We can be tempted to doubt God’s love for us when we’re going through hard times. But the truth is, God will never fail us! Learn the rewards of staying hopeful and positive on this episode of Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer.
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god had the audacity to tell us that
trials actually are good for us and we
should get excited about them
it’s amazing how spiritual we can be
when everything’s good
[Music]
and how we can resurrect that old man
when things aren’t so good
[Music]
this morning i want to talk to you about
not being offended by trouble
[Music]
not being offended at god
because your life hasn’t turned out the
way you thought it should or you had a
rough beginning or
you didn’t get to go to college or you
didn’t get
the raise you wanted or you’ve wanted a
child and you haven’t had one yet or
you’ve been believing to be married for
25 years and you’re still single and
whatever the case might be
trials can make us bitter but they don’t
have to
they can actually turn out to make us
better
because
a lot of the bible that we know is just
theory until we have to put it to
practice in our lives
and when you have to put it to practice
then you really get to know god you
don’t just know about god but you get to
know god in a deeper way than what you
can ever possibly imagine
mark chapter 4 beginning in verse 14
therefore the sower sows the word
the ones along the path are those who
have the word sown in their hearts but
when they hear
satan comes at once
and by force takes away the message
which is sown in them
it’s good to come and hear the word but
it’s even better if you take that word
with you and you keep it in your heart
and you meditate on it and meditate on
it
but it’s very like satan the minute you
leave to throw something at you that’s
going to distract you and get your mind
off of what you just
almost learned
to make sure you don’t really learn it
and begin to apply it to your life
the ones along the path are those who
when they have the word sown in their
heart satan comes at once
satan is alive and well on planet earth
and he’s out there trying to make sure
that we don’t grow spiritually
amen
he’s not happy you’re here but if you’re
going to be here he’d like for you not
to get anything out of it
and they have no real root in themselves
everybody say root
and so they endure for a little while
and then when trouble or persecution
arises on account of the word
they immediately are
what
offended
they become displeased indignant
resentful and they stumble and fall away
now every one of those words are very
interesting words resentment offense
indignant you know
that indignation is just a little wealth
shouldn’t be happening to me why is this
happening to me
it’s amazing how we’re okay if things
are happening to everybody else
they should trust god but just trust god
but when it happens to us
[Applause]
well how
i don’t know why this is happening to me
and what we got to be very careful about
the thing of well god i go to church
every week and i tithe and i pray and i
do this and that can i tell you
something god doesn’t owe us anything
amen
that’s just the truth
if we all got what we deserved we’d be
in serious trouble
and they stumble and they fall away they
stumble
and they fall away you see the
definition of offense
means
that it’s a stumbling block
and it will cause you to fall
away in other words if you get a fence
in your heart then you can no longer
grow spiritually and if you’re not
growing see in god’s kingdom there’s no
such thing as being static you’re either
going forward or you’re going to drift
backwards
you got to keep going forward or you’re
going to drift backwards you’ve got to
use what you’ve learned or pretty soon
it will become dormant on the inside of
you love has to flow in order for it to
really
be love
love comes in from god it’s got to go
out to other people it comes in it’s got
to go out this is an active religion
we’re to participate and be active
the other definition of the word offense
that i read and talked about a lot last
night
very interesting it says it’s the part
of the trap on which the bait hung
that lured the victim the animal victim
into the trap so let me just say that
that offense being offended whether
you’re offended at somebody else or
whether you’re offended by trouble
you’re having or
tonight we’re going to talk about not
offending yourself and that’s going to
be an interesting message for all of us
some of you think what why in the world
would i offend myself
well you gonna find out
resentments makes such bitter
resentment is an inner attitude that
basically says i am offended that this
is happening to me
and who are we offended at well we can
either be offended at god and you know
most people are not going to outright
say i’m mad at god
but i can guarantee you as sweet as you
all are
and as amazing as it is that you wanted
to come to the house of god on a friday
morning
we have
some people
hopefully not many but some people
sitting here today and when this goes on
tv a whole lot more
that are even
using
trouble that you’ve had in your life as
an excuse
not to believe in god
you know the biggest majority of people
that won’t believe they won’t believe
because they can’t
they can’t balance out in their mind
a god who loves us with the suffering
that we see all around the world well
suffering is not god’s fault man did it
not god
god created a world where everything
would be wonderful
didn’t last very long but that was his
goal and desire and he’s in the process
now of trying to
restore that
and so
we’re going to have issues in the world
we’re going to have things that we have
to go through and we can’t be getting
mad at god because everything in our
life doesn’t go the way that that it
should the best time in the world to
trust god is when you have trouble
otherwise it’s just some sermon you hear
a few scriptures you’ve underlined in in
your bible
trust god i’m writing a book right now
and trusting god and i tell you what
after 40 years of being in the word i’m
convinced that that simple little
two-word thing trust god is the answer
to every single problem that you have
everything
everything but in order to do that
you’ve got to believe that god is good
the devil’s bad god’s good
and even if god doesn’t get us out of
something that we know he could get us
out of he lets us stay in it longer than
we think we should
we trust god that he’s got a plan that’s
bigger than ours and that ultimately he
will not only work a good thing in us
but he will bring us to even a better
place in life because we didn’t give up
on him going through problems
[Applause]
don’t get mad at god because he hasn’t
given you a soft cushy
comfortable
sweet
life
now sometimes too i want to talk about
this for a minute
sometimes when we’re having trouble we
kind of get offended at other people who
are being blessed
and we could even get a little
self-righteous attitude well
i’m better christian you are
[Applause]
i mean i i do this and that and you do
blah blah you know self-righteousness is
a sneaky wicked
thing
i actually had to repent twice in the
last two weeks
for being
self-righteous and i just thank god for
his conviction but it was it was over a
situation that
somebody that i know
sinned and it was a pretty serious thing
and
man
i had to sit on myself to not just keep
thinking about all right can you believe
i just can’t believe that i mean i would
never i would never i would never and
boy that’s when you got to back off and
say but for the grace of god there go
out now that doesn’t mean that we don’t
deal with things in people’s lives and
help them come through to repentance and
restoration but we we dare not start
thinking that we’re better than somebody
else and are like in this case of well
why why am i having trouble and you’re
not
you just need to leave all that alone
let me ask you a question how do you
behave when god doesn’t pick you
you wanted to be the worship leader and
you didn’t even get picked as a backup
singer
[Applause]
matter of fact they had the audacity to
ask you
if you’d like to make sure all the
worship people have water
wow
well that’s a test isn’t it
so you can do what get offended
get self-righteous
really hurt yourself spiritually or you
can trust god if this is where you want
me right now god i’m going to serve with
a smile on my face and i know if you
want to put me somewhere else you’re the
only one that can do it in the right
time
let’s think about a few situations in
the bible that just amazed me
you know god made a covenant with a man
named noah
noah built the ark
did everything that god asked him to
do when the earth flooded and it was
time for noah to come out of the ark god
said i’m going to make a covenant with
you this will never happen again in the
earth the whole earth will never be
destroyed again with the flood and i’m
going to set this rainbow this beautiful
rainbow in the sky as a promise to you
that every time it rains you see that
rainbow and you know no need to worry
god’s not going to destroy the earth
well abraham
a few chapters later
he’s a man who makes a covenant with god
god said i’m going to take care of you
i’m going to do this and that
i’m going to make you wealthy and you’re
going to have land and blah blah blah
and
this is what i want you to do is your
part go circumcise yourself
now i don’t know about you but when i
get circumcision and somebody else gets
rainbows i’m not real happy about it
[Applause]
i mean i just say it you know
[Applause]
well
you know
i tell you what
don’t misunderstand this but god hasn’t
been just real easy on me
i mean i don’t just get a bunch of like
miracle deliverances no not me i have to
walk them out
and they used to just aggravate me
because i would see all these other
people well
[Applause]
but i understand fully now why god made
me walk the path that he made me walk
because he wants me to really understand
and relate
experientially to what people are going
through so i can give them hope in their
battles that they’ll make it
so listen to me sometimes god will let
you go through something that doesn’t
make any sense at all to you
expressly for the purpose of using you
in that area to bring other people
through to freedom at a later time in
your life
there’s a lot of stuff in the world that
i don’t understand but i do i’ve made my
mind up to this god is good
and i trust him
god is good
and i’m going to trust him amen
another
example in the bible two sisters rachel
and leah
now rachel was the beautiful
wonderful
desirable
sister
the bible says it real nice it says leah
had dull weak eyes
that basically means that she was the
ugly sister
well
leah got the man
and rachel had to watch for seven years
then rachel got in on it and
jacob buried her too
they got to do multiples back then i for
the life of me can’t imagine why anybody
would want more than one of these
no thank you
[Applause]
and uh
having children was extremely important
to them
rachel’s womb was shut up and she
couldn’t get pregnant but leah just had
one kid after another one after another
one after another one and so by studying
that i kind of learned something
interesting
see
leah wasn’t the most beautiful one
but she got the guy first and she got
the kids
rachel was gorgeous
she got the guy second and finally after
many years of watching leah have babies
she finally had a child
everybody gets something and everybody
doesn’t get something
so you have something that somebody else
doesn’t have so there’s no point in
getting jealous of what they have that
you don’t have because you have
something they don’t have
amen
and i can’t imagine what it was like for
the disciples you know peter james and
john seem to be have a little different
position with jesus
than the rest of the guys
now i don’t know about you but that
would have probably been annoying to me
and
you know those were the three that got
to go up on the mount of transfiguration
and the other guys had to wait at the
bottom of the mountain now i’m quite
sure that those three guys were not so
spiritual
that they came down and just
didn’t want to make the other guys feel
bad so they didn’t say nothing at all
about what they saw i bet they came down
you will not believe
you would not believe what we saw up
there
[Applause]
so can i just tell you if you ever want
to have any peace in your life do not
compare
your blessings or your trials with other
people’s blessings or their trials
hebrews 12 15.
this is a very good scripture that
really shows us the
the problem that resentment can be
if we don’t catch it early
exercise foresight
and be on the watch to look after one
another
to see that no one falls back from and
fails to secure god’s grace
his unmerited favor and spiritual
blessing in order that no
root of resentment
rancor bitterness or hatred shoots forth
and causes trouble and bitter torment
and many become contaminated and defiled
by it
i love that scripture he’s saying look
if if you let
like for example
i was bitter and resentful and had all
kinds of bad attitudes because my father
had sexually abused me
well
a lot of them were just buried down deep
in me and they were affecting my
relationships affecting my attitudes
affecting the way i thought they were
affecting every area of my life but you
see i thought because i left home when i
was 18 that i didn’t have the problem
anymore but the thing was i took the
problem with me in my soul
and so there’s an inner work that needs
to be done in us that only
jesus can do well because i had that
root of resentment in my life that was
affecting my marriage
it was affecting my children it was
affecting all my
relationships it was affecting my daily
life so just like this scripture says if
you don’t get it stopped it’s going to
just spread
and it’s going to affect every area of
your life and some of you if you really
will take to heart what i’m saying this
morning
this can be
life-changing for you
don’t live your life bitter and
resentful and full of hatred and
bitterness over something that happened
to you that you cannot do anything about
but god can if you’ll let him do it
now the bible actually tells us god had
the audacity to tell us that trials
actually are good for us and we should
get excited about them
it’s amazing how spiritual we can be
when everything’s good
and how we can resurrect that old man
when things aren’t so good god wants us
to be stable
stable stable stable
going to talk about stability for a
minute
i was so unstable in the earlier years
of my life
i never knew how i was going to behave
until the devil told me
if he said i was depressed i was
depressed if he said i was mad i was mad
i didn’t know anything at all about
controlling my emotions
i just did whatever i felt like doing
well you know emotions
can be good sometimes but they can
really be dangerous because you never
know
when they’re going to come and when
they’re going to go
and you have to make sure the right ones
are guiding your life
i’m particularly fond of psalm 94 12 and
13. so let’s take a look at that
blessed happy fortunate and to be envied
is the man whom you discipline and
instruct o lord and teach out of your
law okay so this is saying that when god
is disciplining you you are blessed
blessed blessed blessed
that you may give him power to keep
himself calm
in the days of
adversity until the inevitable pit of
corruption is dug
for the wicked
so this is saying god is going to
continue to deal with us and deal with
us and deal with us and deal with us and
part of that means that he is going to
let you get in some uncomfortable
situations that are going to bring
hopefully the best out of you
but
i don’t know where you’re at i mean the
bible says in james 1 that trials bring
out patience well they brought a lot of
stuff out of me before we ever got to
patients
i mean like nasty stuff
and it took about 25 years for me to get
stable
now i don’t know if any of you are as
slow as me
but it took me oh there’s one lady two
got a few out there
you know we’re supposed to have the mind
of christ you’d think we could learn a
little faster than what we do if god
gives you a test and you don’t pass it
you get to take it again
and again and again and again and again
until you pass this
god will keep letting us
deal with stuff and deal with stuff and
deal with stuff and these are not things
that are gonna
they don’t even really
get into the category of real suffering
i mean these are just uncomfortable
irritating
things just stuff things that happen
people say something that hurts our
feelings we didn’t get the promotion we
wanted it work we didn’t get to
sing in the choir you know whatever the
case might be my goodness if we can’t
even deal with that kind of stuff what
are we going to do if things get really
difficult and he said this is going to
keep on
that you
that god would give us power
to keep ourselves calm
in the day of adversity
everybody say i have to learn to keep
myself calm
you didn’t sound excited i’d like you to
do it again
i have to learn to keep myself calm
[Applause]
second timothy chapter four beginning in
verse three these are
awesome scriptures
for the time is coming when people will
not tolerate or endure sound and
wholesome instruction
but having
ears itching for something pleasing
and gratifying they will gather to
themselves one teacher after another to
a considerable number chosen to satisfy
their own liking and to foster the
errors that they hold
verse 4
and they will turn aside from hearing
the truth
and wander off into myths and man-made
fiction
verse 5. but as for you now he’s talking
to timothy who’s a preacher of the word
as for you be calm and cool and steady
and suffer unflinchingly every hardship
do the work of an evangelist fully
perform all the duties of your ministry
now
here it really gets good
verse six paul says for i am already
about to be sacrificed
my life is about to be poured out as a
drink offering the time of my spirit’s
release from the body is at hand and i
will soon be
free
i
well i’m more excited about that than
you are i think but
i mean i get what he’s saying
he’s saying look being here in this
earth in the times we’re living in and
trying to serve god in this fleshly body
it is not always easy
it’s not always comfortable it doesn’t
always feel good but boy the day is
going to come when our job here will be
done and we’ll get a release from this
body and we will be totally and
completely free and can i tell you
something that’s when life
[Applause]
[Music]
begins life isn’t fair but in spite of
that we don’t have to let anger and
unforgiveness destroy our happiness and
relationships
discover the freedom that comes from
forgiveness and how to resolve anger in
a way that’s truly healing with joyce’s
book do yourself a favor forgive
along with the book you’ll also receive
joyce’s four-part audio teaching series
understanding your triggers and avoiding
the trap of offense
you can listen in the joyce meyer
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god’s help you can find true peace and
forgiveness these resources are
available for your gift to the ministry
of thirty dollars or more connect with
us today visit online at joycemeyer.org
or call 1-800-727-9673
[Music]
let me give you a great example of how
project girl works you see god’s love
represented here has totally changed my
life now all i need to do is share it
with another woman or girl
[Music]
some people just push your buttons
and no matter how hard you try to love
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they take you from zero to on edge in no
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so how do you see the good in people
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joyce meyer wants to show you in her new
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[Music]
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well i have it on my heart today to pray
for those of you who need
guidance you’re in a situation and you
really need god to show you what to do
so let’s pray together and believe that
god is going to speak to you
father you sent the holy spirit
to be our guide
to show us what to do in life
whether to go to the left or the right
or
to say yes to something or no to
something and
you guide us by peace
by wisdom
by your word
and you also speak to us you speak to
our hearts
and i believe that there’s a lot of
people watching today that they really
desperately need an answer
to something but maybe they’ve tried so
hard to get that answer that they’ve now
become so confused that they can’t even
hear you
so i pray that people will
calm down
breathe
rest in you and i’m asking you
to guide them
and show them what they should do in the
situation that they’re in
and i pray that you will give them the
courage and the boldness to believe that
they can hear from you and be led and
guided by you
we don’t have to live in confusion
thank you father for speaking to people
in jesus name amen
all right god bless you you have a great
day and expect to hear from god
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