Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Jerry and Janet Page
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000284
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00:28 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn, and welcome again to Issues and
00:32 Answers. Today we are going to be talking about the life 00:37 changing power of praise. You know, I know that David knew 00:42 about this. He wrote in Psalm 100:4 about coming 00:46 before the Lord, He said, Enter his gates with thanksgiving 00:51 in your heart and enter his courts with praise. This is 00:55 something that... Did you know that we were actually formed 00:59 and fashioned to praise the Lord. Now does God need our 01:04 praises? I don't think so. Does praise change God? I don't 01:09 believe so. But praise changes us. We have returning with us 01:14 today Jerry and Janet Page from the Central California 01:16 Conference. Janet, I am so glad you're back. You know what? 01:21 You do a lot of work for the Central California Conference. 01:25 You are the Prayer Ministries Coordinator, you're the director 01:28 of Women's Ministries. You're also the wife of the conference 01:32 president, Jerry. Yeah, that's her hardest job, I 01:34 can tell you. I'll bet that's true. But not 01:38 that being married to you, Jerry, would be difficult, but 01:42 that there are so many demands that are made on the conference 01:46 president's wife, I know. Do you ever feel like you're in 01:51 a fish bowl? Not really. No, that's good, because I've 01:55 heard some people say that they feel that when they get into 01:58 that kind of ministry that they feel like people are always 02:01 watching them. But you don't feel that way? 02:03 Actually, I find people are always loving us. God has just 02:08 so gifted us. We're in California right now, central 02:11 California and I tell you it makes me start to cry when I 02:15 think about the people are so loving and so good. The same way 02:20 in Pennsylvania. God's people are incredible. You know, we 02:24 wouldn't want to be doing this work without the support, the 02:29 prayer support we get. As I shared on an earlier show about 02:33 the people in Pennsylvania praying for me changed my life, 02:36 praying for the Holy Spirit to be in my life and I'm so 02:39 grateful for those people. I don't even know who they are 02:43 anymore, but I'm so thankful for them. The same way now in 02:48 Central. That's wonderful. Like going to California: I did not 02:52 want to move there. I was afraid of going to California. I loved 02:56 Pennsylvania, I loved the people and yet God knew what he was 03:01 doing as he always does. I learned right away after moving 03:04 there, there were so many people praying, prayer groups every 03:08 where. Those people pray for us. There's no way Jerry or I could 03:12 keep up the schedule we do if it weren't for those praying people 03:16 so I dearly am thankful for our people. 03:18 Glory to God! And that is a true statement. Now we're going 03:23 to be talking today about praise and how praise can change 03:27 your life and fill you to overflowing with joy. 03:31 Jerry, do you have an experience that you would like to share 03:35 with us about praise? 03:37 Yeah, my wife Janet has gone through such an experience with 03:39 praise and seeing a changed life. She'll share a little I 03:43 think, but she's really good at praise because God gives us 03:47 trials so we will learn to praise in trials and I'm 03:48 probably a big trial to her so that helps her get through that. 03:51 You know, I have so much coming at me as a leader in the church 03:54 obviously and these prayer partners do provide so much 03:57 support for me and I just praise God for that. Not long ago... 04:01 Do you know what a perfect storm is? How would you define a 04:04 perfect storm? Some would define it a several storms converging 04:07 on the same point at one time and creating havoc and others 04:10 would say the perfect storm is the one that never comes. 04:13 In the beginning of the school year recently at our academy, 04:17 which is a secondary boarding school right on Monterey Bay, 04:20 a beautiful place, but things had been going pretty well. We'd 04:23 seen God do wonderful miracles in answer to prayer over several 04:26 years. A big debt was paid off and everything. Beginning this 04:29 year everything started going wrong. The principal who'd 04:31 been there a number of year and who everybody liked said he was 04:35 leaving because of health problems. So we had to start 04:36 looking for a new leader. Then the laundry, which takes in a 04:40 lot of clients and is one of the work options for our students, 04:45 had problems. The hospitals weren't paying their bills and 04:48 they had to cut their clients. So our budget was in big trouble 04:50 then because our laundry didn't have the work that it needed 04:53 etc., etc., and it goes on down the list through the year. 04:56 all kinds of things began to happen. The students began to 04:59 get grumbly and we had to make plans for the next year to cut 05:03 several staff members and that's a very bad thing for morale. 05:06 On it went; finally one of the staff there had an affair 05:10 and they were very loved and they had to leave and it was 05:14 a big mess. So there were just a lot of morale problems, a lot 05:16 of financial things. Everybody was just saying, What's 05:18 happening to this school? A law suit that had been filed on 05:21 something that supposedly happened 20 years ago came 05:24 out in the papers with all kinds of bad PR and what kind of a 05:28 weird place was this school and all this. So we had a lot of 05:31 people praying. We were wondering why all these storms 05:33 were hitting us at the school at one time. I can tell you, we 05:37 were praying. It was in my mind a lot, but we weren't seeing God 05:40 answer right away. We searched for a principal and we weren't 05:44 getting one. The laundry was struggling to find some new 05:47 clients and all of this. Then I had to alumni weekend; they 05:50 wanted me to come and say a few words. Well, I didn't want to be 05:52 there, Shelley. I wanted to be anywhere else because I really 05:55 didn't have anything to say. We weren't seeing any answers 05:58 yet. I remember one morning that week I got up again and 06:01 determined to spend time with God. But lately so much of my 06:05 time had been with all the problems of my work just 06:07 flooding in and I wasn't able to really focus on God in the way 06:10 I wanted. It was always what am I going to do today and all 06:12 these problems; what's going to happen? That morning as I just 06:15 fell before the Lord, I said, God, I do not want to think 06:17 about Monterey Bay Academy today, I don't want to think 06:20 about any of the trials, I don't want to think about my work. 06:23 I just want to know you, I just want to praise you, I just want 06:26 to think about you. Sometimes in my worship I sing and I do 06:29 it quietly because I don't want anybody to know. I have 06:31 different books I use, different song books, and that morning 06:34 I'd determined I was just going to sing praises and as God to 06:37 change my spirit and my attitude and focus on him. I opened up 06:41 a hymnal and this song which I've sung in the past but it's 06:44 not one that goes through my mind a lot opened up right to 06:47 this and it was Be Still My Soul. As I began to read the 06:50 words I realized that God was talking to me. Be still my soul, 06:54 the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or 06:58 pain. Leave to your God to order and provide. In every 07:03 change he faithful will remain. Be still my soul, your best 07:07 your heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful 07:11 end. It goes on and the next verse talks about him guiding 07:14 us in the future as he has in the past, etc., and that he 07:17 calms the storms now just like he did in the past. When I got 07:20 done reading that I just had tears in my eyes because I knew 07:23 that while I had asked to not think about Monterey Bay, God 07:26 was telling me, I'm going to take care of it. I'm going to 07:29 be there for you. I'm going to provide, I'm going to lead to a 07:32 joyful end. I'm going to calm the storm. So by the time I 07:35 went that weekend to speak at alumni weekend, I didn't have 07:39 an answer at all to say to encourage but I had an encounter 07:43 with God in my own time, my own praise time, my prayer time 07:47 and so I could go and just praise him. I said, Folks I 07:49 don't know for sure how he's going to answer, but he's told 07:51 me that he's going to. And I told them this experience. 07:53 In sharing that, joy came in and they began to trust and they 07:57 were praying and it encouraged. I could tell you all the 08:00 answers. We got a wonderful new principal. It was late, later 08:03 that we would have liked, but it was just the one we needed. 08:06 The laundry has gotten more business now and pumping more 08:09 poundage than ever before. We've got a new staff member 08:11 to replace the one that had an affair. It's been wonderful 08:14 some of the changes that have happened to the school have 08:16 actually been for the positive. So we've seen wonderful things 08:19 happen. The next August, we thought we were going to be 08:21 down in enrollment which would hurt budget and, you know, it 08:24 was a problem. But you know the day after registration the next 08:27 fall we were up by one over the previous year. So anyway 08:30 we could tell you over the last couple of years what has 08:32 happened, but the point is when we go to God and we determine 08:35 to just praise him, focus on him, then he speaks back to us 08:39 and his power, I believe, is unleashed in the great 08:41 controversy in ways that if we're just whining and fussing 08:44 and worrying it doesn't seem to come through. So I praise 08:47 him. I want to praise him all the time in my life, whatever 08:50 is coming at me. The perfect storm is the one that Jesus is 08:54 there with me in. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, 08:58 Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you 09:02 in Christ Jesus. So like the disciples I just need to realize 09:06 that in the storm he is there in the boat with me. 09:08 Absolutely, all the time. That reminds me of Isaiah 43 where 09:13 he talks about I know you, I've called you by your name, you 09:17 are mine. When you walk through the waters they will not 09:20 overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire you will not 09:23 be scorched or burned for I am with you. You know, we just 09:27 have to remember that God is with us always. He is an ever 09:31 present help in times of trouble. 09:33 And the beautiful thing about that promise in Isaiah 43 is 09:36 that was sent to the captives in Babylon before they hit the 09:39 the fiery furnace experience, remember? So I'll walk through 09:41 the fire with you. Amen and boy he did. 09:43 Now Janet when it comes to praise, I know you've got a 09:47 lot to say because the Lord has really... You and I have shared 09:52 before and I know some of your experiences. Tells us what a 09:56 difference praise made in your personal life. 10:00 When I was first realizing that it was important, I remember 10:03 one time we talked about a little bit and I had a friend 10:07 come up afterwards saying, You know, really what is the big 10:11 deal? Why do I need to waste time praising and adoring God? 10:14 God knows I love him. Why not just get down to that laundry 10:18 list, those wants and needs and be done with it? At the 10:21 time I didn't have an answer for her. But as I prayed about 10:24 it and thought about it what came back to mind was the first 10:27 year Jerry and I were married. We'd been married probably 10:30 seven or eight months and I was busy putting the laundry away 10:34 one Sunday and Jerry came up to me and said, Janet, can't 10:37 you tell me once in a while that you love me. And I looked 10:39 at him and I said, What do you mean, love you? He said, Well 10:42 I need to hear once in a while that you love me. I said, Hey, 10:45 I married you didn't I. Of course, I love you. You should 10:48 know that. And I go putting my laundry away and he followed 10:51 me and he said, but I need to hear nice things about myself 10:54 I need to hear that you love me. Poor sick man. 10:57 I'm on his side, I think it's very important to share that. 11:00 So I kept putting my laundry away and he wouldn't leave me 11:04 alone about it. As I started thinking about and I started 11:07 reading some of these books on marriage and found it really 11:10 can be important to your mate that you tell them that you 11:13 love them and tell them nice things. So I started trying to 11:16 do that. It wasn't easy at first but as I did it, you know what 11:20 happened? As much as I love Jerry my love for him just grew 11:24 and increased. I came to realize this really is a great guy as 11:27 I focused on how much I loved him and nice things about him. 11:30 That's what I remembered as I thought about that. That's why 11:33 I need to praise God, take time to praise and adore him 11:37 to worship him. It's not for God; not that he has some big 11:40 ego that needs to be stroked, but it's for my benefit. 11:42 Because as I focus on him and do that I come out of that time 11:46 realizing he really loves me and he's doing all that heaven 11:50 can do to bless my life. It's interesting this scripture 11:56 that we began the program with: Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with 12:01 thanksgiving. Well thanksgiving is talking about your thanking 12:04 him for the things he has done. It helps you to bring into 12:08 remembrance the greatness of God and how good he's been in your 12:12 life. But then you enter his courts with praise. Now that's 12:15 when you're focusing on the character of God. It builds my 12:19 faith because as I begin to praise God for all that he is 12:23 and who he is and you get into the... You know one of the 12:27 things I did to learn how to praise was I would take a 12:31 Psalm and read and put it in my own words to praise him back. 12:35 But it changes you when you come before him, instead of 12:42 coming like, Oh Lord do you think you could help me or can 12:43 you help me, are you able to do this Lord. I know your word 12:46 says it. Instead you come before and you think, Lord, nothing's 12:50 impossible for you. It builds your faith. Absolutely. 12:56 But years ago, it's quite a few years ago now, I was previously 13:01 married and my first husband was a pastor and we hadn't been 13:04 out of school very long; in fact we had actually just gotten 13:08 into our first district, we'd been there 2-1/2 months when 13:12 he died in a swimming pool accident. 13:14 Now did you have a child? 13:16 Yes, I had a little boy; he was two years old at the time. 13:20 That's something you think might happen to you or to somebody 13:25 else but was not a part of my life plan. We just got through 13:29 with school, we're going to serve the Lord together in 13:31 ministry and I knew this wasn't going to happen. In fact, I was 13:35 praying over him at the pool there that God would raise him 13:37 up because I knew God could raise him up. But in the 13:42 emergency room when the doctor came out and said there's 13:44 nothing we can do, the first things that came into my mind 13:47 was a verse I couldn't at that time even tell you where it was 13:51 but I hear it a lot now and it was rejoice always, rejoice 13:56 always, that all things work together for good. In Romans 14:01 8:28 All things work together for good. I just started saying 14:04 that out loud. All things work together for good. I'm very 14:09 grateful because I don't know if it was a year before or six or 14:12 seven months or so, my husband and I had attended a seminar 14:16 where they taught us how important it is to rejoice, to 14:20 thank God in everything, to surrender our lives to him. Not 14:23 that God wants to hurt us or wants death or illness or 14:28 whatever. God does not. But we are in a great controversy that 14:32 I don't understand, but I know that my God is in control and 14:37 if he allows something in my life, to surrender it to him. 14:42 I heard an expression once that said don't miss out on the 14:46 blessings by thanking God for only the things you consider 14:49 blessings. Because a lot of times the things that I don't 14:53 think are blessings at the time later I realize in one way or 14:57 another they are. Some things I don't think I'll know 14:59 till heaven that they were a blessing. 15:01 You know, I'm thinking when you were using that Roman's 8:28 15:05 says that, All things work together for good for those who 15:08 love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. 15:11 Now you might say how could God work this out for her good? 15:14 She has just got a 2-year-old son and her husband has been 15:18 killed in an accident in a swimming pool. But you can't 15:21 separate Romans 8:28 from Romans 8:29 because Romans 8:29 15:27 is the continuation and it says, Because those God foreknew he 15:31 predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. So God 15:36 takes all things, no matter how bad they are in our life, and he 15:41 works them out for our eternal benefit by shaping our character 15:46 and making us a little more like Jesus Christ. 15:49 So what was your experience then? 15:53 Well I started thanking God for Mike. I started thanking him 15:57 for the years we'd had together, the fun times, people we'd seen 16:00 won to the Lord. I just started thanking God for all, the little 16:04 boy by him, just everything I could think of and just started 16:07 saying, God, you're in control. I don't understand this, but I 16:10 choose to surrender it to you. Did you grieve though? 16:14 Yes, you know I did, but I don't know that that I did like 16:20 sometimes people do. May I ask you this question 16:24 real quick? You know, sometimes when we are grieving, we're 16:28 grieving our loss. So the fact that you knew and were trusting 16:33 in God and rejoicing and had this, perhaps do you think it 16:37 might have helped you in that you weren't... it wasn't like 16:43 okay my life's just one big uncertainty, what's going to 16:45 happen to us now? You knew that God had a plan for your life. 16:48 Did this help you grieve, not as the world grieves just knowing 16:52 that God was going to carry you forward? 16:54 It did as I focused on God, but we had a memorial service for 17:00 him that was a time of rejoicing because we have a blessed hope. 17:03 Jesus is coming again to take us home so we had something to 17:05 rejoice about. I'm not saying that it's not okay to weep or 17:09 cry because I did do that and it is okay. Jesus cries with us. 17:14 But the more I stayed focused on God and his power and praising 17:19 him, it just brought a healing grace into my life. I saw God 17:23 do so many miracles during that time; literally holding me one 17:26 night, the first night, because I couldn't sleep and the 17:29 horrible scene would come back. I said, God I've got to sleep. 17:31 I just felt suddenly like I was being held and I just slept so 17:35 soundly all night. But 10 days later after everything was done, 17:40 my family tried to help me pack up but then they had to get 17:43 back to their jobs. Well I had one place left to pack up and 17:46 that was a garage where we had things in storage and things 17:48 were all pulled out. I was in the garage with my little guy 17:52 trying to pack up and suddenly I'm just missing my husband 17:55 terribly because it was all his things. I started crying out to 17:58 God, Why God, why? Why did you let him die? We were just 18:01 starting a ministry together. I've got a little boy. How am I 18:04 going to raise him without his daddy? Just all day long I kept 18:07 saying why God, why? Of course, I'm crying. That morning before 18:13 going though I'd been reading a devotional book; I'd been 18:16 reading my Bible then I opened up this devotional book and was 18:18 reading it. In fact, the day after he died I had this urge, 18:21 impression to pick it up and read it and I didn't do it. 18:24 I kept thinking I don't want to read, you know, I want to talk 18:26 about my husband and I didn't. But 10 days later I started 18:30 reading it that morning and it was July 14. As I read it, it 18:34 was so good I kept reading several pages but then I knew 18:38 I had to get over and pack up this garage because the mover 18:40 was coming. So I turned it upside-down, I turned it like 18:44 this to come back to it later because I wanted to read it. 18:48 In the garage, I'm crying, I'm just so miserable about my 18:53 husband dying. By the time I got back to our place my little 18:56 boy was asleep. We'd eaten somewhere else and I put him 18:58 into bed. I went and flopped down across my bed and I just 19:01 started sobbing and crying. I just was beside myself with 19:05 grief. I had this urge, this impression to pick up that 19:08 devotional book and read it. I was thinking I don't want to 19:11 read, I want to cry, I'm miserable. Of course, I'm not 19:14 realizing God's telling me to do this because at that time 19:16 I didn't realize God would impress me. But this urge just 19:20 would not leave me alone. Pick it up and read it. Finally 19:22 I thought you know I'm kind of cried out, this is getting 19:24 boring crying. I might as well get up and read it. Now I'm 19:27 the kind of person who notices if my things are touched. 19:29 Amen! I can give witness to that. 19:31 Maybe it's because I'm almost an only child. I had an older 19:34 brother. But I turned it over to read where I'd left it and it 19:37 was no longer where I left it at July 18 and 19. I thought, 19:40 who's touched my book? But I knew nobody had been in there. 19:44 It was now at July 4 and 5. Now 10 days before I'd had this 19:48 urge to read it and it July 4 and I hadn't done it not 19:52 realizing it was God telling me to. But my eyes fell on July 4 19:55 and the title was Jesus Cares. On down it says, God your 19:59 heavenly Father will be your husband at hand to counsel, to 20:02 direct and comfort as you need. I thought, Whoa, why is this 20:06 written because this particular devotional book is called 20:08 This Day With God. It would tell why it was written and it says 20:12 at the bottom Letter 42, July 2, 1875. It was written to a sister 20:17 who had recently lost her husband. I'm going, How, how 20:22 did God do this because I knew he was speaking to me. On down 20:26 it says he does not want to hurt you and it quotes Lamentations 20:31 3:33 that he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children 20:34 of men. But then on down it says, Cling to his hand and hold 20:37 fast. He will take you and your children, all your grief's and 20:40 burdens if you will only cast them on him. I don't know how 20:43 he did it, you know; zap the page, have an angel turn it 20:46 there. I don't know how, but I know God did that, put it on 20:49 that page because he knew I needed it. He tells me there 20:52 he's going to be my husband, so I started taking that to God. 20:54 I said, you're going to be my husband? How are you going to 20:57 do this? That's the other beautiful thing about God's 20:59 word. I don't know how it is for you, but as I study God's 21:02 word something new will hit me. You know, you read something 21:05 you may have read 100 times before but suddenly it speaks 21:09 to you right when you need it. What I started noticing was God 21:12 will be my husband, he will be a father to my son and he will 21:16 take care of us. There are several scriptures, but the one 21:18 I love best is in Isaiah 54 where it says, Remember no more 21:23 the reproach of your widowhood for God is your husband. 21:25 God just over and over started showing me that. I don't know 21:29 if I have time to share those. 21:30 Sure share some. We've got about six minutes. 21:34 Well, I mean, so many things happened, but like one: My 21:38 parents moved into a house nine months before. They were going 21:40 to build a 2-bedroom but they just had this urge, build a 21:43 4- bedroom and they didn't know why and they did. They were 21:45 embarrassed to tell anybody because they thought it was 21:46 poor stewardship, but they built a 4-bedroom. Nine months later 21:49 they knew why. Because it gave my son and myself our own 21:52 bedrooms, dad to have a study and my mother and dad to have 21:56 their room. God knows before we even know we have a problem. 22:01 He's already working on the solution for it. If I would just 22:06 realize this more not to worry and fret over things because 22:09 he's already working out what he wants to have happen. 22:12 But one time after I had moved with my parents in their place 22:16 and had been there a few months, my little boy and I went on a 22:18 trip to see some family down south, we were living up in 22:22 the northeast, and I had put in a thermos that morning some 22:26 cereal with hot water with raisins. By supper time it would 22:29 be this chewy cereal my little guy liked. So by the time I got 22:32 to the motel it was late and he's racing around the room, 22:34 Mommy I want to eat, I want to eat. So I took the thermos, 22:36 you know, I'm tired and I'm hungry and I tried to open it 22:39 and I couldn't get it open and so a sat down on the bed, I put 22:43 it between my legs and went like this to get it open. I could not 22:46 get it open. Well I was rather upset and I looked up towards 22:49 heaven and in my mind I prayed, If my husband were here he was 22:53 big and strong, he could open this. You know, what are you 22:55 going to do? You're my husband now, you know, you tell me that. 22:57 Right then somebody started coming in the motel door. 23:01 Of course, I was scared and I ran to try to keep them out. 23:03 They were already in before I could get there. It was a man 23:06 with a key in the door knob. He jumped back and said, Lady, I'm 23:11 sorry this is a mistake. Don't you worry though; you're safe. 23:14 There were two teenagers behind him with suit cases. I said, 23:17 Okay and I shut the door then and I leaned against the door 23:20 because the adrenaline was just draining out of me. I was crampy 23:22 you know, I was, Huh, leaning against this door when this 23:25 urge comes over me, this impression, get him to open 23:28 your thermos. I went, I can't do that, I'm shy. No! Get him to 23:32 open your thermos. So I opened the door and I said, Mister, 23:34 will you wait a minute. Of course he was wondering what 23:36 does this crazy woman want. I grabbed the thermos, I took it 23:38 out to him and I said, I can't open this. Could you open it 23:40 for me please. One quick turn and he had it open. 23:43 Isn't God wonderful Amen. 23:44 God's got a sense of humor, he's incredible. And it's just 23:47 story after story like that of what he's done in my life and 23:51 what I've gotten to see him do in other women's lives as they 23:54 call on God to be their husband and they choose to praise him 23:57 and thank him for the circumstance. 23:59 Do you find that sometimes, and particularly I'll use my sister 24:04 as an example; she was a drug addict for 15 years and God 24:08 delivered her literally over night. But she can call me 24:12 sometimes and if she gets her eyes off the Lord, and I have 24:16 her permission to say this, because I love my sister dearly, 24:20 but when she's strong in the Lord she's incredible. When she 24:24 is not strong in the Lord she's a drama queen. You know, she's 24:28 one of these that's very emotional. So she'll call me 24:33 sometimes and she'll just be whining and going on and I can't 24:37 get a word in edgewise. So after you listen for 45 minutes or 24:41 something, I'll say, You need to go praise the Lord and call me 24:45 back and we'll pray. It's so true. Because there's no use 24:48 even praying with her because if you pray with her when she's 24:51 in that mood, it's just like she listens while you're praying 24:54 and the second you stop she just starts up again with complaining 24:59 So she'll say, All right, I know I do and she'll go listen to 25:03 praise music and praise the Lord, sing some songs. She'll 25:06 call me back in 30 minutes or 45 minutes and she's a totally 25:10 different person. She's got her eyes on the Lord and she's ready 25:14 to pray for me. That's true for me if I get my 25:18 my eyes focused off of God... It's like, I heard a saying 25:21 once that said, Stop telling God how big your storms are 25:25 and start telling your storms how big your God is. And it's so 25:30 true. But I've had a woman whose husband was trying to abandon 25:35 her. She needed a car. Her car broke down and she was trying 25:38 to limp it home. It broke down in some city where she knew 25:42 nobody. She went to use the phone and had the car lot guy 25:45 give her a car because he can tell she's got a problem. He 25:48 said, Lady you need to get home. You take these keys and you go 25:50 home. She said, Mister, you don't know me. He said, but I 25:52 know you've got a problem. But that was her husband 25:55 her Father in heaven. Glory to God. 25:58 So if you were going to tell in a nutshell somebody who may 26:03 be watching or listening to us today what they need to do if 26:08 they're feeling discouraged or down, how do they start praising 26:12 Take the Psalms the way I do because I have to force myself 26:17 because I'm so hurting I don't have the words. 26:19 Take the Psalms and start praising using those to praise 26:21 God with like David did in the Psalms. 26:25 Amen. Well I'm so glad that we're talking about this because 26:30 I think this is something that... 26:31 Can I interrupt? The other thing is the book and I hate to keep 26:34 talking about this, but I can't help it. "Exalting God's Word. " 26:37 Exalting his word. Exalting his word. Amen. You take that 26:40 book, the "Life Affirmations," set up and use those to praise 26:43 God with. It's incredible what it does. 26:45 What we both do too sometimes is take our own journal and we 26:48 write down the things we're most troubled by, discouraged, 26:52 by, afraid of. Write them down with a promise and a praise and 26:55 say thank you that you're going to take this terrible thing 26:57 coming at me and you're going to turn it for good because the 27:00 devil means it for harm but you mean it for good. When you write 27:02 those things down, by the time you get done your attitude is 27:05 changed because you know God's going to take care of it and it 27:07 just changes you as a person. 27:08 There's something about writing it down that makes such a 27:11 difference. I can't believe we're already 27:13 all out of time. This has been wonderful. Thank you all so 27:17 much for coming back and we want you to come back some more. 27:21 For those of you at home, I pray that you will take this 27:26 seriously and whatever problem you are having just go and say 27:29 Lord thank you that you see a potential in me and you're 27:33 allowing this to kind of polish me up a little bit. Praise him 27:37 even in the midst, you don't have to praise him for the 27:40 problem but praise him in the midst of your problems and 27:42 you'll find out that he can do anything. 27:45 Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the 27:49 Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 27:51 be with you today and always. Thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17