to be talking about this all week long, but what i want to do today is to show another video of caroline yeager. now, i showed the video a couple of weeks ago of her good friend, virginia croy, and i met virginia and caroline at the exact same time. as you will see on this video that we're going to play today, virginia and caroline came to one of my camp meetings in charlotte, north carolina, and these women began to start sharing their testimony with me and i was just amazed. i mean, this has been many years ago and it has taken years and years for us to gather their information and to produce these videos, but a couple of weeks ago i showed virginia croy's testimony and i tell you, it's a great testimony about how much god loved her and how he just pursued her and has brought her out of this pit of legalism into the grace and the goodness of god, and her good friend,

caroline yeager, they had been separated for, i think it was around 7 years because when virginia left the church that they were in, and they, of their own evaluation, called this a "cultish" type of church... when they left that, you had to break off all communication with any person who left this cult, and so caroline was married to the pastor's son and to remain in the church she could not have any communion, any fellowship with virginia, even though they had been good friends, and just a week or so before virginia was coming to my camp meeting in charlotte, north carolina, caroline had been receiving some of my teaching through a brother and had been listening and beginning to get set free. she had gotten born again and she went against the rules of the church, called virginia, and that's how they got together

and they came to my meeting, and anyway, i'll let them give the story, but some of these things i'll say weren't in caroline's story and it adds a little bit to it. but caroline, when she came, she had just began to start being free. she had been born again, she was beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, but she was still under a lot of this religious bondage and religious teaching. for instance, when they first came, they were sharing with me about the chains that had happened on the inside, but caroline still had never cut her hair... or i don't know if it's accurate to say never, but she had very long hair. it was like a sin for a woman to cut her hair and have shorter hair. she had never worn jewelry. she had never put on makeup. she had never worn pants in her life, and those things aren't the... you know, the biggest thing, but at the same time, to make such a rule and a regulation that if you wear pants or put on makeup or wear jewelry, you go to hell, man, that is extreme bondage, and as you'll see in this video,

caroline actually was so frustrated about trying to live up to all of the standards and she was so bad that she actually contemplated suicide, and she actually was in... she was going to kill herself, but she knew that she wouldn't see god if she did that and she loved god and she wanted to have a relationship with god, so she stuck it out, and anyway, when she was at this meeting, she began to get set free and she just somehow or another expressed what it would be like to wear pants sometime, to put on makeup, to wear earrings, and so we encouraged her that you know, she's free. she's free to dress however she wants to. she doesn't have to do it, but if she wants to do it, that she was free and we just encouraged her and i remember caroline... this is one of the funniest things, but she came one day and she had put on makeup. she was wearing lipstick. she actually put on earrings and i complimented her on how nice she looked and i mean, she was...

she was experiencing joy and at the same time fear just because it was... she was so afraid that this was going to displease god because of all that religious tradition. so anyway, that's just a little bit of the background. as you watch this video, i think that you will see the freedom and the liberty that god brought caroline into... not only her, but also her husband, and i tell you, i consider these two women, virginia croy and caroline yeager as two of the greatest trophies of god's grace that i have ever seen and it hasn't ended. i've talked to virginia just recently and she said she's getting freer. god is showing her things this year. she's just continuing to grow, so anyway, i believe this will bless you so i wanted to play this and i'll come back at the end of the program and end today's broadcast. >> i was born and raised in a formal church.

my father was born there and my mother came in when she was 13 and she raised her ten children. it was very cultish. we were very... very sheltered and we kept to ourselves because we thought if... if i got around a little girl that had her hair cut or went to the movies, that i would want to do that, and then in turn, i would lose my salvation... i would go to hell. we...we were raised very legalistic, very...a lot of rules and regulations. of course, we weren't allowed to wear pants or cut our hair or go to the beach. i had a foundation of god, but i didn't understand jesus. the holy spirit was basically only someone there to give you a conscience, you know, and...and prick you, when you were doing something wrong. you...you had to marry within the church, or you were supposed to.

when my husband asked me out, i accepted. he is the son of the head pastor and he had... he'd taught sunday school, he was a s...a teacher for our private school, he played the organ at church, so he was very involved in the church, but i wouldn't say it was an ideal marriage. i wouldn't say it was someone that i fell in love with. he was very, very abusive with words. every time i would speak, he would down me or if i would... if my child acted up, it was my fault. i would constantly plead with god to change my husband, and i actually put a little notepad... a post it on the... on the scripture where god says that he will give you the very desires of your heart, and i would put, i want a husband that loves me... loves my children... first loves god and treats us as a family and...and for years i prayed for that. we waited four years before i had any children.

i had a set of tw...twin boys... identical boys and because we didn't go to the hospital, it was born... they were born three months too early, and i remember one time it... the thought went through my head of, should i call 911? and i said, no, because we were taught that cursed is the man that put their trust in man and make his flesh their arm. so, they're in heaven right now. god has comforted my heart through that, but i have seven other beautiful children and i remember thinking, if i have the wrong attitude, if i get angry at my husband, that my children are going to die or i'm going to lo... lose my life in childbirth. my sister, which i felt was doing everything right, she died in childbirth, and also my sister-in-law, and i...i would say, god, why would you give her 12 children and then take her? i didn't understand. i was like, lord, this isn't right.

it really baffled me and we would tell the children, god needed her in heaven. now, what child is going to believe that that god would give them... give them to this mother and then god take the mother away because he needs her more in heaven than on earth. the torment and the...and the anguish and the fear of having seven children and not knowing whether one of them are going to get sick because of something you did wrong. that hung over your head all times. one night, i...i'll never forget, i was crying and i don't know who gave it to me, but i had this rope and we had a lot of trees around our house and i remember saying, lord, i can't take this anymore, and i sat on a stump... i had the rope with me and i was just bawling and i said, lord, i can't deal with this anymore. i can't...i ca...i cannot go on because i felt i was ruining my whole family because one day i would be happy, one day i would be sad, one day i was crying, one day i was laughing.

i looked up in those trees and i said, lord, i... but i want to see you and if i do this, i won't ever see you and i said, i... i have to see you. the next day i found out one of our people from our church that had left, he hung himself that night. my brother and my mother had left the church and my brother lived in the harrisburg area and he had some bunkbeds that we... he was going to give us, so we went up there, which we weren't supposed to be doing. we went up and... and slept overnight at their house and... and the night before i left, he gave me a whole bag of andrew's tapes. then he told me, you can get that on internet. so, i was a little leery about using the internet because i was telling my husband it was so sinful, and yet i was going to try it, you know, and... and try to find andrew on there,

and i was so excited... so when my husband left for work, i would...i would start listening to him and i was just... it would...i would stay in my room for...until 12:00. i didn't care about my work. i just had to be filled because i was so hungry. so, through andrew's ministry and the fact that you could get it any time of the day or night and it was free, because there again, my husband didn't give me any money, god opened my eyes and the fact that i could seek... as a woman, i could seek and i could find, and something changed in me. you see, you have to understand, my husband went to school with me for 12 years, so he knew what type of person i was. he knew how i struggled in different areas, you know, of reading and writing and all that, so he was baffled because i would... he would come home from work and i would say this and that. i was so excited about what god revealed to me, and he couldn't understand how >> i could understand the bible. [andrew] you know, before we go anywhere else, the first step in knowing god is

that you have to know him as your savior. >> i was listening to a tape one day and... and they had this prayer... the sinner's prayer at the end and i didn't... we never heard that. we never, ever heard that, that you prayed and... and asked jesus into your life and then...then you were saved. so, i was hesitant to say it, but i did say it, and i...i...i knew in my heart that i was saved, and i was so excited and i said to him... i said...i said, i've got it. he said, what did you get? he said...i...i said, i'm saved. he's like, caroline... because we were always told we could never be saved which... for good, you always had to confess your sins every night and...and you know, make yourself right every night because you...there was no assurance that you were going to be saved. so he said... i said, i know. i said...i said, i... i can't give it to you, i said, but you can have it. i said, but i know that i'm saved. i'm going to heaven. he saw the confidence in me, he saw the joy in me and he started searching.

he started getting his bible out and i said, i can't give it to you. i ca...i couldn't even explain it to you. but that's all i know that the joy inside me, it's not going to go away, and there was a... there was a peace and everything, and so, from there, he came to know christ, too, and i'll never forget the one night he came down and he said, caroline... he said, i just said the prayer. he said, i just accepted jesus as my lord. i have a friend, virginia croy, and...and we were friends from...from little, and i remember thinking, she lives a mile from me and i haven't talked to her in seven years. so, i called her one wednesday night and i...and i... we talked for three hours, and i asked her...i said... i said, virginia, i said, did you ever hear of andrew wommack? she's like, you're not going to believe this... she says, but i'm going down to his conference in... in charlotte, north carolina this weekend, and i said...i said, this weekend, and i said...i said, that would be so awesome. [phone ringing] well, thursday morning i get a call from virginia and she's like, caroline... she said, would you be able

to go if all your pen... your expenses were paid? so, i called my husband. he said i could and...and god worked out even with my little girl. i...i didn't...i didn't have... she wasn't in school yet so i didn't have any place to send her and... and someone stepped up and... and offered to take her. so, i'll never forget saturday morning i had to drive up to harrisburg. i got so sick. i got, i mean, very sick with the flu, the head was pounding, i had aches all over. so, i arrived and virginia and esther... we went to a hotel room and i went up to the room. i lay down and i said, there's no way i can go. but then i got angry because i was like, wait a minute. the devil wants me to stay home. there must be something important there that i need to hear. i went with virginia and esther to charlotte, north carolina,

you know, pastor dean's church, and i slept through whole... most of the service because i was so sick. i just...i...i would keep dozing on and off and my nose was dripping. it was...i had such a bad cold that i...i just had to have a tissue constantly in my hand. but when andrew asked if we were born again and did we want to receive the baptism of the holy spirit, i said, i didn't want to miss out on anything else that god had to offer, so i went up. well, andrew went through everything with us. he prayed with us and after the prayer he said, speak in tongues, and i spoke in tongues, and i turned to virginia after the prayer was done and everything was done and i said, virginia, i am healed. my nose stopped dri...dripping, my head stopped pounding and all the aches left. andrew heard our testimony. he heard our story and... and he opened up the table for us to take whatever we needed to help us along our journey.

all these things that i feared so much in life like putting on a pair of pants and...and cutting my hair... all these things, there was nothing to fear in them, and i think of my husband, you know, someone that was raised very proud because that's all he saw and to treat women as beneath him and...and for him... for god to touch his heart and allow him to love me for who i am, and he's so gentle now... he's so loving. i just praise god for that because that...to me that's the biggest miracle, that god can change a heart. i always look back at that little post it now and i...i...and i am amazed because he's such a loving husband. you know, he...he spends time with the kids and... and he's... most of all, is he's searching for god and he's...he's always listening to andrew, and my children are growing so...they...they're just... they're seeking god and they've been on mission trips.

every day i just look for somebody that i can talk to and tell them about jesus because he has done such a... a miracle in my life. god...god just took me on such a wonderful journey of...of matuings...maturing in him. he took me from this desperate, fear ridden, jealousy ridden woman, and he's made me into a woman that can give him glory >> and honor every day. praise god, isn't that aweso i tell you what, that just blesses me to see the way that the gospel sets a person free, and you know, this goes along perfectly with what i've been teaching in the book of romans. the people of paul's day were so legalistic they had figured out how many steps you could take on a sabbath day and if you took... i forget how many steps it was, but like if it was 1,000 and if you took 1,001

then you were sinning against god. the people that actually raised john the baptist... the essenes, the people that wrote the dead sea scrolls and hid them in those caves... they lived right there around the dead sea... in those writings it's actually prescribed that having a bowel movement on the sabbath day was breaking the law, you could not do it. i mean, it's just ridiculous the religious doctrines that men have added to things. the lord said, honor the sabbath day, and man, they have turned these into rules and stuff and likewise, the lord said, be modest, and yet for women in some of these groups, they have made that so thau've got to look plain and bland. i've actually seen women before that had naturally rosy cheeks and they will put on tons of makeup to keep their cheeks from looking rosy because it might look like they had put on makeup and they're violating the whole principle of their own laws by doing that. i tell you, religious bondage

is not good, and it blesses me so much to see virginia and caroline and the way that the gospel has set them free, and i know that there's people watching this today... you know, virginia and caroline and the strictness that they were raised in is not the norm for most people today, but there are lots of people around the world that are in extreme legalism and e' you may not be doing all of the outward things, but you have the same mentality. your bondage may be that you have to spend so much time a day studying the word or praying in tongues or you've got to go to church or you've got to pay your tithes and there could be different things, but you have the same thing. you just never feel good enough. you never feel worthy. it's all based on your performance and it's frustrating, and if the truth was to be known, you are just as frustrated as caroline was in that video that we showed you today, and so i want to encourage you, the same truths that set these two women free... woman free, can set you free and it's all in the word,

and especially the book of romans. this is what this teaching is about, is to set you free from this performance based relationship with god, and instead, you come to where you put faith in god only. as it says in romans, chapter 5, verse 2, we have access by faith into this grace. as it says in romans, chapter 4, god justifies the ungodly. he doesn't justify god plye. you have to come to the end of yourself, admit that you've sinned and come short, and put your faith in a savior, and so the exact same things that have worked for caroline and for virginia will also work for you, and i want to encourage you, there's a number on your screen, and i encourage you to call and get these materials, but also, if you find yoursela and if this has given you a glimmer of hope and you said, could god do that for me... could god change my relationship with him, then i want you to call that number

and talk to someone. order the materials, but also tell them that you just need to be free, that you need prayer, you need help, and these people will help you and i promise you, it will be a blessing to you. so, on our program tomorrow, g to get back into talking from the book of romans and talk about two types of righteousness. so, join me again tomorrow for the gospel truth . >> andrew's teaching on romans is available on either cd or dvd as seen on tv in the series titled the gospel: the power of god. or you can get this teaching in the book titled grace: the power of the gospel in either english or spanish. each is available for a gift of any amount. in addition, this teaching is available in a companion study guide. not only is the entire teaching included in the study guide, you can also print off as many copies as you like when you download the pdf files from the included data cd. this valuable resource is available for a gift of $35 or more. also, if you would like

a verse-by-verse commentary on romans, consider andrew's life for today study bible: romans edition . it includes 470 footnotes that will help you understand god's unconditional love and grace. it's available for a gift of $20 or more when you contact us. or if you prefer, all of these resources are available as part of the romans collection. it includes your choice of either the cd or dvd, the book, the study guide, and the life for today study bible: romans edition . this collection has a catalog value of $99, but today you can receive it for a gift of $50 or more. go to awmi.net and click on today's tv offer to see all the ways you can get this teaching. the fourth audio teaching in today's series is titled two kinds of righteousness . it's available for a gift of any amount when you write or call. we encourage everyone to give, but if you're simply

unable to afford it, andrew and his partners will provide this fourth cd free of charge. we would also like to remind you that we are offering andrew's latest book titled how to find, follow, and fulfill god's will for a gift of any amount. contact us today to get your copy. you can use your credit card to order resources through our web site at awmi.net. while you're there, you can discover more product details and download additional free resources. or you can order through our helpline monday through friday from 4:30am to 9:30pm mountain time. our helpline number is 719-635-1111. if the lines are busy, remember - you can order ministry materials 24-hours a day, 7 days a week at awmi.net. to write us, use the address on your screen. we appreciate your generosity and hope to hear >> from you today.

if you are a full time minister, i would like to invite you to join me on september the 30th through october the 4th as we have our ministers' conference right here in colorado springs. this is always a highlight of the year. we have bob nichols pastor of calvary cathedral in fort worth, also bob yandian from tulsa, oklahoma, are always with me and we minister. i tell you, it's going to be a great time. it's just a special time for ministers, plus our building is nearly going to be complete. you'll be able to go visit that up at the sanctuary in woodland park. remember that the dates are september the 30th through october the 4th, monday through friday at noon. our ministers' conference 2013, right here in colorado springs. >> nine months in the womb... 27 hours in labor... a still-born baby and word-filled parents

who refused to give in... discover what happens when god's word is put into action and life overcomes death. take a healing journey with junaid, kelly-anne and baby benjamin. it's a journey you won't soon forget. healing journeys, volume 4 now available on dvd >> at awmi.net

>> announcer: the following program is paid for by the friends and partners of joyce meyer ministries. [music] >> joyce: well, god offers us faith. romans 12:3 says, "unto every man is given the measure of faith." so, you have faith. you don't need to pray for faith. i don't need to pray for faith.

i just need to use the faith that i have. and the more that i use the faith that i have, the stronger it will get. faith can grow, but the only way it grows is if you use it. and faith is a force. it's actually a powerful force that resides on the inside of our spirit and when it's released, tremendous things can happen in our life. like, for example, the bible says, "when a righteous man prays, tremendous power is made available." so faith is a power force. we have faith, but i believe that there's a--kind of a law in the universe which i call use it or lose it. and so, if you don't use a muscle, it's gonna become atrophied and weak and you won't be able to use it. if you had a cast on your arm or a cast on your leg, when you take that off, it's been on

a long time, the muscle's just weak and you so you have to have therapy and you have to get it all strengthened again. and i believe it's the same way with our faith. unto every man is given the measure of god's faith, not just any kind of faith, but the measure of god's faith. you have to have some kind of faith or you wouldn't even get out of bed in the morning. when you get out of bed in the morning, you're putting faith in your legs and faith in the floor that if the two meet, you're gonna stand upright. so we operate in faith all the time, a natural kind of faith. you have to have faith to drive in traffic. amen? you certainly have to have faith to raise children. gotta have a lot of faith to be married and stay married for a long time. have to have a lot of faith. but when we can begin to understand that it's a god kind of faith that we have as believers in christ and that it's god's actual faith that is in us, it's not just a human kind of faith, the kind of faith

that we get up in the morning and put our feet on the floor, but this is a special god kind of faith that we have. and paul even said that he got to the point where he lived by that faith. he said, "it's no longer i that live but christ that liveth in me and the life that i now live, i live by the faith of the son of god who died and gave himself up for me." now faith is not something that we, necessarily, feel or that we see. faith is a decision that we make about where we're going to put our trust. i want to say it again. faith is not a feeling that we wait to have. i don't say, "oh, i feel really faithful tonight." you know, sometimes i feel really like anointed and full of the spirit of god when i come out to do this, and sometimes i don't feel that at all. but i've found out that if i step into it by faith, god always meets us when