Finding Joy Through Obedience

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk the truth then. I can't hide it. I can hold it in the book.

A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host.

Mm. Do you know what time it is? Woohoo, it is joy time. Hey, friends, how are you doing this afternoon? I am Dr.

Joy with Joytime Ministries, and you might be thinking, okay. It seems like she's been filling in here for a little bit of time, and every week you're getting to hear from me. I'm so happy to be able to come and fill in here on Truth Talk Live. And today, my friends, we are going to have an exciting time together because I want you to be encouraged today to call in and chat with me.

Now, I'm going to give you a little incentive today to do that.

So, my ministry joy time is all about helping women find joy through God's Word and growing their relationship with Him, being encouraged through His Word.

Now, I know we have some men who are listening today, and I welcome you as well. But the Ministry Joy Time is geared towards women, and I've written some books and I have some encouraging gifts that I want to give to you today.

So, here's the deal, and I hope that you will take the challenge. Today's topic is going to be how do we find joy? Find joy in our lives. And we're going to talk about a very tough idea: this idea of being obedient to what God tells us to do. But here's what I want you to do today.

Here is your, I guess I can say, assignment. If you will call in today and answer this simple question with me online, here is the question. How do you find joy?

Okay, that's the question.

So you can get on your phone and you can call this number. 866-34-TRUTH, or it's 866-348-7884. That's 866-348-7884. And if you'll call in, I'm going to give you either a copy of my book completely free. I'm going to ship it to you for free.

I'm going to pay for the shipping. Or if you would like to have a set of our most popular joy cards, they are three and a half inches by three and a half inches, little cards. Every day for 52 weeks, you will have a little card.

So there's 52 cards, one for every week of the year. And you can display that on your desk. You can put it in your office. You can put it in your kitchen. It comes with a little ESOL and it comes with a mesh bag.

That's one option. Is you can have the joy set, the joy card set. Or the second option is if you struggle with worry. And you feel like you walk around having a lot of concern on your heart and in your mind. My book, which is called A Prescription for Joy.

Will help you learn how to overcome worry with God's help.

So the book normally sells for $12, and the joy card set also sells for $12. But I'm going to give you one. Those for free. All you have to do is call in today at 866-34-87-884. That's 866-34-TRUTH.

And our friend Nick will take your name and your email address and phone number, and then you'll come on live and you'll just chat with me about what it is that helps me find joy.

So, throughout the show, I'm going to be looking for callers who are calling in to get their free gift and chat with me a little bit.

Okay, here is where we want to go today. I hope you are locked in. and ready I want to read to you this verse, which is in John chapter 14. Here's what it says. If you love me, You will keep my commandments.

Hmm How hard is it, friends? to obey God. And here's what I've been thinking about lately. Here is where I can struggle with obeying God in the practical way. Here it comes.

Are you ready? in my relationships with other people. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. This can be such a difficult way for us to be tested to know if we are going to trust the Lord.

And if we are going to obey him in how we deal with other people, let me open us up in prayer as we get started this afternoon, thinking about finding joy through obedience. Let's pray. God, we are so thankful for the Truth Network. Thank you for this time where we can be together. I pray for everyone who's listening that they would be brave.

They would call in today as we can have some great discussion about how we find joy. Lord, you are our joy, and you want to bless your children. And I want to hear from these wonderful listeners, this Truth Network family today on how we find joy. Bless this time together, Lord, and may we bless your name in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, let's start with this question. How would you answer this question? What is obedience?

Now that's a tough question. And if I have any parents who are listening, if you are a parent, you know how hard it is to get your children. To obey. Nobody has to teach a child how to disobey. Nobody gets that lesson.

They learn it. from the beginning of their time walking and talking. I can remember when my daughter Ellie, who is now she'll be twenty three next week hard to believe I can remember when she turned two years old, and for some reason she started saying No. No. everything we would ask her, it seemed like, she would say no, and she would pull away from us, and she would try to run away from us, and she wanted her own independence, and she wanted to do things her way.

Obedience can be really difficult. And we just have this innate quality to disobey, to not do what God wants us to do, to not do the right thing.

Well, let's think about what it means in God's Word. When you look at biblical obedience, what I want you to see today is it's not just about following the rules. It's not just about, okay, Well, God said not to do this. And even though I really want to do that, I'm just gonna not do that because that's the rule I need to follow.

Now, true.

Sometimes we obey and our heart doesn't really want to obey, but we choose to obey. And there's still some goodness in that, to still obey, even if it might not be exactly for the exact right reason. But what if we could obey? and our action in obeying is really a response to to loving and trusting God.

Now that is what really pleases the Lord. When we love him so much And we trust in him so much that we're going to obey him. even when it doesn't make sense? Ugh, I think that's the goal. That's the goal.

Could we love him that much? Could we trust him? that much. I read to you John chapter 14. It's verse 15, where Jesus says, If you love me, keep my commandments.

And I want us to see also But none of us are perfect. None of us get it right all the time, but that doesn't mean That we shouldn't strive to be like Jesus, and that we need to strive. to behave in a way that honors him, because it is so true, my friend. You have people in your life. who don't know him.

And you or who they're watching. to find out who Jesus is. Your life. is a testimony to who Jesus is. And so when they watch you and they see the way you respond to conflict.

They see the way you respond when you're at a restaurant and your waitress or waiter didn't get the order right. Do you respond with aggravation? Do you respond with some type of ugliness that comes out of your mouth? Or do you respond with patience and kindness? And Forbearance that you are bearing with someone, you understand.

That it wasn't their fault necessarily. They had a bad day, something didn't come out. cooked the way he wanted it to be cooked. People are watching.

So you see, obedience is a witness tool that you have for other people. And I don't want you to go anywhere. I want you to come back. And as we're going to keep talking about obedience in relationships, and specifically those hard to love people type of relationships, what is it that God would say to us on how we respond to those people?

So don't go anywhere. Come right back. This is Dr. Joy with Joytime here on Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Well, welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm your host today, Dr. Joy with Joy Time Ministries, and we are talking about obedience and finding joy through being obedient to what God says for us to do. And if you're just tuning in, I am giving away one of my books, which is called A Prescription for Joy, or a set of our watercolor joy cards. All you have to do is call in and be on air with me and tell me what it is that you find joy through in your life.

How do you find joy?

The number is 866-34 TRUTH. That's 866-348-7884. Would love for you to call in and just spend a little time on air with me today.

So let's talk a little bit about relationships. Dun dun dun. Relationships. Goodness. Is it true for you?

as it is for me. That every person in your life is not someone that you necessarily love to spend time with. Hmm.

Sometimes you have people in your life that are a little more difficult for you to love. They're a little more difficult for you to relate to. They're a little more difficult for you to even enjoy spending time with them. I I get it. Not everybody is our best friend.

You know, we have circles of friends. We have our inner circle of our closest people that we call my people, right? These are my people. They are the people you'll call and be 100% honest with. You can be transparent in every facet with these people because you trust them.

Then you have another layer or circle of friends. Maybe it's some work friends that you have, or people that live in your neighborhood, or people that you were friends with years before, but you're not quite as close with, and you're not going to be quite as open with them, not quite as transparent with them. You maybe don't trust them quite as much. Then we go all the way down to just having acquaintances in our lives. And then if we go to the very last layer, We have enemies.

in our loves. That is just not something we talk a lot about. Really, in Christian circles, we do talk about the fact that we have Satan in our lives who is our enemy, the devil, Satan. He prowls around like a roaring lion, God's word says, looking for someone to devour. But you also have people in your life who Satan uses to come against you.

enemies in your life who aren't looking for what's best for your life. They're not praying for you for sure. And they really want bad things to happen to you.

Now that's just not something very pleasant, but it's something that's real. And we want to have real discussion here on Truth Talk Live, real situations. What do you do with those people? What do you do with the people in your life who treat you terrible? The people in you l in your life who work behind the scenes to try to tear you down.

How do you love people? when you've been hurt by those people. And some of you are listening today. And you've had people hurt you in terrible, terrible ways. It maybe it's been physical abuse.

Maybe it's been sexual abuse. Maybe it's been verbal abuse. Maybe it's been someone that really gaslighted you, meaning they said one thing to your face and then they went behind your back. And did something else that was terrible, that hurt you, hurt your family. How do you love those people?

when you've been so hurt. I want you to call in today. The number is 86634 Truth. I'm going to give you a little gift today, free, completely free for you. I'm going to pay for the shipping, pay for the product.

I just want you to call in and help me think about and talk about how do we find joy. And then, if you feel comfortable, I would love for you to share with me maybe a situation in your own life where you've had an enemy in your life. You've had someone trying to tear you down. You've had someone who was really against you, and you had to make a decision. On how we were gonna how you were gonna treat that person, what you were gonna do with this situation.

So we wanna bring in William from Ohio today. Hey, William, how are you doing today? I am well. How are you? I am so happy to hear from you.

Thanks so much for calling into Truth Talk Live. I'd love to hear your answer on how do you find joy? What brings you joy in your life?

So what brings me joy is understanding The purpose and the will of God, right? Which is. Um relationship. It truly is first relationship with him. And then I learn how to Be in the greatest relationship for my ability.

because of him with others such as yourself. I love that. That is so relevant for what we're talking about today, that it all is about our relationship with him and then how that relationship with him spills over into our relationships with other people.

So I'd love to know from your perspective, William. When you think about having someone who's an enemy in your life.

Someone who's hurt you, someone who has never apologized to you for how they treated you. If you've had that situation, could you share with us how you've approached it? Was it difficult? Has it been difficult? How has your relationship with Jesus helped you with that earthly relationship with this difficult person?

Thank you. I appreciate that. I think on these things often, so I'm grateful to be able to answer this question, and I do hope it is. Understandable. Um Yes, I've had difficult people.

These days, one thing I keep in mind is that our battle is not with flesh and blood. Hmm.

Um That is the first thing. In order for me to love as I am commanded to love, my battle cannot be with flesh and blood, and it is difficult.

So if I find myself in a situation where I can be intact at the moment, and I can sense it and I feel it. I will give my silence because my silence holds more weight at times than words that will hurt. Oh, that's really good. Yes, and then let's say it's not in the moment that they're attacking me because I hold Ephesians 6:12 so close to my heart that it's not with. Flesh and blood, the battle is not there.

That I can set whatever differences we may have had at any point aside and love you like I'm called to do. Hmm.

That is such good advice because We know that our words, in the power of the tongue, right, is life or death.

So what we say matters. And God is so clear in His word about our words that we use. And so I love that you've pointed out that staying silent. Is such a great tactic when we really want to speak harshly because our flesh is screaming. Let them have a peace of your mind.

Tell them how you really feel. And the enemy even wants us to do that because then there's a chance it could ruin our Christian witness to those who might be watching.

So I love that advice. And I love, too, the fact that you're wanting to show love to these people in your life. You want to love your enemies and do what Luke chapter 6 says: love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Amen.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, and I appreciate your elaboration on the concept because This is the relationship I thrive on.

So thank you so much. Thank you, William. Hope you have a great rest of your day. We appreciate you listening today. You as well.

Enjoy. Thank you. So, friends, I love that William was able to highlight this in a practical way for us. And there's one more thing I want you to think about as you're listening this afternoon, because I have struggled with this in the past. One of the ways that our obedience to God shows up.

in how we relate to others. is forgiveness. Ooh, hm. Forgiveness used to be a term that I didn't quite understand. I thought that if I needed to forgive someone, Then the prerequisite to that forgiveness was the person asking me to forgive them.

Someone coming to me and saying, I'm so sorry for what I did, please forgive me. But you know what I've learned from studying God's Word? I've learned that forgiveness is a command. that Jesus gave to us. that we need to forgive others if we want to be forgiven by our heavenly father.

That forgiveness is a two-way street. That we need to realize what we have been forgiven. We have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ. And it is a command for us to extend forgiveness to others, even when we don't feel like it. Hey, don't go away.

Stay right here with me. We're going to dive a little deeper into this idea of forgiving those who have hurt you.

So stay with me, and I'll be right back after the break. Truth, dark line You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Well, welcome back, friends. This is Dr. Joy with Joy Time. We're on Truth Talk Love this afternoon, talking about how we find joy through obeying God, how He is our joy. And right before the break, I was sharing with you about this really, really tough thing to do.

And it's all about forgiving when we don't feel like it, but how forgiveness is a requirement for us to follow Jesus. We have been forgiven so much. Jesus went to the cross, He shed His blood, He died for us to pay the penalty so that we could never be separated from God again once we receive Jesus as our Savior. We come up under His righteousness. And because we have been forgiven so much, we are required to forgive others.

But how do you do that? How do you forgive someone who's hurt you so badly? How do you forgive someone who has made it their life's goal to destroy you and to hurt you? How do you forgive someone who has damaged you in such a way that has required you to have therapy And even have to take some medication to help you. I get it.

Life is so, so hard. hard. As we dive into this, I want you to be thinking Is there a relationship in your life? that God is asking you to forgive someone. Because you see, forgiveness does not equal trust.

When you forgive someone, you're not saying that you trust that person. But what you are saying is that you release that person into God's hands. that you are no longer going to hold that person captive And in turn, you can you're releasing yourself. Forgiveness is really the gift that you give to yourself.

So you might say, well, how do you do that?

Well, I want to share with you an example from my life that. was very profound for me.

So I had the most amazing mom, and she was the spiritual leader of our home. not because she wanted to be, but because she had to be, because my dad wasn't a believer. See, my dad didn't get saved and find the Lord until he was seventy five years old.

So for the majority Of my young life and into my adult life, my dad was not a believer. I'm very close to my dad. He's awesome. Love him so much. But we very much had a division in our relationship because he didn't know the Lord.

He didn't understand decisions that my husband and I would make based off of obeying God. He didn't get that.

So my mom took my sister and me to church. She was the one I would see reading her Bible at night. She was the one that served on the Vacation Bible School Committee at our church. She was the one who taught Sunday school, and she was the one that I wanted to be just like. and she was really our spiritual leader of our family.

But when I came home from school one day at the age of sixteen my mom had moved out. My parents are gonna get divorced.

Now, my dad's a farmer. We lived on a 250-acre farm in North Carolina.

So she knew her only way to to be out of this marriage was she had to leave and she begged me to go with her and she was making this really hard decision. And we're not going to talk today about divorce. We know that God hates divorce. We know that. But we also know that not everybody who is divorced wants to be divorced.

And we also know That there are really bad situations that people find themselves in.

So, today is not about a judgment on divorce. I'm just sharing with you. a part of my heart.

So after my mom left and she didn't move but about ten miles away. I became angry. and I became bitter. Because she was my role model, spiritually. and now she's left.

And I chose not to move out with her because I was very involved in my high school. And I wanted to be close. I was a cheerleader. I was a part of the student body at my high school. And I was very active at the school.

And I didn't want to be 10 extra miles away from my high school. And I decided to stay with my dad. My sister moved out with my mom.

So our family was really split, even though I was loved deeply by both parents. but I started having this bitterness and resentment. take up root in my heart. And it made me not want to spend time with my mom, It made me not value her as much. And there came a time When God got a hold of me through a Sunday school lesson of all things, This person leading the Sunday school lesson said this He said There's no such thing as a time machine.

The reason we often have trouble forgiving other people is because we feel they have stolen something away from us. They've taken something. That we didn't want them to take, you know, our childhood, our innocence, our confidence, whatever it is. And here's what he said. He said, But even if that person that you can't forgive came back to you and said, groveling at your feet, I'm so sorry I did that to you.

Please forgive me. I'm so sorry. It was wrong. I was terrible. I can't believe I did that.

Even if they came back to you saying that to you, groveling at your feet, here's the truth. There is no time machine. They can never go back. and undo what they did. They can never go back and give to you what it is you feel you lost.

And for some reason that truth showed me That all I was doing by not forgiving my mom, all I was doing by harboring resentment to her, all I was doing by letting that root of bitterness Grow? I was missing out on my relationship with her now. This happened in my early twenties. And I remember having a time with the Lord when I prayed and I cried out to him, and I told him I was sorry that I couldn't forgive her. and I asked him to help me.

And I want you to know that he did over time. He helped me learn. How to forgive. and how to love even though the situation had been really hurtful, to me. About you.

as you're listening today. Is there a relationship in your life where God is prompting you to obey. is he probably knew to obey and forgive. Because we know that forgiveness is a commandment for us. And we need to set some boundaries of trust for sure.

But we need to extend forgiveness to people who we may feel don't even deserve it, because it will release you and me. From being held captive, and it will help us grow in our relationship with the Lord because He tells us to forgive those. that have offended us. Luke chapter 6, verses 27 and 28 talks about loving your enemies. And not just loving them from a distance necessarily, but doing good to those who hate you.

Now that's a hard thing to swallow. For someone who has treated you so awful, someone maybe that you work with, who has worked behind the scenes, behind closed doors, because that's where a lot of really bad things happen behind a closed door with the door shut and people are talking bad about other people. And if you've kind of been a victim of that and someone has done something bad to you, said something false about you because they hated you. How hard is it going to be to do something good? to them.

I dunno. I tell you, I want you to pray about that. I think it's something you and I need to pray more about. Can we The obedient spirit to not just read God's Word, Not just read it in our quiet time or read a devotional and try to spend time with the Lord that way, which is so critical and so important, but could we take it a step further? and implement into our lives what we're learning.

Because I want you to grab a hold of this when it comes to obedience. Obedience will cost you something. Obedience isn't always rewarded right away. Obedience is going to cost you something. To obey God means that you're going to pick up your cross.

and follow after him. You're gonna pick it up. And you're going to follow him. It means you will let go. Of watching a TV show that maybe you really like and you enjoy it.

But you know the content of that T V show? goes completely against God's Word. Maybe you're gonna let go. of dating a person. That you know is not equally yoked with you like God's Word says for it to be.

That is a person who's not a believer. And maybe you're dating that person, and you're really attracted to that person. You have maybe even fallen in love with that person. But God's word is so clear. about not being unevenly yoked, and obeying him might mean for you to let go of that relationship.

Or maybe there's a friendship. And this friend is a lot of fun. But this friend is pulling you away from the Lord. This friend is not encouraging you to To read your Bible and be a part of Bible study and be an active member at your Bible-based church that you belong to. And maybe that friend needs to not be in your inner circle of friends, but they need to be in your outer circle of friends that you still love and talk to, but they're not your go-to person.

They're not what we qualified earlier as my people. Those are my people. Or maybe There's some lifestyle changes. that you need to reconsider. Maybe there's some things you're doing that you know aren't pleasing to the Lord.

Hey, listen. I'm with you, my friend. I don't sit here to cast judgment to you on this. I'm talking to you as your friend. I get it.

I've got things in my life that I need to put more guardrails up on, you know? I need to have better biblical guard rails in my life so I don't run off the cliff.

Well, it's important. for us to obey the Lord in the practical things. Steady his word. But then Jesus tells us. He says, you know, if you love me You'll keep my commandments.

John 14, verse 3. Fifteen. First John chapter five says For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. Ha ha. I love how Peter tells us in the book of Acts that we need to obey God rather than obeying men.

And your faith As you're growing your faith and you're studying God's Word and you're seeking to live for Him, your faith will cost you something. It will cost you some relationships it might cost you your job It might cost you popularity. It might cost you from feeling that other people like you. But I want you to know this, my friend, listen close. whatever it costs you on this side of eternity.

Oh, Jesus is so worth it. because it's just like William said when he called in. Our relationship with Him is everything. The thing we should desire most in our life is that we would love God completely and know him. that we would seek after Him to know Him.

Because when we know Him, and we love Him, and we experience Him, everything else falls into place because our desires change. What I want out of life changes the closer I grow to God. Being obedient. It's not quite as difficult when I know him more and when I'm living for him and I'm walking closely with him.

So we're going to cover a little bit more in this last section of our time together here on Truth Talk Live. Don't go anywhere, my friend. Stay tuned, and I'll be right back. Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Welcome back, friends. This is Dr. Joy with Joy Time on Truth Talk Love. Having a great time with you today. Thanks for hanging out with me today as we're talking about how we find joy through obeying God and how difficult that can be.

We've talked about not just reading our Bible or reading a devotional and letting that be the end of it, but taking it one step forward to seeking to live out our faith and do what God tells us to do. We've talked about how difficult it is to forgive someone who's hurt us. And I shared with you that there is no time machine. Even if the person who's hurt you worst comes back and begs you for forgiveness, there is no time machine to go back and undo what they did.

So we have to somehow come to peace with what's happened and trust God to know that when we belong to Him, He promises to work all things together. for something good. And so we can trust him even with those awful times in our life that if we hand all that over to him, he's going to bring something good from it. I want to spend our last time together today, just for these last 10 minutes or so, talking about what it looks like to obey in a difficult calling that God may have for you. Maybe you felt a nudging.

to foster a child. But you haven't taken a step yet because you're a little bit too afraid of what that might mean for your life. And maybe the enemy is just whispering things to you about, oh no, that's too scary. Oh, that's a high risk. You don't know what that might mean for you.

You've seen those terrible stories online about that. And maybe you're feeling that you're a little too afraid to take the step. Or maybe you have felt God calling you to go on a mission trip. But maybe the enemy is whispering, oh, you don't have the money. What are you going to do about that financially?

You really shouldn't travel to a foreign country. You know the deal. Anytime God is working on us, the enemy is right there trying to undo the good work that the Lord is doing. But listen, my friend, God's word says that greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world. And so we have the Holy Spirit in us when we belong to Him.

And he is great and mighty, and he is the God of doing the impossible. But let's talk that out a little bit because here's what I want to share with you about my life story. I have seen firsthand When God has called to do something that feels impossible that's going to hurt other people in my life, and when I've obeyed and I've done it, He has brought blessings my way.

So, you may not know, but I am a pharmacist. That is where my doctor comes from in Dr. Joy. And I have worked as a pharmacist for a long time, opening a couple of pharmacies and running those, and also helping three new schools of pharmacy get accredited and getting those off the ground.

So, for the last 20 years, I have worked in higher education and teaching as a pharmacy professor, and I've worked in the capacity of leadership administration, most recently as an associate dean of a pharmacy school. But, God, over the last year or so, Has been pressing on my heart to pour more and more time into this ministry, Joy Time Ministries. Joytime has been around for 13 years. It started as a radio ministry, a little one-minute segment that I record for about 1,500 different radio stations that it airs on. That's how I got connected here at I'm Truth Network.

And so I've started with radio. Then I started doing women's events, and I've become friends with some Christian music artists who really are CCM, Christian contemporary music, like Mike Weaver of Big Daddy Weave and others. And we've done events together, and I've been able to go and speak at women's conferences, at churches, and convention centers. And I've had this retail side of Joy Time where there are products that I create, journals, and bags, and books, and gift items that I have created over the years. And my time has been really stretched.

I'm also a wife and a mom, and God has been pressing on my heart over the last year or so that I would soon be walking away from my pharmacy professor job. And I want you to know something, my friend. That's been scary. Because I've never taken a salary from Joy Time. All of it has any money that's come into the ministry has gone into the ministry checking account to pay for the things that the ministry does, such as the women's events and paying for being on the air on a few radio stations that I'm on and blessing other women through the ministry.

And I want you to know this has been a very, very tough decision for me to pray about and think about because financially, it's not like my family is independently wealthy and I can just not work a job. And through my salary, There was so much that we paid for with our family. Our health insurance was covered. I had a great retirement plan with a nice match on my retirement plan. All the things that come with working for a company and having a job.

And I want you to know I have been wrestling with the Lord this spring, just crying out to the Lord, asking Him to make it clear. And in the end, when my contract came for me to sign the contract to renew another year at this wonderful university that I love so much, I didn't sign it. And it's a huge step of faith. But the reason I didn't sign it was because I felt God Telling me not to sign it. And how do I know that, right?

That's the million-dollar question. How do you know?

Well, God's calling you.

Well, here are some things I can give you encouragement about with that question. Number one, God's never going to call you to do something that goes against his word. Never. God will n God will never call you To go steal another person's spouse away from them. That's never going to be his calling because we know that God hates divorce.

But God has called us to share the gospel. For us to go and teach the gospel and make disciples. For us to go to the ends of the earth and make disciples. And so, a lot of joy time is encouraging women and discipling women and being on a faith journey together as women.

So, that's number one. He's never going to call you to do something against his word. Number two, Most of the time, he's going to call you within something he's gifted you to do. And you have been. Told throughout your life that you're gifted at it, whatever it is.

He often works inside of our giftedness because that's the reason he gave you the gift in the first place: to build up the church, the capital C church, and to encourage the children of God, to encourage the brothers and sisters of God.

So he's going to often work inside your giftedness. Number three, as you take steps in the direction of faith towards that calling, he's going to open the doors for you wide open. He's going to go before you. and he's going to make the way for you to do. what you feel called to do.

He's going to show you passages of scripture that relate to that right when you need it. He's going to send a friend your way to send you a text that is going to be perfectly aligned with what you're praying about. He's going to have a person, maybe even a stranger, that you see at the grocery store, or that you interact with at the gas station, say something, and you're going to know it. He's going to put people in your life to confirm to you that this is the step you should take. The question is Will you take it?

God had called me to ministry so many years ago, and a part of that calling required our family to move ten hours away from our hometown and our family and everybody that we knew and loved. and I remember being a little fearful about it. But I knew God had placed this calling over my life for ministry, but I didn't know what it would look like. I was still working as a pharmacy professor. But he called our family to move to Tennessee.

where I would help another pharmacy school get accredited and be a part of their faculty. And when we moved we sold our dream house that was on the family farm, and we moved ten hours away, and it was tough, I want you to know. People were upset with us for moving. It wasn't easy. But once we moved, Less than a year after we moved, I was invited to be on the radio.

And after that um interview that I had Joy time started. The radio producer liked what I had said and asked me to become a regular voice on their station, and little by little God began to open doors for this ministry He had called me to years before. I share that with you to know. that obedience will lead to blessings. It will.

Obedience, when you walk in obedience, the book of Deuteronomy says. You may live and prosper. Walk in obedience so that you will live and live. and prosper.

Now you're not going to be obedient because you necessarily want to prosper. But having the blessings is a part of the obedience. It doesn't come right away. It often takes a lot of time. But God will bless you, and I'm not talking about money and fame and prestige.

I'm talking about He'll bless you with joy. He'll bless you with purpose. He'll bless you with you to live out this calling that he's called you to, so my friend. What is God asking you to do to day? What is it?

Is he asking you to forgive? Is he asking you to trust more? Or maybe he's asking you to let go of something. Maybe he's asking you to step in to a situation that you've been made aware of. Or may be.

He's asking you to step out. of your comfort zone. He's asking you to do what humanly seems impossible. If that's you, I want you to be encouraged that God is the God of impossible. He owns a thousand cattles on a hill.

All the money in the world belongs to him. And if he's calling you to do it, Be sure, my friend, that he will do it.

Now, get this. it probably will not be on your time line, because we want it now we want it yesterday, we don't want to wait ten years, fifteen years. But listen Don't delay And instead Obey. Stop delaying Stop coming up with every excuse in the book. and instead step out.

Let go Trust. Forgive. whatever it is. Will you take that first step today? Will you trust him enough?

To make that phone call, send that email. Get out of the boat. Step out on the water. And watch and see what God will do. Thanks for joining me today.

I'm so grateful for you. Hey, connect with me online at joytime.org. I'm not sure.