Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.— Jeremiah 1:5

Every day you need to give yourself entirely to God. Say, “Lord, I am Yours. I want to be a vessel fit for Your use. I dedicate myself to You: I give You my hands, my mouth, my mind, my body, my money, and my time. Father, here I am. I am Yours; do with me whatever You want to do today.”

Once you dedicate yourself to God, then go on about your business. But expect His leading all day long. Listen for His voice to direct you in the way you should go. Accept the challenge to be an instrument for the Lord’s use today.

From the book Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. —1 John 2:15

One day my previous housekeeper was cooking a roast for us in the pressure cooker. She did something wrong and the valve blew off the top, shooting steam, roast, grease, potatoes, and carrots straight up into the air. The ceiling fan above the stove was on full speed. It caught the food and grease and sent them flying all over the kitchen walls, ceiling, floor, furniture—and the housekeeper. When I came home from work, she was sitting in a corner of the kitchen, crying. She looked so bad I thought she had received some tragic news. I finally got her to tell me what had happened; and when she did, I started laughing. By the time Dave came in, she and I were both laughing hysterically. She said, “I’ve destroyed your kitchen!”

I remember telling her, “The kitchen can be replaced, but you can’t. You’re more important than the kitchen. Thank God you’re not hurt.” There was a time in my life when that would not have been my response. Before I learned that people are more important than things, I would have become angry and said things to make the housekeeper feel stupid and guilty.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – People Are More Important Than Things →

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.…—John 14:27

Nothing harms us emotionally the way stress does. We might say that anxiety is emotions out of control. When someone experiences anxiety, most of the time it’s because their emotions have been stressed to the point that they are no longer functioning healthily. There are many situations that cause anxiety. The death of a spouse or child, divorce, and job loss are major events; however, not all the reasons are that serious. A lot of anxiety is caused simply by taking on more than we can handle.

I used to feel constantly overwhelmed due to stress, but it was because my schedule was unreasonable. And—even worse—I thought I was doing it for God. It is amazing to me now when I look back at how deceived I was. Always remember that if Satan cannot get you to not work for God, then he will try to get you to overwork for God. He really doesn’t care which end of being out of balance we are on, because either one causes trouble.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Eliminate Stress and Fill Your Life with God’s Best →

Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.—Luke 10:19

One of the best ways to defend ourselves against the devil is to know the Word of God and speak it aloud against the lies he bombards our minds with. When the devil tells you God doesn’t love you and you will never amount to anything, go to war using the Word of God. Get out your two-edged sword and use it!

Talk back to the devil, loud and clear, saying, “I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ” (see 2 Corinthians 5:21); “God has a good plan for my life” (see Jeremiah 29:11); and “Nothing can separate me from the love of God” (see Romans 8:35–39). Trust God—know that you are more than a conqueror through Christ as you confidently declare the truth of His Word.

Power Thought: Through Christ I have authority over the devil.

From the book The Power of Being Thankful by Joyce Meyer

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Not that we [have the audacity to] venture to class or [even to] compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonials for themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely.—2 Corinthians 10:12

Advertising is often geared to make people strive to look the best, be the best, and own the most. If you wear “this” particular brand of clothes, people will admire you! Try “this” new diet and lose those few extra pounds—and then you will be accepted and noticed. The world consistently gives us the impression that we need to be something other than what we are.

A confident person avoids comparisons. Confidence is not possible as long as we compare ourselves with other people. No matter how good we look, how talented or smart we are, or how successful we are, there is always someone who is better, and sooner or later we will run into him or her.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Avoid Comparisons →

But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God). —Galatians 5:16

Like a horse that has been trained to keep his ear always tuned to the voice of its master, we must be willing to follow the Lord in all His leadings, not just those we feel good about or happen to agree with. We won’t always like what we hear Him tell us to do.

We must realize that in order to follow God, the flesh must be told no at times, and when that happens, the flesh suffers. There are times when we are galloping full speed ahead in one direction when suddenly the Master tells us to stop and instructs us to go in another direction. It is painful to us when we don’t get our way, but ultimately we understand that God’s ways are always best.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – The Spirit vs the Flesh →

Rejoice in the Lord always…again I say, Rejoice!…Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in…everything, by prayer and petition…with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. —Philippians 4:4,6

Twice in this passage the apostle Paul tells us to rejoice. He urges us not to fret or have any anxiety about anything but to pray and give thanks to God in everything—not after everything is over.

If you wait until everything is perfect before rejoicing and giving thanks you won’t have much fun. Learning to enjoy life even in the midst of trying circumstances is one way to develop spiritual maturity.

Live in the fullness of the joy of the Lord by finding something to be glad about besides your current circumstances. You must learn to derive your happiness and joy from the Lord who lives inside you.

Decide you will not fret or have anxiety about anything but will give thanks and praise to God, rejoicing in Him always.

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer

http://www.joycemeyer.org

For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.—Romans 8:29

The best goal a Christian can have is Christlikeness. Jesus is the express image of the Father, and we are called to follow in His footsteps. He came as the Pioneer of our faith to show us by example how we can live. We have the chance to behave with people the way Jesus did. Our goal is not to see how successful we can be in business or how famous we can be. It is not prosperity, popularity, or even building a big ministry, but to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Spiritual maturity or Christlikeness cannot be obtained without “dying to self.” That simply means saying yes to God and no to ourselves when our will and God’s are in opposition. Jesus told His disciples that if they wanted to follow Him, they would need to take up their cross daily.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Christlikeness →

Jesus said, Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.…—Matthew 8:13

Sometimes when I stand behind the pulpit, and before I speak, I pause and my gaze sweeps across the audience. I look at the faces of the people. I love to see the bright smiles and expressions of anticipation, but there are always a few who look downtrodden and discouraged. I don’t know anything about them and I don’t want to judge them, but their faces look sad. They look as if they have lost hope and expect nothing positive to happen—and too often, they get exactly what they expect.

I understand those discouraged people; I was once one of them.

Here’s a simple fact I’ve learned: Positive minds produce positive lives, but negative minds produce negative lives. The New Testament tells the story of a Roman soldier whose servant was sick, and the soldier wanted Jesus to heal him. That wasn’t uncommon—many wanted Jesus to heal them or their loved ones in those days. But this soldier, instead of asking Jesus to come to his servant, expressed his belief that if Jesus would just speak the word, his servant would be healed (see Matthew 8:8). Jesus marveled at his faith and sent out His word to heal the servant. The soldier’s positive mindset—his faith—brought positive results. He expected healing, and that’s exactly what happened.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Positive Minds →

…God tested and proved Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am. [God] said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you. —Genesis 22:1-2

Once the Lord said to me, “Joyce, do you love Me? If so, will you still love Me and serve Me even if I don’t do everything just the way you want or just when you think I should?” At the time of the Lord’s visitation, I had been asking God for a huge ministry. He also said, “Joyce, if I asked you to go down to the riverfront here in St. Louis and minister to fifty people for the rest of your life and never be known by anyone, would you do it?” My response was, “But, Lord, surely you can’t really be asking me to do that!”

We always have such grandiose plans for ourselves. If God asks us to do something that isn’t prominent, we aren’t always sure we are hearing Him correctly or that it is His will for us! When God asked me those questions about my ministry, I felt the way I imagined Abraham must have felt when the Lord asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac through whom He had promised to bless him and all nations of the earth (see Genesis 22).

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Lay It on the Altar →

See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know (recognize, acknowledge) us is that it does not know (recognize, acknowledge) Him.—1 John 3:1

Many people fail at marriage because they don’t love themselves, and therefore they have nothing to give in the relationship. They spend most of their time trying to get from their spouses what only God can give them, which is a sense of their own worth and value.

In my case, although I didn’t even know what love was, I married a boy of nineteen simply because I was afraid no one would ever want me. He had problems of his own and did not really know how to love me—so the pattern of pain in my life continued. I was repeatedly hurt in that relationship, which ended in divorce after five years.

Receiving the free gift of God’s unconditional love is the beginning of our healing, and the foundation for our new life in Christ. We cannot love ourselves unless we realize how much God loves us, and if we don’t love ourselves, we cannot love other people. We cannot maintain good, healthy relationships without this foundation of love in our lives.

Lord, I am amazed that You love me and desire me to be Your child. I receive Your love today and choose to love myself. Amen.

From the book The Confident Woman Devotional: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.—Deuteronomy 15:10 NIV

Here’s an idea: Get yourself a big box and start going through your possessions, asking God to show you what you have that you can use to bless others. Fill it up with things that are nice but that you no longer need.

Look in cabinets, drawers, closets, the basement, and the garage. You will fill up your box quickly. Don’t keep something for years in case you ever need it—if you’re anything like me, by the time you need it, you will have forgotten that you have it and go buy another one anyway.

Take the clutter that is frustrating you and turn it into blessings. Keep the box in a handy place and start asking God to show you who needs to be blessed.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Start a Blessing Box →

Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength.…—Psalm 105:4

When King Jehoshaphat heard that a huge army was amassing to attack Judah, he knew what to do. He needed to set himself to seek not the advice of the people, but to seek God and hear directly from Him.

No doubt, Jehoshaphat had been involved in other battles before this one, so why couldn’t he use the same methods he had employed in previous situations? No matter how many times something has worked in the past, it may not work to solve a current crisis unless God anoints it afresh. He may anoint an old method and choose to work through it, but He may also give us brand-new direction, instructions we have never heard before. We must always look to God, not to methods, formulas, or ways that have worked in the past. Our focus, our source of strength and supply, must be God and God alone.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – God Speaks a Fresh Word →

Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.—Jeremiah 29:13

No matter how many principles and formulas you and I learn, we will never have lasting victory in our Christian life without spending time in personal, private fellowship with the Lord. The victory is not in methods; it is in God. If we are to live victoriously, we are going to have to look beyond ways to eliminate our problems and find the Lord in the midst of our problems.

The good news is that when we set aside time with God, He meets with us. We can be grateful, knowing that when we seek Him, we will find Him. God has a personalized plan for each of us, a plan that will lead us to victory. That is why principles, formulas, and methods are not the ultimate answer, because they do not allow for the individual differences in people. As good as all these things may be as general guidelines, they are not substitutes for personal fellowship with the Living God.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Fellowship with the Lord →

Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.—Romans 8:1

I should have known better,” Cindy cried out to me. “All the signs were there that he wasn’t the man for me.” She had gone through two years of a painful marriage, of verbal and finally physical abuse. Then her husband left her for another woman. Now she felt doubly condemned—condemned for marrying him in the first place and condemned that she couldn’t hold the marriage together.

“If I had been a good Christian, I could have changed him,” she moaned.

I could have confronted her and said, “Yes, you did see the signs and you ignored them. You opened yourself up to this kind of treatment.” I didn’t say those words and wouldn’t. They would not have helped Cindy.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – No Condemnation →