That prison isn't hope Joyce -- its heresy. She has now taken Romans 12:12, which speaks gloriously about our eternal hope in Jesus Christ and used it to promise everyone a fantastic plan that God never promised anyone. Wait a minute preacher! Are you saying God doesn't have a fantastic plan for my life? Of course I wouldn't say that beloved because I do not have to. The Bible already does. Before you go all "Jeremiah 29:11" on me you may want to sit down. That verse was not written to you or me. It is written to the exiles in Babylon. Now does God have a plan for your life? Sure in the sense that He sees all time and therefore knows what will unfold in your life. For Peter His grand plan was for him to be crucified upside down. For the Christians in the Middle East today it may be to be beheaded in a martyr's death. For our brothers and sisters in the underground church in China it may be to live a life of quiet desperation. For you it may be to live an ordinary existence serving Him. Raising our kids under the admonishment of the Lord. Refusing to compromise the Gospel for the baubles and trinkets of this world peddled by the likes of Joyce Meyer. Our hope is liberating beloved. It frees us from the anxieties and cares of this world knowing our Lord and Savior has conquered the grave itself! If you think hope is a prison then you need to take a serious look at what you are enslaved to. Heresy is a hard prison beloved. It demands that you sacrifice the true Gospel for a powerless screed that has an air of piety but no power to save or change anyone.
"I remember when it was just three weeks into my marriage to Dave and he asked me one day, "What's wrong with you? You have such a negative attitude!" I said, "Well, if you don't expect anything good to happen, then you won't be disappointed when it doesn't." That was how I felt based on my past experiences. I had a very negative outlook on life, so I spoke negatively about it. This is the way I used to live ... before I became a prisoner of hope. As I grew in my relationship with God, I learned how to trust Him, how to stand on His Word and how to stand my ground in prayer when it got tough. Today, my outlook on life is completely different from what it was many years ago. Now, I enjoy my life, and I encourage others to enjoy theirs as well.
Jesus died for us to live an abundant, fulfilling life. And hope is the confident, favorable expectation of the life we can have in Him." -- Joyce Meyer
If you were truly standing on His Word Joyce then you would not butcher it so badly in pursuit of your pre-decided sermon points. You would understand that Romans 12:12 is a beautiful glimpse into our eternal hope and not some dungeon door into prisons of our choice. You would understand that the verse you are referencing here has nothing to do with what you claim it does. To Joyce Meyer, Jesus Christ died so that we might live an abundant and fulfilling life. What do we do then with the aforementioned brothers and sisters in Christ not fortunate enough to be born in this country? We all know where Meyer is getting this notion and it is another example of proof texting to prop up sermon points instead of actually hearing what God is saying. Here is the verse in question and the surrounding context:
So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. -- John 10: 7-13 (ESV)
Take a very close look at this beloved. Who is the thief in these verses? Jesus makes a direct comparison between Himself as the Good Shepherd and those who preach falsely as hirelings who care nothing about the sheep. The thief beloved, is the false teacher. The thief, is Joyce Meyer. The false teacher steals, kills and destroys by holding back the one thing that can save someone -- the Gospel. Even the abundance referred to hear Meyer perverts into the riches of this world. Jesus has an abundance of grace for us beloved. Grace when we did not deserve it. He has an abundance of mercy for us beloved instead of giving us what we did deserve. He has an abundance of spiritual gifts for us if we would follow Him. This is the abundant life Joyce. Not your private jet and yacht. Unfortunately, she was not done brutalizing Scripture:
"Now, I do realize there are many things that can happen to us that aren't so enjoyable. And that can make it difficult to grasp the idea of enjoying life. So, think of it this way: What are you hoping for? What are you expecting in life? What are you looking forward to? Focus on that.
My negative outlook was due to my attitude about all the bad things that had happened to me. I was stuck in the pain of my past, so I didn't believe anything good would happen in my future. Because of all of the negative things that had happened, I was programmed to believe that negative things would always happen. I lost hope." -- Joyce Meyer
What are you hoping for an expecting in life? Seriously? Beloved Jesus made in abundantly clear that the only way to be His disciple was to do three things -- deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Him. We should expect nothing from this world except pain, misery and increased sin. We carry with us the keys to the kingdom of heaven! The Gospel has the power to save anyone from the grasp of Satan and this world! Meyer's word faith bonafides are showing here however. She believes that by thinking about negative things she created that reality in her life. She believes that by locking herself away in some mystical prison of hope, she can change her reality. It is always however focused on herself and this world. Never on Jesus, except to leverage Him.
