Pastor Joel: And it’s not going to change until we change. That phrase, “you’ll never change what you tolerate” — so I think at times you’ve got to just draw the line in the sand and, like you said: I’m not going to live the rest of my life like this. I’m going to make some changes, whether it’s physically, emotionally, spiritually. I’m going to get in church. I’m going to eat better. But it’s not going to change until we do it. I love what you’re saying about living with passion and enthusiasm because we’ve been given the power to be a witness. We don’t have to go around shoving something down everybody’s throat. A great witness is to just live your life happy and in a good mood at the office, and consistently be friendly. To me, that’s the way to let your light shine. I have people write me all the time who say, “I can’t remember what your message was about, but I sure liked the joy on your face. That ministered to me.” I think, “that’s what it’s all about.”

Joyce: Let me ask a question. If you’re going to be a better you, do you have to learn to not dwell on your past mistakes? How does that affect people if they just constantly are living in their past mistakes?

Pastor Joel: I think that’s the key. It’s going to keep you from getting where God wants you to be. I believe we have to start every day afresh and anew. Maybe it’s not even big things. I think every morning it’s just a good habit to say, “I forgive the people who hurt me yesterday. I forgive myself for the mistakes I’ve made. I receive God’s mercy.” almost every Sunday when we start our service, I say, “I encourage you now to just let go of your disappointments, your failures, what you did wrong, and let today be a new beginning.”

Joyce: I tell people all the time, “you have to keep in mind that you’re no surprise to God.”  it’s not like you did something wrong yesterday and, boy, it really kind of blind sighted God and he wasn’t expecting that at all. The bible says that all the days of our life are written in his book before one of them is even lived out. So God already knows and he understands, and he’s willing to forgive us. He wants to forgive us. But you really cannot go forward if you’re dragging your past along with you.

Pastor Joel: You really can’t. It’s so important — we ask for forgiveness, or maybe we make a mistake, or maybe there’s been some big things in the past, but you can’t just stop at asking for forgiveness; you’ve got to learn to receive God’s mercy. I remember my father went through a breakup in his marriage before I was ever around, obviously. But he thought his ministry was over. He told me, “Joel, the hardest thing I had to do was to receive God’s mercy because people had forgiven me,” but he was just beating himself up. He said, “I’m done. This is over.” but one day, once he received God’s mercy — and we don’t take things lightly, but God gave him a new family. He had a great ministry and life went on.

Victoria Osteen: he had to make room in his life because when you’re holding on to all that, you don’t have room to receive God’s mercy. So you have to make room for what God wants to do. That’s when you have to say, “you know what, God? I’ve got to get rid of this so you can put in me that mercy.”

Joyce: That’s so true. Well, don’t go away because when we come back we’re going to talk about some more really important things along this line. And we’re going to see that prison walls and barbed wire can’t keep the love of God from transforming lives and bringing hope.

Announcer: wouldn’t the world be a really boring place if everybody was the same? In this series by Joyce Meyer “how to succeed at being yourself” you’ll discover that you don’t have to be like everybody else to be the person that God created you to be.

Joyce Meyer: You need to shake off all that wrong self-image and you need to say: here I am, God, you can bless me! Whoo! Whoo! Right here, God here I am. Whoo! Whoo!

Joyce: Donald Bearman lived a life of hate, and it was just a matter of time before he landed in one of America’s toughest prisons in Angola, Louisiana.

Donald Bearman: I’ve been incarcerated for the majority of my life. There was something about the excitement of instilling fear. A lot of men will not say that’s “it’s my fault”, but you see I’ve always known what I was doing before I did it. I had never at any time in my life not experienced hate. I never met anybody that I would not hurt.

Narrator: he was one of the most feared men in Angola. Donald Bearman, aka: Carolina, says only the power of God could break him. Four years ago Donald found himself at a Christian retreat organized by the prison officials. He knew if he caused trouble they would remove him, so he stood up to flip his table.

Donald: That day when I stood up, the hate wasn’t there. When I was going to do what I’ve always done, the hate was gone. There was a calm… At first I thought I was losing… I thought I had snapped. I thought I had honestly lost my mind. Every fiber of my being was touched simultaneously. “I love you.” all I could do was say, “well, who are you?” one day I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t fight with God anymore. I fought with God. I did everything I could to tell him to leave me alone. “just leave me alone. Give me back my hate.”

Narrator: God taught Donald that love is stronger than hate. Four years later Angola’s bible college is giving Donald a love for God’s word. He is also growing through the teachings of Joyce Meyer which shows him the heart of Jesus.

Joyce Meyer: he cares and when you hurt he knows it.

Donald: She gives hope. She gives me hope because I see… I mean, I’ve got a mental picture where she came from. I know the struggles that she’s had — the confusion, the anger, the bitterness. She’s a walking testimony that she’s overcome. It’s not a bed of roses by any means. God has placed a real burden on her. I think that she is a living example of Christ in a person. I think she meets people where they’re at. She meets me where I’m at.

Narrator: A boy’s home, a mental institution, four state prisons and countless county jails couldn’t change Donald Bearman but now he’s a walking testimony that love can break the bondage that goes beyond prison walls.

Donald: Every time that I’ve ever gotten out, I was never free — never, ever free. I have more freedom this day as I sit and talk with you than I have ever had in my entire life.

Joyce: One thing’s for sure — if Carolina can become a better person, then I believe any of us can. His story is proof that a decision to change is the first step that we need to take, which opens the door for God to help us. Wasn’t that an awesome testimony?

Pastor Joel: It’s amazing how God can touch anybody. Sometimes we tend to write people off, but that ought to encourage us all — don’t write our children off, don’t write our loved ones off. It doesn’t matter what they’re doing right now. God still has a plan and God can turn anybody’s life around.

Joyce: We were talking about how our past mistakes can hold us back. He’s a classic example of how if he would have chosen to have thought wrong, he could have just thought, “there’s no way that I can ever overcome this.”

Pastor Joel:  yeah, I know. That’s the whole key; if they can get on the inside of who they are and that they’re a child of the most-high God, and our position doesn’t change even though our condition may change sometimes — we’re still God’s children. I was thinking about the prodigal son. He was his father’s son when he was in the palace and when he was in the hog pen. I believe once you understand your position, you can know, “I can change my condition and get it back up to where I should be.” we should be living a life of victory, success and hope and helping others. That’s what I love about what he’s doing today.

John: Which keeps you very busy!

Joyce: Which keeps me very busy! But god really got across to me… He said: Life is not only probably not going to change but the way things are going in our society, there’s a chance that life is going to be more pressure, more stress, more complicated.

John: It’s not going to slow down.

Joyce: Yeah. More complicated than ever before. I remember when you just went and turned your tv on. Now I have to have routers and re-routers and you have to make sure you get the thing right at the eye and this and that and something else.

John: In fact, I’m always wanting to know what happened to the on and off buttons. You turned it on, you turned it off. You had abc, nbc, cbs — you had three channels; life was very simple. No more!

Joyce: All the modern conveniences, I guess, are convenient if you can survive learning how to work them.

John: That’s exactly right.

Joyce: I’ve got a car that I’ve had for five years and there are still things on it I don’t know how to work. So, life is just probably not going to change. So God just really got it across to me: You better change your approach. You know, john, how we approach everything makes all the difference in the world.

John: Absolutely. Sure does. In fact, if we are not in our own life flexible and willing to make changes, life will beat us up.

Joyce Meyer: That’s really true. Out of that I wrote a book called “100 ways to simplify your life.” We have your book “today matters: 12 daily practices things you can do today: To guarantee tomorrow’s success.” So, we want to talk about ways to simplify life, which means you’re going to enjoy life even more. I think there’s the obvious: Don’t have so much stuff, don’t overload your schedule, and things like that but I’m just going to open this up at random and we’ll see what we come up with.

They don’t actually really think that was his father because that man forced her into prostitution and that’s probably how this little boy got aids but when you see the smile on his face, I guess to me, just to think about what his life would be like right now if this place wasn’t here — what his life would be like if somebody had not reached out to help him. I know what my life would be like if Jesus wouldn’t have helped me, and he’s given us an opportunity now to help other people. Really, these children look hopeful, they look healthy, they look happy but that’s not the way they looked when they came here. That’s the thing that we have to remember, is just the transformation that can happen in a person’s life — the total transformation. Here, they were sick and now they’re doing better physically. They weren’t getting proper education. They’re being educated. They didn’t know about Christ. Now, they’re being taught the word of god. Just so many wonderful things are happening. They have a family and a lovely home. It’s great to meet them.

Announcer: Stay with us. When we return, Joyce shares more from the conference in Bangalore, India. Join us tomorrow as we venture to Haiti, where we meet a young boy with an arm so badly broken doctors fear it may need to be amputated.

Woman: Personally, I have felt that I have had the opportunity to touch the world through hand of hope because hand of hope truly is an organization that’s touching the whole world.

Chris Caine: I’ve been to India many times but for some reason this trip has impacted me more than any other trip. I’ve had so many conversations with young women and I guess more than ever,

I realize the plight of young women in this nation, how women in many cases have been considered to be less than even cows. I’ve wept more than ever about the plight of women in this nation and I guess there’s a passion in me to see the young women released into their god-given purpose and destiny and I’ve understood more than ever why god’s using someone like Joyce Meyer — a woman with such a broken background that is a living testimony of the redemptive power of Jesus Christ and I think just standing here in front of people, telling her story of the great things that god has done gives multiplied millions hope and faith that if god could do it for her, god could do it for them and we could see a nation transformed.

You’ve got to do the same thing that Jesus did in the garden; when you know what God wants you to do, you have to hang on and pray, “God, help me not to come into temptation. I want to finish what I’ve started.” Jesus said, “shall I not go to the cross? Is this not the purpose for which I came? I’m not going to quit now just because it’s hard. I’m going to press through and finish the job.” Make your mind up that you’re going to finish what you start. Amen? Amen.: Let’s go to Genesis 11. We’re talking about excellence and integrity, and that people who have it finish what they start. They don’t just sit around and pray for promotion without adding their motion.

Now, you all know about Abraham. Almost anybody who knows anything about the bible, if you mention Abraham, they recognize that name. But there’s another name that maybe you don’t recognize so much and that’s Terah. Terah was Abraham’s father. I find it interesting in the bible that Terah was given an opportunity to go to the same place that God told Abraham to go to, but he got part of the way there and he settled. So God had to now find somebody else. I wonder how many opportunities God gives us and we get started, and we settle somewhere along the way because it’s hard, and then God has to use somebody else. Genesis 11:31: and Terah took Abram his son, lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together to go from ur of the Chaldees into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. Everybody say: I’m not going to settle.

I’m not going to settle.: vs. 32: and Terah lived 205 years; and Terah died in Haran. He died where he settled. I don’t want to settle somewhere that’s partway between where I was and where I’m supposed to be. You see, mediocrity is average or below average but God has not called us to be mediocre or lukewarm; he’s called us to be excellent people.

Jentezen: I think the danger is when you don’t know, racing ahead instead of being led and stopping long enough, like you said, to give time. If you will just wait and say “Holy Spirit, I’m open to whatever you want to do in this situation,” I believe he can reveal that to us but what I did wrong I think is just racing ahead, rushing to judgment. When we do that, we always get in trouble. I think it’s a process. I think you learn to discern the voice of God by the mistakes you make, also, because I’ve missed God but I’m much more cautious now to say “thus says the Lord” or “God told me.”

Joyce: You probably learned a lot from that mistake you made and that’s one of the things I want to really encourage our viewers about today, is that nobody learns how to hear from God without making some mistakes along the way, no more than a baby learns how to walk without falling down several times. You can’t be so afraid of missing God that you will never, ever, ever take a step in any direction to do anything.

Jentezen: That is so true. Faith is spelled r-i-s-k. A lot of times people want every question answered before they move out but I’ve found that God will often say “go and I’ll show” and we want him to show first every piece of the puzzle, and he doesn’t do that but when he speaks, there will be a peace.

Joyce Meyer Online: What I have discovered in my life, Jentezen, is that God does lead us one step at a time. You may get a feeling or like when God spoke to my heart about ministry, I felt like he told me, “you’re going to go all over the world and preach the gospel and have a large media ministry.”

I didn’t come here, “well, I hope the people come and I hope they like me.” I used to. I used to go out like that all the time and I would just be tormented. But I just come with a positive attitude. “hey, praise the lord! Going to des moines. Going to have a good time. Preach the gospel. Preach on hope. Believe it’s going to be fruitful.” and I’m not looking around at all of you to tell by the looks on your faces if this is any good or not. I’ve already made my mind up how I feel about it. (cheering) see, the point is no matter what anybody else thinks, it’s what you think that matters.

Joyce: Hope is defined as a favorable and a confident expectation. What are you hoping for and how often are you tempted to just give up? I think one of the biggest temptations we have from the enemy is just to quit and give up but if you refuse to give up, you will have the victory.  It’s amazing to me what people can do if they just make their mind up that they’re going to hang in and see the victory. Today we want to make a special offer to you.  We don’t do this very often so you want to take advantage of it. We actually have a teaching series that we want you to have so much that we’re going to offer it for any amount that you feel you can give. We just ask that you do your very best.  Some people will be able to do more than others and perhaps some of you can send in a fairly generous amount to make up for somebody who’s not going to be able to send as much and that’s a way you can give. But I believe that if people don’t have it really deep in their spirits that they’re never going to give up, I think the devil’s going to keep stealing and stealing and stealing. It’s very important to me that you have this teaching because I know that was a really big thing in my life and I believe one of the main reasons why I am still around today is because God has given me the grace to not give up. I always say my greatest testimony is I’m still here. We’re going to tell you about this particular resource a little more and just remember: the word of God has the power in it to change your life. God bless you.

Joyce Meyer: If I look at my past, everything says I should be a failure.  At one point or another everyone has felt like quitting but I’m here to tell you there is another way. That’s why I’ve developed this teaching called “never give up.” in it you’ll discover how God has given us the power to overcome any obstacle that comes our way.

Joyce Meyer my goal is to be a vessel of which God uses. I just stay close to the lord and that keeps me from being discouraged on either side.

Joyce Meyer: I want to talk to you this weekend about spiritual warfare. It’s a subject that we need to talk about.  I’ve called this series “armed and dangerous” because I think if we really know who we are in Christ and if we really understand the armor of God and the weapons that have been given to us, both offensive and defensive, and if we will begin to act like a soldier in the army of God, we are going to have so much more victory in our life. One of the biggest problems I think that we face today is a little thing, or a big thing really, called passivity. To be honest, a lot of the problems even that we have in our nation today are due to people being passive and not maintaining what somebody else gained for them years ago. A lot of men and women paid a tremendous price for us to have the freedoms that we have today but we’re losing many of those because of passivity. We sit around and say, “somebody should do something,” without ever asking if that someone ought to be us. We say “they” should do something without realizing we are “they.”

We wish for things and we’d like to see things happen but we’re often not willing to do our part. You have to be very careful about a lazy, passive spirit because one of the main things the devil wants is for us to just sit around and want something but not be willing to do what we need to do to have it. You have authority over the devil. It’s just that simple. He’s under your feet because Jesus is the head and he said, “I have all authority over him. All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me.” we’re his body and so if Satan’s under the feet of Jesus, then it’s our feet that he’s under. But it doesn’t work to just jump up and down and sing a few warfare songs in church or yell at the devil once in a while when your circumstances get really bad.  We have to stop all that what I call “yo-yo Christianity.”

I don’t think that we should just go around occasionally trying to take authority; I think we need to walk in our authority. We need to just know who we are. I always say I don’t go in my office and say, “alright, I’m here now and I’m taking authority.”  when I come in, everybody knows that. We were created to have dominion. If you would go all the way back to genesis 1, you’d see that God gave man dominion over all the other works of his hands.  So hopefully I want to give you a new view of yourself that you’re the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, that everything you lay your hand to is supposed to prosper. You’re more than a conqueror. The greater one lives in you. God is your strength; by him you can run through a troop and leap over a wall. Now that’s a whole different picture than all this, “well, I’m just hoping to make it until Jesus comes back to get me.” amen? (amen.)

Joyce Meyer: the only thing that matters is what God thinks. If i do what he tells me to do, none of them can stop his plans and purposes in my life.

The bible talks about armor. It’s in Ephesians 6.  I don’t even know that we’ll get to those scriptures tonight but there’s armor that we have that if we wear it, it will protect us. You might call that defensive weapons. This actually was the armor that they were talking about in the bible.  This is the real stuff; just exactly what the roman soldiers wore. You can see it’s pretty mean looking stuff but it doesn’t do us any good just to have it on the stand here, sitting in our house somewhere; you’ve got to wear it. The bible says put it on. Put on the full armor of God. Now,

We’re looking at metal, swords, leather, shields and helmets, but the armor that God’s talking about for us is a spiritual thing. It’s not something that you see. It’s not something that I see, but the devil sees it and God sees it. And the devil sees if it’s not there.  Believe me, if he’s looking for somebody to attack, he’s going to pick the people who don’t have their armor on and don’t know how to use their offensive weapons against him. He’s going to look for lazy, passive people who just do nothing but sit around and whine and murmur about their problems all the time. We are in a war — a spiritual war. Second Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 and 5.

You may know a lot about this and you may know nothing about it.  I was in church for a lot of years before I even knew that the devil was real. I think I just thought he was a Halloween character; nobody ever talked to me about him. I knew God was powerful but nobody ever told me that I was. I just thought i had to put up with whatever came around. I didn’t know I could resist the devil and rebuke the devil and walk in any kind of authority. Second Corinthians 10:4: for the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. If they’re not physical weapons of flesh and blood, then they must be spiritual weapons. Keep in mind you don’t see spiritual things with your natural eye because they function in the spirit. (vs. 5) [inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ.

Joyce Meyer Everything is fear motivated, and I realized none of these people will be with me on judgment day.