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Welcome to Enjoying

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Everyday Life with New York Times bestselling

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author Joyce Meyer. On today's

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program, Joyce will be teaching from her series,

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Calm Down and Cheer Up. The

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Bible is full of scripture describing

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God's love for each one of us, and

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it tells us how through salvation in Christ,

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we can know true joy. But

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keeping our joy isn't always easy

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when the difficulties of life creep in. So

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how do we remain calm and cheerful when circumstances

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are worrisome? Today,

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Joyce shows us practical ways

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we can calm down and choose God's joy

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in every situation. Let's

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discover how His peace and joy can

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transform our lives. Now here's

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Joyce with today's teaching.

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Well thank you so much for

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joining me today. I really believe that

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today's message is going to help you. I

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want to start by asking a question. Are

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any of you upset

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about anything? Is

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there anybody watching today that needs to calm

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down? I love

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the word calm. Just saying

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that word makes me feel better. And

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so today I'm going to be teaching on calming

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down. There's a second part to this message

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called cheering up. I won't get to that part

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today, but peace

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is one of the most wonderful things in the world. And

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you can have peace, but you have to have it on

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purpose because the

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devil is always trying to take

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it away from us. I say

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he sets us up to get us upset.

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He knows our weak areas and he tries to make

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sure that we experience

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them enough that we end up getting

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emotionally upset and distraught.

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A couple of quotes that I thought were really good,

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one by Josiah Holland, calmness

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is the cradle of power. So

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really the calmer

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you stay, the more powerful

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you are. And then Brian

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Tracy. He said set peace

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of mind as your highest goal and

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then organize your life around it I

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just think about that if If

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my goal is to stay in peace then

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I have to Change

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the way I do some things and be

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adaptable and adjustable in my life to

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keep that peace and I

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lived a lot of years without peace actually

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I remember a time in my life

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when I didn't even know what peace was because I

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grew up in a house of turmoil and I

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honestly really didn't know what

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it felt like But as

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you'll hear me share later, my husband was a great

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example to me and I became

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very hungry for peace But

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I found out that I couldn't get peace

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just by praying. Oh God, give me peace

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Because you see the truth is Jesus

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said my peace I leave with you

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Not as the world gives do I give unto you but

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my own special peace I

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give and bequeath unto

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you then the amplified Bible says

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so stop allowing yourselves to be

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upset and Disturbed so

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I have a responsibility you

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have a responsibility We can't

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just pray for peace to come on us. Of

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course, we can pray about it and should be

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praying about it but we still

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have to Watch

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for the things in our life and when

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you start to feel yourself getting upset

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That's the best time to say nope.

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I'm gonna calm down Isaiah 30 15

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For thus says the Lord God the Holy One

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of Israel in Returning

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to me and resting in me. You

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shall be saved in quietness

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and Entrusting confidence shall

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be your strength, but you

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would not I love

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that How many times

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does God show us in his word what to do,

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but we would If

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you want to have peace and

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calmness of mind and heart in your life,

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you may have to learn how to do a lot

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of things a different way than the way you

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have been doing them. You see, we always want our

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circumstances to change. Well, if you wouldn't, then

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I wouldn't. And if this didn't happen, then I wouldn't

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respond this way.

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And I did that for a

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long time. Well, if you would

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do something different, then I'd be happy. And

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if you would do something different, I'd

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be happy. But God

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told me to stop giving everybody else the responsibility

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for my peace and joy and to

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take responsibility for it myself.

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And I really hope you're getting this today because

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some of you could have peace. You

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could calm down if you'd

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be willing to trust God more.

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Our strength, spiritual and physical,

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is dependent on it. Do you

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know that

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getting upset,

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like getting really emotionally upset,

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is hard work? It absolutely

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wears you out. And

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it's much easier to not get upset

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than it is to get upset and try to

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calm down. When we're

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upset, it's the worst time in the world

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to be making decisions. We say

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things that we shouldn't

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be saying. We do things

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we shouldn't be doing. It's

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not a good time to make decisions.

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The Bible tells us that we are not to be intimidated

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by anything, but if we stay calm –

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now listen to this – if we stay calm,

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it's a sign to the devil that he can't control

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us and that he's going to lose this battle.

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And it's a sign to God to come

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and deliver us. Here's

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the Scripture, Philippians 1, 28, 29. For

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such constancy and

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fearlessness will be a clear

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sign, a proof and a seal to

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them, your enemies, the devil,

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of their impending destruction.

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You see, when a person has circumstances

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that should upset them and they

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stay calm, it's a sign

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to the devil that he can't

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control us and that he's going

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to lose the battle. But it is

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a sure token and an evidence of

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your deliverance and salvation and

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that from God. I love that

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scripture.

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Stay calm. Calm.

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It's a beautiful word. You can just sit in

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a chair and close your eyes and just say calm.

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And it just feels good. Verse 29,

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for you have been granted the privilege

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for Christ's sake, not only to

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believe in, adhere

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to, rely on and trust in Him, but

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also to suffer in His behalf.

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Wow. You know, a lot of times we

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read verse 28 and don't even bother with 29

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because nobody wants to talk about this

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suffering thing. But

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sometimes in order to stay calm,

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let's just say, for example, maybe you have

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to not have the

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last word in an argument. Or

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maybe you have to let somebody

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think you're wrong when you're

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pretty sure you're right. But you

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know, if you keep going back and forth, it's

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going to cause an argument. It's going to cause strife.

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And so you may be better off just

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to let them think whatever they want to

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and trust God that

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if you need to be shown to be in

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the right, that God Himself will take care

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of that. And that way you

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can stay calm. But you may suffer

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a little bit during that process. And

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when I say suffer, I mean in

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the flesh, you know, your flesh has feelings. And

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like if you don't get your way. your

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flesh suffers. Well, there

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were many years in my life where if I didn't get

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my way, I got upset and said

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things I shouldn't have said or wouldn't talk at

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all, and I acted foolish.

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Well,

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now I don't wanna do that anymore. It's not,

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I'd rather adjust myself

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to the situation rather than

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get upset. I'm committed to staying calm

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and being peaceful, but that doesn't mean that

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my flesh loves it. Sometimes I suffer

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in the flesh in order to do what God

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wants me to do. When

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we have a problem, we usually

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rush to action. It's

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like there's a little demon that sits on our shoulder

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and says, well, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? What

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are you gonna do? What are you gonna

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do? Why do we always think that we have to

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do something? And

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yes, there are things that we

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are to do. In Ephesians 6,

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I believe it's 12 or 13, it says,

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having done all the crisis demands,

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stand firmly in your place.

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So there are things that God wants us

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to do, but we need to know what those

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things are before we just start

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doing a bunch of stuff. You

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know, you could do something that somebody else does

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and it might not work at all for you because

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we need to have God's direction. And the only

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way you can get that is to calm down

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and be quiet so

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you can get that sensing inside

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of what direction you should take. Psalm 46

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10 says, be still and

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know that I am God.

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Well, what does that mean? Well, I think it means

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that if we will wait on

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God, and you'll see in

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a minute that waiting on God is not like a passive,

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you know, if

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we will be still and wait on God,

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then we will see his

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miraculous workings in our life. Be still

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and know that I am God. Let

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God prove himself to you

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by being willing to wait on him rather

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than trying to take matters into your own hands.

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Let me give you an example, because I just feel like somebody

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needs this. If you're really angry at

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somebody right now, and you're planning

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ways that you can get them back, why

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don't you make a decision right now that instead

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of doing that, you're going

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to let it go, you're

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going to forgive them,

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and forgiveness is not

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a feeling, it's how you decide to treat somebody,

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and you're going to pray for them, and

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then God can move in and take care of the situation.

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God is our vindicator, He's

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the one who makes wrong things right in

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our life. If you stay

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angry all day today, if

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you are angry and you stay angry, it's

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only going to hurt you. It's not going to hurt the person you're

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angry at, but it is going to hurt you. Before

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we do anything else, we

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should wait. I always like

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to say, let emotions subside

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before you decide. Let

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me say that again. Let emotions subside

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before you decide. You

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know, sometimes like in an argument, if

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your emotions are all, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, just

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by being quiet,

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they'll start to calm down. And

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you can have emotions that are overly

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excited, our

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emotions that are

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extremely depressed, and either

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one can get us in trouble. You say, well

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Joyce, why would being

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really excited get me in trouble? Because

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sometimes when you're really excited, you

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do things that you wouldn't

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ordinarily do, or you do things that you

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regret later. And I'll give you an example from my

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own life. You know, women

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generally like to shop, and this

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is something that happened many years ago, but I

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had a little money saved. It wasn't a tremendous

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amount, but I had a little money

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saved. Let's say it was $200. I

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don't remember exactly, but it wasn't a

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lot. and i

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have been wanting a new watch but i like

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they use a sparkle in shine and i

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don't you were watch now but back

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then we didn't have all the cell phones that told us

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what time it was all the time so i wanted

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a new watch but i wanted something that would

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be really pretty so we're

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at the mall and when

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in this jewelry store and sure enough they had

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a a beautiful watch it had a lot of rhinestones

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on it in

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the salesman told me it was on sale

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but i had to get it today of by wanted

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to get to sale price so

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you know that that pressure

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of get it now get it now get it now

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or lose the opportunity

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is part of the enemies tactics

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to get us to take action without

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really thinking about

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what we're doing but

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i'd been learn and some things by then

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like i'm teaching you today about the importance

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of waiting in because it

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was going to take almost all the money

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that i had saved and then

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the salesman pressure maven older further and

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certain you know if

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you'll take it to die i'll give you an extra ten percent

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off all my my emotions

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years it'll appear thanks

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for listening seek and experience

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time in god's word will change our lives

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but consistent and effective study can at times

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be challenging that's one reason why

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joyce's here to help at joyce my dot

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org like

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Thanks again for listening to Enjoying

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Everyday Life. Our mission here at

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Joyce Meyer Ministries is simple—sharing

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Christ and loving people. Remember,

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together we can do more.