There’s another story in Jeremiah I want to tell you about it. You can find it in Jeremiah 36. Jeremiah had dictated a very long prophecy to his secretary Baruch. He painstakingly copied it onto parchment with a quill and ink. It may have taken months to write it. They had no computers, no typewriters, no ballpoint pens. It was finished and it was a prophecy of warning to the king. It was taken to the king and they began to read it to him and every column or every two or three columns they would read, he would take a penknife, cut them off and throw them in the fire because he didn’t want to hear what God had to say. There were times in my life when I didn’t want to hear what God had to say but that didn’t shut him up. So finally the whole prophecy had been thrown into the fire. The man who had read the prophecy to the king went back to Jeremiah, all dejected: he wouldn’t listen. He wouldn’t take the warning. He just burned up the prophecy. Our months and months of work were just lost and burned up. So they went to God and said: God, what would you have us do? You know what God said? Write it again. Oh, I got so much out of that. A few months ago I had a very disappointing situation happen where I had about, I forget how many thousands of words now – maybe like 18,000 or 28,000 words written toward a book. Something happened – some glitch in my computer and I lost it all.  They couldn’t get it back. They couldn’t restore it. We put it through every program. It was gone – gone-gone-gone. For about a week I kept telling everybody and murmuring about it and complaining about it and of course my husband once again being the mouth of God said: I think you’ve told enough people about this and I think you’ve said enough about it.

You only have one choice and that’s do it again. And my flesh went:  ewwwww! Because I didn’t want to lose my writing, I didn’t want to do it again but I only had one choice: give up or do it again. And you know what?  Some of you, that’s your only choice today because if you’re waiting for somebody to come and wave a magic wand over your life or you’re waiting for some prophet to come to town and prophesy to you that it’s all going to blow away with the next wind of the spirit, my advice to you today is: if you haven’t had a breakthrough yet, whatever God told you to do, do it again. If you haven’t heard from God in a long time, just keep doing what he told you to the last time you heard from him.

I’ve got a piece of advice for you: do it again. That’s the best Holy Ghost advice I can give you: do it again because this may be the one time that breaks the devil’s back. You have to say: I’m gonna do it one more time. I’m gonna praise God one more time.  I’m gonna lift up my hands and worship God even with tears streaming down my face one more time. I can do it one more time. One more time. I can do it one more time and one more time and one more time and one more time and all of a sudden the dam breaks, the power of God comes flowing into your life, and it’s over. It’s over. Remember the story of Elijah when he told Ahab it’s going to rain. There had been a long famine and he said:  okay, it’s gonna rain. He did that based on the word of God.  He didn’t see one sign of anything changing. So Elijah got on his face and started to pray and he sent his servant up to the top of Mount Carmel: go up and see if you can see any sign of rain. He went up there and came back: nope.  Nothing’s happening. Elijah said: go again. You know, Elijah, I know you’re a man of God but I think you missed it this time. There is nothing even that remotely looks like rain up there. Elijah said: go again. Seven times he had to climb that mountain and look for what wasn’t there. Finally he came back and said: well, I don’t see much but there is one little tiny cloud the size of a man’s hand. And Elijah jumped up, started rejoicing and said: it’s beginning to rain! Whoo!

You know what?  Some of you are so down in the mouth and depressed that there is a cloud the size of a man’s hand in your life, there’s a sign that God’s moving and you’re not even seeing it because you’ve got such low negative emotions. We need to step it up in faith here this weekend and we need to start seeing what God is doing and stop crabbing about what he’s not doing all the time. My God, you’re not going to hell!  That’s good news! When Jesus splits the eastern sky, you’re not going to have to cower in fear. You’re gonna say: yeah!  Hallelujah!

Man: My grandmother spoke about God but I just thought she was crazy, and now I’ve called my grandmother and she said it’s the first time in 30 years that I’ve sounded like a man.

Man: I ran over anybody and everybody to get what I needed to get my habit. Now though I have a new habit and that habit’s Jesus. I thank him every day that I don’t have to go back to that lifestyle.

Woman: I started going to the Chaplain’s library and that’s where I was introduced to Joyce Meyer’s ministry and I was introduced to books like this one that told me of the life of Jesus Christ and how he went to the cross to die for my sins and that he loved me — even me, a prostitute, that he loved me, and I had never in my life experienced that kind of love that I felt when I was in there.

Roy Lormis: I’m living the best life that I could possibly live right now because I know what I’m doing is what God has called me to do, and every single one of us has the opportunity every day to do what God has called us to do.

Woman: I learned how to love the Lord and how he loves me being in prison through ministries like this one.

Roy Lormis: What was it? Joyful noise unto the Lord. How many can do that? Alright, let’s do it. ♫ Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. ♫

Joyce: I don’t want to live the way that I lived so much of my life: selfish, self-centered, what about me?  What about me? What about me? I will not live like that anymore! You will be absolutely amazed at what will happen in your life if you will get your mind off yourself and try to be a real Christian who is concerned about letting the love of God flow through you and reach out.

Ginger Stache: Yodit was the very first girl who came off the street and into the home and she is just a bundle of energy and enthusiasm, and that’s the girl that we met. The girl that they brought out of the streets a few months ago was a very different girl.

He was actually just shaving one morning getting ready to go to work and he began to weep and cry which is very out of character for him, and God said, “I’ve prepared you all this time to go on television but this opportunity is only going to come your way one time and you have to decide now.” I thought that was very, very interesting because I think God had to say that to Dave in that way because he is more inclined to wait. That was an instance where apparently God had a job to fill and he was looking for somebody to fill it and it needed to be done now. There was an urgency about it. So Dave said to me, “I need to talk to you before you leave.” I said, “I have to go to work. I’m late.” He said, “I need to talk to you now!” That was kind of how it started. So I just think in hearing from god, like you talked about the cloud moving, they never knew when it was going to move. I think to try to put God in a box and say he always does it this way or he always does it that way is one of our biggest mistakes because he doesn’t.

Jentezen Franklin: Yeah and it’s just following his lead. I love that scripture in Isaiah that says, “they that believe will not make haste.” In other words, if you really believe God has promised you something, you don’t have to kick the door in, you don’t have to make it happen. Habakkuk said, “the vision is for an appointed time,” and he said, “though it tarries, don’t go kick the door in.” Just wait on the Lord and when it’s right and you feel that urgency…

Joyce Meyer Ministries – We talked yesterday about how Paul in the book of acts, the 17th chapter, was stirred in his spirit. When God really wants you to do something, there will be a stirring up inside of you. It’s almost an obsession. You’re a maniac on a mission and you just have to do it.

Joyce: if you’re just joining us, I’m talking today about how you can have a personal relationship with god through Jesus Christ. It’s very important. Who would not want to have a great relationship with god? He’s all power and all wisdom, all knowing; he’s the beginning and the end of everything, the author and the finisher. I want to be hooked up in right relationship with somebody like that because frankly, I need a lot of help in my life and I would imagine that you do, too. I just want to start by assuring you that god loves you.

Not just everybody. He loves you and you’re very important to him. God has a good plan for your life.  Maybe your life hasn’t been that great so far or maybe you’ve had some tragic thing happen and you’re wondering does god love you at all, but i want to assure you that god loves you and he does have a good plan for your life. The devil is alive and well on planet earth and we live in a society where things happen and we can’t always control all of those things.  God never promises us that our lives will be completely trouble-free but he does promise us that he will always be with us. He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you, but I will be with you always, even unto the end of the world.” that’s a really cool promise to have somebody who is all-powerful, all-knowing, almighty, can do everything, the beginning and the end, the author and the finisher with us all the time until the end of our life.

Joyce Meyer Ministries – I think that’s a wonderful promise!  I don’t want to sound redundant but I want to say again god really loves you. Some of you may be desperate for that love.  I’ve actually had people write in and say “when you looked at that camera and said ‘god loves you,’ it changed my life.” some people maybe have never heard that or maybe they were mistreated while they were growing up and they just didn’t get the opportunity to really experience real love. God’s love for you is not based on what you do; it’s based on him.  He loves you and he loves you unconditionally.

Joyce: and accepting it unconditionally.

Ginger: right, right.

Joyce: that’s the big thing.

Ginger: and we can’t love others without that.

Joyce Meyer Ministries: well, you can’t. Then what happens next, ginger, as you receive the love of god, it begins to heal the way you feel about yourself: “well, if god loves me, maybe I can love me.  Maybe if god forgives me, then I can forgive me.” so there has to be a healing in your relationship with yourself because like I tell people all the time, you’re one person you’re never going to get away from, not for even one second. Everywhere you go, there you are. So as god loves you and you begin to love him back, and you don’t just love him for what he does for you but you love him because he loves you, then that love begins to heal you.  That has to happen before you can love other people. I really think that a lot of people are trying to love somebody and they really just don’t have it to give because there’s something still that needs to be fixed in them.

Ginger: let me ask you this question then because it’s so sweet.  It’s from a 12-year-old but it goes along with what so many adults are facing also. “I’m 12 and every time someone says, ‘god loves you with all his heart,’ I feel like I don’t really understand what they mean. I have accepted god but when I try to feel his love, I just don’t.”  so, it’s not about feelings but…

Joyce Meyer: no, it’s not about feelings but everything from god comes to us by faith. For me, one of the things that I had to do was I had to think about god loving me.  I had to talk to myself about it. I had to even look at myself in the mirror and say, “god loves you.  God loves you. I’m forgiven.  I’m loved unconditionally.  God loved me before I ever loved him.” the bible says we love him because he first loved us. He loved us, Ephesians says, while we were still yet sinners; he loved us.

Joyce Meyer Online – And I think a lot of times you just have to get your mind renewed.  We base far too much on feelings. It’s so wonderful when you can get to the point where you’re living based on what you know rather than what you feel because if you said to me right now, “do you feel god’s love right now, Joyce?” I guess I’d have to say “yes” and “no.” it’s not like, “oh, yeah, there it is; I feel it.” but I know it so deeply. I’m so convinced that yes, I do feel it, but I feel it in my heart and my spirit as something that’s mine that I know that I know that I know, and therefore I don’t have to try to feel that. It’s the same way with prayer.

Joyce Meyer just hugged him and told him I loved him with all of my heart. I don’t know why it’s so hard for people to love. I think the reason is because they never had parents that showed them love. And when you do it, it’s a highlight of the day. When I go to the airports anymore, that’s a hectic place. No one likes to go through security. I made up my mind several years ago as I watched how people treated those people — and maybe I was kind of guilty myself because we resent our privacy being invaded — I made my mind up that I was going to have a different attitude.  The first thing I said was, “how are you doing today?”  you’d be amazed how those people that are looking down will look up and say, “thank you.” “you’re doing a good job. I’m so pleased to meet you.” it’s easy for me to love people who love me, but I have a nature that if you’re a little sharp with me, I can be just as sharp back or more so. But the lord for the last few years has challenged me: when people are sharp to you, let that be a challenge to turn them around.  Say it; I think it’s important.

Joyce Meyer Online: I was just thinking about 1 Corinthians 13 because I believe love is much more than a word; it actually has facets. It’s almost like a diamond; you turn it one way, you see one thing. You turn it another way, you see another thing. So 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that love can be seen in different things, and the first, I call it facet of love is patience. So in the world today people are so impatient with one another.

Joyce Meyer Ministries – I mean, if you just barely get over in somebody’s lane accidentally when driving, you can just get a “blah-blah-blah,” and the words are just… And I’m like, “excuse me, I just made a little mistake.” I say all the time that we’re going to need more than a bumper sticker and a cross hanging around our neck and some kind of a fancy rhinestone Jesus pin to impress the world; they want to see fruit.

Joyce Meyer Online – Wish it was a word from heaven but it’s just a piece of paper. I believe that one of the ways that we can have the greatest influence in the world… I want you to listen to me because this is a very important part of this message; I’ve already alluded to it earlier. I believe one of the ways that we can have the greatest influence in our own little corner of the world is by being a giver. By being a giver. And being a giver goes way beyond an offering in church. Amen!: I’m talking about a lifestyle. Don’t be the kind of person who goes around all the time wondering what somebody’s going to give you or what you can get free, but aggressively – everybody say: Aggressively.

Joyce Meyer Ministries – Aggressively. Say: Aggressively. Aggressively.: Say: On purpose. On purpose.: Say: On purpose. On purpose.: Say: Aggressively. Aggressively.: Say: On purpose. On purpose.: – Aggressively and on purpose, we need to get up every day and we need to ask God to show us ways that we can be a blessing and then we need to go out in our little corner of the world and we need to listen. Don’t pray for somebody else to meet a need that you could meet if you were willing to. Since you liked that, I’ll come say it to you again. I heard that one time and I thought: Yeah! We’re always praying for God to meet somebody’s need when we could meet the need ourselves but we don’t want to sacrifice so we’re praying for somebody else to come along and meet the need.

Even if you don’t have enough to meet somebody’s need on your own, get a little creative: Go call up ten of your other unhappy bored Christian friends laughing: And instead of going out to lunch and gossiping one more hour about what you don’t have, get together and figure out how corporately you can meet this need.

Joyce Meyer – Well, I’m preaching good today and I’m just going to make myself happy.

Joyce Meyer will tell you the absolute truth: I’m very concerned about the church and when I say “the church,” we are the church so I’m talking about the church in general, not a specific church. There are great churches. There are great people in every church. There are phony people in every church. I’m sure there’s good in every church and there’s probably bad in every church. We get into all this denominational thing and we’re all fighting about who’s right and my feeling is that nobody’s 100% right. I think we all do the best we can and we’d better start learning how to get along because one thing’s for sure – if the different churches are fighting, how are we supposed to impress the world with that? But I’m concerned and I hope that I can get you a little bit concerned today that the church is not having a very good influence on the world. I believe that God’s reputation needs to be better than what it is.

Joyce Meyer Online – In one way we can think: God is able to take care of his own reputation. Well, you know what? We are representing God and people don’t see God; they see us. We are his representatives. If I send one of my children to do something, which our oldest son David represents us in all the foreign fields and he’s been effective in opening foreign offices for us in Australia, Africa, Russia, England, Canada, and different places including the middle east. We have an office in the Middle East and I’ve never been there. What they think of this ministry has a lot to do with what they think of him. Amen? Amen.: It’s the same way with God’s reputation here on the earth today: He’s not here for people to see; they’re looking at us. We are his representatives. We represent God. We have such a problem in our western culture with selfishness and self-centeredness. We don’t care enough about the lost. We need to care more about whether people are going to heaven or whether they’re going to hell. We need to wake up and smell the roses and realize that after we’re saved and our place in heaven is secure, if God didn’t have any purpose for us, he would just get us out of here.

Joyce Meyer Ministries – Yes, God wants us to enjoy our life and he wants us to prosper, to have nice things, and to succeed, but more than anything, God wants representatives on the earth – come on now! – That are representing him in an excellent manner; I mean not even in just an okay manner, but I mean in an excellent manner.

Joyce Meyer Ministries: I just simply want to encourage you to make a decision that you’re gonna go on with God, you’re gonna have his best in your life, and you’re gonna work through the issues from your past.  To help you do that we have a resource offer today, a 4-cd teaching series called “beauty for ashes.” It was one of my signature teachings that actually helped me recover from the pain of sexual abuse in my own life. God promises us if we’ll give him our ashes, he’ll give us his beauty. You’re going to get the teaching notes with that and a free gift we’d like to give you, a book by Tim Clinton, “turn your life around.” Why do we do this every day? Every day, every day, every day we’re offering you books or cds or dvds — things that will help you because I absolutely love the word of God and I would not be where I am today if it were not for the word of God. The little bit of time that I get to teach you on this program is really like a little tiny snack or an appetizer but you need to have mega doses of the word of God so you can have the life that Jesus died to give you. Stay with us, get all this information down, and remember, give him your ashes and he will give you beauty.

Joyce Meyer Online: I wrote “beauty for ashes” because I know there are many people who are hurting like I was once hurting. There are many people who have been abused, rejected, abandoned. And so, I know what it’s like to hurt, I know what it’s like to be wounded, but thank God, I also know what it’s like to be healed.

Joyce Meyer –  She bought the dress. She took it home and when he saw the bag, he got all upset. She said: Honey, I just couldn’t help it.