One of the things that we need to do if we’re going to live bold, courageous lives is to be willing to confront the things that we need to confront. Now, none of us love confrontation and Joyce has a few things that she wants to remind you about to help you.
Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives.
With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way.
now i want to talk to you about
confrontation because one of the things
that we need to do if we’re going to
live
bold courageous lives is be willing to
confront the things that we need to
confront
if i said to you today how many of you
don’t like confrontation
who would put their hand up
well i mean who really does you know
i mean i’m kind of a bulldog and it
might be easier for me than some
people but i don’t like it either i
don’t like
making people mad i don’t like hurting
people and i don’t like it when people
don’t like me none of us do
and so really for all intent and
purposes i don’t think any of us
are in love with confrontation it seems
like people either confront too
quickly without even thinking about what
they’re going to say
how many have that problem
or we just don’t confront at all
and so just a few things i want to
remind you of
always be willing to confront people
that are trying to control you or
manipulate you
and the world’s full of them all the
enemy has to find is somebody that he
can work through because he is a
controller and a manipulator
my father was a controller and a
manipulator
there’s nothing worse than having
somebody
always trying to run your life for you
where you never have any freedom and
you’re constantly being told how to act
what to say
what to do and the longer you let a
relationship like that go on
the harder it is to get out of it
and some of you have already got a
pretty big problem
and i want to encourage you today that
you have to make a change and you have
to start confronting things because
jesus died to make us free he whom the
son is set free
is really truly and genuinely free
and the only person that should be
controlling us is the holy spirit
[Applause]
and i’m not talking about being
rebellious and not submitting to
authority
that’s not what i mean we all need to
know how to submit to the right
authority that god puts over us
but i am talking about when somebody’s
trying to manipulate you and control you
and they’re always trying to make you do
what they think you should do
galatians 1 10 paul said if i were
trying to be popular with people i would
not now be an apostle of the lord jesus
christ
that is so good and i can actually say
if i were just
only cared about being popular with
people which i do want
people to like me but if that was all
that concerned me i wouldn’t be here
today
and many of you are borderline on
missing your destiny
because you’re overly concerned about
what people think
and you know what haters are going to
hate and complainers are going to
complain
and if they’re picking on you at least
they’re leaving somebody else alone
[Applause]
jesus made himself of no reputation
he got that over the quick so he could
go ahead and do what god sent him to do
there was always some pharisee watching
to accuse
but i tell you when you know who you are
in christ then you don’t have to be
overly concerned about the accusations
of other people
that’s part of being courageous in acts
5
29 i went to a church one time and
the pastor i think preached on this for
three months and so i’ll never forget
acts 5 29
we must obey god rather than man
and these these apostles were being
threatened with jail and they’d been
told not to preach in that name and if
you do you’re going to be beaten and
you’re going to be put in jail and here
they are out preaching
and when they came to him and said we
told you not to do that they said we
must obey god rather than man
[Music]
come on that’s a good scripture for you
to hang on to we must obey god
rather than man let me tell you
something if you’re left with nobody but
god you still got the best deal
[Applause]
don’t give up your relationship with him
to keep a bunch of people that probably
don’t care anything about you anyway
[Applause]
confront your past
my father sexually abused me and it was
like the big secret in the house
it was like the elephant in the room it
was like everybody knew but nobody
talked
my mother knew because she had caught
him at one time i told her when i was
nine
but she was cowardly
she didn’t know how to face the scandal
nobody talked about something like that
that many years ago and of course he
lied to her and she was afraid of him
because he was
violent bottom line is her fear
destroyed her life
really hurt mine destroyed my brother’s
life and actually did not help my father
sometimes you can help people be free
from something if you’ll confront them
and not just let them keep getting by
with it
but the bottom line is it was just like
we didn’t talk about it well
i left home when i was 18 thinking that
i was going to get away from the problem
but the problem was i took the problem
with me it was just in my soul
just getting away from something doesn’t
mean it’s over
you got to deal with it
but i believe that it was necessary for
me to confront
that place of fear in my life because i
had lived my whole life in fear
of him and dave would even tell me after
we got married and been married a few
years he said
when you’re when you when we go to your
mom and dad’s house or your dad comes
around
he said you you become like a different
person
you act different well when you don’t
deal with those things that are in your
soul
you do act different
and for some of you confronting your
past may be as simple
as sitting down with a trusted friend
and talking about something that you did
a long time ago that still bothers you
are talking about something that
somebody did to you
a long time ago that still bothers you
you know how many people there are
that were abused in their childhood that
are 50 and 60 and 70 years old and have
never told anybody
and if you believe you’re totally free
from and i’m not telling you you have to
do anything
but i’m just saying we need to have
safe friends that will keep our secrets
that we can talk to because sometimes
you just need to vent
come on we just need to be able to tell
somebody
this this that and something else
and then we need to learn how to
confront problems between us
and other people and do it in a biblical
godly way
do you know that one or two sentences of
straightforward communication
can solve so many problems
because a lot of times we’re thinking
that they’re thinking
and they’re not thinking at all so we’re
acting weird toward them because we
think they’re thinking
and so it’s better just to say are you
thinking
huh no but you know why we don’t do that
we don’t want anybody to think we’re
silly
and so don’t be afraid to ask who cares
if they think you’re silly
most of the time it really has nothing
to do with you at all
so many problems are caused because when
you have a
problem with someone instead of going to
them you go to a bunch of other people
which then becomes gossip
and it spreads strife we try to teach
people in our office this
if you’re having a problem with somebody
in your department do what the bible
says
and go first to your brother privately
if your brother wrongs you go and show
him his fault between you and him
privately
privately come on
and if he listens you’ve won back your
brother and then it goes on to say if he
doesn’t listen
then you can take a couple of others
with you the whole point is you’re
trying to restore him
not ruin his reputation but invariably
what happens
is because people don’t want to confront
come on this is good they’ll go to
somebody else
and actually make the problem worse
and boy we need to stop doing that don’t
be the kind of person that’s afraid to
confront things do what you need to do
and let god give you victory in your
life