Trusting God Day by Day

[Aeliana]

September 6

God Wants You to Laugh

A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
PROVERBS 17:22

One of the amazing things I have noticed from teaching and ministering is that God loves to make people laugh. I don’t plan to be funny when I speak, but the Holy Spirit speaks through me—and I’m amazed at how He adds funny little thoughts or illustrations. He clearly knows the value of humor and the healing effect it brings.

God wants us to laugh, and He wants us to make other people laugh. That does not mean we should all become jesters or laugh at inappropriate times, but we can certainly aid one another in taking a more lighthearted approach to life. We would all be much better off if we would learn to laugh at ourselves sometimes instead of taking ourselves so seriously.

The last three times I have worn white pants, I have spilled coffee on myself. I can either think I am a klutz who cannot hold on to anything and begin to devalue myself, or I can make a joke out of it and try harder to stay clean the next time. For years, I have listened to people downgrade themselves verbally for every mistake they make, and I believe that grieves God. If we know our value in Christ we should never say things about ourselves that devalue what God has created.

Why not make a habit of helping people see that we all make silly mistakes and we can choose to laugh rather than get upset? Give people permission to not be perfect! I love to be with people who do not pressure me to be perfect. God loves us unconditionally, and that means He accepts us the way we are and then helps us to be all we can be. Helping people laugh at themselves is a way of saying, “I accept you, faults and all.”

Remember to take every opportunity to laugh—especially at yourself—because it will improve your health and you will enjoy your life much more.

Trust in Him Do you accept yourself, faults and all? God does! If you trust Him to love you just the way you are (He is the One Who created you!), then you can lighten up, accept that you aren’t perfect, and be an example to others who need more laughter in their lives.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 7

You Are Known by Your Fruit

Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit.
MATTHEW 12:33

Jesus said we would be known by our fruit, which means that people can tell who we really are on the inside by what we produce with our lives and by our attitudes.

Jesus not only talked about love, but He showed love by His actions. Acts 10:38 says He got up daily and went about doing good and healing all those who were harassed and oppressed by the devil. His disciples saw Him daily helping people, listening to them, or letting His plans be interrupted in order to help someone who came to Him with a need. The disciples saw Him make sure they always had money set aside to help the poor. They also witnessed Him being quick to forgive and showing patience with the weak. He was kind, humble, and encouraging, and never gave up on anybody. Jesus did not merely talk about loving people, He showed everyone around Him how to love. Our words are important, but our actions carry more weight than our words.
The single biggest problem we have in Christianity is that we listen to people tell us what to do—and we even tell others what to do—and then we walk out of our church buildings or Bible studies and do nothing. It doesn’t matter what we think we know. The proof of what we know is in what we do.

I must constantly ask myself, “What am I doing to actually show love?” We can be deceived by knowledge, according to the apostle Paul (see 1 Cor. 8:1). We can become blinded by the pride of what we know to the point where we can never see that we are not really practicing any of it. We should all make sure there is no gap between what we say and what we do.
Trust in Him Ask God to reveal to you if there is a gap between what you say and what you do. Whatever He reveals to you, you can trust that He is doing so in order to help you reap good and healthy fruit.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 8

Be Difficult to Offend

Great peace have they who love Your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble.
PSALM 119:165

People who want to live powerful lives must become experts at forgiving those who offend and hurt them. When someone hurts my feelings or is rude and insensitive to me, I find it helpful to quickly say, “I will not be offended.” I have to say those words quietly in my heart if the person is still in my presence, but later when the memory of what he or she did returns to haunt me, I repeat them aloud. When I say, “I will not be offended,” I always pray for God to help me, realizing that I can do nothing without Him.

My husband, Dave, has always been difficult to offend. When he is around people who could hurt him or in situations where he could be offended, he says, “I am not going to let negative people control my mood. They have problems and they are not going to give their problems to me.”

On the other hand, I spent many years getting my feelings hurt regularly and living in the agony of offense, but I am not willing to live that way any longer. I am busy getting a new mind-set. Are you willing to join me in becoming a person who is hard to offend? If so, you will open the door to more peace and joy than you have ever known before.

People are everywhere, and you never know what they might say or do. Why give the control of your day to other people? Being hurt and offended does not change the people, it only changes us. It makes us miserable and steals our peace and joy, so why not prepare ourselves mentally not to fall into Satan’s trap? Developing the mind-set that you are a person who is difficult to offend will make your life much more pleasant.

Trust in Him Do you get your feelings hurt easily? Trust God to help you become a person who is difficult to offend.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 9

Pray for Those Who Hurt You

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great…
LUKE 6:35

One of the reasons we find forgiving others difficult when we are offended is because we have told ourselves probably thousands of times that forgiving is hard to do. We have convinced ourselves and set our minds to fail at one of God’s most important commands, which is to forgive and pray for our enemies and those who hurt and abuse us (see Luke 6:35–36). We meditate too much on what the offensive person has done to us, and we fail to realize what we are doing to ourselves when we take Satan’s bait.

Though praying for our enemies and blessing those who curse us may seem extremely difficult or nearly impossible, we can do it if we set our minds to it. Having the proper mind-set is vital if we want to obey God. He never tells us to do anything that is not good for us or to do anything we cannot do. He is always available to give us the strength we need to accomplish the task. We don’t even need to think about how hard it is; we just need to do it!

God is just! Justice is one of His most admirable character traits. He brings justice as we wait on Him and trust Him to be our vindicator when we have been hurt or offended. He simply asks us to pray and forgive—and He does the rest. He makes even our pain work out for our good (see Rom. 8:28). He justifies, vindicates, and recompenses us. He pays us back for our pain if we follow His commands to forgive our enemies and even says that we will receive “double for our trouble” (see Isa. 61:7).

As we renew our minds with thoughts such as, I freely and quickly forgive, we will find forgiving and releasing offenses easier than ever to do. The reason this is true is because “Where the mind goes, the man follows.” As we mentally and verbally agree with God by obeying His Word, we become a team that is unbeatable. Trust in Him In what areas do you frequently take the bait of Satan and fall into his trap of being offended? Stop saying it is too hard and simply trust that if you pray and forgive, God will do the rest.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 10

“Because I’m in Christ!”

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe].
PSALM 103:12–13

We put a lot more pressure on ourselves than God would ever put on us. God removes all that makes us unrighteous (our transgressions) and sends it as far away as the east is from the west. How far is the east from the west? A long way!

When my son was younger, he decided to do something nice for me. He got a bowl of water and went out on the porch. Soon he came to me and said, “Mommy, I washed the windows for you.” The porch was wet. He was wet. The windows were smeared up. But he did it because he loved me. God reminded me of this one time. He said, “Do you remember what you did afterward? You sent your son off to get cleaned up and then you went and cleaned up his mess when he wasn’t looking.” God showed me that He does the same with us.

God is aware of our imperfections, yet He receives what we do out of love for Him. He cleans up our messes, and even works good out of them, because He loves us with a perfect love. He sees our faith in Him and through it considers us to be “in Christ.”
If God asks, “Why should I let you into heaven?” the only right answer is, “Because I’m in Christ.” If God asks, “Why should I answer your prayers?” the right answer is, “Because I’m in Christ.” If God asks, “Why should I help you?” the only right answer is, “Because I’m in Christ.”

Jesus wants us to come fearlessly, confidently, and boldly to the Father to receive mercy for our failures and grace for every need we have. He understands our weaknesses and faults. He understands that we are not going to manifest perfection every day. But we can ask God to forgive us for the mistakes we make and then go boldly before the throne to ask God to meet our needs.

Trust in Him Do everything out of love for your heavenly Father. You can trust Him to answer your prayers and clean up your messes.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 11

Believe the Best about People

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
1 CORINTHIANS 13:7

Believing the best about people is very helpful in the process of forgiving people who hurt or offend us. As human beings, we tend to be suspicious of others and we often get hurt due to our own imaginations. It is possible to believe someone hurt you on purpose when the truth is they were not even aware they did anything at all, and never intended to upset you.

I can remember, during the early years of our marriage, focusing on everything I considered negative about Dave and ignoring his positive traits. My thoughts went something like this: We just don’t agree about anything. Dave is so stubborn, and he has to be right all the time. He is insensitive, and he just doesn’t care how I feel. He never thinks of anyone but himself. In reality, none of these thoughts were true! They only existed within my own mind; and my wrong thinking caused a great deal of offense and disagreement that could have been easily avoided had my mind-set been more positive.

Over time, as I grew in my relationship with God, I learned the power of believing in the best about people and meditating on the things that were good. As that happened, my thinking sounded like this: Dave is usually very easy to get along with; he has his areas of stubbornness, but then so do I. Dave loves me and would never hurt my feelings on purpose. Dave is very protective of me and always makes sure I am taken care of. At first, I had to think these things on purpose, but now I actually feel uncomfortable when I think negative thoughts, and positive thoughts come more naturally because I have disciplined myself to think them.

There are still times when people hurt my feelings, but then I remember that I can choose whether to be hurt or to “get over it.” I can believe the best or I can believe the worst, so why not believe the best and enjoy my day?

Trust in Him Do you believe the best about people? Is there someone in particular whom you need to believe the best? Trust God to help you meditate on the best of all people until positive thoughts come naturally.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 12

Every Day Is Precious

For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
MATTHEW 6:14

I have learned that any day I spend angry and offended is a wasted day. Life is too short and too precious to waste any of it. The older people get, the more they usually realize that, but I am sad to say that some people never learn it. The society we live in today is filled with angry, easily offended people who are stressed out and tired most of the time. But Jesus teaches us a better way to live.

I want to encourage you to make the most out of today—and every day—because life is a precious gift from God. Every day is filled with wonderful promise and possibility. Enjoy this day! Don’t waste it being angry or offended.

We can choose to live according to God’s Word rather than to live the world’s way, or to give in to fleshly thoughts or emotions. A wise person refuses to live with hurt feelings or offense in his heart. Life is too short to waste one day being angry, bitter, and resentful. The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that our sins are forgiven, and I believe we have been given the ability to forgive those who sin against us. Anything God has given us, such as forgiveness and mercy, He expects us to extend to others. If it comes to us, it should flow through us—and that should be our goal.

When we are offended, we need to quickly call to mind the fact that God has freely and fully forgiven us, so we should freely and fully forgive others.

Trust in Him Is there an offense you have been holding on to? If so, trust it to God—turn it over to Him—and forgive. Don’t waste another minute that you could be enjoying life.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 13

Do Yourself a Favor and Forgive

And should you not have had pity and mercy on your fellow attendant, as I had pity and mercy on you?
MATTHEW 18:33

In Matthew 18:23–35, Jesus tells a story about one man who refused to forgive another. At the end, he makes the clear and strong point that those who do not forgive others get “turned over to the torturers” (v. 34). If you have, or have ever had, a problem forgiving others, I’m sure you can attest to this truth. Harboring hateful thoughts and bitterness toward another person in your mind is indeed torturous.

You may have heard the saying, “Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and hoping it kills the other person.” We are not hurting the one who hurt us by being angry at them. The truth is that most of the time people who offend us don’t even know how we feel. They go on with their lives while we drink the poison of bitterness. When you do forgive those who offend you, you are actually helping yourself more than you are helping them, so I say, “Do yourself a favor and forgive!”

We think, But, it is so unfair for me to forgive them and then they just have no punishment for what they did. Why should I have the pain while they get the freedom? The truth is that by forgiving, we are releasing them so God can do what only He can do. If I’m in the way—trying to get revenge or taking care of the situation myself instead of trusting and obeying God—He may sit back and allow me to try to handle things in my own strength.

But, if I allow Him to deal with those who offend me by forgiving them, He can work good out of it for both parties concerned.
The book of Hebrews tells us that God settles the cases of His people. When we forgive, we put God on the case (see Heb. 10:30).

Trust in Him Is there a situation in your life that you are trying to take care of instead of trusting God to work it out? If so, do yourself a favor and forgive so God can settle it.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 14

The Benefits of Forgiveness

But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.
MARK 11:26

Mark 11:22–26 clearly teaches us that unforgiveness hinders our faith from working, so we can conclude in contrast that forgiveness enables our faith to work. The Father can’t forgive our sins if we don’t forgive other people (see Matt. 6:14–15).

There are still more benefits of forgiveness. For one, I’m happier and I feel better physically when I’m not filled with unforgiveness. We can be healthier when we quickly forgive. Serious diseases can develop as a result of the stress and pressure that result from bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness.

Our fellowship with God flows freely when we’re willing to forgive, but unforgiveness serves as a major block to communion with God. I also believe it is difficult to love people while harboring anger. When we have bitterness in our hearts it seeps out in all of our attitudes and relationships.

It is good to remember that even people we want to love may suffer when we hold bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness. For example, I was very angry and bitter toward my father for abusing me, and I ended up mistreating my husband who had nothing at all to do with the pain I had encountered. I felt that someone needed to repay me for the injustice in my life, but I was trying to collect from someone who could not pay and had no responsibility to do so.

God promises to pay us back for our former trouble if we turn the situation over to Him. And if we don’t, then we allow Satan to perpetuate our pain and take it from relationship to relationship. Ephesians 4:26–27 tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger or give the devil any such foothold or opportunity. Remember that the devil must have a foothold before he can get a stronghold. Do not help Satan torture you. Be quick to forgive when you are offended.

Trust in Him There is no end to the benefits in your life if you will trust God’s Word that tells you to forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven times (Matt. 18:22).


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 15

What God Tells Me Every Day

I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another.
JOHN 13:34

The Roman philosopher Seneca made a statement we all need to remember: “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.” I would add to that, “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity to express love.” Everyone on earth needs love and kindness. Even when we have nothing to offer others in terms of money or possessions, we can give them love and show them kindness.

It seems like God tells me every day, “Get your mind off of yourself and your problems and spend today doing something to love someone else.” From start to finish, in all kinds of ways, God’s Word encourages and challenges us to love other people. To love others is the “new commandment” Jesus gave us in John 13:34, and it is the example He set for us throughout His life and ministry on earth. If we want to be like Jesus, we need to love others with the same kind of gracious, forgiving, generous, unconditional love He extends to us.

Nothing has changed my life more dramatically than learning how to love people and treat them well. Incorporate this thought into your life: I love people and I enjoy helping them.
Trust in Him What are you doing to show love toward others? Trust the example of God’s unconditional love to be your guide.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 16

Real Love Is More Than Words—It’s Action

… Let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity).
1 JOHN 3:18

Some people think of love as a wonderful feeling—a sensation of excitement or gushy emotions that make us feel warm and fuzzy all over. While love certainly has its wonderful feelings and powerful emotions, it’s so much more than that. Real love has little to do with gooey emotions and goose bumps; it has everything to do with the choices we make about the way we treat people. Real love is not theory or talk; it is action. It is a decision concerning the way we behave in our relationships with other people. Real love meets needs even when sacrifice is required in order to do so.

I am amazed when I think about how often we know the right thing to do, but never get around to doing it. The apostle James said if we hear the Word of God and don’t do it, we deceive ourselves with reasoning that does not agree with the truth (see James 1:21–22). In other words, we know what is right but we make an excuse for ourselves. We find reason to exempt ourselves from doing what we tell others they ought to do. If we really want to walk in love, we will do what is right.

Would you make a commitment before God and sincerely in your heart to do at least one thing for somebody else every day? It may sound simple, but to do it, you will have to think about it and choose to do it on purpose. You may even have to move beyond the normal group of people in your life and do things for people you would not normally reach out to, or even strangers.

There are so many people in the world who have never ever had anyone do anything nice for them, and they are desperate for some words or actions of love. Let love be the main theme of your life and you will have a life worth living. The Bible says we know that we have passed over from death to life if we love one another (see 1 John 3:14).

Trust in Him What will you do to put love into action today? Trust God to bring people into your life that need to know His love, and then let them see it through you.


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Aeliana]

September 17

God Will Give You Truth When You Ask for It

He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love.
1 JOHN 4:8

I spent many years of my life as a very unhappy, dissatisfied person, and I wasted a lot of time thinking my unhappiness was someone or something else’s fault. Thoughts such as, If I just had more money, I would be happy, or If people did more for me, I would be happy, or If I did not have to work so hard, I would be happy, or If I felt better physically, I would be happy filled my mind. The list of reasons that I thought caused my unhappiness seemed endless, and no matter what I did to entertain myself, nothing worked for long.

As I grew in my personal relationship with God, I literally became desperate for peace, stability, true happiness, and joy. That kind of hunger for change usually requires facing some truth—maybe some unpleasant truth or things we don’t like to admit—about ourselves, and I have learned that if we really want truth, God will give it to us. As I began seeking God for the root cause of my unhappiness, He showed me that I was very selfish and self-centered.

My focus was on what others could and should do for me, rather than what I could and should do for them. That was not easy for me to accept, but doing so was the beginning of a life-changing journey with God.
God helped me begin to see myself as a person who could give and help. I had to change my thinking from, What about me?, to What can I do for you? I would like to say this was an easy change to make, but the truth is that it was very difficult and took a lot longer than I like to admit.

Everything God does is for our good; all of His commands are intended to help us have the best lives we can possibly have. He commands us to love and be kind to others, which means taking the focus off of ourselves, silencing the voice that asks, “What about me?” and learning to follow Jesus’ example of being kind, generous, and loving toward others.

Trust in Him Ask God to show you the root cause(s) of any unhappiness in your life. Trust Him and be willing to face the truth about yourself even if you don’t like it. This is the first step toward a better life!


Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions