If we’re really going to have any happiness we really have to understand the grace of God. Find out what grace means right now and watch as joy comes into your life.

Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives.

With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way.

if we’re ever going to have any

happiness we’ve really got to understand

the grace of god

and just to make it as simple as i can

for the amount of time i have

grace is not only god’s undeserved favor

so that means instead of me spending my

life trying to kick down doors that i

want to go through

i can trust god to give me favor and

open the right doors for me at the right

time

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grace is what changes us

god’s power grace is not only undeserved

favor

it’s god’s power coming to us free of

charge

to enable us to do with ease what we

could never do on our own with

any amount of struggle and effort that’s

my very own definition

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you want it again grace is god’s power

coming to us freely all we need to do is

receive it

and it enables us

grace is enabling power it enables us to

do

with ease

what we could never do on our own apart

from god

with any amount of struggle and effort

i’d say i tried so many years to change

myself because i knew that

you know i had problems

i tried to be happier i tried to be

peaceful

i tried to be a better person i you know

i tried and tried and tried and tried

and instead of it working i actually was

getting worse

because the more frustrated we are the

worse we behave

and god began to teach me out of his

word that it was only his grace that

could change me

to make it to make a long story short

we’re saved by grace we get that

it’s like well here i am you know i’ve

done everything

if you don’t help me i’m done for and we

receive we don’t get

salvation i don’t like that terminology

how many got saved

we’ve had about 1200 people receive

christ in this conference

you cannot get a free gift

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you receive free gifts

by grace are you saved through faith it

is a gift of god not of works lest any

man should boast

and the same way that we’re saved is the

same way we have to learn how to live

now grace is about a 20-part teaching

series

and i’ve got about three minutes here

for this section

so let me just tell you that any time

that you feel

frustrated

it’s because you’re trying to do

something that only god can do

anytime you’re frustrated you’re trying

to do something that only

god can do and you need to stop and just

say okay i’ve gotten over into

works of the flesh which is my energy

trying to do god’s job

i’m a back off here god help me

i need you to make this happen

a apart from you i can do nothing

and then realizing that god doesn’t do

everything in our timing nor the way

that we would do it

so after praying we then trust god and

we watch him work

i finally stopped trying to change

myself

and lo and behold i’ve been changed

you say now wait wait wait wait wait

wait wait wait what do you mean you

don’t try to change yourself

well you just can’t not try to change

yourself

but yeah i can

yeah i can

i pray every morning lord said a watch

over my mouth lest i sin against you

with my tongue

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help me lord not to get in trouble with

my mouth today and if you don’t help me

i’m definitely going to get in trouble

now hang on and here’s how it works

i pray and then the holy spirit

reminds me

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i’m going through the day i’m busy going

along see this is how the holy spirit is

with us all the time and he works in our

life and

i start dave says something and i didn’t

care farting

i say something back and then he says

something back and then

i get this little like

how many okay see you get it you know

now

you know maybe you’re not quite where

we’re at and you’re like what’s she

talking about you get this

well the holy spirit lives inside of us

and the bible says in romans 7

6 that we no longer live by the law we

don’t live by all these rules and

regulations of how we have to behave for

god to love us

but we now live by the promptings of the

holy spirit

so the truth is if i make a hundred

mistakes with my mouth today

god’s still gonna love me i’m still

gonna go to heaven but i

want to do what’s right because i love

him so instead of me

going around saying well i’m just not

going to say anything today that way i

won’t get in trouble

[Applause]

because see all we know how to do is be

extreme

i’m just not going to talk at all and

that way i won’t get in trouble

and that doesn’t work we all know that

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we might shut up for a while but boy

when we open our mouth

but here’s what you do instead of saying

boy i can’t do this today and i can’t do

this and i can’t do this

i can’t do this and i better not do this

you just get up and say god i want to be

all you want me to be

holy spirit i ask you to remind me

if i’m about to get myself in trouble

then my part is and we have a part you

have a part

but it’s not like this fleshly effort

it’s just a

it’s a spiritual effort but it’s just a

saying i want to cooperate with god

okay lord you’re telling me to zip my

lip and if i don’t i’m about to start a

fight with dave

then i can just shut up

didn’t get that was that hard

[Applause]

how many of you are understanding what

i’m saying

now two quick things that were on my

heart

first of all i want us to look at first

corinthians 15

10. the apostle paul said but by the

grace the unmerited favor and blessing

of god

i am what i am

and his grace toward me was not found to

be for nothing

fruitless and without effect in fact

i worked harder than everybody

but it was not really me it was the

grace of god

in me which did the work now

the i mean this could initially even

sound a little confusing but paul is

saying look

i am what i am by the grace of god but

when god offered me his grace

i didn’t take it in vain i

took that power of the holy spirit and

i used that to do the things that god

wanted me to be

do now paul’s okay now here i am i’m a

successful

apostle but let me remind you

that it’s only because of the grace of

god

and i can tell you today

i mean honestly when i come up here and

i preach and i’ve done this now for

40 years but when i come up here and

preach i’m just like

it’s almost like i’m somebody else and

well that probably doesn’t make any

sense but it’s like i’m like

because you see when the when the grace

and the power and the anointing of god

comes on you the bible says it turns you

into another man or woman

we can do things by the grace of god

that we cannot do any other way but let

me also tell you

when i come up here i am not depending

on me

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now i’ve studied i’ve worked

but even math i need god’s grace to keep

doing i’ve been doing this 40 years this

may be your first conference it’s not my

first rodeo

amen and just to want to keep doing it

just to stay fresh

just to have yet another message just to

stay in one more hotel

i need grace grace and more grace

so you’ve got to depend on god all the

way through

you could stop grumbling about your jobs

if you would depend on god’s grace every

day when you go there

i wish i had another day

and in second corinthians 12 7 through 9

i’m not going to take the time to go

there but let me tell you something

if you are in a difficult situation

you have a difficult child to raise

you are in a difficult relationship

you’re in a relationship with somebody

that is really

hard to be in a relationship with

anybody

[Applause]

you’re in a position where you’re

needing to take care of

elderly parents and no matter what you

do they don’t like it

[Applause]

[Applause]

now i want you to listen to me any place

where god

has put you

he will give you the grace wait wait

wait wait

to be there and be happy while you’re

there

paul prayed that god would deal with

what the bible calls the thorn in his

flesh

three times he called on the lord and

the lord said

i’m not going to remove it my grace is

sufficient

and the amplified bible says my grace is

sufficient to enable you

to bear the trouble manfully

in other words my grace can enable you

to be in that situation

and put a smile on your face and serve

me

and do it with a good attitude

but you’re not going to get grace if you

get up i got to go to that stupid job

again and driving this stupid traffic

and

i don’t make enough money and i hate

this job and i hate the people and

you forget getting grace if that’s gonna

but you get up you say god this is where

you’ve got me right now

and i’m gonna trust you that when you’re

done with me here you’re gonna put me

somewhere else

but in the meantime i’m going to go

there by your grace with a smile on my

face

and i am going to represent you and i am

going to glorify you

amen

that’s what grace is

grace doesn’t just hang around to

forgive my stupidity it does that

too but grace enables me