Everybody say:  I’m gonna be a blessing on purpose. I’m gonna be a blessing on purpose.: I’m gonna look for people to bless. I’m gonna look for people to bless.: Do you mean it? Yes!: it will be life-changing if you’ll do that. Pray every day, “God, show me somebody I can bless,” and then watch. They did tell him about Mephibosheth who was actually the son of Jonathan but he was a cripple and he was living in a little muddy hole called lo-debar. Actually the way he got crippled was when David became king, his servants were lied to and they said David’s going to be a bad king and he’s going to kill all of you, so his nurse grabbed him and started to run. She fell down the steps with him and he became crippled in his feet. So David now sends somebody out to this place where Mephibosheth is living and he invites him to come to the king’s house and eat because he is a rightful heir because of his relationship with Jonathan. You – because of your relationship with Jesus – are a joint heir with him. It wasn’t about what Mephibosheth had done or not done. He was part of the covenant. David had a covenant with Jonathan. We have a covenant with Jesus and because of our covenant with Jesus, God wants to bless us. “Is there anybody in the church that I might be able to bless for Jesus’ sake?” the father is saying. Well, quit having that false humility: I’m just a dead dog living out in lo-debar. Just a grasshopper. No, you need to shake off all that wrong self-image and you need to say: Here I am, God, you can bless me! Whoo! Whoo! Right here, God, here I am! Whoo-hoo! You need to get aggressive in your attitude. Be bold in your praying.

The bible says God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that we could ever dare… You have to be a little daring. I think it is even more exciting every time you start to pray boldly and the devil says you don’t deserve it, you say: thank you for reminding me. That just makes it all the better. Come on, don’t let the devil keep getting the upper hand over you. Stop letting him lie to you and ruin everything that Jesus wants to give you. Start talking back to him. You know the word. Start using it. Verse 7: David said to him, fear not, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father and grandfather, and you shall eat at my table always. V. 8: and the cripple bowed himself and said, what is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am? I could read more of that but I’ve made my point. If he would have not had a wrong self-image… I’m talking to you today about how do you feel about yourself. You cannot determine your worth and value by the mistakes you’ve made in your life. You have to understand when you accept Christ, all of that is under the blood and now you have the same rights and privileges as anybody else who has accepted Christ. Do you understand me? You may not have had a great past but you can have a great future but you are going to have to go out and take what God has made available for you. This is the place where people miss it: we keep waiting for it to fall on us and it’s not going to. God told Joshua: Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread, that have given unto you. You go take the land. You have to go take the land. This is a very important thing for me to get across to people because some people are just passive and have this apathetic bad attitude and they’re like: I wish God would bless me. I’d like to be blessed. I wish, I wish. Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah. No, you have to shake off that stuff and you have to say: I see in the word what’s mine and it’s not about me; it’s about Jesus. I’m going to take what is mine one step at a time.

Joyce: The reason why I asked you if you were aware that you had unforgiveness toward yourself or if you were unaware of it is because I believe this is the root of a lot of people’s problems and they don’t even really know that’s the problem. I think that probably literally hundreds of thousands of people are watching right now thinking, “wow, I wonder if that’s my problem.”

R.T. Kendall: Both Christians and non-Christians. Christians have the problem. They don’t want to talk about it because they know they’re not supposed to feel guilty. But I know of an atheistic psychiatrist who actually said, “I could cure any psycho- pathology in 30 minutes if I could get my client not to feel guilty.” We’re talking about people in the world — same problem exactly.

Joyce: Early in my ministry I was just trying to do anything that there was to do to help people, so I was asked to go to a mental institution here in St. Louis and minister to some of the people. It was in the real bad ward where people were locked up. I’ll never forget there were people shuffling around, and so many of them were mumbling, “it’s all my fault. It’s all my fault. It was all my fault.” That has really stuck with me that those people, many of them probably were in there because they had felt so guilty for so long that it actually destroyed their mental health. Why is it so hard for us to forgive ourselves

R.T. Kendall: Well, I have a chapter in the book on the twin sins: Self-pity and self-righteousness. There’s something about all of us; we don’t want to receive something that’s absolutely free — we want to do something to help it. So we tell ourselves, “this is too good to be true. I can’t just walk away with a free pardon, let myself off the hook.” So it’s self-righteousness. And then the self-pity that we’ve held over the years, we want to make that count for something and we can’t bear the thought that we can just get away with it and forgive ourselves, but that’s the very thing we are required to do.

Joyce: Yeah, there’s something about that, and we’re going to talk about this a little bit more when we come back, there’s a part of us that always wants to pay. We feel like there’s a debt…

If you want a dress, you can’t use the pattern for a coat. If you want to have prosperity, then stop going around all the time saying, “I can’t afford that. I can’t afford that. I never have any money. I can’t afford that.” You say: Well I can’t afford it! Well, you don’t need to keep announcing it! You already know you can’t afford it, God knows you can’t afford it, the devil knows you can’t afford it, and all your friends know you can’t afford it. You don’t need to say it again. What you need to start saying is not what you have. You need to start saying what God says you can have if you’ll get in agreement with him.

Before somebody wants to have an opinion about my message, this is not a “name it, claim it” message. I’m not telling you that you can just go have anything you want because you operate in this kind of magical, weird world of just confessing it long enough. I have a whatever — whatever people like today. I have this and I have that. I’m married to this person. Yes, I’m married to you. I’m married to you. I’m married to you. I’m married to you. That’s not what we’re talking about! “I’m just afraid my kids won’t amount to anything.

My mom and dad never had anything and I’ve never had anything and I’ll probably never have anything, and every time I get something, it goes right down the drain.” Walk through the grocery store: “I’m so sick and tired of eating baloney and hamburger. I wish I could afford steaks but I guess I’ll never be able to afford steaks. I’ll just be eating at hamburger joints all my life.” Well, yes, you will! You are calling for it and you are going to get it. That is exactly what you are going to have: You are going to have what you say.

But the point is every single time – now listen to me – every time they had an inconvenience, they murmured. We just don’t handle it very well when we’re inconvenienced, do we? When we have to wait a little longer than we think we should, or we don’t get it just the way we want it, or we don’t get it just when we think we ought to have it, our first response is to murmur.

We need to get a new attitude – and I say “we” – this is for all of us, me included – we need to get a new attitude that basically says: Well, you know what? If I believe god’s in control, then maybe what I’m going through right now is good for me.  Maybe it’s helping me practice my faith muscles. Maybe it’s squeezing my fruit. You know, you never know how juicy a piece of fruit is until you squeeze it. We can look good on the outside with all of our bumper stickers and Christian jewelry and translations of the bible and our “Christianese” language, but when somebody squeezes our fruit, how Christian are we? I’ve got some people over here agreeing with me; I’m going to preach to you. If they don’t perk up over there, I’m going to preach to you over here.

I mean, isn’t that true? When our fruit is squeezed… Yeah! I remember going to the store one time. I was hungry and I was trying to eat right so I took the trouble to stop at the grocery store, go in and buy some fruit. So I bought… I mean, this orange was beautiful. Oh, perfect color and big. I mean, it looked gorgeous. I remember it was kind of expensive, but I bought it anyway. I got out to my car and I was ready to eat my healthy, nutritious meal and I tore it open and it was so dried up inside, I thought: How could anything look that good… Remember, now, murmur means to remain, to stay overnight, to stay permanently. This was quite a revelation to me years ago when God first showed me this; that the main reason why they stayed out in the wilderness for 40 years was because they had a stinkin’ lousy attitude.  And it always came out of their mouth.

Joyce: Wherever that wound comes from.  So what I was doing was I was trying to have a life and, “well, you know, I don’t have that problem anymore. I walked away from that.” But I had it in my soul so it affected my thoughts, it affected all my relationships, I was depressed, I was negative, I was angry, I was bitter, I was resentful. If you have some of those other issues… Let’s say for example somebody is depressed all the time. Yes, there could be a chemical imbalance that’s causing it, but if that’s not what it is, then there’s something going on in you that needs to be addressed and dealt with.

If I’m jealous every time I see somebody else who looks a little better than me or has a little more than I do, there’s an insecurity in me that somehow or another I feel better about myself if I look like you or have what you have. Why am I comparing myself with you? The truth is… The truth is the truth sets you free, but the truth is the truth is one of the hardest things in the world to face if it’s me I’m trying to face the truth about. But I tell you, it is the best thing God ever gave me the grace to do. God only knows where I’d be now if he wouldn’t have helped me face truth about me.

Ginger: Joyce, I think this will be a huge help to a lot of people. Very encouraging.

Joyce: I love answering these questions because I think they’re very practical things. I’m going to close the show up. Thanks for being with me today. Today we’re offering as usual resources.

I don’t know exactly how you feel about that. We certainly don’t want it to come across like every day on the program we’re just trying to sell you another thing. I will tell you the truth: you’re not going to be healed if you don’t make an investment in the word of God. Now, you have your bible but if you go to a bookstore, you’re going to have to buy a book. If you’re going to get cds, you’re going to have to make some kind of a sacrifice to get them, or dvds or whatever it is, and I believe I can help you. Today we’re offering a 6-cd series titled, “hold on! Help is on the way.” I think a lot of you are right at that point; you’re like, “God, I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.” Well, I’m telling you hold on because help is on the way.

We really want you to make an investment in the word of God because we believe it’s one of the greatest things you can invest into, and by doing that you’re also investing in the kingdom of God and you’re helping us to bring help to other people.  When you order these cds today, we also want to give you a bonus, a book written by Dr. Phil Pringle, “healing the wounded spirit.” I think these things are really going to help you. We want you to have the life that Jesus died for you to have, so please do your part and study the word of God.  God bless you and have a great day.

They said it was like a different place this morning when the doors opened. But you see, here’s the thing: if you’re being led by the spirit and not being led by the passions of the flesh, then really truthfully, I shouldn’t have to do that. I’m willing to do it but we should be a lot further along than that. That’s not meant to make anybody feel bad but we have to wake up and say: yes, I know I’m supposed to walk in love. It doesn’t do any good if we’re not doing it. You’re blessed in your Life Of Obedience, not your life of hearing. So I dare you to start doing what the book says.

Joyce: I really want to challenge you today to begin to take responsibility for your life. I was abused in my childhood, sexually and in many other ways, and for a long, long time I used that as an excuse and a reason for all kinds of bad behavior. I had to learn that even though what happened to me was the reason that I was the way I was, I couldn’t let it be an excuse to stay that way. I had to take responsibility for my actions. I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful that has been for me, and the good fruit that I’ve seen from that in my life. I think a lot of people are just stuck going around and around and around the same mountain all the time, never making progress because they’re not really taking responsibility. It’s very easy to blame and to make excuses, but it takes real courage to be responsible. So, we want to teach you more in this area, and we’re offering all the resources from the women’s convention 2007, the teachings from that convention which deal with this subject and lots of other great subjects, and my book “I dare you” and a bonus booklet called “take the challenge.”

Probably there are a lot of people watching right now and you’ve just had a real string of yucky things happen in your life, or maybe you’re still hurting from something that happened to you a long time ago. Maybe you’re trying to live a good life now but you’re dealing with a wounded spirit, so also today we want to give you a bonus when you get the cds, which is a book by a good friend of mine, Phil Pringle, “healing the wounded spirit.” I would not offer you anything on this TV program that I did not think was really, really good and I believe that both of these resources are going to help you.

We want you to have the life that Jesus died for you to have but you have to do your part by getting the teaching and getting the word of God and letting the power that’s in it begin to heal you inside and then out. Stay with us, get all this information, and just remember that you are on God’s mind all the time, he loves you very much, and don’t ever let the devil steal your hope because if you’ll just hold on, help is on the way.

Woman: When I was a little girl, my parents used to fight all the time. I’d go to this field and just be alone. I remember one day when I was so sad, I sat there and as clear as clear can be, I heard god say, “hold on, help is on the way.”

Announcer: Now from Joyce Meyer, a teaching series packed with six hours of inspirational insight for anyone struggling to find happiness. If you or someone you know is facing challenges in life, this series is full of encouragement in tangible ways to understand god’s faithfulness and his plan for you. “Hold on! Help is on the way!” is available now for a donation of $30 or more.

Most of us are busy about stuff we don’t even know what we’re busy about. We just know we’re busy. The key is are we producing any fruit? Are we increasing the kingdom? Are we making anybody else’s life better? Or are we just busy trying to buy a bunch of stuff to impress a bunch of people we don’t even like? Do I need to say it again? Are we just busy working hard trying to buy a bunch of stuff to impress a bunch of people that we don’t even like? Amen.: Glory!: We need to have more fulfillment in our lives, more joy that’s not attached to what’s happening to us, but just happy “because.” I’ll say it again: I believe… I believe with all my heart… I’ve been doing this a long time.

I’ve been teaching the word almost 30 years and I’ve gone through quite a journey with God myself and I can tell you I believe the major thing that’s wrong with most people is not really their personal problems, it’s that they’re not reaching out to help anybody else. When you forget about your own problems and you get involved in helping somebody else, God will solve your problem. People go to church and go to church and go to church and go to church and it’s amazing, they learn the word and learn the word, and just get fuller and fuller of the word and then pretty soon they’re just not happy anymore. “I’m not getting fed here anymore. I wonder what’s wrong with the pastor.” One woman shared a story with me. She had been to my yearly women’s conference, she had been there every year as long as I’d been having them, always enjoyed it, it was the highlight of her year, and she said a couple of years ago: for some reason I was not getting that much out of them the last couple of years so I started praying for you, Joyce. She said: I started asking God: what’s wrong with Joyce?

(Pat Bradley) I THINK WE’VE BEEN TOGETHER WORKING MAYBE A LITTLE OVER THREE YEARS NOW. IT STARTED IN AFGHANISTAN. NOW IT’S EXPANDED INTO ETHIOPIA.

(Shelly Meyer) WHEN WE WENT THERE, WE REALLY DID FEEL A CONNECTION WITH THE PEOPLE THERE AND JUST KNEW IN OUR HEART THAT GOD WAS SAYING: “YEAH, YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO HELP THESE PEOPLE NOW AT THIS TIME. HERE, THIS IS ONE OF THE PLACES THAT I WANT YOU TO BE CONNECTED AND HELPING, AND JUST PUT A LOVE AND A CONNECTION.” I THINK EVEN OUR BROADCAST TEAM FELT THAT WHEN THEY WERE THERE.

(Ginger) THERE REALLY ISN’T ANY WAY THAT YOU CAN GO TO THE PLACES THAT WE’VE BEEN BLESSED TO GO AND MEET THE PEOPLE THAT WE HAVE BEEN SO HONORED TO MEET AND TO REALLY UNDERSTAND THEIR NEEDS WITHOUT IT CHANGING YOU FOREVER.

(Kelly McClure) THIS WAS TOUGH. THIS WAS BY FAR ONE OF THE HARDEST TRIPS THAT I’VE EVER DONE BECAUSE I KEPT GETTING EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED.

(Larry Price) THE NEED IS SO AMAZING, AND YOU JUST WANT TO GET BACK ON THE PLANE AND GO BACK OVER.

(Chad Harris) TO GO OVER THERE AND TO MEET THEM AND…  I USED TO DO CHILDREN’S MINISTRY SO I WOULD DO SOME OF THE SAME SILLY JOKES, THE SAME SILLY HUMOR. EVEN WITH THE LANGUAGE BARRIER, THE KIDS WERE LAUGHING.

(Ginger) SHHHHH! (laughing) WE’RE HERE IN ANGOCHA, ETHIOPIA, AND YOU WOULD NOT EVEN BELIEVE WHAT IT TOOK JUST TO GET HERE; IT WAS QUITE A JOURNEY, BUT SO WELL WORTH IT.

(Dan Meyer) ANYWHERE THAT WE DO WORK, WE REALLY TRY AND GO WHERE THERE’S NOT OTHER PEOPLE GOING BECAUSE WE WANT TO HELP THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO CHANCE OF HELP FROM ANYBODY ELSE. AND SPECIFICALLY HERE IN ANGOCHA, IT WAS REALLY HARD TO GET TO.