First Things First | Joyce Meyer | Enjoying Everyday Life

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 joyce meyer's newest book how to age without getting old pre-order your copy today 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

Channel: Joyce Meyer Ministries

Views: 119,828

Rating: 4.9072132 out of 5

Keywords: joyce meyer bible study, joyce meyer, joyce meyer ministries, joyce meyer youtube, joyce meyer sermons, joyce meyer teaching, joyce meyer preaching, joycemeyerministries, joyce meyer 2021, joyce meyer sermons 2021, enjoying everyday life, joyce meyer enjoying everyday life, joyce meyers, joyce meyers 2021, first things first joyce meyer, first things first, sermon on priorities, the love of money is the root of all evil, living with childlike faith, enjoying your everyday life

Id: B1OtQfpxpvQ

Length: 28min 0sec (1680 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 15 2021