The Official Forgiveness Prayer
Three people got that, so here we go again. You choose to do what’s right, then your feelings catch up with your decision. If I’m mad at Dave… I still get mad at Dave once in a while; not very often because we’ve been together long enough now I’ve already figured out it doesn’t do any good anyway. When you’re married 40 years, you just finally figure this comes with the package. Praise the Lord. He has to put up with me, I have to put up with him, let’s just all be happy and go on about our business. But occasionally I’ll still get mad at Dave. And the minute you get mad at somebody, you don’t want to talk to them, you don’t want to be around them. “Shut you out of my life.” and I know, I know that I know that I know that what I need to do is just go ahead, go into the room where he’s at… I mean, I prayed the official forgiveness prayer. ”Well, now, lord, I forgive Dave because I know I can’t stay mad. I know that’s not your will, so I forgive him in Jesus’ name.” Well, now what am I going to do? What am I going to do? Am I going to stay in the other room and not talk to him and act like I’m about ten years old? Or am I going to act like I’ve been saved half my life, been in the word 32 years, and go ahead and just take authority over my feelings and get in there and talk to the man and sit down and smile? I can choose to do that no matter how I feel, and I do it for Jesus because I know that’s what he wants me to do. And when I do it, I am telling you the truth, it’s not five minutes and I don’t feel the way I felt at all anymore because when you choose what’s right, your feelings will catch up with it. Let me just throw this out for good measure: if you would just stop talking about your problems… We talk about it and talk about it, talk about it and think about it, think about it and talk about it, talk about it and think about it, think about it and talk about it, talk about it think about it and talk about it, and think about it. Then we wonder why we don’t have any joy. “I don’t understand, Lord, I’ve just lost my joy.” I found this statement and man, I got excited about this.
God’s forgiveness by Joyce Meyer
So if I don’t like myself, then it automatically makes me behave in a way that makes me unlikeable to other people. I don’t really think that people, unless they’ve gone through this and maybe have worked through the process of receiving God’s forgiveness, which is really what it means to forgive ourselves, I don’t think that our viewers today can even imagine the difference that this would make in their life. But I want to ask you a question because you know me — I like to be real practical. I don’t like to just say “do it”; I like to tell people how to do it. So, how do you go about this? I mean, somebody can pray and say, “God, forgive me.” What I tell people to do a lot of times is when you ask God to forgive you for something, then actually go that extra step and say out loud, “I receive your forgiveness now. I take it into myself, and I receive it as a gift.” And even to take a few moments to sit in the presence of God and just meditate on that: I am forgiven. I receive that forgiveness. Don’t you think sometimes we ask God for things but we just don’t receive?
R.T. Kendall: Exactly. In other words, all that is being taught in this book has got to be applied. Total forgiveness is not something you do when you just feel led; it’s a decision. It’s a choice you make. And so with anybody listening in, you make a choice: Did God send his son to die on a cross for our sins or did he not? And if he did, then I believe it and I’m going to enjoy it to the full and dignify the blood. I was brought up in a denomination. The man I was named after used to say to young men going into the ministry, “honor the blood and honor the Holy Ghost.”
Season of Faithfulness by Joyce Meyer
Joyce: Right. That’s what I had to do then.
Lisa: It was a season of faithfulness.
Joyce: I think a lot of times people will maybe overspend. “Well, I don’t want to live on thirty-five dollars a week for groceries, so I’m just going to put it on a credit card. I’m going to get those steaks now, and I’m going to get that fresher bread now.” So people today just charge a bunch of stuff because they don’t want to wait, and that’s not being faithful either. You have to be faithful with what you have, and you have to be willing sometimes to say, “I’m not where I want to be but I’m going to get there.”
Lisa: And you kept that in front of you.
Joyce: I kept that in front of me. I started with the complaining, and the murmuring, and the being jealous of other people who had more than I had.
Lisa: Taking it from your account is how I saw it. I was like anytime anybody else got blessed, they must have taken it from my account and now there’s nothing left for me. That was horrible. Joyce, what you’re saying is so crucial that people get it because I believe that we always have to live in a place where we are not borrowing off the future; that we are living with wisdom. I think a lot of Christians say, “I’ll just charge this by faith,” and then that’s not faith. We had little envelopes and whatever was gone was gone; that was it.
Joyce: That’s right. When we come back, I want to talk about another really important area: Relationships. I think a lot of times we’re in relationships, in a marriage, with our children, or even family and friends, our boss, or whatever, where you think: This is never going to change! And you just want to give up. We’re going to talk about that when we come back. We’ll be right back after this break to talk about not giving up on people.
The God of Israel by Joyce Meyer
But then the second thing he did was set himself to seek God, which that should be our response to trouble. Instead of getting afraid and starting to spit all the fearful things out of our mouth, we need to say: Okay, I’ve got a problem here; I’ve got to see what God says. I’ve got to seek God. So anyway, I don’t have time to read the whole thing, but he sought God. God answered. Verse 15: He said, hearken, all Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King Jehoshaphat. The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Wow. Surely, somebody here needs to hear that today or somebody watching by tv. The battle is not yours; it’s God’s. Well, but God, what do you want me to do? And the devil is always… I think he sends out this little hoard of demons every morning to sit on every believer’s shoulder and just whisper one thing in their ear all day long: What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? You go to lunch with somebody and they say, “so, what are you going to do? I heard about your problem. What are you going to do?” Verse 17: You shall not need to fight in this battle; take your positions… Everybody say: My position. My position.: Stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [who is] with you, o Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. Now Jehoshaphat took his position and here’s what it was: vs. 18: And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping him. – Now wait – vs. 19: And some Levites of the Kohathites and Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. vs. 20: And they rose early in the morning and went out… And on and on and on. In verse 21 it says: When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise him…
Dont Complain by Joyce Meyer
They’re saying, “we’ve got to leave with the luggage; you’ve got to get packed!” So I’m packing for the next trip and trying to decide what I want to wear. You guys probably don’t get this, but I’ll talk to women for a minute. You know, trying to pick out the earrings and the shoes and all this stuff. Do I have the top to go under it, do I have the thing to go over it, do I have the right belt, do I have all this stuff. So invariably it seems like lately especially I get out and I don’t have what I need.
Well, last night I had some oil on my fingers and I got that oil on the skirt I was going to wear last night, so that wouldn’t work. So then I put on something else, and I brought – I don’t know what my problem was – I brought like three outfits with brown in them and one pair of brown shoes. I had never had these brown shoes on before – I mean, I had them on, but when I tried them on, I didn’t have them on with nylons which I normally wear when I wear a skirt. Now, guys, just hang on, I’m just talking to the ladies for a minute. That’s okay. You want to get into my personal business here for a minute?
So, these shoes were fine with no nylons, but when I put my nylons on with my skirt, because I usually wear nylons with a skirt because I don’t think my legs really look good enough not to wear nylons with a skirt, and then I could not keep the shoes on my feet because they were slick. So every step I’m taking, I’m having to wiggle my toes… So I’m thinking: Now what am I going to do? I’ve got oil on this one and I’ve got something else on that one. So this morning I got dressed and Dave is like my clothing inspector, so he’s looking me over and he said: I don’t know.
A Wonderful Life by Joyce Meyer
Joyce: Am I going to believe what messed-up people told me 30 and 40 years ago in my childhood? Am I going to believe them more than I believe the word of God? And when you make your mind up that you’re going to base your life on this, it will heal you.
Joyce: There may be a few of you watching today who are hurting so deeply inside that the pain just seems to be overwhelming you. Well, I know how you feel. I was sexually abused by my father for 15 years and I know that when you have that kind of deep emotional wounding in your life, it creates all kinds of other problems, but I also know that through the word of God you can be healed and you can have A Wonderful Life. It is not too late for you. Executive producer Ginger Stache joins me today with viewer questions on healing from emotional wounds. Well, Ginger, we’re back again for one of our question and answer sessions. I enjoy them.
Ginger Stache: I love this! I think this is great! So many of the questions today, I think, are really honest, very revealing of what people are going through, and I think it will be a great thing for people to hear from you.
Joyce: The word of God is practical. Every practical issue that you could face is dealt with in here. I think too often we just look at the bible as some religious book that doesn’t apply to our everyday life but the bible says that he heals the brokenhearted, binds up our wounds, heals our bruises, and gives us beauty instead of ashes. That’s what millions of people watching right now want: hope that they won’t have to keep bleeding and hurting from something that happened to them that they couldn’t even do anything about.
God Does Different Things In Different People by Joyce Meyer
“Well, what’s wrong with me? Why are you this way and I’m still this way?” God does different things in different people, but it’s helpful to understand the process. The bible teaches us to sit. Interestingly enough, the bible only has one thing to say about lying down and that is get up. I did a search today and I looked at the word “laying” and the only thing it tells you to lay down is your life. You don’t lie down because that lying down represents giving up, quitting, not going to do anything anymore. I want to give you an example tonight and I’ll just have to be silly, I guess, but you know I really can’t do much from here. You can say it sure does feel good. Well, you’re still just wasting your life. You’re doing nothing. You’re going nowhere. There’s no way that from this position I can run. How many of you understand that? Is everybody smart enough to know that? See, I just… I was thinking about it today and I thought this is what a lot of Christians look like because we want all these victories, we want all this prosperity, and we want good health, and we want big ministries, but half the time we’re lying down, depressed, discouraged, despondent, bad attitude, hands hanging down, heads hanging down, everything lying down. I might just preach from the floor tonight. Might be good. Go to John 5, verse 1: later on there was a Jewish festival for which Jesus went up to Jerusalem. vs. 2: now there is in Jerusalem a pool near the sheep gate. This pool in the Hebrew is called Bethesda and it has five porches alcoves, doorways:. vs. 3: in these lay a great number of sick folk–some blind, some crippled, some paralyzed and shriveled up– waiting for the bubbling up of the water.
A Heart Of Love by Joyce Meyer
John: Out of a heart of love we want to honor people but to go one step further, if we honor the elderly, if we take care of our parents when there’s no benefit in it for us…
Joyce: Or maybe they haven’t even treated us all that well and now God’s asking us to take care of them.
John: There’s no benefit. God says there’s a reward. This is what people have got to understand, is that our reward comes from God and God will reward us not only in the life to come but now in this life. That’s the thing I discovered. No matter what people did in the bible, even if it looked like it was totally no good for them, if they honored in a situation, a reward may come from another avenue, it may come from another venue. In other words, let’s say your mother has not been kind to you but in her elderly age you do what God says — the whole book of Timothy… Not the whole book but many parts of the book of Timothy is about honoring — you decide to honor her. Well, your reward is not gonna come probably from her but it’s gonna come maybe from another venue.
Joyce: She might not even appreciate it.
John: She may never even show you she appreciates it. What you did is you honored God by honoring her. That’s the thing that we’ve got to remember that Jesus said: “if you do this to the least of these — the least — you have done it to me.” So, it’s the audience of one. You say, “okay, God, I’m gonna honor you because this is what you asked me to do.” And if you honor God, what did God say he would do? “I will honor you.” Now, the way he honors you will probably come not from that mother but it will come from another different avenue. This is why there are people who live an honoring life where they honor people but it doesn’t look like they’re getting anything back directly from those people, but if you look at their life, it’s extremely blessed, they’re prosperous, their finances are good, their children are happy. It may come from all different kinds of areas but these are the rewards that God promises when we honor.
Prisoners of Hope by Joyce Meyer
It’s only our stuff that has changed, and if we start expecting god to do something, we’re going to see him move in a mighty way because expectation has a lot to do with faith and believing. How can we say we’re in faith and have a negative attitude? How can we say we’re in faith and be hopeless and depressed and discouraged and downtrodden all the time?
I’m not saying that those things don’t attack us. That’s why we need each other and that’s why the actual gift of edification and exhortation is so important in the body of Christ. The devil tries to lie to everybody and everybody needs to be encouraged. Everybody needs to be encouraged. Prisoners of hope. I made my mind up a few years ago: I’m going to be a prisoner of hope. I’ve wasted enough of my life being negative and critical and disappointed and always looking at something wrong. Even just the things that the devil comes against us with – the attacks of the devil – we might as well learn to be happy while those things are going on. I don’t want to be discouraging to you, but even when you get rid of the problem you have, you’re just going to get another one.
I know we don’t like to hear that, but you know what? Paul said: I have learned how to be content whether I am abased or abounding. I think if we can just keep a solid full level of hope and joy whatever is going on, we’re not even going to be touched by it, we aren’t going to care that much. It’s really not our circumstances that steal our joy; it’s our attitude toward our circumstances that steal our joy. Amen? Amen!: If you’ve got your mind made up that you just cannot be happy until your circumstance changes, you know what? I could probably just prophesy to you today: your circumstance won’t change and you’ll never be happy because our joy cannot be based on our circumstances.
God has prepared in future by Joyce Meyer
We just have to have hope. The believer’s number one job is to believe. That’s why we’re called believers. Stay positive, expect, be full of hope and happy anticipation. Do you agree with me that a lot of people are trying to have faith and they don’t even have hope? How can you say you’re believing God if you’re all depressed and down in the dumps? “Well, I’m just believing God. I’m so worried, I’m just sick, but I’m believing God.” Go to Psalm 27:13. What are you believing? What are you expecting? Psalm 27:13: [what, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living! verse 14: 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. How many of you see that proper waiting on God is waiting with a heart full of hope? It’s waiting with a heart of expectancy.
It’s not waiting with some gloomy attitude. Go to Isaiah 40. A very familiar scripture. Isaiah 40:31. But they who wait upon the Lord shall change. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Let’s read it in the amplified: but they who wait for the Lord who expect God, look for God, who hope in God: shall change and renew their strength. Man, that gets me excited! They who wait upon the Lord with a hopeful, expectant attitude, believing God that something is going to change, they shall change. Isaiah 40:31: and renew their strength and power; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Remember, the next time somebody says to you: what are you doing?, don’t say: I’m just waiting on God. Say: I’m waiting on God! I’m waiting on God and I’m so excited to see what God does! God is good. He has a good plan for my life. I can’t even imagine all the good things that God has prepared in my future. There is no way I would give up! I’m not about to give up. If I gave up, I’d miss all those good things that god has for me.
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