[Music] welcome to Enjoying Everyday Life with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer on today's program Joyce will be teaching from her series the courage to be different it's okay not to fit in with everyone in today's society in fact the Bible is full of people who refuse to follow the crowd we must be bold enough to stand up for what's right no matter the cost now here's Joyce with today's teaching well today I want to talk to you about having the courage to be different amen um you know there's probably relatively few people that
have the courage to be completely and fully themselves throughout their lifetime but I believe that as children of God we can learn that as long as we have our trust in him do you know anything at all about living a phony life because you're trying to impress everybody else around around you that's real torment isn't it to not be able to be free to be who you are and you know the truth is is we are all different God made us different on purpose and so it's really foolish to spend your life trying to be
like somebody else now other people can be an example to us but they should never become our standard our standard is Jesus and if he didn't want us to be different we wouldn't all have something as simple as different fingerprints I mean he's gone to pretty great extreme to say I didn't create you to be just like somebody else and it was hard for me to fully step into and embrace this role that God has called me to because I got a lot of rejection when I first stepped out to do this you know a
woman ministering is much more acceptable today than it was 40 years ago when I started and um I believe that sometimes God uses people and I'm sure he wants to use you in a similar way in whatever area you're in to kind of uh clear the path for other people that are going to come behind them and uh I paid a price to do what I'm doing honestly I don't believe that you can ever do anything that's a very much value if you're not willing to pay a price to do it and part of the
price that we pay is being misunderstood by other people people we always expect people to understand but they don't and we have to finally understand that if God has spoken something to your heart you get it but if he hasn't spoken that to somebody else about you they have no ability to understand and if you're trying to deal as a Believer with an unbeliever then they certainly don't get it they don't understand anything about our walk with God and we saw uh in a previous teaching that Moses fled from Egypt Egypt because he had stepped
out to do what was in his heart to do and people judged him and it says that he expected them to understand that he'd been called to help his Brethren but they did not understand so I just want to be very clear this morning that if you're expecting everybody to understand you I mean it's just it's just a myth it's just not going to happen and uh but I love Hebrews 4 that says that we have a high priest who understands see Jesus understands you so in your own little brand of uniqueness see I used
to think I was weird but then I finally realized I'm not weird I'm unique amen and you are unique and God wants you to be free to be fully and completely yourself now we have some special stuff going on in the world today to and uh there's a big push from a lot of different places for Christians to be closet Christians or to not be Christians or to shut your mouth or don't stand up don't you dare go against the flow and I believe that we're making a big mistake if we buy into that I
believe that God wants us to be bold and courageous and let me just say that Sinners are not quiet about what they want and it's amazing that there's these little small groups of people that want to take away our rights and freedoms and they keep at it and keep at it and keep at it and keep at it and keep at it and keep at it until they just finally end up getting what they want and so we need to keep at it and keep at it and keep at it and keep at it and
keep at it I can I just tell you this and be very plain Believers in Jesus Christ are the only hope that we have today of not losing our Christian rights in this country I would have never ever ever thought 50 years ago that I could live to see what's going on today I mean the world has changed so dramatically in 50 years it is absolutely shocking yes and you see when evil is not confronted then it just continues to grow and grow and grow and being silent is the worst thing that we can do
and so we need to learn that we are going to stand up against what's going on in the world today and refuse to bow down to bow down the devil's always wanting us to bow down the devil said to Jesus if you'll Bow Down and Worship me just once and the enemy presses us to compromise with the world so we can get along with them come on now I said he presses us to compromise with the world so we can be accepted and get along with them that's why it's important for me to talk to
you today about realizing that you can survive rejection if you have to you can survive the re jetion of people but you cannot survive losing your relationship with God by being a coward and giving in to what the world is making demands on us for God is with us he's with you and he's depending on you and he's depending on me and this is a time for us to shine shine [Music] [Applause] shine Isaiah 43 1-5 but now in spite of past judgments for Israel's sins thus says the Lord he who created you oh Jacob
and he who formed you oh Israel fear not for I have redeemed you I have ransomed you by paying a price instead of leaving you a captive I have called you by your name you are mine wow I like that when you pass through the waters I'll be with you and through the rivers they will not overwhelm you when you walk through the fire you will not be burned or scorched nor will the flame Kindle upon you for I am the Lord your God the Holy One of Israel your savior I give Egypt to the
Babylonians for your Ransom Ethiopia and siba is the province of Ethiopia is in exchange for your release because you are precious in in my sight and honored and because I love you I will give men in return for you and people in exchange for your life fear not I am with you fear not I am with you now many times in my walk with god I've had to turn to those scriptures and remember that when I'm going through that God hasn't left me even though I may feel like he has he hasn't left me you
know when I first stepped out to follow the call of God on my life I mean I went through some very very very hard times I got asked to leave my church lost most of my friends and it was a lonely and a hard time for me and to stand here and say that I had no fear would not be true because back then I didn't understand how to deal with fear like I do today but I'm so grateful that God gave me the courage and the grace to want to please him more than I
wanted to please the people and as I you know as I was studying this morning I felt like that God told me as a minister part of my job is to prepare people to face the future we we have to be prepared if if our lead ERS don't tell us what may happen and how we need to respond then they're not doing the right thing and as a leader in the church I feel like that not going to bring a negative message at all hey I hope everything turns out Rosy but just in case it
doesn't I want us all to be prepared to take a stand for God and be determined that we're not going to compromise with the world and lose what Jesus Does to give us and I have I have felt very strongly starting last year sometime that I need to keep in front of people more and more and more that Jesus is coming back soon amen and you know if you read the New Testament the apostles talked about this all the time I mean they would encourage people do this because the Lord's coming soon don't live a
selfish life because the Lord's coming soon and so I believe that Jesus is coming soon and I don't know exactly when that's going to be but I think we should live every day like it might be tonight and so I want to do what I can do to help you be prepared one of the things that Dave shares about kids going off to college today you know I think it's what like 75% of Christian kids that go to college lose their faith while they're in college you know why because they're not prepared when they go
in to know what they're going to deal with and so we need to prepare our children to tell them your faith is going to be attacked you're going to be judged you're going to be criticized you're going to hear all kinds of scientific things and mental things that if you just go with your head and you don't stick with your heart you could end up getting confused and throwing away your faith I believe when we're prepared I think when we're prep prepared then we can handle anything and we can face anything in Titus Chapter 3
Verse one this is what it says remind people to be submissive to their magistrates and authorities to be obedient and to be prepared and willing to do any upright and honorable work now how do we get ourselves prepared by having the right mindset Colossians 3:1 says set your mind and keep it set on things that are above not on things upon the Earth my husband loves to play golf and and he plays a fair amount and uh he practices a lot and he plays and he practices and he plays and he practices and uh I
mean he just Dave is just a very active guy and just sitting around just would not work for him and so I said to him one day I said cuz I thought what would Dave ever do if he you know if he gets old enough that he can't play which I don't know that that's ever going to happen to him but I'm like how do you think you would handle it what would you do if you got to the point where you for some reason or something happened you couldn't play golf he said oh it
won't be a problem he said I've already thought about it and I've set my mind come on now this is so valuable what I'm telling you right now I have set my mind that if I ever couldn't play I'd be happy anyway amen amen I love that I love that see I've thought about this ministry and I've thought you know I love what I'm doing and you know I know this is not who I am but in a way I'm so tied up in it that it is kind of who I am I'm it and
it's me and you know this is just my life this is what I do and I've thought you know if I ever can't do this I I don't want to feel like I'm worthless and I have no value and so I've set my mind ahead of time that if I ever can't do what I'm doing anymore that my worth and value is not in what I do it's in who I am in Christ if we want to be bold we must stand firm on God's word today we're offering the secret power of speaking God's word
gift Edition this small But Mighty book teaches readers how to declare scripture over their lives also included is good thoughts great life in this book Joyce shares how to identify wrong mindsets and the Beautiful journey of letting God's word renew our minds request now for a gift of $30 or more at joyce.org or call toll-free at800 78989 your gift today and your partnership with Joyce Meer Ministries allows us to share the love of Christ around the world world have you been looking for a 365-day devotional well look no further than the promises for your everyday
life devotional from Joyce Meyer there's a focus verse for all 365 days of the year along with a prayer starter get your copy of promises for your everyday life devotional at Joy me.org 365 devvo the biggest thing that we need to do is learn how to think like God thinks and the only way you can do that is by knowing the word of of God in words to live by Joyce Meyer shares how studying the word of God transformed her life experience a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God through the captivating collection of verses
in this beautiful hard cover book by Joyce Meyer discover the transformative power of His word words to live by from Joyce Meyer get your YouTube exclusive offer today go to joy.org sords and the number two have you ever been trapped in a NeverEnding frenzy where every passing moment feels like a blur leaving you gasping for a chance to pause and catch your breath in her insightful book pursuing peace Joyce Meyer explores the importance of seeking peace at all costs this beautiful hard cover Edition is filled with meaningful scriptures and uplifting quotes from Joyce providing valuable
guidance for living a peaceful Life Style so grab a cup of coffee find a comfortable spot and embark on your journey to find peace remember this limited time YouTube offer won't last long go to joyce.org pursuit to get your copy today and start your Pursuit Of [Music] Peace the Mind actually is the battlefield that's where we win or lose the war with Satan he said all he gets to say why is the last of the days mine you start asking God to heal you and he will restore is the God of all comfort and I
am so grateful that I know how to call on God [Music]
