…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 →

It is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God and made Him my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.— Psalm 73:28

There are many examples in God’s Word of men and women who went through periods of questioning, doubting, blaming, and even criticizing God. But they realized they were being foolish. They repented and turned back to trusting God instead of being angry with Him.

This psalmist is one of those people. Here is my paraphrase of his progression from anger to trust in Psalm 73: “God, it sure seems that the wicked prosper and do better than I do. I am trying to live a godly life, but it does not seem to be doing any good. It looks as if it’s all in vain. I am having nothing but trouble, and when I try to understand it, the pain is too much for me. However, I have spent time with You, and I can understand that in the end the wicked come to ruin and destruction. My heart was grieved. I was bitter and in a state of upset. I was stupid, ignorant, and behaving like a beast. Now I see that You are continually with me. You hold my right hand. Who do I have in heaven, God, but You? Who will help me? If You don’t, there is no one on earth who can help me. You are my strength and my portion forever. It is good for me to trust in You, O Lord, and make You my refuge” (see vv. 12-28).

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – You Can Remove “Spiritual Roadblocks” →

Having gifts (faculties, talents, qualities) that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them: [He whose gift is] prophecy, [let him prophesy] according to the proportion of his faith; [He whose gift is] practical service, let him give himself to serving; he who teaches, to his teaching.—Romans 12:6-7

It’s a time-tested truth: Most people who criticize others for what they are doing are usually doing nothing themselves. It is sad when people have nothing better to do than criticize those who are trying to do something to make the world a better place.

I recall being a member of one church in which the pastor felt that any woman who wanted to do anything other than pray, clean, or work in the nursery had to present her case to him and the elders for their approval. I was teaching a very successful home Bible study, and the pastor told my husband he should be teaching the meeting rather than me. The pastor had his rules, but God had called me to teach, and He had not called Dave in that way. Dave has other wonderful, valuable gifts, but he is not called to teach. Surely if God had not wanted me to teach, He would not have gifted me to do it—and given me a desire to do it. As far as I can discern from Scripture, God is not in the business of frustrating and confusing people.

Lord, thank You for the spiritual gift You’ve given me. Direct me in how to use it to glorify Your name. Amen.

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

http://www.joycemeyer.org

…And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion? —Esther 4:14

Have you ever noticed that the men and women we read about in the Bible and consider “great” were all people who allowed God to interrupt their lives and were willing to make tremendous sacrifices for Him?

Joseph saved a nation from starvation, but not before God dramatically removed him from his comfortable home where he was his father’s favorite and allowed him to be imprisoned for many years. Joseph probably wasn’t planning a life of hardship and rejection, but God took him through those things in order to position him to be in the right place at the right time. But Joseph could only know that after the fact.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Let God Interrupt You →

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. —James 1:21

Once you are born again, your spirit has been reborn and you will go to heaven when you die. But God is not finished—He is just beginning. You need to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12 KJV). In other words, your soul needs to be saved. The 14 soul is often defined as the mind, the will, and the emotions. Each of these areas needs salvation.

The Holy Spirit works relentlessly to transform the whole man into God’s perfect will. This process is called sanctification. When your soul is renewed with His Word, you think His thoughts and not your own. Submit yourself to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to change every thought and motive.

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.—Galatians 6:9

The Word says, Let each one of us make it a practice to please (make happy) his neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually] (Romans 15:2).

This tells me that we need to have our mind full of ways to bless people. Early in the day, think up something you want to do to bless someone. Think up something you can do to surprise somebody or to make somebody happy. You will be amazed at how quickly the Lord leads you to something good you can do for someone. Joy comes from giving on His behalf.

From the book Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org