If you learn what to do with what God gives you, then he’ll give you more and more and if you’re a faithful steward over a little bit, then he’ll make you ruler over much and you’ll be able to not only have a nice life yourself but you’ll be able to help so many people and put smiles on so many faces. So I’ll tell you the truth, I believe that you need to believe God to be blessed even if it doesn’t particularly matter to you one way or the other because there are an awful lot of people out there who are needy and you can help them if you have what it takes to help them with.

So he talks about prosperity. He says, “I would that you prosper and be in health…” and be in health. So we see right there that God wants us to be healthy. Can everybody say God wants me to be healthy? (God wants me to be healthy.) And then he makes a statement that I think sometimes we miss: even as your soul prospers. Your soul is your insides; it’s that second layer of our being. It’s not your spirit but your soul is you; it’s your mind, your will, your emotions, so it’s your personality. He’s basically telling us that whatever is going on in you is going to affect what’s going on out here. If we apply this to health, I can just tell you if your mind’s a mess, you’re probably not going to be very healthy.

If you’re worrying and full of anxiety, full of all kinds of bitter, resentful thoughts and jealousy, greed, and those kinds of things, it will show up in your body. The bible says that jealousy is like rottenness to the bones. So many people are praying for healing miracles but they’re not taking an inventory of what’s going on inside them. (applause) even as your soul prospers. If you’re emotionally distraught all the time, it’s going to affect your health.

If the devil’s not whispering in your ear himself, he will speak it through well-meaning people. You go to lunch with a friend: Hey man, I heard about your problem, so what are you gonna do? And you don’t know what to do but you feel obligated to come up with an answer. Sometimes we feel like we’re dumb if we just say: I don’t know. I’m so glad that I found out that I don’t have to know as long as I know the one who knows. As a matter of fact, let me tell you something: There is no such thing as trust unless you have some unanswered questions in your life. If you know everything, there’s nothing to trust God about. Don’t waste your time anymore trying to figure out stuff that only God knows and he’s not telling yet.

So here John is in prison and as far as I can tell, he had lived a pretty exemplary life. He had sacrificed and been obedient. He had been hearing about Jesus and he sends a message: Are you the one or should we look for somebody else? And in verse 4 Jesus said: Go and report to John what you hear and see: (vs. 5) The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed by healing and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the good news preached to them, (vs. 6) and blessed and to be envied is he who takes no offense at me and finds no cause for stumbling and is not hindered from seeing the truth.

Now, I don’t know, I don’t even know why I thought that verse was in there. It almost seems like it’s just taken off in a whole other direction because first, John is saying, “are you really the one who’s going to come or should we look for somebody else?” And Jesus said, “no, just look at what I’m doing and you’ll know that it’s me.” And then he comes up with this kind of strange thing. He says: And blessed are those who are not offended in me.

“Unless you come to me as a little child, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom.” A lot of people have the kingdom, they’ve seen the kingdom, they have salvation, they have the new birth but they never really enter the kingdom life that Jesus really died to give us because they never really learn that childlike trust. It’s interesting, the bible tells us to be childlike in our faith but not to be childish in our behavior. So in one way you have to be like a little child and in another way we need to grow up and be mature.

I’m telling you tonight that trust in God is the answer to every problem you have. I don’t care what kind of problem you have, you can have peace and joy if you’ll trust God. No matter what your problem is. You say: I don’t have a job. Trust God. I’m not married and I’m already 45 and I just don’t know if I’ll ever get married, and I just don’t know what will happen to me as I get older.

I don’t even have any family. Trust God. I’ve got a kid who’s on drugs and all messed up. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Trust God. I’ve got so many bills I don’t know what to do. I made a mess, got myself in trouble, spent all kinds of money I shouldn’t have spent and now I just don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.

Don’t think for one minute the devil doesn’t send a little demon to sit right here on your shoulder and scream in your ear from daylight till dark: What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? I got so sick and tired of hearing that from the Devil: What are you gonna do? Of course I was a real “doer” anyway so every time I heard that, I thought: I ought to do something.

Joyce: okay, listen — we said on the program yesterday, and I’m trying to keep my word here because we’ve got so many subjects that are so interesting…

Dr. Leman: you’re a firstborn.

Joyce: yeah.

Dr. Leman: okay, so you want order.  I’m a baby; I couldn’t care less.

Joyce: right.

Dr. Leman: so you’re going to have to right the ship. What do you want to talk about?

Joyce: okay — birth order.

Dr. Leman: okay.  There are themes with you firstborns: you’ll remember the negative things. You’ll remember falling off the bike.

Joyce: why is that?

Dr. Leman: because the firstborns were guinea pigs for parents.  There’s not a firstborn living who hasn’t gone to their mom or dad and said, “Wait a minute — you’re not going to let her do that, are you?  You never let me do that when i was her age.” okay.  Or how about this one: “i don’t care what he did. Do you understand me? You are the oldest. I expect a little bit more out of you, young woman or young man.” and so here’s the little firstborn and you watch kids growing up… They’re three or four years old and they take their “Thomas the trains” and they’ll line them up perfectly, or their little cds, they’ll line them up perfectly. The little tag in the back of the shirt drives the firstborn kid up the wall. The socks that have the seam wrong in them, drives them… It’s the little things.

Joyce: i still cut tags out of my clothes.  I can’t stand them.

Dr. Leman: but that’s a firstborn quality. And there’s the youngest child — the other extreme — he’s walking around with his underwear tucked in his back pocket and couldn’t care less.

Joyce: what happens to the middle ones?

Coming up today on “Enjoying Everyday Life.”

Dr. Gary Chapman: If you’ve been married for a while, you’ve heard some complaints from your spouse. Chances are you can learn your spouse’s love language by just listening to what they’re complaining about.  (music)

Joyce Meyer: Welcome to “enjoying everyday life.” thank you for spending this time with me today. This week we’re learning how to express love in a way that people can accept with my guest, Dr. Gary Chapman, the author of “the five love languages.” Dr. Chapman, we got off to a great beginning yesterday and we’re glad to have you back again today.

Dr. Gary Chapman: thank you, Joyce.  Good to be here.

Joyce: Thank you. Now I know that not everybody was able to watch yesterday, so we need to do it again — just give us a little intro on how you discovered these languages and what they are.

Dr. Chapman: I discovered them in the counseling context with couples. I came to understand rather quickly that what made one person feel loved did not make another person feel loved. Eventually after 12 years or so of counseling, I discovered there are five fundamental ways to express love, and everybody has a different language. The languages are: words of affirmation — giving the person affirming words; quality time — undivided attention; gifts; acts of service — doing something for them; and physical touch. Out of the five, everybody has a primary love language, and if you don’t speak their primary language, they will not feel loved even though you’re speaking some of the other languages.  That’s why couples have often missed each other. They are loving, but they’re not connecting emotionally. So what we’re trying to do is help people learn how to love effectively by speaking the love language of the other person.

Hello? You have to learn how to enjoy your glory and realize that you may not be where you need to be but thank god, you’re not where you used to be. (applause) you’ve not arrived but you’re pressing on and the good news is you don’t have to compare yourself with anybody else because you have your own personal relationship with god and he has a personal plan with you. One of the biggest mistakes we make is getting frustrated and upset because we’re not where somebody else is.  Stop looking around at other people and keep your eyes on god.

He has a personal plan for you. “what about me?  What about me? Why am I not getting what they’re getting? Why is this happening to me and it’s not happening to them?” Jesus even spoke sternly to peter when he don’t despise the process because you’ve learned that by entering the rest of god, you can enjoy the journey. How many of you want to enjoy your journey in Christ versus being miserable all the time because you have to have it right now? (applause)

God changes us from glory to glory and I think we need to enjoy every glory we’re in. If you look at the person next to you, they may be in a glory beyond where you are. They may know more of the word than you.  They may have more victory than you in some area. What the devil wants us to do is look at somebody else and then not enjoy our glory because now we want to be in their glory. You could be happy praying fifteen minutes a day until you go to breakfast with sister super Christian who’s praying three hours a day. (laughing)

Hello? You have to learn how to enjoy your glory and realize that you may not be where you need to be but thank god, you’re not where you used to be. (applause) you’ve not arrived but you’re pressing on and the good news is you don’t have to compare yourself with anybody else because you have your own personal relationship with god and he has a personal plan with you. One of the biggest mistakes we make is getting frustrated and upset because we’re not where somebody else is.  Stop looking around at other people and keep your eyes on god. He has a personal plan for you. “what about me?  What about me? Why am I not getting what they’re getting? Why is this happening to me and it’s not happening to them?” Jesus even spoke sternly to peter when he rest of god.

Joyce: I like this statement: you can’t run your race from a position of lying down. I want to encourage you to stay in the race, stay up, be strong in the lord, and whatever you do, don’t ever give up. Today we have a wonderful resource offer; it’s a 4-part cd series, “never give up.” I think this is a teaching everybody needs to have because everybody at different times in their life feels like giving up. We’re going to offer this today for a gift of any amount which is something we only do just a handful of times each year. We always pick a teaching series that is something that I feel is really important that people have.  I know that different people have different amounts of money and we just want to make sure that everybody can get this one, so all I’m asking you to do is do your very best. Those of you who can send more will and those who can’t, just do your very best. Stay with us and the announcer will tell you everything you need to take advantage of this wonderful offer. God bless you and remember that god has a great plan for your life.

Joyce Meyer: If I look at my past, everything says I should be a failure.  At one point or another everyone has felt like quitting but I’m here to tell you there is another way. That’s why I’ve developed this teaching called “never give up.”

By the way, if you don’t learn how to sit, you’ll always come to these places of giving up. Hebrews 10:12: whereas this one Christ, after he had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of god, (vs. 13) then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool beneath his feet. Whoa!  Hallelujah! Jesus is seated in heavenly places waiting for the devil to be made a footstool for his feet and the bible says that we are seated in him or with him in heavenly places. He entered the rest of god and through our relationship with him, we are supposed to be entering the rest of god.

The reason why I’m going to take the time to do this tonight is because if you don’t understand this process, you will never run your race. Most people are trying to have some big thing, they’re trying to run their race, have their success, have their victory, but they don’t know how to live in the rest of god. When you enter that Sabbath rest that we talked about a little bit this morning, you cast your care on god, you’re not worried, you’re not frustrated, you’re not upset, you trust god to do what needs to be done in your life, you don’t know how he’s going to do it, you don’t know when he’s going to do it but you have such faith and such hope that you don’t really care how he does it or when he does it because you know that it will be done right and it will be done perfectly and you are perfectly happy to wait.

You don’t despise the process because you’ve learned that by entering the rest of god, you can enjoy the journey. How many of you want to enjoy your journey in Christ versus being miserable all the time because you have to have it right now? (applause) god changes us from glory to glory and I think we need to enjoy every glory we’re in. If you look at the person next to you, they may be in a glory beyond where you are. They may know more of the word than you.  They may have more victory than you in some area. What the devil wants us to do is look at somebody else and then not enjoy our glory because now we want to be in their glory. You could be happy praying fifteen minutes a day until you go to breakfast with sister super Christian who’s praying three hours a day. (laughing)

If I’ve been lying down and I decide, “yes, I want to run my race!” I can’t get from this position to standing. I can’t jump from here to standing.  I have to go from this to sitting, then I go from sitting to standing, then i go from standing to walking, then after I walk, wow! I can run my race!  Whoo! (applause) but now you see, each one of those phases takes time and each one has a meaning that we need to look into. The first thing you have to learn to do is sit. The bible says in Ephesians 2:6 that we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. When you read about Jesus after his resurrection, he’s always depicted in the bible as seated. The bible doesn’t say that he’s standing at the right hand of god; it says he is seated at the right hand of god in heavenly places. God called my attention to that a few years ago and i got to thinking about that: why is he always sitting down?

There’s a very definite important meaning to why Jesus entered into the heaven lies and sat down: because he was establishing a brand-new covenant and under the old covenant, when the high priest went into the holy of holies once a year to make sacrifice for the people’s sins, there was no chair in the holy of holies. They could not sit down. It was against the law for them to sit down because they were living under a covenant of works, so there was no rest. They had to keep working. There were bells sewn on the bottom of the priest’s robes.

A rope was tied around his waist because nobody could go in there but him, and if he stopped moving while he was in there, the bells stopped ringing and they knew he had made some kind of mistake and had dropped dead and they had to haul him out because it was a covenant of works, works, works, works. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Gotta be doing something. Gotta be doing something. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? But when Jesus came, he being our perfect high priest, the final sacrifice for all times, when he poured his blood out and that blood was taken into the heaven lies and put on the mercy seat for all time, the bible says in Hebrews chapter 10… I want you to go there — Hebrews 10:12-13.

Nosopho has seen a huge change in her daughter. When she first arrived, she didn’t smile or talk but now she loves to play with the other children. She’s learning to read and write, and her smile rarely leaves her face. When her mother is too sick to care for her, other loving adults at the care point step in to help. She is one of the lucky ones. Currently there are 12 million children in Africa who are considered aids orphans. They have lost one or both parents to the disease, and they are left to fend for themselves. In a society where extended families take care of their own, these children are simply running out of family members to help them as relative after relative is stricken with the disease.

Ben Rodgers: “In so many cases you find aunts or uncles or grannies living with 15 to 20 children.  And they’re living on maybe 2-to-3 dollars a week. They don’t have the income to support and to help these children. Because of hopelessness, hiv just prowls on people just like the enemy does. It prowls on people that don’t have hope. That’s why the care point is so critical because we’re really trying to target this next generation to keep them from becoming hiv positive. The continual love and support that they get from these neighborhood care points really makes a difference in these kids’ lives — it gives them hope.”

In Ethiopia, one of the most populated countries in Africa, the aids epidemic has free reign. Here the levels of poverty and starvation remain unrivaled across the continent. In Angach’a, Ethiopia, “hand of hope” is working with “international crisis aid” to feed nearly 3,500 children and provide their entire families with food each month. Along with the feeding programs, your support has allowed us to renovate this former government-run medical clinic and offer life-saving healthcare to the community.

Dave Ohlerking: “One of the biggest problems we deal with is fathers raping their own daughters because the spirits have told them if you rape a virgin, the spirits will heal you. And they think they can get by with it, hide it, if it’s their own daughter. It’s unthinkable. That’s murder. Only the gospel can stop that.”

“Hand of hope” is working with “children’s cup international” to shine the light of the gospel message on the aids epidemic. Ben Rodgers oversees care point sites like this one in Swaziland, nine of which are fully funded by Joyce Meyer ministries partners. These care points are feeding and educating more than 3,400 children daily. They also meet their medical needs and provide critically needed aids medication. It’s made all the difference in the world to this little girl who is battling the disease. Five-year-old Bagzille lives in Manzini in a tiny house with her mother, grandmother, and her 8-year-old sister. Her father had aids and passed away in 2002, and her mother, Nosopho also suffers from the disease. Behind those bright eyes and beautiful smile hides a dark secret: At the innocent age of five, she too is hiv positive. But there is hope for this little girl and her family. She attends the ngwane park care point, which is operated by children’s cup and funded by Joyce Meyer ministries partners. Here she receives her only meal of the day, as well as medicine and an education. Her mother is very ill, but on her good days like today, she earns money making brooms. Most of the time she is unable to do anything. That’s why she’s so grateful for the help of the care point.

Nosopho: “The way they treat her, it’s just like she’s home. They are so friendly to her. I would just like to thank them a lot because the way I am feeling here, just because of the love they give to my children and to myself, because of them now life is great.”