Joyce Meyer - Grace for Difficult Situations (08/21/2019)
Joyce Meyer preaches on grace as God's undeserved favor and power for hard times—from Romans 5:6 and more—encouraging bold asking, staying connected to Jesus, receiving special grace for unique struggles, and living victoriously through faith instead of self-effort or complaint.
Understanding Grace: Undeserved Favor and Power
Tonight I want to talk to you about Grace for Difficult Situations. You know, sometimes we hear a message like about grace, how God wants to help us. And all we need to do is receive it. But if we're not careful, we can discount ourselves and think, well, you just don't understand my situation. This may work for everybody else, but it doesn't work for my situation. You don't know what all I've done. Or you don't know what all has happened to me.
Grace is God's undeserved favor. It's God doing something for people who don't deserve it at all. And if you were here last night, you know we started with a scripture out of Romans chapter 5 verse 6 that says that while we were still yet in sin, God sent His Son to die for the ungodly. If He did that for us while we were still sinners and didn't even care about Him at all, how much more, now that we have received Christ, will we be daily delivered from sin's dominion.
So if Jesus did that for us before we even cared, what all is He willing to do for a bunch of people like you who obviously care enough to come out and spend a very important evening of the week sitting here, hearing the Word of God and worshiping God? If God would send His Son to die for you before you even cared about Him, what would He be willing to do for you now?
Don't Hold Back—Ask Boldly for God's Best
But we do without a lot because we're not bold enough to press in and ask for the very best that God has for us. You can never ask God for too much. I said you can never ask God for too much. You don't have to be careful about asking for too much. Undeserved favor. We all love it when somebody does us a favor. It's beautiful, undeserved favor.
But there's another part of the definition of grace that was quite life-changing for me. I had heard the part about undeserved favor. I knew that it was God doing something for me I didn't deserve. I'd been a Christian for a number of years, but I was a struggling Christian. I was a frustrated Christian. And I'm sure tonight that even though there are many of you here, you really love God. You care about Him. You have no intentions of ever walking away from God.
You still are very frustrated. There's a lot of struggle in your life, a lot of confusion. Perhaps you don't have the joy that you know that you should have. And truth be told, you don't even really enjoy a great deal of God's peace. And I have a lot of concern for believers who have no victory.
Grace Empowers Victorious Living and Witness
I believe that God has called me largely to build up the body of Christ, to edify the body of Christ, that they might become whole, healthy, strong individuals, and be a witness in a dark world. I say this often now, and I really believe this. We can and all should preach, and not necessarily have to ever open our mouths. Preach at all times, and if necessary, use words.
Everybody thinks that they're, you know, I can't witness, I can't talk to people about Christ. Well, there are people that are bolder verbally than others, and we should all be willing to open our mouth when God gives us a great opportunity. But honestly, I believe that every person can preach, and make people so hungry for what they have, just by living the life that Jesus died for us to live.
But we are not going to impress the lost with a sad, sour face, and a negative attitude, and a sad story to tell all the time. I don't care how many Jesus bumper stickers we have on our car, or how many pieces of Christian jewelry we hang on us. We are not going to impress people if we don't have... We need the power of the Holy Ghost in our life.
People need to see that we can be stable, no matter what is taking place. The world today is so volatile. I mean, it's just up and down. People get mad just like that. I mean, we've got every kind of anger and rage out there that you can possibly have. But we do not have to be like that, no matter what the conditions are in our life, as long as we know how to stay plugged in to our power source.
Stay Connected: Plug Into Jesus Daily
Now, if we're lights, we've all got enough sense to know that the lamp is not going to have any light coming from it if it's not plugged in. How many times do we try to get power out of something and then realize it's unplugged? Well, we need to stay plugged in. We need to lean in to Jesus.
We need more than a weekly trip to church and a little 10 or 15 minute sermonette that's not going to get you through the difficult weeks that we have to deal with now. We need to feed on the presence of God and we need to feed on the Word of God. And instead of just singing, Jesus, you're the center of it all, He needs to be the center of it all. Amen?
Being a believer in Jesus Christ is not about just claiming some certain brand of religion and going to church every week. I'm all for going to church every week, but we just have to get it through our head that there's more to it than I go to church. Jesus is the center of our lives and we need to stay plugged in. There's power available to us.
Grace as Power: From Salvation to Daily Strength
But I want you to understand that grace is undeserved favor, but if you study the Word in the Vines Greek dictionary, it says that grace is undeserved favor and it is force. It's power. So, God's undeserved favor, His grace, gives us salvation, gives us a relationship with God, but it also then gives us the power to live that life out and walk it out in such a way that not only can we enjoy our journey, and I mean have a wonderful life, but we can be a witness everywhere that we go.
Now, let me ask you, what would happen in our world if every person who claims to be a Christian actually got out there and acted like one? It would, gee, be just pretty, really amazing. Well, you know, when I found out that this grace was power for me to live my daily life, my, my, my, it was a life-changing thing for me.
Grace was extremely important to the apostles. Many of the letters to the churches begin with grace and peace be multiplied to you in Jesus' name. And then I was noticing today that Paul closes many of his letters with, may the grace of God fill your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Or the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Grace and Peace: You Can't Have One Without the Other
So Paul didn't say hi and bye. Hey. We don't even bother saying hello anymore. It's just, hey. Yo. We've degenerated from where Paul was, where he said, I mean, if, if he saw you, he'd say, grace and peace be multiplied unto you in Jesus' name. And that meant something to them. That was just like saying, the power of God be unto you. God's undeserved favor be on you.
And then to say grace and peace be multiplied to you. You see, you can't have peace without grace. There's no way we can have peace without grace. That's why he links the two together in so many of his letters. How can I have peace in my life if I don't have undeserved favor and power in my life?
So honestly and truly, when we sing about amazing grace, we have to understand that's not just a song. Grace is jaw-dropping amazing. I mean, it is absolutely, astoundingly amazing. God not only saves us, but He gives us everything that we need. Everything, let me tell you something, God never calls you to do something and doesn't give you what you need to do it. God never puts you in a place without giving you what you need to be there. Amen?
Special Grace for Special Cases
Well, I just can't do this. Well, yeah, if it's what you're supposed to be doing, then you can do it. But it's gonna be very hard for you if you don't believe that you can do it. Now, grace is available to all. Every single person that has ever lived on the planet has the same opportunity to have a victorious life.
Every single person has an opportunity to have their sins forgiven and have a great relationship with God and the promise of eternal life. Every single person, no matter what your situation is, there's grace available to you for your situation. And I felt very strongly that I was to press this point tonight that if you think you are a special case, God will give you a special grace. There is special grace for the special cases in the house tonight.
And you see, I thought for a long time I was a special case because I had been abused by my father. But I found out that God had enough grace to help me overcome my special case and to set my feet on a rock and lift my head up and make something beautiful out of what started out to be a bunch of ashes. No matter how bad you've been treated, no matter how you got started in life, you can have a great finish by the grace of God.
Receive Grace Through Humble Faith and Asking
But it's not gonna happen for you if you don't believe it because grace is a free gift, now listen, that can only be received through faith. God's not gonna push it on you. He's not gonna make you receive it. You receive it by faith. You ask for it. You humble yourself under the mighty hand. God, I cannot do this. I cannot do this. I don't know how to do it. I don't know what to do. And even if I did, I wouldn't have the energy to do it. But I ask you to help me. I ask you to do it through me. Amen?
And boy, any time you start to feel that you're losing your charge, or all your circuits are about to go on overload, just like you go plug that phone in, or make sure you plug that computer in, you go plug yourself in. You say, what does that mean, Joyce? It's very simply just taking a moment and purposely going to God and saying, God, I need you. Help me, Jesus. I am gonna lose it here. Help me calm down. I don't wanna make a fool out of myself. I don't wanna say a bunch of stuff I'm gonna be sorry for later. Help me.
The moment that somebody hurts your feelings, don't just try to get over it. Don't just try to forgive them. You start right away wherever you're at. If you can't do it out loud, then internally, God help me, help me, help me forgive, help me forgive. I refuse to be offended. I refuse to stay angry. I am not gonna let the devil steal from me one more day. Help me.
Grace as a Lifestyle: Prayer and Asking Boldly
Oh, if we can just understand that this is a lifestyle. Being a believer is a lifestyle. It's not a Sunday morning event. It's not a one-time-at-the-altar event. This is a lifestyle. We live by the grace of God. Prayer becomes like breathing. We do it to stay alive. You see, grace is the great equalizer. That means that no matter what I don't have, God's grace will come in and fill up that lacking in my life and suddenly it lifts me up to an equal plane with everybody else.
That's why it really doesn't matter where you start. The only thing that stands between any person and victory is how quick or how soon in their life they turn completely to Jesus and learn how to receive help from Him. James chapter 4 verse 1. There's an awful lot of upset in the world and far too much upset in the lives of believers. And James 4, 1 and 2 gives us a lot of insight.
What leads to strife, discords, and feuds? How do conflicts and quarrels and fights originate among you? Do they not arise from all your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members? Another way of saying that is there's all this strife in the world because of all the stuff that people want. You're jealous and you covet what other people have and your desires go unfulfilled and so you become a murderer because to hate somebody is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.
You Have Not Because You Ask Not—Ask God
You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain the gratification and the contentment that you and the happiness that you seek. So you fight and you war and here's the big answer to this great world dilemma you do not have because you do not ask. So here's the simplified version. If you want something, ask for it. Don't be jealous because somebody else has got it. Don't get into strife trying to make it happen yourself. You ask God for it.
And if it's right for you, and if it's the right time, then he'll give it to you. And if he doesn't give it to you, then it's not because he's holding out on you. It's only because you haven't gotten smart enough to ask for the better thing that God has in mind. You see, sometimes we're asking for something that's on a lower level than what God has in mind for us.
Well, God, I want to marry that person. Please make them fall in love with me and ask me to marry them. And you don't know that could be a nightmare waiting to happen. Why can't we trust God enough? Why can't we honor God enough to say, you know, God, I believe that if this is what you want for me, how many of you believe God can make anything happen? Alright, so look, if that's what God wants to happen for you, God can make it happen. So you pray and let God do the picking and choosing. And you don't have to worry about it. Whoever's out there that's right for you, if you will really trust God, God can give you undeserved divine favor. Amen?
Bold Asking: Know Who You Are in Christ
You have not because you ask not. Instead of struggling with things and trying to make them happen yourself, ask. You have not because you ask not. Now, there's something that I need to kind of sandwich in here to make sure that you're bold enough to ask. Many people will not ask God for things because they don't feel like that they're good enough to ask. Or they feel like, well, I've made too many mistakes. I can't ask God for that.
And it's very interesting to me, the way we pray, and I still catch myself doing this. But begin to notice how many times we use the word just in our prayers. Well, God, if you'll just do this. If you'll just help me. If you'll just forgive me. If you'll just, if you'll just. And you know what that means? Barely enough to get my own.
He says we can ask boldly. Come boldly to the throne. And that he is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all that we can ever dare. But see, if you don't know who you are in Christ. If you still see yourself as that old creature. You really never have put on the new nature. You don't really know who you are in Christ. You don't understand what really happened when you received Christ.
That you were made the righteousness of God in Christ. That you were justified and made just as if you had never sinned. And that every legal ordinance against you was completely canceled and blotted out. And that God sees you washed in the blood. It's important for me to share this with you. Because I can tell you that you need to ask boldly. And that whatever you ask for, God will hear your prayer. And in the right way and at the right time, he will answer that prayer.
Our 'Who' vs. 'Do': God's Unconditional Love
I can tell you that. And you will think, well that's good. And I wish it could happen to me. But I'm not. The devil just stays so busy trying to tell us what we're not. And the only antidote for that is to know what you are in Christ. And learn to talk back to the devil. Well Joyce, you're not this. Well devil, I am anointed. Well Joyce, you're not this. Well devil, I am a child of the Most High God.
We have to understand the difference between what I call our who and our do. My children are my children no matter what they do. Have you ever said to one of your children, I want you to know that no matter what you ever do, I will always love you. Anybody ever said that to one of your kids? Why? Why do we say that? Because we want them to have the confidence in us. That they don't have to be perfect. And even if they mess up and make mistakes, and even if it's a bad mistake, we are committed, we are in for the long haul. I may not like everything you do son, but I will always love you. Always love you.
Well if we can say that as human parents, what is God trying to say to us? I will always love you no matter what you do. No matter how many times you mess up. I'm in for the long haul. I'm committed. We are going to work this out together. Amen. Isn't that great to know you don't have to work it out by yourself that God's, He's never going to give up on you.
Grace to Change: More and More Power
And if you know who you are in Christ, yes, I don't do everything right. Don't talk to me right now, devil, about what I do. What I do is none of your business anyway. It's between me and God. But I know who I am. In Romans chapter 1 verse 17, there is a scripture that says, there is a righteousness found in the Word of God that leads us from faith to faith. A righteousness found in the Word of God that leads us from faith to faith. For in the gospel of righteousness which God ascribes—we don't earn it, He gives it—is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith.
So, by faith I receive that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, and then knowing who I am, that enables me now to even step out with greater faith. Are you with me? But we're never gonna have anything other than just barely, well, God, if you'll just help me. Well, He doesn't want to just help you. He wants to strengthen you, and empower you, and lift you up, and give you a special life. Don't be satisfied with just barely enough to get by, y'all. Know who you are in Christ, and go boldly to the throne in Christ's name, and have your needs met.
Now, it doesn't always happen right away, so there's a waiting that takes place, and boy, that's where we get all bum-fuzzled, isn't it? Well, I ask, and nothing happened to me. Well, it ain't over till it's over, and it's not over yet. And every time the enemy says nothing's happening, you just need to say, God is working. God is working.
Grace for Transformation: From Struggle to Victory
So, so, Joyce, if I ask God to change me, will He change me, or do I have to keep trying to do it myself? How many of you have tried to change yourself so many different ways? Oh my gosh, if you had any idea how many times in my life I have tried to be quiet. And, and I've tried to have a different, sweeter personality, and not be quite so loud and edgy, and it just doesn't work. I just can't be anything other than me.
James chapter 4, verse 6. I think it was about 27, 28 years ago when I saw this scripture for the first time, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. But He gives us more and more grace, power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully. That's why He says God sets Himself against the proud and the haughty, but He gives grace continually to the lowly. Watch this, those who are humble enough to receive it.
There's help for me. There's grace. And more grace. Enough grace for a special case. And trust me, I was a special case. I didn't have just normal, ordinary problems. I had huge, big ol' problems. Didn't have one or two. I had a bunch. Grace to change us. Well Joyce, are you sure that's what that's talking about? Well okay, let's look a couple more places, see if I can get you convinced.
Paul's Struggle and God's Deliverance
Who's gonna change you? Jesus. And you're gonna have to wait on Him to do that. And in the meantime, you may not like it too much. Cause we just can't stand it when we can't get things the minute we want it. And you know what? God has changed me over the years. I've actually become quite nice. Very caring. I love people. I love to give. Yeah, I still got a little edge to me. I don't know. I may never get rid of that.
But I'm not sure that I could do what I do if I didn't have a little bit of that. You know, that oomph. I kinda got that oomph. And I've had to have some of that all my life to survive what I went through and come out of it. I had to be a little bit of a pusher and a oomph to get here. And frankly, I got fed up years ago with apologizing for myself. And God is welcome to do anything that He wants to do in my life. He can change me any way that He wants to, but I cannot do it and I will not keep trying to.
Well, you say, well, Joyce, you can't just not try to change. But that's just dumb. You have to try to change. No, I don't have to try. I need to believe. There's a work for us to do, but it's a spiritual work of going from faith to faith to faith to faith. God, I believe that you can do whatever needs to be done in me and through me as I lean on you.
Romans chapter 7, verse 15. I'm just having so much fun tonight. Now, anybody who's read the Bible very much has come across this and thought, yeah, I get that. Paul said, the apostle Paul, for I do not understand my own actions. I am baffled and bewildered. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I hate. The very thing my moral instinct condemns.
Now, if I do habitually what is contrary to my desire, then that means I'm acknowledging and agreeing that the law is good and I'm taking sides with it. However, it's no longer I who does the deed, but the sin principle which is at home in me and has possession of me. Now, wait a minute. You're doing it, but it's not you doing it. Well, if it's not you doing it, who is doing it? I'm a little confused, Paul.
Feeding the Spirit Over the Flesh
For I know that nothing good dwells in me. Can anybody say amen? Amen. That is in my flesh. Nothing good dwells in my flesh and in your flesh, but in your spirit you are full of good things. You're not just a body and a flesh, but you are a spirit and you have a soul. And when the spirit is fed more than the flesh is, it gets stronger than the flesh and we walk by the spirit. And when we walk by the spirit, we no longer fulfill the lusts of the flesh, which will always be there.
There's always going to be lusts of the flesh. The flesh is always going to be used by the enemy to try to defeat us. But if we're strong enough spiritually, he cannot do it. That's why it is so foolish to fill our stomachs full of food three, four, five, six times every day and never take the time or bother to take in the spiritual food that we need, which is the only thing that's going to make us really happy. And I think a lot of people probably eat more than they should because they're empty on the inside and they're trying to feed the wrong thing. Thank you, I'll go on.
I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh, that I can will what is right, but I can't perform it. I have the intention and the urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out. For I fail to practice the deeds that I desire to do with the evil deeds that I don't want to do, that's what I'm ever doing. Well, can anybody say, man, I've been there, done that, know exactly what he's talking about? We want to do what's right, but it just sometimes seems like it's so frustrating because you, you want to do it, but then there's this frustration because you don't seem to be able to pull it off.
Suffering, Grace, and God's Timing
Verse 24 and 25. Oh, unpitiable, oh, unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am. Who will release and deliver me from the shackles of this body of death? Oh, thank God, he will. Who will deliver me? Oh, thank God, he will. Through Jesus Christ. Who will deliver me? Oh, thank God, he will. God, he will. Through Jesus Christ. And to be honest, I don't have the time to do all of these, but there is Scripture after Scripture after Scripture that says the exact same thing.
Now, I do think it's important to take a moment to show you 1 Peter 5, verse 10. Because there is a little something called suffering that we go through. And although it's not a very favorite subject to very many people, it is something that we might as well face and understand what's going on. Because that's going to help us to not run away from things that actually are ultimately going to work good in our life.
And after you suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who imparts all blessing and favor, who has called you to his own eternal glory in Christ. Now watch this. Will himself complete and make you what you ought to be. Will establish and ground you securely and strengthen and settle you. So, he's saying, and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will himself complete you and make you what you ought to be.
Attitude Matters More Than Circumstances
Okay, so what's with the suffering? Why can't you just do it right now? Well, I'm sure I don't have all the answers. I'm not trying to do a five part series on suffering, but let me just tell you what I do believe about that. First of all, I don't think that God always does everything in our life immediately. Because he wants us sometimes to go through enough to really appreciate it when we get our breakthrough. Amen.
And I think God gives us enough time to completely wear ourselves out. So when that breakthrough comes, we know that we know that we know that we know that it was God and not us. And we will never be tempted to take the credit. So there will be things to go through. But God will come through. And at the right time, who can God move fast when he starts moving? My, my, my.
And I've said this twice in the conference and I want to say it again. To be honest with you, the circumstances that we have in life are not as majorly important as we think they are. What's really important is what's going on inside of us. Because really, you can have really good circumstances and a lousy attitude. And you'll be more miserable than somebody who's got difficult circumstances and a great attitude. See, our problem is not really our problem. It's our attitude toward our problem. That's the problem.
Grace for Everyday Challenges and Testimonies
So, and I've said this a couple of other times, but it's, it's just, I think it makes a point. I work very hard doing what I'm doing and I have worked very hard for a very long time. But what I do is not hard. Because I do it with an internal ease. So, it's not easy to do, but I do it with ease. Matthew 11, 28, Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I will ease, relieve, and refresh your soul. Your inner man.
So, we don't even really need to be asking God all the time to remove our problem. What we need to do is ask Him to strengthen us. That we can man up. And you know what I mean by that. That we can just act like mature believers and know that through the power of the Holy Ghost, we can do whatever we need to do in life and do it with a smile on our face.
You say, well Joyce, you just, you don't know my situation. You just don't know my situation. But let me tell you something. There's special grace for your special case. Let me just talk to you frankly for a minute. Maybe you have a special needs child. And obviously that is very challenging and difficult. I've talked to people that have special needs children. And it, it can be very difficult. It can be difficult on the whole family. It can be difficult on a marriage.
But you know what? I've talked to ones who know how to receive God's grace. And I've talked to ones who haven't. And the people who know how to receive God's grace see it as an actual privilege. And they feel like that they learned so much from that child that they might have never learned anywhere else in life. Special grace for a special case.
Personal Stories: Grace Through Pain and Trials
God will give special grace for illness. There's things about me that you don't know. But I preached for 10 years of my ministry, I preached with migraine headaches. And there were times when I would stand and preach and I felt like I had a knife sticking in my right eye. I had breast cancer 22 years ago. I had to have a serious surgery. Two weeks later, I was back in the pulpit preaching and nobody knew it. But I had drains coming out of my body. God gave me the grace to do what I needed to do. Amen?
We have to understand the difference between what I call our who and our do. My children are my children no matter what they do. Have you ever said to one of your children, I want you to know that no matter what you ever do, I will always love you. Anybody ever said that to one of your kids? Why? Why do we say that? Because we want them to have the confidence in us that they don't have to be perfect. And even if they mess up and make mistakes, and even if it's a bad mistake, we are committed. We are in for the long haul. I may not like everything you do son, but I will always love you. Always love you.
Well if we can say that as human parents, what is God trying to say to us? I will always love you no matter what you do, no matter how many times you mess up. I'm in for the long haul. I'm committed. We're gonna work this out together. Amen.
Grace to Stay, Go, and Endure
God will give you the grace to be a single parent if that's what you need to be. You say, Joyce, but it's so hard. I know that. God knows that. But you'll get special grace. If you know how to receive it. But you know what? We don't receive grace with a bad attitude. We don't receive grace if we murmur and complain all the time, want to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. You receive grace through faith.
You don't say 200 times a day, I just can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore. It's just too hard. I can't do this anymore. You say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God will give me the grace that I need to go through this day in victory. God is in me and he will give me what I need. Faith is an attitude. It's a positive attitude. Amen.
But Joyce, I'm so tired. I'm so tired. I know. I know. Been there, done that. Go plug in, get recharged. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, I can do this. Through you, I can do this. Jesus name, I can do this. God will give you the grace to not give up.
I like to say it like this. God will give you the grace to stay if you need to stay, and He'll give you the grace to go if you need to go. See, sometimes we need to get away from something and we want to stay, and God will give us the grace to go, and sometimes we want to go and God wants us to stay, and He'll give us the grace to stay.
Final Encouragement: Grace Is Sufficient
I worked for somebody one time, and they didn't treat me very good. I tell you what, more than anything, I wanted to get away from there and go start my own deal. But I knew in my heart it was not what God wanted me to do. And He gave me the grace to stay. And I'm so glad now that I didn't run away, because when I look back, I learned so much. So much. A lot of who I am today was built in me during those times when I stayed and didn't run away.
And then, interestingly enough, when God said go, I'd gotten almost everything worked out, and then I didn't want to go. So He gave me grace to stay, and He gave me grace to go. And you need to realize that whatever your case is, whether it's abuse, or rejection, or abandonment, or betrayal, or the death of someone that you love, or the loss of someone you love, or the loss of a job, a place where you felt like you would retire, or you're a single parent, or you're taking care of elderly parents.
If you are in a difficult marriage, and you say, I believe God wants me to stay, then, honey, let me tell you, you can stay with a smile on your face and a spring in your step. And if we will, in our situations, continue to do what's right by the grace of God, God will always come through and take care of our situations.
Whether you need a babysitter for your dog, or somebody to help with your elderly parents, or you need help because you're a single parent, or whatever it is that you need, God will come through for you if you just, and please don't take this wrong, but you've got to not feel sorry for yourself, not murmur, not complain, not grumble, not think that you're a special case that gets a special dispensation, but you say, I am a special case, but I get a special grace, so I don't have any right to look at myself any differently than anybody else, because God's grace is sufficient for my weakness, and it will strengthen me and enable me to do whatever I need to do. Can anybody get a hold of that today?