Category Archives: Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A Clear Conscience

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Joyce meyer

Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.—Hebrews 10:22

I have learned from experience that a guilty conscience hinders the flow of confidence. Confidence is faith in God and a belief that because He is helping you, you can succeed in whatever you need to do. However, if we feel guilty, we will shrink back from God rather than boldly expecting Him to assist us. We will give up rather than face our challenges in life because we feel bad about ourselves.

If you want to walk confidently, strive to keep your conscience clear of offense toward God and man. Even quitting when you know you should keep going will bother your conscience. God did not give us His Holy Spirit so we could be in bondage to fear. He did not send the power of His Spirit into our lives so we could be weak-willed, wimpy, or the type of person who gives up when the going gets tough. Remember: God gave us a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

Lord, thank You that through the blood of Jesus I can come to You with a clear conscience. Help me to walk in power, love, and sound mind today. Amen.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Hear God through His Word

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Establish Your word and confirm Your promise to Your servant, which is for those who reverently fear and devotedly worship You. —Psalm 119:38

God speaks to us through His Word and His Word is designed to help us, direct us, and encourage us in our everyday lives. We can hear His voice in every situation because we can find Bible verses or passages to pray in various circumstances. At times, we can find verses or passages that give us remarkable specific, detailed direction and at other times we need to take a nugget of wisdom or a general spiritual principle and apply it to the matter with which we are dealing.

For example, listed below are several common, specific circumstances and emotions with which the enemy threatens us and corresponding verses to pray in each case.

When you or someone you love is sick, you can pray the last phrase of Exodus 15:26: “I am the Lord Who heals you.”

When you are going through a season of difficulty or something that is wearing you out, you can pray Isaiah 40:29: “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength” ( NKJV ).

When you are concerned about the future, you can pray Jeremiah 31:17, which says, “There is hope for your future.”

When you are struggling financially, you can pray Psalm 34:9, 10, which says, “Oh, fear the LORD , you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing ” ( NKJV ).

I truly believe that God’s Word holds the answer to every question we have and the wisdom to meet every need. I have diligently studied the Word of God for more than thirty years and I honestly love it with all of my heart.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Check Your Motives

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Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah). —Galatians 1:10

Our reason or motive for doing the things we do is very important. God wants us to have pure hearts. He wants us to do what we do because we believe He is leading us to do it or because it is the right thing to do. God wants us to be motivated by love. We should do what we do for the love of God and man. If we are motivated by fear, it does not please God.

God instructs us in His Word not to do good deeds to be seen of men. We are not to do things to be recognized and honored. When we pray, we are not to do it to be seen of men or to try and impress God by heaping up phrases and repeating them over and over. God is not impressed with the length and eloquence of our prayers. He is searching for sincerity and fervency. Any work of ours that is impure will be burned up on Judgment Day. We lose our reward for any work that is done with impure motives (see Matthew 6:1-7 and 1 Corinthians 3:13-15).

We should regularly take some time and ask ourselves why we are doing the things we do. It is not what we do that impresses God; it is the “why” behind what we do that He is concerned with.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Doing the Word

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But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. —James 1:22

As a Christian, for a long time I didn’t understand that believers could know what God wanted them to do and then deliberately say no. I’m not talking about those who tum their backs on Jesus and want nothing to do with His salvation. I’m talking about those who disobey in the seemingly little things and don’t seem to be troubled by doing so.

In verses 23 and 24,James went on to say that if we only listen to the Word, but don’t obey it, it’s like looking at our reflection in a mirror and then going away and forgetting what we saw. But a doer of the Word, he says, is like one “who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience)” (v. 25).

Whenever Christians are faced with God’s Word, and it calls them to action but they refuse to obey, their own human reasoning is often the cause. They have deceived themselves into believing something other than the truth. It’s as if they think they are smarter than God.

I’ve met people who seem to think that God always wants them to feel good, and if something happens to make them feel bad, they don’t believe it is God’s will for them. Or they dismiss what they read in the Bible by saying, “That doesn’t make sense.” One woman, referring to Paul’s instruction to “be unceasing in prayer” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), said that verse kept coming to her every time she prayed.

“What do you think that means?” I asked her.

“Oh, I think it means that day in and day out, we are to pray when we feel a need or when we want something.”

Her words shocked me. “What about fellowship with the Lord?” I asked. “Isn’t that a good reason? Or maybe God just wants you to spend time reading His Word and praying about what you read.”

“I have too many things to do,” she said. “That’s fine for people who like to sit and read and pray for hours every day, but that’s not the way for me.”

In our brief conversation, I learned that her decisions about obeying God’s Word depended on whether or not it was convenient for her lifestyle. When she read things in the Bible that didn’t fit with the way she lived, she explained it to herself in such a way that she convinced herself God didn’t expect her to do that.

By contrast, I remember a very dignified woman who had been a member of a traditional church most of her life. She often spoke of the noise and confusion in charismatic churches (although she had not been to one). Then she visited one of the services where I spoke and was transformed. “I couldn’t believe that God would ask me to do something like clap my hands or sing loudly or even shout. But when I saw the joy on the faces of those in the congregation and heard you quote the Bible verse that commands us to clap our hands and shout, what else could I do? That was God speaking to me.”

She had exactly the right attitude. She didn’t try to reason it out or wonder why God commanded her to take that kind of action. She believed His Word and simply obeyed.

When the Bible speaks about obeying the Lord, it is not a suggestion. His Word doesn’t ask, “Would you like to obey?” God commands us to take action by being a doer of His Word, and when we are obedient, He promises that we will be blessed.

Dear holy Father, I thank You for the instructions found in Your Word. I may not always like what I read, and sometimes it may be difficult to follow You without hesitating, but I know it is for my good. Please help me to be always obedient and to bring glory and honor to You. Amen.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Enjoy Life as You Grow

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You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect. —Matthew 5:48

Being perfect sounds good, but it is not reality. Reality is that you are a human being, and no matter how hard you try to be perfect, you still make mistakes. Your heart can be perfect, but your performance will never be perfect as long as you are on earth.

You are legally and positionally perfect in Christ, but experientially, you are in the process of changing every day from glory to glory. It is a growing process, and it takes time.

Struggling for perfection to gain acceptance and approval from God or others only brings frustration and never-ending struggle. And it isn’t necessary because Jesus accepts you just as you are. He will never pressure you to perform or demand something of you that you don’t know how to give. So just do your best . . . and enjoy life while you’re maturing.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Get Fit

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For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. —2 Timothy 1:7

“Every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25, emphasis mine). That word all is a difficult concept for us to grasp.

We need to live a disciplined life, physically, spiritually, and emotionally, if we want to enjoy God’s plan for us. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control, and the fruit of the flesh is no control.

Paul said, “I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become un.t [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit]” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – On-Purpose Thinking

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But Jesus, knowing (seeing) their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil and harbor malice in your hearts?

—Matthew 9:4

It’s amazing how quickly and completely our thoughts can change our moods. Negative thinking of any kind quickly steals my joy and causes a variety of bad moods. When we are negative and gloomy, other people don’t enjoy being with us; when our thoughts are down, everything else goes down with them. Our moods, countenance, conversation, and even our body can begin to droop in a downward position. Hands hang down, shoulders slump, and we tend to look down instead of up. People who tend to be negative in their thoughts and conversations are usually unhappy and rarely content with anything for very long.

Even if something exciting does happen, they soon find something wrong with it. As soon as they see one thing wrong, they tend to fix their minds on it; any enjoyment they might have is blocked by concentrating on the one negative. They may occasionally experience momentary enthusiasm, but it quickly evaporates and gloom once again fills their entire demeanor. They probably do not realize that they could be happy if they would simply change the way they think. We must stop merely waiting for something good to happen and take action to ensure that something good will happen.

I am truly amazed when I consider the fact that we have the ability to make ourselves happy or sad by what we choose to think about. The Bible says we must be satisfied with the consequences of our words, whether they are good or evil (see Prov. 18:20).

Our words begin with our thoughts, so the same principle that applies to our mouths also applies to our minds. We need to be satisfied with the consequences of our thoughts because they hold the power of life and death. I would add that they hold the power of contentment and discontent, of joy and sadness.

Trust in Him God has given us the ability to make choices about so many things in life, including our thoughts, and we must be responsible to make those choices carefully. Trust Him to help you choose positive thoughts and to think on purpose.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A Two-edged Sword

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For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. —Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

Second Corinthians 10:4–5 teaches us that casting down imaginations, thoughts, reasoning, and theories not in agreement with God’s Word requires us to use our spiritual weapons, not physical. When we speak the Word of God out of our mouths, it becomes a two-edged sword—defeating the enemy with one edge and opening the blessings of heaven with the other. There are many other defensive weapons protecting us from attack, but the Word is offensive—it defeats the enemy.

Like any other principle in God’s Word, this will not work if it is not applied. Just knowing this information doesn’t change anything. Faith needs to be active. It must be released. We can release God’s Word through prayer, confessing His Word out loud, and taking God-inspired action.

Power Thought: I am armed for battle with a two-edged sword—the Word of God.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – There’s More

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For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good. —Psalm 107:9

Have you ever done everything you knew to do as a Christian, yet found yourself thinking, Is this it? Is this all there is? Have you tried to be “a good Christian,” but wondered if there’s a new level of fullness, if there’s more to loving God and receiving His love for you than you are currently experiencing?

I spent many years as a believer just going through the motions of serving God. in my heart I felt that something was missing from my relationship with Him, though I didn’t know what it was. God had done many wonderful things for me, but my life was frustrating and not really much different from the lives of those I knew were not Christians. At the same time, I could not believe life as a Christian was meant to feel so meaningless and empty at times.

I finally asked God to give me whatever I was missing and God gave me the answer! I learned that growing in the knowledge of who God is and seeking intimate fellowship with Him is a vital necessity of being deeply satisfied and joyful in life. intimate fellowship with God releases His power to help us accomplish what He has called us to do.

When Christ made the final atonement for our sins, God immediately invited us into the holy place of His presence. God wants us to come close to Him and see that His attitude is filled with love toward us. We can now enjoy intimate fellowship with God!

Love God Today: “Lord, teach me how to enjoy intimate fellowship with You.”

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Humble and Bold

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Be strong (confident) and of a good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. —Joshua 1:6–7

Not only is it possible to be humble and bold, it is impossible to be truly bold without humility. Joshua was a man who was both. God told him to finish the job Moses started and take the Israelites into the Promised Land. Immediately after giving Joshua the command, God announced to him, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).

Joshua’s confidence rested in the fact that God was with him, and because of that he was able to go forward to do something that he probably felt unqualified to do. Joshua must have felt fear because the Lord repeatedly told him to “fear not,” which means “don’t run!”

God told Joshua that if he would be strong, confident, and full of courage, he would cause the people to inherit the land that God had promised them.

Lord, what an amazing promise this is! I receive it as my own. Help me to know Your Word and to be absolutely faithful to it. Amen.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Learn from Jesus’ Prayers

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Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. —Luke 23:34
I believe that the way people pray and the things they pray about reveal lot character and spiritual maturity. There was a time when my prayer life did not indicate much spiritual maturity. Even though I was a born-again, filled with the Holy Spirit and teaching God’s Word, my prayers were pathetically carnal. When I prayed, I had a list of requests I thought God had to say yes to before I could be happy—and all of them were natural things: “Lord, make my ministry grow. Give us a new car; do this; do that. Make Dave change. Make the kids behave,” and so on.
In response, God simply said to me, “I want you to examine the prayers of Jesus and the prayers of Paul. Then we’ll talk about your prayer life.” Of course, there are many prayers throughout the Bible, especially in Psalms, but God told me to pray the prayers of Jesus, which are found in the gospels and the prayers of Paul, which are found in the epistles.
When I began to pray the way Jesus prayed, I discovered that there really is no more powerful way to pray than to pray the Word of God because it shows us what is important to Him. He prayed prayers such as we read in today’s verse and many others, including His prayer to, “Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth” ( John 17:17); His prayer for unity among his people (see John 17:23); and His prayer for Peter: “But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32).
I encourage you to read the gospels and see how Jesus prayed, then pray similarly as you talk and listen to God.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Be Content

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Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. —Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV)
Contentment is a decision to be happy with what you already have. But I am convinced most people are not truly content. Unbelievers certainly aren’t content, whether they realize it or not, but it is very sad how many believers have not learned to be truly content in their circumstances. I wonder how many people can truthfully say, “I’m happy with my life. I love my spouse and my family. I like my job. I’m satisfied with my house and my car. There are things I want God to do for me, but I am content to wait until He does them in His timing. I do not covet anything that belongs to my neighbor. I am not jealous of anyone else or envious of what others have. If God gave it to them, then I want them to enjoy it.”
I believe God actually tests us in this way. Until we can pass His “I-am-happy-for- you-because- you-are blessed” test, we are never going to have any more than what we have right now. Yes, God wants us to prosper in every way. He wants people to see His goodness and how well He takes care of us. But we must desire God more than we desire His blessings. So He tests us to make sure this is the case before He releases greater material blessings into our lives.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – My Normal Mind

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I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones). —Ephesians 1:16–18

This section in Ephesians is difficult for many of us to understand. What does Paul mean by “the eyes of your heart flooded with light” (v. 18)? I believe he is referring to the mind, because that’s what needs enlightenment. It is with the mind that we grasp God’s truths and hold to them.

Too many of us have difficulty being “flooded with light” because we are distracted with too many other things. The apostle prays for us to have what I call a normal mind—a mind that’s open to the Holy Spirit’s work—so that we may follow God’s plan and live enriched lives.

One way to think about the idea of a normal mind is to look at two of Jesus’ friends, Mary and Martha. Most people know the story of the sisters and the visit Jesus made to their home in Bethany. Martha scurried around, making certain that everything in their home was exactly right, while Mary sat down to listen to Jesus. Luke says Martha “was distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40), and she complained to Jesus that she needed her sister’s help.

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things” (v. 41), Jesus told her, and then He commended Mary for having chosen the “good portion.”

As I thought about that incident, I realized it was more than Martha being distracted. I’m sure her mind jumped around, making certain that everything was exactly right. The implication is that even if there had been nothing more to do, Martha wouldn’t have stopped to sit at Jesus’ feet. She was so caught up in busyness that her mind would have searched for something else to do.

The Marthas seem to be in control of our world, don’t they? They are the ones who get things done. When they’re not accomplishing their own goals, they seem to be telling others what they should do. In today’s world of “multi-tasking” the Marthas seem to get the awards and the accolades. Some people are busy all the time. They wear their busyness like a badge, as if that makes them more important. Their busyness can easily distract them from developing a solid relationship with God. They’re the ones who often lack depth of peace and rarely know spiritual contentment. That is, they don’t have what God considers a normal mind. It is not in the condition He would like it to be in.

People who are excessively busy cannot even sleep when they lie down at night. They are either mentally going over the day’s activities or making mental lists of the tasks for the next day.

This isn’t the lifestyle Jesus calls us to. As believers, we are spiritual beings, but we’re also natural. The natural doesn’t understand the spiritual and constantly fights that part of our nature. The Bible makes it clear that the mind and the spirit work together. That’s the principle I call “the mind aiding the spirit.”

For the mind to aid the spirit, we must learn to pull back from all the distractions around us. There will always be demands on our time and energy, and we can always find plenty to do. But if we want to live with the mind of Christ, the one that should be normal for Christians, it means we must learn to imitate Mary. Despite all the clamor and activities going on around her, she was able to sit, relax, and listen to the voice of the Master. That’s how the mind is supposed to work. It should be quiet and under the control of the Spirit. However, we often find that our minds are so set in a wrong direction that they actually hinder the Spirit from helping us, as they should be free to do.

If you realize from this devotion that your mind has been behaving abnormally, ask God to forgive you and teach you what a normal mind is in His kingdom.

Dear God in heaven, distractions constantly come at me. When I try to pause and focus on You, my mind seems to be filled with dozens of things I need to do. I realize that I truly need only one thing—to focus on You. Please help me push away every distraction and noise so I can hear only Your voice that says, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” Amen.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Speak Words of Wisdom

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For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.
—Matthew 12:34
It is challenging to say right things when you feel totally wrong. When your emotions are running high or low, you are tempted to speak emotionally rather than sensibly. But you must allow wisdom to rise above emotion.
God spoke about nonexistent things as if they already existed, and He created the world with faith-filled words. You are created in His image, and you can also call things that are not as though they are. You can speak positive things about yourself into the atmosphere and thereby “prophesy your future.”
Think about the words you speak and you will learn a lot about yourself. As a Christian, you are God’s representative, and your words should reflect His character. Meditating on the goodness of God will fill your heart with joy, and the words you speak will glorify Him and be a testimony to others.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Control Your Temper

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Joyce meyer

He who is slow to anger has great understanding. —Proverbs 14:29

It is uncomfortable for others to be around us if we are easily angered. We need to learn how to respond to life instead of react to it, so that we can enjoy God’s power in our lives. God says that a person who can control his or her anger is better and mightier than an individual who can take a whole city (See Proverbs 16:32).

God’s Word says, “Understand [this],my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry. For man’s anger does not promote the righteousness God [wishes and requires]” (James 1:19– 20). Be a ready listener, and enjoy the freedom from anger that God offers you.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Believe the Best about People

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Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

—1 Corinthians 13:7

Believing the best about people is very helpful in the process of forgiving people who hurt or offend us. As human beings, we tend to be suspicious of others and we often get hurt due to our own imaginations.

It is possible to believe someone hurt you on purpose when the truth is they were not even aware they did anything at all, and never intended to upset you.

I can remember, during the early years of our marriage, focusing on everything I considered negative about Dave and ignoring his positive traits. My thoughts went something like this: We just don’t agree about anything. Dave is so stubborn, and he has to be right all the time. He is insensitive, and he just doesn’t care how I feel. He never thinks of anyone but himself. In reality, none of these thoughts were true! They only existed within my own mind; and my wrong thinking caused a great deal of offense and disagreement that could have been easily avoided had my mind-set been more positive.

Over time, as I grew in my relationship with God, I learned the power of believing in the best about people and meditating on the things that were good. As that happened, my thinking sounded like this: Dave is usually very easy to get along with; he has his areas of stubbornness, but then so do I. Dave loves me and would never hurt my feelings on purpose. Dave is very protective of me and always makes sure I am taken care of. At first, I had to think these things on purpose, but now I actually feel uncomfortable when I think negative thoughts, and positive thoughts come more naturally because I have disciplined myself to think them.

There are still times when people hurt my feelings, but then I remember that I can choose whether to be hurt or to “get over it.” I can believe the best or I can believe the worst, so why not believe the best and enjoy my day?

Trust in Him Do you believe the best about people? Is there someone in particular whom you need to believe the best? Trust God to help you meditate on the best of all people until positive thoughts come naturally.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Hearing from God

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But the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice. —1 Kings 19:11–12

God speaks in a still, small voice. If you want to hear from Him, create a quiet, peaceful, strife-free atmosphere, and set apart regular time to fellowship with Him there. He may not always speak what you want to hear, or in the way you might think that He would, but don’t get discouraged—God will lead you. He rarely lets us in on His entire plan at the beginning.

Obey what you sense in your heart that you are to do, and when He is ready He will show you the next thing. And always remember to be thankful. As you do, you will find your sensitivity to God’s voice increasing. He will speak to you, and you can hear from Him. Just get quiet and listen, and expect Him to lead you in all that you do.

Power Thought: I can hear the still, small voice of God.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Time Is a Gift

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To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. —Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time is a resource God gives us, and we must use our time to be fruitful. One of the phrases we should avoid, both verbally and in our attitudes, is: “I just have a little time to kill.” Time is not a commodity to kill or to “pass”; it is a gift to steward. If you are like I am, you like to be productive with every minute. In my daily life, I make a diligent effort to keep everything on schedule. Sometimes that gets me in trouble because circumstances sometimes cause me to fall behind, and then I have to rush. I do not like to hurry, so I am learning to put a little more margin in my life—to allow more time between appointments and scheduled activities—and that relieves a good bit of frustration.

There are times when you do not have enough minutes or hours to go complete a task or do something you want to do, but it’s too early to do the next thing you need to do. When you have five, ten, or fifteen minutes, don’t just “kill” your time. Use it to bear fruit. Keep a book or a Bible with you and use those few minutes to read something. Listen to a worship music or part of a sermon. Pray. Make a few phone calls. Write someone a note of encouragement. When you have a few minutes, make them count.

To me, one of the worst things that can happen to people is to grow old and look back upon their lives and realize they never took time to do what they thought they were supposed to do or what they wanted to do. I do not want you to look back in your latter years and think you wasted your life or feel you never really did anything worthwhile. No matter what your age is today, it is not too late to start right now using your time to bear fruit.

Love Yourself Today: Lord, help me today to use wisely the gift of time You have given me.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Change Ingredients

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To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven: . . . a time to break down and a time to build up, . . . a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, . . . a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away. —Ecclesiastes 3:1–6

If you are stressed out all the time, something will have to change in order for the stress to be relieved. It will not just go away as long as you keep doing the same thing. If you want different results, you have to change the ingredients. Now, as soon as I mentioned the word change, perhaps you tensed up because you are afraid of change. Almost one hundred years ago, the clerk of Abbington Presbytery came up with percentages for the kinds of attitudes people have about change, and I think they still apply today:

Early innovators (2.6 percent) run with new ideas; Early adaptors (13.4 percent) are influenced by innovators but are not initiators; Slow majority (34 percent) are the herd-followers; Reluctant majority (34 percent); Antagonistic (16 percent) will never change.

If you’re like the bottom 84 percent of people in the above list, you want the safety of sameness. It is amazing to me how some people spend their lives resisting change while others thrive on it. Change keeps life fresh and adventurous.

Lord, my time is in Your hands. Help me to be fearless as I face change and embrace change. I want to be vibrant and fully alive. Amen.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Yes and No

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Joyce meyer

What man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone? Of if he asks for a fish, will hand him a -serpent? —Matthew 7:9–10

We are not always smart enough to know the right things to ask for, but today’s verse promises that if we ask for bread, God will not give us a stone, and if we ask for fish, He will not give us a serpent. There are times when we think we are asking for bread, when in reality, we are asking for a stone. In other words, we may be asking for something we truly believe is right, but God knows that granting such a request would be the worst thing He could ever give us.

We have the ability, in all innocence, to ask for something that is potentially dangerous or bad for us without even realizing it. In that case, we need to be glad God does not give it to us! In such cases, little do we know that God’s saying “yes” to that request would be like letting a serpent into a house. We have to trust Him enough to say, “God, I have the confidence to ask You for anything. But I don’t want anything that is not Your will for me. And I trust You, God. If I don’t get it, I will know that the timing is not right or that You have something better for me and I simply have not thought to ask for it yet.” Don’t ever let yourself get a bad attitude because God does not give you everything you want.

God wants us to be blessed. He wants us to have not only what we want, but what is best for us. If we truly trust God, we must trust Him when He says “no” to our requests as much as we do when He says “yes” to them.

God’s word for you today: Trust God when He says “no” and when He says “yes.”