Welcome to 15 Minutes in the Word with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer. On today's program, Joyce will be teaching from her series, Developing the Character of God. To grow spiritually is a process. We need to consistently read and study the Bible so the Lord can change us from the inside out. Slowly but surely, we'll become more like Jesus and reflect His character in our lives. Now, here's Joyce with today's teaching. And in Psalm 143, it's where David was depressed. Let's just read it 3, 4, and 5. For the enemy has pursued and persecuted my soul. He has crushed my life down to the ground. He has made me to dwell in dark places as one who have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed and faints within me, wrapped in gloom. My heart within my bosom grows numb. He sounds like he was in a mess, right? I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I ponder the works of your hand. What was his answer to the mess he was in? I'm having a bad day. I'm going to think about the good ones. Amen. Meditation is a deep contemplation. It's rolling a thought over and over in your mind. Just take a little time to just, you know. I mean, I thought so much about 2 Corinthians 521, he that knew no sin became sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. I had a hard time getting hold of that one. I had information, but I needed revelation. I needed it to be revelation. You know, I was talking earlier about not thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to, and I took the trouble to look this up this morning, so I'm going to read it to you. You got to be careful about thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to. Ask God to help you keep a humble mind. It doesn't mean you have to think badly about yourself. For you say, this is Revelation 3.17, for you say, I'm rich, I've prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing. And you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Whoo! Y'all want me to read that again? I think I should. Well, before that, he says, I'd rather you be hotter or colder, because if you're lukewarm, I'll spill you out of my mouth. So some of you need to turn up the heat. You say I'm rich, I've prospered, I've grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing. Whoo! That's dangerous. And you don't realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Say the Bible's a good book. When you make a decision, a right decision, stick with it when the heat comes on. You remember the boys in the fiery furnace? They went in and it got turned up seven times hotter than normal. You think you're doing good? You think the devil can't turn the heat up? He can. What do you think it cost me to preach like this? I get tested pretty much on everything I preach. It's just like part of the thing now. Any person that knows what it's right to do but does not do it to him, it is sin. Don't just decide to lose weight and then change your mind when you get hungry. You know how easy it is to go on a diet Sunday night after dinner? What happens Monday afternoon about three? Or don't just decide to get out of debt until you see something you want to buy? Let me just say a word about debt. You might not want me to say a word about debt, but I will. First of all, you should never ever buy more than what you can pay for. The Bible says if you borrow and can't pay it back, it's evil in the sight of the Lord. And pay your bills on time. Don't pay them late. And if your head over heels in debt, then take about a year or two fast from buying stuff. And take every extra penny you can get and put it on your debt. Do you know that you can be debt-free? Come on, can I get somebody to believe that? You can actually be debt-free. And then you can be patient enough to save for what you want instead of going and getting it now. Do you know how much more you pay for a car when you pay interest on it? Well, my gosh, Joyce, I can't pay cash for a car. Well, how do you know you can? Have you ever tried? Do you know that our ministry does not have and never has had any debt? Now, I have to tell you, it was Dave, not me, because I was impatient. I would have probably borrowed the money to build the building we've got. Dave said, nope, we're going to build it as we get the money. And you should see our place. It is beautiful. How many square feet does the building do? Main building is 150,000 square feet. What else? Distribution center is 68,000. We've got some other building, too. Maintenance building is 5,000. Then come up the driveway. It's got all the flags of all the nations. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. All paid for it. No debt. We have never, the money that you've given, not one penny of it has ever gone for interest. Not one. I forget what the percent, what was the percentage this year mad at Mike, huh? 86% this last year after I audited. 86% of everything that was given went right back out for ministry. So you might be thinking, well, why should I give to you? You're in good shape. Well, would you rather give to a sinking ship or somebody's doing good? What do you want to sew into a failure or a success? You've never heard me say on television, if you don't give, I'm going off there. You know why you didn't put me on? You can't take me off. Yeah. And I am not bragging and I'm not saying that it's sinful to borrow money. I'm just saying that you can be debt free. But see, a lot of people don't even think that way. They just automatically think, well, that's just not possible. It's just not possible. And if you buy a house and you start out making house payments, put extra money every month on the principal and you'd be surprised how much it saves you an interest. You can get it paid off twice as fast as what you would have. And if you're smart, let's say you're in your twenties, everything you make, save 10% of it. When you get to be my age, you won't have to be worrying about anything. Oh my. I know a young couple that got married. They bought a real small house. For a whole year, they didn't go out to eat. They didn't buy anything extra. They put every cent that they had and the husband worked overtime every cent they had on that house and got it paid off. And then for another year, now you know it was a small house. It wasn't an expensive house. For another year, they saved every cent they could get their hands on. And then when she got pregnant and they needed a little bigger house, they were able to pay cash for the next house. And don't forget, I said they didn't go out to eat for a year. They didn't go on vacations. You know, young people, they, when they get married, they think they should own their own home, go on vacation twice a year. And if they can't go, they borrow money and do it. My gosh, David, I don't know how many years, David, I was married before we ever went on a vacation. And we lived in three rooms with three kids. Never forget it. Bang, bang, bang. Right in the road. Three rooms. I mean, when we bought our first house, it was 1500 square feet, and I got tired walking from one end of it to the other. Well, what does the Bible say about discipline? Who wants to know? Hebrews 12, 11, for the time being, no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful. But afterward, it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. A harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness, conforming to God's will and purpose, thought and action. Discipline brings pain before it brings pleasure, but it will bring pleasure. Now, you know, some of you guys, you might look at David and think, well, I wish I looked like him. Well, he's been exercising for 60 years. He didn't get it accidentally. And I finally started working out. I mean, I was so sore, I had to fall on the toilet and believe God to get off. Oh my gosh, I thought this is horrible. It was bad. I love Hebrews 2. It says, look away from all that will distract unto Jesus, who is the author and the source of our belief. It's also, it's finished. Now listen to this. Jesus, for the joy of obtaining the prize that was set before him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. It said, he put up with the cross because of the joy that he knew that was on the other side of it. That's what I'm talking about today. I'm talking about being willing to go through something hard and stick with it because of the victory and the joy that you know you're going to have on the other side. Do you know why so many Christians aren't happy? Because they won't do that. And maybe haven't even been taught to do that. I told you last night, we're not having dessert this weekend. And I'm not talking about going and getting a cookie. I'm talking about the dessert of the word. We're having meat. Paul said, you can't give babies meat. The truth sets you free. The Holy Spirit is given to us and he is the Spirit of truth and he ministers truth to us. Let me remind you again. Ask God to show you the truth about yourself. Not about somebody else, about yourself. God's word is truth and anything that doesn't agree with it is wrong. Reasoning. Give up reasoning. Stop trying to figure everything out in your life. You meditate on the word, not meditate on your problems. Romans 8.6 says, the mind of the flesh is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit. It's not thinking with the mind of Christ, which you have by the way. First Corinthians 2.16 says you have the mind of Christ and it brings death. The mind of the flesh brings death. Not like the kind of death where you're not breathing, but all the miseries that arise from sin. But be a doer of the word. Obey its message. Not just a listener. Don't make excuses for the wrong things that you do. Thanks for listening to today's message. Spiritual maturity takes time. It requires a deep personal relationship with God. As the Lord changes us little by little, we'll begin to experience the incredible peace, joy and fulfillment that only God can give. But wait, there's more. Discover more of Joyce's programs and exclusive content in the Joyce Meyer app and online at joysmeyer.org. We all go through hard times and it's so easy in those moments to focus on the problem. But what if you were able to see the trials of your life the way God sees them and respond to them the way he teaches us in his word? Joyce Meyer wants to show you how in her new book, Blessed in the Mess, even in the middle of life's difficulties, God's kindness shines through. Blessed in the mess, order your copy today at joysmeyer.org. Thank you for listening to 15 Minutes in the Word with Joyce.
