Describe Yourself

Joyce People are going to love this today because they all know you so well you share everything. But I thought it’d be really fun to talk about who you really are. How how do you describe yourself when I saw it was Joyce meyer. When I saw that on the paperwork that you sent home I thought describe myself. And so I had to really think about it. Well, first of all let’s just say that I am wonderful, amazing on a scale of intelligence, I’m almost at a genius level. The thing that I found really interesting about this and I’m just gonna be honest and hope people really understand it. Like if you would have asked me to have described myself probably even 15 years ago. I mean I would have said I get angry too quick. I’m impatient. I mean I could have ran off a list a mile long and I actually had to think to find faults today. Not because I don’t have any but because I’m so accustomed now to seeing myself in christ. And the minute I do something wrong asking for and receiving forgiveness and then letting it go that I don’t see myself the way I used to see myself now, I know God is changing me. But I just thought it was interesting. I thought well I almost feel bad that I don’t have a long list of faults here, but we really should not feel that way because God wants us to see ourselves in christ, not in our old natural fleshly sinful state. How many people when you say describe yourself would start with a list of what’s wrong with me. Well I would have and today, you know I thought well the bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made and so I do like myself and there was a time when I didn’t like myself at all. I mean I actually hated myself but to try and do what you asked me to do. You know. 1st 1st of all I love the Lord very much. He’s the most important person in my life. And I would like to hope that that’s number one on everybody’s list of describe yourself. You know, I’m just in love with jesus And I’m a wife married 54 years, a mother of four grown Children, 12 grandchildren, Two of my grand grandchildren are getting married this year, one in October and one On January, the first decided to get married in January the 12 one. And of course I’ve already got a few that are married and then I have two great grandchildren and I’ve been in ministry for 45 years and I love love love teaching the word of God. It’s just it’s not, I mean I just love it and I really believe it and I know that the word really helps people. I know that if people will when I think about what a mess I was and how unhappy I was before I learned who I was in christ and so I want to make sure that people understand that today, it’s it’s like when you receive christ as your savior, he comes to live in you, but your life is also in him. And so God chooses To view us the same way that he does Jesus 2nd Corinthians 521 says he that knew no sin became sin, that we might be made. The righteousness of God in Christ. So I think it’s very beautiful that all of our life we have wrongness. I know that’s not right grammar, but the devil constantly wants to talk to us about what’s wrong with us. Think about that, that God views us, He chooses to see us the same as he does christ. If we’re believers in christ, he chooses to see us and I’ve got a whole list, we actually have it online, which I’m gonna talk about a little bit more later, but it’s called knowing who I am in christ. And there’s I don’t know, maybe close to 40 things in here that the Bible says that in christ, we are these things, you know, like for example, I am complete in christ. That’s Colossians 2 10. Well what does that mean? On a practical level? Well that means if I’m not married, I don’t have to feel out of place, being with other people who are married because it’s not having a man completes me, I’m complete in christ and there’s all kinds of examples, but back to trying to describe myself, But one thing real quick that I love about that list of who we are in christ is we are not those things without him. No, So no, I am not complete on my own. And so that entire list, it fills the void of everything that I am not and makes it who he sees me instead of how I see myself. Like he fills up our weaknesses. Yes, it’s in our weakness is that he shows his strength the best. And then it was the first or second Corinthians chapter 12. And uh, when I think about how many churches never teach people anything about who they are in christ, it’s always about who we are as sinners, but we’re forgiven our sins have been washed away completely and God forgets them and he moves him as far as the east is from the west and he remembers them no more. And paul said the one thing I do, one thing that’s more important to me than anything is forgetting what lies behind and pressing toward the things that are ahead. It’s just like you were saying how you were before is not what you’re going to read now. No. So I actually, I actually, I feel like the list that I made, I got a lot more right with me than wrong with me. But really that shows progress because it would not have been that way years ago and that’s why I want the people that I teach. That’s what I want for them. I don’t I don’t I just feel so bad for people who feel so bad about themselves because I suffered with that for so many years. I didn’t like this, I didn’t like that, I didn’t like my voice, I didn’t like my thighs. I didn’t, you know, there were so many things I didn’t like but were created by God were not accidents. And the bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made that we are the apple of God’s eye that he loves us and he’ll give us favor and see. I’ve been at this long enough now that I actually believe it all. It’s a great place to be. I mean, I’m not just trying to believe it. I believe it. So anyway, I love good movies. Um I love dogs, although I don’t currently have one. I had a dog for 12 years and I really enjoy writing, I enjoy studying. That’s a good thing because I have to do a lot of it and I am a little impatient just to throw something in there that I know that I am but not so much impatient with like waiting on God. But the place where I’m impatient is like I’m always wanting to get to the next thing while I’m at this thing. So just to give you an example, you know, um I’ll still be a long way from my house and I will, I will already have my front door key in my hand and sometimes the car door open when I wait, you’re telling my story. I’m sorry, okay, go ahead. And, and and my daughter said to me one day, she said mom, would you mind not getting out of the car before I park it? Because I do, I mean sometimes I’ll start opening the door and wanting to get out and the car is still still running so I’m not, I don’t, let’s just say that I’m always ready for the next thing. See that sounds much better than impatient. Yeah, it does. I like that, but I am impatient with people who don’t do what they say, they’re gonna do that as far as like one of my pet peeves, I really believe in doing what you tell people you’re going to do or if you can’t do it to communicate and it just bugged the living daylights out of me when somebody is supposed to be at my house at 12 and they show up at 12 45 I didn’t even bother giving me a call. You know, I can understand people being late, but you can communicate about it and I know communication is a gift for me and so I’m really trying to be patient with people who don’t communicate because just like it’s a gift for me. I mean some people, it’s the last thing they think of, you know, it’s like, I don’t know, they assume you just know that, you know, and I make very fast decisions and so which is good. I’m more of a gut person, you know, I, I just, I don’t decide things based on every detail, but I’m more like if I feel right about it, I go with it. But sometimes that can of course get me in trouble and uh, so hopefully I’ve learned to, especially on the really important things to take enough time Because I can tell you you just sleep on something one night and you can feel so much different about it. And then you did the day before I work out three times a week when you tell me a story, I like the bottom line. I don’t need to know the cat was in the third limb of the tree that has four leaves and you know, mm mm just um these are fun. Sometimes people frustrate me who aren’t as good as I am at something, you know, we kind of just the things, the things that God has gifted us to do. We need to be very careful that we don’t expect everybody else to do them. I still have a real, a real difficult time. If there’s any kind of strife in my family. I want to fix it because when I was growing up, if daddy was mad, I would do everything I could to try to fix his mood and I’m better than it used to be. But that’s still probably the most major thing that I still would say. That’s a real, a real weakness for me. So I have to be careful in that that I don’t turn into a people pleaser just to keep people peaceful when there’s something I need to confront to confront it. So I’m a rescuer and uh I’ll rescue people don’t even want to be rescued. I’m gonna rescue you like it or not. I have to be careful with that because sometimes in a desire to rescue you can become an enabler. And I think that’s challenging for people in ministry because part of our gifting is to help people and to rescue them. And so I’m always trying to make sure that I have the balance in that I love to laugh. I don’t think we can ever laugh too much. We just we just need to laugh and I love to do things for people. It’s I find great joy and just planning to do something for somebody and I was always a very, very selfish person. And that still can be a weakness for me, not in some areas, but let’s just say for example, I want to go to one restaurant and Dave wants to go to another one. Well I’ll like really push for the one I want to go to. Yeah. And uh here again Prayerfully I’m getting better, but I don’t I don’t focus on that because I know that you know the bible says he that has begun a good work in us is well able to complete it and bring it to its finished. So God is working in us every single day and we are changing Second Corinthians three says from glory to glory. So a little bit each day we’re changing and sometimes it doesn’t seem that way to us because maybe the problem is so overwhelming. But yes, I’m still selfish in some ways but I’m so much better than where I used to be and I think that God wants us to focus on our progress, not how far we have to go. Don’t you agree with that? I absolutely agree. That doesn’t mean we ignore our weaknesses. I know they’re there but they’re certainly not in the forefront of my brain anymore and he helps us with all those things that that really is what life is about, its growing closer and closer to him and more like him and and letting his righteousness fix those things that we deal with. But this has been really fun. It’s so fun to get to know you of course, to hear a few things and um the lesson in all of that is vital. It’s who we are in christ that really matters, download this. Yes, we have it online all the time online and it’s all you have to do is look up who I am in christ by Joyce Meyer and this whole long list will come up and it’s just like you know in christ I’m free from sin In Christ the Bible actually says in Ephesians one for I am holy and without blame before God in love, he looks at us and doesn’t blame us. God is not mad at us, he loves us. And if people can just learn who they are in christ, I always say learn that there’s a big difference in your who and your do you know, I do things wrong but I’m not wrong, what I’ve done is wrong. But as a person before God with his son living in my heart through the holy spirit, I’m loved, I’m seen as righteous and holy and you know, see God sees our heart and as long as you want to keep growing and being what he wants you to be, then he sees it as if it’s already done. Well thank you Joyce, it’s been fun