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This program is made possible by the partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Does the devil ever tell you you're no good? Well, why do you believe that?
That's just a lie from the pit of hell. I'm Joyce Meyer. I've seen God's power transform my own life, and he will do it for you.
How many of you know the devil is alive and well on the planet? And you know, it's not that I just enjoy talking about the devil, but to be honest, every once in a while we need to. Because for some reason, as much as we know, we kind of forget that he's behind a lot of the stuff that's going on in the world and in our lives.
I have to tell you that I went to church for a lot of years, and I. I never heard a message about Satan. I never heard a message about the devil.
I don't even know that he was even talked about that much. I mean, I to me, I guess the devil was just a Halloween character where a kid put on a red suit and carried a pitchfork and had a long tail and some pointed ears. I, you know, I had no idea that a lot of my problems and the issues that I was dealing with were from an enemy, an evil enemy that hated God.
And hated anybody who was trying to serve God. And even when I did discover that Satan was a real entity, which I found through reading a book, actually it's an old book, still in print, called Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth. And I was like, wow.
It was like an eye opener for me. But even then, I had no idea that I had any authority over him or that I could do anything about it. And so we need to realize that once we recognize what the enemy is doing, we don't have to just put up with it.
Come on. You know, I don't know what to do. Well, I'm going to tell you today.
That's why you're here. Okay. But.
You know, I wrote a book 25 years ago called The Battle of the mind, and it's still it's still our number one, number one book. We call that book the Energizer Bunny. It just keeps selling.
Keep selling, keep selling, keep selling, keep selling. And it's because we all want peace of mind. And we know that our mind gives us a lot of trouble.
No matter how much we learn about this every day. I still have to take authority over wrong thoughts. I still have to cast down wrong ones and choose right ones.
Does anybody else still have to do that every day of your life? Okay, well, that's being vigilant when you do that. That's one of the ways that you resist the enemy.
You don't just you never you know, you think the way you know that God wants you to think, speak the way you believe, God wants you to speak, and it actually changes things in your life. So Satan is a liar. That's the first thing we've got to realize.
A liar, the father of lies. The truth is not in him. He cannot do anything but lie.
So it's interesting to me. I remember a woman. Come on.
One time for prayer. And she said, I am so upset. Joyce, I really need your prayer.
The devil has been lying to me. And then she told me what her problem was, and I just. I didn't say this to her, but I thought later.
Okay? The lady said she knew it was the devil. She knew he was lying to her and yet she was upset about it.
So we obviously don't really believe that he's a liar or we wouldn't believe anything that he says. Does the devil ever tell you you're no good? Well, why do you believe that?
That's just a lie from the pit of hell. God says you're valuable. You're precious.
He loves you. He's got a good plan for your life. He created you uniquely in your mother's womb.
You ever hear the devil say, oh, you're all alone. Nobody cares about you. Well, that's not true.
Because God says, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. But lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth.
I can tell you the things that I'm sharing with you today about thoughts and words, and coming against these lies of Satan. It's one of the main things that has helped bring healing into my life. Because if you're mistreated as a child, you learn how to think about everything the wrong way.
Everything. We, you know, the enemy starts early, building strongholds in our minds. A stronghold is a place where the enemy digs in and hides, where he's protected, and nobody can get to him.
But the Word of God, the word of truth, is stronger than any lie that Satan tells us. Amen. Second Corinthians ten.
Four and five. The weapons of our warfare. Everybody say I'm in a war.
Are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and the destruction of strongholds. So we have weapons, but they're not guns and knives and bombs and things like that. The weapons that we have, our spiritual weapons.
And I want to tell you today that you're a mouth full of the word of God is a spiritual weapon. Satan hates what's going on in this building today. He despises it.
You're here. He despises that I'm here. He hates that all the people got saved last night.
He'll do anything he can to try to get you. Not to pay attention or cause you to forget everything you hear the minute you leave the building. But I'll tell you what.
We are in a war that if we read the end of the book, we find out we've already warned. I'm so glad I've already got the end of the story. So all we really have to do is walk it out here.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Their praise and worship though the Word of God, their prayer, the name of Jesus. You have weapons against the enemy.
And as much as we refute arguments, does the devil ever argue with you? Theories, reasonings, and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God and we lead. I love it.
Some of our thoughts captive. And we lead a few of our thoughts once in a while. Captive.
Know every thought, boy. Sounds like a big job to me because I have millions of thoughts every day, and we lead every thought captive under the obedience of Jesus Christ. Now, I don't know where you're at with all this right now or people watching by TV.
I don't, you know, maybe you've never even heard anything like this before, but, not to be offensive, but some of you, not all of you, but some of your mind is just a mess. I mean, it's just. It's just a mess.
The enemy's controlling your thoughts for so long that you just believe all kinds of wrong stuff. And so the only way you're ever going to know what truth is, is to learn the Word of God and learn the Word of God. Watch this program every day on TV.
I'll teach you some stuff. I've been through some stuff. Get yourself a Bible.
Get some good Christian books. Start learning what your rights are as a believer in Jesus Christ, and stop just letting the enemy walk all over you, controlling your moods. Control him.
This is going to be good for us today because we need this every once in a while. Every once in a while, we just need to get a good shaking and say, listen, you are a child of God. You have rights, you have privileges.
The devil has some power, but he does not have more power than you do. And then Ephesians 612, one more. We are not wrestling with flesh and blood.
Your war is not with your husband. It's not with your wife. It's not with your kids.
It's not with your mom or your dad. We are not wrestling with flesh and blood, contending only with physical opponents, but against the despotism, against the powers, against the master spirit who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly supernatural spirit. Now, I don't want to stand up here and sound spooky if you've never any teaching on this kind of stuff, you may go.
But you know what? There's demons all over the place. Amen.
We don't see them, but thank God there's angels all over the place to. And I'm going to share some scriptures with you a little bit later about the power of angels that are working in our behalf all the time, and I think we need to learn to see a little bit better into the spirit realm. And I don't necessarily mean with your natural eyes, but we need to learn to really believe with our heart that no matter what's going on, angels are working in our behalf.
God is helping us, and what we have is greater than what the enemy has. See, I'm the kind of person I got excited when I first started hearing this kind of stuff 40 years ago, because I'm not the kind of person that wants to have a problem and have to sit around and think that I can't do anything about it. I want to I'm a fixer, I want to fix stuff, and I do like to fix stuff.
I don't think anything frustrates me any more than when somebody brings me a problem and tells me there's no answer. I absolutely cannot stand that. You know why?
Because there is an answer to everything, and there is a way to fix everything. If we're just not lazy and refuse to look back. So one of the first lies that the devil will try to tell you is that he doesn't exist.
The next thing is, is even if you do believe you exist, there's really nothing you can do about it. So I just want to read maybe three scriptures here. Luke 1019.
Behold, I have given you authority. Everybody say I have authority over me. He didn't say, I will give you authority.
He said, I have given you authority. And today I want you to believe that that you have authority and you have the power of God working in your behalf. And, you know, I think a lot of what I'm talking about today just comes down to I want all of us to have just a more inner, determined attitude.
It's not so much about going around screaming at demons. And, you know, it's just like, I am not going to be defeated. I am not going to quit.
I am not going to give up. I know who my enemy is. And if anybody can have God's blessings, I can have God's blessings.
I tell you the truth, if you won't fight for yourself, there's not too many other people that are going to do it for you. And I don't mean there's not people that love us. You know, all kinds of people love us, but we've all got our own deal that we're dealing with, and we have to learn to fight for ourselves and to believe the Word of God for ourselves.
You cannot be defeated. You cannot be defeated. If you want to take hold of the Word of God and refuse to give up.
I don't know if you heard what I said, but I want to repeat it again. God is no respecter of persons. If God can bless anybody, he can bless you.
Come on. If God can bless anybody. God can bless you.
Don't sit around and think that all this stuff is working for somebody, but it's never going to work for you if you do, and I do with the help of God. What God tells us to do. We have to have a breakthrough.
There's no doubt about it. Behold, I have given you authority and power. I want you to pay attention here.
Authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions. And I've given you physical and mental strength and ability over all the power that the enemy possesses. So this scripture says we have authority and power.
I don't want you to miss this. We have been given authority and power. But Satan, it says of him that he has power.
It doesn't say he has any authority. We have authority. And now listen to me.
The only authority that the devil has is what we give him. And most of that we give him through passivity. To lack of knowledge.
Through laziness. And he through disobedience. And we just need to wake up and realize that Jesus paid an amazing price for us to have a good life.
And every one of you need to stomp your little holy foot today and say, I am going to have what Jesus died to give me. James four seven I'll just read you this. Be subject to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee. Then Jesus called together. Luke nine one Jesus called together the 12 apostles and gave them power and authority over all demons.
And the ability to cure diseases. Luke 1017 the seven day return with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Everybody say, I have authority.
And I have power. All right. Now, one of the things that the enemy does all the time is he works to steal your peace.
Because where there's peace, there's power. There are probably 25 things every day that each one of us could get upset about. Unless we learn to take responsibility and hold on to our peace.
In Exodus, when Pharaoh was coming against the Israelites, his army was in back of them. The Red sea was in front of them and they started getting frantic. God said, stand still, hold your peace, and I will fight for you.
Hold your peace. Remain at rest, and I will fight for you. Philippians four six be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace that passes understanding.
315 says, let the peace of God be the umpire in our life, deciding with finality whether things are right or wrong, in or out. And I just want to say this today because it was on my heart this morning when I was getting ready for this service. If you're in here today and you're about to do something in your life that you don't have peace about, please don't do it.
Please don't do it. If you don't have peace about it, don't do it. Don't marry somebody you don't have peace about thinking they'll change after you marry them.
Come on. That is just like, super dumb on steroids. If you're having questions now, you just wait and see how many questions you have after you.
And then. Don't be desperate. You don't need to be desperate.
You don't need to say yes to something that you don't have peace about because you're desperate. God will bring the right person at the right time. And not only that, you'd be better off to be by yourself and have the wrong person.
Don't do things that you don't have peace about. Let peace be the umpire in your life. The Apostle Paul talked a lot about.
His circumstances, compared to what he knew was taking place in the spiritual realm. The devil wants to tell the believer that you can't believe anything you can't see. But I want to talk to you for a little bit about the spiritual realm that's all around us.
We don't see it with our eyes, but we need to perceive it with our spirit. There's demons that have got assignment against this conference. They don't like us being here.
So I take authority over him in Jesus name and my prayers. I take authority over you. I resist you.
I know you want to work, but the name of Jesus is greater than any plan that you have. And I've been reminded again lately. Sometimes I forget my own stuff, you know, I've been reminded again lately, just for the last couple of weeks, to just remember that I've got angels working on my behalf, and they even ask God, send your angels out to help me.
Send me protection. Send me the help that I need, you know, right now. And there's angels all over this room.
Do you have any idea how many car wrecks we would have if angels weren't with us? I'm gonna tell you a story that somebody told me one time and. That's what he said.
So I'll just tell you what he said. a woman got her husband to bring her to one of my conferences as a birthday present. He didn't want to be there.
He was an unbeliever, but loved his wife. So he brought her. And during the the worship, a little bit after the worship, as I was getting ready to teach, she noticed him shaking and crying and she said, what does that matter with you?
What's wrong with you? And he said, what? Don't you see it?
Don't don't you see it? And she's like, what are you talking about? So I don't know if he told the whole story there, but when he got around to telling her, he said, well, didn't you see that that choir of men with the white robes on that were up there with her?
Didn't you see them? And what he told her is, when I left my seat over there and I came up here, that there were these men in white robes that made a semi-circle around me, and. When I picked this up and started to preach, they all drew out a sword and stood at attention.
With our swords like that. The enemy is a liar, and he tries to deceive us in many ways, but we don't have to put up with it. We are in a war, and it's not against the people around us.
It's against darkness. But God provides weapons for spiritual battles and you can fight back with prayer, with worship, using the name of Jesus. The Word of God is so important and taking our thoughts captive.
In fact, I want to pray for you right now just that God will protect your mind and your emotions. And just to help you utilize those weapons that he gives you in this fight that you're in. Okay, God, I pray for our friends who are watching right now.
we all need help, Lord. So, father, please arm us for this battle. Just help us against the enemy to know how to use your word, to pray and to trust you, Lord.
And we just pray that you keep the enemy at bay as we use these wonderful gifts that you have given us to fight back. Lord, protect your people. In Jesus name, Amen.
Trust God, remember that he is there with you. And remember what Joyce just said. The Word of God is stronger than any lie the devil tells us.
Now if you are ready to take the next step in building up your mental defenses against the enemy, the first step is to spend more time with God. We have to know Him in His word and we have some resources to help you with that. So this is really great.
We're going to start with this is called Step by step how to study God's Word. This is a great little practical booklet where Joyce breaks down how to build a Bible study habit that works for you. It also comes with beautiful cards that remind you why that time with God is so important.
They're just encouraging and they're lovely to have around. Plus, we have a great starting point for your journey. This is the everyday life, Psalms and Proverbs.
Now when you reach out today, using the information on the screen will also send you this. And it's so handy because it not only has the Psalms and Proverbs, which are great for our walk with God and for fighting back against the enemy, but this leather bound book has the verses that are specifically about how we think, helping us to renew our mind highlighted. Plus, it is full of notes from Joyce, so it has so many of Joyce's commentary notes and a lot of help from her in here too.
So reach out right now to get these resources insight. Start fighting back against the enemy now. It's so important that we work ahead to set our mind on Christ so that when our circumstances suddenly change and we all know that happens, we have the tools that we need already at hand.
We have to do that work ahead of time, and little is more sudden than a natural disaster. When that happens, we need God. We need God's help, and it sure makes a difference to have his people around us as well.
That's what happened recently in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Take a look at how hand of Hope helped restore one young family's home with your help as well, when they didn't think they had a future left there because the damage was so extreme. Now ready to say your new house for the first time?
All right, turn around for God. You. Everything went black.
And at that moment we said now is sounded like missiles were being to pale at the house. All you had with boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Friday night, March 24th, 2023, an EF four tornado tears through the small town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi and surrounding communities, killing 17 people and destroying more than 60% of the homes and businesses.
What started out as a miracle? Thank you and a beautiful every two by four in our house that was holding our roof together broke in half. That's what we were hearing.
So it was just fear. Nathan and Kristen Nichols were in their home when the tornado struck. Three minutes later, their house was destroyed.
They lost everything. We went to our safe spot. A tree fell through that room, but we ran back into the living room.
She dove beside the Ottoman and I kind of dove on top of her. I felt things flying into my face and hitting me in my eyes. And that's your first way of knowing?
Wow, everything is really gone because insulation is hitting me. When it was all said and done, lightning flashed and I could see where I was at and I could see through our house into the open. This was Nathan's childhood home, and they had spent two years remodeling it into their dream home.
They had just finished and moved back in, and within a few months the tornado hit. We were at the point where there was no path forward for us to enroll in Fort Nathan, and Kristen's heartbreaking situation cried out for help, and Joyce Meyer Ministries was honored to work alongside God's pit crew to help the couple rebuild. You just knew instantly that they were people who who would help others, who would be out here doing exactly what we're doing, given they opportunity to.
In fact, I heard that they were in New Orleans, feeding homeless people just weeks before they ended up homeless themselves. Joyce Meyer Ministries fully funded the rebuilding and furnishing of Nathan and Kristen's home, with more than 120 God's Pit Crew volunteers working tirelessly for two weeks to finish the house with wood. I just can't say thank you enough to the people who give their time and talents and treasures to ministries like this that take care of people like us.
We're going to be able to dream again. We're going to be able to envision our family and our future kids running around in this house. That's going to be really, really special.
Words don't do it justice. On how thankful and appreciative we are of and of hope and everything they did and rollers for. Not just not just what they're doing for us, what they didn't roll in for it.
They are truly being the hands and feet of God. I think what I'm looking forward to most is just having a home, having a place to come back to something that we can call our own. I just want to be home.
Y'all ready to say your new house for the first time? All right, turn around. Nathan and Kristen, I think that, God used your smyers and God's pit crew as a vessel to prove to you to show y'all that great is his faithfulness.
Oh, my gosh. Oh. Nathan and Kristen are precious couple, and it's an honor to be a part of the effort bringing restoration after so much destruction.
You can see the difference it makes in people's lives, and it's a practical way to love people like the Bible tells us to. Jesus said, the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Put yourself in Nathan and Christian shoes.
How would you want people to help you after a tragedy? Well, you can be part of the restoration process for families all around the world by becoming a partner with Joyce Meyer Ministries. Today, being a partner means that you make a regular monthly commitment to give on a regular basis, to pray together with us and to go everywhere we go to be a part of it.
Through your finances. Our partners are such a big part of everything we do. So when you join us in your regular giving, you can watch stories like this and know that you are right there too.
So reach out today, give us a call or go to the website and say, I would love to go with you to help people in their time of need. We appreciate it. We love you and we'll talk to you later.
For more information, visit Joyce meyer. org. This program has been made possible by the partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries.
