Full text of How Can I Find Balance In My Life? - Joyce Meyer
Well, Jesse, today Joyce will answer your question and many others when she answers, what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Joyce: I want to talk to you for a moment about the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, I don't think he gets the attention he deserves. We serve one God, but a triune God: God the father, God the son, and God the Holy ghost. And when Jesus ascended on high, he sent the Holy Spirit to take his place. And the great well, there's many great things about the Holy Spirit, but one that comes to my mind right now is that Jesus, because he was in a human body like we are, could only be one place at a time. But he said, "when I go away, you're going to be better off." Well, I'm sure the disciples thought, "how could we possibly be any better off?" But you see, the Holy Spirit can be everywhere with every person at the same time. And he has come to live in us. When you were born again, when you received Christ as your savior, you received the Holy Spirit. But the Bible teaches us that we can and should be not only filled with the Spirit, but ever filled with the Holy Spirit. And that's so important. If you want to know the truth, the Holy Spirit is the power that you need to live the Christian life. Amen? Now, you don't necessarily need to be filled with the Spirit to be saved, but you need to be filled with the Spirit to live saved. If you want to live the life that Jesus died to give you, then you need to be completely filled with the Holy Spirit. And we need power. I don't know about you, but I need all the power, all the Holy ghost help that I can get.
And so, in acts chapter 1, Jesus told the disciples to go and wait for the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He said, "john baptized you with water, but not many days from now, you shall be baptized with (placed in and introduced into) the Holy Spirit." And in verse 8, it says, "but you shall receive power [ability, efficiency, and might] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Don't you like that? Power, ability, efficiency, and might when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. "and then you shall be my witnesses." I love this, it doesn't say you'll go out and do witnessing, it says you'll be, you'll be. There's a difference in being because if you are, then you are that all the time. But if you're doing, you can turn it on and off. You can do church on sunday morning, and then get out in the world and not be the same as you were on sunday morning.
And they waited in the upper room in chapter 2, verse 1, "and when the day of pentecost had fully come, they were all together waiting in one place. When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a mighty wind. And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Now, in 1976, I was a Christian, had been for a long time. Dave and I went to a large, well-known denomination, and we were very faithful. Dave grew up in that church, he was an elder in the church, I was on the church board. We were there every time the church door opened, and I was miserable. I didn't have any victory in my life, I'd been abused in my childhood, and I wasn't receiving the healing that I needed or the help that I needed. So, I was definitely one of those people, I acted one way on sunday and a completely different way at home behind closed doors. I cried out to God, and he touched me, and I didn't even really know what had happened to me except it sure was wonderful. And I just i felt so different. I felt like I'd been baptized in love. I felt like I was drunk on the love of God. And I wasn't a very loving person, so that was pretty it was a real difference there. But you have to be hungry. You need to be hungry. And if you're not hungry enough, then just wait another year and have another year's worth of mess, and see when you come back around if you're hungry enough then, amen? But don't be satisfied with just status quo. "i'm okay. I go to church, I go home, I go to church, I go home." My goodness, there's so much more to life than that. When the Holy ghost has come upon you, you shall receive power, power. You know, there's many gifts of the Spirit. There's the ministry gifts, the offices that minister to us, apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. There's other gifts like gifts of organization, gifts of giving, gifts of exhortation, all kinds of gifts. There's musical gifts and speaking gifts, but then there's these supernatural endowments of power is what the amplified Bible says, and they are words of knowledge, words of wisdom, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, discerning of Spirit, the gift of faith, the gift of miracles, prophecy, and things like that.
And I know that some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. But let me tell you something, I have read so many books on this, and I have studied, and I have studied everything in the Bible. And if you are hungry for more of God in your life, then you are going to do the same thing. You are not going to sit there and wait for somebody to spoon feed you everything that you know. [audience applauding] Joyce: amen? And I tell you, when you seek God for yourself and he touches your life, nobody can ever tell you. Nobody can ever tell you that God you know, people say, "well, well, what happened?" It's like, you know what?
I don't know, I just know it was God. And I know that I've never been the same since, amen? All right. How many of you've been baptized by the Holy Spirit, you enjoy these gifts? Okay. So, now look, so let me say something. If you have not known about these things, either the rest of us are stark raving mad or there's something you should look into. Amen? Okay, now I'm just going to pray. Father, we thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And I believe that there are hungry people here today. There are people whose who have desperate situations in their life, and they need your power. And then there are people here that are filled with the Spirit, but they've kind of leaked out, and they need to be ever filled. We need a fresh touch from the Holy ghost. And I want my share too, Lord. I'm hungry, I'm hungry for more of you. Like paul, I'm determined to know him and the power of his resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while I'm in the body. So I pray, Lord, for everybody in this room that's hungry for you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, learn about these gifts. And I pray that you would give them gifts as they need them, and as it is proper, and as it will edify and minister to them and the body of Christ. And we thank you for your grace and mercy in Jesus' name, amen. The ushers are going to hand out these books. Awesome. We need to be reminded sometimes that we're not a bunch of wimps and weaklings. Everybody say, "i can do whatever I need to do through Christ. I can do whatever I need to do through Christ."
So, God is good, and he'll give you everything that you need to do what he's called you to do in this life, amen? Ginger: you know what really helped me with the Holy Spirit was just experience with him in my life and digging into God's word. So, you can do that. For more information, if you just want a little bit of help, you can go to Joycemeyer.org/study. There is something right there that will help you. If you click on, "what does the Bible say about the Holy Spirit?" I think you'll really enjoy it. Check it out, it's absolutely free. Now, it's time for your voice. [music] ginger: well, you shared some very practical ways that God has used to lift you out of the lowest point in your life. Jody from missouri shared this, "i lost my daughter kyla to suicide december 26, 2015. I've been through a lot of tragedy in my life, and always turned away from God and turned to alcohol when bad things happened. God has helped me turn this tragedy into helping people. I now have a thrift store in her memory, and I've raised money for suicide awareness. Every day is hard, but for the first time in my life, I know God will not leave me." Well, jody, I'm so sorry for your loss. My heart just breaks when I hear that. But thank you for doing something that is helping other people and hopefully sparing them from some of the pain that you've been through. And God is good to walk us through these situations. Anne says, "i've been depressed my whole life. It affected every aspect of my life. Then God arranged for me to see a Christian counselor who prays for people. I've been free ever since." And let's do one more, this is laura.
She says, "god gave me everything I have today. I was a single mother, and he gave me the love of my life. I had financial problems, and he gave me the idea to create my own business. I had depression, and of course he gave me Joyce. She was the voice I listened to when I felt lonely, desperate, and hopeless. She would raise my hopes up and help me to stick to God." Well, God is very practical. He knows exactly what it is that we need. And today, we invite you to share with us a time in your life where you had to start over. Maybe a new job, new home, new friends. How did God walk with that through you? How did he help you begin again? Use social media, tell us on facebook, instagram, however you want to. We just want to hear from you. Coming up, Joyce will explain how she keeps priorities straight in her life and how it will help you. But first, here's today's help me question. "Joyce, I've never been much into church, but long to have my own relationship with God. I feel he doesn't hear me or isn't listening. There are billions of people on earth. Can he hear me, see my pain and sorrow as I seek him, or does he not even exist? I'm at a crossroads, but I don't want to give up." Joyce: well, obviously God is everywhere all the time, and he definitely hears us even when we're not praying according to his will, he still hears us. But 1 john 5 says that when we ask according to God's will, he hears us, and we know with absolute and settled assurance that we have given to us the things that we've asked for. But there's nothing in there about when they manifest. And I love this statement that a delay from God is not a denial. Actually, when we're not getting what we want as quick as we think we should have it, that's when really our faith is being tested and when we're growing. Now, I realize that this is somebody who's looking to know that God is real.
And so, they're wanting God to do something in their circumstances to prove that he's there. Well, I can't say that God never does that, but he certainly doesn't always do it because faith is the substance of things that we hope for, the evidence of things that we do not see. So, I would like to encourage Jesse to look to his heart instead of his circumstances. And I mean, really how can you not believe that God is real? I mean, to me, it would take more faith to believe that God is not real than to believe that he is. How could we possibly even look at the way our own bodies function and are put together and just how amazing they are, and think that all just kind of sort of happened one day? And so, believing in God is the basic foundation to anyone having a good life. You know, now I don't believe that God is going to give us things that are not according to his will. So, I don't know what Jesse's asking for. If he's asking for something that's not right, then God's not going to give it to him. And I think when you have a deep enough relationship with God, and you know, it took me a few years to get to this, but I've kind of come to the point where I believe that if God doesn't give me what I'm asking for, it's not because he's holding out on me and wanting to make me miserable.
I believe it's because he has something better in mind, and I'm just not wise enough to know how to ask for that better thing yet. Ginger: yeah, it's often mercy, isn't it? Joyce: so, whether God gives me what I want or he doesn't give me what I want, God is still good, and he has our best interest in mind, and things will come out right in the end. Ginger: as I read this question from Jesse, it says, "i long to have my own relationship with God." So, it seems like the Holy Spirit is willing and working there, that there is something that is happening or that statement wouldn't even mean anything. Joyce: well, and to be honest, the thing for him to go after is not so much whatever it is that he wants to see God do, but pursuing that relationship. Because when your relationship with him is right, then you're able to trust him to do what's right at the right time. So, we want to make sure that we seek God's face and not his hand, to seek to know him and not just what he can do for us. He'll get there.
Ginger: if you have questions, bring them on, we want to hear them. You can do it on twitter, use the #askJoyce. You can go to our everyday answers page on Joycemeyer.org. We'd love to answer your questions. Now, most of you know Joyce raised four children while traveling around the world sharing the gospel and writing books. And today, in her 70s, she continues to teach, write books, and deal with a lot of responsibilities. So, basically she has a lot to do, but she's not overwhelmed. Check out this question from twitter because we have all felt overwhelmed at times. "when God pulls you in many directions, how do you keep your life balanced?" Well, great question. Here's Joyce's answer. Joyce: one of the first scriptures that I remember God really speaking to my heart about is 1 peter 5:8 and 9 out of the amplified translation. And it says, "be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind] be vigilant and cautious at all times for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger] seeking someone to seize upon and devour." Well, to be honest, there's already about five messages just in that little bit. Be well balanced. Anytime that we're out of balance in our life in any area, it opens up a door for the enemy. If you don't spend enough time with your family, you're gone too much, you're not taking the right time to sow into your relationships, it's going to open a door for the enemy and there's going to be problems in the family. If you are too selfish, it's going to cause problems.
But if you never spend enough time on yourself and you don't take care of yourself, that's going to cause problems. You can look at 1,000 different areas and see how important balance is. And we hear a lot about eating balanced meals, so even from that, God is showing us that we need enough protein, we need enough carbs, we need enough of this, we need enough of that. And if you just eat all sugar, you're going to be sick. If you just drink all coffee and soda and you don't drink any water, you're going to have kidney problems. We need to have balance in our lives. And yet, I think that most of us realize that americans in particularly, and probably other cultures in the western world, we really are bad at getting out of balance. Amen? For example, way too many people work way too much and they don't rest enough. And then there's a lot of people who don't sleep enough. Well, that's going to cause you problems. And so, I just want you to realize that if you're out of balance in any area in your life, the enemy is going to take advantage of it. If you talk too much, that's out of balance. But then some people don't communicate enough, and so that's out of balance. How many of you understand what I'm saying, you know? We need balance in our life.
And balance, like people say to me a lot, "how do you keep the schedule you keep, and write the books, and you have a family?" I've got 4 kids, 11 grandkids, 2 great grandkids. "how do you " this is what they, "how do you keep your priorities straight, and how do you stay in balance?" And you know what I've learned to say? I'm always straightening them out. In other words, you don't just get in balance and stay there because the devil loves excess. He's always going to try us to be excessive in one way or another. Like you might spend too much money on yourself, but then if you don't ever spend any money on yourself, either one can cause problems. And so, I think that we have to do a little balance inventory every once in a while and just take a little time, spend a little time with God, and just say, "am I out of balance in any area of my life?" Maybe you're watching too much television and not spending enough time in the word.
Or you know, maybe there's so many different things that we could think of. And let me just suggest to you that when you get unhappy, you're having too many bad days and too many sad days and too many mad days, just check and see if you're out of balance in some area of your life. Because a lot of times there's just something that needs to be adjusted. Matter of fact, I'll bet just as I'm standing here talking about this right now, I'll bet you that there's lots of people in this room you already, if I said, "what area are you out of balance in your life?" You could lift your hand up and tell me just like that. How many of you already can think of some area?
Okay, look at that, that's almost everybody, pastor. So, so maybe I shouldn't even go to my second favorite scripture, maybe I just ought to camp here the rest of the night. And you know, no matter how much of Jesus you have in your life, you can't break his natural laws and expect everything to work out for you in your life. I don't care how much you pray to feel good, if you're not going to rest, you're going to feel lousy. I don't care how much you pray to feel good, if you're not going to sleep, you're going to feel lousy. I don't care how much you pray to be happy, if you don't take any time to relax and enjoy yourself and laugh and do things that you enjoy, you're not going to be happy. So, we have to stay balanced in our life. And this scripture tells me that if I don't stay balanced, I am opening a door for the enemy. He roams about like a roaring like a lion roaring in fierce hunger, seeking someone whom he may devour. He can't devour anybody, but one person he can devour is somebody who is out of balance in their life. And I think we ramp it up to another level when we're not only out of balance, but we know we're out of balance. Come on, all you people who raised your hand. We're out of balance and we know we're out of balance, and we don't do anything about it. I can tell you for a lot of years I worked way too hard, and I did it in Jesus' name. But I still ended up getting burned out, and getting sick, and paying for it. I don't care how much of Jesus you have, you still have to have balance in your life or he's going to get in and cause you problems, amen. Well, that's better than you're acting. Now, it says, "be vigilant and cautious once in a while." No, it says at all times, at all times. Verse 9, "withstand him, be firm in faith." And this is another one of my favorite parts is, "against his onset." I get some things out of the amplified translation that I'm not going to get anywhere else, and I like that. When do I resist the devil? The minute he starts in on me. When do I resist the enemy? At his onset. You don't wait until you got some deep-rooted problems before you decide, "oh, that's the devil. He's a liar, and I guess I better stand against him."
No, the minute the devil lies to you, you say, "you're a liar." The minute that he tempts you, that's when you say, "no." We need to deal a little more violently with temptation instead of just saying, "well, I just wish I wasn't so tempted." Well, you can wish all you want to, but you're still going to be tempted. And so, what we need to do is get a little more violent with it. What has Jesus said? "if your eye offends you, pluck it out. If your hand offends you, cut it off." Well, he obviously doesn't want you to pull your eye out and cut your hand off, but what he is saying is if you're tempted to look at things you shouldn't be looking at, cut it off. If you're tempted to do things with your hands you shouldn't be doing with them, then cut that sin off. Just deal violently with sin and say no, and do it at the enemy's onset because the longer you let him rule in your life, the harder it's going to be to get rid of him. [audience applauding] Joyce: "(rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined), knowing that the same identical sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians throughout the world]" so, another message I get out of that is don't sit around and feel sorry for yourself, Joyce, because you're having temptations, you're going through problems.
Everybody goes through stuff, amen? All right, so get a little balance in your life and it's going to help you. Ginger: so listen, balance is tough. Our lives are busy. I've got so much going on. I'm sure that you do too. But it's necessary and it takes effort to make the changes that we need to keep those priorities straight all the time. I've seen the way Joyce deals with balance and keeping priorities in her life, and this teaching will help you because she's been on both sides of this. She has been really, she would tell you, out of control as far as balance goes. And now, she has really learned from God's word and from experience walking with him how to maintain that balance.
This is her teaching called "unplug, unwind & de-stress," 4 hours of teaching. You can get it as a digital download or on physical cds like this. And today, we are offering this to you for any amount because we know that it's so important to get this into your life. And as we say any amount, we are just trusting and believing that you'll give what you can. We are here to help you, that is our real goal. We just want to get this to you, so give your very best, and really start reprioritizing your life according to scripture. You know, we love you so much. We're grateful for you, we're glad that you tuned in. And as we leave today, here's a little glimpse at what we'll do together next week, bye bye. Joyce: I'd like to solve every problem on the planet. I mean, there's no kind of outreach that I would not like to be involved in. And even here at the ministry, we've had to come to grips with the fact that we can't do it all, you know? And so, no one person can solve all the problems in the world, only God can do that. But even he is going to respect people's free will.