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Welcome to Enjoying Everyday

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Life with New York Times bestselling author

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Joyce Meyer. On today's program,

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Joyce will be teaching from her series, Calm

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Down and Cheer Up. The Bible

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is full of scripture describing God's love

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for each one of us, and it tells us how

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through salvation in Christ, we can

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know true joy. But keeping our

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joy isn't always easy when the difficulties

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of life creep in. So how do

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we remain calm and cheerful when circumstances

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are worrisome? Today,

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Joyce shows us practical ways we can

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calm down and choose God's joy in

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every situation. Let's discover

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how His peace and joy can transform

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our lives. Now here's Joyce

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with today's teaching.

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And you can have emotions

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that are overly excited,

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or emotions

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that are extremely depressed,

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and either one can get us in trouble.

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You say, well, Joyce, why would being really

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excited get me in trouble? Because

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sometimes when you're really excited, you do

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things that you wouldn't ordinarily

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do, or you do things that you regret later. And

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I'll give you an example from my own life. You

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know, women generally like to shop, and this

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is something that happened many years ago. But

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

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tremendous amount, but I

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had a little money saved. Let's say it

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was $200. I don't remember exactly,

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but it wasn't a lot. And

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I had been wanting a new watch, but I like

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things that sparkle and shine. And

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I don't even wear a watch now, but back

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

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time it was all the time. So I wanted a new

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watch, but I wanted something that would be really

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pretty. So we were at the mall

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and went in this jewelry store.

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And sure enough, they had a beautiful

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watch that had a lot of rhinestones on it. And

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the salesman told me it was on sale,

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but I had to get it today if I wanted

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to get the sale price. So

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you know that pressure of

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get it now, get it now, get it now or lose the opportunity,

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is part of the enemy's tactics to

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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 learning some things by then, like

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I'm teaching you today about the importance of weighting

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because it was going to take almost all

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the money that I had saved. Then

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the salesman pressure me even a little bit further and

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said, if

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you'll take it today, I'll give you an extra 10 percent

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off. Oh my, my emotions

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are just up here. I don't

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know if you've noticed or not, but anytime

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you look at a piece of jewelry in the jewelry

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case in the store, it always

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looks better than it does when you take it home. I

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finally realized what it is, it's the

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lighting that they have on it at the time.

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Before you buy anything like that, take it out

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of the case and look

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at it in regular lighting so you can see

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what it's going to look like. But anyway, I'm

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learning some things by now, so I decided that I

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would take a little walk. Think

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about it a little bit. So I'm

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walking up and down the mall

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and lo and behold, I saw a

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suit in a window that

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I really liked. I

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mean, it was little at the waist and then it

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flared out and it just was really

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pretty. So I decided to try it

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on, that was a mistake. I

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tried it on and it looked so

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good on me and Dave just

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loved it. He said, you should get that. Well,

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that also was going to take all my money. So

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now I had a real problem. I couldn't get

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the watch and the suit and I had to

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decide which one I wanted. So

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once again, I said, I'm going to take a walk and think about

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this and I'll come back if I want

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it. So I took another

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walk for a little while and

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I know you're anxious to see which one I bought.

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Well, you know what ended up happening? I

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thought more than I want the watch

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or the suit, I don't want to be born. because

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I liked heaven a little bit of cash. So if I wanted to

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take somebody to lunch, I could. Or if I wanted

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to buy somebody a little present,

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I could. And so

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I decided I'm not gonna get either one.

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Well, you know what? In due time, God provided

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both. Dave actually ended up buying me the suit a

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little bit later. And I don't remember how

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I got a watch that I liked, but I eventually did.

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God gave me both of them because

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I waited and didn't act emotionally.

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Give God an opportunity to

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lead you. Take a little bit of time

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to wait. In

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Exodus 14, nine through 15, the Bible says,

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the Egyptians, all pharaohs, horses and

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chariots, horsemen and troops, pursued the Israelites and

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overtook them as they encamped by the sea. Now,

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you know, the Israelites had

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been begging God for a long time to get them out of Egypt.

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And they were not getting out of Egypt where

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they were slaves. And so eventually God

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raised up Moses to lead them out. But

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the very first thing that happens when they are

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let out is they find themselves in a very difficult

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spot.

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They were trapped

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at the Red Sea and the Egyptian

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army was behind them.

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So they definitely were like between a rock and

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a hard place. And so they had options.

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And so as Pharaoh approached, the Israelites

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looked up and there

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were the Egyptians marching after them and they

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were terrified and they cried out to the Lord.

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They were getting upset. They said

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to Moses, and I love this,

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it's like, when we get upset, we start blaming

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all of our problems on somebody

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else. They said to Moses, was it because there was no graves

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in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What

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have you done by bringing us out of Egypt? You're

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the ones that wanted to leave. And now all of a sudden,

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everything is Moses. his fault.

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Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone?

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Let us serve the Egyptians?

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It would have been better for us to serve the

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Egyptians than to die here in

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the desert.

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And if they did ever say that to Moses, they

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certainly got over it because they definitely

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wanted to leave by the time they left.

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And Moses answered the people, do

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not be afraid, confirm,

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and I'm going to change that.

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Do not be afraid, calm down.

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Can I say that to you right now? Do not

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be afraid, calm down.

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God loves you.

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He's got a plan for your deliverance.

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He's got a timing for your deliverance. And

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God will take care of you if

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you trust him to do it. If

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he shows you something to do, then by all means

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do it. But don't just

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start doing a bunch of things and saying

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a bunch of things

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just out of a position of being

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upset.

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Don't be afraid, stand

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firm or calm down, and you will see

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the deliverance the Lord will bring for you today.

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The Egyptians you see today, you will never

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see again. The Lord

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will fight for you and you need

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only to be still. Wow.

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Wouldn't it be wonderful if you turned your TV

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on today just to hear

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me say, calm down,

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wait, and be still and

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let God bring your deliverance.

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I know in my heart that there are thousands

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of you watching. You need that word

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for today. Calm

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down, be still, wait

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on God, and he will

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bring your deliverance in the right way at

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the right time. The Lord

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will fight for you and all you need to do is

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be still. Then the

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Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to

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me? Tell the Israelites

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to move on.

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See, a lot of times when we have problems,

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we get so afraid

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that we're just frozen

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in fear and we just don't do anything. And

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I wanna encourage you, no matter how

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big of a problem you have right now, if

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you wanna do something, keep doing

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what you know is right. Keep

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studying the word. Keep

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helping other people. Keep

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going to church. Keep your commitments.

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Don't just get depressed and full of self-pity

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and sit somewhere and think about your problem

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and think about it and think about it and think about it and think

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about it and then get on the phone and talk about it and talk

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about it and talking about it. You know, when you have

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a problem, the more you think about it and talk about,

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the more upset you get.

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Almost anybody can get themselves upset

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if they just sit around and think about their

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problems. When we're upset,

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we say wrong things. We

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do wrong things. Let's

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just say that moving and acting emotionally

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never capitalize

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all the letters and never solves

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our problem. Well,

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what does it mean to wait on God? It's

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quite an eye-opener for me when I actually

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dug a little bit deeper and studied this. To

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wait on God doesn't

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mean to just sit around and do

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absolutely nothing. It means to expect,

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to look for,

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and to long for God's favor,

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his

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answer, and his power. Like

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being hopeful means

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that you are expecting God to show

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up at any moment and

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do the thing in your life that needs to

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be done. Waiting on God is not

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passive. It may be passive

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as far as like taking physical action,

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but spiritually, you're very

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active and you're trusting God and

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you're saying, I know you're gonna take it. take care of me, I

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know you're going to do what's right. I

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believe you're going to show up any moment and make

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this situation right. It's

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spiritual activity rather than fleshly

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activity. Psalm 25, four

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says, show me your ways, Lord, teach me

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your paths. In other words,

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ask for guidance. James 4,

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two says you have not because you ask not. If

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you have a problem right now and you don't know what to

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do, instead of just saying, oh God,

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I don't know what to do, ask

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Him to show you what to

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do.

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Proverbs 3, five,

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six and seven say, lean not

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to your own understanding. Trust

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in Lord with all your heart and mind and

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lean not to your own understanding. In

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all your ways acknowledge Him and He will

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direct your path.

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God will show you what to do if

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you ask Him and you wait on Him. God's

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help comes, and I love this statement, God's

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help comes in proportion to our waiting

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and hoping in Him.

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Psalm 33, 20 says, our inner selves

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wait earnestly for the Lord.

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He is our help and our shield. For

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in Him do our hearts rejoice because

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we have trusted, relied on

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and we're confident in His holy

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name. Psalm 37, 34 says,

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wait for and expect

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the Lord and keep and heed

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His ways. While you're waiting on

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God, be obedient to whatever the

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Word tells you to do. And

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He will exalt you to inherit the

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land. God

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led the Israelites all the way through

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the wilderness and into

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the promised land, but

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to be honest, took

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them a lot longer than it should have because

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they kept grumbling

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and complaining and murmuring while they were

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out there. But many delays

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are divine delays.

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They weren't ready really to go into the...

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to the promised land yet. And maybe some of

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you, I know this was the case with me, maybe

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some of you are asking God for something, but

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it's going to take a little while. He wants to give it to

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you, it's in his plan, but he

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has something prepared for you, but

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now he has to prepare you for it. Sometimes

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we're not spiritually mature enough to

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handle the things that God wants

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to give us. Psalm 20,

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I mean, Isaiah 26, three says, you will

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guard him and keep him in perfect and

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constant peace, whose mind is stayed

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on you. Keep your mind off

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your problems. One morning I was starting

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to have my time with God and

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I was thinking about all my problems, thinking about my

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problems, thinking about my problems, and the Lord

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spoke to me and said, are

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you going to fellowship with your problems or

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are you going to fellowship with me?

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Don't make the mistake that I was making, spend

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your time with God and it will

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strengthen you and enable

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you to hear from God. Thank

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you for being with us today and always remember

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that God's thoughts are toward you and they're

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always for your good. God bless you. Thanks

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for listening. Seek and experience

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God's peace while growing closer in relationship

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with him. With today's offer, Joyce's

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book, Pursuing Peace and Peaceful

13:19

Living Journal. This hardcover book

13:21

filled with encouraging scriptures and line

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pages journal are available now for

13:26

a donation of $30 or more in US funds

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and we do accept all major

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credit cards. You can order today's offer

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from our website, JoyceMeyer.org or

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you can call us toll free at 1-800-789-0089. Again,

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the number is 1-800-789-0089.

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The Joyce Meyer Conference is back.

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If you will start crying out to God

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on a regular basis, I need more of you in my

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life. You better put on your seatbelt and

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get ready for the ride of your life. Coming

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to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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September 15th and 16th with worship

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by Healing Place Worship. And

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Hershey, Pennsylvania, November 10th and 11th

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with worship by Pat Barrett. For

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more information and a complete conference schedule,

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visit joismeyer.org or call 1-866-See-Joyce.

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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.