. Doing nothing turned out to be a very bad decision for all of us. For two years, she received shock treatments and they erased her memory of the sexual abuse and I did not want to do anything that would cause her to remember again, so even though it was hard for me to be around my father, my family visited on holidays and other times only when we absolutely had to.
Eventually, my parents moved out of town and returned to the small town where they grew up. It was about two hundred miles from where I lived and I was delighted because their move meant I would see them even less. I had managed to forgive my father at some point during those years, but I had not totally forgiven him.
As my parents got older and their health and money declined, God began dealing with me about moving them back to St. Louis, Missouri, where we live, and taking care of them until their deaths. That meant buying them a house, furniture, a car, and providing someone to clean their house, get their groceries, cut the lawn, and do household repairs. At first, I thought this idea was the devil trying to torment me, but eventually I realized it was God’s plan and I can honestly say it was one of the single most difficult things I have ever done in my life.
First of all, Dave and I had a small amount of money saved and setting up my parents in a home would take almost all of it. Secondly, I did not think they deserved my help since they had never really done anything for me except abuse and abandon me. As Dave and I talked and prayed about it, I realized more and more that what God was asking me to do was not only the hardest thing He had ever asked of me, it would also be one of the most powerful things I had ever done.
I read every Scripture I could find on loving your enemies, being kind to them and doing them favors. This one really impacted me:
But love your enemies and be kind and do good [doing favors so that someone derives benefit from them] and lend, expecting and hoping for nothing in return but considering nothing as lost and despairing of no one; and then your recompense (your reward) will be great (rich, s
trong, intense, and abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind and charitable and good to the ungrateful and the selfish and wicked
(Luke 6:35).
This verse says we should consider nothing as lost and not despair over any of it. Before I understood this principle, I had looked at my childhood as lost years, now God was asking me to see them as experience I could use to help others. Luke also said we should ask blessings on and pray for those who abuse and misuse us (see Luke 6:28). This seems so unfair, but I have since learned that when I forgive I am doing myself a favor. When I forgive, I set myself free from all the results of the wrong done to me and then God can deal with the entire situation. If my enemy is unsaved, I may just purchase a soul.
My father was quite overwhelmed by the offer Dave and I extended and although he never said so, I know he wondered why in the world we would do so much for him after what he had done to me.
Three years went by and I saw no change in him. He was still mean, easily angered, and very selfish. Actually, there were times when he seemed to be getting worse as far as his temperament was concerned. I realize now that God was dealing with him all that time. Three years after we did what God asked us to do, my dad repented with tears and accepted Jesus as His Savior. It was quite a wonderful experience. He initiated the whole thing. He asked us to come to his house, and he asked for forgiveness. He asked Dave and me both to forgive him and made mention of how good we had been to him. We asked if he wanted to invite Jesus into his life and not only did he do that, but he also asked if Dave and I would baptize him. I had the privilege of seeing my father, who abused me, come to know the Lord. Then I realized that I had previously thought I was purchasing a house, some furniture, and a car, but actually I had purchased a soul with an act of undeserved kindness.
During this time, Dave and I also saw our ministry grow in an amazing way, enabling us to help a lot more people. I believe this growth was part of the harvest on the seed of obedience we had sown. When God asks us to do difficult things, He always does so for our benefit and for the benefit of His Kingdom. You see, we really can overcome evil with good. So as John Wesley said: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
Widows of War
* * *
Jennifer hears the cries of the children and she comes running to their rescue. As she’s done so many times before, she tells them that everything is going to be all right. As their mother, she’ll keep telling them until they believe it.
She knows what it’s like to be afraid, abducted, and abused. When she was just twelve, she was taken by force from her home, ripped from her family and her village by rebel soldiers involved in Africa’s longest war. After continual beatings, rape, and intense labor, Jennifer’s will to live gave her the courage to escape. And with her, she led others to safety.
But when she returned home, her family was gone. Alone and desperate for a new life and a home she could call her own, she married a man who already had a wife. On her wedding day, he physically beat and cut her in front of her friends. But the cruelest blow was yet to come. On a special day that should have made her feel like a princess, treasured and loved, he told everyone assembled that she was useless and a disgrace. The words drove deep, creating pain far greater than the physical beatings that continued.
Eventually, her husband died of AIDS, and again, she was alone. As a widow with two children of her own, she asked God, “Are You there? Will my life be nothing but torment, suffering, and shame?” God proved His faithfulness to Jennifer and she is in the process of total restoration.
Today, Jennifer lives in safety at a new village provided by Watoto Ministries, in partnership with Joyce Meyer Ministries. With restored dignity and purpose for her life, she is now caring for children orphaned by the war. Unfortunately, many others are still in desperate need of healing and restoration.
God’s word repeatedly tells us to care for the widow and the orphan. It seems that God has a special place in His heart for them and we should also.
Statistics say:
In many countries, widows whose husbands died of AIDS are evicted from their homes and subjected to extreme forms of violence. 1
Households headed by widows often represent one of the poorest subgroups in Africa. 2
CHAPTER
7
Justice for the Oppressed
Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.
Theodore Roosevelt
God is a God of justice. In fact, justice is one of my favorite qualities of His. Simply put, it means He makes wrong things right. The Bible says that righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne (see Ps. 89:14). A foundation is what a building stands on, so we might say that all of God’s activity in the earth rests on the fact that He is righteous and just. As God’s servants, we are instructed to love righteousness and justice and work to establish it on earth.
The absence of justice in a society always leads to trouble. From 1789 to 1799 France experienced a revolution. It was a bloody war in which the peasants rose up against the aristocrats and religious leaders of the day. As long as the king and queen of France were treating the people rightly and justly, their kingdom flourished; however when the king and queen selfishly allowed widespread malnutrition, starvation, and disease while they taxed the people and continued to live lavish lifestyles, the people eventually revolted against them. When they treated the citizens unjustly, the foundation of their throne cracked and was eventually destroyed.
The truth is simply that without justice, things don’t work properly. Our society today is filled with injustice and although some people work hard to fight against it, the majority of people either don’t care or, if they do care, they simply don’t know what to do about it.
It’s Our Duty
Who cares for orphans, widows, the poor, and the oppressed? God does, but do we? When people are oppressed, they have a burden that is unreasonable; it overwhelms, overpowers, and depresses them. Their burdens often cause them to be without hope. God is a Father to the fatherless and a defender of widows (see Ps. 68:5). He seems to have a special place in His heart for people who are lonely and have no one to take care of them. God helps the afflicted, and secures justice for the poor and needy (see Ps. 140:12). I am sure you are glad that God helps these hurting people, but I urge you to remember that God does His work through people who are submitted to Him. Now ask yourself what you are personally doing for them.
Who cares for orphans, widows, the poor, and the oppressed?
As I mentioned earlier, more than two thousand Scriptures in the Bible speak of our duty to the poor and needy. Since God inspired that many, there must be a message He is trying to make sure we understand. How important is it for each of us to be involved in some way in helping afflicted people? Probably more important than many of us realize.
True Religion
The apostle James said that true religion that is expressed in outward acts is to “visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27). That means if our religion is real, then we will get involved in helping those who are oppressed by the circumstances of their lives. I can only conclude from this verse that if I am not helping these people, then my religion must not be true. It may be a form of religion, but certainly it is not fully what God intends it to be.
I have learned that not everyone who sits in a church on Sunday is a real Christian as far as God is concerned. Following rules, regulations, and doctrines does not make one a true believer in Jesus Christ. How can I say that? Because when we receive Christ as our Savior we receive the heart of God and we receive His Spirit (see Ezek. 11:19); that being the case, we have to learn to care about what God cares about—and He cares about helping hurting people.
What good would it do for my sons, who manage most of the daily business of Joyce Meyer Ministries, to say they have my heart if they were not going to do what I would do in a situation? The very reason we have our sons in the positions they are in is that they know us intimately and have the same heart we do concerning helping people.
Love One Another
I believe very strongly that we need to love one another, meaning those we are in contact with in our personal lives, and also those we may never meet personally, who live in far away places (see Acts 2:44–45, Acts 4:31–32, 2 Cor. 8:1–4). I would like you to keep both of these groups of people in mind as we continue this book. For example, you could give financially to support an orphan in a third-world country through a ministry who cares for them and you could also invite a widow in your church to lunch and while you are with her ask enough questions to make sure her needs are being met adequately. If she mentions that she has a need that you can meet then do it cheerfully, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7).