Displaying Christian Sermons by tag: james

full textual sermon Book of James Bible Study - Part 3 - Enjoying Everyday Life - Joyce Meyer

So i'll tell you, I don't have a huge problem with anger anymore. God's really worked in my life with that. I mean, years ago I spent more time being angry than I wasn't angry but I don't--i got a revelation on that. I don't waste much time with that. I'm not real easily offended because i've kind of trained myself to quickly try to believe the best and believe that if somebody did offend me, that's probably not what they were trying to do. And so that has helped me a lot. However, when it comes to listening, I could still use to grow a little bit because I kinda like talking more than I like listening. And also in the area of being slow to speak. Sometimes I say things before I should say them. However, I am happy to report that I am a lot better than what I used to be. And so, you see, we--I'm so glad that we can celebrate our progress and we don't have to be depressed about how far we still have to go, amen? Now when it comes to this listening thing, that we should listen more, obviously we should listen more to people. We can learn a lot if we listen to people, amen? And but I think it also has another meaning that we need to realize and that is, is that we need to always have one ear tuned toward God. And i'd like to kinda present this idea to you this weekend that we basically live in two worlds at one time. We're in this world but we're also at the same time, we're here with our feet on the ground, we're connected to another world. Now, you see me with my feet here on the platform this morning but you better hope I'm hearing from God. Because if I'm not--if I'm not letting him lead me and guide me, then you probably won't get very much out of this. And so I'm not, like, sitting here real aware, you know, that God is speaking to me but I know when I teach that there are times where I will have a plan and i'll get up and what I say has not much to do at all with my plan because God already knows what you need. I think that we talk too quick and we answer people too quick and we need to slow down and think a little bit, make a connection with God, "how do you want me to handle this situation? Do you want me to say anything? Do you want me to be quiet?" Just taking more time before we pop off an answer can be real wise. I wanna give you a biblical example. You might be familiar with the story where Jesus was being taken to task by some of the pharisees. They were trying to find a reason to find fault with him. And so they brought a woman that was caught in adultery in front of him and they knew that the law said that they should stone her. And Jesus could not break the law. He kept the law perfectly so we would be free from the tyranny of living under the law. And when he said on the cross, "it is finished," he meant that old system of trying to live under the law of moses. But he couldn't break the law so now he's in a situation where the pharisees are watching to see what are you going to do and yet, he didn't want the woman to be stoned and so, if you remember the story, Jesus, when they said to him, "what do you say? The law says we should stone her to death. What do you say that we should do with her?" Because he's out teaching love and mercy so now what's he gonna do? You ever felt like you were kind of in a trap somewhere and you're, like, "hmm, well, what am I gonna do now?" And so Jesus, the bible says that he bent down on the ground and he wrote in the sand or the dirt with his finger. Now, what was that all about? What was he doing? And then he gets up and he says, "let him who is among you without sin cast the first stone." Well, the answer was perfect. Because he didn't break the law with what he said but he still kept his message about love. Well, whichever one among you has never done anything wrong, then you can be free to cast the first stone. And it says, "one by one, they dropped their stones and walked away." And so I think if we would take more time to listen to what we should be saying before we open our mouth, things would get a lot better. That's lesson number one, Amen?

Joyce Meyer: now let's just say that maybe--well, let's go on here. "for man's anger does not promote the righteousness that God desires." So gave a little exhortation last night about the dangers of staying angry and how we need to forgive people and yet we find that to be one of the hardest things that God asks us to do. Am I not correct? Don't you find it very difficult when somebody has really treated you badly to forgive them? It's a very challenging thing to do. Well, the only thing that's gonna help us do it is the word. Verse 21: "so get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls." So if we look at this in context, he's saying, okay, now listen to this. Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to take offense and slow to get angry because your anger doesn't--it's not the right thing. It's not the way God wants us to live. And so here's some help for you. Be sure that you receive the word of God with an attitude of meekness because it contains the power to save your soul or, if you will, it contains the power to tear down that spirit of anger that you're feeling and actually will give you the strength. The word of God will give us the strength that we need to let go of things that God wants us to let go off and it will give us the strength to do the things that God wants us to do. I don't think that we have ever fully realized how amazingly powerful the word of God is and how, like, I mean, you know, how many of you take some kind of medicine? Okay, well, now, we don't know how it works. It's kind of amazing that you can have some super big problem or a pain somewhere or something going on in your body and yet you can take a pill and if you take it on a regular basis, those symptoms will go away. Well, you see, I think that the word of God is medicine for our soul, amen? I believe that we have got this humungous medicine cabinet that's right here and it has something in it for everything that ails you. There's help in here for jealousy. There's help in here for condemnation. There's help in here for the lost. There's help in here for the weak. There's help in here for the angry. There's help for our mouth. There's help for our mind. There's help for selfishness. I mean, this is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful book. It is a treasure, amen?

Joyce Meyer: so here's what I would do. If I was angry and I was having a very difficult time getting over it, I would look up several scriptures on anger 'cause, see, here's the thing. If i've got a headache, putting a band-aid on my head don't help. So we need to take the word of God purposefully, depending on what we need. If i've got a bad attitude, looking up scriptures on how I can be blessed is not gonna change my attitude. C'mon, I know it's early. You can get this, amen? And so what I'm telling you is that the word of God can be used specifically for specific situations. Like, I recommend if you are starting out in a walk with God and you have all these boatloads of problems, things that you need to grow up in and get over, I mean, it's fine to be on a certain bible-reading plan. I think that's great discipline. But if I were you, if you're having a specific problem with something, I would commit to studying the word of God in that area. Are you with me? Study the word of God in that area because there's power in the word to help you solve the problem that you have. Now, this is a little book we have. We call it the purple book but it's about the power of speaking God's word out loud. And it's divided up into categories for you so it's kind of like a real quick, like, man, I'm in trouble, I'm about to tell somebody off, and I need to get some medicine here, help me. Except they put a thing on here and now it's tearing my page. Okay, there. So I can get this and I can go, "i will bridle my anger. I will trash my wrath. I will cool my pipes."

Joyce Meyer: "and God will help me. I follow the example of the Lord who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy and love and kindness. I am slow to anger and I have great understanding. I am not like he who is hasty of spirit, exposing and exalting his folly. I speak soft answers that turn away wrath, not grievous words that stir up anger." And so there's three pages of these kind of scriptures here. And I can tell you the truth. If you read these out loud, it won't be long and your soul will start to calm down and you're gonna start to feel better and better and better. Now all anybody can do in my position is tell you what will help you. But knowing what i've said is not gonna do what needs to be done. It's you going home and doing it when you have a personal situation going on in your life that will make the changes. That's what I would do, even right now. If I was having a huge problem with something and I could not get over it, let's just say I was having an attack of jealousy. I heard some really good news about somebody that I'm not real crazy about and I'm not real happy, if you wanna know the truth, that they got blessed. And I don't wanna feel that way. I know that's not God's will for me because jealousy and envy rots the bones. Well, I don't want rotten bones. I wanna have strong bones. So I would look up several scriptures on jealousy. I would pray. "God, you gotta help me." And then I would take my medicine. Are you out there today? I would take my medicine and I would let it help heal my soul. Now, "be doers of the word [obey the message], not just a listener to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the truth]" now, you know, these Verses are so important and I don't wanna just get in too big of a hurry here to get to the end of chapter 2 that I miss some of the really important things that I think that need to be said. So let's look at this. "be a doer of the word [obey the message], not just a listener to it." Then he says, "betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning which is contrary to the truth]" now that's kind of a mouthful and we could miss what he's trying to say. So let's just slow down and take it apart. If i--i can go to church three times a week and I can watch christian tv every morning and I can listen to teaching cds on the way to work, but if I don't do then what i've heard, it does me nor anybody else any good at all because the bible does not say that we're blessed in our hearing. It says we're blessed in our doing.

Joyce Meyer: when we do--and I really think that because there's so much available to us today, I really think that sometimes we get so proud of what we know. "well, Joyce, I`ve got all your books." Well, then, why are you still acting the way you do? I mean! People love to tell me they've got all my books. "I've got all your books." And you know, we like to display them on our shelves because when our friends come we look so spiritual.
Joyce Meyer: but it's in the doing. Now let's just assume that we all want to obey God. And so we don't wanna just hear; we wanna do. And now let's just take this a step further and say we're not just hearing somebody preach the word, but now God is trying to say something to us 'cause we can hear from him too. And a large part of our walk with God is not just going to church and hearing messages, but it's letting the holy spirit guide us day by day in our walk with him. Where I can be in the middle of doing one thing and the holy spirit can let me know, "that's not what I want you to do. Don't act like that. Don't say that. Be quiet," whatever. And if we learn while we're in this world to keep one ear tuned to the holy spirit, then while we're here, we can be in the world but not be of the world. And that's what Jesus is asking us to do. We can be in the world but we can quickly make adjustments because of what God is saying to us. Example, let's just say that I'm in a meeting like this and I happen to notice somebody on our team that seems just--i don't know what it is, you know, I can't really put my finger on it but I just really kind of sense that they need a blessing right now. Are you--do you ever kind of notice that with somebody, like, they just need a blessing right now. And so I pray, "Lord, how can I bless this lady? How can I be a blessing to her?" Well, the next thing that happens is I notice a bracelet I have on my wrist. Pretty, sparkly bracelet that I'm quite fond of and the next thing I'm feeling is I should give that to her because I remember earlier today she told me how pretty it was. Now I really don't wanna give my bracelet away.

Joyce Meyer: and so my mind gives me a reason. C'mon, i've heard from God. I'm pretty sure at this point I'm hearing but now there's the doing. And so if I don't do what I felt like God showed me to do it's because I have betrayed myself by coming up with some kind of a reason why it's okay not to do it. Are you with me? So she needs a blessing. "God, how can I help her?" I'm being real spiritual so far. I'm caring. I'm being compassionate. How can I help her? Oh! C'mon, is anybody home in the house today? So now, I don't wanna give her my bracelet so--and I actually had this happen so this is a good--this is a living story. And so I look at her and I think, "she is really skinny. That is gonna fall right off of her arm." And I took it home. C'mon, you know, we--it's amazing the stuff that we can come up with, okay? I've had an argument with somebody. I'm really sure it was their fault.
Joyce Meyer: and I'm waiting for them to apologize and I don't really intend to talk to them until they do. And I'm reading a book, let's say, a devotional by Joyce on how to get closer to God every day. got my morning devotion and it says: "be a peacemaker." Uh-oh, right away, I'm thinking, "hmm." So I get this little sensing that God wants me to pick up the phone and call this person and be aggressive. Well, I don't wanna do that. So I come up with a reason. Are you there? My reason is that I apologized the last time. And it would simply not be right for me to have to apologize every single time. C'mon, somebody give God a praise. One more example and then we'll move on. Offering time.

Joyce Meyer: it's offering time. You hear a nice appeal about water, like we talked about this morning. You feel a little, you know, yeah, that'd be a good thing to give to. You kinda almost start to do something and then you think, "but I gave last night. I don't need to do that." So you just don't do it. Well, see, i've gone through the same thing and it's, like, God had to remind me, "well, no, you don't have to but you can." See, we have to stop finding reasons and excuses for not doing what God wants us to do and then complaining because we don't have the blessed life that we say that we wanna have. Because we're blessed not in our hearing but we're blessed in our doing. So let me just share this with you and then I'm gonna move on. If there are things in your life that you know that God has put on your heart to do and you have not done them, anybody? Then go home and get busy and stop complaining about why God's not speaking to you because he's probably not gonna say anything else until you do the last thing he told you to do.

Joyce Meyer: if you knew how many years it took me to learn all this stuff that you get downloaded in about an hour here. Now, James 1:26 and 27 and then we'll go on to chapter 2. And we're not gonna spend much time here because I'm actually gonna cover all this material later. And I don't have the--there it is. "if anyone thinks himself to be religious--" can we say, "that's me"? "(piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and yet he does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person's religious service is worthless (futile and barren)." So bottom line is, is he's saying, "look, if you wanna locate yourself, listen to yourself. If you wanna know more about your true level of spirituality, Joyce, just listen to yourself. Listen to what you complain about. Listen to the things that you say. Listen to the things you say about other people." We can learn a lot about ourselves by listening to ourselves. But as I said, I don't need to spend a lot of time there because we got a lot of that tonight. I probably shouldn't tell you that 'cause some of you'll think, "i ain't going back."

Joyce Meyer: and then the next Verse says: "true religion pure and undefiled is this: to visit, help, and care for widows and orphans in their affliction." So God's saying you need to help the poor. We're also gonna get to talk about that a little bit more this morning so I don't need to camp there. And I mean, it's very specific. "true religion that's pure and undefiled," doesn't just go to church and go home and do nothing. Pure religion, true and undefiled, that pleases God is the kind that gets busy helping other people that are hurting. That is what we're called to do. Forget about ourselves, help other people that are hurting and, in the process of that, God will take care of us much better than we could ever take care of ourselves.

Joyce Meyer: and then the last thing it says is: "and to keep yourself unspotted from the world." And so we really need to understand what the word of God says and get busy about doing it, not just hearing it. Somebody say, "good preaching, Joyce."
Audience: good preaching,
Joyce Meyer: well, being a victorious christian actually means more than just believing God and his word and his promises. It must also be followed up with action in our lives. In other words, we study the word of God and we see what God asks us to do then we follow it up with action. And God always gives us the grace and the strength to do what he's asked us to do. Why not ask God today what he wants you to do and follow it up with action? Today, you've watched just a portion of the teaching from the book of James. But you can get the whole study today. This is something that we've done with other books of the bible and people have really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it. And I just wanna encourage you that bible study, your own bible study is so important to your life. So today we have the book of James, the action plan, and this includes a personal study guide on the book of James, it's a booklet, and four teachings on cd and dvd. And you can also download the study guide. I really want you to learn the word of God for yourself in a personal way that's gonna really affect your life. I believe that God is gonna really help you make some changes that you've been wanting to make for a long time. Now, God loves you. He loved you before you ever did anything right or wrong. And actually, he will never ever, ever, stop loving you. So you remember that and enjoy the day that he's given you. Announcer: "receive and welcome the word, which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls." For a limited time, we're offering a bible study of James action plan, Joyce Meyer's teaching through the book of James.
Joyce Meyer: what Paul said is right. We are justified before God by our faith. But what James said is right too. We are justified before men by our works.
Announcer: with this action plan you'll find a companion personal study guide, the book of James booklet, and four teachings on cd and dvd. The book of James has so many valuable things to say about living a successful life. As you take the time to watch and listen, you're planting good seeds that will strengthen your faith. A bible study of James action plan. All this can be yours for a donation of...OR More. Call us... Or visit us at joycemeyer.org.
Joyce Meyer: well, there's really no special formula to spending time with God. It's just very important that you do it. Making this a priority will change your life like nothing else. I know it has mine. And now I wanna help you enrich your time with God by sharing some thoughts and insights from my own life in my brand new devotional called "my time with God." Let's focus on him together and my prayer is that these scriptures and declarations of faith will help you grow deeper in your relationship with christ a little bit more every single day. Announcer: order your copy of Joyce Meyer's new devotional, "my time with God." Call... Or go to joycemeyer.org.

Announcer: so, the bible is God's manual to help us navigate life. But life often gets in the way of knowing the bible, finding the time, knowing where to begin, and discovering what this all means to you. We understand, and we'd like to help. At joycemeyer.org/study, you'll find free resources to help you get more out of the bible, whether you're a new christian or have been walking with christ for years. So, jump in today. The word, it's free, it's mobile, and it's tailored for you at joycemeyer.org.
Announcer: new from Joyce, a study bible designed to help you renew your thoughts, the "battlefield of the mind bible" with insights from Joyce Meyer's best-selling book, "battlefield of the mind" paired with the scriptures that inspired them. Explore God's word in a deeper way to help you learn to think how God thinks, gain practical truths for overcoming life's challenges, train your mind for ultimate victory, and more. The "battlefield of the mind bible," now available from Joyce Meyer.

Joyce Meyer: well, if you've ever felt like you're just average or perhaps even like you're a failure, let me encourage you to see yourself as God sees you. You know, you are his unique design. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14 declares, "i praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well." I believe that we need to learn to see ourselves the way God sees us, not the way the world sees us. announcer: the preceding was paid for by the friends and partners of Joyce Meyer ministries.

full textual sermon "Book of James Bible Study", Part 2 - Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer: "yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with my [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice." And I love verse 15: "'behold, I will make you to be a new, sharp, threshing instrument which has teeth.'" No more pacifiers. No more baby bottles. No more squashed-up fruit in a dish. God's gonna give you meat, and teeth to chew it with. And this weekend we're not throwin' out dessert. We're puttin' out meat. How many of you have been around long enough to know what I mean by that? Paul told the christians, the corinthian christians, he said "i have to keep feedin' you with milk. I can't give you meat, because you're not strong enough to take it. But I believe I got the right group at the right time that are ready to get on with what God has for your life. I've got the right group at the right time. Amen. You've got what it takes, and you're ready. "Behold, I will make you to be a new, sharp, threshing instrument who has teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and you shall make the hills like chaff." And then, really, verse 17 is what God's tryin' to get to: "'the poor and the needy are seeking water when there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I the Lord will answer them; i, the God of israel, will not forsake them.'" And what is he saying here. If you read all this in context, he's gonna answer them through you.
Joyce Meyer: see, God is trying to get us to the point where we can get ourselves off of our mind long enough that we can be what timothy says is a, "vessel fit for the master's use." Amen? So he can work through you at your place of employment. So he can work through you in your schools. So he can work through you in your neighborhoods, with your unsaved family. So he can work through you. People are seeking water where there is none. People want help. They need help. Now, we're good at prayin' for people sometimes. "oh, God, help them." "God, please help them. God, would you provide whatever for so and so?" The Lord interrupted my prayer a few years ago and said, "stop prayin' for things that you could easily do for people and just don't want to. Stop askin' me to do stuff that i've anointed you to do. Hello?" Well, it's the truth, isn't it? What if every time somebody has a problem, we say, "God, show me if there's anything you want me to do in this situation"? I heard one faint
Joyce Meyer: I'm not sure if that was a clap or not, but sounded like somebody started to clap and then decided to quit. I wasn't sure. Now, let me say that trials are not evidence of God's displeasure and anger. When you're already havin' a trial, the last thing you need is condemnation heaped on top of you that you have some big sin in your life that has now caused this problem. And isn't that the first place our minds go sometimes? I was ministering to a woman sometime over the past year, and she had an autistic son, and actually, God just gave me a word of wisdom in a meeting. I didn't know the woman, but I saw a child about 9 years old with brown hair, and I knew that his mother felt guilty, like it was her fault that he was autistic. And so I just shared that. And sure enough, within 24 hours, the woman got ahold of mike and said, "well, here's my 9-year-old son with the brown hair. And that was exactly right. I have felt guilty ever since he was born, like maybe I did somethin' wrong and it was my fault." The devil loves to load us down with guilt and condemnation about everything, but God loves to help us.
Joyce Meyer: and see, the thing you're gonna read in a few minutes is even if through our own stupidity we did get ourselves in trouble, which is the case a lot of times, God still will help us if we ask him to. Now, who could get upset about a deal like that? So, just a few things that, ways that trials can help you. Because I know you wanna know how they can help you, right? Okay, I'm excited.

Joyce Meyer: well, they train us and they force us to use our faith, and eventually, we become stable during the storms of life. Number two, they humble us. There's nothing that will humble you quicker than to have something that you absolutely cannot handle and have to go to somebody else and ask for help. 2 corinthians 12:7, one biblical example. The apostle paul, who was having such tremendous revelations from God, was actually taken up to the third heaven and saw things that he didn't even know how to describe. And yet, the bible says in 2 corinthians 12:7: "and to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness of these revelations, there was given me a thorn (a splinter) in the flesh, a messenger of satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted." Now, there has been so much conversation about what paul's thorn was. And I frankly don't care. The point was he didn't like it, and he begged God to get rid of it, and God said, "no, my grace is sufficient for you. Because of all these wonderful things that are happening through you, and all these things that I'm showing you, we gotta have a little bit if abasing here to keep things in balance." And you know, over in philippians, paul said, "i've learned how to be content whether I'm abased or abounding." And years ago, as I studied that, I thought, "what was it that he learned?" He said, "i've learned how to be content." What was it that the learned that kept him that stable and that much the same, whether he liked his circumstances or he didn't? And isn't that where we wanna be?
Joyce Meyer: you don't wanna have a lousy circumstance come along and ruin your week, do ya? You don't wanna have somebody else do something that you couldn't control, and now have to give up your joy because they decided to have a bad day. That's not what jesus died for us to have. He wants us to have peace and joy, and to be stable, and to have it all the time, no matter what's going on in our circumstances, Amen? Audience: Amen. Satan is the God of this world, and he can mess around with our circumstances. But if we trust God, he will use every one of them to our good. They will help us grow spiritually. And as we stay strong in him, then we will see additional blessings in our life according to what God knows that we can handle. And so paul said, "i've learned, i've learned how to be content, satisfied to the point where I'm not disturbed." Being content doesn't mean you never wanna see any change in your life. There's all kinds of things that I wanna see changed, and all kinds of people that I wanna see changed. But thankfully, i've come to the point where I'm not upset about it now. I'm not losing my joy. You know why? I'm really well aware that only God can change it. And me bein' upset about it's not gonna get him to move any faster. And so he said, "i've learned how to be content whether I'm abased or abounding." And he said that because he trusted God so much that he knew that if he was going through a term of difficulty, that there was a reason for it. Even if he didn't understand it, he trusted God to work it out for his good. Can we believe that all things work together for our good if we trust God? All things. But let's be able to believe that while we're in it. See, I wanted to be able to say last week when I was going through my little thing, and it was a little thing, believe me. It was nothin' to even crab about. But it was just a little thing. But as I was goin' through it I thought, "now, God, I wanna go through this the way I'm supposed to go through it. And so help me now." See, a lot of times we can go through very difficult things, and 3, 4 years down the road, we can look back and say, "oh, yeah, yeah, I see how God used that in my life. It worked out for good." Can any of you think of stuff like that right now? "i see how God used that in my life. It worked out good." But God wants us to get it on this side. See? The israelites danced and sang, but they did it on the wrong side of the red sea. They waited till they got through the red sea, and then they had a party. God wanted 'em to dance on this side when they were facing it.

Joyce Meyer: Amen? They remind us to be totally dependent on God. They help us develop character. And we give glory to God. Revelation 12:11 says: "we overcome him," him being satan, "by the blood of the lamb and by the utterance of our testimony." Well, you can't have a testimony without a test. Test-imony. What we have to make sure of is that when we're done, we don't just have the moanies. And still don't have a testimony. Because in God's economy, if you don't pass the test, you get to take it again. Now, patience. patience, patience, patience. Well, we had a piece of property we needed to sell. Well, i'll put it like this. I wanted to sell it. I don't know if "need" is the right word, but I wanted to sell it. So 3 and 1/2 years, we didn't even get an offer. And 3 and 1/2 years is a long time for me to wait. Now, dave couldn't have cared less if we sold in 2 days or 10 years, you know? Because he's just like, "it'll sell at the right time. God'll sell it at the right time." You know, sometime, if you need to grow in patience and you're around somebody that's really patient, aren't they annoying?
Joyce Meyer: and so, okay, I mean, I'm prayin' about this piece of property. I'm getting people to agree with me about selling this piece of property. I'm rebuking the devil because I'm not getting any offers on my property. I'm confessing that my property is sold, in jesus' name. And one morning I started to talk to the Lord again about the property, and he said, "will you forget that property?" «Will you just forget that property and let me take care of it?" Now, don't miss the second half of what I said. "will you forget about it?" See, some of you have issues and you've just been camped on top of 'em so long that God couldn't get a chance to help you if he tried. You almost gotta get to the point where you just flat-out don't care. And it's like, "it's up to you." "will you forget about that?" Now, as God is my witness, I'm tellin' you the absolute truth. In 2 weeks it sold. Now, it would come back to my mind, and I would just say, "nope, God's takin' care of that." now, you know, I'm not sayin' that you can't pray about things for a long time. But I will be honest and say I think there comes a time where we don't need to pray about somethin' anymore.

Joyce Meyer Full textual Bible Study - Book of James - Part 1 - Enjoying Everyday Life

You're gonna see that that's what james said, that the word has the power to save our souls if we receive it with meekness and that means that every single thing you hear, you have the attitude, "man, I need this. I need this." I always tell people, I don't care how many times you've got it underlined in your Bible, until you're doing it on a regular basis, you don't know it. If you're like me, I like to underline, and color code, and star, and checkmark and, you know, sometimes if you're not careful, you can feel real proud of yourself if you open your Bible and you've got a bunch of it underlined. But what we have to look at is, am I doing this? And no matter how many times we hear the same thing over and over, we still need it. So, here's a little bit of historical background on james.

First of all, there are 2 disciples among the 12 named james. This epistle is not written by either one of them, but it was written by james, the brother of Jesus. James occupied a prominent place in the church in jerusalem and is mentioned in the book of acts. The theme of this book in the Bible is how to have a living faith, a faith that actually works and produces good things in our lives and in the lives of other people. It's evidenced by righteous living and Godly behavior.

True faith manifests righteous living and Godly behavior. Let me just throw in here that if everybody who calls themselves a Christian had a living faith and was walking in right behavior and Godly behavior, people would have a totally different attitude worldwide toward Christianity and Christians and they would be flocking into the churches to try to get some of what you have. Joyce Meyer: your position in history right now is so important. I mean, it is very important that you're alive right now and that you get to be part of seeing this generation come to a saving knowledge of Christ but that will not happen if we don't walk the walk and do something other than just go to church on sunday morning and think that because we do that, we've got a ticket into heaven.

Chapter 1 is about a victorious faith. Chapter 2, having our faith manifested. Chapter 3, a faith that controls our behavior. Chapter 4, a faith that causes us to be submissive to the will of God. And chapter 5, a patient and an expectant faith. Although Jesusalthough james was the brother of Jesus, he recognized him as the resurrected lord for he refers to himself as a servant of God and of the lord Jesus Christ. Now, james chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. I'm sure these are like your very favorite scriptures in the Bible. You're already groaning and I haven't even opened it up yet. Joyce Meyer: see, I heard a, "ugh." How many of you already know what james 1, verse 1 says? "be holy joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations." How many of you have made it to that point and you don't need this message tonight? You're Joyce Meyer: you know, it's almost not even hardly fair for God to ask a preacher to preach this message because somebody asked me what I was gonna preach on this weekend?

I said, well, I get the extreme thrill of trying to get people excited about their trials. Joyce Meyer: which is not easy. And the only way that we can actually consider them joyful, and that's about our thinking process, we don't necessarily have to be clapping and cheering about the discomfort we're going through, but if we understand what the Bible says about the value of trialsand this is a message that's under preached. Yes, God wants to bless us and he wants to bless us more than we know how to handle. He will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing so great that we cannot contain it. We don't even know how to take it in. But I know from the word of God and from experience that God cannot bless us in the natural beyond where we're at spiritually.

I wanna say it again. You're not gonna give your baby that's 3 years old the keys to the car. Amen? And you don't because you love him. And every one of us should stop praying for God to give us all the stuff that we think we have to have to make us happy and we should pray a new prayer and this is the prayer that we should pray. I pray this on a regular basis. I invite you to join me. "god, please don't give me anything that I can't handle and still keep you first in my life." Joyce Meyer: amen? And something we don't hear enough of in prayer anymore I don't think is, "your will be done. Your will be done." We've gotten really good about telling God everything that we want him to give us, but he says that difficulty, and trials, and tribulations, and things that test our faith, that we should consider them joyful because, not 'cause they feel good right now, but because of what they have the ability to do in us if we won't run away from them. And, you know, there are some things you can't get away from, but there are a lot of things that you can get away from. Amen?

I had a job in ministrywell, I'll start somewhere else. I was in a church at one point and they really didn't want me teaching home Bible study. They were a little bit controlling and manipulative. And so, I wasn't really being treated all that great. And man, my first impulse is I'm out of here. Who needs this? I'm out of here. And I really felt that God told me that I needed to stay. Well, it was uncomfortable to stay. Every week when I went in the church, it was uncomfortable to stay. There was all these home Bibles studies that different people had and ours at one point was listed, then all of a sudden, ours came off the list. And things like that can hurt you, you know? When you don't get picked, when you're rejected, things like that can hurt you.

And, but God really dealt with me that I couldn't leave there with an attitude in my heart because, you see, if you leave someplace with a bad attitude, you're gonna enter the next place you go with that same bad attitude. And so, God doesn't want us to go when we wanna go. He wants us to go when he says to go. Joyce Meyer: and then I came to a situation where I was in a church that I'd worked at for 5 years and God was really dealing with me about steppin' out and starting to do what I'm doing now. And I didn't wanna go. And I stayed there for another year, maybe two after God started dealing with me and I'm telling you what, things were just not getting good. And so, you can go when God wants you to stay and you can stay when God wants you to go.

You see, we like to be comfy and I don't want to give up my friends. I was concerned about what people would think, that I was ungrateful, that I was full of myself, thought I was gonna go out and have this big ministry now and blah, blah, blah, blah. But if I wouldn't have listened to God, then we wouldn't be here tonight. And I just wonder how many of you, maybe God has told you to do or not to do somethingwhen I say told you, I mean either through his word, which is a word from God this is the main way that God is gonna speak to us and deal with us. And anything else that you think you hear better line up with that or you're in trouble. So, we need to get about the business of spiritual maturity. And listen, I don't like it any better than you do.

I had a situation happen a few days ago. I told you I got angry and I had a trial that was not of my making. I was having a great day and somebody else did something that then caused me to not have a great day. How many of you love it when you're going around doing good, and you're just clicking along with Jesus, and everything's great, and you're enjoying your day and now somebody else does something? Joyce Meyer: well, to be honest, probably 70%, 80% of our problems are people problems for a lot of different reasons. That doesn't always mean it's all them, you know? So, we better say that just to get it out there. But in this particular situation, then it took my time. I had to deal with something I didn't wanna deal with. Then I had to, you know, do some other stuff. And so, I'm getting ready to preach this message on being joyful about these things, and so I just thought, "okay God, just now tell me how this is gonna be good for me? I want ya to tell me how this is gonna be good for me? And what am I gonna learn out of this? How is this gonna help me?"

And actually God put something interesting on my heart. He said, "this wasn't so much for you as it is for the other person," because the way I dealt with it, I had to bring a correction. And so, if they then received that, that can help them build their character and do more of what they're supposed to do. So, I might as well just tell you this and put it out there so you don't have to find out on your own later, but I'll just tell ya that the more mature you become in Christ, the more he's liable To let you go through a few things that really don't have anything to do with you. They have a lot to do with other people. Joyce Meyer: come on, now. I mean, a very good case in point would be my relationship with dave. I mean, I had serious issues when we got married. And they were all internal so they didn't start comin' out until after the wedding. Joyce Meyer: how many of you feel me on that one? You know, it's like they didn't start comin' out until after the wedding. Everybody's on their good behavior during the courtship. And I didn't even know dave played golf when I married him.

Did not know what a golf ball was because I was the only thing that mattered in hisyou know, his life during those five dates that we had before we got married. Joyce Meyer: but, you know, dave went through a lot those first few years, and if he would have left because he felt like leaving, we wouldn't be here tonight. And so, whatever this means to different people here tonight or those watching by tv, you better think twice before you just think, "well, I'm out of here." Maybe you need to say, "is it your will? What do you want me to do in this situation?" And I don't see nearly as many smiles as I'd like to see. Joyce Meyer: and I know, I know it's all painful. There's nothing that we hurtthat we hate worse than having to go through things. But it's here and we can't ignore it. We have to learn to understand it. He says, "consider it wholly joyful when you're enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort of fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and the proving of your faith bring out endurance, steadfastness, and patience." Now, we'll talk in a few minutes about some other things that they bring out too, but eventuallyeventually we'll get down to that if we let God work with us long enough. You know why? At the moment of your new birth when you receive Christ, the nature of God was planted on the inside of your spirit. Little seeds of everything that God is, his character, all the fruit of the spirit, it's all in you.

Believe it or not, you are patient, but it's just like a little teeny, teeny, tiny seed buried somewhere under all your flesh. And listen to this, patience, the greek dictionary says, is a fruit of the spirit that grows only under trial. And it comes from a root word called h-u-p-o-n-e in the greek and it means to remain under. So, patience has nothing to do with running away from. It has everything to do with being steadfast, being disciplined, being committed, sticking with things, going all the way through with things. And I think we all know that the first thing our flesh wants to do when anything gets hard is quit and run away. Amen? But before we run in the future, we need to say, "god, what do you want me to do in this situation?" Patience is like a muscle. Faith is like a muscle. The less you use it, the more it atrophies and the weaker it gets. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. The stronger it gets, the more you can do. You see, God, not only does he want to do things for us. You know, to be honest, sometimes I just get tired of having to tell people that 500 times to get them to keep listening.

We are just not very good at laying our lives down and saying, "god, what can I do for you? Just for one day, could I forget about myself and say, God, what can I do for you today? You've been so good to me. You don't have to do one more thing for me the rest of my life if you don't want to. How can I serve you? What can I do for you?" Joyce Meyer: but oh, I tell you what, it's very challenging to preach on sacrifice, and suffering, and being somewhere where you don't wanna be, and waiting on things. But you know what? When we let God work with us in our lives and we do go from glory to glory to glory, I tell ya what, you give yourself a few years with the lord of really listening to him and you'll go through some stuff, but you come to a place where the stuff that used to bother you doesn't even phase you anymore. It's likesee, we don't need less problems. We need more strength. We don't need less opposition. We need more character. We need more faith, more spiritual muscle on the inside of us. And we need to be able to say with paul, "i can do all things through Christ who is my strength.

Whether I'm abased or abounding, I can do all things through Christ." Now, I know in saying this, probably some of you, this is the last thing in the world you wanted to hear out of me this weekend, and thankfully, we will get to go on to other things, like your mouth and Joyce Meyer: and other more exciting things as we go on here. But I just think it'sif you can believe when you're going through something and if you can open your mouth and say, "i hate this but I believe it's gonna work out good. God, I'mma tell you right now, this don't feel good, I don't like it, but I trust your word that you will work something good in me as result of this. And so therefore, I'm gonna do it by faith, God, but I'm gonna put a smile on my face and I'm not gonna murmur and I'm not gonna complain. And I am just gonna say now, 'you do what you want to do in my life.'" Joyce Meyer: amen? Now, if you'll go home and start to do these kinds of things, I'm not gonna tell you that boy, are things gonna come up roses in 2 days. They won't. But the day will come when you'll think, "i am so glad that I finally stopped running away from everything that was hard and I've learned how to go through with God and come out victorious on the other side." We all wanna be a conqueror, but we don't want anything to conquer. We wanna be victorious, but we don't want anything to have to have victory over. And we're just so down about going through. "i'm just going through."

Well, the good news is is you're going through, and you've got Jesus with you, and you're gonna come out on the other side. Joyce Meyer: and honey, when you come out on the furnace, you won't even smell like smoke. Who would ever guess by looking at my life now or many of your lives what you went through in the earlier years of your life? Who could possibly imagine some of the things that you've gone through and where you're at now? You came out and you don't even smell like smoke. Joyce Meyer: so, you know, we can think of a woman who's pregnant and we are pregnant, so to speak, with so many good things, so many good things on the inside of us. And a woman who is pregnant, actually while she's in labor, she has pain and joy at the same time. Her joy of bringing a child into the world overcomes the pain because she will actually go do it again. Joyce Meyer: figure that out. And I had three during the time when they knocked you out when you had babies and then I bravely decided to have the last one all natural. Joyce Meyer: and he lacked 1 ounce weighin' 10 pounds. Man.

Matter of fact, women will pray for their labor to start. Joyce Meyer: are any of you praying for your spiritual labor to start? Would anybody just go home and say, "okay God, I am tired of being a namby-bamby baby, whiny, up and down, happy when things go my way, sad when they don't. I'm tired of getting my feelings hurt all the time and being jealous and getting mad all the time. I want you to do something in me, let my labor start." Joyce Meyer: oh, it sounds a lot more exciting here than it will be when you get home by yourself. Joyce Meyer: I mean, I'm just sayin'. I mean, we got the lights, the music. We got the crowd. Whoo! Lord, have mercy. Trials bring out a lot of stuff before they get around to bringin' out the good stuff that's in there. Joyce Meyer: well, I said it today, but it's worth repeating.

Our trials are not necessarily evidence of God's displeasure or anger, but they develop us and they train us to use our faith. So, count it all joy when you encounter various trials. Now, if you missed any part of today's teaching or if this is really interesting to you and you wanna know about the rest of the book of james, today our offer is an entire package about james, a Bible study of james. It's an action plan. This includes personal study guide, the book of james booklet, and four teachings on cd and dvd. You can also download the study guide. Now, this is something that I've been doing, just teaching on different books of the Bible and people have really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed doing it and people have really enjoyed getting this because it's so good to hear other people, but it's really good when you study the Bible for yourself.

This is a way that you can do a group Bible study or even your own study on your own. So, please get these resources, I think they will really help you. Now remember, God has got a good plan for your life. It may be taking longer than you'd like it too. God's not usually in a hurry, but he will show up at just the right time.

full textual sermon "Book of James Bible Study - Part 8" Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer: I don't think that God ever wants you to think little of yourself but he never wants you to think more of yourself than you ought to. And that's the key. I like to say I'm an everything nothing. Nothing in myself and everything in christ. Nothing in myself, nothing without him, everything in him and through him. God gives us grace. "Come close to God and he will come close to you." Remember he is never more than a thought away. "[recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery]." Now, here again, this doesn't mean that you can't enjoy other things and have other interest, but God needs to be first. That means he needs to be first in our time, first in our conversation, first in our thoughts, first in our finances, first in every decision that we make. If you keep God first, you'll never find yourself in last place. "[as you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins]." Now this--you know, this does not mean that we go around like, you know, thinking that we're terrible all the time, but I think it's an exhortation to take sin seriously. Take it seriously. We don't--you know, half the time now, the world doesn't even call sin sin. Half the things that the Bible says are sin are now addictions, or these diseases, or sicknesses. Amen?
Joyce Meyer: see, the biggest danger that we have is drifting toward the world and away from God. We cannot think like they think. We cannot talk like they talk. We cannot act like they act. We cannot believe what they believe. We have something higher, and it's the word of God. And I will keep shouting from the housetops as long as God gives me a voice that this is the truth, and anything that does not agree with it is a lie.
Joyce Meyer: sincere repentance, very sincere repentance. One time, I was praying, i'd done something wrong. I don't even remember now what it was. And I said, "oh God, forgive me, I missed it." And I remember the Lord saying, "missed what?" And I said, "well, Lord, you know what I did." He said, "yeah, I want to hear you say it." Not because he didn't know, but you see, true confession and repentance is good for the soul. David said, if you read psalm-- I don't know, one of them, where--i think it might be psalm 32, where he repented for sin, 32? Yeah, psalm 32. I'm looking at my concordance down here. Where david, the Bible records the prayer of repentance that david prayed when he finally faced the magnitude of his sin with bathsheba. And believe it or not, he ignored it for a year. As close as he was to God, he had adultery and he had murder, and he managed to think he was avoiding it for a year. And if you read psalm 32, it's really good especially in the amplified Bible. He basically says he was miserable. And when he did confess his sin, the amplified says that he told it and told it until he told it all. And then the joy of his salvation came back. Don't go around with hidden stuff in your heart that you don't want to talk to God about because he already knows anyway. And sometimes, we need to hear the ugliness of what it is because it'll shock us even sometimes to realize that we're jealous, or we're just being hateful, or just being hard to get along with. "humble yourselves," verse 10, "[feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you [he will lift you up and make your lives significant]." Now, here again, feeling insignificant is what the amplified Bible says. I'm not real crazy about that translation. I don't think that God ever wants you to think little of yourself, but he never wants you to think more of yourself than you ought to, and that's the key. I like to say I'm an everything nothing: nothing in myself and everything in christ. Nothing in myself, nothing without him, everything in him and through him. God gives us grace. We can't change without him. We need to spend time with God and trust him to change us on a regular basis. How many of you would love to be set free from always trying to change yourself and being unhappy with yourself? All right. Obedience releases God's power in our lives. James 4:11 and 12, "[my] brethren, do not speak evil about or accuse one another. He that maligns a brother or judges his brother is maligning and criticizing the law and judging the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a practicer of the law but a censor and judge [of it]." Now, the law he's talking about here really is the new royal law of love. And he's saying basically, which that's the law that we live under, under the old covenant. If we can walk in love with people, we're going to keep all the rest of it, agreed? I mean, love--that's why the Bible says, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." We would have no people problems at all if we would treat other people the way that we want to be treated. That would solve it all. So, he says be careful how you talk about people. We covered the mouth last night. Be careful how you talk about people. Don't be making accusations against people. Half the time we accuse people of things, we don't even know what we're talking about. Verse 12, "only one is the lawgiver and the judge who is able to save and to destroy [the one who has the absolute power of life and death]. [but you] who are you that [you presume to] pass judgment on your neighbor?" Romans 14:10 through 13 backs this up in a little different way. "why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you look down on or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God." I love to say what I'm getting ready to say. When judgment day comes, God is not going to ask us about anybody but ourselves. God is not going to ask me one thing about why dave didn't do something, let alone my neighbor, or the people I work with, or--you know, we need to just leave other people alone, pray for them, let God deal with them, and spend our time with God asking him to straighten our deal out. Come on, this is good. Is there anybody here bold enough to admit that you tend to be judgmental? Is there anybody here that no telling--no matter how many good things are going on, if there's one thing that's wrong, you can spot it? That's called humanity, Amen? And those are the things where we need to resist the devil. That's where we need to resist the enemy. I have to say to myself, and if I'm by myself sometimes I'll say it out loud, "Joycer, it's none of your business. It is just none of your business." We don't need to have an opinion where we don't have any responsibility. "well, I don't think they should. And if I were." You have no idea what you would do if you were in somebody else's shoes because you're not. Oh my, my, my. "why do you look down or despise your brother? We'll all stand before the judgment seat of God. As it is written, 'as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God [and acknowledge him and give him praise]. And each of us shall give an account of himself [in answer to judgment] to God.'" Verse 13, "then let us no more criticize and blame and pass judgment on one another, but rather decide and endeavor never to put a stumbling block or an obstacle or a hindrance in the way of the brother." So, instead of judging people, let us determine that we're going to be a good example. And maybe if they do have a problem in their life, then if we're a good example, a Godly example, maybe they can learn something from our example. But we don't need to criticize them and judge them. Let's talk about presumption for a minute because in the world that we live in today, I think we've got a lot of what we call entitlement, people who have an attitude that i--that's owed to me, and I deserve that. And they don't want to do anything to earn it or deserve it. They just feel like for some reason that everything should be handed to them on a silver platter. And a presumptuous attitude is not pleasing to God. "come now, you who say, 'today or tomorrow we're going to go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money.' Yet you don't know [the least thing] about what might happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You're [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air]." I really like when I share this scripture to bring a can of hairspray and just go pfft, "there I go." You know what we need to hear a lot more of? We need to hear a lot more of, "if God wills, I'll do that. If God approves." I'm serious, we need to get more of that into our conversation, even our conversation with each other. Let's just stop declaring what we're going to do all the time because we're not going to do anything if God doesn't enable us to do it and bless us to do it. I think we've moved too far away from, "if it be thy will." How many of you want what God wants more than you want what you want?
Joyce Meyer: "you ought instead to say," verse 15, "if the Lord is willing, if the Lord is willing, we shall live and do this thing or that [thing]." I have a plan to go buy a pair of shoes when I leave here today, and I sure hope the Lord is willing. How many of you think he is? I believe it's God's will, Amen? "but as it is, you boast [falsely] in your presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong." You know, all these scriptures are gearing toward lean on God, lean on God, lean on God, lean on God. Put him first in your life, keep him first in your life, know that you're nothing without him. "for any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin." Let me give you a few biblical examples of presumption. In numbers 14, verses 40 through 45, it says, "and they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, 'behold, we are here, and we intend to go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.'" This is what we're going to do. "but moses said, 'why now do you transgress the command of the Lord [to turn back by way of the red sea], since it will not succeed? Go not up, for the Lord is not among you, that you be not struck down before your enemies. For the amalekites and the canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from following after the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you.' But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country; however, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor moses departed out of the camp. Then the amalekites came down and the canaanites who dwelt in that hill country and they smote the israelites and beat them back, even as far as hormah." So, they said, "we're going to go up." You know, there was a time when they could have gone up and they didn't obey God. Let me tell you something, when God tells us to do something, there's an anointing on it for that time. And a lot of times, we like to put it off and wait till it's convenient for us. And i've found out that what I could have done easily a month ago I may not be able to do at all now a month later because God was with me then, but-- I mean, he's always with us, but he's not anointing that particular thing for now.
Joyce Meyer: presumption. A few more instances in the Bible of presumption. When the disciples rebuked the little children and told them to leave Jesus alone, Jesus corrected them. When peter rebuked Jesus, telling him he must not go to jerusalem and suffer and die, Jesus said, "get thee behind me, satan." When peter cut off the ear of the high priest and Jesus had to put it back on. Let's just be people who realize what we're not without God, which is absolutely nothing. Totally useless without God. God, I need you. If you have a job, don't expect to have handed to you what it took somebody else 30 years to earn. And can I tell you something? Just 'cause you got a college degree.
Joyce Meyer: that still doesn't mean that you don't need to prove yourself. Just because you've got a degree still doesn't tell anybody you know anything. We need experience, don't we? Be willing to put a little time in. Be willing to prove yourself faithful, and let God promote you. Mmm. You may sing better than the worship leader in your church, but don't get mad 'cause they didn't give you the job. Trust God if that's where he wants you that he'll put you there. James chapter 5, "come now, you rich [people], weep aloud and lAment over the miseries (and the woes) that are coming upon you." It's not wrong to have money, but if you get a bad attitude with it, then it's wrong. And you know, we talked about this yesterday morning, I think, how a lot of people that end up with a lot of stuff, they end up mistreating people. And it should be the exact opposite. The more we have, the more we should be a blessing to other people, Amen? "your abundant wealth has rotted and is ruined, and your [many] garments have become moth-eaten." You know, and he goes on and on and on here. I love verse 4, "[but] look! [here are] the wages that you withheld by fraud from the laborers who reap your fields." You know, if you own a business and you have employees, treat them the way you would like to be treated. Pay them what you would like to be paid for doing the job that you may be underpaying them to do. Come on. Don't make them work ridiculously long hours and give them no benefits for it. "[here are] the wages that you have withheld from the people that you should have been good to." Anybody that's in a position of authority represents the Lord, and we need to treat people good. Let me tell you something, we pay our people at the ministry what they could make for doing that same job if they worked out in the world. I don't think that because somebody works for a ministry, that that means they should have to do everything on the cheap scale. Matter of fact, it should be the exact opposite. "[here] on earth," verse 5, "you have abandoned yourselves to soft (prodigal) living and [the pleasures of] the self-indulgence and self-gratification. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." James basically gives a warning to people not to focus on their wealth without having any regard for God or man. James 5:7, "so be patient, brethren, [as you wait]." We're back to where we started in James 1. Aren't you proud of yourself? You've made the whole journey. I want you to notice he doesn't say be patient, brethren, if you happen to have to wait. He says be patient, brethren, as you wait. And remember, patience is not waiting. It's how we behave while we're waiting. Patience is an attitude that's only developed under trial. It's a fruit of the spirit that only grows under trial. That's why God permits us to go through things, and why he doesn't deliver us as quick as we would like to be. It's not that he doesn't have your deliverance planned, but he's just using what's going on now to stretch your faith just a little bit more so you'll be a lot stronger when you get done.
Joyce Meyer: "see how the farmer waits expectantly for the precious harvest from the land. [see how] he keeps up his patient [vigil] over it until it receives the early and late rain." You know, that's a whole message in itself. He's like, "look, while you're waiting, just keep doing what you know to do. Just keep waiting." I mean, the farmer just pulls the weeds, and waters the seed, and pulls the weeds, and waters the seeds, and gets up, and goes to bed, and pulls the weed, and water the seeds. And so, what do we do while we're waiting on God? We keep fellowshipping with God. We keep trying to be a blessing to people. We keep studying the word. We keep believing. We just keep it up, and keep it up, and keep it up, and keep it up, and keep it up, and keep it up until we just drive the devil mad. Get ready to get excited. "so you also must be patient. Establish your hearts [strengthen and confirm them in the final certainty], for the Lord is near, for the coming of the Lord is very near." Oh, and while you're waiting, don't complain. I mean, if you see those first three verses, "do not complain against one another, so that you may not be judged." The Lord is near. James 5:13, pray. "is anyone among you afflicted, ill-treated, suffering evil? Let him pray. Is anybody glad? He should praise God. Is anybody sick? He should call the elders and they should pray. The prayer [that is] of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." This talks about the power of prayer, and how elijah was a man just like we are, an ordinary man. He did great things for God, but he also made mistakes. One day, he killed 400 baal prophets. The next day, he was running from jezebel, got depressed, and was out in the desert wanting to die. Sound like anybody you know? Whoa! Let me tell you something, it's easy in these conferences to feel super spiritual. You have a worship team like we've had this weekend, all these thousands of people worshiping together, and we're like, "yes, praise God." But you've got to go home. Oops. And that's where we've got to put all this to work in our lives. And that's when we need to pray, and we need to say, "God, help me in everything that I do because I cannot do anything without you." Amen?
Joyce Meyer: you know, even as we grow spiritually to the point where we can say "God is first in my life," we still need to be purposeful in keeping him in first place. Remember to ask God for help in everything that we do because we really cannot do anything without him, at least not really successfully. Today, you've just watched a portion of the teaching, but you can get the entire study of the book of James today. I put hours and hours and hours into doing the work involved in presenting something like this to you. And you can take advantage of it, you can get the action plan, the study guide. You can get the--download the teaching notes, get cds and dvds. It's really something that you should take advantage of, and I believe you are really going to enjoy it. So, order your copy today. And if you'll stay with us, I'll be right back with a little something else I want to share with you. Announcer: "receive and welcome the word which implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your souls." For a limited time, we're offering a Bible study of James action plan, Joyce Meyer's teaching through the book of James.
Joyce Meyer: what paul said is right, we are justified before God by our faith. But what James said is right too, we are justified before men by our works. Announcer: with this action plan, you'll find a companion personal study guide, the book of James booklet, and four teachings on cd and dvd. The book of James has so many valuable things to say about living a successful life. As you take the time to watch and listen, you're planting good seeds that will strengthen your faith. A Bible study of James action plan, all this can be yours for a donation of... Call us... Or visit us at joycemeyer.org.
Joyce Meyer: well, there's really no special formula to spending time with God. It's just very important that you do it. Making this a priority will change your life like nothing else. I know it has mine. And now I wanna help you enrich your time with God by sharing some thoughts and insights from my own life in my brand new devotional called "my time with God." Let's focus on him together and my prayer is that these scriptures and declarations of faith will help you grow deeper in your relationship with christ a little bit more every single day. Announcer: order your copy of Joyce Meyer's new devotional, "my time with God." Call... Or go to joycemeyer.org.
Joyce Meyer: Colossians 1:13 and 14 says, "for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins." You know, one of our partners recently wrote to us, reflecting on this very scripture. And this is what she says. "God used Joyce and her ministry to activate this scripture in my life, to the point where strongholds were actually broken off of my life. My life changed so much that I wanted to help others through the same practical way that God helped me, and so I became a partner." You know, there's something simple and yet powerful in how a scripture really inspired by God can change a life. Maybe something has really helped you from the word of God that we've been able to share with you. Maybe it's been life-changing for you, and you would like to also partner with us in helping make the same thing happen for somebody else. You know, I believe that's God's plan. He helps us, and then he wants us to reach out and help somebody else. So, if you would get online and become a partner with us today, or call us, you can ask more questions. We would love it if you would help us with all of our outreaches around the world. So, please become a new Joyce Meyer ministries partner today, and be part of everything that we're doing around the globe. Cc by aberdeen captioning 1-800-688-6621 www.abercap.com announcer: the preceding was paid for by the friends and partners of Joyce Meyer ministries