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This program has been made possible by the friends

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and partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries.

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I do what I do because I've seen

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God's power transform my own

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life and He will do it for

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you. The key to everything

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is found

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in God's Word. I'm

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Joyce Meyer and I believe

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that God can heal you everywhere

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you hurt. Thank

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you

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for joining me today on Enjoying Everyday

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Life. I believe you're going to really enjoy the program today.

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I want to talk about are you building walls

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or bridges? Do

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you have questions about your life? Why

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was I abused? Why

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do I look the way I look? I

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wish I wasn't so short. I wish I wasn't so tall. I

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think my nose is too big. My

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feet are just way out of proportion to the rest of my

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body. My

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voice is too deep. How

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about a man that has a little squeaky voice? I

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don't imagine that's much fun. Why

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did I lose my hair when I was in my 20s?

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I don't want to be a bald

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man. Why wasn't I born into

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a family with more money or

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better social standing? Why,

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why, why? Why

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did my loved one die? What

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about birth defects? What

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about children with cancer? Do

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you know the whys of life

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can build a wall between you and God

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if you're not wise to Satan's deception?

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God is good, period,

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end of the conversation. There

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is no injustice in God.

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When I study the character of God or

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I teach on the character of God, my

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favorite aspect of God's character is

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that he is just. And

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what that means is that He always

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makes wrong things right. In

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the world there's a lot of injustice. Life

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is not fair, but

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God will always make

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things that are wrong right in your

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life. If, there's

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always that if, isn't it? If we

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trust Him, keep

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a good attitude. We

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need to be people of integrity. A lot

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of people today don't even know what that word means. You could

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go out and do what they call a man on the street interview,

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and we've done that. It's amazing

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how many people today don't even know what that word

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means. Integrity

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just means you're honest. You

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do what you say you're going to do. How

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hard is it to find people today that actually

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do what they say they're going to do? I'll

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call you back. You never hear from them. Our

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workers who make appointments to come to your

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house and fix something don't show up, don't even

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bother to call. It

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is so rude to do

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things like that, and the Bible says love is not

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rude. God

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is good. There's no injustice in Him. He's

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perfect. But

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we do live in an imperfect world with

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imperfect people, in

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a world where the sin principle has been

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at work for generations and generations

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and generations. Satan

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is at work. For

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many, tragedy becomes

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a bridge to God. It's

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kind of interesting. It seems like unbelievers.

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Many times when they have a tragedy, it will drive

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them to God. But

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believers, it

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seems like many times when they have a tragedy,

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it separates them from God. which

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is kind of an interesting thought,

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you know. I

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guess believers think that

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everything should turn out good for them because they're believers.

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But that's not always the case. We

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go through things that are unfair, things

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happen that we don't understand, but

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we need to be careful about what

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I call why God, why. Now

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you can ask God all the questions you want to, but generally

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you're not going to get the answer that you want. And

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probably to tell you the truth, a lot of times we ask

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God why we'd really rather He not tell us. Because

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we might not like it

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if He did. And this is my

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personal opinion. I'm not saying that

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it's wrong to ask God why. But

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I think instead of hearing why

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God, He'd much rather hear I trust you, Lord.

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I will say that again. Instead of hearing

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why God, I think He'd

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much rather hear I trust you. There's

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a pastor that I know in El Paso, Texas,

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his beautiful little wife died of cancer

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and of course him and all the church were

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praying for her. And

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she died. And he said the

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first thing he said to God was, I'll never ask

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you why. And

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I don't know about you, but to me that's that's

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proving that your faith is deeply rooted

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in God.

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I mean when you really get right down to it, God does

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not have to explain Himself to us. He

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wants to hear, I trust you, I don't

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understand it, it hurts. It

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seems unfair, but I know you're good.

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I know the devil's bad. But

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I trust you to take this and work it

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out for my good. I

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lean on that scripture so much because

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Dave

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couldn't give it back to me. There's

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only one person that could give it back

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to me and that was God. And

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that's why it's foolish to try to collect from

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people, even the people who hurt you.

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That's why it's silly to say, I'm going to think I'm going

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to get you back. Well,

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no, you really won't. You'll just hurt yourself

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more and more and more. And

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I know I harp on this thing about forgiveness

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a lot, but I don't really intend to shut up

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because there are so many, there

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are so many angry Christians. It

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is probably the single biggest problem

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that we have in the church. Satan

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gains more ground in the life of

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believers to unforgiveness than

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to any other thing. And

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we say, but it's so hard. Well,

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yes and no, you know. I mean, Jesus

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forgave us. On

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the cross, he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. You say,

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yeah, but that was Jesus. Well,

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Stephen said the same thing and he wasn't Jesus.

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He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. You

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know, my dad knew that what he was doing was wrong. But

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I honestly don't think that he understood

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how bad it was going to hurt me. And

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he actually when he got around to apologizing to

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me, which was not until he was 80. He

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told me that he said, I had no idea that what I

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was doing to you would hurt you

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that bad. There

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was no talk about sexual abuse. And there

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were no television programs where people were

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sharing what people had done to them. And

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he came from that background himself. And

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so what good was it going to do me to hate him?

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A statement that God gave me that has helped me

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over the years is hurting people hurt people. And

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if you can believe that when somebody hurts you

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that they hurt you. because they're hurting. And

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that doesn't excuse it. That doesn't excuse

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what my father did. He was responsible.

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He knew it was wrong. But

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I do think a lot of times when people hurt

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us, they don't really realize how

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bad they're hurting us or how deep

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those wounds may

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go. And so it's

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useless to spend your life, or I should say

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waste your life trying to collect from somebody

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who really can't

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pay you back. You

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know, how could he give me my childhood back? He

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couldn't do that. Trust

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requires unanswered questions. See,

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if you're gonna trust God, you have to

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not know something, not understand

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something, but trust him anyway. So

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you're always gonna have some unanswered questions,

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and my advice to you is stop trying

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to figure so many things out. I

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was a person, I say,

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that was addicted to reasoning. Well,

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how can you be addicted to reasoning? Well, when

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I was having a problem, I could not settle

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down until I thought I had it figured

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out, which

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was interesting because you can think you have

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something figured out and still not know what you're doing.

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We used to have these,

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I don't think they have them now, maybe they do, these

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little mail slots for each person that worked

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here. And

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every once in a while I'd send somebody a message

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and they wouldn't respond,

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and I would say, well why didn't you respond? They'd say, well I

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didn't get it, and I would find out

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that I put it in the wrong slot. And

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that's what God told me. He said, you think you've got so

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many things figured out, but you've got a lot of stuff

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in the wrong slot. And

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only God really knows. And

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we need to trust him that if we need to

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know, if

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you need to know, he will tell

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you. And someday you will

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know. The Bible says that when we get to heaven,

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we will know then even as we

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are known.

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So you will know at some point,

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but it may not be when you

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want to know. Even now, I look

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back at my life and there's

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so many things that I understand now that I didn't

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understand then. I

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heard the statement, I love it. We live life forward,

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but we understand it backwards. How

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many of you can look back at some of the things that happened

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in your life and maybe even

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something you thought was so terrible and now you realize

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it was the very thing that brought you closer to God?

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Yeah. Most

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of our depth in God comes through

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the pain that we go through. But

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it is a choice. And

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you have to be determined when

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things happen that you don't understand to not let

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it become a wall between you and God, but

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let it become a bridge that

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leads you to him. And

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especially people that don't have

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a personal relationship with Christ. If

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you've had a tragedy in your life, don't

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get into that, well,

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I don't believe there's a God. If there was really a God,

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then this wouldn't have happened. If

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God is good, then this wouldn't have happened. God

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never promised us a trouble-free life.

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He just promised to always be with us. And

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everything. And I don't know where we ever.

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I forgot the idea that we should be the

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special group that never has any problems.

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All through the Bible, people

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had problems. A couple of

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days ago we talked about Joseph. Look

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at all the unfair things that happened to

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him, and yet

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he trusted God and God gave him favor,

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and everywhere he went he was promoted. It's

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the same thing with the life of Daniel. I'm not

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worried about him. I think he outlasted about five kings.

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He was thrown

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into the lion's den, and his friends were

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thrown into the fiery furnace. But

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they always trusted God.

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And I love what it says about his friends, Shadrach,

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Meshach, and Abednego.

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They said, we will not bow down to you.

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And if God can deliver us from this,

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he will. He didn't mean

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that he wasn't able, but if it was his will to deliver

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him, he would. And if not, we're

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still not bowing down to you. See,

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that's the attitude we need to have. Even

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if I have to suffer to do the right thing,

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I'm not going to bow down to you. Remember

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when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness, the devil

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said, if you'll bow down to me just once. Just

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once. But see, the devil will

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tell you what it's just once. I

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mean, that can't hurt anything, just once. That

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just once lie, boy, you've got to watch out for that. He

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said, if you will bow down to me just once, I'll

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give you all these kingdoms, and

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their preeminence, and their glory.

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And I realized something recently

15:45

by looking at that scripture.

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You know the devil can bless you. Come

15:54

again. So

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see, we can't always... assume,

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well, this

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person must be doing what's right, because look at

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how blessed they are. You

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know, there's all kinds of ungodly people in the world

16:10

that are blessed a lot more than people

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that are godly, and that makes us mad. We don't understand

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that. But I don't care

16:19

how much money you have or how many things you

16:21

have, you have nothing if you don't have

16:23

righteousness, peace, and joy in the

16:26

Holy Ghost. Psalm 14, 17 says,

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the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, it's

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not stuff,

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it's knowing who you are in Christ, peace

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and joy. Those are the most

16:37

valuable things to have. So

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don't bow down to the devil in

16:45

any way, shape, or form, because you think

16:48

it's going to get you something. Shadrach,

16:52

Meshach, and Abednego went into the fiery furnace,

16:54

and they turned it up seven times hotter than

16:56

it normally was.

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But I love the end of the story. Don't you

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like the end of the stories? When

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they came out, it says they didn't even smell like

17:07

smoke. I

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love that. I went through a lot

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in my life, but I don't even smell like smoke. In

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other words, who would think from

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looking at my life now,

17:20

the things that I went through? Because

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that's what makes it even all the better, that

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I went through all that stuff, and God turned

17:27

it all around for good, and He's

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using it to bless a lot of people. Proverbs 20,

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24, man steps are ordered by the Lord. How

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then can a man understand his way? Why

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do we even try to figure out our way? You

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know, when I was so addicted to reasoning, I just could

17:47

not settle down until I thought I had things

17:49

figured out. And

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God had to work with me a long time to get me to give

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that up, because all it does is torment you.

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Exodus 13, 17 says, when Pharaoh

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let the people go, God

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led them not by way of the land

18:06

of the Philistines, although that was nearer.

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For God said, lest the people change their

18:12

purpose when they see war and return

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to Egypt. So he

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led them the long hard way because

18:19

they really were not ready for the Promised

18:21

Land yet.

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Now, maybe you have a promise from God, something

18:25

that he's told you that

18:26

he's gonna do for you. And don't

18:30

get mad at me when I tell you this, but maybe

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you're just not ready for it yet. In

18:37

like that much did you. See,

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we always think we're ready, but

18:44

when we are ready, it will

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come to pass. Well,

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God, I'm ready, I know I'm ready, and I don't understand

18:52

why you're not. You

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just say, God, I trust your ways, and I trust your

18:56

timing. My times are in the hands of the Lord.

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Well, we don't like that waiting stuff. We

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want it now. Like

19:06

little babies. My

19:10

grandson was gonna, he's gonna be four in

19:12

July, and he's quite a character right

19:14

now. And

19:18

he has started saying back to his parents

19:21

things that they say to him. Like,

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Brody, you're being rude. So when they correct

19:29

him, he'll say, you're being rude. And so he was having

19:31

a little bad day the other

19:33

day, and his mother had

19:35

him out in the car, and he was just crabbing

19:37

and just didn't like nothing.

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She

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said, Brody, why are you being so grouchy today?

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So she said, we're gonna pray. So she

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got his hands and said. Father, I pray

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that Brody will be a sweet little boy like I

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know he is, and that he'll have a

20:05

good day and be happy today.

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And when she got finished, he said, not Amen.

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Awwww!

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And that's the way we are sometimes when God

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tells us something's going to be a certain way. Not Amen.

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I don't... I don't

20:26

like that. You

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know, when we don't like things about ourselves,

20:33

by whose standard are we measuring ourselves?

20:37

Who says how tall is too tall, or how short

20:40

is too short, or... You

20:42

know, God has a plan for your life, and

20:45

he farmed you in your mother's womb carefully

20:48

and intricately with his own hand.

20:52

Those are some of the adjectives used in the Amplified

20:54

Bible. Carefully and intricately.

20:58

You are not a mistake, you're not put together wrong.

21:02

God has a purpose for everything he does,

21:05

and the worst thing that you can do is

21:07

not like yourself. You

21:12

might as well make peace with your thighs. They are

21:14

what they are.

21:20

Amen. Isaiah 45,

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9, Woe to him who strives with his Maker,

21:28

a worthless piece of broken pottery among

21:31

other pieces equally worthless. And

21:33

yet, presuming to strive with his Maker,

21:36

shall the clay say to him who fashioned it, What

21:38

do you think you're making?

21:41

Or your work has no handles. And

21:44

Romans 9, 20, and 21 says, But

21:46

who are you a mere man to criticize and

21:48

contradict and answer back to God? Well,

21:53

what does farm say to him that farmed it? Why

21:55

have you made me this way? the

22:00

pot or no right over the clay to make out of the

22:02

same mass lump one vessel for

22:04

beauty and distinction and honorable

22:06

use and another for menial or ignoble or dishonorable

22:09

use. I

22:12

mean, so what if one person is

22:14

the CEO of the company and another is the janitor? Why

22:19

should we crab and complain? All we're responsible

22:21

for is to do the part that God gives us and

22:25

to do it with a good attitude and

22:27

a thankful attitude. Because

22:30

you know what, and I think we don't think about this

22:32

enough, the amount

22:34

of time that we're here is so short

22:37

compared to eternity. And

22:41

we really need to be more eternity

22:43

minded. We really need

22:45

to think more about that. I'm going to live forever

22:48

and ever and ever and ever. And

22:52

so really when you get right down to it, why should

22:54

we care so much what happens to

22:56

us in these 70 or 80

22:58

or 90 or

22:59

even if you live to be 100, which very few people

23:01

do, it's nothing compared

23:06

to eternity. And I always

23:08

say we need to spend here

23:10

getting ready for there. Not

23:14

acting like here is

23:17

all there is. You know, nobody likes

23:19

to hurt. We

23:21

don't want to hurt. We don't want to have pain. We don't

23:24

want to have losses in our lives. But

23:28

it really got to make us feel any better if we know why.

23:33

I don't know. It just helped me when I stopped asking

23:36

why. Romans 11

23:39

33 and 34 says, Oh, the depth of the riches and

23:41

the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how

23:44

unfathomable, inscrutable, unsearchable

23:47

are his judgments, his decisions, and

23:49

how untraceable, serious,

23:52

undiscoverable are his ways. His

23:54

methods and his paths are

23:56

past finding out. We

24:00

need to believe with all of our heart that God is a

24:02

God of justice. Jeremiah 9.24

24:04

says, I am the Lord who practices

24:07

loving kindness, judgment and righteousness

24:09

in the earth. For in these things

24:12

I delight, says

24:14

the Lord. In

24:16

Zephaniah 3.5 it says, the

24:19

Lord in the midst of her is uncompromisingly

24:22

righteous. He will not

24:24

do iniquity. Every morning he brings

24:27

his justice to light. He

24:29

fails not, but

24:31

the unjust person knows no shame.

24:34

Men fail, but

24:37

God never fails. Now,

24:40

blaming God for

24:43

anything that

24:46

you think is bad in your life is the

24:48

absolute worst thing that you can do.

24:53

Don't ever blame God. Always say, God,

24:55

I know you're good. I don't know why this happened.

24:58

It hurts. It feels unfair,

25:01

but you are good. You

25:04

know, in

25:08

talking to God about the abuse in my childhood, he

25:12

did give me a partial answer. You

25:15

know, parents have

25:18

authority over a child until

25:21

they become of age and can make their own decisions.

25:25

So many times the things that happened

25:27

to us in our life that are painful, they

25:29

are the result of somebody else's bad

25:32

choice that

25:34

you got in the way of.

25:36

And see, we forget sometimes that

25:39

free choice carries with it a lot of responsibility.

25:44

And so my parents made choices

25:48

that not only hurt them, but hurt

25:51

me. However, and

25:53

this is the big thing, when

25:56

I became of

25:57

age and got away from there.

25:59

I was free to

26:02

start making my own choices and

26:05

Listen every good choice

26:07

you make

26:08

Overrides one of the bad choices

26:10

that somebody else made that hurt you Can

26:14

I say that again? every

26:17

good choice that

26:19

you make Overrides

26:22

one of the bad choices that either

26:24

you made or somebody else made that

26:26

hurt you So No

26:29

more blaming God Build

26:32

bridges not walls God

26:35

is good, and we don't have to

26:38

know why Amen

26:41

Got a couple of things for you today if you'd like to

26:43

have some more of the word power thoughts

26:46

12 strategies to help you win

26:49

the battle in your mind and we all have that

26:51

mind battle Don't we and then

26:53

developing patience? I

26:55

probably should I probably should take this home read

26:57

myself Anyway, we're

26:59

so glad you joined us today. We love you, and

27:02

we want you to have an awesome life.

27:05

God bless you

27:10

So the Bible is God's manual to help

27:13

us navigate life But life often

27:15

gets in the way of knowing the Bible finding

27:17

the time knowing where to begin and discovering

27:20

what this all means to You we understand

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it's tailored for you at Joyce Meyer org

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the 2023 love life women's

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conference with Joyce Meyer

27:45

To know our later everybody

27:47

has to face off with their Goliath

27:49

Bishop TDJ Jesus is my breakthrough

27:52

He declared me free Sadie Robertson,

27:55

huh who we believe we are will

27:57

directly impact us to do the same that

28:00

we choose to do in life. Lisa Beaumont, he

28:02

will anoint the areas where you are weak

28:05

so he can show himself strong. Register

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We hope you enjoyed today's program.

28:15

Please contact us or visit joycemeyer.org

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