Joyce Meyer - God Will Meet You Where You Are (Studio)

Well, thank you for joining me today on, "Enjoying Everyday Life". I love to teach the Word of God because I know what the word has done in my life, and I know that it will do the same thing for you. And today I wanna talk to you about what I think is a very important subject, and one that I think a lot of people don't realize, and it is one of those good news subjects. Do you know that God will meet you where you are? I think so often, we think that we have to get ourselves all fixed up before we can go to God. But if you will cry out to God from where you're at, God will meet you where you're at, as long as you cry out to him in sincerity.

And I have several biblical examples that I wanna share with you. But the thing I want you to realize is no matter what kind of a mess you're in, no matter how long you've been in it, no matter what your need is, if you sincerely want God to help you and you're ready to change your life, you're ready to repent of your sins, and to repent means to turn away from, that means you're not gonna go back to that again. With God's help, you're gonna turn away from that wrong way of living and you're gonna learn how to live the way God wants you to live, God will meet you where you're at. And the good news is he loves you too much to leave you where he met you, he will always help you get to where you need to be.

Now, I wanna say that again because I think that's really important. God loves you so much that he will come to you in your mess, and he will meet you there. But he will never leave you there, because he loves you too much to leave you in the same mess he found you in. He will help you to change your life and he will give you, by his grace and mercy, a life really worth living. There's a story in the Bible about Abraham and Sarah. And this was a couple that God had promised a child. They had not had a child of their own. And really when God made this promise to them, both of them were too old to have children. Abraham was 99 years old or close to a hundred and Sarah already was past the child-bearing age.

And so, in the natural it was impossible, but do you know that God specializes in impossible? A lot of things that aren't possible for anybody else, are possible for God, "With man it's impossible, but with God all things are possible". And so, God just wanted them to believe him, to trust him, that he would give them a child from Sarah's womb, and that he would make Abraham the father of many nations. Well, like a lot of us do, he waited for quite a while. In his case, he waited a good number of years and nothing was happening. And so he got a plan of his own and we do that don't we? When God's plan is not seeming to come to pass, then we've always got a back-up plan, a plan of our own.

And his wife suggested that he take her handmaiden and get her pregnant, take her as a secondary wife. And then she would claim this child as her own and raise the child as her own. And so Abraham did it. That was one case where he should not have listened to his wife. It doesn't make any sense for any woman to want to give her husband a secondary wife, that can't be anything but trouble from the get-go. But sure enough Hagar, the handmaid, did become pregnant. And as soon as she did, she looked with contempt upon her mistress. In other words, she previously had a submissive attitude, she loved her mistress, she'd do anything for her. And so, because of the great attitude she had, Sarah thought well, she'd continue to have one. But as soon as she had a foot up, so to speak, on Sarah or she was in a situation now where she could give Abraham something he wanted that Sarah couldn't, she got a bad attitude.

And the child grew with them until he was about 13 years old, and there was just startin' to be nothing but trouble, trouble, trouble all the time. And Sarah wanted Abraham to make them leave, she didn't want them to be together. By now, she had had the child that God had promised them, and they grew together for a while, but it was still just trouble, trouble, trouble all the time. How many of you know, when you do something that God doesn't want you to do, until it's corrected it's just nothing but trouble, trouble, trouble all the time? And so here, in Genesis 21:14-17, it says, "Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. And he set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. And then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, 'I cannot watch the boy die'".

Well, we can see that she already had made her mind up they weren't gonna make it and the boy was gonna die. "And as she sat there, she began to sob," and apparently the boy was crying too. And the Bible says, "God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, 'what is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid: God has heard the boy crying'". And he will meet him "Where he is," that the Amplified says he will meet him, "Where he is". And that's the title of the message I wanna bring you today is, "God will meet you where you are".

Now, this boy was in a mess, his life looked like it was all but over, and he cried out to God. You know, sometimes all we have to do is cry out to God, and he will meet us right where we're at and he'll help us get to where we need to be. God heard Ishmael where he was, and he actually promised him promotion and a good life. And all Ishmael did was cry out. He didn't do anything else, he just cried out. 2 Chronicles 20:9 it says, "If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before the temple that bears your name and we will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us".

Well, you know, I think anybody can cry out to God, it doesn't take any special training to do that. You just say, "Oh God, I need you. God you're the only one that can help me. God, I need your help. I'm crying out to you. I want you in my life. I want you to come and get involved in my life". And I hope that there are many people I'm talking to today that you will really be convicted by what I'm saying, and you'll realize that you are in a mess in your life and maybe you've been trying to fix that mess yourself, and I'll tell you, you cannot. You need God's help. And God will come and help you if you will cry out to him. He'll begin to unravel the situation in your life. And it may not all happen overnight, but if you'll surrender your life to him, let him come into your life, forgive your sins and give you a brand-new start, God will meet you where you're at and he will help you get to where you need to be.

Psalm 57:2-3 says, "I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me". You might remember, well, I don't know if you were watching the program when I shared this or not, but I shared about blind Bartimaeus who cried out to Jesus. "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me". And the people told him to be quiet. And it says, "He cried out all the more," and God healed him. Crying out to God is pretty easy. Sometimes we cry to our friends, and we cry to ourself, and we feel sorry for ourself. But what about crying out to God and saying, "God whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Just show me what to do, and I wanna be obedient to you". "I cry out to God Most High, he sends from heaven and he saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me, God sends forth his love and his faithfulness". And one last one Psalm 86:5, "You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call upon you".

God met Ishmael in his rejection, he met him in his abandonment, and he promised him promotion. And I can pretty much say, the same thing happened to me. I'd been abused in my childhood, sexually abused by my father, abandoned by my mother, spent many years in complete misery, and lived in a total atmosphere of fear and violent angry behavior. And I cried out to God, and he met me where I was at and he helped me change my life. It didn't happen overnight, but I am a totally different person now. And those things that happened to me in my childhood, when I think back about that little girl, it's almost as if she's somebody that I used to know, not me. I'm a brand-new creature in Christ. Because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If any man is in Christ," any man who receives Christ is considered to be in him. "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things pass away, and all things become brand new". You become new spiritual clay, and if you'll be soft and pliable in the hands of God, he will mold a brand-new life for you. It's not too late for you.

Well, where are you? Are you lost in problems, tragedy or sin? Are you lonely? Are you sick and perhaps afraid of death? Have you been abandoned? Have you been rejected? Are you living with the results of all of your mistakes and have no idea what you're supposed to do? Well, I can tell you what to do, cry out to God and he will meet you where you're at. And step by step, little by little, God will teach you and he'll begin to show you how to make right choices and live the right way. But you have to make a start by surrendering your life to God. You don't just cry out to him and expect God to come and help you, if you're not ready to surrender your life to him.

And you know, I felt even before I started to share this message for today, that today many people are gonna give their life to Jesus Christ. And you do have to give it to him. He wants everybody but not everybody will receive him. Because not everybody will humble themselves and say, "Yes God, you're right and I'm wrong. I've lived my life all wrong, and I wanna change. I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins. I'm sorry for the way I lived, and I want you in my life. Will you forgive me and come into my life and be my Lord and my Savior"? And the moment you do that in sincerity, God will come into you, he'll make you his home. Your sins will be washed away and moved as far as the east is from the west, and he will remember them no more.

Now, that doesn't mean that instantly everything in your life is gonna be fixed. But it does mean that it's a brand-new beginning for you, old things have passed away, God's forgiven you. And then you can start working with God to have the circumstances in your life changed into a life that is gonna be pleasant and enjoyable. Now, I have a pretty large portion of scripture that I wanna share with you. And normally, I don't try to share this many scriptures because people kinda lose their focus, but Psalm 139:1-18, are absolutely phenomenal. And I think they're gonna really encourage you, if you'll pay attention. "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me".

Well, when God says he knows you, let me tell you, he knows you. You know, a lot of people that even work here, might say, "Well, I know joyce". Well, they may know me, but they don't know me like Dave does. And Dave doesn't even know me like God does. When God says he knows you, let me tell you, there's nothing about you that God doesn't know. He knows things about you that you haven't even admitted. "You know when I sit down and you know when I get up: you perceive my thoughts afar off". Just think about that, God knows everything about you, he sees everything that you do. "You discern my going out and my lying down: you are familiar God with all my ways". In other words, there's nothing about you that's surprising or shocking to God. "Before a word is on my tongue Lord, you know it completely".

God knows what we're gonna say before we even say it, he knows what we're gonna think before we even think it. Nobody knows you like God knows you. "You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me". You ever feel like that, that God's got you in a place where you can't go forward, and you can't go backward, you're just there waiting for God to do something? Well, he will if you just keep crying out to him. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it's too lofty for me to obtain". Let me tell you, the work that God does in our life is too wonderful for us to even begin to understand it. "Where can I go from your spirit, God? Where can I flee from or hide from your presence? If I go to heaven, you're there: if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, or I settle on the far side of the sea, God, you are there. Even then your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast".

Can I tell you, there's nowhere where you can get away from God, he is everywhere all the time. And his hand is upon you and God's got a plan for your life. And I'm just gonna say this the best way I know how, to the gentlest way I know how to. If you persist in going your own way, your life is gonna be pretty miserable. But if you'll surrender your life to Christ today, you can know a life that you cannot even begin to imagine right now. "If I say, 'surely the darkness will hide me and the light will become night around me.' even the darkness will not be dark to God". There's nowhere we can hide from God. You can't hide in the dark. You can't go high enough or deep enough. God knows every place where we're at and he knows everything that we do.

Now, listen to this. "For you, God, did create my inmost being: you knit me together in my mother's womb". God with his very own hand, purposely knit you together in your mother's womb. You are not a mistake. God made you specially, there's nobody else on earth like you, nobody has your fingerprints, and nobody has your DNA. Don't let the devil or anybody else convince you that you're a mistake. That there's no plan or no purpose for you. If that's what you've been thinking, then you're thinking has been all wrong. Because God wants you, he has a plan for you and a purpose for your life. "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made: your works are wonderful, and I know that quite well".

I love the boldness of the Psalmist David, he said, "You created me, wonderful are your works". I mean, what was he saying other than, "God, you have made me a wonder. I am wonderful. The way you have made me is wonderful". So, right now, today, you can stop being against yourself. You can stop hating yourself and rejecting yourself and thinking that you're not okay because you're not like everybody else. Right now, today, you can accept yourself as someone handmade, handpicked by God, made very special and God has a special plan for your life. "Your eyes saw my unformed substance: and all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them even came into being".

I love that. God has a book. And he's written every day of all of our lives in that book before we ever show up on planet earth. "How precious are your thoughts toward me, oh God"! Now, listen to this. "How vast is the sum of them! If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand, and when I awake, I'm still with you". God has you on his mind all the time. There's never been a moment in your life when God has not loved you. And there will never be a moment in his life when he will love you anymore than he does right now.

You say, "Well, that can't be possible, God can't possibly love me not with the things I've done". Well, God is love. It's not something he does sometimes and doesn't do other times, he is love. And what he wants us to do is respond to that love. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey me". He wants us to learn his word and live a life of obedience to him. He didn't say, "If you obey me, I will love you". He said, "If you love me, you will obey me". And the reason why people don't obey God, is because they don't love him enough to obey him. The more you fall in love with Jesus the more and more you're gonna wanna do what he wants you to do.

Revelations 3 says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door". Well, guess what? The doorknob is on your side of the door. He's not gonna break the door down and make you accept him. But if you'll open the door he says, "He will come in and eat with you, and you will eat with him". Well, what does eating signify in the Bible? Intimacy, close relationship, covenants were sealed with a meal. The passover was instituted with a meal. We remember the Lord's body and his blood that was broken and shed through a meal. Jesus wants to eat with you, he wants intimate, personal, relationship with you. You know, the Bible is full of redemption stories. God is a God of redemption, that means that he bought us back from the enemy. God wants you. He's paid the price for you. The devil may have you convinced that he still owns you, but he does not, because Jesus bought you back with his own blood. And he descended into hell and he took the keys of hell and death away from Satan, and he's given us authority. The enemy has no right to run your life anymore, if you won't let him.

Noah is a great story of redemption. And I just noticed this, that Noah's story is in Genesis 6:7 and 8, and it says here, God warned of coming judgment and he said that those who repented of their sin and believe would be saved. He told Noah to, "Build an ark," to contain those who would believe. However, after years of preaching, listen to this, after years of preaching, only eight souls entered the ark: Noah and his family. Now, today I'm preaching to you. And I hope that you will listen to what I say, and that there won't have to be somebody else next year or another five years from now that will come along and preach again. You don't want to keep saying, "No" to God and keep saying, "No" to God.

All the people that were alive in Noah's day, they were preached to, they were told that judgment is coming. Jesus is coming back. And they did not listen, they continued to live their own lives and do their own thing. I'm pleading with you today, to no longer live your own life and do your own thing but to turn your life over to Jesus Christ, who loved you so much that he died for you. God loved you so much that he sent his only son to die for you. Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief comes to steal kill and destroy: but I came that you might have and enjoy your life and have it in abundance [to the full, until it overflows]".

Saul who became Paul, he's a great story of redemption. Mary of Magdala who was full of demons, became a close friend of Jesus' and traveled with him. Mary, the prostitute, became a close friend of Jesus and traveled with him. Peter who denied Jesus, became one of the greatest apostles. Just because you've made mistakes, doesn't mean that it's too late for you and it's not too late for me.

If you've not received Christ as your Savior, there's a number on the bottom of your screen and we invite you to call that number. Somebody will pray with you and they'll lead you into a personal relationship with Christ. And we have a free book that we'd like to send to you to help you get your new life started right with Christ. I've told you today, on the program how to receive Jesus, just tell him that you're a sinner and you want him to come into your life. That you're tired of living the way you are, you're tired of running from God. And you wanna repent of your sins, you wanna turn away from that life. "Jesus, I love you, I give my life to you, come and live in me". And he'll do that. But there are some things you need to understand about that. So, call us and let us talk to you. Thank you so much for listening to me today. And for those of you who need it, let this be a day of great change in your life. God bless you.