Joyce Meyer - The Power of Determination: Looking to Jesus

This book in its entiretyfrom literary development to artwork and final designis a creation of Koechel Peterson &Associates, Inc. Artwork by Katia Andreeva is reproduced under license from Koechel Peterson &Associates, Inc. and may not be reproduced without permission. For information regarding art prints featured in this book, please contact: Koechel Peterson &Associates, Inc., 2600 East 26th Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55406; 1-612-721-5017.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Amplified Bible The Amplified Bible, Old Testament. Copyright 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament, copyright 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from The New King James Version.

Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Copyright 2003 by Joyce Meyer

All rights reserved.

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First eBOOK Edition: May 2003

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If you will obey God and never give in or give up, then nothingno person on earth, no devil in hell, no inability you have, nothing from your pastwill be able to keep you from being successful.

GOD'S WORD FOR YOU

For this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off.

DEUTERONOMY 30:11

I WILL NOT QUIT

S o often, someone will come to me for advice and prayer, and when I tell them what the Word of God says, or what I think the Holy Spirit is saying, their response is, I know that's right; God has been showing me the same thing. But, Joyce, it's just too hard. It is one of the most commonly expressed excuses I hear from people.

When I initially began to see from the Word of God how I was supposed to live and behave, and compared it to where I was, I also said, I want to do things Your way, God, but it is so hard. God graciously showed me this is a lie the enemy tries to inject into our minds to get us to give up. God's commandments are not too difficult or too far away.

Walking in obedience to God is not too difficult because He has given His Spirit to work in us powerfully and to help us in all He has asked of us (John 14:16). He is in us and with us all the time to enable us to do what we cannot do, and to do with ease what would be hard without Him!

Things get hard when we try to do them independently without leaning on and relying on God's grace.

GOD'S WORD FOR YOU

When Pharaoh let the people go, God led them not by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God said, Lest the people change their purpose when they see war and return to Egypt.

EXODUS 13:17

For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads) has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

1 CORINTHIANS 10:13

God led the Children of Israel on a longer, harder route in the wilderness because He knew they were not ready for the battles they would face in possessing the Promised Land. He needed to do a work in their lives first, teaching them Who He was and that they could not depend on themselves.

You can be assured that anywhere God leads you, He is able to keep you. He never allows more to come on us than we can bear. We do not have to live in a constant struggle if we learn to lean on Him continually for the strength we need.

If you know God has asked you to do something, don't back down because it gets hard. When things get hard, spend more time with Him, lean more on Him, and receive more grace from Him (Hebrews 4:16). Grace is the power of God coming to you at no cost, to do through you what you cannot do by yourself.

God knows that the easy way is not always the best way for us. That's why it is so important that we not lose heart, grow weary, and faint.

Satan knows that if he can defeat us in our mind, he can defeat us in our experience.

GOD'S WORD FOR YOU

But Jesus looked at them and said, With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God.

MATTHEW 19:26

Many people I meet want to start at point A in their Christian life, blink their eyes twice, and be at point Z. Many of them are frustrated about not knowing what their gifts are or what God has called them to do with their life. Some of them are so afraid of failing and making mistakes that it keeps them from stepping out.

We all have undeveloped potential, but we will never see it manifested until we believe that we can do whatever God says we can do in His Word. Unless we step out in faith, believing that with God nothing is impossible, He cannot do the work in us that He wants to do to develop our potential. It takes our cooperation and willingness through determination, obedience, and hard work to develop what He has put in us.

Nobody can be determined for us. We must be determined. If we are not determined, the devil will steal from us everything we have. So give your potential some form by doing something with it. You will never find what you are capable of doing if you never try anything. Don't stay in the safety zone. Step out into what you feel God is leading you to do, and you will soon discover what you really can do.

Most of us have no problem with wishbone; it's backbone that we are lacking.

GOD'S WORD FOR YOU

And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.

GALATIANS 6:9

Losing heart and fainting refer to giving up in the mind. The Holy Spirit tells us not to give up in our mind, because if we hold on, we will eventually reap.

Think about Jesus. Immediately after being baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, He was led into the wilderness to be tested and tried by the devil. He did not complain and become discouraged and depressed. He did not think or speak negatively. He did not become confused trying to figure out why this had to happen! He went through each test victoriously (Luke 4:1-13).