When an injustice happens, we want to be vindicated. People feel that if they forgive the person who hurt them, then they will continue to take advantage of them or not take responsibility for what they did wrong. If we're honest, we'll admit that we usually want the person who hurt us to pay for what they did. We can't get past this until we get the revelation that only God can pay us back. He is our Vindicator - He will heal and restore us if we will trust Him and forgive our enemies as He has told us to do.

So what if you're not perfect? nobody else is either.

We open the door for God to work by placing faith in His Word, and we open the door for Satan to work by placing faith in his word. He places thought in our minds that are not true, but can become true for us if they are believed.

I had received Christ as my savior when I was a child, but I didn't know anything. I didn't have any knowledge. I didn't go to church. And I had a lot of problems, and I needed somebody to kind of help me along. And I think sometimes even people who want to serve God, if they have got so many problems that they don't think right and they don't act right and they don't behave right, they almost need somebody to take them by the hand and help lead them through the early years. And that's really what discipleship is. It's helping people.

I think we need to get smart enough to do what's going to help us and not just continue to do things that are going to hurt us. It's pretty easy to read something or hear about it in a message, but it's that personal application of that where it's just you, God, and your problems, that are going to give you the power to get stronger and stronger.

God is not asking us to not have anything or even to give away every single thing that we have. He is asking us to share with people who have less than us, which we do all the time.

If you're missing joy and peace, you're not trusting God.