Joyce Meyer - Staying Spiritually Strong

We're gonna talk about physical wholeness, about physical health. I am gonna talk to you today about your body. How would you like that? I'm gonna do it anyway, so you might as well like it. Are you an investor or a gambler? What kind of a statement is that? Well, are you investing in good health now so you'll reap good health later or are you gambling that you can do nothing to take care of yourself or possibly even mistreat and abuse yourself and get by with it? Well, how do you abuse yourself? Well, how 'bout too much stress? How 'bout being overworked, and overcommitted, and having no real balance in your life, not resting enough, not laughing enough, no regular time off? How 'bout not enough sleep? I can't tell if you're excited or not, but I am. How 'bout worry? Anxiety? What do people think? What's gonna happen in the world? What's going on with the government? What's gonna happen to my kids? What's gonna happen when I retire?

Well, I got another idea. How 'bout living today? I mean, really, how 'bout no regrets and no dreads? And let's just really find out what today holds for us. How 'bout a poor diet? Female: whoa, that's me! Well sweetheart, I'm here to help you today. How 'bout drinking everything but water? How 'bout no exercise? You know, if all you do is sit in a chair somewhere and press buttons on remote controls, you're gonna die a lot earlier than you should. We have all these joints in our body because God intended us to move.

Now, okay, so somebody's probably thinking, "Well, wait a minute. I got a lot of problems. I didn't come here to find out about my body". Okay, now let me tell you why this is important. How you feel physically, how you take care of yourself or don't take care of yourself, affects every other area of your life. Every other area of your life. It affects you spiritually. You feel lousy and you're tired 'cause you haven't had any sleep for the last 3 nights, you are not gonna wanna pray. You are not gonna be able to study the word and really focus because your mind is completely worn out.

Come on now, it affects you. It affects you. It's gonna affect you mentally. It's gonna affect you emotionally. And I think a lot of people try to have all that other stuff in order, they wanna be strong spiritually, they wanna be stable, they don't wanna worry all the time, but they do a lousy job at taking care of themselves and they feel so bad all the time. God didn't create us to feel bad. He didn't create us to have pain everywhere from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. I don't think it's God's best for us to have to live in a doctor's office and spend all of our money paying medical bills and taking all kinds of tests. Thank God for the medical help that's available. I use it too, but I still don't think that, that's God's best for us.

And I believe that stress is probably the number one cause of disease, because dis-ease, if you take the hyphen out, is disease. And the more dis-ease we have, the more disease we end up getting. My daughter told me an interesting story. She called me yesterday and she said that I could share this with you. She said, "I just had a really, really, really rough week". She said, "I mean, like, I acted really bad". She said, "I mean, I just lost it several times, and I acted bad with my family. I had to apologize to them". She said, "I got mad at the gym and said a bunch of stuff there I shouldn't have said, and now I feel", she said, "I just had a really bad week".

And you know, she's a really good girl, and she really loves God, and so that's out of character for her. And she said, "When I really got down". I want you to listen to me. She said, "When I really got down to praying", oh, and she said, "I cried a lot. I was fighting discouragement". So, we're having all these mental and emotional issues. And she's a planner, and so she likes to get things done, you know? She's a hard worker and she likes to get things done. Well, when something else happens, which it always does... Has anybody ever noticed that your plan just doesn't work out 100%? And I mean, just crazy stuff, like she had to do something and she stayed on the phone for an hour and 45 minutes on hold trying to get this thing taken care of. And when she finally got a living person, right when they were ready to finalize the conversation, the call got disconnected.

Now she's gotta do it all over again. And her and her family are going to prince edward island for a vacation this year, which is in Canada, so she totally was unaware that her passport had expired. And her husband said something about, "Are our passports still good"? "I don't know"! They ran and looked, sure enough they were expired. Thought it'd be an easy thing to get one. Found out that was a nightmare too. Took all kinds of time, not even sure they're gonna get 'em in time. Well, yeah, they probably will get 'em in time, standing at the post office, standing in lines, on, and on, and on. So, it just put her over the edge. You know what? If you live on the edge, there's always gonna be something the enemy will use to push you over the edge.

Come on, that's really good. I've never said that before. I like that. That's hot off the press. That's gonna be a Facebook post. If you live on the edge, the devil will always push you over the edge. And too many people do that today. They push themselves, and push themselves, and push themselves, then if anything else happens, it's like, "Ahhh"! Now, I know none of you are like that but I can still get that way if I'm not careful. Thank God I don't get that way too often anymore, but I used to live like that. And there's far too many Christians that do live like that, and we need to start taking better care of ourselves.

So anyway, she said when she settled down enough to start praying, "God, what is the root of this"? You know, if we keep having the same thing happen over, and over, and over, why don't we get smart enough to get with God, to get with him and say, "God, what's the root of this problem"? 'cause there is a reason. You know, if you love God with all your heart and you're into it, I mean, you're going to church, you're studying the word, and yet you've got a bad temper, you're blowing up every time you turn around, there's a root to that, that you need to find. Because where there's a rotten root, there's always gonna be rotten fruit. And she said, "The whole thing, when it came down to it, was I just had not been getting enough sleep for probably a couple of weeks". And she said, "I stay up at night because I want to get things done, and then I don't get enough sleep".

So, she said God has dealt with her seriously enough about this now that she believes if she doesn't get enough sleep that it's actually gonna be sin. And can I tell you something? Contrary to whatever you believe, you don't belong to yourself and I don't belong to myself either. And just to be honest, any Christian who has that attitude, "Well, you know, it's my life, I can do what I want to," then you really haven't read the Bible yet. You can do what you want to, but God is offering us the possibility of being led by the Holy Spirit into Life with a capital L.

We talked last night about how the Bible says that there's a life offered to us. And it's not just a breathing and a walking around life, it's life as God has it. Zoe life is life as God has it. Man, what kind of an awesome promise is that? And you know, I also know another young man, somebody that I've known for quite awhile, and this guy just had a bad temper, and was so hard to get along with, and grouchy, and cranky all the time, and yet had been a Christian for a long, long time.

And you know, everybody just kinda got to the point, "Well, you know, that's just how so-and-so is". And he ended up, through a course of some events, changing his eating habits and going to work out. He's working out right now every day. I can't handle that, but I mean, I believe in exercise. I think that we don't get enough in our daily life now. People years ago didn't have to pay to go to a gym to exercise. They got it just in their daily life. But we don't have to sweat, we push buttons and the dishes are done. We push more buttons and the tv comes on. We get on automatic steps and go up and down escalators and elevators. We get mad if we can't get a parking place at the front door. And Lord only knows we wouldn't wanna sweat, we might get some toxins out of us that are killing us.

So, it is hard for me to believe the change in this man that I'm talking about just from changing the way he eats and getting regular exercise. And I'll tell you one thing, the better you feel physically, the better you feel about everything. It gives you more confidence, it gives you more boldness, you walk more upright, you're more energetic, you wanna be involved in things. And I'm telling you right now, maybe you have some sickness and there's some things that you can't do anything about, but if we will start doing something about the things we can do something about... You know, everybody wants a miracle. I mean, if I said, "I'm gonna stay here after this meeting and pray for everybody that's sick," why, we wouldn't even be done when the meeting started tonight. And then after praying for all of you guys, I'd be sick 'cause I'd be worn out.

And you know, one of the things, if you wanna eliminate stress in your life, is you gotta realize you can't give everybody else in the world what they want. You gotta give yourself some of what you know that you need in order to be healthy and function properly for them. And I wanna tell you, irregardless of what you might think, this message that I'm sharing with you today could possibly be one of the most important messages that you ever hear because when Jesus offers us a new life, there's a lifestyle that goes along with it. You don't just receive Christ and then continue to live the same ol' way that the rest of the world does. Jesus said, "I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life," capital L. And we need to learn how to obey him.

So, now, when I talk to you today about a few things about eating, this is not a discussion about what you weigh, so let's don't get into that. I'll just simply say that I think everybody needs to get rid of the mentality, "I'm on a diet". You don't need a diet and I don't either. We need a new lifestyle. Anybody who goes on a diet to lose 50 pounds, there's probably the mentality, "I wanna lose this weight so I can hurry up and eat everything I want". Well, we know where that goes. You spend your whole life just going through the same cycle over and over. That's why we don't even think, "I'm on a diet". Just think, "I'm gonna learn how to live right. I'm gonna get proper exercise. I'm gonna take care of myself. I'm gonna eat some things that are enjoyable to my tastebuds, but I'm not gonna live on junk all the time. To honor God, I'm gonna take care of myself".

And I think that I can make you a promise. Unless you have a metabolic disease, which some people do, you will end up weighing what's right for you without going on a diet. I said if you eat right and get enough exercise, you will end up weighing what is right for you. Everybody's not gonna look exactly alike. I have a friend that eats more than I do and she weighs 93 pounds. And it's annoying. Is anybody understanding what I'm saying? Is this making any sense? Alright, let me ask a question. How many of you are here today and you know already that you need to take better care of yourself? Well, there we have it. We got the right group.

Alright, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16. I just love God's word. You know what is so amazing to me about the Word of God is... Now, this could sound funny if I say it, but the Word of God in some ways is not real spiritual because it's so practical. It's like, yes, everything that Jesus said is spirit and it's life, but it's like, it's not just a bunch of religious stuff. I mean, God cares about every practical area of our lives. 1 Corinthians 3:16. Now you know what? Those of you that are already doing the right things, you can just sit there and say, "Amen, amen". Just in your heart, you're going, "Yep, that's right. Amen, amen". And those of you that aren't doing what's right, you're gonna be saying today, "Oh me, oh me, oh my".

"Do you not discern and understand that you the whole church at Corinth are God's temple (his sanctuary), and that God's spirit has his permanent dwelling in you to be at home in you, collectively as a church and also individually"? I think one of the most amazing things that I find in the Word of God is that we are God's house and he lives in us. I mean, I can sit around and ponder that day, after day, after day and never, never understand the wonder of it. "The mystery of the ages, Christ in us, the hope of glory". How awesome is that? You are God's house. Everybody say, "I am God's house". Now, "If anybody does hurt to God's temple or corrupts it with false doctrines or destroys it, God will do hurt to him and bring him to the corruption of death and destroy him. For the temple of God is holy (sacred to him) and that temple you the believing church and its individual believers are".

Now, okay, he may not be specifically talking here about some of the things I'm talking about today, but the principle is there that we are not to do hurt to the temple of God. You know, a lot of you would treat the church building that you have your services in on Sunday morning with more respect than you treat your own physical body. I like this area over here. They're behaving much better than you guys are. You're gonna have to catch up here. You know, in the Bible, in the Old Testament, the temples that were built for God, the temple that Solomon built, the temporary tabernacles in the wilderness, I mean, there were detailed instructions given on how to build, decorate, and care for those temples. I mean, very specific, detailed instructions. It was beautiful, it took a lot of care to keep it in good condition. And there were times in history when the temple did fall into disrepair due to periods of negligence, and entire programs were designed to rebuild and repair.

So my question to you today is do you need a fresh coat of paint or an entire program to rebuild and repair? See, for some of you, this could be just, like, making a few little adjustments in some things. "Okay, I won't drink quite as much coffee and I'll drink more water. Okay, I'll try to get 7 hours sleep a night instead of 4". No, do I have to adjust it more? I get 8 hours sleep every night. I'm not nice if I don't. There was a time in my life where I could do 6 for a few nights in a row. And you know, not everybody needs that. I mean, Dave has a sister who sleeps 5 hours a night and has done it all of her life and just feels great. She just doesn't need much sleep, but there are not very many people like that. Most of us need good sleep and very few people get it.

Now, in order to get it, I have to say no to a lot of other things. You're looking at a woman that's home at night. When I'm not out preaching, I'm home having my chair therapy. Amen? I mean, you know, there's a lot of things I could tell you, from damage that I've done to my body in the past through ignorance, and overdoing, and having too much stress in the name of Christ and trying to help people. You know, it's kind of interesting. You can't break God's natural laws, even thinking that you're doing it to serve him, and get by with it. I made myself sick working in ministry. And I can show you another guy in the Bible, epaphroditus, who almost died because he worked so hard in the ministry.

So, God tells us there are certain things you need to do to take care of yourself, and if you don't, things are not gonna function well. Well, one of the things that I did was I wore out my adrenal glands, and so I still have to deal with some effects from that. And so there's a little chemical in your body called cortisol, and it's supposed to be at a certain level when you get up. High when you get up, lowers down when it gets time to go to bed at night so you sleep real good. Well, mine's like this. It's low in the morning and high at night. So, in order for me to bring it down at night, I need about 3 hours of just real peace and quiet, and then I can go to bed and sleep really good for 8 hours. So, that means that I have to say no to running around all night every night with all my friends and being involved with everything that's going on because that's what I need. Now, you don't have to do what I'm doing, but you do need to find out what you need. Come on.

Jesus is our healer. 3 John 2 says, "Beloved, I would above all else that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers". "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and that your body may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers". Okay, can I tell you the truth? You can't have a sick soul and a healthy body. He says, "I pray that you'll be as healthy physically as your soul is healthy". That's why we gotta understand that every area of our life affects another. If I'm not spiritually healthy, it's gonna affect other areas of my life. If I'm not physically healthy, it's gonna affect other areas of my life. If I'm not mentally healthy, you know, you can worry yourself into disease. You know that? So, it's all connected and we can't ignore one whole section of our life and think that it doesn't matter.

Can I tell you something? If you wear out the body you've got, there's no store in this city or any other city where you can go buy another one. And you know what? When it's gone, it's gone, and if you don't have a body, you can't stay here. And I'm personally not done yet. I'm planning to stay awhile, so that means I gotta take care of the house. You know, all I can do... I'd be like Dave this morning. You know, my part is to tell ya,i know what I'm gonna do. I hope that some of you today, and not only people here, but people watching by TV, that you know, I mean, I think about how many sick people there are and how many people that just feel lousy all the time.

And you know, this is not the answer to all sickness. I mean, there's a lot of sickness and disease for a lot of reasons, and I don't pretend to have all the answer to everything, but I am saying that we need to do what we can about the part we can do something about. And how many of you believe today that some of the problems you have you could do something about if you would? Thank you, point well taken. And you know what, if you're already doing the right thing, congratulations. Be an example to other people. Don't try to shove things down their throat and make 'em do what you do, but be an example. You know, people ask me on a regular basis, "How can you be so fit at your age"?

Well, I take care of myself. And I wasn't for a long time, but you know what God showed me? He said, "If you don't start doing these things that I'm telling you to do," and one of 'em was working out, he said, "You are not gonna be strong for the last third of your journey". And I started working out regularly almost 10 years ago, and I'll tell you the honest truth, if I wouldn't have done it, I'm not sure that I'd be strong enough to be here today. Just that simple. And I was sore for 2 years. I mean, I started working out when I was 63. I was sore for 2 years. I mean, you haven't had any fun until you're so sore that you fall on the toilet and have to pray to be able to get off. Oh my gosh, it's like... I mean, I couldn't get down. I finally just fell, and I thought, "I don't know now what I'm gonna do. Hope I can get up".

I know I tell you guys some crazy stuff, but you know, you just gotta realize that I know that it's not fun, but I'm talking to you about your future. I'm talking about, will you make an investment in your future? Don't just look at somebody else that's in great shape and say, "Well, I wish I looked like that". They didn't get it wishing. Oh, this is better than we even think it is. He forgives all of our sins and heals all of our diseases. Let me ask you a question. Do we want miracles or do we want responsibility? Sounds like another tweet to me. I mean, seriously. Do we just wanna get a miracle every time something goes wrong and expect God to come along in his mercy and overturn all of our wrong choices? Well, you know what? God's not gonna keep doing that time, after time, after time because we don't learn anything if he does.

You know, part of what I'm talking about this weekend is learning how to be obedient, and this is an area of obedience just like everything else. We can't say, "Well, you know, I know I should go to bed, but", "I know I'm not getting enough sleep, but", "I know I should work out, but", "I know I shouldn't eat this, but", so what you're really saying is, "I know this is wrong, but I'm hoping I can do it and not have any problems from it". Come on. This is just your spiritual mama trying to help you.

Now, do you need a fresh coat of paint or an entire program to rebuild and repair? Can I tell you something? It's never too late to start again. And I'll tell you the truth. No matter how bad you might feel right now, and you may be able to just quickly jot down ten different areas of your body that give you problems. How many of you could probably do that if I said, "Start writing"? Whoo, man, so many. Merciful day. And you know what? A lot of times, when we start trying to correct things, our body kicks up a fit and we think, "Well, I can't do that".

You know, you should see me some days when I try to do squats. My knees go, "I ain't doing that". It was like, I mean, you haven't had any fun 'til you put a barbell on your back and honestly, some days I think, "I can't," you know? And then I think, "Yes, I'm doing it. I'm doing it". Now, you can't do things that are gonna hurt you, but if you got somebody good working with you, then you won't get hurt. And you know, you don't have to pay a trainer if you wanna work out. I don't care if you don't wanna doing anything but walk a couple of miles a day. Get out and do something. Move, move, you gotta move. Maybe you could just start by cleaning your house, I don't know, or cleaning out the garage, or going picking up the trash out of the yard. I mean, not everybody has to get on some kind of a fancy program.

You know, the thing is it's not that you can't have anything. I believe we can do all things if we do them in moderation. It's the excess in our life that's a problem. You can lose some sleep one night or a couple of nights here and there. You can work really hard a certain period in your life when you're trying to build something. But we can't just keep doing the wrong thing over, and over, and over, and over, and think that we're gonna get by with it. So I'm asking you again, are you an investor or a gambler? I would love to see some people that really feel great right now. Start investing. I'd like to see you start investing in your health for the future, amen? Don't wait 'til you're falling apart to do it like I did. Do it now.

1 Corinthians 6:12, "Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me:" the apostle Paul said, "But not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not", and I underlined "I will not", "Become the slave of anything or be brought under its power". So what's Paul saying? You know what? You can eat a dozen cookies twice a day and still go to heaven. Hello. You don't have to exercise to go to heaven. You don't have to drink water to go to heaven. You don't even have to sleep to go to heaven. You can be all stressed out and go to heaven, but it's not the best way to live. It's not the way to enjoy the life that Jesus died to give you and it's not a great way to be a good example to other people. I can do anything I want to, but I will not become the slave of anything.

So for any born-again, spirit-filled Christian to say, "If I eat one potato chip, I gotta eat the whole bag". There's something wrong with that. We have the fruit of self-control. I can eat a cookie and not eat the rest. I can eat some. I can eat none. Food is not my God, amen? Let's look at epaphroditus. I think we need to see this, Philippians 2:25. Telling you's not good enough, looking is good. You know, this is the way your mama would like to talk to you, I think. Well, you're thinking, "Not mine," well...

Philippians 2:25 through 30, "However, I thought it necessary to send epaphroditus back to you. He's been my brother and companion in labor and my fellow soldier, as well as having come as your special messenger (apostle) and minister to my need. But he's been homesick longing for you all and has been distressed because you had heard that he was ill. And he certainly was ill too, almost to death. But God had compassion on him, and not only on him but also on me, lest I should have sorrow over him coming upon sorrow. So I have sent him the more willingly and eagerly, that you may be gladdened at seeing him again, and that I may be the less disquieted".

Now watch this. "Welcome him home then in the Lord with all joy, and honor and highly appreciate men like him, for it was through working for Christ that he came so near death, risking his very life to complete the deficiencies in your service to me which distance prevented you yourselves from rendering". So it's kind of interesting that he's saying, "Listen, you need to honor this guy. He's worked so hard, but he worked so hard that he almost killed himself".

However, the thing that I find interesting is if he was working that hard for Christ, then why didn't God protect him and keep him from getting sick? Because you cannot break God's laws even in the name of God and get by with it. And neither can I. And I wanna tell you the truth. When I started this ministry back in 19, oh, whatever it was, I've been teaching the word for 38 years, but 5 years I taught home Bible studies and 5 years I worked at another church, but I worked really hard at that church. And then we've been our own ministry now like 28 years, something like that. And the work it took, and the stress I had because I didn't know what I'm telling you today, and I said yes to way too many things, and there were things I could have said no to and still got done what I needed to get done.

Can I tell you something? One of the only ways you're ever gonna relieve some of the stress in your life is to learn how to say no when you know in your heart that you need to say no. How many of you have a hard time saying no? That many? How many of you have a false sense of responsibility? You feel like you gotta fix everything that's out there to be fixed. Well see, I got all that too. I mean, because of being abused in my childhood and trying to keep what my dad was doing to me away from my mother, I took the responsibility of everything, keeping peace in the house, keeping her happy, you know. And so, I still have to deal with that all the time. I have to say out loud to myself, "It is none of your business. It is not your responsibility. Stay out of it". Sometimes having a good talk with yourself is helpful, amen?

Now when I said, "How many of you have a hard time saying no"? There was a good 50%-60% of the people in here that lifted up their hand. So how can we follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit who's gonna lead us into life with a capital l if we have a difficult time saying no to people when the Holy Spirit's telling us to say no to people? And why do we have a difficult time? We care too much what they think. We don't want 'em to be upset with us. We want everybody to like us. We want everybody to think we're great people. Well, you know, that can be like, "Well, you know, I just have a generous heart and I just wanna help people".

And you know, that's good. That can even be a gift that God's given you, but even a gift taken too far, beyond the leadership of the Holy Spirit, can still get you in trouble. I know people that have a gift of mercy, and I'm telling you what, if they're not careful, they can't correct anybody because everything is like, "Oooh..". Start taking care of yourself. So, I made myself sick working for Jesus, running to the doctor all the time, getting mad at the doctor 'cause he told me I was stressed out. "I'm not stressed out"! You know what I want 'em to do? Now here it is. Give me something so I can keep living the way I'm living and it not be a problem. Uh oh, that's good. Give me a pill to swallow so I can live like a crazy person.

Do we wanna talk about social media? You know, I didn't even know 'til about 6 weeks ago what a selfie was. I'm like, "What"? Oh yeah, there's 450 million of these selfie pictures that are uploaded every day. Four hundred and fifty million, and it's just getting started. I thought, "I've spent the last 40 years trying to die to self". And now, the generation we live in, they spend all day taking pictures of themselves. You know, that's a lot of time, I mean, that could stress me out if I had to take a picture of myself every few minutes and put it online. You know I'm having fun with you, but you know. I mean, you know, it aggravates me when I'm preaching to people and they're out there... Rude with a capital R, amen?

I don't like it when I'm having lunch with somebody and the whole time I'm trying to talk to 'em they go... And hey, I'm for new technology. I love all the technology we've got today, but you can't let it control you. You don't have to check your e-mail when you go to the bathroom at 2 o'clock in the morning. You know, there were times in your life when you weren't that important. And I'm not sure any of us are that important now, that somebody has to be able to find us 24/7 or we get afraid. I mean, I know how I act when I leave my cell phone. "I gotta go back and get it"! Can't not have the cell phone. I mean, Dave'll tell you, I get in my purse, it's like, "Oh, I forgot my cell phone"! Then I find it somewhere. He's like, "You got it somewhere in there".

Dave, man, he answers his phone when he feels like it, you know? And I'll be like, "Answer your phone when I call you"! "Well, I had it on silent and I was hitting golf balls..." And I'm like, "Well..." Just quickly, what does disobedience do to us? What does it do to you spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and then finally physically? Because if all the rest of that's messed up, it's gonna get to your body. What does it do when I know full well that I'm doing something that God doesn't really want me to do or that I'm not doing something he does want me to do? Which thankfully the longer you're in Christ, you get over that. But what does it do?

Well, it gives me a guilty conscience. And there is nothing more stressful than having a guilty conscience. Walking around knowing that you're not doing what you should be doing and continuing to do it anyway. The best favor that any one of us can do ourselves is to make a commitment today that by the grace and the mercy of God, we will be led by the Holy Spirit. Because he is given to us to lead us into the life, capital l, that Jesus died to give us. And if we follow his leadership, I'm gonna do a book on stress. That's gonna be one of my next big books coming up, but let me tell you something. I'll let you in on the secret ahead of time, although I do want you to buy the book. I'll let you in on the secret. The whole secret to living without stress is to follow the Holy Spirit.

Now, I'll have to sneak up on it, but that's it. You know why? Because Jesus said, "I came that you might have life," with a capital l. "And since I'm going away, I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit, and he's gonna live in you to guide you, to teach you, to convict you of sin, to convince you of righteousness". And if you'll follow his leadership, wow, life with a capital l. Energy, a sharp, creative mind, calm emotions, just follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. So if somebody says to you, "Hey, let's go do this"! And you're like... But then your emotions are like, "I wanna go, I wanna go. I wanna go, I wanna go. I wanna go".

Okay, let's just say that you made a commitment to, whatever, I'll just make something up. Let's just say that I make a commitment to go see my 87-year-old aunt who I take care of at the nursing home on Monday. And I've told her I'm gonna come, and she's all excited, and I'm gonna bring her some lunch, and she's all excited. So then a friend of mine calls and says, "Hey, listen, there's a big sale out at the mall. Let's go and have lunch". Now, I know without even having to pray about it that I need to keep my word to my aunt, but oh, "I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go"!

So I make up some silly excuse to my aunt that really turns out to be a, "Christian lie". Come on. And so I don't keep my word, and I go shopping, and I spent money I shouldn't be spending, and I eat food I shouldn't be eating. And the whole time I'm feeling rotten inside because I know that I didn't do what I should have done, so now then I go home and I keep feeling bad all day. Then I don't sleep good that night. And then I'm all bummed out the next day feeling a little depressed and tired. So then I go to the doctor, "I'm depressed. Can you give me something to cheer me up"? Come on, is anybody with me?