The Courage to Change - Pt 1 | Enjoying Everyday Life | Joyce Meyer

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This program is supported by you, our viewers and our partners. You have to let ((music playing)) go of something to take hold of something and many times we try both. ((music playing)) We want the new thing, but we don't so we're like I'm Joyce ((music playing)) Meyer. I've seen God's power transform my own life and he ((music playing)) will do it for you.

Well, thank you for joining us. You know, it's just fun to think about putting on whatever's comfortable and just hanging out hopefully with some friends and just talk about things. You know, maybe some of you will talk about some things that you've never talked anybody about because when the TV part of this is over, you'll probably hang out together and talk talk talk.

You know, let me just ask in here. How many of you are going through some kind of a change right now? Everybody? Me, too. How many of you don't like it? How many of you think change is like just like an adventure? You like change. Oh, wait a minute.

Some of you got your hands up both times. >> [laughter] >> Well, you know, I think most of us don't mind change at all if we provoke it. But when somebody else changes something and we have no choice, we have to change. That gets a little bit harder. So, one of the things that kind of the one of the lines that God [clears throat] put on my heart to help people is the first thing you have to change is change your mind about change.

Because a lot of times you think it's going to be really bad and it turns out to be the best thing that could have ever happened. Because most of the time when >> [clears throat] >> um to take hold of something new, you have to let go of something old.

But when you let go of what's old, you normally don't know. See, God likes to do that. He doesn't tell you everything. You have to let go of something to take hold of something and many times we try both. We want the new thing, but we don't so we're like >> [laughter] >> kind of feel pulled apart.

But the one constant in life is change and things around us are changing all the time. >> [clears throat] >> We can't do anything about all the changes in the world. Every day that goes by, you're getting a little bit older and [clears throat] everybody will get old, like it or not, and things in your body will change, your desires will change, your energy energy levels will change and so you have to change your lifestyle in accordance with that and we don't all like that.

I know I didn't. I like to think that I can still do what I could do when I was 30 and in many ways I feel better now than I did when I was 30 because when I was 30, I had so much old junk in my soul from being abused and so now I'm >> [clears throat] >> a little bit older, but I'm a happier older and so [laughter] and I'm still fruitful.

You know, I think that one of the things that people really need is they need a purpose. If you want to be happy, you have to have a purpose and so I still love helping people. The only thing that never changes is God. Thank God. He's always the same.

And so change means growth and progress. Change can mean can mean the end of something or the beginning of something. But like I said, we usually have to let go of something to take hold of something. So, I'll give you an example which is 38 years old. When I left my job at a local church Life Life Christian Center then, I'd worked there 5 years and I just really felt like God wanted me to step out and do other things.

You know, when you work for somebody else, you can only do so much and you know, rightfully so. If I was going to work for him, I needed to be to buy into his vision and which I did. I loved everything he was doing, but I wanted to do things.

I wanted to travel and speak and I wanted to write books and I just had a lot of things that I felt like God wanted me to do because when he called me, I know people think [clears throat] what do you mean God called you? Well, you you just you you just know when you know.

It's you know, it's a it's a hard thing to explain to people, but I was watching a listening to my first cassette tape ever and it was on Mark when the boys were in the boat and Jesus had said let us cross over to the other side and what they got was a huge storm, a hurricane type of storm and many times that will happen.

God will ask you to let go of something. You expect something great to happen right away, but you you get a storm, but that doesn't mean that the good thing's not going to come. It just maybe is preparing you a little bit for the change because in order to be promoted, we have to be stronger on the next level than we were on the last level and like it or not, it is the trials and tribulations in our life that strengthen us and it always blesses me when I read starting chapter 4 toward the end of the chapter and Jesus said let us cross over to the other side and then they go through all these storms and the disciples are afraid and Jesus is asleep and you know, >> [laughter] >> how many of you [clears throat] get that that sometimes you're you're one like do you have to take a nap right now?

Could you wake up and understand that I'm drowning here? >> [laughter] >> And but then >> [clears throat] >> chapter 5 verse 1 says and they arrived on the other side. That's the part that I love. There was a storm in between, but they arrived on the other side. You know, on Mark 11, it tells us that we can if we ask for anything in his name, >> [clears throat] >> says you will get it.

And that sounds exciting, but he doesn't say when you will get it. >> [laughter] >> And that's the thing. Sometimes when you let go of something, you expect to get the new thing right away and you don't. God seems to not care >> [laughter] >> how long things take and so in Luke 5:37 and 38, it says no one puts new wine into old wine skins.

If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled and the skins will be destroyed. Now, he was giving a practical example that they would all understand, but what what should we get out of that? Well, they were he was talking to them about old covenant versus new covenant.

They they had to change their mind because things were going to be done differently now and it was very hard for them to let go of this earning mentality of if I keep the law, then I'll earn something good from God to then coming into a covenant of grace where if you believe that God will do something, then he will do something.

It's no longer based on anything we do, but it's based on what God does and our faith and it still amazes me when I read the Bible that all we have to do is believe. Now, if you believe, you will obey. So, believing means obeying and believing means receiving and receiving means believing and so we if if you give up your faith, then >> [clears throat] >> you don't want to do that.

You what you got to So, during this waiting time when we're in the storm, that's when you have to make sure that you keep your faith strong because it seems like all hell is coming against you and nothing looks like you're going to get what you want. It looks the absolute opposite, but if you truly believe that God spoke to you and or put something on your heart, it should always agree with the word.

That doesn't mean you're going to find the exact thing he's doing in the word, but it will agree with the spirit of the word. We all know that there's a huge difference in what the enemy's trying to do and what God is trying to do. And uh so but for us using this scripture, he means that you have to let go of the old and you have to have a new wine skin, which is a new mindset about you may know, you may not.

When I left my job at Life Christian Center, it was one of the hardest things that I ever did because I believed that God had spoken to me 5 years prior or 10 years prior to that and said, "You're going to I'll go all over the world, teach my word."

And you know, that sounded just totally ridiculous because I mean, I'm just this woman from Fenton who's just got all these problems and women didn't even do that that much back then. I could probably count on one hand the number of women that were were preaching and uh it was it was very challenging for me to step out on my own.

Sometimes in order to get from where you're at to where you want to be, you have to deal with loneliness. You have to deal with people judging you and criticizing you because when people don't want you to do something you know, they believe they're hearing from God, you're not supposed to do this.

But it it scares me when I think about where I would be now if I would have listened to the people. So sometimes if you want to make a change in your life, you have to go with just you and God. And really we must obey God rather than man.

That's what Acts 5:29 says. And so I encourage you to keep obeying God and if there's been a change in your life and you're not seeing what you thought you would see yet check your heart again. If you still believe God spoke to you, then you hang in there.

Don't quit and don't give up. When I was um after I'd had this word from God about teaching I um started a little home Bible study. Didn't know if anybody would come or not, but we had we ended up 25 people and every Tuesday night they would come and sit all around in a circle in my little living room and I would sit there and I started teaching the Bible in short shorts blowing smoke in everybody's face. >> [laughter] >> So it was obvious I needed a little change.

But you know, the interesting thing about God is he not only sees where you're at he sees your heart and he sees where you're going to be. And so many times GOD WILL MANY TIMES YOU MAY LOOK TO other people like you shouldn't be doing well. Who do you think you are?

You you're not qualified to do that. I mean, people told me that, "You're not qualified to do this. You don't I didn't have a degree. I didn't go to seminary. I didn't go to college. I just almost failed English. And now here I was going to talk to the world.

And >> [clears throat] >> uh I you know, it's it's when God puts something in your heart, it's amazing what you can believe that makes no sense to everybody else. And sometimes to be honest, you're better off not to tell people what you believe God said to you because >> [clears throat] >> they can't they can't believe what you can believe because God didn't speak to them.

So sometimes you're better off to keep it between you and God and just let him show them what he's going to do. In Ephesians 4:22 through 24 verse 22 says put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and has been corrupted through deceitful desires.

And I'm going to skip verse 23 for a second. Verse 24 says, "And put on the new self created after the likeness of God." So we've got here Okay. Put off the old man put on the new man. Well, okay, exactly how do I do that? Well, verse 23 tells us, "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind."

So nothing in our life changes until we change our mind. You have to get your mind in line with God's word and his promises. That's why in Romans 12 it says that we our mind must be renewed or we will never see the good plan that God has for our lives.

You may hear about it but you won't actually see it take place in your life. And I I I think I'm safe in saying this. I think if you really want to see the amazing plan that God has for your life I think at some point you're going to have to step out into the unknown.

Some way, shape or form, you're going to have to step out into the unknown. I always say, "Step out and find out." Don't don't be afraid to find out if you're wrong. But you'll never know for sure. Well, how do I know I've heard from God? You won't know for sure until you do what you believe he's telling you to do and see what happens.

And if you were wrong, don't be embarrassed about saying, "Well, I thought I was hearing from God, but I wasn't." Many times that's the way we learn how to hear from God by making mistakes and then not giving up. A change of mind always precedes a change in behavior.

And if you don't like change, then you must change your mind about change >> [laughter] >> because you one thing you can be certain of is you are going to have changes in your life and they're not all going to feel good. >> [clears throat] >> I know some of your stories.

I know Holly's story. I know different things about different ones of you because we've been together in different ways for a long time and [clears throat] I know that I mean, like there's been some people that work for us that have moved from other cities to come here and when they come there, they're alone.

They don't know anybody here. They don't know where the grocery store is at. They don't know what part of town to live in and it takes a while. Come on, when there's a change, give it some time. Don't just you know, I mean, somebody could come and they think they're going to see me every day >> [laughter] >> and [clears throat] I'm hardly ever here.

And when I come in, I usually come down here to the TV studio. I've got an office upstairs, but I rarely ever go up there. Once in a while I do or once in a while I'll get to go to some of the departments and talk to people, but I do a chapel every now and then, but you could work here a year and see me twice.

I mean, I've ran into people out in the mall and uh they'll greet me and say I work for you. I was Oh, how long have you been there? Oh, 15 years. And I'm like, "Oh, hello." So if you want to come to work for Joyce Meyer Ministries, don't don't do it because you think you're going to see me and we're going to sit and have a down in the >> [clears throat] >> hall and have a chat every time you come by.

You come because you believe that God wants to use you here. And so we've seen people that have just not been able to stay. It just was too hard for them and maybe they really didn't hear from God. Maybe they thought they heard from God, so they go back home and that's okay.

But then there have been people that have come here and from other places and they've loved it and made friends and found the person here that we're going to marry and their life would be totally different if they wouldn't have come here. And so we have to be we have to give change a little bit of time.

We don't mind change when we provoke it. But when a change occurs that we don't like that you can't do anything about we often get upset and lose our peace. Now I want you to listen to what I'm going to say. Rebelling against something you cannot do anything about is foolish.

Let's say it again. Rebelling against something that you cannot do anything about is foolish. We've been installing a new computer system here. And if you've ever been part of that, you know that it doesn't always work like they say it's going to work. And so we've had people on mandatory overtime.

Well, I'm sure a lot of them didn't want to do that. But you know, we had a mess going on. It had to be fixed. And so sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to do because that's just what is required for the situation. Don't you love it when they do an update on your phone? >> [laughter] >> Last time they did an update on my phone, I lost all the names on my contacts.

So all I got was numbers. I'd get phone numbers and I don't answer numbers with no names because I figure it's, you know some kind of scam. And so I was just turning down all my calls and [laughter] found out you know, that it was because of my update. >> [laughter] >> My update that turned out to be a nightmare.

So maintaining a quiet heart and living in peace is beautiful to God. Think about that, a quiet heart. You're not worried, you're not upset, you're not concerned about the future. You just trust God and you have a quiet heart. You're waiting for him to do whatever only he can do.

Romans 12:16 says live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, snobbish, high-minded, and exclusive. Now get this next sentence, but readily adjust yourself to people and things. I would much rather people adjust to me and adapt to me. But it doesn't always work that way. Matter of fact, I've learned that part of being the kind of believer that God wants us to be is to have that attitude that I'm willing to change for your sake.

Paul said, "To the Jew I'm a Jew, to the Greek I'm a Greek, whatever it takes to win you." So he was always adjusting himself and even we have to learn to even do that with different personalities. You know, if I was going to all of a sudden five of you were going to become my really close friends, we I'd have to manage each one of those relationships in a different way.

And that a lot of times that's why we can't keep friends or don't have friends because we want everybody to do it our way. And that's you can't have a good relationship like that. You have to be willing to adapt and adjust even to your children. You know, I've four children and they're all different.

Two of them are like me, so that's fun. >> [laughter] >> Those are the ones you bang heads with the most, the ones that are just like you and you wonder why I cannot get along with you. >> [laughter] >> Oh, because you're just like me. And we all want to be in charge and so that's fun.

But now we get we get along good because we've learned this that you have to give people the right to be who they are. You can't try to make everybody be like you. Great humility is required when something changes and you can't do anything about it, but you have to be part of it.

But I think it's time that we face change and it takes courage to change and to have a good attitude about it, especially if it's something that you don't like. Now one of the things that comes along with change is fear. Change can frighten us because we don't always know what will be next.

When I started that little Bible study in my home 40 some odd years ago, um I had a full-time job and after a while I really started feeling strongly that God wanted me to quit my job because I needed to study the word. I didn't really know that much about the word and so it's not too smart to try to teach it if you don't know anything about it. >> [laughter] >> And uh all I knew was I was liking what I was hearing and I felt strongly that everybody needed to hear the truth of the word that was changing me so quickly as I heard [clears throat] it.

And uh so God kept dealing with me about quitting this job, quitting this job, so I'd have time for study. Well, there was only one little problem. Our bills were more than our income was going to be because I had a very good job, made as much money as Dave did.

So that meant our income was going to be cut in half. And we were going to be $40 short each month of being able to pay our bills. And so I bargained with God >> [laughter] >> and I got a part-time job. And I got fired from my part-time [laughter] job.

And I'm not the kind of person that gets fired. I mean, I always had a good work record and would normally get promoted and end up in leadership, but I got fired. And God was just showing me that he meant business. I didn't tell you to go get a part-time job, I told you to quit your job.

But we like to have a backup plan, don't we? We want to obey God, but just in case he don't come through, >> [laughter] >> we want to have a little backup plan. So I had this little part-time job >> [laughter] >> that was [clears throat] my backup plan. Well, finally I quit and I was so scared.

I remember walking down the hall in my house and my knees literally felt weak. And the Lord spoke [clears throat] to my heart and he said, "You can do this two ways. You can worry and be upset all the time or you can learn to trust me." So sometimes what we think will bring us happiness still doesn't do it for us. >> ((music playing)) >> We try everything.

Look out for number one. But life still feels empty. Well, you know, we typically look at our circumstances and try to change them in order for me to be happy. I know this because I thought this way for years. I ((music playing)) was always on my mind. I would constantly think, "What about me?

What about me?" ((music playing)) I had no idea that the root of my unhappiness was something I could actually change. I was getting in my own way and missing ((music playing)) the blessings that God has for me. You see, selfishness steals our joy. But God has such a better way for us to live.

I firmly believe ((music playing)) that people need to realize that there is great power in an unselfish life. That's why I've written What About Me. Inside I ((music playing)) share why it's important to get out of that me mindset and how to change your perspective in a way that will benefit you and others.

((music playing)) I have absolutely no doubt that what I share in this book will change your life just like it completely changed mine. ((music playing)) Request What About Me today and take important steps to living an unselfish life. It's ((music playing)) available to you right now for your gift of any amount. Call us today at 1-800-709-2895 or visit us online at joycemeyer.org.

You can get out of your own way, walk in love, and live ((music playing)) unselfishly. When you request What About Me, you'll also receive ((music playing)) Enjoy Your Journey, two powerful books designed to help you find true joy ((music playing)) in Christ. Discover happiness not based in circumstances, but in God's gift of peace.

These books are available to you right ((music playing)) now for your gift of any amount. But wait, there's more. For $60 or ((music playing)) more, you'll receive this radiate love tote bag along with other gift items. Call 1-800-709-2895. Visit us online at joycemeyer.org or use the QR ((music playing)) code on your screen. Remember, your contribution today allows us to share the gospel and ((music playing)) God's love around the world through our Hand of Hope outreaches and media platforms.

What About Me and Enjoy Your ((music playing)) Journey are available for any amount. Discovering true happiness through Christ is just a phone call or touch screen away. Call 1-800-709-2895. Visit us online at joycemeyer.org or use the QR code on your screen. Boy, you know, in today's world there are many stressors, so many things to deal with on a daily basis.

How do we navigate all of life's pressures? Well, God's word has much to say about it. So I thought we could all get together with some of my friends and talk about it. Join us for the Enjoying Everyday Life Conference, a weekend of practical ((music playing)) messages and heartfelt worship with Joyce and her guests, Dr.

Henry Cloud, Nona Jones, and worship ((music playing)) with Naomi Raine. April 10th and 11th in Hershey, Pennsylvania. You know, I have such a passion for teaching God's word ((music playing)) and it's even better when we all get together under one roof. So I really hope to see you there. Register today. Go to joycemeyer.org.

((music playing)) >> ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) >> We hope you enjoyed today's program. We are so grateful to our Joyce ((music playing)) Meyer Ministries partners who make this and all we do possible, including sharing God's word and offering help to people in need all over the world. This program ((music playing)) is supported by you, our viewers and our partners.

Let today's encouragement ((music playing)) carry you forward. Like, comment, and subscribe to stay connected. Visit joycemeyer.org for more daily ((music playing)) inspiration and watch Enjoying Everyday Life and the Talk It Out podcast right here on YouTube to grow deeper in ((music playing)) God's word.