Is there anything or anyone in your life you need to forgive? Today on Enjoying Everyday Life, Joyce Meyer discusses the parable of the prodigal son and what we can learn concerning the importance of forgiveness. – – – – – – – Follow Joyce: WEBSITE: https://joycemeyer.org
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– – – – – – – Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives. With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way. #JoyceMeyer#EnjoyingEverydayLife#DetectingUnforgiveness
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today we really have no right to judge
anybody because when you judge you set
yourself up as God in someone’s life and
only God has the right to judge we don’t
we judge sin but we can’t judge a
person’s
heart I’m Joyce Meyer and I believe that
God can heal you everywhere you
[Music]
hurt well thank you for joining us on
Enjoying Everyday Life today I’m doing
the second part of a teaching that I
started yesterday called six ways to
detect
unforgiveness and it’s about the story
of the prodical Son and the elder
brother but to be honest it’s going to
be more about the elder brother than it
is the prodical son I think we
miss sometimes the some of the really
important things about that story in
Luke 15:
11-32 so just real quickly if you’re not
familiar with it two sons the younger
son told his father I want my part of
the
inheritance I don’t want to wait that
was very rude that was like saying dad I
wish you were dead I want my money so
the father did divided the inheritance
between the two sons the younger son
gathered up all of his stuff left home
wasted all of his money on just loose
living got to the point where he was
working for a pig farmer was hungry
there was a famine in the land he said
he would have gladly eaten the same
thing the pigs were eating so it says he
came to
himself he got back in his right mind
you know sometimes we kind of get
so far out in our thinking that we just
do stupid things and make a mess out of
our life he came to himself and he said
why my father’s hired servants are
better off than I am I’m going to go
back to my father and say I don’t
deserve to be your son but I would just
like to have a job as a hired
servant so he started back to his father
and his father saw him coming a long way
off and he ran to
him kissed him was so happy that he was
back didn’t give him a big long speech
about you don’t know I I’ll forgive you
but I want you to realize how bad you
hurt me and you know like I said
yesterday sometimes we are willing to
forgive people we want to let them know
how great we are for forgiving them and
instead he said to his servants let’s
have a party let’s celebrate bring out
the best robe give him a ring give him
sandals kill the fatted calf we’re going
to have a party so they were having a
party they were celebrating the elder
brother comes in from being out in the
field and right away he said what’s this
music all
about I said people that are unhappy
don’t like to be around people that are
happy they kind of irritate you if
you’re unhappy and you’re around
somebody that’s happy it’s kind like
what are you so happy about I remember
my dad being like that he’d be like what
are you so happy about what are you
laughing about he was just an unhappy
man who wanted to make everybody else
around him unhappy too and
so the the elder
brother the the message is is that you
can be in the family but not in the
house he refused to go into the party he
said I’m not going to go in well he was
still a member of the family but he
wasn’t close to what was going on so
when I say you can be in the family but
not in the house I mean you can be a
Christian but not be close to
God and I was like like that for a lot
of
years many many Christians are like that
you know they go to church and
they they know the different doctrines
of being a
Christian their names can be written in
the Lamb’s Book of Life they may go to
heaven when they die but they’re not
close to God and that he he
wants close fellowship with
us the Bible says that one of the
reasons why he sent the holy Spirit was
to be in close fellowship with us he
lives inside of us how much closer can
you get than that and so that’s very
important to me now in my life that that
I have a close intimate relationship
with God the Apostle Paul prayed it’s
recorded in
Philippians 3 he said my determined
purpose is to know him and the power of
his resurrection that lifts me out from
among the dead even while I’m in the
body
that I might become more intimately
deeply acquainted with him he didn’t
want to just know about God he wanted to
know God and I pray that that’s the
desire of your heart also so the elder
brother was in the family but he
wouldn’t go in the house he wouldn’t
join the party he refused to go in the
father pleaded with him but he refused
to
go so many today are in the family of
God but not in the father’s house his
house represents his
presence it represents close
Fellowship when we live in the house
with other people we get very close and
intimate with them we know things about
them that nobody else knows and God
knows things about you that nobody else
knows but you could know some things
about him too that maybe everybody else
doesn’t
know you know God’s presence is
so
important and a lot of times we just
seek God for what he can do for us his
presence p r s n TS and we need to just
seek him for who he is seek his face and
not his hand the Bible says in his
presence is fullness of joy Psalm 27
says there’s protection from our enemies
in the presence of God one thing I ask
of the Lord and that will I seek after
that I might dwell in his presence and
behold his Beauty all the days of my
life for in the day of trouble he will
keep me safe in his dwelling he will
hide me in the shelter of his presence I
love that it also says that in God’s
presence you’ll be hidden from The
Strife of
tongues you know somebody like me I in
front of a lot of people and I’d love to
think that everybody thinks I’m
wonderful and loves me that there may be
one or two that don’t and you know maybe
they say some unkind things about me
well you know Words are
Weapons the Bible says no weapon formed
against me shall prosper but every
tongue that rises up against me in
judgment I will show to be in the wrong
and I’m glad to know today that
because I enjoy the presence of God that
I’m
protected from Evil and bad things that
people say about
me in Exodus
33:14 the Lord replied to
Moses Moses said who shall I say sent
me when God sent him to pharaoh who
shall I say sent me and he said my
presence will go with you and I will
give you rest well without God’s
presence there’s always a sense of
dissatisfaction and a feeling of
something is missing in my life are you
maybe like that right now something is
missing from my life I go to church I
read my Bible a little bit every day I
pray I give a little bit into the
offering try to be good but something’s
missing from my
life maybe you’re in the family but not
in the house Jeremiah 2:13 says my
people have committed two
evils they have forsaken me the Fountain
of Living Water and they have dug for
themselves Wells that have no water in
them that means that they’re into their
own Works doing their own thing wanting
God to bless it they’re digging Wells
and coming up with all these plans about
how they can get what they want but then
when they get done with all their
digging there’s no water in that well
and God says you need to seek
me and when we seek
him he’ll give us favor Del light
yourself in the Lord and He will give
you the desires of your
heart well what kept the elder brother
out of the
house first he was angry there were
things happening that he did not like he
wasn’t in
control now I’m sure there’s nobody
watching today that loves to be in
control but I used to be that
way
and I had a lot of fear in my life
because of the abuse from my dad in my
childhood and I was afraid if I didn’t
control everything that people would
hurt me and take advantage of
me but some people are just controllers
they’re just manipulators and we can’t
always be in control God wants to be in
control and the elder brother was mad
because he wasn’t in control he didn’t
want a party nobody asked him about a
party and he was just mad he would not
adapt and adjust and the Bible says in
Romans 12 that if we want to live in
peace we’ve got to be adaptable and
adjustable I always say God make me
adaptable and adjustable pliable and
moldable he would not submit his
feelings to his father’s will
and his father’s wisdom and he was
jealous he was Covetous and that’s a bad
heart
attitude Exodus 2017 you shall not covet
your neighbor’s house you shall not
covet your neighbor’s wife or his male
or female servant or his ox or his
donkey or anything that belongs to your
neighbor if you’re jealous of
somebody drop it leave it pray pray with
God pray with God about it talk to him
about it ask him
to cleanse your heart from that trust
God to give you what’s right for you at
the right time and be happy for other
people that are blessed my husband says
until we can be happy for other people
who get what they want we’ll never get
what we want let me say that again until
you can be happy for other people who
get what they want maybe even they get
what you’d like to have you’ll probably
never get yours until you you can be
happy for them God doesn’t want us
coveting what other people have he wants
us to trust him that he’s doing the
right thing for us at the right time in
our
life what was the root of his negative
emotions well he had unforgiveness
toward his brother and he had
unforgiveness toward his father he was
mad at both of them he was bitter and
resented his father blessing his
brother well we can easily resent other
people’s blessings be on guard against
resentment Hebrews 12:15 says see to it
that no one falls short of the grace of
God and that no Bitter Root grows up and
causes trouble and defiles many you see
when when we get
bitter one of the things that we start
to do is Judge other people and then we
start talking about them behind their
back we start spreading
strife and so if you let bitterness get
in your heart
it not only hurts you but it can end up
hurting a lot of people around you and
you know when you say something bad
about somebody to somebody else it
affects their opinion of that person
even if they don’t want to believe
you not talking bad about other people
is it’s challenging it’s something that
we all have to work on probably all of
our
life and I know better but every once in
a while I’ll catch myself doing it
and we really have no right to judge
anybody because when you judge you set
yourself up as God in someone’s life and
only God has the right to judge we don’t
we can judge sin but we can’t judge a
person’s heart that’s why God looks at
the
heart he resented his father blessing
his
brother he was self-righteous and he was
proud he felt that he deserved the
blessing that his brother brother God we
got to be careful thinking we deserve
stuff to be honest what we deserve is to
die and go to
hell thankfully Jesus Took the
punishment that we deserve and instead
of getting punished we can be blessed
but we need to have the same attitude
toward other people that God has toward
us and you know if you don’t need this
message today I’ll be very happy to
preach to myself because I need teaching
like this on a regular basis
this brother this elder brother he had a
religious spirit what I mean by that is
is he thought everything was about
outward
works but it was really more about it’s
really more about what’s going on inside
of
us the pure in heart will see God
blessed are the pure in heart for they
shall see God is what it says in Matthew
5 and what is commonly called The Sermon
on the Mount are the
Beatitudes and if you think about these
to see the brother he did a wrong thing
but then he ran back to his father in
Repentance father forgive me for I’ve
sinned against you in heaven and I don’t
deserve any of your blessings just I’ll
just be like one of your hired servants
just if if I just have enough to eat
well the father loved his
attitude but here this elder brother who
has always had everything that his
father had at his
disposal he had a he had everything but
he had a bad
attitude and so really our attitude is
more important to God than all of our
so-called good
works what does the Bible say about
forgiveness it should be a lifestyle not
just something we do
occasionally Matthew 18:35 says forgive
your brother or your sister from your
heart this is how we should
pray the disciples said teach us to pray
and Jesus did it’s recorded in Matthew
Our Father who is in heaven holy is your
name your kingdom come your will be done
in earth as it is in
heaven give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses as we Al
also forgive those who trespass against
us uh oh wait a minute forgive us the
same way we forgive other people
people wow is that what we really want
well that’s what we get and lead us not
into temptation but Deliver Us from
Evil for if you forgive other people
when they sin against you your heavenly
father will also forgive you but if you
don’t forgive others your heavenly
father will not forgive you wow well you
know without forgiveness we can’t live
in the house we might be in the family
but we’re not in the house we we can’t
things have to be right between us and
God you you can’t have hidden sin in
your heart and have a close relationship
with God you can’t be hanging on to
bitterness and resentment and be
angry and resentful and jealous if you
want to have a close relationship with
God you got to get all that junk cleaned
out of your heart God wants us to have
pure
hearts your faith won’t work without
forgiveness I mean forgiveness is so
important so so important
the anointing which I don’t even know
how many people today know what the
anointing is but the anointing is God’s
presence and Power on your
life you know you can have two Bible
teachers one that’s anointed and one
that’s not and they can preach the exact
same message word for
word but the one that’s not anointed
won’t really affect the lives of the
hearers the one that’s
anointed the words that he speaks or she
speaks will go right past your brain
down into your heart and it’ll bring
break bondages off of your
life I covet God’s anointing I want that
more than anything and I know that I
have to have a pure heart if I want to
have
that and so that’s something that I work
toward in my
life Psalm 133 says how good and
pleasant it is when God’s people live
together in unity and Harmony what’s
your house like is it full of
strife who are you mad at in your
family
that Unity is like Precious oil poured
on the head running down the beard
running down Aaron’s beard down to the
collar of his robe well that that was
what they did when they anointed people
they poured oil on their
head so he’s saying that Unity is like
the anointing it ushers in the anointing
and bestows blessings forever
more
six ways to
determine whether or not we have
unforgiveness and I want to say again
what I said yesterday I think sometimes
we have unforgiveness for so long that
we don’t even really realize that it’s
there
anymore I remember one time the pastor
at my church this has been almost 40
years ago he
said today I’m going to teach on
unforgiveness and I thought oh I don’t I
don’t I don’t have unforgiveness against
anybody and I heard the Lord speak to my
heart say yes you do and I honestly
couldn’t think of
anybody but while the pastor was
preaching I thought of it wasn’t even
somebody that had done anything to me it
was a girl that my daughter went to
school with that mistreated her and I
was mad at that
girl for mistreating my
daughter and what I should have been
doing is praying for
her God wants us to pray for people when
they do things they shouldn’t
do somebody’s got to pray so God can
work and we need to do a lot more
praying for people when they hurt us
father forgive them for they know not
what they do that’s what Jesus said on
the cross father forgive them for they
know not what they
do that’s what stepen said while he was
being stoned father forgive them for
they know not what they
do when nobody stood with Paul at his
first trial every everybody deserted him
imagine that he said father I pray that
you will not lay this sin to their
charge oh
my what a good
heart I want a heart like that don’t
you I want to be gentle and tender and
kind to people and
merciful god is so
merciful my goodness if he wasn’t
merciful we’d be destroyed every
day well here’s six ways that you you
can
determine if you have unforgiveness this
is some of the nature of unforgiveness
unforgiveness always keeps
score the elder brother said these many
years I have served you when he gave his
speech to his father these many years I
have served
you that’s in Luke 15:29 but he answered
his father look all these
years I’ve been slaving for you and I’ve
never disobeyed your orders well I kind
of doubt that so he thought more highly
of himself than he should
have and you never even gave me a young
goat so I could celebrate with my
friends you know his father said to him
son you been with me always everything
that I have is yours in other words this
boy could have had anything he wanted
anytime he wanted
it but he just
was keeping score I’ve done this for you
I’ve done that for you I’ve done this
for
you then he he said but this this son of
yours he wouldn’t even claim him as a
brother he went out and wasted his money
with prostitutes and loose from
restraint living and now he comes back
and you give him a big
party well he didn’t he didn’t he didn’t
like that he didn’t understand that you
know you should not get angry when God
blesses people that you think don’t
deserve it because you know what what
God does for other people is really none
of our
business we need to just say God your
will be
done and not
mine Peter said to Jesus in Matthew
18:21 and22 Peter came to Jesus and said
Lord how many
times shall I forgive my brother our
sister who sins against me
seven see he was counting too he was
keeping score how many times do I have
to forgive him I remember when I was
like that in the early days of mine and
dav’s marriage if we had an
argument and I would
apologize the next time we had an
argument I felt like it was his turn to
apologize and I was not going to
apologize because I apologized the last
time and God had to teach te me there’s
no place in the Bible where it says take
turns I’ll be honest with you if you’re
the only one that ever
apologizes and if you’re the first one
to apologize then as far as I’m
concerned you’re the one that’s more
spiritual we need to do what God is
asking us to do no matter what somebody
else does and we need to do it
quick oh man our thinking it gets us in
trouble this this elder brother his
thinking was all messed
up you know I’m just wondering as I talk
to you
today and I feel like I’m talking to
some people right now do you have a
sibling a sister or a brother that
you’ve been mad at for a long time maybe
haven’t even spoken to in five years or
10 years I know my dad was like that
even with people in the family if
somebody in the family did something to
him that he didn’t like he wouldn’t talk
to him for years and years and years
there was one of my mother’s sisters
that he didn’t like and he would he
would
never talk to
her how sad is that that we can’t
forgive people what we expect God to
forgive us if you have a sibling that
you have that kind of an attitude toward
I’m going to ask
you to be really strong in
God pray through forgiving them and then
pick up the phone and call
them and be the bigger person and say
I’m
sorry let’s get our relationship
straightened out God doesn’t want us to
be mad at each
other and get things
right in your
family if there’s anybody that you have
ought against get it straightened out
and don’t waste any
time Jesus answered I tell you you not
seven times but 70 times 7 and really
seven is God’s perfect number so what he
was saying really is you just keep
forgiving and keep forgiving and keep
forgiving you know what aren’t you glad
that God doesn’t put any limit on his
forgiveness aren’t you glad that he
doesn’t say I’ll forgive you three times
for the same thing but after that nope
no
more this is an important word
today have you been looking for a 300
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focus verse for all 365 days of the year
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devotional at Joyce meyer.org
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[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 the last days mine you start asking
God to heal you and he will restore it’s
the God of all comfort and I am so
grateful that I know how to call on
God