Joyce wants to share what is on her heart right now during the COVID-19 pandemic. Join with her above and be encouraged!
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.
hi everybody I think it’s kind of cool
that I’m quarantined in my house and
you’re probably quarantined in yours and
we can still get together and have a
chat obviously I wanted to encourage you
because I know that in times like this
it’s easy to get down to get discouraged
and even get depressed maybe especially
if you happen to be someone who lives
alone it’s probably even more
challenging for you because we do need
that human connection so you and I can
connect today and I hope that I’ll be
able to encourage you you know the Bible
says in first John 4:4 greater is He
that is in you than he that is in the
world now I don’t want to say that real
fast and just speed on by it I want you
to think about that you know there’s a
lot of stuff going on in the world today
that’s not enjoyable not good and this
scripture says that greater is He that
is in you than he that is in the world
and if you are a believer in Jesus
Christ then he lives on the inside of
you and that means that he’s there to
help you to guide you to strengthen you
to teach you and I want to remind you
today that you’re never alone you’re he
never leaves you not for one second and
I also want to remind you I did a little
study looked at some history stuff and
there have been many many pandemics in
the time of history at least 20 plus and
they all came to an end and eventually
this one too will also come to an end
one of the things that I did to
encourage myself when I’m going through
any kind of problem or if I’m waiting
for God to give me some kind of
breakthrough is I actually will say this
too will pass the time will come when
this will be over if you think back at
some of the other things you’ve gone
through that you just thought you
couldn’t make it there over and this
also will be
/ and another thing that I like to
remind people is that you know you’re
stronger than you think you are we get
in the middle of something like this
it’s easy to start thinking I just can’t
do this or you know if this goes past
the end of April I don’t know if I can
stand it and we really need to be
careful about our thinking it’s like I
always say where the mind goes the man
follows and so if you think negative
thing is it’s just going to drag you
down but if you think more positive
things it’s gonna lift you up and so you
need you need to remember that you are
stronger than you think you are and
there’s nothing that comes into your
life that God won’t give you the grace
to do Philippians 4:13 says I can do all
things through Christ who is my strength
and actually if you look at verse 11
Paul was talking about trials and
tribulations he said rather I’m a based
or abounding I can do all things through
Christ who is my strength so it’s easy
to be stable and praise God and be
positive and happy when everything’s
going good but really this is when we
show our faith in times like this this
is when our faith gets stretched and
that’s when we really show the enemy God
and ourselves that we do have the
strength to do whatever comes our way
and you know even with this going on we
still have life some regular challenges
and that’s something that I just want to
let you know that I’m aware of just last
week I had a pretty interesting week
first thing that happened was a water
pipe started leaking in our basement you
know right now it’s hard to get
repairmen out so thankfully that day and
I think I’m sorry we were able to get
somebody out in about four hours but
what a mess that would have been is we
couldn’t have gotten somebody out and so
I like to just think about not maybe
what God’s not doing yet but I like to
try to remember
about the things that God is doing
because I mean seriously if I you know
we were coming up to the weekend and if
I would have had to have waited three or
four days to get somebody out here I
would have had a really big mess in my
basement two days after that I got up it
was a Sunday morning and my refrigerator
had gone out overnight and it was full
you know we’re all trying to keep
everything full right now and so my
daughter and her husband had to come
over and get everything that was in the
refrigerator and take it back to their
house and then they brought me a couple
of coolers so I could have some things
in it that I needed and we couldn’t get
anybody to come out that day because it
was a weekend but thankfully we did get
somebody out the next day then we had to
bring all the stuff back put it all back
in there again some of it we threw away
because we weren’t sure that it would
stay good and then a rock hit my
husband’s windshield in his car and that
had to be replaced and then also I had a
hearing test a couple of weeks before
that and found out that I’ve lost some
of my hearing in my left ear and so then
a headache no go have another test for
that so my point is is that life goes on
and I’m sure that some of you are having
other trials and tribulations in the
midst of this coronavirus and you
probably think oh no God not now or I
can’t take anymore and I just want
really want you to remember that you can
do whatever you need to do through
Christ who is your strength but your
thinking can defeat you if you start
thinking I can’t do this then you may
well not be able to do it but if you
think that you can according to the Word
of God and I’m not just saying you can
think whatever you want doing is going
to happen but if you think according to
the Word of God then you’ll be able to
live according to the Word of God it’s
so important right now that we stay
positive
and not get negative and I even
encourage people yes we need to know
enough of the news to know what’s going
on
but I really encourage you not to just
listen and watch all the bad reports all
day long and you
looking at the figures and looking at
them because the more you take that
information in the more it’s going to
affect your moods and how you feel and
you know how we are you may be you know
feel like you’re stuck in the house with
a bunch of other people now and somebody
asked me this morning what’s it like to
be in the house with Dave all the time
and I said well for Dave and I it’s not
that bad because of us both being in
ministry we’re rather used to that but
the woman I was talking to her husband
is working from home and she said he’s
just so different having somebody there
all the time because I’m not used to
that so when people are put together
more there is more opportunity for
arguments and strife so you want to be
really careful about that because this
is not a time when you need to be mad at
anybody or fighting with anybody and
especially when you already feel under
pressure maybe you’ve got kids on school
and your husband’s working from home and
you know you’re you’re not getting full
pay maybe you’re on unemployment or
something and you’re thinking how in the
world am I going to do this how am I
going to do this you know I really want
to encourage you not to try to answer
questions that there are no answers to
as long as we need faith we’re always
going to have some unanswered questions
we may not know what’s going to happen
but we do know the one who does know and
the point is is to put our trust in God
and this is this is a time I’m not
saying that this is happening so our
faith can be tested but it is a time
when our faith is tested and really one
of the good things that can come out of
this is you can actually be made
stronger because when you’re forced to
use your faith it’s like a muscle the
more you use it the stronger it gets
and so you can do whatever you need to
do and I want you to believe that and
being encouraging to other people don’t
get into conversations where all
everybody wants to talk about is how bad
this is and how terrible it is and you
know what’s going to happen how many
people
you know the sectors we can’t ignore it
but we don’t need to make it a total
topic of our conversation go ahead and
try to live your life and I also want to
encourage you to just take this one baby
time you know so many people have said
to me well what do you think or what are
you gonna do or you know what are you
gonna do if this and if that and I just
tell people I’m taking it one day at a
time and I mean that I’m not I’m not
even really looking seriously well if
June comes around and this is still
going on what am I going to do because I
know that God gives us the grace that we
need one day at a time there’s a little
story that I like to tell that would fit
good right here and maybe it will
encourage somebody there were two godly
men that were imprisoned together and
they weren’t this isn’t a story I don’t
know that it’s a true story but it makes
a point and they were supposed to be
burned at the stake the next day and one
of the men was an older man and he had a
lot of experience with God and he just
seemed to be real calm and peaceful but
the young man was really nervous and
afraid and he struck a match to light a
candle and he burned his finger and he
started yes young oh man this hurts so
bad if if this hurts this bad how am I
gonna go to the state to mom be burned I
don’t think I can do it I don’t think I
can do it and the older gentleman just
calmly said you didn’t have the grace to
burn your finger but if God’s asking you
to go to the stake tomorrow be burned
for the sake of his name he will give
you the grace but he won’t give it to
you until tomorrow and I love that you
know God fed the Israelites the manna
one day at a time he didn’t he didn’t
give them tomorrow’s supply today if we
knew today what’s going to happen 15
days from now then it would be real easy
to just be calm and have peace but one
of the main things that God wants from
us is for us to trust him and to put our
faith in Him and so just take it one day
at a time and when people ask you or
what are you going to do
think about this what you think about
that you don’t have those answers I
don’t have those answers God knows and
God will take care of us and before I’m
finished today I’m going to read you
some parts of Psalm 91 that are just
there from a contemporary English
version and they’re so just wonderful to
encourage us that even in times just
like this God it’s going to help us and
he’s going to take care of us
and I want to encourage you to find
reasons to be thankful and I want to
just emphasize find reasons to be
thankful because it’s very easy I don’t
know about you but I’m I’m not at my
best when I first wake up in the morning
and so unless you’re this real cheery
morning person who jumps out of bed and
you know says oh praise the Lord I’m so
happy you know if you’re more like me I
need a little space until I have a
little coffee and wake up here then if
you’re like that it’s very easy to get
negative before you really get awake and
so I’ve been purposely finding things to
be thankful for well thank God that I’m
living in a nice house while this is
going on and thank God that I had a nice
stock of toilet paper before this
started my kids always teased me because
we always keep a lot of paper towels and
toilet paper and Kleenex and it’s been
like a family joke you know you panic if
you think you get down bought 20 rolls
of toilet paper and my one son said well
maybe mom was right after all
and so I thank God for anything that I
can think of to thank him for and that
really helps me remember that it’s not
as bad as it could be and it’s not as
bad as we can imagine that it is if we
let our mind go in the wrong direction I
think I’ve mentioned this before on
another broadcast but just think about
the people during the Holocaust and how
some of them hid in closets for months
and
imagine that and they couldn’t make a
sound not a sound that must have been
really really bad but if you’ve ever
read the story of Anne Frank or seeing
the movie The Diary of Anne Frank
they lived her family lived in an attic
that was like 450 square feet I think
and they lived there for something like
seven hundred and ninety days and in her
diary she constantly talks about just
what I’m talking about
about being thankful and staying happy
and thinking about what you do have you
know we really get ourselves in trouble
if we start thinking about what we don’t
have I mean anybody can do that but it
takes a man or a woman of God to find
things to be thankful about even in
times like this and trust me you do have
things to be thankful for and then some
of this is really important to me I’ve
been doing it I really want to encourage
you to do it is reach out to other
people if you can if I need to help
those who have lost their jobs then do
that this is a great time to give to
people that are in need and if you can’t
help financially because you’re
financially strapped yourself you can
pray and that’s a very important thing
you know we all say all the time I’ll
pray for you but if you really think
about it the Bible says that when a
righteous man prays tremendous power is
made available and I in particular the
last two years have been really watching
the power of prayer and really noticing
the things that God does in my life
after I pray and so praying you can ask
God for anything that you want her need
you he already knows how you feel so you
might as well voice it and kind of you
know sometimes we feel better if we can
vent well you can vent to God anytime
[Music]
he’s always happy to hear your voice and
I want you to think about this for a
minute this came up in a book that I was
working on yesterday and I love to tell
people this there is never one moment in
your life when God doesn’t love you just
think about that there on your good days
on your bad days on your really bad days
God may not always like I love what you
do but he never ever ever stops loving
you and you can think about that with
your own children and understand what I
mean you know sometimes my children do
things that I don’t like and wish they
didn’t do but I never for one moment
stop loving them and I’m always far them
I’m never against them and just think
you’re never without God’s love for even
one moment in your life and I believe
that one of the ways that we show that
we love God is by reaching out and
loving other people you know God poured
his love into our hearts so we could
receive it and love ourselves in a
balanced way and that may sound strange
to some of you but you know if you’re
against yourself you’re going to have a
miserable life love yourself because God
loves you appreciate who God has made
you to be and then let that love flow
through you to other people because
somebody encouraged them you know you
don’t have to wait for God to make you
go help somebody or to just you know get
some special word from God about who
you’re to help I do this and I encourage
you to do it think about who you know
and who you might help and I was doing
that the other day and I thought of some
people that do different services for me
and they’re not able to work right now
so they don’t have an income coming in
so we reached out to them and helped
them
that’s what believers are supposed to do
we’re supposed to reach out to people
and help them in times of crisis so help
somebody else and you be surprised
you’re not only doing something for them
but you are doing something for yourself
because the Bible says it’s more blessed
to give
than it is to receive and I can tell you
I know for sure that giving releases joy
in your life and then also with the time
that you have at home I would encourage
you to get some rest maybe take a nap
now and then watch some good uplifting
movies do some things with your kids
that you have wished before that you had
time to do and keep them encouraged
during times like this finish some of
those projects that you’ve been letting
go forever and ever how long have you
needed to clean out your closet how long
have you needed to clean out your garage
and you stay busy don’t don’t just I
don’t mean like work all the time but if
you stay occupied you won’t be nearly as
inclined to get bored and then maybe get
depressed and discouraged and then I
always want to remind you fear is going
to come knocking on your door there’s
not one thing that I can tell you that’s
going to keep fear from attacking you
but you have to remember that real
courage is going forward in the face of
fear it’s not not having fear fear if
you look at the initials can stand for
false evidence appearing real
and boy the enemy will try to make you
think the worst thing that he can
you think but when fear knocks on your
door you can answer with faith because
faith is the only thing the absolute
only thing that will conquer fear I have
a whole series of teachings called
overcoming fear with faith you can’t
make it go away but you can defeat it
every time it comes by just saying I
refuse to give in to you because I know
that God is good and he’s going to take
care of me now just to close up today
Psalm 91 1 through 7 and the
contemporary English version is so good
my son brought this to me and I think
it’s just awesome by the way he’s here
behind this camera helping me today so I
got to have a little time with my baby
boy too so listen to this live under the
protection of God most high and stay in
the shadow of God all powerful then you
will say to the Lord you are my fortress
my place of safety you are my god and I
trust you and it’s good to voice those
things to say to God and to say out loud
I trust you I believe that you’re
faithful and you’re going to take care
of me the Lord will keep you safe from
secret traps and deadly diseases well
there it is that’s just what we’re
dealing with today and right here in the
Word of God it says God will keep you
safe he was spread his wings over you
and keep you secure his faithfulness
it’s like a shield or a city wall you
won’t need to worry about dangers at
night our arrows during the day and
listen to this and you won’t fear
diseases that strike in the dark or
sudden disaster at noon you will not be
harmed even though thousands fall around
you you know anytime that you start to
feel discouraged are fearful get out
Psalm 139 and to be an honest no matter
what translation you have it’s great
it’s just such an encouraging and
uplifting song and so I just want to
remind you today that all of us at Joyce
Meyer ministries care about you and I’m
not
and that have something to say I mean
our prayer teams even though a lot of
our people are working from home they’re
still keeping their regular prayer times
and they’re praying for our partners and
you know a lot of you are partners with
our ministry and we really appreciate
you and we don’t forget about you when
you’re having trouble so we’re praying
for you and I’m praying every morning
when I pray that none of you will get
sick that my family won’t get sick and
I’m praying for those of you I’m praying
that you won’t lose your jobs but I’m
also praying that God will provide for
you in Supernatural and amazing ways at
the beginning of this year God put a
scripture on my heart and actually I
heard it in a movie and it wasn’t
necessarily a Christian movie but I just
heard this man make the comment all
things are possible
all right away my mind went to all
things are possible with God and it was
just like one of those times where I
knew that I knew that I knew that God
was given our ministry that for this
year 2020 well I didn’t know then what
was going to happen now and I keep
thinking about that all things are
possible with God
so please please instead of looking at
your situation and thinking well there’s
no way they’re there not only is a way
but Jesus is the way he said I am the
way the truth and the life and so God’s
going to provide for you and you know I
know some of you if you are laid off you
may get a little bit behind on your
bills but I’ll tell you God is gonna
help you he’s gonna give me supernatural
help and he’s going to show you ways
that you can get caught up and get
caught up fast so let’s defeat the devil
in this and stay happy and keep trusting
God and just see how thankful we can be
every day I appreciate you tuning in
today I love you and I’ll continue to
pray for you and I ask that you pray for
me thank you for joining