Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 10 16 2026 Not Perfect but Willing

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10 16 2026 Not Perfect but Willing · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too much,
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  Speaker 1: because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy for
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  Speaker 1: today's needs. Why then do some of us expect yesterday's
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  Speaker 1: portion of heavenly manna, the word of God, to keep
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  Speaker 1: us through today's challenges? On this program, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to change all of that. Let's experience God's words today
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  Speaker 1: and receive the power we need to live healthy, vibrant lives.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Your Daily Portion. with your host, author, speaker, L.
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  Speaker 1: David Harris.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Friday, October 16, 2026. Hello,
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  Speaker 2: my name is L. David Harris. I am your host,
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  Speaker 2: and this is your Daily Portion, where we give you
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  Speaker 2: God's Word every single day, and today is no exception.
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  Speaker 2: We are continuing in our lesson study series, The Gift
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  Speaker 2: of Prophecy, and our caption for today is, Not perfect,
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  Speaker 2: but willing. Not perfect, but willing. But Willie, before we
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  Speaker 2: get into that, I'd like to say welcome to you
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  Speaker 2: and ask you to please go over to yourdailyportion.com. Will
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  Speaker 2: you please, please go ahead and click that button. Begin
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  Speaker 2: the assessment to stop guessing what to do with your life.
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  Speaker 2: Discover God's design for your life. Once you've invested just
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  Speaker 2: a few minutes of your time, you will come away
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  Speaker 2: with a personal blueprint, a clear picture of how God
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  Speaker 2: gifted you. the word behind each gift, and the first
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  Speaker 2: step toward using it. So please go ahead and do that.
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  Speaker 2: You will enrich the kingdom with that and also yourselves
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  Speaker 2: as God leads you. Please also, you have another opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to contribute to the Your Daily Portion Ministries because we
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  Speaker 2: are listener and viewer supported. We didn't get our 53
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  Speaker 2: from yesterday, my birthday of 53 years, so we're still
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  Speaker 2: looking forward For that, this will be the day that
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  Speaker 2: I'm hoping that that tally will get up to 53
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  Speaker 2: persons giving a special gift for that purpose. for your
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  Speaker 2: daily portions growth, okay? Let's go ahead and pray, and
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  Speaker 2: then we will get underway. Father, we thank you for
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  Speaker 2: this day. We are not perfect, but you, not on
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  Speaker 2: our own for sure, but you are making us holy.
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  Speaker 2: You are making us perfect. Please teach us to live
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  Speaker 2: according to your call. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
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  Speaker 2: And amen again, not perfect, but willing, not perfect, but willing.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm going to share a little bit more about
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  Speaker 2: the sister Ellen Harmon from back in the day. Well,
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  Speaker 2: she shrank from God's call, almost like Moses did in
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  Speaker 2: a different way, but almost like Moses did. And yet
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  Speaker 2: she surrendered and gave the rest of her life to
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  Speaker 2: God's bidding. Now, can you see yourself in young Ellen's
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  Speaker 2: story where God has called you to do something and
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  Speaker 2: he said, this is what it is. And you look
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  Speaker 2: at it and it's like, whoa, that's way too big
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  Speaker 2: for me. That is beyond my reach. And God is saying, well,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not calling you because you're capable. I'm not calling
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  Speaker 2: you because you're already equipped. I'm calling you and I'm
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  Speaker 2: equipping you at the same time. So that is God's
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  Speaker 2: God's job. Like he's equipping you and he's calling you.
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  Speaker 2: So she surrendered. Here's the lesson for all of us.
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  Speaker 2: God chooses imperfect people who don't have natural capability to
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  Speaker 2: do exactly what God says. Yes, we do have some skills. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: we do have some abilities. But to go to the
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  Speaker 2: extent of what God wants, we need the Holy Ghost.
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  Speaker 2: So God chooses imperfect people like that who are willing
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  Speaker 2: to serve. And so that's the question. Are you willing?
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  Speaker 2: Am I willing to serve God? I can tell you
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  Speaker 2: that many years ago, I'll tell you this specifically. I
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  Speaker 2: went to, uh, uh, pastor Doug bachelor when he was
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  Speaker 2: at the general conference headquarters many years ago. And I
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  Speaker 2: told him I wanted to do the same thing that
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  Speaker 2: he was doing with his life. I wanted to do
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  Speaker 2: that with my life. And, uh, to make a long
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  Speaker 2: story short, um, My sister told me to go and
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  Speaker 2: speak to a few people and it didn't go as
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  Speaker 2: well as I had hoped, you know, and it had
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  Speaker 2: nothing to do with them. It's just the reality of
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  Speaker 2: the thing. And then she said, well, you're going to
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  Speaker 2: have to create it. You're going to have to create it.
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  Speaker 2: And many years later, I don't know if it was
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  Speaker 2: 14 years later, just about 14 years later or so,
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  Speaker 2: I did. I did. I did exactly what my sister said. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I prayed about it. And I'm not saying
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  Speaker 2: I'm like Pastor Doug Batchelor. I'm like me. But I
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  Speaker 2: will say, though, that the growth and the extent of
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  Speaker 2: the gospel going out from my vantage point has been
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  Speaker 2: growing and growing ever since God showed my sister how
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  Speaker 2: to activate me. So he is calling imperfect people who
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  Speaker 2: are willing to serve him. Now, our first lesson is
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  Speaker 2: coming in from Acts chapter 22, the Bible book of
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  Speaker 2: Acts chapter 22, and I will read in verse 19.
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  Speaker 2: Acts chapter 22, and I will read in verse 19.
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  Speaker 2: The Bible reads, I replied, Lord, they themselves know that
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  Speaker 2: I am in prison and beat those in the various
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  Speaker 2: synagogues who believed in you. So this is when Paul,
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  Speaker 2: this is when the brother was being called, being called
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  Speaker 2: into service. And God is like, I need you to
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  Speaker 2: do this. I need you to do this. And so
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  Speaker 2: God took a man with a painful past and made
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  Speaker 2: him a witness to the world. Like the people of
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  Speaker 2: God knew that this was a guy you did not
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  Speaker 2: want around them. He was disrespectful as far as they
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  Speaker 2: were concerned. He was detrimental to the gospel. And you're
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  Speaker 2: saying that you're going to call the guy who was
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  Speaker 2: our enemy to come in and do the work of
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  Speaker 2: the gospel? What is going on here? And God is
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  Speaker 2: telling us that your failures and fears do not put
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  Speaker 2: you beyond the reach of God's call on your life.
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  Speaker 2: God is the one that transforms us. He's the one
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  Speaker 2: that causes us to see the error in our ways
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  Speaker 2: so that we can do his work. And so offer today,
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  Speaker 2: offer God the very part of your story that you
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  Speaker 2: think disqualifies you. Is it the way you speak or
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  Speaker 2: not speak? Is it the way you write or don't write?
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  Speaker 2: Is it the fact that you're an introvert or that
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  Speaker 2: you're an extrovert? or something even more complex than that.
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  Speaker 2: But give all of that to God, and let Him
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  Speaker 2: use you as His witness today. Our second lesson comes
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  Speaker 2: in from the Bible book of Jeremiah chapter 1 and
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  Speaker 2: verse 7. Somebody was anticipating that. Jeremiah chapter 1, and
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  Speaker 2: I will read verse 7. And the Bible reads, But
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  Speaker 2: the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child,
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  Speaker 2: so this is God in Jeremiah having a conversation. And
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  Speaker 2: of course, he wants to deal with the inner state,
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  Speaker 2: the mind of Jeremiah before he gets off track.' Say not,
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  Speaker 2: I am a child, for thou shalt go to all
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  Speaker 2: that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee,
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  Speaker 2: thou shalt speak.' So if we're focusing on our own skills,
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  Speaker 2: our own abilities— our own confidence, if we're focusing on
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  Speaker 2: the things that we can know and see on our own,
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  Speaker 2: then we're going to fail. But God is saying, I
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  Speaker 2: have a message for you. All you need to do
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  Speaker 2: is surrender yourself, listen to my message, and simply speak that.
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  Speaker 2: Simply deliver what I am giving you to deliver. What
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  Speaker 2: is the message God is giving you? To whom is
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  Speaker 2: he sending you? Is it your family? Are they your neighbors?
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  Speaker 2: Are there people even in your faith fellowship that God
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  Speaker 2: is saying, okay, I want to take them higher, and
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  Speaker 2: I need you to facilitate some of that. Whatever the case,
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  Speaker 2: be faithful to God. Be faithful to God. God is
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  Speaker 2: the one commissioning you. And so, like young Ellen, Jeremiah
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  Speaker 2: too felt young and weak for the task. But God
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  Speaker 2: overruled his fear. When God sends you, He's the one
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  Speaker 2: that's taken, who has already taken the responsibility of equipping you. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: he has. And so we read now from the book
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  Speaker 2: Spiritual Gifts in that vein, volume two, pages 35 and 36.
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  Speaker 2: Some of you were saying, I'm not going because I'm
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  Speaker 2: already old. What? You're already old. I think, uh, Sarah and, and, uh,
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  Speaker 2: Abraham would have something to say about that one. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: so I digress. So we read, I earnestly prayed that
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  Speaker 2: the burden might be laid on some other one, but
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  Speaker 2: all the light I could get was make known to
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  Speaker 2: the others what I have revealed to you.
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  Speaker 1: Hmm.
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  Speaker 2: You're looking for somebody else to take your spot. You
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  Speaker 2: don't want that. You don't want to be replaced by God.
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  Speaker 2: You want to be used by God. And so do I. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: make it a great day.
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  Speaker 1: Peace. Thanks for joining us, listening friends. Always remember, we
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  Speaker 1: cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that
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  Speaker 1: comes from the mouth of God. This has been your
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  Speaker 1: daily portion with L. David Harris. Make it a great day.