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465 | God Perfectly Provides · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  God is in control.
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  She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman
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  at the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
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  like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living her life for Christ She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  It's easy to believe that everything we have is ours, our job, our home, our money.
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  After all, we worked hard for it, right? But what if I told you it's not really yours at all?
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  Everything you have, every blessing, every possession, every opportunity is from God.
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  He gave you the ability to work, the mind to learn, and the open doors to walk through.
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  And just like the Israelites, we need constant reminders that the source of all we have is Him.
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  In this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  Erica Close takes us into Deuteronomy chapter 8, focusing on verse 18.
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  But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is He that gives us the power
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  to get wealth, that he may establish
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  his covenant, which he swear unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
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  Let's dive into what it really means to live with open hands,
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  a grateful heart, and a deep awareness that it all belongs to God.
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  Well, thank you so much for joining us today in this podcast.
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  I am so excited to dive into Deuteronomy chapter 8, and we're going to do that
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  right now, starting in verse 1.
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  All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do,
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  that ye may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord
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  sware unto your fathers.
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  And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty
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  years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was
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  in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.
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  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna,
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  which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee
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  know that man doth not live by bread alone,
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  but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
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  Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell these forty years.
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  Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son,
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  so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
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  Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God,
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  to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
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  For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water,
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  of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills.
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  A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates,
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  a land of oil, olive, and honey,
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  a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack
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  anything in it, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
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  When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for
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  the good land which he hath given thee.
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  Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments,
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  and his statutes, which I command thee this day, lest when thou hast eaten,
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  and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein,
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  and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied,
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  and all that thou hast is multiplied,
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  then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God,
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  which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage,
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  who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness,
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  wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water,
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  who brought thee forth water out of the rock of Flint,
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  who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not,
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  that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end.
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  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten
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  me this wealth, but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God.
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  For it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his.
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  Covenant, which he swear unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
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  And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other
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  gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
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  As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish,
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  because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.
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  It's so easy in today's world to think that all that we have is ours because
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  we purchased it with money we earned.
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  It sounds logical, doesn't it?
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  Well, what if I told you that nothing you own is yours, nothing at all,
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  but it doesn't belong to the bank or to your credit card, your parents or your spouse?
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  Instead, all that you have and all those things that you purchase belong to God.
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  You see, he got you your job, that through it he might provide the finances
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  that you need to live your life.
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  What do you think about that? We'll hold on to that thought for a minute.
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  This is an age-old quandary and idea, and one that the Israelites needed to learn as well.
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  Let's, like, take a look at the lesson they learned.
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  God's desire for his people Israel is stated in just about every chapter of
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  the book of Deuteronomy.
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  God wanted Israel to live well, to multiply, and to take possession of the blessed
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  land that God promised them.
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  God's purposes would have resulted in happy, prosperous people living in luxury.
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  God's only requirements were that the people obeyed him and that they remembered his blessings.
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  The exhortation to remember his blessings is another subject that is found in
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  just about every chapter in Deuteronomy.
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  Obviously, the Israelites struggled with remembering.
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  Sometimes remembering the most basic of things is the hardest.
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  God wanted the Israelites to remember that he provided them with manna when they were hungry.
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  They had never seen manna before. It was obviously supernatural,
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  and yet they had forgotten.
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  What is so sad here is that it really isn't the wafer of manna that God is asking
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  them to remember. It's him.
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  If we look closer at verse 3, that God's purpose in feeding the manna to the
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  Israelites was that they would come to understand this most important principle,
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  that man doth not live by bread alone, but only by the word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.
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  The Israelites lived because of the promise of God to protect them and to bring
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  them into the promised land.
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  The manna didn't save the Israelites, but God, as the source of the manna, saved the Israelites.
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  God not only fed the Israelites, he also protected them.
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  Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell for forty years.
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  As Moses exhorts the Israelites to remember God's provision,
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  he also reminds them that God will chasten those that he loves.
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  God loved the Israelites and wanted the best for them, but just as with any
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  parent, he knew that sometimes the actions of the Israelites needed to be redirected.
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  In order to prevent this redirection, the Israelites were reminded to obey God's
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  laws, because with obedience came great blessings.
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  In this case, passage into the promised land. And what would they find in the promised land?
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  They would find brooks, fountains, wells, and springs.
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  Wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates would already be planted for them.
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  Bread would never be scarce, and the hills themselves were rich in iron and brass.
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  What more could they want or need? Nothing.
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  God was going to provide completely. Yet here comes that remembrance issue again.
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  I think it's obvious that forgetting the source of the blessing was a common issue.
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  In verse 10, the Israelites are reminded to bless and thank the Lord for his provision.
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  Verse 11 clearly says, Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God.
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  Friends, we have to remember to thank God and to keep his blessings and provision
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  at the forefront of our minds.
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  When we don't keep him at the center of our minds and hearts,
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  we fall into a vicious trap, that of thinking that we've earned it all on our own.
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  Look at how God sets up this verse.
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  He warns the Israelites that if they forget to bless and thank God for all he
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  has done, such as provided them with homes, multiplied the herds,
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  the flocks, and the treasuries.
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  Ended their Egyptian slavery, and brought them through the desert wilderness,
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  they will end up ungrateful and say in their hearts, My power and the might
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  of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
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  How quickly the source is forgotten.
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  God, the source of all, is the one that allowed all these blessings to fall
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  upon the Israelites and yet they fell into the great trap of the devil,
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  tricking us into forgetting God.
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  But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power
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  to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swear unto thy fathers as it is this day.
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  Check out Deuteronomy 8.18.
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  God gave the Israelites power to get the wealth they had because he wanted to
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  establish them as his people to keep the covenant he promised unto their forefathers.
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  All that the Israelites had came from God above.
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  It wasn't theirs to possess, but theirs to use for God's purposes.
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  The same is true for us today.
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  Deuteronomy chapter 8 ends with two strongly worded verses that explain the
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  results of ungratefulness and disobedience.
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  If the Israelites forgot God
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  and his blessings, God knew they would be tempted by other gods and idols.
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  When they stepped away from him and towards those other idols,
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  they would surely perish, just like all the nations that they had conquered
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  in God's power as the nation of Israel.
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  Their own disobedience would lead them to the same set of circumstances that befell their enemies.
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  I think that this passage likely rang true for many of us.
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  It's so easy to hold tightly to our money and possessions.
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  We think that since we worked hard all day, all the spoils of our day belong to us.
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  Though that concept may be very popular, unfortunately, it's very false.
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  The devil wants nothing more than for the children of God to forget that he
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  is the source of all of our provision.
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  We cannot forget that God gets us the jobs that pay the bills,
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  and even prior to that, he gave us the mind and skills to complete the jobs.
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  So what does it really mean for us that God owns our stuff?
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  Well, if he owns it, we should be daily asking what he wants us to do with it.
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  Ask him if he wants you to sell that purse on Poshmark, or if you should give
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  it to your neighbor who would never be able to afford such an item.
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  Ask him where to go when it's time to head out for a restaurant dinner.
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  Ask him whether it's time to buy the house or continue to rent.
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  Ask him whether you should buy that car or use the extra cash to support your church.
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  Ask him, ask him.
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  You see, when you realize that it's God's money, you'll start asking where it should go.
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  And when you start putting God's money to work for the things he wants,
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  you'll be amazed at how far it goes, how you have all that you need,
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  and how you are blessed in abundance.
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  Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down and shaken
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  together, and running over shall men give into your bosom.
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  For with the same measure that ye meet with all, it shall be measured to you again.
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  Luke 6, 38.
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  Start asking God what to do with the money he's given you, and then sit back
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  and see what he accomplishes with it.
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  Living a thankful life instead of an ungrateful life is the key component of a life lived for Christ.
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  When we really get our hearts and minds wrapped around the idea that God is
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  the source of it all, we can't help but be thankful.
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  Seek Him today and ask Him to help you see His hands at work in your life.
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  Ask God to show you the paths that His provision takes to get to you.
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  Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to your remembrance all the things that you need
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  to be thankful for, and then start thanking.
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  It's probably a mighty long list.
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  Remember that you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  You can find our app by searching for Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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  store or through our website at watwm.org.
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  We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash watwm.
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  If you visit our website, you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits,
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  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Woman at the Well Ministries is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving
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  our Heavenly Father, and it is through your loving and generous support that
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  our ministry continues to bless others.
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  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our.
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  Music.