0:00

program is made possible by the

0:02

partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries. I

0:05

have to look at my

0:08

life on a regular basis

0:10

and I have to cut

0:12

out things that are causing stress,

0:15

putting me on overload,

0:18

causing me to be grouchy

0:20

and cranky and blame everything

0:22

on everybody else. Hello. I'm

0:26

Joyce Meyer and I believe

0:28

that God can heal you

0:30

everywhere you hurt. And

0:44

for the first time ever,

0:46

she's dedicating an entire conference to

0:48

all God's word says about

0:50

winning those battles. It's time to

0:53

begin thinking differently. So

0:55

join Joyce and her guests,

0:57

April 24th through the

0:59

26th in beautiful Charleston, South

1:01

Carolina. Register now at

1:03

joicemeyer .org slash battlefield live. I'm

1:07

talking today about God's answer

1:09

for stress. Something I'm

1:11

sure none of you ever have. Any

1:13

of I saw a quote

1:15

that said I don't have

1:18

time for stress my schedule

1:20

is already too full We

1:22

want to do

1:24

enough But not

1:26

too much and it's

1:28

always trying to keep

1:31

that balance because Excess

1:33

is the devil's

1:35

playground He loves

1:37

excess and he doesn't really care if you

1:39

do too much of something or not enough

1:41

of something He

1:44

just wants you excessive one way or the other.

1:48

And 1 Peter 5 .8 says,

1:50

be well balanced. Everybody

1:52

say balance. Be

1:54

well balanced for your adversary,

1:56

the devil roams about like a

1:59

lion roaring in fierce hunger,

2:01

seeking whom he may

2:03

devour. So he can't

2:05

devour anybody, but apparently

2:07

if we're out of balance, that

2:11

opens the door for him.

2:13

And it's very easy to get

2:15

out of balance. Like

2:17

as Christians, we know we

2:20

want to serve people and do

2:22

things for people and sacrifice

2:24

in order to do things for

2:26

people. But then on the

2:28

other hand, we don't want to

2:31

become people pleasers because if

2:33

we do that, then we're not

2:35

being God pleasers. And the

2:37

apostle Paul said in Galatians 1

2:39

-10, If I were trying to

2:41

be popular with people, well,

2:46

I would no longer be, I

2:49

would not have become an apostle

2:51

of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look

2:54

what you can miss just by

2:56

being a people pleaser instead of a

2:58

God pleaser. And you know, sometimes

3:00

when you make a decision not to

3:02

be a people pleaser, it causes

3:04

you pain and suffering. Because

3:07

when people want to hear

3:09

yes, they're not happy when

3:11

you tell them no When

3:13

God called me to teach

3:15

Women didn't do that. I

3:18

mean it just wasn't there

3:20

was maybe Two other women that

3:22

I knew of that were

3:24

teaching the word and But I

3:26

didn't know that I didn't

3:28

know women couldn't do that So

3:30

it's amazing what you can

3:32

do if you don't know you're

3:34

not supposed to do it And

3:39

I was so excited.

3:43

Man, I was excited. And I thought that

3:45

everybody else would be excited for me

3:47

too. But you know, it don't

3:49

work that way. Moses

3:52

said that he expected

3:54

that people would understand that

3:56

God had called him

3:58

to deliver them, but they

4:00

did not understand. See?

4:04

And so, Sometimes God puts something in

4:06

our heart and we just can't understand

4:08

why other people don't understand that God

4:10

put it there. But sometimes you're better

4:12

off just to zip your lip and

4:14

just wait and let God show the

4:16

fruit. But I didn't know how to

4:18

do that, so I would dip, dip, dip, dip, dip, dip, dip. And

4:21

I got asked to leave

4:23

my church. I got the

4:26

left foot of fellowship. They

4:29

said the things that I was, I

4:31

had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and

4:33

they said, and

4:35

was speaking in tongues, and they said,

4:37

the thing which you say has happened to

4:39

you, and to me this is

4:42

so sad. We

4:44

can't say it's not in the

4:46

Bible, but it's not part of our

4:48

doctrine. And

4:52

we start putting

4:54

our doctrine ahead of

4:56

the word of

4:58

God. We're

5:01

in deep trouble. And

5:03

sometimes people make a doctrine out of

5:05

their own experience. If I have an

5:07

experience, then it can't be right. And

5:10

I lost most of my friends. A

5:13

couple of people just stick with us. We

5:16

kind of became the black sheep

5:18

of the family. And so for

5:20

many, many years, every holiday was

5:23

just misery for me. And

5:25

I had a decision to make when that happened. Maybe

5:28

some of you are at that point. I

5:32

have learned in the course

5:34

of my life, and I

5:36

can look back every single

5:38

time that God was ready

5:40

to promote me, I

5:43

got a big attack of

5:45

rejection from people around me that

5:47

I love. Now, if somebody

5:49

rejects you and you don't care

5:51

anything about them, you don't

5:53

care. I mean, none of

5:55

us want to be rejected by anybody, but

5:57

it really hurts you if it's somebody

5:59

that you expect to be far you. And

6:04

I look back at the years

6:06

of loneliness and not even really knowing

6:08

in my head 100 % for sure if

6:10

I was right. I was hearing new

6:12

things I'd never heard before. And

6:15

I am so thankful that

6:17

I made that decision to go

6:19

with God and not people. You

6:27

just don't know what you

6:29

may miss in life. if

6:33

you don't go with God

6:35

and not people. Well,

6:37

I'm not lonely anymore, so

6:39

God made up for it.

6:42

Try to stay balanced in your life. You

6:45

always have to be straightening out your

6:47

priorities. They don't just get straight and stay

6:49

straight. You have to always be, and

6:51

I do that still. I have to look

6:53

at things and say, am I

6:55

doing too much of this? Not enough of that?

6:57

Am I getting enough rest? spending

6:59

enough time with people, am I spending enough

7:01

time with my family? When

7:06

our priorities of out of line, it

7:08

always causes stress because then we're excessive one

7:11

way or the other. And

7:13

the very first thing that we all are told to

7:15

do, we know it, but we don't always do it

7:17

is to keep God first. Well,

7:21

I'd like to spend time with God in the

7:23

morning, but I've just got too many other things to

7:25

do. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You

7:28

won't do any of them right

7:30

if you don't spend time with

7:32

God first and Whatever that time

7:34

was that you said you couldn't

7:36

spend with God you will waste

7:38

that time and that much more

7:40

if you're trying to do it

7:42

Without God being all over you

7:45

before you start the day Always

7:47

spend time with God first if

7:49

you only think you can manage

7:51

five minutes give him that but

7:53

let it grow from there He

7:55

is more important than anybody We

8:00

need order in our lives.

8:02

We live in a very

8:04

ordered universe. In

8:06

Hebrews it says that

8:09

God upholds and maintains the

8:11

universe. Just imagine

8:13

if the earth just tilted

8:15

on its axis just a

8:17

little tiny bit the wrong

8:19

way. I mean,

8:21

I'm amazed. I don't know how anybody

8:23

can look at the world we live in and think there's

8:25

no God. It

8:28

would take more faith to me. It seems I

8:30

could take more faith to be an atheist than to

8:32

be a Christian. I

8:35

mean, you'd have

8:37

to really believe some dumb

8:39

stuff. I mean,

8:43

the big bang. Oh

8:45

yeah, bang. Here

8:48

we are. Everything's so

8:50

neat and orderly. The sun comes up

8:52

every morning and when it goes down the

8:54

moon comes up and the stars come

8:56

out and it happens every single day. Day

8:59

after day after day. But

9:04

because God is a God of order,

9:06

not a God of confusion, we

9:08

need order in our

9:10

homes. Do you know

9:12

the main reason why God established

9:14

lines of authority? It's

9:17

not so one person can tell everybody else

9:19

what to do, but so you can have

9:21

order. If

9:24

everybody's in charge or nobody's in

9:26

charge, you can't have anything but chaos.

9:30

And we have such a huge

9:32

problem in the world with rebellion. And

9:36

rebellion is the spirit of antichrist. Rebellion

9:41

is like witchcraft, the

9:43

Bible says. God

9:46

wants us to be submissive

9:48

to whatever authority is over us.

9:50

I came in here as

9:52

a guest today, but let me

9:54

tell you something. If the

9:56

pastor told me not to do

9:58

something, I would not do

10:00

it because I'm here as a

10:02

guest under their authority. And

10:06

we need to have that attitude

10:08

everywhere that we go because you're

10:10

in charge in your home, but

10:12

you're not in charge in my

10:14

home. Amen. And

10:17

a humble attitude. It's

10:20

so precious to God rather than a proud and

10:22

a haughty one that says, I don't have to

10:24

listen to anybody. We need

10:26

order in our homes, in our schedules, in

10:29

our closets, in

10:32

our garage. I

10:35

know those laughs. And

10:40

to be honest, I mean, we

10:42

all have different habits and, you

10:44

know, I like things really neat. Some

10:46

of you maybe can, I do have some

10:48

organized mess. Like when I'm writing

10:50

a book, if you came in my office,

10:52

you would think I was the messiest human being.

10:55

But I know what's in every one of those

10:57

piles. And

11:00

I just don't want to put them away

11:02

every night, because I just have to get

11:04

them back out the next morning. But take

11:06

care of what God's given you. There's

11:12

no chaos in heaven. When

11:15

you get there, you won't need anxiety medicine.

11:18

blood pressure medicine, headache

11:20

medicine. I can't

11:22

even imagine. You know, the Bible

11:24

doesn't tell us a lot about heaven,

11:26

not really. I

11:29

mean, there's some things, but it doesn't tell us

11:31

a great deal. And I think

11:33

that's because it is gonna

11:35

be so wonderful that anything

11:37

that God would try to

11:39

describe would be beyond anything

11:42

we could understand. I

11:46

think it is going to be absolutely awesome.

11:50

And I'm kind of looking forward to

11:52

it myself. I don't know about

11:54

you, but God tells us to live

11:56

in peace, so there must be

11:58

a way to do it, huh? Now,

12:04

there's four words that I want

12:06

to talk to you about

12:08

today that they're all Bible words.

12:11

And they're very important to our life,

12:13

but they need to be done

12:15

in a certain order. The

12:18

words are sit, stand, walk,

12:20

and run. Sit,

12:23

stand, walk,

12:26

and run. Now, under

12:28

the old covenant, the

12:31

high priest went into the holy

12:33

of holies only once a year. And

12:36

when he went in, he had bells soared

12:38

on the bottom of his garment and he

12:40

had a rope around his waist. And

12:43

it was a long rope. part of

12:45

it stayed outside. And

12:48

under, there was no

12:50

rest under that old

12:52

covenant. It

12:55

was all works

12:57

oriented. You

12:59

keep the law and I'll bless

13:01

you, you don't, you're gonna be

13:04

cursed. And

13:06

what all the different things were

13:08

that were in the Holy of

13:10

Holies, there was no chair. And

13:14

there was no chair because

13:16

the high priest was not allowed

13:18

to sit down. It was

13:21

all works, works, works, works, works.

13:24

And if he stopped moving, the

13:26

bells stopped ringing and they

13:28

knew he had done something

13:30

wrong and fell over dead,

13:33

so they pulled him out.

13:38

If you don't believe me, look it up. Not

13:42

everybody knows this but

13:44

it to me that's very

13:46

intriguing the representation That

13:49

God puts in the word

13:51

but of our high

13:53

priest It says after he

13:55

had accomplished what he

13:57

came to do He ascended

13:59

on high and he

14:02

sat down At the right

14:04

hand of God Well,

14:06

you know several years ago

14:08

I started see I

14:10

started noticing that word sat

14:13

sat and I'm like

14:15

Why are you always making

14:17

a big deal about

14:19

the fact that he sat

14:21

down? Because

14:25

it was very

14:27

significant that he being

14:29

now our new

14:31

high priest who

14:34

never had to go into the

14:36

holy of holies every year and

14:38

offer sacrifice for his own sins

14:40

and sacrifices for our sins, but

14:43

he offered one sacrifice that was

14:45

good for all times for all

14:47

people and never had to be

14:49

done again. And

14:55

so he sat down

14:57

there to wait until his

14:59

enemies would be made

15:01

a footstool. for his

15:04

feet. He entered the

15:06

rest of God. That's

15:08

what it means to sit. And

15:10

the Bible says in Ephesians 2 -6

15:13

that we are seated in heavenly

15:15

places with Christ Jesus. Not

15:17

we will be, we are. So

15:21

legally and positionally, even though

15:23

I'm standing here, I'm seated

15:25

in heavenly places. And what

15:27

that really means is I

15:29

can do this work. and

15:31

yet at the same time

15:34

being complete rest in my

15:36

soul. It's

15:39

amazing that the

15:41

kingdom of heaven

15:44

is so vast.

15:47

There's no end to it, no limit

15:49

to it. It's so big,

15:51

we can't even imagine it, but small

15:53

enough to fit inside of us. Man

16:00

you are so awesome

16:02

if you only knew how

16:05

awesome you are Wow

16:07

you would never get up

16:09

one day and ever

16:11

feel bad about yourself If

16:13

you just uneven began

16:16

to understand What God created

16:18

when he created you

16:20

and how much he loves

16:22

you And he loved

16:24

us while we were still

16:27

yet in sin So

16:29

it's not something you can earn or

16:32

deserve. The Bible says

16:34

he loved us because it was

16:36

his kind intent and he wanted

16:38

to. God

16:40

just loves you because he thinks cute.

16:46

I better not get off track here, but I love

16:48

to tell people how much God loves them. It's

16:52

easy for us to tell other people

16:54

that, but I've formed a habit out of

16:56

In the morning I say, I love you,

16:59

Lord, and I receive your love for me. I'm

17:03

not so sure, you know, why

17:06

did God create man? He

17:08

didn't need us. Some

17:10

people say, well, he wanted somebody to fellowship

17:12

with. Well, God

17:15

is a trinity. He wasn't

17:17

by himself. He

17:20

had a son. He

17:23

had the Holy Spirit. But

17:27

yet he wanted us.

17:29

He wanted you and

17:31

he wanted me. And

17:34

then some people say, well, he

17:36

wanted us so we would worship him.

17:38

Well, God

17:40

doesn't have an ego. I don't

17:42

think that he has to be

17:44

worshiped. You know, we

17:46

really do that more for us. I

17:51

think he created us because he wanted

17:53

somebody to love. You

17:57

see love has to be giving all

17:59

the time. It can't be still it

18:01

can't be stagnant pool That's why we

18:03

need to be giving out all the

18:05

time. We need to God gives in

18:08

he pours in and we're supposed to

18:10

pour out He pours in and we're

18:12

supposed to pour out and so there

18:14

you you keep the water fresh you

18:16

keep it flowing all the time But

18:18

if God pours in and We

18:22

put a stop on it and won't

18:24

give anything out. Then we just become

18:26

dead stinking. Then

18:28

there's no room for God

18:30

to pour in anymore. A

18:33

story a woman told me that I

18:35

think is really good. She said, you

18:37

know, I wasn't getting anything out of

18:39

your conferences anymore, even though I'd come

18:41

to them for years. And

18:43

so she said, I was praying for

18:45

you because I thought you'd lost your anointing.

18:52

I don't understand what's wrong with Joyce. Lord,

18:55

I used to get so much out of her

18:57

teaching and now she must be losing her anointing. Maybe

18:59

she got sin in her life. So

19:01

she's praying for me. And

19:04

she said, God stopped

19:06

me one day and he said, Joyce

19:08

isn't the problem. He said, you're

19:10

not getting, now listen to this. He

19:12

said, you're not getting anything out of

19:14

her, anything out of her teaching anymore

19:16

because you're so full. There's nothing else

19:18

that will fit in there. And until

19:21

you start giving out some of what

19:23

she's put in. And

19:28

I think that happens to a

19:30

lot of churchgoers. They sit and

19:32

they receive and they receive and

19:34

they receive and they receive. Barely

19:36

put anything in the offering. Receive

19:39

and receive and receive. Never

19:42

have time to serve. Never have

19:44

time to take part in anything. And

19:46

then Pretty soon, there's no place

19:48

for you to put anything else. So

19:50

you start to get dissatisfied and

19:52

I've seen it happen. You start thinking

19:54

there's something wrong with the pastor. Maybe

20:01

better look at home home base first.

20:04

I don't think a Christian can be happy

20:06

and be selfish. It

20:09

is not possible. So

20:11

that's another story altogether too. So.

20:17

God said there's still a Sabbath

20:19

rest awaiting, and you

20:21

can enter it today. And

20:25

when the Bible talks about sitting

20:27

or being seated, it's

20:29

talking about that Sabbath rest. But

20:31

the Sabbath rest is God is

20:33

not a rest from work, it's

20:35

a rest in work. So

20:38

I'm working now, but I'm

20:40

resting. I'm here,

20:42

but I'm seated in

20:44

heavenly places. Now, legally

20:46

and positionally, I'm there

20:48

as far as God's

20:50

concerned. But practically, I

20:52

have to take the steps

20:54

here that allows me to

20:56

live that life of rest,

20:58

which means I have to

21:00

look at my life on

21:02

a regular basis, and I

21:04

have to cut out things

21:06

that are causing stress, putting

21:09

me on overload, causing

21:12

me to be grouchy and

21:14

cranky. Blame everything on

21:17

everybody else. Hello So the

21:19

Bible tells us to

21:21

sit it also tells us

21:23

to stand To stand

21:25

against the enemy stand against

21:27

temptation It tells us

21:30

to walk To walk in

21:32

love to walk in

21:34

God to walk in righteousness

21:36

to walk by faith

21:38

To walk on the narrow

21:40

path and it also

21:42

tells us to run to

21:45

run your race and run

21:48

it to win. But

21:51

have you ever seen a baby

21:53

get out of its crib and immediately

21:55

start running? Of

21:57

course not. What

22:01

do they do? First they learn how to sit. Now

22:05

there's a real lesson here if you get it. First

22:07

they learn how to sit and that takes

22:09

a while. They'll sit a little bit

22:11

and fall over. They

22:15

may cry a while and

22:17

they'll get back up. It

22:19

takes them a while to

22:22

learn how to sit. And

22:24

then finally they learn how

22:26

to pull themselves up on

22:28

something and then it's a

22:30

big deal to... And all

22:32

that first step is so

22:34

hard. I

22:36

know because I have a

22:38

great grandbaby that's just started walking.

22:44

Man, he thinks he's really something now.

22:55

And he isn't doing it yet, but before long,

22:57

he'll start running. And

23:01

we have to do it in that order. And

23:04

here's what happens. This happened to me.

23:07

I think it probably happens

23:09

to most pastors, people

23:11

in ministry. I

23:14

knew I was called a minister, and so

23:16

I started a ministry. And

23:19

right away, the first thing I thought of

23:21

was big. Isn't

23:24

that about the first word we get interested

23:26

in? Big. I wanted it to be big

23:28

and to grow. Can

23:30

I tell you that God is not

23:32

nearly as interested in size as he

23:34

is in quality? You

23:44

need to be so

23:46

thankful that you have pastors

23:48

that are the real

23:50

deal, that are committed, that

23:53

walk what they talk,

23:57

who really care about you and really care

23:59

about helping people, and that's proven by

24:01

the amount of money and effort they put

24:04

into missions. I don't believe you can

24:06

call a church a church if they don't

24:08

have outreach. God

24:14

hasn't called us to in reach. He's called

24:16

us to outreach. Amen.

24:19

And so I started this ministry and I

24:21

was trying to run. I

24:23

was trying to run my race

24:25

and I was so stressed

24:27

out, unhappy,

24:31

stressed out, sick

24:33

a lot because I was so

24:35

stressed out. Well,

24:37

God didn't call me to that. So

24:40

something had to be wrong, but I didn't know

24:43

what it was. I just kept trying to run.

24:47

But what I needed to do was learn how

24:49

to sit first. You

24:52

can't do anything and

24:55

enjoy it if you don't

24:57

do it from a

24:59

place of resting in God.

25:04

Have you ever wondered what you're going to do

25:06

with the rest of your life? Are

25:09

you following your dreams? When

25:13

God calls you to do something, it's important to

25:15

step out in faith and trust that He will

25:17

support you. Faith

25:20

is one of those words that

25:22

is commonly used, but not always easy

25:24

to understand. So what is

25:26

faith? Faith is a complete

25:28

trust and confidence in something or

25:30

someone. As Christians, faith goes

25:32

so much deeper. Our confidence

25:34

and trust are secure in God

25:36

and His promises. But you might

25:38

say, I don't feel God or

25:40

I don't see anything He's doing.

25:42

We get it. That's what faith

25:44

means. And let's be real, it

25:47

isn't always easy. Joyce's book,

25:49

Unleash Your Faith, is today's offer.

25:51

And it's going to help

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you increase your faith. It's filled

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with beautifully illicit Today's

26:07

offer, Unleash Your Faith, also

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comes with Battlefield of the Mind,

26:12

New Testament, which contains Joyce's

26:14

commentary. Both of these

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resources are available to you

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for your gift of $30 or

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more. Call us today at

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1 -800 -331 -8000 or visit us

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online at joismire .org. Most

26:27

of the time, if you're going to live

26:29

by faith, if you want to really find out

26:31

what God can do for you, you are

26:33

going to have to, so to speak, take a

26:35

chance. Living by

26:37

faith means you'll often have to

26:39

take step one before you

26:41

know what the next step is.

26:44

Living by faith requires you to

26:46

take risks. because God's plan

26:48

for you are always bigger than

26:50

what you could ever accomplish

26:52

or even imagine on your own.

26:54

Faith is your fuel. As

26:56

you read, unleash your faith. You

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will be fed by the beautifully illustrated

27:01

scriptures. In it, joy will

27:03

help you to understand the power of

27:05

faith that God has put in

27:07

your spirit and how to release it.

27:09

And remember, your financial gift will

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not only provide the help you need

27:13

through this resource, but it will

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also help reach the lost, feed the

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hungry, and help women and girls

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find freedom all around the world. Your

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gift today makes it all possible. Put

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your faith into action. Learn how,

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with today's offer, unleash your faith along

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with Battlefield of the Mind's New

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Testament with commentary by Joyce. Ready

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for a change? It all begins

27:37

with your thoughts. Join Joyce for

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something new as we focus a

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weekend on her all-time best-selling book,

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Battlefield of the Mind. Join us

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live for a weekend to refocus

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and recharge. Healthy thoughts lead to

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a better life and the fantastic

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future God has for you. Don't

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miss this rare opportunity, April 24th

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through the 26th in Charleston, South

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Carolina. We

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hope you enjoyed today's program. We

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are so grateful to our

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Joyce Meyer Ministries partners who make

28:14

this and all we do

28:16

possible, including sharing God's Word and

28:18

offering help to people in

28:20

need all over the world. This

28:24

program has been made possible by

28:26

the partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries.