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, The Fearsome Four. When we feel discouraged, defeated, or overwhelmed by the pressures of life, chances are we're being hit by what Joyce calls the fearsome four. Fear, guilt, worry, and insecurity. The devil uses these obstacles to keep us from God's calling. But with Christ, we can defeat all of them and reach God's perfect plan for our life. Be empowered with today's teaching and learn to embrace God's fearless form. Peace, confidence, love, and courage. Now, here's Joyce with today's teaching. Fear will try to keep you from taking that first step. Fear will fill your mind with so many negative things about what's going to happen. If you dare try to do that. that's sad to say the larger percentage of people never fulfills their destiny which means they're never really fulfilled and feel complete inside because they live in fear and I think a lot of times that we have a lot of subtle fears in our life things that have been there for so long that we don't even really really realize that they're there you can't see yourself in yourself you have to learn to see yourself in Christ. You don't go around saying, I'm just a mess. I'm just a big mess. I never do anything right. No, you say, I'm redeemed and justified. God's living in me and he's working in me. I'm not where I need to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be. I'm okay and I'm on my way. Now, let me give you just a little short mini lesson about this being in Christ thing and kind of what this means. First John 4, 17 says, as he is, so are we in this world. Now we need to meditate on that for about a week or two, I think. As He is right now, so are we right now here in this world. Well, how many of you believe that Jesus is not afraid tonight? So if He's not afraid, I don't have to be afraid because I'm in Him. How many of you believe He's strong tonight? So if he's strong tonight and you're in him, then you're strong tonight. Let the weak say, I am strong. Amen? You got to get all this I can't talk out of your life. I can't. I can't. It's just too hard. I can't. I don't think I can do that. I can't. Listen, anything that God tells you to do, you can do it. Oh, this is just too much for me. No, it's not. If it was too much for you, God wouldn't be allowing it in your life. He never allows more to come on you than what you can bear. but with every temptation, He also provides the way out. So we just need to say, I can do whatever I need to do in life. That's my first power thought in that new book, Power Thoughts. I want people to take a whole week and just meditate on that. I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ. I can do whatever I need to do through Christ. My daughter does the audio books for me. She'll go in the studio and read the audio books that are offered. We don't have them here, but you can get them in bookstores. and she read this one, the Power Thoughts book, and so she was reading that Power Thought, practicing and reading that, and then she had a situation come up in her own life shortly after that a health challenge and she said the first thing that came to me is I can do whatever I need to do through Christ It amazing the difference in the way you think if you just take the time to renew your mind Don't hang out with a bunch of I can't people. Don't hang out with a bunch of naysayers and sour, sad people who never have anything good to say. And don't hang out with a bunch of people who are doing nothing with their life but taking up space on planet Earth. Get around somebody that will challenge you a little bit. Start a fire in you. Even as he is, so are we in this world. Ephesians 1, 19 through 22 tells us a little bit about where he is and how he is right now. So you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of his power in and for us who believe. as demonstrated in the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. So we know that Christ has now been resurrected from the dead, full power, full authority, and that he is now seated in heavenly places. And look what it says. He's far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that's named, above every title that can be conferred, not only in this age and the world, but also in the age and the world which are to come. Well, we can say, yes. But Ephesians 2, 6 says that we are seated in Him in heavenly places. So guess what? My feet are here on this platform, but I'm also somewhere else. You're sitting there in a chair. But if you're in Christ, then you're also somewhere else. Spiritually, we have been raised above this mess that's here in the world. That's why Paul said, I've got to know you and the power of your resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead, even while I'm in the body. So we have to understand that even as He is, so are we in this world. What we have to learn how to do is to identify with Christ as our substitute in all things. Not just read the Bible and think that's nice for Him, but realize if He's got power, we've got power. If He's got strength, we've got strength. If He's got peace, we can have peace. If He's got joy, we can have joy. I'm preaching better than you're acting and I know you know it's like our mind goes but I don't feel like that it's almost like I can just I can hear you thinking that because that's the same thing that I would go I don't feel like that I mean it's I don't feel that way but see here's what happens Now watch me. Listen to this. Your feelings will eventually catch up with your decisions. But if you're going to wait to feel everything, you're never going to have anything that Jesus died for you to have. You've got to take it by faith. Now it's obvious that Jesus didn't die so we could all live in fear. So we could all think fearful thoughts and let Satan use our mind to drive us backwards all the time and never... I bet you that this room tonight is full of people that you let other people walk all over you. Take advantage of you. Disrespect you Yeah they out there going somehow or another the devil got you into some kind of warp thinking that well you're just trying to keep the peace no really the truth of the matter is is you're probably afraid to confront the situation now come on don't stone me and the longer you let it go the harder it is to confront and then if you ever do confront it whoever it is you confront is going to go totally wild because you've let them get by with it for so long and then what? so we think well if I confront them then I'm afraid they'll get angry I'm afraid they won't want to have relationship with me anymore I'm afraid I'll be by myself I'm afraid I'm afraid I'm afraid so fear ends up running your life. God wants you to respect yourself. He wants you to value yourself. And yes, we want to keep the peace and we don't have to argue about everything that comes down wherever we're at. We can wait on God to take care of us but when God tells you, you need to confront something, then you need to confront it. Good, we got three happy people over here on the front row. Well, this must be for somebody here because this certainly wasn't part of what I was going to say. All right, let me use a personal example. I was a nightmare to get along with. I came from a background where I'd been abused, and so all I knew how to do was try to stay in control because I thought that was the way that I could keep from being hurt. Plus, I have a pretty aggressive personality to start with, so that with some dysfunction, a lot of dysfunction in my background didn't leave for a very nice woman. And my husband is a real peace lover and very easy to get along with. And so for a lot of years, he just kind of let me, he just, you know, he'd go on and be happy and just let me act bad and didn't really say too much to me. And I believe that there was a purpose in that. I believe that God gave him extra patience with me because God knew the hurt that I had in my life. And that's why I'm saying you need to confront when God tells you to. Because to be honest, if he would have confronted me the first month we were married, I would have just left him. I mean, if it wouldn't have been for Dave, being a godly man, I might have been married 20 times, I don't know. But none of them would have lasted very long, I can tell you that, and I sure wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. So sometimes God calls us to suffer for somebody else. He calls us sometimes to maybe put up with some things for a while while we're praying and waiting on God. But then there's also a time to confront. And so, after a good few years, I don't remember how long, God really showed David it was time for him to confront me. Well, I mean, I was like a wild animal. I mean, and what I said was nothing compared to the way I felt. Now, I mean, and he explained it to me. He said, now, I'm just going to tell you something. He said, God has dealt with me that I can no longer let you get by with talking to me the way you do and acting the way you do. You're not going to get everything your way. And so things are going to change around here. And they did. And I mean the rage inside of me I don even know how to tell you the rage that I felt inside of me But by then I was in love with Jesus enough and I knew enough to know that he was right. I knew that my behavior was wrong. But if he would have never confronted me, even though I knew it was wrong, I don't know that I would have ever changed. So sometimes you're not doing somebody else a favor if you don't confront them. And you don't have to do it belligerently. Dave was not mean about it. He didn't come and say, all right, that's it. Now I'm taking over. He didn't act like that. He just simply said, God has shown me that it's time for me to confront you. And I know that you were hurt when you were a child. And I know that you've had a hard time with submission to authority. And I know all that. But I also know that I can't let you keep doing this. And it was the right thing for him to do for me. Even though I didn't like it and I got mad and we had two or three more years of turmoil in a different way. But let me just take this a little step further because I didn't intend to get into this anyway, but since I'm in, I might as well go all the way in. If there's anybody here tonight or anybody watching my television and you're thinking, oh my gosh, God, you are talking to me. Then I want to give you a piece of advice. If you're going to say to somebody, whether it's a child or a friend, I mean, it could be a parent. I mean, it could be a parent who's got you on a guilt trip. After all I've done for you. And so now, you know, they're pretty much controlling your life, and you know it's not right. And you know it's time for you to stand up for yourself and say, you know, hey, Mom, hey, Dad, I love you. I'm going to help you. I'm going to take care of you, but you're not going to run my life. well here's the thing or you know you say to your children you know I love you I'm going to be a good parent but my whole life is not going to revolve around you because someday you're going to be gone off doing your own thing and then there's going to be me and so I got to start building some kind of a life can I give you a piece of advice you don't have to be at the bottom of your list of who you do something for all the time Thanks for listening. Despite the challenges we may face in life, when we put our trust in God, we receive an incredible promise from Him. 2 Timothy 1.17 says that we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. This promise gives us the strength to look at our problems and know that God is on our side. He wants to give us His peace as we face whatever lies ahead. For more resources from Joyce, visit JoyceMeyer.org. Get your daily dose of encouragement with the Joyce Meyer Ministries app. Catch up on seven days of enjoying everyday life episodes. Grow deeper in God's Word with the daily devotional and question of the day. And enjoy all your favorite teachings from Joyce in your digital library. Find all this and more with the Joyce Meyer Ministries app. Search Joyce Meyer in your app store and download it today. Thank you for listening to 15 Minutes in the Word with Joyce.
