God must be our number one priority in life. On this episode of Enjoying Everyday Life, Joyce Meyer shares how a balanced and fulfilling life begins with putting God first.
this program has been made possible by
the friends and partners of joyce meyer
ministries
what we need to do is check what the
world teaches us
against what god teaches us and always
go
with god because god needs to be first
in our life
in all things
[Music]
thank you so much for joining us today i
believe
that the time you’re investing is going
to pay great dividends in your life
because we are going to talk about
something really important today
we’re going to talk about priorities
actually i’m calling it
putting first things first and you know
sometimes we don’t have any trouble
putting them first but then it’s keeping
them first
that can become the challenge because
there’s so many
other things that try to crowd in you
know there’s a scripture
in first peter i think it’s 5 8 in the
amplified bible it says be well balanced
for adversary the devil roams about like
a lion
roaring in fierce hunger seeking whom he
may
devour and then it says we’re to
steadfastly resist him
well i think it’s interesting that it
says that if we
stay well balanced that we can keep the
enemy out of our lives and if we’re not
balanced
we can let him in and you know balance
really has a lot to do
with priorities it’s like knowing what’s
the most important
what comes after that what comes after
that and
keeping things the way they should be
and that is our responsibility
you know so many people today complain
about
their schedule they complain about not
having any time and what everybody
expects out of them and
you know i catch myself doing it too
sometimes
but the lord reminds me that it’s my
schedule i made it and i’m the only one
that can change it and so we have
to become responsible for the things in
our life
that don’t seem to be working well and
sometimes there’s nothing we can do
about it
sometimes it’s just an attack from the
enemy but sometimes we have let our
lives get out of order
and we’ve opened up a door for the enemy
let me just give you one example
the bible talks about how we open a door
for the enemy
through holding on to unforgiveness
don’t let the sun go down on your anger
don’t get the devil
don’t give the devil any such foothold
and so it’s up to us to make sure
that we don’t go to bed mad but i wonder
how many even of you that are watching
even though i know you’re wonderful
and you do most everything right i
wonder
how many of you went to bed last night
angry
at somebody perhaps even the person
that you were sleeping with hopefully
and prayerfully the person that you
were married to and we need to realize
that
we can’t just pray everything away we
pray for god to give us the strength to
do
what we need to do so let’s talk today
and tomorrow on the program about
priorities
putting first things first well
christ is the center of all things
he is the first and the
most important thing in our lives
colossians 1 17 and 18 from the
amplified
classic edition and we really need to
read this slow
because it is just so powerful and he
himself existed before all things
so before there was anything any world
any universe
anything there was god
and in him all things
consist cohere and are held together
i love that like god is the the glue
so to speak that holds us together that
holds our lives together
that holds the universe together when
you think about
just the earth on its axis
and how it rotates and if it just didn’t
rotate exactly
perfectly i guess it’d fall off and no
tell us what would happen
who keeps the sun and the moon and the
stars in the sky
who makes all of these things in the
universe
work right i’ll tell you whether you
know it or not
you are dependent on god
god provides food for the animals he
provides
enough sunshine enough rain god is
so good and he is involved in everything
and it’s time that we start giving him
credit for it
he is the head of his body
which is the church he refers to the
church
not just the one building you to go to
but the
the church all believers
as his body
he is the head of his body the church
seeing that he is the beginning
the firstborn from among the dead jesus
was the first
one to ever come back from the dead
so that he alone now get this
that he alone in everything and in every
respect
might occupy the chief place stand first
and be preeminent well
god should be
the main thing in our life
well let me just ask a few questions
what’s first in your life
is making money first in your life
trying to buy more things than you
already have do you spend
too much time at work
rarely any time with god rarely any time
with your family
if you do it will eventually catch up
with you and there will be
consequences we need to think about
consequences
we reap what we sow
the bible tells us not to store up
treasure on earth
where it can be destroyed at any moment
matthew 6 19
don’t store up for yourselves treasures
on earth
wear moth and vermin destroy and where
thieves break in
and steal you know the bible says in
revelation
that babylon falls in one hour
and the businessmen and those who love
commerce begin to mourn
now babylon was actually a city but it’s
also
gives us the idea of wealth and
prosperity and
and business and all the commerce that
goes on in the world and
i’m not suggesting that we don’t need to
make money
we do we need money i’m not suggesting
that we shouldn’t
save money we do need to save money for
emergencies and save
decent amount of money for retirement
but
don’t worship money don’t don’t make
money more important than what it is
often people say that money is the root
of all evil but that’s not what the
bible says
it says the love of money is the root of
all
evil and i think we all always have to
remember and remind ourselves that
we came into the world with nothing and
the bible says that we will go out of it
with nothing this is a very important
subject
to think about we all have so
much stuff i mean just
stuff how many things do you have in
your house
that you don’t need never use
but yet you might even go out and buy
another one
keep first things first in your life
don’t make money the most important
thing
in your life
how about getting your college degree
maybe for you right now that’s the most
important thing
in your life well
first of all let me say i’m all for
education
i think you should get as much of it as
you feel that you need
there are some things that we just can’t
do without the education to do them i
certainly wouldn’t want to go to a
doctor
that had never gone to school and had
years of training
in what’s required to be a doctor
so even today in a lot of places you
know when i was
when i was growing up you didn’t need a
college degree as much as you do today
to get a job
a lot back then people were willing to
to train you and they even liked that
sometimes better
than getting somebody who already
thought they knew everything
but today not impossible but
a lot of places really put a lot of
value in the college degree
so i’m not saying that it’s not
important but
some people get so smart
that they no longer can believe like a
little child
you know jesus said that if we want to
enter the kingdom of heaven we must come
to him
as a little child and
i think that’s so important you know are
you childlike in your heart
we don’t want to go around acting like
babies but
it’s so true i think the more people
know
sometimes not all the time but sometimes
the less they’re able to believe because
if you let your head get more full than
your heart is
then you’re going to want to understand
everything and i will just tell you now
you are not
nor should you understand everything
about god who can figure out the trinity
i read the other day that a man trying
to figure out the trinity
would be like a worm trying to figure
out a man
there’s no way that you can say we have
one god but
shows up in three persons you can never
make three equal one
or one equal three but and i don’t
understand that with my head
but i do understand it with my heart i
believe it
with childlike faith we have god the
father
jesus the son who is fully god
and the holy spirit who is also god
you can’t understand all the things that
happen in the world why bad things
happen to good
people there’s too many things we can’t
understand
so we have to be willing to yes
think about things but if it comes to
the point where
you’re being confused by thinking about
them at that point that’s when you say
i trust god you say but i can’t see god
i can’t feel god
but we can know
not in our mind but in our heart that
god is
he says without faith it’s impossible to
please him
and those that come to him must believe
that he is
and that he is a rewarder
of everyone who diligently seeks him
let’s look at some of the things that
god has to say about worldly wisdom
first corinthians 1 19-21 for it is
written i will destroy the wisdom of the
wise
the intelligence of the intelligent i
will frustrate
where is the wise person where is the
teacher of the law
where is the philosopher of this age
has not god made foolish the wisdom
of this world now listen
for since in the wisdom of god
the world through its wisdom did not
know him
god was pleased through the foolishness
of preaching to save those who believe
it’s so amazing to me sometimes when i’m
teaching in a conference and
i can see the people to just watch their
faces
and watch the change that comes over
some of the people
as i preach the gospel of jesus christ
it’s wonderful to see light come into
dead eyes
it’s amazing when
we have the privilege of leading someone
into a relationship with god through
christ
they believe with their heart the word
of god the gospel of christ when it’s
preached
there’s so much power in it that it can
go beyond what you think
or what seems to make sense to you and
you can know
in a different way than knowing with
your head the bible talks a lot about
knowing job said i know that my redeemer
lives
well he didn’t just mean he knew it with
his head
because his life was in a lot of trouble
it
wouldn’t have looked to him like his
redeemer was alive but he said i know
and he meant i know
down here and can i just simply say this
right now because i feel like it’s
something god wants me to say
some of you just need to
stop trying to figure it out
whatever it is to you it could be your
current problem
it could be some difficulty that you
are or have gone through in life and
something that seems really
unfair happened to you and you just
don’t get it
go beyond what you think to what you
know
in your heart shut that head off
sometimes and just sit quietly in the
presence of god
and see what is in your heart
worldly wisdom versus godly wisdom
james 3 13-17 who is wise
and understanding among you let them
show it by their good life
by deeds done in the humility that comes
from wisdom but if you harbor
bitter envy and selfish ambition in your
hearts don’t
do not boast about it or deny the truth
such wisdom does not come down from
heaven but is earthly unspiritual and
demonic for where there is envy and
selfish ambition
there you find disorder and every evil
practice
when i see the world might say if
somebody mistreats you
you need to shut them out of your life
or get them back
you need to make them pay in some way
but that’s really not godly wisdom
because godly wisdom tells us to harbor
such things in our heart
is going to ruin our own life and that
we need to forgive
people even though they don’t deserve it
and when we do forgive people
then we can trust god to take care of us
the wisdom that comes from above i love
this is first of all pure
peace loving considerate
submissive oh that’s a good one
because we have very few really
submissive people
in the world today most people just
absolutely
do not want to be told what to do
full of mercy and good fruit
impartial true wisdom knows that god
created
everyone equally we all have equal value
to god and we should honor one another
in the same way
one person is not better than another in
god’s eyes
knowledge too much knowledge too much
head knowledge i should say
can cause one to be puffed up the bible
says and that means
proud now here again
i’m not against education get all the
degrees that you want to get
but make sure that you always keep in
front of you
that god’s ways supersede
the ways of the world and perhaps even
some of the ways you’ve learned to do
things
if they don’t agree with god’s word then
you need to go to god’s word
not what you’ve learned do you know that
a lot of young people that go to college
a huge percentage of christian young
people that go to college
come out having had lost their faith
somebody was just telling me last week
about their child
who’s a good godly child has only been
in college one year
and they’ve already lost so much
of their faith well we don’t have to do
that
what we need to do is check what the
world teaches us
against what god teaches us and always
go
with god because god needs to be first
in our life
in all things in our time
in our conversation in our thoughts
in our actions our entertainment
our attitude our decisions god always
needs
to be first always
what would happen in our society today
like the number one thing the bible
teaches
is love you shall love the lord your god
with all your heart soul mind and
strength and you shall love your
neighbor even as you love yourself
what if every person in the world went
to
a college for four years to get a degree
in walking in love wow
come on what if we went to school to
learn about mercy
and kindness and giving and generosity
and forgiveness you know those are the
things that we really
need to know so
go to all the schooling you want to get
all the information you want to
but make sure that you always have time
for this in your life
don’t say i don’t have time for that
right now i’m busy
getting a degree
love is the most important thing in the
world
the bible says that we can have all of
everything else
all the worldly wisdom prophetic powers
on and on and on
but if we have not love we are a useless
nobody so walking in love every day
should be our number one
top priority now you know i don’t know
how long it takes you to get ready to go
out
but like when i was coming here to the
studio today
it takes me an hour to take a shower
wash my hair
fix my hair put on makeup pick out the
right clothes
sometimes i do it in 45 minutes but
usually it takes an hour
and if i look at myself and i don’t like
the way i look
i’ll go try another outfit
well let me ask you a question do you
spend as much time getting ready
spiritually before you go out
as you do getting ready physically
see i spent two hours with god before i
spent that hour getting myself
to where i thought i looked good enough
to go outside now you may say well joyce
i don’t
i don’t have that kind of time in the
morning i’ve got a house full of kids
well god doesn’t expect something out of
you that you can’t give him
but you need to start your day with god
even if it’s five minutes in the
bathroom you need to start your day with
god
and let me just say something else and i
want you to remember this
whatever you put your time into
whatever you put the most of your time
into that
is the thing that is the most important
to you let me say it again
whatever you put your time into
the more time you put into something the
more important
it is to you we like to think we have no
control
over our schedule but we do
we certainly do so we need to be
educated
but beware of having more head knowledge
than you do
spiritual knowledge
don’t fail at christianity
or some people fail at christianity
because they don’t educate themselves in
being a christian
you know being a christian is about a
lot more than just going to church
i can go out and sit in my garage all
day and that’ll never make me a car
and you can go sit in a church
three times a week every week of your
life
and that will never make you a christian
being a christian
is about receiving jesus christ as your
lord and savior as your only help and
your only hope
and leaning entirely on him for the
forgiveness of sins
and for salvation and having
through christ a deep personal intimate
relationship with god where he is
invited into and welcome into every
single area
of your life now let me just tell you
now if you do not have that
you can call the phone number on your
screen and one of our operators will be
happy to explain more to you about what
it means to be born again
and they will lead you through prayer
into a relationship with god through
christ
please call us if you don’t have that
and you need it
are you trying to climb the corporate
ladder of success you have to be careful
because some people spend all their life
trying to climb the ladder of success
only to find out when they get to the
top that it’s leaned against the wrong
building
there’s nothing that makes me sadder
than to see an elderly person
say somebody in their 80s and
all they can think about is all the
things they regret
things they regret that they did things
they regret that they didn’t do
let me tell you when you’re on your
deathbed you’re not going to ask to see
your checkbook balance
that’s not going to be what you want
you’re going to want your family
your friends around you you’re going to
want to have the comfort of god
in your life knowing that even when you
leave this earth you’re going to a
better place
to live with god throughout all eternity
is your girlfriend your boyfriend your
husband your wife
more important to you than god is do you
choose them
over god you know the people that are
important to us
need to have a a high place in our life
but people will disappoint you and let
you down
but the bible says that if we go with
god
will never be disappointed how about
your children
are they the number one thing in your
life well you know what
they’re going to grow up and leave now
that doesn’t mean that you can’t always
have a good relationship with your
children
but my daughter for example has four
children
all grown and the last one just left
home
now here she was a few years ago
driving kids everywhere and her life was
so busy with all of her kids
you know you need to make sure while
you’re raising your children that you
also
are building a relationship with god
and other relationships because you’re
you’re going to need them
eventually
and yeah i don’t know what it is that
you spend all your time doing
but i know that we need to make good
habits
and a lot of times we focus on breaking
bad habits but
if you just focus on making good habits
there will be no room for the bad habits
and so we’re offering you today
some teaching called making good habits
breaking
bad habits and a coffee mug so you can
start every morning
with god it says good morning this is
god
i’ll be taking care of your problems
today and i won’t need your help
it’s good to have reminders all around
us
about god to make sure that we keep him
first place in our life
now be sure you join us tomorrow and
we’re going to continue along
these lines of teaching thank you
the suite life doesn’t stop at 16.
[Music]
do now what you’ll be happy with later
old is a mindset you never have to
accept
i wish that someone would have told me
when i was 20 or 30 the things that i’m
trying to tell you
in this book let me help you age without
getting old
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so as all this is growing and you’re
you’re watching god really really
feeding this
were you always in agreement was it
always um
well not necessarily well i i i
would think there would be some yeah big
decisions to be made
there was there there was but i mean
there was a really good flow to it
because she did things in the ministry
and i did things in the ministry and and
you know i was i was setting up all the
conferences
once in a while we’d get a hotel that
the shingles were falling off of the
roof the air conditioning wasn’t working
and the guy was in the middle of the
meeting he was climbing up in the
climbing up in the ceiling which is
about 20 feet high
you know trying to fix the air
conditioning and one where
where it was raining and water was
coming down by the
curtain where she was teaching it was
just a lot of
wild excitement you know i was so busy
teaching
and studying to teach uh that that
between that and and i i probably dealt
with most of the people issues
in the office so dealing with all that
hiring
firing organization that kind of stuff
and he was pretty busy with
the the radio and all the just setting
up everything
the logistics and the the buying all the
equipment i wanted to buy things that we
were actually needed and
so that we would use the money wisely
and we saved and paid cash flow we had
requisitions
uh they would present me with
requisitions and i would determine do we
really need this you know and so
during that period of time it it kept us
you know to where we would not you know
waste money
this program has been made possible by
the friends and partners of joyce meyer
ministries