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This program is made possible by

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the partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries.

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If you want to have the high life,

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you have to give up the low life.

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And you can't just wait for God to come and take

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away that low life from you. I'm

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Joyce Meyer. I've seen God's power

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transform my own life and He

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will do it for you. Luke

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9.23. And He said

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to all of them, to all of them. So

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if you're thinking,

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well, I was kind of hoping she'd preach on

0:43

something else today. No,

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this message for all of us. If any person

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wills to come to me, let

0:50

him deny himself, disown

0:53

himself, forget, lose sight of

0:55

himself and all of his own interest. Let

0:57

him refuse and give up himself. That

0:59

doesn't sound too exciting, does it? Now,

1:04

first of all, let me clarify that there's always

1:06

balance. God

1:08

always brings balance. This

1:10

doesn't mean that you shouldn't take care of yourself. It

1:14

doesn't mean that you should never do

1:16

anything for yourself or never buy yourself

1:18

anything, or that always, always in every

1:20

situation, you have

1:22

to always let everybody else have what they want while

1:24

you never have anything that you want. It's

1:27

a general principle of

1:29

exactly what I'm talking about here today. Just don't

1:31

get up every day trying to make yourself happy.

1:35

Get yourself off your mind. Forget

1:39

about everything that we need to forget about, everything

1:41

that we want just long enough to find out

1:43

what God wants. Amen?

1:48

And take up your cross how

1:50

often? Daily.

1:55

Daily. Well, you know, it wouldn't be so bad

1:57

if it was on Christmas and Easter, but daily.

2:00

Take up your cross daily, but

2:03

I did that yesterday, Lord. Today I

2:05

want my way. Here's

2:11

what happens. It can sound like it's just going to be a

2:13

real bummer of a life. Lose

2:16

sight of yourself, forget yourself. You

2:19

know, that's why some people really won't take the step to go ahead

2:21

and give their life to Christ because they think they're just not

2:23

going to ever have any fun. Well,

2:26

let me tell you something. There's fun and then there's joy. And

2:31

there are two different things. Two

2:34

completely different things. You

2:37

can think you're having fun because you go out and

2:39

get drunk every Saturday night. Well,

2:42

you know, that's really not fun. It's

2:44

kind of dumb. I

2:48

mean, I've watched people destroy their lives doing that. I

2:50

watch my own father every Saturday night go out and

2:52

get just as drunk as he could, come home and

2:54

rant and rave at my mother and many times beat

2:56

her up and chase us out of the house in

2:58

the middle of the night. But

3:02

I also watched him when

3:04

he died in his mid 80s. And

3:07

although he had received Christ four years before that,

3:09

and I'm thankful for that, I know that he

3:11

died with nothing in his heart but regret over

3:13

the way he had lived. Don't

3:18

live just for yourself. It'll

3:20

never turn out good if

3:22

you do that. You know, you can even be a Christian

3:25

and go

3:27

to heaven and be selfish

3:29

while you're here. But I'll

3:31

tell you one thing, you won't be happy.

3:41

And I don't know about you, but I made my mind about 12

3:44

years ago I'm going to enjoy the ride.

3:48

I want to go through here once and

3:51

I had already wasted way too many years of

3:53

my life. Let me tell you something. I've lived

3:55

more of my life than what I've got left.

3:58

And if you're in your 20s or you're 30s. you need to

4:00

listen to me and get smart now. Boy,

4:10

if I would have only known when I was 20

4:12

what I know now. I

4:14

could have saved myself so much agony. Give

4:21

up the low life. You

4:24

know what the low life is? Keeping

4:26

our flesh happy. You know what the

4:28

high life is? Being satisfied spiritually. Being

4:33

content. I

4:35

love to write in my journal in the

4:37

mornings, I am content. Exclamation

4:40

mark. You know why? Because I spent

4:42

so many years filling up those pages

4:45

with everything that I was unhappy about that God

4:47

needed to do for me in order for me

4:49

to even put a smile on my face. I

4:54

think contented believers

4:57

are a joy to God.

5:04

Give up the low life and

5:08

take the high life. John

5:10

12, 24,

5:14

unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground

5:16

and dies, it abides alone. I

5:21

assure you most solemnly I tell you, unless a grain

5:23

of wheat, that's

5:25

us by the way, falls into the

5:27

ground and dies, it remains just one grain.

5:30

It never becomes more, but

5:33

lives by itself and alone.

5:35

Okay, I mean this, you know, we'll use my life

5:38

just for general principle, but it works for anybody.

5:41

You know, God will use everything in your

5:44

practical, normal, everyday life to teach you

5:46

a spiritual lesson if you'll let him.

5:50

I wasn't able to go off to Bible college when God

5:52

called me. I already had

5:54

three children and a husband and a

5:56

home to take care of, but I tell you one thing, I went

5:58

to the school of the Holy Ghost. And

6:01

I set myself to learn from

6:03

God in every situation. But

6:07

what if in every one

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of those situations, even like

6:11

the stories you've heard when God started dealing

6:13

with me about putting my grocery cart back

6:15

in the place marked off for grocery carts,

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why? Because He was teaching me to be

6:19

a person of integrity. He

6:22

was teaching me to live the way and to

6:24

treat people the way that I would want to

6:26

be treated. I couldn't

6:28

go to Bible college and listen to a professor,

6:31

but I had the Holy Ghost in the grocery

6:33

store. I

6:35

think in many ways that's even better. I

6:38

had practical application. Do

6:40

you know a lot of people who come out of school may have

6:42

a degree, but they don't know nothing. Because

6:45

there's been no practical application of

6:47

what they've been hearing. But

6:49

if you have to go to the school of

6:52

the Holy Ghost, you're going to get practical

6:54

application every single day. Every

6:56

day of your life needs to be a

6:58

journey with God. Every

7:01

day you need to get up and say, God, teach

7:03

me today. In everything that I do, teach me. And

7:05

if you start to do something, you get a sensing,

7:07

it's not pleasing to God, then back off, let Him

7:09

teach you something. Okay, but let's just

7:11

say for general principles, because I

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know that many people do this, that

7:16

all those years I just insisted on

7:18

going my own way. And

7:21

I never would learn the lessons that God was trying

7:23

to teach me. I never would humble myself and

7:26

do it His way. You know what? I

7:29

would still be one grain

7:31

of wheat abiding by myself

7:33

alone, somewhere in a miserable

7:35

place full of darkness. But

7:39

as it is, I'm

7:41

getting right now, this

7:43

program going on the air will

7:46

be heard by millions of

7:49

people. Now,

7:53

please understand, I'm not in any way trying to

7:55

brag on myself. I'm just trying to make a

7:57

point that. And

8:00

if you want to have the high life,

8:04

you have to give up the low life.

8:08

And you can't just wait for God to come and take

8:10

away that low life from you. You

8:13

have to daily say, I

8:15

refuse to live for me and me alone.

8:18

Yes, I'm gonna take care of myself, and

8:20

God, I know that you're gonna take care

8:22

of me. I trust you to

8:24

take care of me. You know what I can tell you?

8:26

If you will tend to God's business, he'll tend to yours.

8:30

Did you hear me? If you will get

8:32

up every day and do your best to take

8:35

care of God's business and to serve him, he

8:37

will take care of your business. You

8:41

don't have to spend all your time fighting with devils, just

8:43

walk in love. I

8:46

said you don't have to spend all your time fighting

8:48

with the devil, just learn how to walk in love.

8:50

There's nothing more powerful than really

8:53

caring about other people and walking

8:55

in love. Willie

8:58

Nelson wrote a song several years ago called, You

9:00

Were Always On My Mind. But

9:06

I have to sing that song a different way, I don't

9:08

now, but I used to would have had to have sang

9:10

it, I was always

9:12

on my mind. So

9:15

I'm gonna sing to Dave. Now

9:25

I want to tell you that he was a bad boy. I asked him to

9:27

come up here so I could sing to him and he would not do it.

9:29

So I'm gonna have to, I said

9:31

well you see that I'm on the altar up

9:33

here sacrificing my life for the progress of

9:35

these people and you won't even come up here and join me.

9:40

You better come up. Come on, you

9:45

can't be

9:47

stubborn. You

10:06

better get yourself a microphone. I know you'll have

10:08

some comment. I

10:13

want you to know that I've practiced harder on this song

10:15

than I have my message. Okay.

10:30

Maybe I didn't love

10:32

you quite as often

10:34

as I could have.

10:38

Maybe I didn't treat you quite

10:41

as good as I should have.

10:46

If I made you feel second best,

10:49

I'm sorry I was born. It's

10:53

because I was always on my

10:55

mind. I'll

11:05

sing one to you. I

11:19

never know what she's going to come up with

11:21

next. I

11:25

never do either. I

11:33

hope I don't get a letter from Willie Nelson saying

11:35

you butchered

11:37

my song. I

11:40

mean it's true. When

11:43

you've got yourself on your mind all the time, you

11:46

miss all the beautiful things that you can do.

11:50

There's so many beautiful things that you can

11:52

do to add beauty to

11:55

this world that seems to be getting so distasteful.

11:58

No wonder the Bible says it was a good thing. Why'd

14:00

I share? Why it's important to get out

14:02

of that me mindset and how to change

14:04

your perspective in a way that will benefit

14:07

you and others. Request

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What About Me today and take important

14:11

steps to living an unselfish life. It

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is available to you right now for your gift of

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any amount. Call us today at 1-800-727-9673 or

14:21

visit us online at joycemeyer.org. I

14:23

have absolutely no doubt that what I

14:26

share in this book will change your

14:28

life, just like it completely changed mine.

14:31

You can get out of your own

14:33

way, walk in love and live unselfishly.

14:35

Request your copy of What About Me

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today. And if you would like to

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go even deeper with Joyce by declaring

14:41

war on selfishness, consider giving a gift

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of $45 or more and

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you'll receive Joyce's What About Me study

14:48

guide in addition to the book. This

14:50

in-depth study is a great addition alongside

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the book to ensure you master content

14:55

with confidence. And remember, you'll not only

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receive Joyce's book, What About Me, but

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your gift today allows us to share the love

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of Christ around the world through our Hand of

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Hope outreaches. What About Me is available

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to you now for your gift of any amount

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or go the extra step to receive the What

15:11

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It is a great opportunity for a book study with

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a call at 1-800-727-9673 or

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visit us online at joycemeyer.org. If

15:26

enough of us become unselfish followers of Jesus,

15:29

we can change the world. All

15:32

right, Joyce, I just have to be

15:35

honest today. This

15:45

candid conversation is really just

15:47

for me. Oh, really? So

15:50

I want to talk to you about

15:52

this. There are things in

15:54

all of our lives that just really

15:57

annoy us. Certain things that just.

16:00

is really great on us, but

16:02

there are better ways to handle them

16:04

than I often do. So,

16:07

you know, when I learned a few things,

16:09

I find out that I can handle this,

16:12

and then I slide back into that pit

16:14

of being so annoyed again. So I would

16:16

love to hear what are some of the

16:18

things that really annoy you, what are some

16:21

of the annoyances that you deal with, and

16:24

how do you respond in a more positive

16:26

way? Oh, Ginger, there's nothing that annoys me.

16:28

I've overcome all. And

16:31

see, I'm instantly annoyed now. Right, so now you're

16:33

annoyed that I'm not annoyed. Okay,

16:37

well, we'll just have some fun with

16:40

this. Probably the

16:42

thing that annoys me the most is people who

16:44

don't do what they say they're gonna do and

16:47

who don't communicate that they're not

16:49

gonna do it. I

16:52

can't tell you how often, like

16:54

at our house, we'll have a repairman

16:58

that's supposed to be coming at a certain

17:00

time to do something. And

17:03

they don't show up, and they don't call. And

17:07

here, you've stayed home. I

17:10

mean, it's just- Right, you've rearranged your life.

17:12

And today, that

17:14

just happens way, way, way too often.

17:18

And everybody's excuse is always, oh, I'm sorry,

17:20

I got busy. Well, then

17:22

you shouldn't be taking more business where

17:25

you can handle and handle it with

17:28

integrity. And- Integrity, that's

17:30

the big word, right? And like you

17:32

said, just communicate it. Just give

17:35

us a call and let us know. Give me a call,

17:37

let me know. Today,

17:40

I think greed really

17:42

causes most people to take on more than

17:44

what they can handle

17:47

properly. And we

17:50

love our doctors, but even, I

17:54

mean, thankfully, I'm not dealing with anybody like that now,

17:56

but in the past, there have been times when I've,

18:00

one doctor that I used to go to a long time ago

18:02

and it would be anywhere from

18:04

two hours, 45

18:10

minutes was like a

18:12

small wait. Why

18:15

not leave a few minutes in between appointments

18:17

so if you go over a little bit, it's

18:20

like do unto others as you would have

18:22

them do unto you. So let me

18:24

ask you then, you're sitting in that waiting

18:26

room and you are so annoyed because you've

18:28

been there over two hours and it is

18:30

going to happen. It is going to happen.

18:33

So how do you handle that

18:35

annoyance in a better way and get

18:37

through it? Well

18:39

I usually have to repent after I've

18:41

not handled it good. And

18:44

really the answer I think comes down to I'm

18:46

just going to have to get

18:49

a different provider. You

18:51

know I'm not going to keep dealing with

18:54

this and I've kind of come to that

18:56

point with business people. It's like if

18:58

that's the way you do business then I

19:02

don't want to do that because I'm just inviting

19:05

the devil to aggravate me all

19:08

the time. Now obviously if somebody can't

19:10

help it then

19:12

we need to be gracious and we need to walk in the

19:14

fruit of the spirit and we always need to walk in the

19:16

fruit of the spirit. But you know walking in

19:18

the fruit of the spirit doesn't mean you let people take

19:20

advantage of you all the time. And

19:23

of course I am a communicator and

19:26

so usually if we're strong in an

19:28

area it really frustrates

19:30

us if

19:32

somebody else is weak in

19:34

that area. So I have to keep that in mind. I'm

19:37

a bottom line person so

19:40

it's like if I ask you a question please

19:42

give me the answer the

19:44

shortest way you can. You

19:47

know I only want to know the bottom line. Did

19:50

you get it fixed? But you

19:52

know how you fixed it and where you had

19:54

to go to fix it. And

19:57

so I have a tendency to get

19:59

annoyed. with people that

20:01

are extremely detailed. And

20:05

that's one that I have to work on

20:08

and take responsibility for because they can't

20:10

help being detailed any more than

20:12

I can help, like

20:15

my husband is real detailed. And so

20:18

if he'll start to tell me about a movie, oh,

20:21

I watched this movie last night and I just feel

20:23

like it takes forever for

20:26

him to tell me what

20:28

was the movie about. You've

20:32

seen the whole movie by the time the conversation

20:34

is over. So, you know, God puts

20:36

us with people that are not like us for

20:40

the purpose of

20:42

giving us practice on this fruit

20:45

of the spirit. Yeah, 30 patients.

20:48

Another thing that annoys me are little

20:51

nitpicky continuous noises.

20:54

And so I was recently somewhere

20:56

writing for a couple of weeks and

20:58

a part

21:00

went out in the refrigerator and

21:02

they couldn't get the part for a while.

21:05

And so about every two minutes, the

21:07

refrigerator would go,

21:09

click, click, click. Two

21:13

more minutes, click, click, click. And I was, and

21:17

it was not that far away from

21:20

where I was writing. And so

21:23

I got to go, okay, Lord,

21:25

somehow or another, you're gonna have to help me just

21:27

ignore this and not pay attention to

21:29

it. So what about you? What annoys you? So

21:34

one of the things that I find really difficult and

21:36

similar to some of the things that you've been talking

21:38

about, but I like to

21:40

make excuses for this annoyance, but

21:42

I'm such a justice person, right?

21:45

I want people to do what's right and

21:48

to do what's fair. And

21:50

so when I believe

21:52

something isn't right and fair, then

21:55

my instant reaction is to fight

21:57

back. And I'm very annoyed at the...

22:00

circumstance. And it'll make you do what

22:02

you like. Exactly. And so the bad

22:04

thing of all of that is then

22:06

I often respond in

22:08

a way that is

22:10

not helping the situation. It's

22:13

more of an argument than

22:15

a de-escalation or whatever. So

22:18

that's one of those things. Like for instance,

22:20

if something says that it

22:22

should be on sale, it should be on

22:24

sale. And they should have it. And if

22:26

I go up, exactly. If I go up

22:28

and it's not really on sale, the sign

22:30

was in the wrong place or whatever, then

22:33

I don't do well with that. Now I

22:35

have learned a lot and I've come a

22:37

long way over the years. Because I do

22:39

understand that people move signs and mistakes happen.

22:41

So like you said, I just have to

22:44

pray and breathe first

22:46

and take a beat. Remember

22:48

who we represent. We're not

22:50

representing Jesus. Exactly, exactly. And

22:52

I mean, this is

22:55

something that my daughters will still talk about because

22:57

I embarrass them. I

22:59

mean, there's so many times when they were

23:01

little. So I really am over that. I'm

23:04

so much better with that. But there are still

23:06

those things when something's not right, when someone doesn't

23:09

treat someone else the way that they should, when

23:12

someone doesn't follow certain things that should

23:14

be done. I have a daughter that's

23:17

one of those justice people. And she's

23:19

like, she wants everything to be fair.

23:22

Right. And it's just not. It just

23:24

isn't. I mean, it just isn't. So you have to

23:26

let that go. And God is a God of justice.

23:29

And so he wants us to turn those things over

23:31

to him. And then he makes wrong things, right? Yeah.

23:33

Something that annoys me is mean

23:35

people. Oh, yes. Me too. And

23:38

it annoys me so bad that there are certain

23:40

TV shows that I like

23:42

the plot and I would enjoy the show. But

23:45

if one of the characters plays

23:47

like this mean sarcastic person,

23:52

I just eventually I just can't watch the show.

23:55

And I know that's because my dad was like that. And

23:57

I just can't, I can't handle it.

23:59

It's like. just don't be

24:01

mean. The world is mean enough without

24:04

people being mean. I agree. Now

24:07

what you just said though, we've talked a little

24:09

bit before that recognizing

24:12

where it stems from, recognizing those

24:14

triggers, that's probably

24:16

really helpful in handling some

24:18

of those situations to

24:20

be able to say, I know why I'm

24:23

reacting this way. All bad fruit has a

24:25

root. Yeah. And if you can find the

24:27

root, it can help you deal with the

24:29

problem. But some of

24:31

these things that we're talking about, it's like,

24:33

it's not right. It's not right for people

24:36

to not show up for appointments. It's

24:38

not right for them not to communicate.

24:41

And so since we

24:43

can't make them change, the

24:45

only thing we can do is ask God to

24:49

help us behave the right way. I'm

24:51

sure Jesus ran into, I mean, he

24:53

ran into injustice all the time. And

24:58

I'm sure those disciples were so annoying to him at times.

25:01

Well, yeah, you know, he's trying to tell them he's getting

25:03

ready to go to Jerusalem and all the suffering is going

25:05

to go through. And

25:07

they're arguing about which one of them is the greatest. Well,

25:12

when you see, you know, the patience that he had with them.

25:16

So we do have to understand. And

25:20

then, you know, there's the factor too, if you're a

25:22

Christian and you know, like you and I, we've been Christians for a long time. We've

25:26

been in the Word for a long time. And

25:28

so, you know, we may be able

25:30

to handle ourselves differently than maybe somebody

25:33

who's only been saved for a week. And

25:36

so we have to have understanding of

25:39

where people are coming from and, you

25:41

know, where they're at. And so really mercy and grace.

25:43

And I guess the bottom line, we have to be

25:45

able to handle ourselves. And the point I want to

25:47

admit is no matter what somebody does, it

25:49

doesn't give us a right to

25:52

do the wrong thing. Two

25:55

wrongs never make a right. So God always expects

25:57

us to, what does he say, love

25:59

your enemy. pray for those

26:01

who mistreat you and treat

26:04

you unjustly. But

26:06

we all do have things that annoy us. And

26:09

so there you have it. You have

26:13

my open conversation

26:17

about what annoys me. I love it. And

26:20

I'll actually take all the help I can

26:23

get because you're right. It can be

26:25

as big as someone mistreating someone else or

26:27

as small as a reoccurring

26:29

noise that we cannot get away from.

26:32

But how we react to it is

26:34

up to us. But I will say

26:36

this. There's not nearly as many things

26:38

that annoy me as there

26:41

used to be. So thank God. So

26:44

that's very promising. I'm not where

26:46

I need to be, but I'm not where I used to be.

26:48

I'm making progress. Thank you, Joyce. I appreciate

26:50

it. I appreciate it. Catch

26:57

this limited opportunity to see Joyce

26:59

Meyer live. God can teach you

27:02

a powerful spiritual lesson right

27:04

where you're at. Don't

27:06

miss Joyce Meyer Live. For

27:09

more information, go to joycemeyer.org. We

27:14

all have problems, relationship problems,

27:16

financial problems, physical problems. But

27:18

while we're searching everywhere for

27:20

answers, God wants us to

27:22

know His promises. In Joyce's

27:24

book, Overcoming Every Problem, you'll

27:26

discover 40 promises from God's

27:29

Word to strengthen your faith and help you

27:31

find hope no matter the circumstance. Experience

27:34

the kind of life that God's Word

27:36

promises. Overcoming Every Problem

27:38

from Joyce Meyer. Order your

27:41

copy today. We

28:07

hope you enjoyed today's program. We

28:11

are so grateful to our Joyce

28:13

Meyer Ministries partners who make this

28:15

and all we do possible, including

28:17

sharing God's Word and offering help

28:19

to people in need all over

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the world. This

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program has been made possible by

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the partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries.