Pastor Bob: Because just take for example that you were saved, received Jesus at 30 years old. Well, for 30 years you’ve been taught to think one way — the way the world thinks. Most people don’t understand this but the way the world thinks is usually contrary to the way God thinks. The world wants to get even; God says give up. The world wants to make money and they say hoard it; God says give it away. In many ways, god’s thinking is backwards to man’s, so the real victory in the Christian life is not the new birth — that’s just the start. The victory in the Christian life is when you start to think like God thinks, and that comes by meditating in his word, thinking god’s thoughts. Think how many scriptures talk about thoughts: as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If you’ll think on these things — the things that are lovely, good, of a good report… The renewing of the mind is where you find the good and acceptable, and finally move into that perfect will of god for your life. It’s progressive, so that the more you think the way God thinks, the more success you have.  Really, ultimately we’re shooting for a real goal, and that is to have the mind of Christ, that in everything we do, we think just like Jesus would think; just like Christ would think.

Joyce: and that’s really when we become very dangerous to the devil, isn’t it?

Pastor Bob: That’s right. And the answer for the world, what the world’s looking for is a Christian who will walk that way. In fact, that’s why god left us here. If he had no intention for us to change the world, he would have just taken us right to heaven the moment we received him.

But he left us here to change the world. And we, in essence, take the place of Jesus Christ. My mother-in-law died not too long ago and just before she died, she knew she was dying. She was at a ripe, old age but she had made my wife her… So she can sign checks for her, and she turned over the right of attorney to her, the power of attorney. So before she died, she couldn’t make out any checks, she couldn’t pay her rent, she couldn’t pay her utilities, so my wife did it. It really struck me one day when my wife signed — it was as if my mother-in-law was signing. And before Jesus left, he gave us the power of attorney. He said, “I can’t be here any longer, but you’re going to take my place.  If they receive you, they receive me, so start speaking my words, thinking my thoughts and acting like me.” and we realize that. So when satan sees us coming and we now have the mind of Christ, he sees Jesus coming, and that’s what frightens him so much. It’s no longer me or you.

Joyce: I’ve been doing a series called “armed and dangerous” which is about spiritual warfare and how we actually do have authority over the devil. The devil has power; there’s nobody saying that he hasn’t. But the good news is we not only have power, but we have the authority to use that power. Satan has power, but he only has the authority that we give him, and most of the time we give him that through ignorance. I know that when I really started to find out that I did have an enemy and he was trying to destroy my life, that all these things that were happening were not just fate or whatever, that I actually had an enemy that was trying to kill, steal and destroy, then I got kind of frustrated because I wanted to do something about it but I didn’t know what to do. The bible says we are in a war. Second Corinthians 10:4-5 says: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. And it starts to talk about thoughts and imaginations.

So, we know that battlefield is the mind.  That’s where Satan tries to defeat us, is on the battleground of our mind. So often people think, “I can’t help what I think.” but the thing that God wants us to do is to open our mouth when wrong thoughts come in and speak out the word of God because that word is what will defeat satan.

Pastor Bob:  Right.  People come to church and they think that I’m their healer. Just watching this program won’t heal them. They’ve got to take what they’re learning today… What we’re talking about is not rocket science; this is so simple. Yet, if they’ll take this and apply it… The new testament says you need to be a hearer of the word and be a doer of the word. Pastor is not your healer, Joyce is not your healer, and the books they read are not their healer; but if they’ll take those things and apply it… A lot of times people consume books, listen to cd’s, watch a program, and then wonder why they’re not healed. Somebody else grabs one concept off of one program — in fact, it was so revolutionary they didn’t hear the other 30 minutes of the program — they just caught one concept, went and acted on it and their life was changed.  It really comes down to that choice:  I choose to use what I’ve heard today.

Joyce: pastor, the bible says, “if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples. You will know the truth and the truth applied to your life will make you free.” so, let me ask a question: if a person would start reading and studying the bible and yet their life just kept getting worse, why should they continue?

Pastor Bob: Well, two reasons. Number one is — just like we talked about — if you don’t apply it, it’s not going to work. If you just read it… The bible doesn’t say, “read to show yourself approved,” it says “study.” that means make it a part of you, meditate on it. I was raised on the concept of memorizing scripture, and that’s wonderful, but you know what? The bible never says, “memorize to show yourself approved,” it says “study.” and especially meditating… I heard one man say one day, he was needing healing and he started reading through Isaiah 53 and decided to memorize the chapter but he got hung up on one verse: surely he has borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases. He said he started thinking about that. He looked at all the other verses and none of them had a “surely” attached to it; only that one verse. He said he realized God said: that is going to be the most controversial verse out of this entire chapter from now on so I put a “surely” on the front of it to let you know this is really part of that verse. He said: all day long I thought about “surely, surely, surely,” and he said by the end of the day, he was healed because he meditated. That’s the power of one word of the word of god. The other reason why oftentimes it doesn’t work for you is because you’re not patient. Taking medicine and looking at the end of the day, “am I better?” — no, medicine sometimes takes a week, a month. In fact, oftentimes the doctor will say, “by the second or third bottle of this you should be doing pretty well.” but if we’re like most people, our patience level is “this” long and we want to feel better by the next morning.

Well, that’s not the way the word of God works either. You have need of patience that after you’ve done the will of god, you’ll receive the promises. So it’s that thing of, “you know what? A month from now, I’m still going to be walking in it. A year from now, I’m still going to be walking in it. If I don’t feel any different at the end of the year, I’m still going to stick with it.” that’s the type of determination it takes, and that’s when suddenly things will start to change for you. No seed produces the next morning. Every seed has its own season. Wheat doesn’t produce when corn does, and all the different things; they have their own time. All I can say is you take the word of God, it has a season. Don’t cast away your confidence.

Joyce: And God wants to know that we’re serious. He wants to know that we’re really, really committed. So, many times he doesn’t bring a breakthrough immediately even though he certainly could because he’s testing us, he’s stretching us, we’re growing. And we have to learn… See, I don’t even really think that we should study the word just to get a breakthrough. I mean, i think we need to study God’s word because we love him and we love his word. So, sometimes there’s even a period of motives being purified until, like you said, you get to the point where you are so committed and so much in love with god and so much in love with his word that you’re no longer really even doing it just to get some quicky result; it’s part of your relationship with God.

If I have a relationship with you, then I want to hear what you have to say. We’re going to lunch after these programs today and I’ve already thought of a couple of things that I want to ask you because I want to hear what you have to say about those things. Well, you know, that’s part of relationship, so if we’re going to have a good relationship with God, then we certainly want to hear what he has to say. And he’s written down for us in this book what he has to say. So, remind us again, because this is what the program is about today, we’re in a war with satan but we are armed and dangerous, we have weapons. Why is it that this is a weapon against the enemy?

Pastor Bob: Because it’s God’s weapon. Satan has no weapon that even comes close to it. It’s god’s absolute best weapon. And he’s put it in our mouth and put in our heart every day. Jesus used it. In fact, you’ve talked about it; when Jesus was tempted, three times he said to satan, “it is written, it is written, it is written.” but you know what? You can’t say it’s written until you know it’s written. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I think Jesus was just god’s prototype, saying, “Look at him. How did he do it?  That’s how you do it.

When they received him, now they can receive you.” when the disciples said to Jesus, “how does faith work?” he said, “watch, I’ll show you: speak to the mountain.” he said “speak.” how do we have it in Paul’s life?  He said, “what should we then say to these things?” you mean we speak to things? Of course we do. The same example god left Jesus, Jesus left us. “what shall we say to these things?” we need to look at our problems square in the face and say, “if God be for me, checkbook, you cannot be against me. If God be for me, doctor’s report, you cannot be against me. If God be for me, what my family is saying and my friends are saying about me, you cannot be against me.”

Joyce: I know one thing for sure — I know what I was like 30 years ago. I know that I had no joy, had no peace, had no victory and yet I was a Christian but I was not really making any difference in anybody else’s life because my witness wasn’t good. You couldn’t see Christ shining through me because I had all these issues in my soul that I didn’t even really realize the word of God was medicine for my soul.

But once I really began to diligently study the word of God, I did start changing little by little, gradually, and I absolutely love the word. Sometimes I just hug my bible. I’ve even been known to kiss it. I thank god for what I know but I’ve spent 30 years studying. So we certainly want to encourage our viewers today to make the study and the pondering and the meditation and the speaking of god’s word a major part of their everyday life. And when they feel like they’re being attacked by the enemy, instead of just talking about how they feel and what they think, talk the word of God because there really is power in the word of God.

Pastor Bob: Right. The scripture that comes to me is God has exalted his word above his name.  That word “name” doesn’t mean god — like my name is God — it means reputation. We’re so concerned about reputation, and God said throw your reputation away. Jesus made himself of no reputation. Exalt one thing above everything else in your life — God’s word. He said, “I’ve done it; you can do it too.”

Joyce: And then the last scripture that we can share is one of my very favorites. I actually had it put on a plaque and I keep it in my office — Psalm 107:20:  he sends his word and heals them and delivers them from the pit and from destruction. Well, coming up is some information that will help you apply the word of God to your life.  And then I have a final word that I want to share with you right after that. “armed and dangerous” a 4-part audio series from Joyce Meyer that will teach you how to prepare for your enemy and understand how you can actually defend yourself from any attack.

Joyce: Did you know that whatever we think is what we will become?  Today we’re gonna learn that where the mind goes, the man follows. (music)

Joyce: Thoughts are just absolutely one of the most important things that we need to learn about because literally the bible says in Proverbs 23:7 that whatever you think, that’s what you become. Just think about that. Whatever you think, that’s what you become.  That doesn’t mean that you can just think anything into your life that you want to think into your life. That gets over into humanism, and that’s taking a Godly principle so far then that it becomes a sin. But the fact does remain that whatever god says we can have, if we don’t get into agreement with him, we will never have it. So we need to find out what the word says, and we need to bring our mind and our thoughts captive onto the obedience of Jesus Christ. That’s the way 2 Corinthians 10:5 says it, that we should bring every thought captive onto the obedience of Jesus Christ. I like to say this:  where the mind goes, the man follows.

If you get your mind on a hot fudge sundae long enough, you’re more than likely going to get it. Am I telling the truth? (yes.) If you think about it long enough… If you think long enough about what somebody has done to you that hurt you and you go over and over it in your mind, there’s a real good chance you’re going to tell them off. Or at the very least, the next time you get around them, you will not be able to treat them properly. I think one of the greatest revelations that any one of us can have is to find out that we can do something about our thoughts, that we don’t have to just think everything that falls into our head, but we can choose what we want to think about — and I want you to listen to what I’m going to say because it’s very important to this whole series — you can think things on purpose. I think that we all need to have a “think session” every day.

Announcer: Coming up today on “Enjoying Everyday Life.”

Billy Joe Daugherty: The depth of the relationship that a person has with Jesus will determine the authority level that they walk in; and that’s what you’re saying. A lot of people say: there is little authority when they use the name of Jesus, but it’s related to their relationship with him. (music)

Joyce Meyer: Welcome to “Enjoying Everyday Life” and thank you for choosing to spend this time with me today. Did you know that when you accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, you become armed with God’s power and dangerous to the devil? Today I’m going to teach you how the name of Jesus gives you authority with my guests, Pastors Billy Joe Daugherty and Mike Shepard. Wonderful men of God — I guess I don’t have to work hard today; I can sit back and let you guys just teach the world and teach me and tell us all about the power that’s in the name of Jesus. Amen?

Billy Joe Daugherty: The name of Jesus is the name above every name.

Joyce: So, it’s the name above cancer, it’s the name above poverty, it’s the name above depression.

Pastor Billy Joe: Worry, fear, anxiety, oppression, darkness. Thank God!  And that name is accessible by every person on the planet.

Joyce: so, a housewife, a doctor, a ditch digger, an engineer…

Pastor Billy Joe: Right. Some people have a powerful name because of the family they were born in, and if you’re not born in that family, you don’t have that access to that name. We’ve been born into the greatest family ever and we have that name, no matter who we are — born into the family of god. The name of Jesus has been given to us to live in and to walk in. Jesus said: go in my name. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord. We are in that name, and that name is in us.  It’s not just a tag that we wear, it’s not just a card that we hold on to. We’re in his name. We’ve been saved by his name. We’ve been forgiven by the power that’s in his name. And we live in the power and authority of that name.

Joyce: It’s amazing. We encourage people to pray in the name of Jesus because that’s what the bible says we should do because that really is our access to the throne. I love what the bible teaches about what that means — in the amplified bible. It says in John 14:13:  and I will do [I myself will grant] whatever you ask in my name [as presenting all that I am] — that’s in little brackets. So, when we pray in the name of Jesus, we’re presenting to God all that Jesus is — not all that Joyce is or pastor mike or pastor Billy Joe, but we’re presenting all that Jesus is. And that’s why we have authority because we’re not presenting our own record of good works and perfection — we don’t deserve anything — but when we go in that name, we become literally a totally different person.

Pastor Mike Shepard: So true. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19 or verse 18, actually: all authority and power has been given onto me. Then he flips it around and says: now go in my name. Preach the gospel. In mark: go in my name, cast out devils, lay hands on the sick. They will recover. There’s protection, there’s healing, there’s deliverance, there’s provision in my name. That terminology is actually legal terminology, and it would be even in the context Jesus was speaking it in. He was using legal terms.  He was really giving the power of attorney. He was saying: look, I’m going to give you something. I’m going to leave this place called the earth, but I’m going to give you something that allows you to tap into who I am and my estate anywhere and everywhere you go. And I like that thought — that power of attorney. Even though Jesus is at the right hand of the father right now, he has given to us as believers wherever we’re at — housewives, in the workplace right now — wherever you’re at, whatever situation you’re in, you have the power of attorney, as a joint heir of Jesus Christ — armed and dangerous. Now you have that name that taps in not only to who he is but you tap into his estate. And Jesus’ estate is a pretty good estate full of health.

Joyce: I have a real simple example. Just this week somebody… I had asked somebody to do something and they said to me, “I tried to get that done but they were giving me trouble about it.” and I said, “you tell them that I said to do it.” and the minute that they said, “Joyce said to do it,” it got done because it was involving some things here at the ministry. Well, if my name has that kind of authority in this small realm, and me just being a human being like everybody else, imagine the power that’s in the name of Jesus. But if we don’t put any faith in that… Mike, you’ve got another good example about how the name of Jesus was used in a real practical situation.

Pastor Mike: A friend of ours was walking down the sidewalk. His little child jumped out in the middle of traffic and there was a car coming at a high speed heading right toward his child. There was not enough time to react in any other way except my friend, john, just said, “Jesus.” and as soon as he said “Jesus” that car that was speeding toward his kid — and there was no way in the natural that could stop from being a horrific situation — that car jolted to a stop with the child right on the fender but not even hit. My friend john went around to the driver’s side of the car that almost hit his child, looked in and the driver was crying and weeping. John said, “why are you crying? My child’s okay.” and the driver said, “you don’t understand — my foot never hit the brake. My foot is still on the accelerator right now!”