Joyce Meyer Experience

The other day I mentioned that I went to see Joyce Meyer speak on Friday night with some friends. I have watched her show a few times, I'm reading through her Hearing from God Each Morning devotional this year, and one of my favorite nonfiction books is Battlefield of the Mind by her. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see her live!

We didn't know what topic she would be speaking on until we arrived. Shortly before she began speaking, they announced that she would be speaking on some of the fruits of the spirit. My immediate thoughts were: I really hope she doesn't speak about patience tonight. Simply because it has been one my biggest struggles in the past few years, and I knew it was the one I probably needed to hear the most. Therefore my stubborn human nature sort of didn't think I would feel comfortable hearing about that topic.

So Joyce comes up to the stand and tells everyone that the fruits of the spirit we would be talking about that night were peace and, of course, patience. I knew I was about to be convicted :-P As much as the whole thing had me squirming in my seat because I could relate to EVERYTHING she said, I really loved that God knew what I needed to hear that night!

Anyway, the first half of her sermon was about peace. I thought it was awesome that in the beginning of January, I picked my word of the year to be "Peace" because of a devotion I had ready by Joyce Meyer, and here she was talking about it right in front of me :-)

And then came the "patience" portion of the sermon. Like I said, I felt like I could really relate to everything she said. She used James 1:2-4 as a big part of her sermon. That verse has been near and dear to my heart in my struggles for the past year-and-a-half. Ever since this post, actually (one of my very favorite posts I've ever written). It was just amazing to me how everything Joyce said totally resonated with me. She could have spoken all night long and it would have felt like just a few minutes!

I took notes during the evening (I practically wrote down everything she said. Ha!). Here are a few little one-liners that really got me thinking:

• "God's not nearly as interested in changing your circumstances as He is in changing you."
• "No peace = No power."
• "If what you're going through does not bring peace, then it's not God's will."
• "Face your faults, but don't focus on them."
• "God doesn't deliver us quickly; He works little-by-little."
• "When you're fully patient, the devil has no control over you"
• "Enjoy where you're at on the way to where you're going" (favorite quote of the night)
• "God makes us wait for the thing we want to see if we're mature enough to handle that thing."

Joyce talked a lot about being patient when we want something. She said that the waiting is what makes us stretch and grow. And she said that growing hurts. But that it is very important for us to go through that pain so God's work can be complete in us. I felt like she was talking directly to me when she said those things, and I felt a peace and a conviction in that moment.

Joyce's session mixed with Phil Wickham's worship set had me feeling hungry for The Word and passionate in my faith. It was a very inspirational night, and if you ever get the chance to see Joyce Meyer live, don't pass it up! She actually does a lot of free conferences like the one we went to, so there's no reason to miss it :-)