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, Pressing in and Pressing on. To press is to push beyond opposition. It means leaving the comfort zone and doing whatever it takes to attain what God has for us. We must let go to grow. Now here's Joyce with today's teaching. Matthew 7, 13, and 14 are a couple of really great scriptures. It says, enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction. And many are those who are entering through it. I want us to take enough time to understand this. He says, I want you to go through the narrow gate, and you're going to see in the next verse. He says, but the narrow gate is contracted by pressure as the amplified translation. And the way is straightened and compressed that leads away to life. And few there are who find it. So it's easy to stay on the broad path. God told me once on the broad path, there's room for all your fleshly baggage. You can just take it all with you. You can just be carnal and walk on the broad path. And a lot of times people still get into heaven. You get into heaven because you believe, not because you do everything perfect. And we will never do everything perfect. But I do believe that when a Christian remains carnal all of their life, even though they may end up in heaven, they will never take anybody with them. Maybe you know what I mean by that. Their witness won't be strong enough to take anybody with them. And they're not going to enjoy life here because you know what? We can't enjoy life and walk in the flesh. We really don't. Our flesh tries to lie to us and tell us that we're going to enjoy it more if we do what we feel like doing. But the truth is we're not going to enjoy it more if we follow our feelings. It's going to lead us into a place of destruction. And probably more than anything, people tell me how they feel. Well, I feel like nobody loves me. Well, God's already said he loves you hundreds and hundreds of times. So how about starting with that? God loves me. I don't listen to how I feel. I live on the other side of my feelings. So he tells us if you want to be on that narrow path, you're going to have to do a little bit of pressing. And how about the woman who'd been bleeding 18 years and she'd spent all that she had on doctors and was no better? And she pressed in past the crowd. Let's think about that for a minute. I just closed my eyes and I thought about this woman. I thought about the crowd. And I'm sure it was immense and people were tightly packed around Jesus. And for some reason I doubt that this woman was like very large. I just, I picture her as a small woman that's been sick for a long time. And while how easy it would have been to have just thought, well, I'll never get through that crowd. See, some people give up in their mind before they ever even try to see if they can do it. You can't, don't just look at something hard and say, well, I could never do that. No, you look at something hard and you say, if God wants me to do that, I can do all things through Christ who is my strength. And we love that scripture and we clap for it, but listen to what it really says. I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength. He gives us the ability that we're going to do the doing. Now I want to be clear. I'm not talking about getting into works of the flesh. I'm not talking about trying to make things happen in your own flesh. Don't try to do anything without God. You need God's grace on everything that you do in order for it to work. But don't expect that to be all that you need because God will ask you to do or not to do certain things. And it's very important that we are obedient to Him, whether it's easy or whether it's not. Amen. Anybody get misspanking yet? We call our conferences, Ouch! Hallelujah! The ouch is in here. And then the hallelujah comes about six months later after you've done what you heard in here. My son, for a long time, the one that you met earlier, he was our sound man in all of our meetings. He's done a little bit of everything. And we had weekly meetings in St. Louis. And one night I walked in and he said, well, what are we calling the crucifixion of the flesh tonight? He said, no matter what title I put on it, that was always what I taught on. And it's really talking about dying to your own self will and doing the will of God. All right. Now I want to make a statement and I'll make it probably a few times throughout this weekend. But here's the hard part. But if you can get this through your head and make a commitment to do it, while are you going to ever be successful? You have to start doing what's right. When it still feels wrong. Amen. How many of your golfers you play golf? They've get your hand up. Well, there aren't very many of you. Some of you are pretty smart. But Dave's a major golfer. I actually played golf with him for 20 years and then I got a tendonitis in my elbow and I couldn't. And it's a very time consuming game. And I was writing by then and just didn't have the time. But the golf swing is the most awkward thing in the world. You would never think that you have to get in that position to get a ball to go straight. I could not believe when Dave was trying to teach me how to play golf that I could ever be in that position in that crazy position and hit the ball straight. Well, that's kind of what it feels like when you make a decision to do something right. Why it just feels wrong. It's like, why should I be nice to that person after the way they've treated me? You what? What? God, this guy left my church and took 20 families with him and you want me to buy him a new sound system? What? That can't be right. But see, God kind of offers us an upside down kingdom that actually sets us right side up. The first will be last. The last will be first. If you want more, you got to give away some of what you got. I mean, to be honest, God's arithmetic is rather, well, it works, but I won't say anymore. Press past the pain of feelings and do what you know you should do even while you're hurting. Let's say it again. You have, you have, you can't wait till you feel like doing what's right. See, I wonder how many people in here tonight and you're mad at somebody. I'm not going to have you raise your hands because I already know what the percentage would be. I've done it too many times. It would be about 70 to 80 percent. And if you came here, you want a miracle. You want to heal it. You want to break through. You want to be in ministry. You want to be promoted on your job. But just this one thing, forgive that person. Let it go. Leave it. Put it in my hands. Let me be your recompense. Let me bring you a reward. Let me tell you something. If you will stop being offended about everything and forgive people, you will be amazed at what God will be able to do in your life. You may have a reason to be mad, but no right to be mad. Because if you want to get right down to it, God's got a reason to be mad at every one of us. And yet he's not. He shows us mercy again and again and again and again. But it's so hard. You don't know what they did to me. Surely God can't expect me to forgive them. Well, yes, he does. It's all over the Bible. And actually our prayers cannot get answered. You just wasting your time. If you're going to go to God and pray while you're mad at somebody. Then the Bible. God says he'll answer prayer. And if you have anything against anyone, leave it, drop it, let it go. See, we can't just pick the verses out that we like. I mean, you can make the Bible say anything. You just go around and pick and choose what you like and stick it together. We got to read the whole book, right? The whole thing. I'll tell you, and I'm not saying this out of self pity or please feel sorry for me, but. You have no idea what it's cost. And I'm not talking about money. No, when that that's a lot too, but you have no idea what it's cost me to get from where I was to where I am. Even the healing of my broken soul. I'm telling you what, I had such rebellion in me toward men. And when God started telling me I needed to be a submissive wife, I'm going to tell you what. I mean, it came out. The Bible says that trials bring out patients. Well, they brought a lot of stuff out of me before we got around any patients. And then come on, how many of you ladies aren't just getting an A plus in the submission thing? But see, we think that's OK. The new age. And you know, I'm not talking about letting somebody walk all over you. I'm just even just being submissive to authority, period. You know, you we've had people get in a fit because we've asked them not to sit in a certain seat. This section is marked off for, I don't know, like, say, the death because we have death interpretation. What don't try to tell me where I have to sit. I can sit wherever I want to. Well, you dumb thing, you just go home. Just go on home and don't have me wasting my breath on you. Why am I right? See, I told you, I haven't even gotten to the message yet. I'll tell you what, if you're desperate for change in your life, I mean, you'll get serious about this. I was talking about peace earlier, and I didn't even know what peace was until I married Dave. And after watching him be stable and in constant for a few years, I thought, I want that. Thanks for listening. Pressing into and through things is a very important life principle because God is always calling us up. He requires us to leave where we are and press toward the next level. Matthew seven, 13 and 14 are some great scriptures that say enter through the narrow gate, where wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction. And many are those who are entering through it. This means it's easy to stay on the broad path. But if we want to be on that narrow path, we are going to have to do some pressing. 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 JoyceMeyer.org. Thank you for listening to 15 minutes in the word with Joyce.
