Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. —Psalm 17:8

What does it mean to be a favorite? It means to be particularly favored, esteemed, and preferred. It means to enjoy special attention, personal affection, and preferential treatment, even without being deserving of it. There is nothing about you or me or anyone else that can cause us to become God’s favorite. He chooses us for that place of honor and esteem by an act of His sovereign grace. All we can do is receive His gracious gift in an attitude of thanksgiving and humility.

Now when I talk about being the favorite of God, I must make something clear. Because God is God of all His creation, and because He has a personal relationship with each one of His children, He can say to every single one of us at the same time, and sincerely mean it, “You are the apple of My eye; you are My favorite child.”

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And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him. —1 John 3:22

We often ask people if they “got” something, particularly when we speak of spiritual matters. “Did you ‘get’ a breakthrough?” we want to know, or “Did you ‘get’ your blessing?” Is the idea of “getting” from God biblical? The Bible teaches us about receiving, not about getting. The difference between getting and receiving is significant. To “get” means “to obtain by struggle and effort.”

When everything in your life requires effort, life becomes frustrating and exhausting—and that’s not the kind of abundant life Jesus came to give us. No, God wants us to live with a holy ease, a grace that keeps us from striving and struggling through life. That doesn’t mean everything will be easy, but it means even difficult things can be done with a sense of God’s presence and help.

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Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God. —Psalm 42:5

In today’s verse, the psalmist is clearly discouraged. Discouragement destroys hope, so naturally the enemy tries hard to discourage us. Without hope we give up, which is exactly what the devil wants us to do.

The Bible repeatedly tells us not to be discouraged or dismayed. God knows that we will not be strong or victorious if we lose our courage, and He wants us to be encouraged, not discouraged. When discouragement tries to overtake you, the first thing to do is to examine your thought life. What kinds of thoughts have you been thinking? Have they sounded something like this? I am not going to make it; this is too hard. I always fail; I may as well give up. God probably doesn’t answer my prayers because He is so disappointed in the way I act.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Defeating Discouragement →

But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].—John 16:13

God knew you would need help in understanding His plan for you, so He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell inside you. He is your Guide, your Teacher of truth, your Comfort, and your Helper. He is also the Parakletos (Paraclete), which means counselor, advocate, and intercessor.

Jesus was confined to a body and could be only one place at a time. But He knew the Holy Spirit would be with you everywhere you go, all the time, leading and guiding you. Embrace the Holy Spirit in you, resting in the knowledge that in Him you are becoming everything God planned for you to be.

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.—Psalm 27:14

When we “wait” on God, we are not being lazy or passive, but we are actually being very active spiritually. We may not be “doing” anything, but we are trusting God to do what needs to be done. In effect, we are saying, “Lord, I will not try to do this in my own strength. I will wait on You to deliver me. And I’m going to enjoy my life while I wait for You.”

Satan wants us to be frustrated from trying to solve our own problems. He hates our joy. He wants to see anything but joy, because the joy of the Lord is our strength (see Nehemiah 8:10). Worry robs us of strength, but joy energizes us.

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But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.—James 1:4

Patience is extremely important for people who want to glorify God and enjoy their lives. If we are impatient, the situations we encounter in life will certainly cause us to react emotionally.

The next time you have to wait on something or someone, instead of just reacting, try reminding yourself, Getting upset will not make this go any faster, so I might as well enjoy the wait. Then perhaps say out loud, “I am developing patience as I wait, so I am thankful in this situation.” If you do that, you will be acting on the Word of God rather than reacting to the unpleasant circumstance.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Waiting Well →

[Jesus said] Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit. You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.—Matthew 12:33-34

A woman I’ll call Dorothy knew more about the church and every member and visitor than anyone else did. She was fairly well-known as the church gossip. “One thing about her,” a friend said, “she’s not prejudiced; she talks about everyone,” and he laughed. He also added, “She’ll probably get into heaven, but God may have to cut off her tongue first.”

One day as I stood near the front door, I heard Dorothy telling several people about one of the deacons, “But it isn’t up to me to judge him,” she said. The venom poured from her mouth, and she went on to mention several others. Of course, she was critical of each one.

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Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. —Isaiah 43:18-19

I truly believe this moment can be life-changing for you—that it will help you step out onto the path of your true life. The life that has been waiting for you since the beginning of time—and the one you may have been missing due to fear and intimidation. Satan is the master of intimidation, but once you realize that he is the one behind all your hesitation, you can take authority over him by simply placing confidence in Jesus Christ and stepping out boldly to be all you can be. God told Joshua, “Fear not, for I am with you.” He is sending you that same message today: FEAR NOT! God is with you, and He will never leave you or forsake you.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Living Large →

I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]; forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. —Philippians 3:13-14

Our relationships with God are progressive and we all move from one level to another. No one ever “masters” communication with God because there is no limit to the depth of relationship we can have with Him; it just keeps growing, keeps going deeper, keeps getting stronger. Our ability to hear His voice develops and improves over time. Over time and with practice, we get better at sharing our hearts with God and we become more skilled and experienced at hearing His voice and understanding what He is saying to us. We never become certified experts in prayer and we never stop learning to communicate with God; our experiences just keep getting richer and better.

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. . . But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.—1 Corinthians 2:16

Ever since I started keeping my mind in a positive pattern, I can’t stand the feeling of being negative. I’ve seen so many good changes in my life since I’ve been delivered from a negative mind that now I’m opposed to anything negative.

Here’s what I suggest if you’ve struggled with staying positive: Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you each time you start to get negative. This is part of His work. John 16:7-8 teaches us that the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin and convince us of righteousness. When the conviction comes, ask God to help you. Don’t think you can handle this yourself. Lean on Him.

Being positive does not mean that we don’t face reality. The Bible says to do all the crisis demands and then stand firmly in your place (see Ephesians 6:13). Our place is “in Christ,” and in Him we can always be hopeful and positive because nothing is too hard for Him. Jesus was always positive and full of faith. We have His mind in us, and with His help, we can do the same things.

Think like God thinks, so you can be the person He wants you to be and have all that He wants you to have.

From the book Closer to God Each Day by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and [for which] you confessed the good confession [of faith] before many witnesses.  —1 Timothy 6:12

Take a step of faith and no matter how you feel, agree with God that He loves you. You are wonderfully made and have many talents and strengths. You are valuable, and as a believer in Jesus, you are the righteousness of God in Him. You have rightness before God instead of wrongness—be thankful for that amazing gift!

Begin to speak out against feelings of insecurity and say, “I belong to God and He loves me!” (see Ephesians 2:10). We believe more of what we hear ourselves say than what others say, so start saying something good and drown out the other voices that condemn you.

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God selected . . . what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. And God also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are, so that no mortal man should [have pretense for glorying and] boast in the presence of God. —1 Corinthians 1:27-29

If you are weak in faith, in mind, in body, in discipline, in self-control, or in determination, simply wait on God. He will be strong through your weakness.

Isaiah 40:31 teaches that if you expect God, look for Him, and hope in Him, you will change and renew your strength and power; you will run, and not faint or become tired. The Bible doesn’t say “hope so, it could be, or it may be”; it declares that you will be renewed.

From the book Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org