Faith is a powerful force that changes things.
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.
Faith is a powerful force that changes things.
and if we can ever understand how
valuable faith isn’t that faith creates
things and it changes things that it
moves mountains and it solves problems
[Music]
the Bible teaches us in Romans 12 that
unto every man is given the measure of
God’s faith and actually if you go ahead
and study that it’s that God gives the
measure of his faith for each one of us
to do what he’s asked us to do in life
because Jesus didn’t die so we could all
struggle he didn’t die so we could just
have this hard hard hard life and just
struggle and be frustrated all the time
and he specially doesn’t want us to
struggle trying to make the Christian
life work amen
so he gives us faith faith is a word
that we throw around a lot as Christians
and and I know that you know even maybe
sometimes we’ve heard so much about
faith that you know even tonight when I
said I got to teach on faith this
weekend I didn’t get the reaction that I
would have got if I would have said I’m
gonna teach on how to control your
emotions everybody won and but I just
don’t think that we understand or maybe
we just need to keep relearning and keep
understanding how important just that
little simple childlike faith is to this
whole walk with God and and how
important it is to peace to
righteousness
to joy it’s amazing the problems that
are solved the moment that you decide to
trust God in everything unto every man
is given the measure of faith so don’t
even try to say well I wish I had faith
you have faith if you wouldn’t had faith
you wouldn’t come here tonight because
you had faith that if you came I’d be R
you had faith when you parked your car
in the parking lot that when you leave
tonight and go out there it’ll still be
there you had faith that you would get a
seat have a place to sit you had faith
that you would enjoy this and get
something out of it it’s amazing how
much faith we use every single solitary
day and why we have such a hard time
putting faith in God
is very interesting every time you sit
in the chair you have faith that’s going
to hold you up I say I’m not sitting
there going oh my gosh I hope this thing
doesn’t cave in oh no it’s like I just
sat down the chair
I didn’t even check it out first it’s a
chair chairs you sit in so I just sat
down in the chair I came in tonight and
I had the faith that if I put all my
stuff on this podium that it would hold
it up you operate in faith all the time
every time you got in traffic in your
car you better be in faith every time
you send one of your teenagers off to
school you better be in faith so we do
have faith I’ve been doing quite a bit
of study on faith again in the last few
months and I think really there’s
certain foundational subjects that we
have to study and refresh ourselves in
all the time Paul told the people that
he never got tired of telling them the
same things over and over because it it
rekindled their faith and stirred them
up in faith in those areas so if you
walked in here if I were to come up here
tonight so how many of you are confused
there would have been hundreds of hands
go up if not thousands and so I can just
say to you that if you’re confused
you’re not operating in faith at least
not about that thing you’re confused
about because the moment you trust God
confusion goes because when you trust
God you don’t have to try to figure
anything out anymore and the moment you
stop trying to figure things out
you don’t get confused
if I would have said how many of you are
worried oh we would have lots of hands
go up but if we’re worried then
obviously we’re not in feet no that
doesn’t mean that we don’t have faith in
God but I want to talk to you about
something different this weekend I want
to talk to you about not just having
faith every person has faith but I want
to talk to you about releasing your
faith about releasing your faith because
faith is a powerful force that changes
things
it does things faith is the only thing
that can cause you to enter the rest of
God which is the absolute most glorious
place to be because you don’t have to
try to figure stuff out you don’t have
to try to change things that you’ve
already tried a million times to change
and the more you try to change the more
frustrated it makes you because you can
just finally say well God I’m trusting
you with this and if you can’t change it
then I guess they don’t need to be
changed how many years was I frustrated
trying to change my husband and changing
my kids and changed my neighbors and
change me and change changin
oh what a relief it was to me to find
out that only God could change people
and then I didn’t need to be working on
everybody else I had enough issues of my
own to work on amen
how do we come to this point of having
this kind of faith that will let us
enter the rest of God well I’m not going
to give you some fancy super spiritual
answer I’m just going to tell you what I
think the truth is I think that the only
way you can learn to stop worrying and
stop trying to figure things out stop
being jealous of what other people have
and all the crazy things that we do and
I’m going to talk to you more about some
of those things later
I just honestly think that in addition
to studying the word I think that we
just have to try it our way long enough
to find they just get worn out enough
they just say okay god I surrender come
on we got to talk about surrender this
weekend I surrender I finally just said
you know what God you knew what you were
getting when you got me because you know
that beginning you know the end and
everything in between you know every
flaw that I have every fault that I have
you know every weakness that I have as
well as my strengths and I just decided
I was gonna stop apologizing for myself
25 times a day and just tell God I’m
willing I’m willing to let you do any
work in me that you want to do but I am
NOT gonna spend every day of my life
trying to change myself now that doesn’t
mean that I don’t operate in any kind of
discipline or self-control but really to
tell you the truth it’s the Word of God
that changes us and you’d be much better
instead of trying to change yourself to
just study the word more and trust God
to do what he says that only he can do I
finally decided decisions are so
important I think a lot of people come
to stuff like this and they just listen
and never make a decision I want you to
make decisions this weekend I want you
to decide to do things God’s Way and
then I want you to leave here knowing
that you can’t do it unless he helps you
and I want you to leave leaning leaning
leaning relying leaning trusting leaning
and relying on him to do what only he
can do you see when I sit in this chair
I’m leaning on it
glory to God so wonderful hoof
I might even preach from here a little
bit tonight you never know well I mean
this is a pathetic example but it gives
kind of a little example of what it’s
like to lean on God you know as you as
you lean on him then you take the
pressure off of yourself and I might add
until we do learn to lean on God we’re
not going to have any victory in our
life let’s go to mark 11:22 so you’re
ready for a little journey now about
faith right how many of you see what I
mean you know we can talk oh yes I’m a
faith person yes yes I go to a faith
church I booked some faith yes yes well
why do you worry why are you confused
why are you jealous why are you upset
because you see we can have something
never put it to good use God actually
dealt with me about I guess it was
December sometime in December about even
our giving and he said you’ve gotten in
a habit of giving that’s what God put in
my heart you’ve gotten in a habit of
giving which how many of you know giving
is a good habit but listen to what he
put my heart you’ve gotten in a habit of
giving but you don’t release your faith
with your giving anymore just do it and
of course you know when you give you
will you will be blessed but there’s a
there’s another whole level you can come
into if every time you give you release
your faith my god I’m giving in
obedience to your word and this is what
I’m trusting you to do you’re gonna see
in just a minute that the three ways you
release your faith at least the three
we’re going to talk about tonight so
simple if you get this they can be
life-changing through praying through
saying and through doing what you
believe God wants you to do you release
your faith when you really pray when you
pray sincerely in faith hope you release
your faith how many of you understand
your faith can’t work unless you release
it
just having it doesn’t do any good you
can have money in the bank and still
starve to death
you can have food in the refrigerator
and go hungry you can have a coat in
your closet and still go out and fries
so having something is no guarantee that
you’re going to use it and one thing’s
for sure if you don’t know you have it
and that’s the sad thing about a lot of
Christians is nobody’s telling them what
they have and so one of the things I
want to do is tell you a lot tonight
about what your inheritance includes and
it’s not something you have to keep
trying to get you have it you don’t have
to keep trying to be right with God
you are right with God through the blood
of Jesus Christ and if you believe that
then out of that position you have by
faith in God you will begin to behave
more rightly because you’re not you
can’t you can’t give away something you
don’t have that’s why it’s so important
to receive the love of God into your own
life because how can you love yourself
and love other people if you don’t have
the love of God you can’t give away what
you don’t have mercy is another good
example if you don’t receive God’s mercy
but if you’re real harsh and hard on
yourself and legalistic and and every
time you do something wrong you’re
punishing yourself for your mistake and
we we do have ways to punish ourselves
for our mistakes we give up a lot of joy
because we don’t think we deserve it
when you learn to receive the mercy of
God it softens your heart and you begin
to be more tender-hearted toward other
people because you realize that God has
been merciful to you so it’s very
important that we know what’s ours and I
just want to teach you a little little
higher level of what we talked about in
faith because the Apostle Paul said it’s
no longer I that live but Christ that
lives in me and the life that I now live
I live by faith
so there’s this faith that we come into
the kingdom by there’s the faith for our
salvation there’s that initial faith to
have our sins forgiven and that’s a
beginning but my goodness what a life is
available to us if we’ll learn to live
by faith I don’t want to just believe
that someday when I die I’m gonna go to
heaven and live in the sweet by-and-by
and my mansion and float around on
clouds and that I’ll finally be happy
then and that all the time I’m here is
just drudgery and pain and suffering and
misery trying to make it through till
Jesus comes back I am so tired of that
stuff well how are you today sister well
I’m under attack I’ll tell you that and
I’ve just got such a burden well then
you need to somebody to sit down with
you that really knows the word and give
you some lessons because we don’t need
to be under stuff all the time the Bible
says we’re the head and not the tail
above and not beneath and that we’ve
already got the victory through Christ
who strengthens us day by day and if we
can ever understand how valuable faith
is and that faith creates things and it
changes things and it moves mountains
and it solves problems and I love the
song that I guess Martin you write that
song I love that song that that you
wrote and he’s he’s saying you know we
can’t give up our faith you can’t give
up your faith and that’s the thing
that’s important just because you
released your faith that doesn’t mean
everything changes just won’t sometimes
you got to keep believing and you got to
keep holding on but God is faithful and
anybody who’s walked with God for very
long knows that God is faithful he may
not do it your way your time buddy
you’ll do it God will bring us through
and if he doesn’t deliver us from
something he will give us the strength
to go through it and go through it with
a smile on our face hallelujah mark
11:22 and Jesus replying to them said
have faith in God constantly now we
could just stop and preach on that the
rest of the night because you don’t need
to just have faith occasionally or when
you have a disaster but have faith in
God constantly in Romans 1:17 there’s a
great scripture it says that in the
Bible we learn about a righteousness
which is a right relationship with God
that leads us from faith to faith to
faith I like that there’s little faith
and there’s great faith and the way that
your faith grows is by using what you
have that’s why I say that sometimes you
just got to go through some stuff until
you finally learn just how great God is
and just how great you’re not without
him hallelujah
matter of fact I’ll just say without
humility you’re never gonna have much
victory trying to walk in faith because
you can’t lean and rely if you still
think you can do it yourself apart from
me Jesus said you can do nothing and
that means nothing amen
I’ve been in front of crowds like this
thousands and thousands of times and I
would never get up here assuming that
everything was just going to go fine
because it has before I make it very
clear to God then I know it’s an
opportunity he’s giving me that he could
have given it to somebody else
and that I appreciate what he’s letting
me do and that I know that I cannot do
it without him and let me tell you
something no matter what your job is it
doesn’t have to be preaching our pulpit
job I don’t care if you clean toilets
for a living you need to lean on God to
be able to clean them right and clean
them happy
have faith in God constantly truly I say
to you whoever says to the mountain
whoever says to the mountain not who
thinks about the mountain or looks at
the mountain or complains about the
mountain talks about the mountain but
whoever says to the mountain be lifted
up and thrown into the sea does not
doubt in his heart but believes that
what he says will take place it will be
done for him for this reason I’m telling
you whatever you ask for in prayer
believe trust and be confident that it
is granted to you and you will get it in
God’s economy you got to believe before
you get you don’t get it then believe
you got it doesn’t take any faith to do
that not one of you has to believe now
for a seat because you’ve got one you
don’t have to believe that I’m here
because I’m here so once we get
something we no longer have to believe
but there’s a period of time where we’re
gonna ask for something release our
faith we pray that’s part of releasing
your faith then we need to keep saying
what we believe God is doing not ask for
it then talk like we’re never going to
get it
amen
how would you like it if you told one of
your kids they came to you and said mom
I need a new pair of shoes and you say
okay I’ll take you real soon and we’ll
get those shoes you didn’t tell them
when you just expect them to trust you
that when the time is right you’ll take
them to get the shoes now how would you
like it if they spent the next two weeks
rocking around the house saying I’ll
never get used I guess I’ll go barefoot
the rest of my life I’ll know I’ll never
have any shoes
well I wish I had shoes I’ll never have
shoes like anybody else why is it that
we can understand that with our kids but
we don’t understand it in our
relationship with God you tell him what
you need it’s even great if you know
enough of scripture to back it up with a
scripture because your word says and if
there’s nothing else just say well your
word says I can ask you for what I need
and you’ll give it to me
and then keep saying that you know it’s
on the way
matter of fact I can tell you if mom
planned to take that kid shopping in two
weeks but every time the kid walked by
mom they said I know mom you’re gonna
take me soon I’m so excited you’re such
a good mom
I know any time you’re gonna take me how
much you want to bet me that you’d move
it up a week I’m telling you what we we
don’t get it you know making sense so
now we have to pray into the saying come
on we’re working on a mountain we got
the praying and the saying and then he
says and whenever you stand praying if
you have anything against anyone forgive
him leave it drop it let it go because
if you don’t forgive others and God
can’t forgive you and answer your prayer
so here we have something to do we have
praying saying and take an obedient
action that God gives you know we don’t
need to get into works of the flesh
that’s our own idea of how to make
something happen but if I’m praying for
something and I’m confessing and
nothing’s happening nothing’s happening
and then God reminds me well you know
you got three people that you’re boiling
hot mad at so go get it right I mean the
Bible even says when you bring your gift
to the altar if you remember there when
you’re trying to worship God with your
gifts that your brother
has thought against you it don’t even
have to be that you’re mad at them god
is so big on peace he says you go make
it right well now wait wait we’re moving
see the thing is is where there’s peace
there’s blessing where there’s peace and
unity there’s anointing the power of God
is there and so we need to do anything
that we can to be peacemakers because
peacemakers are the sons of God you
might say well that’s not fair doesn’t
matter you can go do it in faith God you
said to do this I’m gonna do it that’s
what we’ve got to come to you here this
weekend this is what the word says
doesn’t matter how I feel doesn’t matter
how it looks that’s what I’m doing
your word is greater than anything I
think our feel or don’t see or see or
anything else so we release our faith
through praying saying and doing what
God asks us to do now Hebrews 11 we want
to go there how many of you already can
tell that you probably need this tonight
and it’s going to help you know well you
know I’ll have your hands up I guess
you’re tired I don’t know how many of
you feel like you need this tonight all
right see the better you respond the
better I’ll preach
you know Christianity is not a passive
religion God’s always going to be
telling us things that we need to do and
when he does we need to do them Hebrews
11 gives us a definition of faith as
well as Colossians 1 4 gives us a
different definition of faith we want to
look at them now faith is the assurance
the confirmation the title deed of the
things we hope for being the proof of
the things we do not see and the
conviction of their reality faith
perceives as real fact what is not yet
revealed to the senses so this is
telling us that we can have something in
the spirit realm before we ever get it
in the natural realm you know the
interesting thing when you really
believe in your heart that you have it
you get just as happy as if you were
already looking at it that’s the
absolute truth you do now if I said to
you I got a new car last week you say Oh
show me your car I said why I can’t show
it to you I don’t have it with me well
then I don’t believe you have a car you
can’t show me your card I believe you
have a car you don’t have a car you
can’t show me your car you don’t have a
car and I said well wait a minute I do
have the title and so you’re like oh
well you have a car or if I say if
somebody says you know I bought a new
house and you say no I don’t believe you
bought a new house oh yeah but a new
house well show me your house well I
can’t show it to you right now because
it’s not right here with me but I have a
new house well I don’t believe you have
a new house well here’s the deed to my
house I have a house you say oh well I
guess you do have a house well just for
a practical example the Bible says this
is what faith is faith is the title deed
it’s the confirmation
it’s the proof that I have what God says
I can have and it doesn’t matter if I
don’t see it if I can’t feel it I’ve got
it
you