Latest / The Divine Worth Podcast / Finding Self-Worth in Grief | Come Follow Me Isaiah 50–57: He Is the One Who Comforts You

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Finding Self-Worth in Grief | Come Follow Me Isaiah 50–57: He Is the One Who Comforts You · The Divine Worth Podcast

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  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had a week where you felt like you were carrying everything?
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  SPEAKER_00: The worries,
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  SPEAKER_00: the to-do lists,
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  SPEAKER_00: the people you love who are hurting,
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  SPEAKER_00: or even that own pain yourself,
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  SPEAKER_00: and then that quiet voice in the back of your mind whispering,
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  SPEAKER_00: you're not doing enough, or you're not enough?
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  SPEAKER_00: If that's you right now, this episode is for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Divine Worth Podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm Karen Papin.
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  SPEAKER_00: This week we are diving into Isaiah chapters 50 through 57.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I want to start with this first verse.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's Isaiah chapter 51 verse 12.
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  SPEAKER_00: It says, I, even I, am he that comforteth you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die,
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  SPEAKER_00: and of a son of man which shall be made as grass?
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  SPEAKER_00: And what I love about that verse,
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  SPEAKER_00: I
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  SPEAKER_00: just got done recording a session for the Divine War Summit with Jenny Webb
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  SPEAKER_00: where we are talking about being made whole through seasons of grief.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it was a heavier episode or a heavier session because we are talking about grief
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  SPEAKER_00: and those experiences that we've had where we've lost someone that we love.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that we have both found.
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  SPEAKER_00: Is that the Lord comforts us and He is there in those hard times and in those seasons of grief.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is something that is a thing without Are throughout these chapters in Isaiah.
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  SPEAKER_00: That the Lord comforts us.
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  SPEAKER_00: That He is there for us in those hard times.
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  SPEAKER_00: Going back to earlier in the chapter in Isaiah 51, it says, For the Lord shall comfort Zion.
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  SPEAKER_00: He will comfort all her waste places.
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  SPEAKER_00: And He will make her wilderness like Eden.
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  SPEAKER_00: And throughout
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  SPEAKER_00: these chapters,
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  SPEAKER_00: what I have really seen as I've read them is that the Lord is calling out
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  SPEAKER_00: to these pains and these sorrows and these struggles that we face and
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  SPEAKER_00: then reminding us that He is there and because He is there,
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  SPEAKER_00: there is hope and there is joy and there is peace.
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  SPEAKER_00: As someone who struggled with infertility for about five years,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is a verse that really spoke to me because going through that,
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  SPEAKER_00: was one of the harder experiences of my life.
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  SPEAKER_00: Having a miscarriage in the midst of that time and even wondering if I would be able
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  SPEAKER_00: to have kids was very heartbreaking for me when it was something
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  SPEAKER_00: that I have always wanted throughout my life.
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  SPEAKER_00: And yet, through that time, the Lord carried me and He was there and He was helping me.
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  SPEAKER_00: In verse 7 of chapter 54,
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  SPEAKER_00: it says,
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  SPEAKER_00: For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it is hard to see the Lord in our life, but He is there.
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  SPEAKER_00: He truly is there.
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  SPEAKER_00: Even in those moments when we struggle to feel Him in our lives,
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  SPEAKER_00: when we struggle to see Him and know Him,
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  SPEAKER_00: He is still there,
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  SPEAKER_00: reaching out to us, comforting us, holding us, and carrying us in.
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  SPEAKER_00: He will come and He comforts us,
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  SPEAKER_00: even in those times when we feel numb and unable to see in the midst
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  SPEAKER_00: of those hardships that we are facing.
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  SPEAKER_00: Continuing on in verse 10 of chapter 54,
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  SPEAKER_00: For the mountains shall depart,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the hills be removed,
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  SPEAKER_00: but my kindness shall not depart from thee,
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  SPEAKER_00: neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
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  SPEAKER_00: saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay, those mountains and hills that we are facing will be removed someday.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so hang in there because the Lord's kindness is still there.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's still helping you.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's still reaching out.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's still holding you.
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  SPEAKER_00: And He is still giving you that peace as you are able to receive it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 11,
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  SPEAKER_00: O thou who are afflicted,
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  SPEAKER_00: tossed with tempest and not comforted,
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  SPEAKER_00: behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors and that lay...
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  SPEAKER_00: There is hope, and there is strength, and there are blessings to come.
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  SPEAKER_00: Hang on, for He is with you.
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  SPEAKER_00: I want to go into now in Isaiah,
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  SPEAKER_00: actually go back into Isaiah chapter 51 verse 11,
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  SPEAKER_00: and it says, And everlasting joy shall be upon their head.
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  SPEAKER_00: Do you see the joy that is in that scripture?
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  SPEAKER_00: As we hold out,
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  SPEAKER_00: as we continually seek to have the Lord in our lives,
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  SPEAKER_00: as we do those things that have We're taught,
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  SPEAKER_00: such as reading your scriptures and praying and going to the temple and going
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  SPEAKER_00: to church and taking of a prayer.
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  SPEAKER_00: Doing these small and simple things that sometimes even in those moments
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  SPEAKER_00: where we don't see the Lord, as we do those things, He will bring joy into our life.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's not in the timing that we would like it, and yet keep doing those things.
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  SPEAKER_00: Keep holding on.
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  SPEAKER_00: Keep moving forward and keep seeking Him because you will find Him if you seek Him
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  SPEAKER_00: and if you stay true and continually seek Him.
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  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite parts of Isaiah is Is in chapter 53.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it's talking about the Savior.
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  SPEAKER_00: It says, For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.
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  SPEAKER_00: He hath no form nor comeliness,
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  SPEAKER_00: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
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  SPEAKER_00: So it's talking about the Savior.
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  SPEAKER_00: He is despised and rejected of men.
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  SPEAKER_00: What I
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  SPEAKER_00: love about that scripture is it's talking about how Christ is a man
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  SPEAKER_00: of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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  SPEAKER_00: Even in our moments of sorrow and of grief and intense pain,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Lord knows us and He understands us.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Alma chapter 7, it talks about how And here in Isaiah 53, verse 3, we are learning and
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  SPEAKER_00: Gaining a deeper understanding that Christ is a man of sorrows,
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  SPEAKER_00: acquainted with grief, meaning He knows.
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  SPEAKER_00: He knows what we are going through.
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  SPEAKER_00: He knows how hard it is.
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  SPEAKER_00: He knows how it weighs us down because He as well has been through that.
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  SPEAKER_00: And yet we hide our faces from Him because we're struggling,
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  SPEAKER_00: because we are having a hard time seeing Him in the midst of the darkness and grief.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yet the Lord knows us, and He is still reaching out to us.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 4,
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  SPEAKER_00: Surely He hath borne our griefs,
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  SPEAKER_00: and carried our sorrows,
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  SPEAKER_00: yet we did escheme Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
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  SPEAKER_00: So right there, He is carrying us in the midst of these struggles that we are facing.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was wounded for our transgressions.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was bruised for our iniquities.
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  SPEAKER_00: The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it feels like the healing will never come,
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  SPEAKER_00: but because Christ has overcome all things,
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  SPEAKER_00: we can overcome all things as well as we continually put our faith and trust in Him.
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  SPEAKER_00: He has carried us.
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  SPEAKER_00: He is carrying us.
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  SPEAKER_00: And He will continue to carry us.
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  SPEAKER_00: And because of all that He's gone through, we can receive the healing that comes through us.
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  SPEAKER_00: All we like sheep have gone astray,
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  SPEAKER_00: we have turned everyone to his own way,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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  SPEAKER_00: Do you see how much he loves you in this verse?
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  SPEAKER_00: That even when we turn away, he is still willing to go through what he went through for us.
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  SPEAKER_00: He still took upon the iniquity of us all.
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  SPEAKER_00: He took on your iniquity, your sins, your burdens, because He loves you.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.
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  SPEAKER_00: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before His shares is done,
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  SPEAKER_00: so He opened not His mouth.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's not complaining.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's not fighting.
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  SPEAKER_00: He is willingly being that lamb for us.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's willingly being that lamb for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Allow Him in because He loves you.
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  SPEAKER_00: And he's done all this for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: And because of it, there is hope and there is joy to come.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Isaiah chapter 51,
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  SPEAKER_00: verse 15 and 16, But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose ways roared.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Lord of hosts is his name.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I have put my words in thy mouth,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand,
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  SPEAKER_00: that I may plant the heavens,
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  SPEAKER_00: and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
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  SPEAKER_00: What I love about what he's saying here is that it's like, look at what I have done.
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  SPEAKER_00: Look at what I have accomplished.
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  SPEAKER_00: Of course, you can make it through as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: I am with you.
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  SPEAKER_00: And not only that, he is asking you to arise.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's actually the next thing is, it says, awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that's the other thing that comes in through the These chapters in Isaiah is
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  SPEAKER_00: that I am here for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, with me, you can be comforted.
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  SPEAKER_00: With me, you can overcome.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then with me, you can reach out to others and bring them unto me.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 7-9 of chapter 52 says,
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  SPEAKER_00: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
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  SPEAKER_00: that publisheth peace,
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  SPEAKER_00: that bringeth good tidings of good,
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  SPEAKER_00: that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing.
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  SPEAKER_00: For they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
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  SPEAKER_00: Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem.
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  SPEAKER_00: For the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
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  SPEAKER_00: When we liken that to ourselves,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's also just this invitation to be redeemed and to allow the joy that comes from
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  SPEAKER_00: that redemption and from that overcoming to come in so that then you can publish
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  SPEAKER_00: that peace and that joy.
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  SPEAKER_00: And help others to be able to find it as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: There's kind of this natural progression that comes where we recognize
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  SPEAKER_00: that we have done wrong or we're in the midst of a struggle.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we haven't done wrong,
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  SPEAKER_00: but we're experiencing mortality and the experiences that come with that.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we struggle.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then we rely on the Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: And He helps us to overcome in His time, in His way.
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  SPEAKER_00: He helps us to overcome,
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  SPEAKER_00: and through that,
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  SPEAKER_00: we experience the growth that comes from that,
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  SPEAKER_00: but we also see the hope that comes,
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  SPEAKER_00: and we find joy through that redemption process.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then what happens when we are filled with that love?
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  SPEAKER_00: We want to share it with others and help them to be able to feel joy.
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  SPEAKER_00: That love as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that fear starts to come in,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is something that we kind of talked about last week before,
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  SPEAKER_00: where the Lord's calling us and then that fear comes in.
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  SPEAKER_00: And yet the Lord says,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is in chapter 51,
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  SPEAKER_00: verse 7,
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  SPEAKER_00: that says, Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
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  SPEAKER_00: For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the worm shall eat them like wool, but my righteousness shall be forevermore.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so there's that wonderful reminder that it's like, okay,
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  SPEAKER_00: maybe that fear is going to come in,
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  SPEAKER_00: yet shift your focus back to the Lord because He is eternal and He is who overcomes.
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  SPEAKER_00: And men, they're fleeting, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: The reproach of men and the revilings, those are like the moth that shall eat up the garment.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yet the Lord is eternal and He sees your worth and He sees that eternal worth
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  SPEAKER_00: that is within you.
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  SPEAKER_00: So let us turn to Him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let us allow Him to comfort us and to strengthen us and help us to overcome.
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  SPEAKER_00: And even in those moments of grief to continue to hold on to what we know
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  SPEAKER_00: about our Savior and to hold on to that hope that they're Will be a time
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  SPEAKER_00: where we will experience that joy and that great redemption and that overcoming
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  SPEAKER_00: of all things.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to learn more about being made whole,
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  SPEAKER_00: I have the Divine War Summit coming up on October 19th through 23rd,
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  SPEAKER_00: where the whole thing is about being made whole and how we can be made whole
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  SPEAKER_00: through Christ in the different circumstances and struggles that we face,
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  SPEAKER_00: how Christ is there.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to learn more about that,
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  SPEAKER_00: be sure to click the link in the shoutouts and join us for the summit
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  SPEAKER_00: where we will come to better understand and recognize the great love
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  SPEAKER_00: that our Heavenly Father has for us.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next week on the Divine Worth Podcast.