Latest / Reflections On The Word With Richard Kay / War and Victory - Part 5 - Discipline and Preparation | Episode #367 | Encore Episode #038

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War and Victory - Part 5 - Discipline and Preparation | Episode #367 | Encore Episode #038 · Reflections On The Word With Richard Kay

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's edition of Reflection on the Word with
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  Speaker 1: Richard K. I'm Chuck Christie, and today we are asking
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  Speaker 1: you to spend a few moments of your time with
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  Speaker 1: us each day as Richard shares from God's work with notes, quotes,
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  Speaker 1: and story along with some of his own personal experiences,
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  Speaker 1: to confirm for you God's great love for us, that
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  Speaker 1: his compassion for us never fails, and that He has
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  Speaker 1: a great faithfulness toward us in every regard. Now, if
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  Speaker 1: you miss a portion of today's broadcast or would like
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  Speaker 1: to recommend it to a friend, you can hear this
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  Speaker 1: program anytime online at Talknetwork Radio dot com. Well, now
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  Speaker 1: here's Richard with today's reflection.
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  Speaker 2: For although we are walking in the flesh, we do
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  Speaker 2: not wage war in a fleshy way, since the weapons
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  Speaker 2: of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God.
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  Speaker 2: For the demolition of strongholds, we demolish arguments and every
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  Speaker 2: high minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge
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  Speaker 2: of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
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  Speaker 2: Second Current Deans ten and verses three through five. We
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  Speaker 2: are going to be talking more today about our spiritual warfare.
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  Speaker 2: We realize that the weapons that we have are not carnivals,
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  Speaker 2: or as we read moments ago, they are not fleshly
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  Speaker 2: weapons because we are not fighting a fleshly enemy. Our
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  Speaker 2: weapons are mighty powerful through God. The apostle Paul wrote
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  Speaker 2: that our enemy is not man, but man's enemy, the
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  Speaker 2: devil and his forces. So we know our enemy and
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  Speaker 2: we know our marching orders. Now let's get to know
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  Speaker 2: our weapons. We are told that we must put on
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  Speaker 2: the whole armor of God. We must realize. One of
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  Speaker 2: the reasons why the good News the Gospel has not
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  Speaker 2: reached all people is that Christians followers of Jesus, either
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  Speaker 2: knowingly or unknowingly, do not put on the whole armor.
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  Speaker 2: A warrior needs to know his weapons and his armor.
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  Speaker 2: An illustration of this is from the biblical passage found
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  Speaker 2: in the account in First Samuel, chapter seventeen and verses
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  Speaker 2: thirty eight to fifty one. This is the account of
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  Speaker 2: David as a young lad facing a task of combat
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  Speaker 2: with a giant named Goliath. The king Saw gave David
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  Speaker 2: his own armor and weapons. Now, the young boy could
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  Speaker 2: not possibly wear a man's armor or use his sword.
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  Speaker 2: David knew who gave him his orders, and he knew
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  Speaker 2: that God would give him victory. He fully believed that
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  Speaker 2: God would protect him, and therefore he wore the best armor.
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  Speaker 2: He also knew to disable an enemy such as Goliath,
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  Speaker 2: he had to strike him in the head or control
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  Speaker 2: center so as to make him immobile. David was the
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  Speaker 2: winner because he fought on the right side with the
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  Speaker 2: best weapon and the best armor. Now we can learn
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  Speaker 2: much from this example. You see, it was not the
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  Speaker 2: brute strength of David, nor the trained war style of Salt,
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  Speaker 2: but the plan and might of God which made a
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  Speaker 2: victor of a small boy. You may not think yourself
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  Speaker 2: as a warrior or a soldier, and you may not
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  Speaker 2: picture yourself in combat, but be assured you are. Remember,
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  Speaker 2: a good warrior knows his weapons and his armor. Now
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  Speaker 2: here is a startling thought. You can know your weapons
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  Speaker 2: and know your armor, but if you don't use them,
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  Speaker 2: they will do you no good in combat. Many Christians
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  Speaker 2: are aware the need of these items of combat, but
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  Speaker 2: just failed to use them, so they are ineffective as soldiers.
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  Speaker 2: Why am I telling you this? It is biblical that
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  Speaker 2: we are to put on the whole armor God. And
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  Speaker 2: the reason is that once we have recognized and have
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  Speaker 2: put on the whole armor. We can then stand. Having
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  Speaker 2: done all that we can do to take a stand.
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  Speaker 2: Then we do take the stand, fully armed and ready
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  Speaker 2: to carry the good news to everyone that has been
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  Speaker 2: held captive by the enemy. If you're a child of God,
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  Speaker 2: then you are in his army and your ultimate mission
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  Speaker 2: is clear. Some of us have already received specific instructions,
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  Speaker 2: some are waiting, and others have just joined the force.
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  Speaker 2: A good army trains to be ready whenever it is
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  Speaker 2: called into combat. An army has to know how to
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  Speaker 2: take orders and follow them. It has to keep its
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  Speaker 2: weapons and armament in readiness to meet the demand. There's
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  Speaker 2: also discipline in the life of a good soldier. Jesus said,
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  Speaker 2: to teach others how to be his disciples, we must
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  Speaker 2: be dis discipline ourselves before we can teach others how
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  Speaker 2: to discipline themselves. Much of this discipline is spiritual, but
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  Speaker 2: some is physical and mental, and as good soldiers, we
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  Speaker 2: need to understand the importance of these disciplines. As a
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  Speaker 2: child of God, we are given the privilege of learning them.
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  Speaker 2: Some are for very obvious things, such as eliminating bad habits.
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  Speaker 2: Others are for more ob secure things such as changing attitudes, thoughts,
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  Speaker 2: or prejudices. We should always enter into the disciplines knowing
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  Speaker 2: that we are not our own We belonged to Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: We have been purchased by His sacrifice and given his
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  Speaker 2: purpose in life. As he makes us aware of areas
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  Speaker 2: in our own lives which need disciplining, we should realize
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  Speaker 2: that His purpose is to make us like him, holy, perfect,
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  Speaker 2: without spot or blemish. We should endure chastening or the
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  Speaker 2: discipline from God as from a father to a son,
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  Speaker 2: for we are his children and He loves us enough
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  Speaker 2: to help us grow into full maturity. Many times this
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  Speaker 2: requires self denial such as fasting, but it demonstrates a
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  Speaker 2: greater trust in God. Let's look at our diet and
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  Speaker 2: our nutrition. Sometimes we must compare the areas of our discipline,
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  Speaker 2: both physical and spiritual. As you know, the physical body
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  Speaker 2: requires a certain amount of nourishment, exercise, and rest in
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  Speaker 2: order to function properly. Remember, our bodies are the temple
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  Speaker 2: of the Holy Spirit. His spirit would not seem very
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  Speaker 2: welcome in that temple when we abuse or misuse our body.
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  Speaker 2: If we are full of wine to excess, then there's
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  Speaker 2: very little capacity for the Holy Spirit. Of God. Likewise,
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  Speaker 2: we can suffer great physical and mental anguish due to
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  Speaker 2: the neglect of the disciplines in these areas. Just as
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  Speaker 2: the body needs certain things to help it grow and function,
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  Speaker 2: so the soul and spirit must also have nourishment, exercise,
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  Speaker 2: and rest. It is said that what we eat begins
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  Speaker 2: to show on us physically and spiritually. Would you expect
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  Speaker 2: your body to perform as it should by only feeding
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  Speaker 2: it once or twice a week, Yet so many of
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  Speaker 2: us are feeding our spirit in just that manner. We
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  Speaker 2: expect that we can contend with life's function spiritually with
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  Speaker 2: such a meager diet of perhaps one scripture lesson or
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  Speaker 2: Sunday school class and one or two services a week.
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  Speaker 2: With our diet pattern described, we then proceed to exercise
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  Speaker 2: our spirit by about the same amount of prayer. Much
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  Speaker 2: of our praying is self centered and based on what
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  Speaker 2: we want, not on what God wants for us. This
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  Speaker 2: may be the reason that so much of our praying
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  Speaker 2: seems to go unanswered. In our neglect to properly feed
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  Speaker 2: our spirit, we fail to receive enough nourishment from His word.
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  Speaker 2: Our growth is stunted because we are not yet ready
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  Speaker 2: for exercise and This is a simple, yet most overlooked principle.
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  Speaker 2: The Bible states that if we add anything of God
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  Speaker 2: according to his will, he will hear us and do
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  Speaker 2: what we ask. Paraphrasing First John, chapter five, verses fourteen
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  Speaker 2: and fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: Richard will be right back in a moment to wrap up.
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  Speaker 1: But if you've just joined us, you've been listening to
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  Speaker 1: Reflections on the Word with Richard K. You can hear
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  Speaker 1: this message in its entirety again online as well as
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  Speaker 1: Richard's entire archive at Talknetwork Radio dot com. We would
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  Speaker 1: like to acknowledge our theme song, how Great Is Thy
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  Speaker 1: Faithfulness from the America's twenty five Favorite Hymns album unless otherwise.
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  Speaker 1: Express scriptures are read from the Holman Christian Standard Bible,
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  Speaker 1: which is published by Homann Bible Publishers in Nashville, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 1: Additional resources used for Reflections on the Word with Richard
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  Speaker 1: K include Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Our Daily Bread
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  Speaker 1: and printed by Discovery House Publishers. Again, here is Richard
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  Speaker 1: to wrap up today's message.
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  Speaker 2: Have you ever found yourself saying, God, please do something
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  Speaker 2: if it's your will. We think that by being ignorant
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  Speaker 2: of His will, we remove the responsibility from ourselves and
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  Speaker 2: place it solely on God. Well, what are the results?
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  Speaker 2: Have we really been effective in our prayer life exercise
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  Speaker 2: or are we still just making excuses? If this seems hard,
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  Speaker 2: remember it is never easy to be the best. Jesus
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  Speaker 2: gave his best for us. Isn't it only right that
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  Speaker 2: we should give our best for him? Do you want
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  Speaker 2: to hear him say well done, good and faithful servant.
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  Speaker 2: That's the importance of discipline, and obedience to Him is command.
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  Speaker 2: Remember the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but
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  Speaker 2: mighty through God. To the pulling down of Satan's strongholds.
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  Speaker 2: And that is today's reflection on the word.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Richard. Join us again tomorrow when we continue
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  Speaker 1: with the next edition of Reflections on the Work with
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  Speaker 1: Richard k or Richard the entire team. This is Chuck
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  Speaker 1: Christie saying thanks for listening to this edition of Reflections
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  Speaker 1: on the Work.