It’s pretty easy for me to say God gave Darlene a gift to sing but he didn’t give that to me, and God has given me a very strong gift of communication. He didn’t give that to my husband. God has given Dave a tremendous gift of just being easygoing and being able to cast his care and being stable. I don’t have that gift. I have to work at that. But we need each other. We all need each other. Now, we can understand it when I say God gave Darlene a gift to sing and I can’t sing, and he gave me this gift to preach and maybe somebody else can’t preach.

We’re like: Yeah, we get that. But what about these littler things that cause so many problems in relationships like one of my sons learns really fast – I mean, really fast. He would even tell you if he was here that he’s not the best one to train somebody for a job because if they’re not learning fast, sometimes he’s ready to write them off and say: This is not going to work. They can’t do this job! Because he can’t figure out why they haven’t learned the whole thing in three days like he would if it was him. But some of the best people that we have are people who took three times longer to learn it than maybe I would have, but boy, when they got it, they got it! Everybody’s not like me. Everybody’s not like me.: Say it again. Everybody’s not like me.: Say: I’m not always right. I’m not always right.: Say: I don’t always have to give my opinion. I don’t always have to give my opinion.: I shouldn’t interrupt people I shouldn’t interrupt people: And I need brokenness in my life. And I need brokenness in my life.:

Joyce Meyer Ministries – The second thing I want to mention to you is found in Galatians chapter 6 and it tells us that we are to be gentle with people who have made mistakes and we need to bring correction if it’s needed but we need to do it with a humble attitude, not thinking too highly of ourselves, nor thinking that we are too good to help share their burden.

Joyce: Welcome to the program today. You know, there’s real joy and satisfaction in sharing your faith but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Super bowl champion Kurt Warner and baseball hall of famer Lou Brock discuss how they share their faith.

Kurt Warner: One of the keys to witnessing is finding everybody where they’re at and being able to meet them with Jesus there. I always love it when Paul talks about trying to become all things to all people that he may save some. I think that is so key, especially in our business, because you have so many people, so many backgrounds, so much money, so many different things that you can’t treat everybody the same. As a coach, you can’t coach everybody the same. When you go out to witness, you can’t witness to everybody the same way. There’s not a mold that says, “this is how you do it and this is how you’re going to lead somebody to Jesus.” I’ve come to realize there are a whole bunch of different ways to do it. You have to be sensitive to who you’re talking to and let them know, “I’m a real person. I’m just like you. The one difference I have is I love Jesus with all my heart. He’s number one over everything else, and I want you to have that.” That’s what I think the key to witnessing is — is meeting people where they’re at and showing them Jesus in that situation.

Joyce Meyer Online: Let’s talk about compromise, guys. I know that everybody — me, you, our viewers — many times we know what’s right to do, we know what’s right to say in a situation, but the word compromise means to go just a little bit below what you know is right. Boy, how much condemnation we suffer because in that moment of pressure we made the wrong decision. Talk to us a little bit… Why don’t we start with you, Lou, about the challenge of not compromising out in the world.

Dr. Clinton: It’s a perfect segue, and your life and what you’re saying is a perfect testament to this. What happens when life is not the way it’s supposed to be, when you feel assaulted, — good people can feel this way — you get angry and/or anxious and you can’t resolve it. The natural inclination is to distance yourself. It’s like when somebody punches you in the stomach, you’re not gonna stay there and take that. You’ve got to remove yourself. It’s a reasonable response to an unreasonable situation. You begin to protect yourself. The problem, though, is we’re made for relationship. That very nature of distancing yourself from others leaves you very… Here’s what I believe: I think hell loves to get us alone. I think the evil one loves to get us alone because we’re easy prey then and in this “alone time” seeds of depression begin to get sewn here, Joyce, because it’s a theory of disengagement. We tend to think if we move away, we can get control, but we’re not and in this aloneness, we’re easy fodder for the evil one. And in that phase, if we’re not careful… By the way, what’s the one thing we were made for? Genesis 2:18: It’s not good that man be alone. If we’re not careful, we can’t solve our problems there, it will lead then to that next phase which is feeling alienated like everybody is out to get me. You begin to attribute motives to people that don’t even make sense. “You’re over there talking about me. I know you are.” You get paranoid and things like that. You’ve seen people like this.

Joyce: Yeah, absolutely.

Dr. Clinton: What’s sad about it is there’s a self-fulfilling prophecy in this. That very nature of becoming like that makes people suspicious of you and they don’t want to be around you.

Joyce: So then you end up really being alone.

Joyce Meyer – We have intercessors in our prayer room all throughout the day praying for our partners and the needs of the ministry. I think a prayer cover over your life is something that’s very, very important to have.

Ginger: Yeah. Yes.

Chad: I’m still naive that every one of these rooms is being used for prostitution.

Kelly: I really can’t imagine a darker place than how these girls live.

Chad: If the world knew this was going on, people would eventually want to stop it.

Ginger: This was something like I didn’t know existed anywhere in the world. Street after street after street of little tiny doors…

Chad: That were made of corrugated metal.

Larry: And the whole street is lined with those little cutouts.

Kelly: We did a stand-up with ginger. I asked her to actually go in the room just to show — physically give some kind of contrast to how small this room really was. I don’t think she liked it very much. The smells, the sights, all your senses are engaged at one time and you’d be a monster not to have it affect you.

Ginger: Three, two… These streets are lined with these tiny rooms basically just the size of a bed where these girls are for all practical purposes held prisoner, maybe not physically but they are definitely financial prisoners here, feeling that this is the only way they can survive, and absolutely they are spiritual prisoners. They make a few birr here a night but the risks are great: not being paid, being beaten often, and the risk of contracting aids. Our goal is to set these girls free, to share truth with them, to let them know that they can have a great life and that there is a God who loves them implicitly.

Kelly: It’s probably one of the most powerful images we could have done to give somebody perspective about the lifestyle these girls lead.

Ginger: It just broke your heart because they’re so young and so empty-looking. You’d see the girls standing outside of every door, waiting for a man to come along.

Joyce Meyer Ministries - I simply wanted to say it would mean a lot to me if you would help me in the work that God has called me to do. We’re getting to do things all over the world.

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.

Joyce Meyer Online – Our television program is aired in 32 different languages. Literally millions of people can hear the word every day, so will you prayerfully consider becoming my partner? God bless you and thank you.

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 Meyer – They wouldn’t look at us as part of the world. Sometimes in our society they can’t tell the difference. One of the players once upon a time said he didn’t go to church because people in the church looked like they were in the world.

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…

Joyce Meyer Ministries – I asked him, “why do you think everybody in the church are saints? A church could be a museum of saints or is it a hospital for sinners? So if you consider it a hospital for sinners, then you have no reason not to go.

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.

Joyce Meyer Online – But if you look at it as a museum of saints, then you have a problem because now you’re expecting people to live a certain lifestyle and say certain things.

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 Meyer – You’ve already preconditioned yourself to believe that, and now if they don’t, you have a problem with God. So, look at it the other way.”

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.

Joyce Ministries – And I think, as you say, everybody — or a lot of people know the truth. They know what’s right and wrong but they want to be able to associate with the guy who is supposedly doing all the right things