Read Textual Sermon from Joyce Meyer
By My Spirit
“It’s not by might, it’s not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord.”
NKJV (Zechariah 4:6): “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
We do not change by trying, and self-effort, and rules, and regulation. We don’t even change just by discipline and self-control. All of those things are part of it, but none of it happens without God.
Isaiah 30 is just—mmm—one of the most “yummy” scriptures in the Bible. Okay, now, are you ready for this? You want to pay attention to this:
NKJV (Isaiah 30:18): “Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.”
So here—if I can make this really simple for you—God is waiting, looking, longing to find somebody to be good to, and He can only be good to somebody who’s looking, and longing, and expecting Him to be good to them. So if I were you, I’d get up every morning and say, “Here I am. I don’t deserve it, God, but I am expecting something good to happen to me today.” Another thing I like to say is, “I’m expecting good news.”
Expecting Good News
I don’t know about you, but I am just fed up with bad news. Yuck. I love it when I get a text message and somebody says, “I’ve got good news,” or if somebody calls me and says, “I’ve got good news.” We need to share good things with people, and we need to ask God for good news every day.
Hey, guess what, Mom? Your kid’s getting an A in that class she failed last year. Hey, guess what? Henry didn’t go out and get drunk Friday night—he came home. No offense if your name is Henry. Good news—my gas bill went down. Good news—I got a percent-off discount coupon for that and didn’t even know it was available. We need to make a big deal out of the good stuff.
Psalm 27:13–14—David said, “What, what… what! What would have become of me had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living!” You know why I like this? It doesn’t say, “when I die and go to heaven.” I’m expecting lots of good things there, and frankly, I can’t wait to get there. I think it’s going to be an awesome place. I will be so glad to be rid of my body. Calories don’t count in heaven. Yeah, amen.
NKJV (Psalm 27:13–14): “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!”
And now that I’ve mentioned calories, I have a story to tell you. I did a dumb thing. I didn’t weigh for months, and that’s just not good for me, ’cause I’ve got this high weight and low weight, and I love being down here ’cause I can eat anything I want to; but when I get up here, then I usually have to be hungry for a while to get back down.
So, I got on the scale one day last week—matter of fact, I think it was last… I don’t know, Tuesday maybe—and I had gained pounds. Well, I know to some of you that sounds like, “Oh, don’t even tell me that,” but that put me at the very top, and so I was a little bit, you know, “Oh man.” At first, I thought, “I’m not going to tell Dave,” and then I finally thought, “Well, I’ll tell Dave.”
So I said, “Man, I’m going to have to cut my eating back for a while. I’ve gained a little weight.” And he said, “How much?” And I said, “About pounds.” And he went… just that little look, you know? Then I said, “I hadn’t weighed for about months.” He said, “That’s exactly why I weigh every day,” and I got upset.
Now, how many of you women know what I wanted when I went to Dave? And how many of you guys don’t have a clue? You’re like, “Well, what’s wrong with that? He didn’t do anything wrong.” See, what I wanted was for Dave to say, “Well, honey, you don’t look like it. You look great. And listen, you’ll lose it quick. I know how disciplined you are.”
So I got upset, and he said, “Well, I’m just trying to help you,” and I said, “I don’t want you to help me. I want you to encourage me.” He said, “I’m trying to encourage you.” I said, “I don’t feel encouraged.”
We went to Walmart the other night to start the book signing. The first lady that gets in line says, “You are so thin.” I thought, “Mwah!” You noticed I said it was a lady. Somebody needed to hear from God. So anyway, enough of that, I guess. I was hoping I could find a way to work that in, and just look how God did that—it worked out so well.
Thank God that we can expect good things while we’re still on the earth. What would have become of me had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living? Whatever good we have here, it’s going to be a lot better when we get to heaven, but I don’t want to have that attitude, “Well, I guess we’ll just try to muddle through till we get to heaven. Someday when we get to heaven.” No—I think Jesus died so we could have a good life now. Amen?
Mind Renewal and the Battle Within
We’re talking about having a transformed life, and having a transformed life must be preceded by having a transformed mind. If you want to have what God wants you to have, you have to learn to think like God thinks. Amen?
I’ve got much teaching on the mind because there’s no area where we have more problems than our mind. First, you have to learn that you can do your own thinking; then you need to learn how to recognize when you’re not thinking right and how to cast those thoughts down and choose something better. If you don’t know anything about these kinds of things, I suggest my book Battlefield of the Mind. It lays a really good foundation about these things. As a matter of fact, we had a doctor tell us tonight—she told Mike—“In my medical practice,” she’s an M.D., “one of the things I prescribe is Battlefield of the Mind.” I thought that was pretty good.
How many even physical problems do we have because we don’t think right, amen? Let me tell you something: I can give myself a really bad headache, and it doesn’t take very long, if I just let my mind get full of worry, and junk, and fear. Amen?
NKJV (Romans 12:2): “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Transformation doesn’t happen without transformation in our mind. So if this is all new to you and you’re kind of like, “Man, I’ve never heard this before,” or “I don’t know what I think of this,” just start paying attention to what you’re thinking. Think about what you’re thinking about. The next time you get all down and discouraged, think about what you’re thinking about. The next time you want to go rip somebody’s head off, think about what you’re thinking about. Amen?
Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” I like to say, “Where the mind goes, a man follows.” If you think about a hot fudge sundae long enough, you’ll go get one. Your mind went to the ice cream store a long time ago, and your body will get there. Am I right? It’s amazing how somebody can say “chocolate” or “ice cream,” and you’re just like, “I can’t stand it!”
Romans 8 is a really great scripture. It says, “The mind of the flesh is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit, and it ministers death.” So I might look at myself—years ago—the problems I had, the mess my mind was in, how I felt physically, our finances, my family, my background; and I’m sure it was very difficult in the beginning to look at all that and think, “Someday this is all going to be totally, completely changed.” You know why? Because if we think with the mind of the flesh, we think according to sense and reason.
It’s not reasonable to think that somebody who denied Christ three times could ever be used by God again. It’s not reasonable to think that somebody who had been bleeding for years, and been to every doctor in town, and spent all that she had, could—just by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment—be healed. That’s not reasonable. “Don’t waste your time, honey. Leave the Master alone.”
And I love blind Bartimaeus. He heard Jesus was passing by and cried out, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!” And you know what the Amplified Bible emphasizes? “Now!” Now, this is how we are. I’ve taught on that scripture I don’t know how many times—taught on it about weeks ago—have read it I don’t know how many times, and only last week did I see the word “now.” Don’t ever think that the Bible is going to get old or that there’s nothing new in there. Just because you’ve got it underlined doesn’t mean you’ve seen it all.
They tried to get him to be quiet: “Be quiet. Calm down.” And the Bible says he cried out all the more, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me—now!” So I’m using that “now.” David prayed in Psalms, “Lord, send prosperity now.”
NKJV (Psalm 118:25): “Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.”
Do you want God to help you in years—or now? Most of us wouldn’t even feel right praying like that. “Well, I can’t demand that God do it now.” I’m not demanding, but I’m going to ask. How about now? Now would be good. How many of you think “now” is good? I do think sometimes we treat hope like, “Well, I hope—maybe—someday.” No. Have mercy on me now. Heal me now. If you don’t get it today, get up again tomorrow: “Now.” That’s an anointed word.
“The mind of the flesh is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit.” Do you know that’s where most people live? Even though people are born again, and love God, and go to church, I lived in that realm of sense and reason for I don’t know how many years, and I was walking in the mind of the flesh. I had the mind of Christ, but I wasn’t using it. I was walking in the mind of the flesh.
NKJV (Romans 8:6): “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
When we think according to the way the Spirit of God leads us—which is according to the Word of God—we can believe things that don’t make any sense at all. Did you hear me? We can believe things that don’t make sense. Even the whole plan of salvation—if I just got “reasonable” about it, I might say, “God, did You really have to give Your only Son? Couldn’t You come up with something that didn’t hurt?” I didn’t see Him die on the cross. I wasn’t there. And if I really just put my mind to it, I’d go, “I don’t know.” But in here, I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know. And that’s what it means to walk in the Spirit or to be led by the Spirit.
My eyes can think, “I want that. I should have that. That’s going to be good for me,” and at the same time my spirit can be saying, “Mmm-mmm… mmm-mmm.” If we go with sense and reason, we end up in trouble. If we go with the Spirit, we end up with life, and joy, and peace. How much trouble could we save ourselves if we would actually follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit instead of sense and reason? And when you’re trying to follow God, somebody else will tell you, “Well, that doesn’t make any sense.” Preach! Ha!
Rejoicing Through Trials
Some areas in which you need to change your mind: well, this is kind of an “ouchie” one, but we need to learn to think differently about trials and tribulations and hard times. I don’t like this any better than you do, but here it comes:
NKJV (Habakkuk 3:17–19): “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”
Now, I could update that, you know? Though there’s no food in the refrigerator, the pantry’s bare, the tires on the car are worn out, the kid brought home all F’s on a report card—yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
And I know how this goes. I’m the same way. It’s easy for all of us to agree in here; but when you’re home by yourself and you’re frustrated up to your eyes—and maybe you’re the only believer in your house—it’s harder to do than it is to clap for. But how many of you—some of the hardest, most painful things you’ve gone through in your life—have ultimately brought you the greatest freedom? How could that many of us raise our hands if it weren’t actually a fact? It’s exciting on this side of it, but when you’re going through it, sometimes all you can do is just stand. Just stand, and if nothing else, refuse to give up. I refuse to give up. I’m expecting something good to happen in my life.
No matter if all this stuff is happening—“yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the victorious God of my salvation! The Lord God is my strength, my personal bravery, my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me”—now watch this—“will make me walk, not stand still in terror, but walk, and make spiritual progress on my high places of trouble, suffering, and responsibility!” I thought those were low places. Didn’t you think those were low places? I did. Bummer. Not another problem! Sometimes I don’t understand God’s thinking. He says those are high places—places of promotion. Some of you are about due. Amen?
NKJV (James 1:2–4): “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Boy, you have to be in the right mood to read James 1. I don’t know if I’m up for it tonight, but I’ll give it a try. “Be wholly joyful when you fall into all kinds of trials and tribulations; knowing that the trying of your faith brings out patience. And when patience has had her perfect work, you’ll be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.” I want to tell you: my trials brought a lot of things out of me before we got around to patience—and they still do sometimes. You get a trial and it’s like (grumbling), and after a week of figuring out that’s not going to do any good, then you finally say, “Well, I guess we’ll just pray and wait on God.” I don’t know about you, but I sure am glad God understands me.
Change your thinking about the level of importance you assign to being accepted and approved by everybody you know. “Well, if you don’t like me, my day is ruined.” Amen?
NKJV (Galatians 1:10): “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”
If I were trying to be—now, you know, I want everybody to like me. I hope they do. But it’s kind of not ever going to happen because, statistically, a percentage of people will never like you—even you. As nice as you are—you might be the nicest thing on the planet—but you might even be too nice for some people. I’m a little rough, so some people are too nice for me. I’m like, “Really?”
Do you sometimes have a difficult time believing that God can perform some of the impossible things you need Him to do? We all face circumstances where we think, “Well, that’s just not possible.” But if it’s not possible for us, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible for God. All things are possible with God. Know that God is working in your life even if you can’t see it or feel it. Times of change are difficult, especially if you happen to be a person who really doesn’t like change. But God is faithful—now.
Questions This Sermon Answers
- How do we experience real change—by effort or by the Spirit?
- What does it mean to expect God’s goodness “in the land of the living”?
- How does renewing the mind transform daily life and choices?
- Why should we ask God for help “now” and not just “someday”?
- How can we rejoice and grow during trials and seasons of change?
