Joyce Meyer - Soul Poisons And Antidotes

Hello and welcome to, "Enjoying everyday life". When you become a Christian you are saved, but there are still things in your soul that can poison it like, anger, fear, and unforgiveness. In today's teaching, I'll share some antidotes or cures for these poisons. Then later in the show, I'll be back to answer some of your questions, so please stay with us.

Our soul, even though we're born again, many times our soul is full of poison, bitterness, resentment, anger, greed, hatred, jealousy, envy, worry, strife, anxiety, fear, and I could go on and on and on and on all night. We dress it up, we take it to church, and we smile at each other. And that doesn't mean that we won't got to heaven when we die. If you're a true believer you'll go to heaven, but you're never gonna enjoy your journey, and you're not likely to take anybody with you if you don't get the mess in your soul straightened up. We have to learn how to think right, how to talk right, how to act right because we are right with God through the blood of Christ. That righteousness is in us. We have been made the righteousness of God, but we've gotta let it get out of our spirit into our souls and let it shine through our bodies, so the world can see that being a believer in Jesus Christ is an amazingly-wonderful thing and everybody should want it.

Now you'll just have to excuse me, but I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not at all. I don't intend to be a sneaky believer or a quiet believer. Let me tell you something. Sinful people shout and yell about their sin and their rights to practice their sin. Well, I've got a right to practice my belief in Jesus Christ, and I will, amen? Now if a poisonous snake bit you what would you do? Well, if you're intelligent you would probably get to the nearest hospital as fast as you probably could for an antidote. An antidote is a medicine, oh, this is gonna be so good. An antidote is a medicine that cancels out or weakens the effect of the poison. Some of you are trackin' with me already, aren't you?

So, you see, my soul was poisoned from bein' abused for 15 years sexually by my dad. I had every kind of poison in my soul that you could have. I was born again. I went to church every week, but my soul was poisoned. And as I began to take my antidote the effects of all that stuff got weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker until the medicine of God's word completely canceled out all the poison in my soul. It completely renewed my mind, calmed my emotions down, healed my broken heart, got me to the point where I could turn my will over to God, and now instead of sittin' in a pity party all day long, being depressed and mistreating people, I'm actually doing something worth doing in my life and helping other people.

Now I looked on the internet to see just about different poisons and different antidotes, and there's a huge, long list on the internet, and you know what? We got a list right here. It's called a concordance at the back of your Bible, so I just got mine out this morning while I was studyin', just thought I'd start in the "A"S and just see what kind of antidotes might be in this thing here, this book that could help me. And, I mean, I just went through and kinda pulled out a few. Okay, so if I've been abandoned I've got an antidote in here. It's Psalm 27:10, "Even though my mother and my father have forsaken me, the Lord will take me up and adopt me as his own child". I've got an antidote to help me overcome the fact that my parents didn't love me, didn't know how to love me, because I've been adopted by God according to Romans. Come on. I'm now a daughter of the Most High God who loves me. Come on, are you getting it?

So, see, I don't have to spend my life mourning about the fact that my parents didn't love me because all the effects of that have been canceled out by the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And then ability, you know, we hear so much, "I can't. I can't. I can't". Well, I got an antidote for that, too. That's acts 1:8, "When the holy ghost has come upon me, I shall receive power", "Ability, might, and strength". "I can do all things through Christ". I pray in Jesus' name that your faith will rise up to a new level in the word of God because it is our life. There's nothing that's wrong with us that the word of God won't take care of if we go to it respectfully, really believing that the power is in here to change us. You don't need to read a little bit of your Bible every day just as some kind of an obligation to God, thinkin' you're doin' him a favor and gonna keep him from bein' mad at you if you do. We don't need to read this for God. He knows it. He wrote it. We need to read it for ourselves, amen?

This is your spiritual medicine chest. It's the medicine that you need and that I need for our soul. Man, we got everything in here. Let's see. Got hope in here. Take for discouragement and hopelessness as often as needed. Take until your symptoms are completely gone. Refills unlimited! Whoa! Prescription cost: free! Doctor Jesus. Hallelujah, what else we got in here? Man, ooh! Joy. Take for depression. Take as often as needed until all symptoms are gone. Refills unlimited. Ooh, Jesus, hallelujah. Let's go back to our concordance. Man, we can have a revival here tonight in the concordance. And, boy, here's abuse. Isaiah 61, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospel, the good news to the poor, the meek, the afflicted, to bind up their wounds and heal their bruises, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified".

You're looking at a result of that scripture. You don't have to stay broken. You don't have to stay brokenhearted, but you've got to be willing... Now listen to me. You've got to be willing to let go of all that and stop using it as your identity, and don't use it anymore to feel sorry for yourself. And don't' use it to get attention, and don't make excuses for bad behavior. Well, if you would've been treated like I was you'd have a bad attitude, too. I'll tell you what the Lord told me. "You have a right to feel sorry for yourself. I mean, you have a reason to feel sorry for yourself but no right because I'm willing to heal you," amen?

And please don't throw stones at me when I say this, but if you've been sittin' in church 30 years and you're still a broken, wounded mess, then somehow or another you've missed what I'm tryin' to tell you tonight. And for my part, I wanna make sure that all of you and all the people that will watch this around the world in many different languages, hear me clearly. You have no problem that God cannot easily solve, but you have to love the word. You got to love the word, feed on the word, and meditate on the word, and speak the word. Some of you are thinkin', "Well, man, this sounds like a lot of work to me". Well, you think bein' miserable is not a lot of work? You think spendin' all your money on psychiatrists and psychologists and all kinds of counseling and all kinds of medicine, do you know even a lot of what's wrong with us physically is caused by the mess in our souls? Once you get the stress out of your soul, your body has the power in it to begin to heal itself, amen?

You're not gonna worry all day from daylight to dark and feel good. You're not gonna hate people and feel good. If you're full of hatred, listening to a teaching on prosperity's not gonna help you. If I got a headache I don't stick a band-aid on my head. The word is very specific to your need. If you have a bad attitude, then study the attitude that Jesus told us to have. Study. The word of God is broken up in categories for us. That's what this concordance is for. Don't call somebody up and say, "Where's that scripture"? Get in your Bible, and look it up for yourself. When you find it you'll remember where it's at. Abuse, adversity, adultery, well, the Bible sure tells us what to do about that. When you're afflicted, afraid, when you're alone, when you've got anger, when you've got anxiety, there's no problem you have that you can't get in here and find. You just don't have a problem, you don't even really have to work at it. You can find it in the concordance. If this concordance isn't good enough, then go get a bigger one.

Joyce: Well, I hope this teaching has been helpful to you. This is a challenging subject and many of you want to know more, so Ginger is here with some of your questions that I'm believing God, I'm going to be able to answer. Ginger welcome.

Ginger: Thank you so much and they have some great questions today. And I think this is a really powerful teaching because we do all have things that are poisoning us and we don't even realize sometimes or what to do about it. So, the first question to get us started is from Tammy from Texas and she says, "How can Christians have soul poisons when they are filled with the Holy Spirit"?

Joyce: Well, because it's your spirit that's filled with the Holy Spirit, not your soul or necessarily your body. And in Philippians 2:12, 13, 14, it says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, not in your own strength, because God will all the while I help you," in this process. But, when we receive Christ as our Savior, he comes through the Holy Spirit to live in our spirit. He cleans that all up because he can't be anywhere that's not holy. But, then it's a process of working out what he's worked in. So we like to say God works it in and then you and God together work it out. And, attitudes change, our minds get renewed, we learn how to talk. I remember one time the Lord said to me, "You know Joyce, since you're saved, it's time for your mouth to get saved". Because, although, I'd been truly born again and received Christ as my Savior, a lot of the things that I talked about were things that the Bible said not to talk about. So we have to realize that no matter how much we have Jesus in our heart or our spirit that the only way the world is going to see Jesus is through our behaviors, and our actions, and how we treat them, and so on, and so forth. And so, when we talk about the soul being poisoned, that's what we mean.

Ginger: Yeah, I think that helps us to understand that we're not going to be perfect. Because, Christ was perfect and he's in us, but he is there to help us work through that, so that's great. Grace would like to know, "I battle with depression daily. What are some tangible steps I can take to recover once and for all from the poison that has plagued my soul for my entire life"?

Joyce: Well, there's a couple of things that I think you have to look at. First of all, is it a medical problem? Is it something that's off in her neurotransmitters that she needs some kind of medical help for? Or is it just something the enemy's bringing against her? And you know, you can't, and I don't this is not like, meant as a judgment. But, you can't be depressed and not have wrong thoughts. So, if the medical thing has been checked out and that's not an issue for her, then the first place she needs to start is with her thinking. And, I always tell people, think about what you're thinking about. Which is something we don't do.

Ginger: And that's a constant battle.

Joyce: Yeah, and that's why the book that I wrote called, "Battlefield of the mind," 25-26 years ago, is so important because, it was a real eye-opener to me that I didn't have to just think whatever fell in my head, that satan could put thoughts in my head the same as God can put thoughts in my mind. And, I can put thoughts in my mind and you can put thoughts in my mind. And so, we've got a lot of things coming at us and we have to decide which ones are God. And if we think on things that God wants us to think on, then we're going to have the fruit of that, which is joy, and peace, and righteousness. So, you know, the short answer is start with your thoughts. And if you think right then your attitude is going to be right. There's so much to be positive about.

Ginger: Atlanta says, "Fear is my soul poison. I speak scripture and I pray but I'm still afraid. So what can I do to overcome fear"?

Joyce: Do it afraid. It's like, it's been one of the easiest things since I've discovered that, that fear is a feeling. It's a evil bad spirit that causes feelings, but I can shake and tremble and have a nervous tummy and feel butterflies and you know, all kinds of things, and still go ahead and do what I believe that God wants me to do. And if you do that, then every time you do something that you're afraid of, you conquer it just a little bit. I mean, I have a good friend that would not fly. She was just really afraid of flying. And her husband travels all the time. Their kids are grown. And she was at home and he was traveling and she wanted to go with him. And so, he would drive places for her, but you know, that was hard for him to take a trip that required 20 hours of driving when he could fly there in a couple of hours. And so, she finally decided to do it afraid. And she said at first it was just, she'd feel nauseated. She'd shake, it really made her nervous, but now she flies all the time and is not afraid of it at all. So, satan likes to scare us. But to be honest, the doing of the thing that we're afraid of is not as traumatic as fear tries to make you think that it will be.

Ginger: Yeah, so stepping out, as hard as it may be.

Joyce: I always say, you know, that doesn't mean that you know, if I'm not a good swimmer, I need to go dive into water over my head just to prove that, I'm not afraid.

Ginger: Yeah, don't be silly.

Joyce: That's not what we're talkin' about. But, we're talkin about, if it's something you believe God wants you to do or something you really desire to do or you need to do, satan always tries to stop progress. Any, any kind of progress that you make in any area of your life, he doesn't want you to enjoy your life, he doesn't want you to have any peace. And I like to remind people of this, we receive from God through faith, and we receive from the devil through fear. So, if he can frighten you, he can control your whole life.

Ginger: Alright, janet wants to know, "Unforgiveness poisons my soul. How do you forgive someone when they aren't remorseful"?

Joyce: Well, basically, when you forgive somebody you're doing yourself a favor, not them. I used to have a real hard time with that because my dad had abused me sexually growing up and he never repented. He never said he was sorry. And yet, I knew God wanted me to forgive him and even help him financially and in other ways when he got old enough that he needed help. And it just seems so unfair but God taught me you're doing yourself, "I tell you to forgive for you". Because see, when your soul is poisoned with that bitterness, it just affects every area in your life. And one of the things that makes it much easier to forgive people is to try and remember how much God forgives us for every single day. I mean, my goodness, our sins against God and his holiness and righteousness that were paid for by Jesus is probably much worse than anything that anybody does to us. And so, it really helps, I think, if you remember, you know, "Hey, I do things that hurt people". I wonder sometimes how many times I hurt somebody and don't even know that I did it. And so, whatever she needs to do, she needs to get with God and gain the strength through him to do it. Because, living with bitterness and hatred and unforgiveness in your heart, it just really messes up your whole life.

Ginger: It's definitely a poison.

Joyce: It is.

Ginger: Absolutely. Daphne from Ohio asks, "My soul poisons are guilt and shame. I'm so scared that I'll commit an unpardonable sin. I try so hard to stop these awful thoughts, but they seem to get worse. What should I do"?

Joyce: Well, "Know the truth and the truth will make you free". So, first of all, if you're wanting a relationship with God at all, then you've not committed the unpardonable sin. That can only be committed by somebody who's had a very close intimate relationship with God and knowingly, willfully, blasphemed against the Holy Spirit and walked away from it. Too many people worry too much about that unpardonable sin, and it's just an absolute trick of the devil. And, I understand the whole guilt thing. You know, that was probably one of my biggest problems to get over. I mean, I felt guilty about everything. I felt guilty if I enjoyed my life. I felt guilty if I wasn't working all the time. I mean, any little thing that I did wrong, I'd feel guilty about it for days and days. And it is just the enemy. He's the accuser of the brethren. And we need to resist him by testifying to the word and by remembering the blood of Christ has cleansed us, not only from sin but from the guilt associated with sin. And I think that this is a case where speaking the word of God out loud can really benefit her. So, instead of saying I feel guilty or thinking I feel guilty, say and think, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I'm forgiven. God loves me. And I don't care how I feel, I'm not guilty because I have repented and God is faithful". He says that when we are sorry for our sins, he's faithful to forgive our sins. And so, I think you have to get to the point where you can come to grips with, just because you feel something doesn't make it true. I mean, you can feel a lot of things that are just really against the word of God.

Ginger: Yeah, we all do.

Joyce: So, you have to learn how to live on the other side of those feelings. And that's where I began. I would feel guilty and say, "I don't care how I feel, I'm not guilty, because I've repented and I know that God's faithful and he's forgiven me. So, I don't care how I feel".

Ginger: I tend to think of all those poisons, those things that are hurting us inside, almost like a poison that when you begin diluting it with the truth, and with God's word, and with choosing to believe and do the right things, it just gets softened and softened.

Joyce: It get's weaker, and weaker, and weaker.

Ginger: Exactly, until it finally is concord. Now, you still have to deal with things all the time. They always come back up, but it really works. We don't have to live with these things.

Joyce: And sometimes when something has been a really big problem for you in your life, you overcome it and satan will sneak back around every once in awhile just because it was a weak area.

Ginger: Yes, he will, yeah.

Joyce: It's kinda like if you have a weak area in your body or maybe you've, you know, broken a bone at some time and it's just kinda a little weak area for you in that area. He always tries to hit you where you're weak. And so, I love the scripture in Galatians 5:1 that says, "Stand fast in the freedom where with Christ has set you free and don't be ensnared in a yoke of bondage which you've once put off".

Ginger: Oh, that's good.

Joyce: So, when the enemy comes back around, you just say, "Nope, I'm free from that, I'm not believing your lies. I know God".

Ginger: Yeah, thank you Joyce.

And I know I'm gonna need God's help with this, and he's the only one that convinces you that what I'm saying is true. But I am telling you that myself, as well as multiplied many others, some of them sitting right here tonight, are living proof that the word of God has the power in it to heal your soul and change you completely into a brand-new person. You do not have to remain a victim of anything. Hallelujah, ooh, let's see what we got in here. Oh, ooh, the love of God. I wonder what that could do for me. Take for guilt and shame as often as needed until all symptoms are gone. If you should have a relapse, get refilled, and take more. Free, refills unlimited. Whoa, doctor Jesus, hallelujah. Oh, ooh, a whole bottle of humility. Take for arrogance, haughtiness, and pride. Take for judgment and criticism. Refills unlimited. Keep taking this until all symptoms are gone. I've needed a fresh bottle of this lately. I don't know about you. I've been takin' this stuff on a regular basis for all 38 years I've been studying the word, still need it.

Matter of fact, if you wanna know the truth, I still need all of this on a pretty regular basis. Ooh, hmm, wow, generosity, how's that gonna help me? Oh, take for selfishness. Wow, just keep takin' it till all symptoms are gone. You know what? I was so selfish and self-centered, and I was born again, baptized in the spirit, and in ministry, and I was so selfish and self-centered. And I was so unhappy, and I didn't know why I was unhappy. I thought it was Dave's fault. I thought if my ministry would get bigger I'd be happy. I thought if my back didn't hurt I'd be happy. I thought if I had more money I'd be happy. If my kids would act better I'd be happy. Come on. And in one of my great prayer moments I said to God, "I don't know what's wrong with me, God. I go to church every week. I'm a greeter". "I don't know why I'm so unhappy". And I'm tellin' you, you can say what you want to about God talkin' to us or not talkin' to us. Some people get freaked out when you say, "God said," but God said to me, "You are unhappy because you are selfish"!

So I started studyin' love, and I studied it, and I studied it, and I studied it, and I studied it, and I still study it. Learn to be a generous person. Don't do the least you can do. Do the most you can do, and do it on purpose. Close the medicine cabinet for a minute. Hebrews 4, you still with me? Is this gettin' beyond anybody's brain down into your spirit? "For the word that God speaks is alive and full of power". "Alive and full of power". There is one thing that gets the deadness out of us, and that's life. "Making it active, operative, energizing, and effective: it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (the soul) and the spirit, of joints and marrow of the deepest parts of our nature, exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of our heart".

Let me ask you a question. Sometimes when you turn the TV on and I'm preaching to you early in the morning, do you ever feel like that you're getting operated on? You're havin' some kind of soul surgery? That's what the word does for me. It doesn't all make me feel gooey and squishy. Let me tell you something. When I first started really studying the word, it was terrible because everything I read I needed. I mean, I had a problem with all of it. Any sermon I heard I went out condemned. I didn't know the difference between conviction and condemnation, so if I heard a message on "You talk too much", and then I'd make a plan, a fleshly plan. "That's it, tomorrow I'm not gonna say a thing". And I'd go around the house, and then somebody'd say, "What's the matter with you"? And I'd say, "That's it. You know, if I talk too much you don't like it. If I don't talk at all, you don't like it". You know what that's called? Childish, baby Christianity. I didn't know what I needed to do was say, "Yes, Lord, you are right. I am convicted. I do say a lot of things that are hurtful to people, a lot of things that are hurtful to me, and I wanna change. And I'm askin' you to change me, and I'm gonna go to your word. I'm gonna take my medicine".

Come on, let me tell you something. You look up just every scripture in proverbs on the mouth, and you'll start a big healing in your life. Oh, you'll have to go back next week and take another dose of that, and you'll have to go back next week and take another dose of that. Come on. You know what I did today between the session? Well, I went and ate, which I enjoyed, but then I stopped at a store, and I bought about seven items of clothing for a friend of mine. Now I'm not tryin' to tell you how good I am, but I'm tryin' to tell you that's how I stay happy. Well, did you get anything for yourself? Yeah, I got a couple things for me, too, but I'm just tellin' you the truth. I found out the only way to be happy is to be aggressively generous, and I don't wait to feel like it. I don't wait to want to. I do it every day on purpose because I wasted enough of my life bein' sad and mad, and now I wanna be glad. So every day I get in here, and I take a big spoonful of generosity. Oh, where'd it go? Oh, oh, my goodness. There it is. Thought I was gonna have to run to the bookstore and get some more. Is anybody understandin' what I'm saying?

I challenge you, you know, if you're selfish admit it. How many of you are selfish? Thank you. How many of you are perfect and don't need anything I'm sayin' tonight? Wow, Holy Ghost energy. Take for laziness as often as needed, until every symptom is gone, whoo! Refills unlimited. Doctor Jesus. Man, uh-oh, wisdom. Take for stupidity as often as needed. You know, how can you be a Christian and be bored? I mean, if you really get into this thing with all your heart and you get a goal, I wanna grow up. I wanna be like Jesus. I wanna be transformed into his image. I want him to be proud of me. I'm not here just to get my way. I'm here to serve God. He's comin' back for me, and I'm gonna stand in front of him and give an account of my life. It's time to get rid of our baby bottles, our diapers, and our pacifiers. It's time to grow up and be men and women of God. At least if you are gonna not take your medicine and stay sick on purpose, own up to it, and say, "I'm in the mess I'm in because I just don't wanna change".

Let me give you an example. You know, I recall one time Dave and I havin' an argument, and I got so mad at him. I was just, he hurt my feelings, and you know how it is. You're gonna go into every room in the house except where they're at. You don't talk anymore. You only grunt. You're not about to cook anything they like or wear anything they like or anything else. And I've been there, done that, not interested in doin' that again, and so I went into my office. I got down on the floor, and I put that out in front of me. And I laid down, and I said, "Now, God, I am not gettin' up until you give me the grace to out of this room and go out there and act like nothin' happened. I refuse to leave until you give me the grace to forgive him". And you know what? I didn't have to look up very many scriptures, and I'm pretty familiar with where they're all at. And pretty soon I thought, "I think the medicine's workin'". Whew, thank God. Well, honey, what would you like to watch on TV tonight? Can I get you something to drink? I'm telling you what. I did not have the ability to do it, but there's grace and power in the word of God.

It is medicine for your soul, and if you'll stop just tryin' to do it yourself and go to God, expecting the word to do the work in you, okay, and it may take some of you a while to catch up, so I got some more help for you. Not only do we need to study the word and know the word and meditate on the word, we need to speak the word. You need to know enough to be able to speak the word of God out loud all throughout the day when you're in a proper place to do it. God loves me. My sins are forgiven. There's no guilt and condemnation. I'm expecting good things to happen today. You get up in the morning. Oh, Jesus, help me. Hmm, peace, ooh. Take for anxiety, worry, fretfulness as often as needed until all symptoms are gone. Lord, have mercy. Oh, gosh, I think that's what I think it is. What comes in blue bottles? Oh, mercy, I think that's for the "D" word. I'm not gonna take that. I mean, come on. Talk to me.

What do you do if you get up in the morning and you feel like a truck ran over you? You go find that medicine bag. How many of you have to take medicine every day? Alright, how many of you take it? Uh, if you forget it have you ever gone back home to get it? Hmm, if you run out you go get it refilled. You make sure you get there before the drugstore closes. Come on. We're pretty radical if we got something that we think is gonna eliminate our pain. Well, all I'm askin' is let's get just even halfway as radical about our soul poisons as we are about the things that make us miserable in the flesh, and start really looking at the word of God like it is medicine for your soul. Listen to this. Oh, I got so much stuff here. I could preach a 40-part series. Isaac Leeser's translation of Exodus 15:26 says, "I am the Lord your physician. The medicine I prescribe is my word". Meditate on the word. Speak the word.

Matthew 7:24, "So everyone who hears these words of mine and acts upon them obeying them will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon a rock". Let's see verse 25, "And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house: and yet it did not fall". We do not have to be one little iota afraid of the times we're livin' in if you have built your house on the rock. "It did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand". Next verse, please. "And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and great and complete was the fall of it".

Revelation 19, beginning in verse 11. I read this this morning when I was studying, and I wanted to stand right up in my hotel room and shout out loud. "And after that I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse appeared! The one who was riding it is called faithful (trustworthy, loyal, incorruptible, steady) and true, and he passes judgment, and he wages war in righteousness (holiness, justice, and uprightness). His eyes blaze like a flame of fire, and on his head are many kingly crowns (and diadems): and he has a title (a name) inscribed which he alone knows or can understand. He's dressed in a robe dyed by dipping in blood, and the title by which he is called is the word of God". "The word of God," "The word of God". "And the title by which he is called is the word of the living God". "And Christ, the word of God, became flesh and dwelt among us".

And the Holy Spirit anointed men to write what we call the Bible, which nobody has ever been able to get rid of or destroy. They kept it locked up for a long time. It was called the dark ages. No wonder they were called the dark ages, because they had hidden the light of the world. But as God always does he broke out. He broke out, and let me tell you God's gonna break out again on our society because nobody's gonna get rid of God. You can't really expel God from school. You can't really get him out of anything because he owns everything and is everything, and i, for one, have made my decision. I will love the word. I will live by the word. I will eat the word. I will meditate on the word. I will study the word. I will speak the word because it is the medicine that I need for all the poisons in my soul, and it is what you need also for the poison in your soul. Come on, let's make a commitment to love the word like never before.