Walking in Faith So You Can Run Your Race - Part 1

Oh, it's bad. What? What would the people do it? Mate. Thought you'd be into it, Sam. What, me? No, that's deeply offensive. Harry, you're wearing socks and sandals. In public. Come on. I travel in style. You don't. It's a new low. They're the mullet of footwear. And what's wrong with mullets? Sharing moments you'll never live down. On the train, you can. This program is supported by you, our viewers, and our partners. We're worrying so much about everything that's going on outside. Your finances and your kids and your neighbors. What do you have going on inside? Christ is in me. The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me. I can do whatever I need to do through Christ who strengthens me. I'm Joyce Meyer, and I believe that God can heal you everywhere you hurt. When I was 15, I knew I had to leave my circumstance with my biological mother because she just wasn't around enough. It had been clearer my entire life that I was not something she wanted. It was pretty traumatic as I was growing up. I remember when I was seven, my sister tried to protect me with hiding me from all the noise I could hear in the background. And she turned her head and I walked out in the living room and there was glass and blood and furniture upside down and whatnot. And it seemed like alcohol was a very selfish thing on their part because I thought they should focus more on the family instead of each other being violent. When my mother passed away, I had doubts about if God was a real God, if he was listening to me. It was difficult because all my childhood, I heard that God loved us, that God was there for us, and he wasn't there for me at that time. I felt rejected by him. So the morning that I was to leave, I walk into our shared bathroom and she's left a sticky note that says, take everything you want out of this house because you will never step foot here again. And obviously, it stung. As I got older, I became a drinker myself and I started falling in the same path. I felt rejected then and it carried on with my whole life. I knew I needed help. I knew I didn't want that. So I put myself in rehab. I needed more because even though I was clean, there was more to it. There was a lot of coping skills that goes along with that and that's where Joyce came in. When I went to Christ when I was 14 and I read Psalms 27-10, if my mother is not with me, if my father is not with me, he will never forsake me. So that really caught me because I understood that he was always there. They say the Holy Spirit is the counselor. He is because I don't get trapped in the why me. Why did you let this happen to me? Those thoughts never come to me. And I know it's because the Holy Spirit in my faith is so strong. I started listening to her. I started developing good coping skills and the basis of why I was acting the way I did. Because of her testimony, it got me, hey, she could do that. Hey, I could do this. So my rejection started lifting. It really helped me a lot. He started to listen to Joyce and about the battlefield of the mind and understanding that that was the problem. I left Satan to come inside my mind. And as I tell everybody nowadays, the devil must be under your feet and not over your head. I just think it's important for anybody that's feeling rejection to know that it's not forever. Trust God and you will survive it. Good things are waiting. Well, I've been working on a series starting last night called Sit, Stand, Walk and Run. Sit and the rest of God. Stand strong in faith when you're waiting for your breakthrough. Stand strong against the enemy because he hates you and he does not want you to make progress in any area of your life. Walk with God. Walk out in the world the things that you learn in here in the church. It's so important that we don't just go to church and then go out and act like we've never been there. There's a wonderful scripture that says we are ambassadors for Christ. But I love the Amplified. It says we are God's personal representatives. Think about that. You are God's personal representative. And then it goes on to say that God is making his appeal to the world through you. What a responsibility and what a privilege. And so the biggest job we have is after we're born again is to learn what the Bible says because that's the will of God. That's direction for our life. And then get out in the world and live it out. Just a bumper sticker and a cross around your neck is not enough. We have to get out in the world and walk it out. So this afternoon we're going to talk about our walk with God. And in particular we're going to talk about walking by faith because that's the only way that we can really remain in the rest of God. I don't know if you realize how important the rest of God is. But I can tell you I have been a frustrated Christian and I have been one that is peaceful and enjoys my days. And I'll take peace anytime over frustration and aggravation. Maybe you walked in here today and you're frustrated with yourself. You've tried so hard to be what you think you're supposed to be and you just fail every time. Well let me tell you something today's message is for you. Maybe you're frustrated with your family. Maybe you're frustrated with your teenagers. Maybe you're frustrated with your finances. God doesn't call us to be frustrated. He calls us to enter his rest. And the only way we can stay in the rest of God, and I'm talking about internally, no matter what kind of storms are going on around us, if we have peace inside then we can still enjoy life. And the only way that we can maintain that rest is through simply believing God. When Mary and Martha came to Jesus about Lazarus and him being dead, the Bible says that he waited two more days even after he knew he was sick before he went to help him. It actually says, and he loved Mary and Martha so he waited two more days. Sometimes God loves us so much that he won't deliver us exactly when we want to be because he wants our problem to get bad enough that when we get a breakthrough we are so thankful. And he said, did I not tell you if you would only believe you would see the glory of God? What are believers supposed to do? Believe. We believe what we don't see. That's what faith is. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Once you see it then you don't need faith anymore. Faith means you have it in your heart before you have it in your circumstance. But it really can be just as good as having it if you really trust and believe God. Now under the Old Covenant, the Covenant of Law, they had an opportunity to enter the rest of God when they were in the wilderness, but very few, almost none of them did, and the Bible says it was because of their unbelief. So there remains still, Hebrews 4 says, still today, right now today, if you have never had the blessing of really entering the rest of God, today that promise still is available to you. Those of you who came in here frustrated, you can leave in the rest of God. And if you can understand by the power of the Spirit, what I'm trying to share today, you can come to a place where you never really have to live frustrated. Now we get upset and we get frustrated, but I tell you what, we don't have to stay that way because once you realize that you've gotten out of the rest of God, you can get back in just as quick as you got out. By simply making a decision, I am not going to worry about this, I'm trusting God. I'm not going to stay mad at you, I'm going to forgive you, and I'm going to trust God for vindication in my life. I wonder how many people in here are mad at somebody. God is our vindicator. Oh my gosh, how many years did I hate my father for abusing me when I was growing up? It didn't do me any good, and it didn't hurt him. Do you know all the people you're mad at? You being mad at them is not hurting them? They're probably out having a good time and don't even care. You're the one that's hurting. So when God tells us to forgive people, it's a favor for us. You can't live in the rest of God if you're angry. You can't live in the rest of God if you're worried and frustrated all the time and trying to make things happen that only God can make happen in your life. Come on, what's your pet project right now? Who are you working on? Who do you have on the potter's wheel that would love it if you had let them off? I used somebody who was my project all the time. Most of the time it was Dave, but... And so all these things that you're frustrated about, if you will just trust God. Come on, the only way that you can enjoy your life is to trust God. And let me tell you something. If you trust God, you'll age much slower than you will if you don't. If you don't trust God, when you're 40, you're going to look like you're 60. But if you trust God, you can be 70 and look like you're 50. Amen? I am praying this afternoon that somebody, a bunch of somebodies will go out of here and you will get this and you will say, that's it. I am not living my life frustrated and miserable and upset anymore. I am going to enter the rest of God. Hebrews says, those who have believed do enter the rest of God. My gosh, what Jesus has done for us. Lord have mercy. What good news, it should have been to the Jews when he said, it is finished on that cross. It is done, it is finished. I said in one of the messages, Christianity doesn't begin with a do, it begins with a done. We have to know who we are in Christ. Adam's first day on earth was not a day of work, it was a day of rest. He was created on the sixth day and the seventh day was a day of rest. God blessed the seventh day and he rested on that day. So I think it is interesting that Adam began in rest, he didn't begin in work. We need to realize that too. He wants us to have relationship with him and then wanting to do the right thing will come out of the overflow of that relationship with him. It is not going to come because we try really hard to be good. Or try really hard to change ourselves. Well Jesus is our high priest and he doesn't have to atone for his sins because he never sinned. However, he came in the form of a human so he knows everything that we go through. We have a high priest, Hebrews 4 says, that understands our weaknesses and our infirmities because he has been tempted in all points just like we have yet without sinning. So he knows every temptation that we go through, he experienced all the same things that we do but yet he never sinned. So he made the final sacrifice and the Bible says that when he ascended on high, now get this, he sat down. And I started getting interested in why it says so often in the Bible that he sat down. To him who is seated on the throne. Well that should have said a lot more to the Jewish people than it even does to us but they didn't understand. I can explain this to you today and say under that old covenant, there was no chair in the Holy of Holies. There was no place for them to rest, no way to rest. But now Jesus sits. When the Bible says he sat down, I mean that should have been like we should have been doing the Hallelujah song before. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. He sat down, it's over, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, I can enjoy the interchristian. Now I'm not a singer so that's why they didn't give me a microphone up here. Now we can live our lives from a vantage point of being seated in Christ. Which means we can do everything we do having entered the rest of God. The rest that God offers us is a supernatural rest. And it's not a rest from work but a rest in work. In other words, now you know this is my third time to do this since starting at 7 o'clock last night. And so my body will be tired but my inner man is renewed because of what's, see I'm full of life inside. Even though my outer man is getting a little bit tired and I'll be tired by the time I get home. By the time I eat my dinner I'll be like, but inside. Come on church, if you got it inside, if you got that life inside. The Apostle Paul said my outer man perishes day by day but my inner man is renewed. Amen? I'll be 77 in four months and I just feel so alive inside. Amen? Inside is what you got going for you inside. Don't worry so much about everything that's going on outside. Your finances and your kids and your neighbors. What do you have going on inside? Christ is in me. The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me. I can do whatever I need to do through Christ who strengthens me. But everything has to be done from the standpoint of being seated. Mike, if you'll come up just real quick. I used to do this myself but I'm done with this kind of stuff now. Lay down brother. See what power I have? Alright, every person who comes to Christ comes in that condition. I'm done. I can't fix anything in my life. I can't do anything. Jesus, if you can do anything with me, here I am. Well, if we could just stay that way we'd be better off. I don't mean like in that condition but I mean having that attitude. God, I can't do it but if you can, here I am. Now if you think about a baby, they start that way. And baby Christians start that way. And that is not a problem but if you've been in the kingdom 30 years and you're still laying down, there's a problem. So the first thing a child learns how to do is to sit. So Pastor Mike, would you sit? Alright. Now aren't babies so proud of themselves when they learn how to sit? I mean it's a big thing. And so the Christians' first order of business is to learn how to be seated in Christ. Come on, somebody get this today. Don't look at me like that. Then once you learn how to sit, you can stand. So now you can stand against the enemy. You can stand strong when you have trials and tribulations. You can stand in faith but you can't go from laying to standing. It's not possible. You've got to learn first how to sit. And let's just say that you're walking as a Christian, which walk a little bit farce. You're walking as a Christian. Now let's just say that, boy, you mess up, you sin and you fall down. Okay, now guess what? He can't get back up unless he goes first to being seated again. Come on, get this. What that means is when you mess up and you sin, before you can get back up and resume your walk with God, you've got to enter back into the rest of God again. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. And that means you can't stay mad at yourself all the time because you're not the perfect specimen of Christianity. Okay, you can walk. Now run your race, brother. All right. See, I love that thought that even as you start to walk as a believer and you're doing things for God and you're representing Him out in the earth and you're walking in faith and you're walking in love and you're walking as Christ walked and you're no longer walking as the heathen walked, that you're still going to make mistakes. And this may not sound like something a preacher should say, but it's okay because God understands. You weren't sure if you should clap or not when I said it was okay. See, I'm not telling you to go do dumb stuff on purpose, but I'm saying that when you do make mistakes, all you really have to do is say, I'm sorry, admit what you did, help me God. Don't tell, don't promise God you'll never do it again because you will do it again. Don't even waste your time with that stuff. Oh, God, if you'll just forgive me, I promise I'll never do it again. Yes, you will. You just say, God, please forgive me and I pray that I'll never do it again, but I probably will and if I do, thank God that you love me and you'll stick with me until this is over. See, God is never going to give up on you. I grew up being abused and so I always thought something was wrong with me. What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? I thought it was my fault. I wonder if there's anybody else here today that was sexually abused in your childhood and you always thought what's wrong with me. What's wrong with me? Anybody? Yeah. Well, there wasn't something wrong with you. There was something wrong with the person who did that to you. But as a child, you don't know that. So you begin to carry that burden of something's wrong with me and then even when you receive Christ until you really get your mind renewed and you know who you are in Him, every time you do the tiniest little thing wrong, then you feel guilty and condemned sometimes for days and weeks on end. I felt guilty when I didn't feel guilty and I'm serious about that. I mean, I had a big problem with this guilt and condemnation thing. I carried it like an invisible burden on my back everywhere that I went. And I was already trying to teach the Word and fall the call of God on my life, but I had a real struggle with that. How many of you struggle with guilt and condemnation? Come on. I don't want to see. You still are. And you've been a believer a long time. But the Bible says if any man beware in Christ, he is a new creation, all things have passed away and all things become brand new. That's 2 Corinthians 5.17. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, he that knew no sin became sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God where in Christ. So when he's seated and I'm seated in him, even when I make mistakes, God still views me, the Amplified Bible says, as being right with him. We are justified in Christ. You know what that means? We are made just as if we never sinned. Come on. I'm tired of you being mad at yourself. No more. Give yourself a break. Jesus made the final sacrifice. There's no more sacrifice that's ever needed. No more. He doesn't need your guilt as your way of paying for your sins. Come on. I want somebody to get set free today. If just one person will get set free today, I can go home happy. But I hope it's more than one. So I remember one incident in particular. I had gone shopping and I had my usual sack of guilt. I parked way out in the back of the parking lot so I could walk slowly and pathetically to the store. You know, if you're going to feel bad about yourself, you might as well really beat on yourself. And I heard the Holy Spirit say, Joyce, how do you plan to get over this sin? Well, I knew the answer. I said, oh, I'll just receive the sacrifice that Jesus made when he died for me. And the next thing I heard from the Holy Spirit is, uh, and when did you plan to do that? How many of you know that Jesus died for your sins? How many of you believe he paid the price for your sins? All right. So when are you going to receive it and forgive yourself? Come on. Somebody needs to get free today. Some of you are still carrying stuff around for 10 years. You feel bad about stuff that you did 10 years ago. That's not helping you and it's not helping God. Amen. We are created for community and acceptance. It's the way God made us. But what happens when we are rejected? Well, rejection is definitely painful. It's something we've all endured in one way or another. Our experiences may be different, but the damage is very real. Whether it comes from a stranger, a friend, or someone we love, rejection leaves us feeling unwanted and wounded. We both know how devastating rejection can be. The good news is healing is possible. That's why I invited Ginger to write a very important book with me, Healing the Wounds of Rejection. I believe now is the time to overcome those wounds and embrace our true identity in Christ. We would like to send you a copy of Healing the Wounds of Rejection. It's available to you right now for your gift of any amount. I still feel like an outsider wherever I went. Just not feeling like I belong anywhere. It's Satan's lies to say that you're not wanted. And it was through the Word of God. The more I read his Word, the closer I became to him. God says, I am adopted. Because I have been rejected in my past, that does not mean that I have to continue living that way every day. I'm chosen. I'm accepted. I'm redeemed. And he is transforming me into his son Jesus' image daily. And I should never have felt abandoned or rejected because he been there. You may not even realize the effects of rejection on your life. I know I didn't for a time, but you don't have to remain stuck in the past or let what others have done define your worth. We want to share truth from God's Word that have helped us find strength and wholeness. You can find freedom from the pain and move forward with confidence. Healing the wounds of rejection is available to you for a gift of any amount. And today when you give, all proceeds will go directly to helping women and girls find rescue, relief and healing in God's Word through our Project Girl outreach. All proceeds will go directly to it today. Joyce and Ginger's book, Healing the Wounds of Rejection is available to you for any amount. Don't wait. Give us a call at 1-800-331-8000 or visit us online at joysemeyer.org. We hope you enjoyed today's program. We are so grateful to our Joyce 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 is supported by you, our viewers and our partners.