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608 | Strength to Battle · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
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  With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
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  boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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  Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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  are on our website at watwm.org.
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  We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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  who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Life is difficult. We live in a world where the devil has free reign,
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  but God has equipped us for battle and given us all we need to live victoriously in this world.
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  Join us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries, as Kim speaks the
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  truth of God's Word, revealing that we are more than conquerors in this life.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  We're going to be looking in 2 Samuel chapter 22.
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  This entire chapter is David giving
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  an account of his thanksgiving to God but he when he
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  does so he recounts the things that the
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  Lord has done for him and how he has helped
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  him and his men to win the battles and
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  as I began to look at this chapter and was beginning to
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  just read it for my own information
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  and and beginning to just look at it I was struck
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  by how God had prepared the
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  way for david and i
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  am completely consumed by the knowledge of knowing that the lord said that he
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  has a plan for us and as i was thinking about that and beginning to look at
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  this i started thinking about the things that happen in our lives on a day-to-day basis and.
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  And on a day-to-day basis, most of us are faced with difficult challenges and difficult tasks.
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  As we begin to look at those in our lives, we have to determine how it is we are going to face them.
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  Now, David has already spoken to us in his word and told us that the battle
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  isn't his, it belongs to the Lord.
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  And he gave us a wonderful account of that that we've spoken about several times
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  as he faced the giant and how the Lord took that battle and defeated the giant,
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  Goliath, through David.
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  And we see that David has learned that it is the Lord who strengthens him.
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  As Christians living on this side of the cross, we have the absolute wonderful
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  opportunity to read the New Testament.
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  In the New Testament, it speaks of Christ's life, and it speaks of his greatness,
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  and it tells us how he was able to live a life that was sinless and perfect
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  and how he came from the greatness of heaven and he'd become one of us and how
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  he was 100% man and 100% God and he walked among earth and he was tempted like
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  as we are yet without sin.
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  And the New Testament explains how the strength of Jesus Christ enabled us to
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  be victorious through him because he conquered hell, death, and the grave.
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  In the first four gospels, he gives us his life.
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  The remaining books of the New Testament begin to tell us how we should live our life.
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  And it reaffirms who Christ is and who Christ can be in our life if we but open
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  up our hearts and let him in.
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  If we but give him full reign of our life.
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  And over in the book of Philippians, it explains two incredibly important things in the little chapter 4.
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  It tells us that we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.
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  And as we look at Samuel and we hear David's account of his life,
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  we see that when David was walking in the spirit and when David was walking
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  in the will of God, he was not able to be defeated.
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  We see that when David was walking in the will of God and he was doing the things
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  that God wanted him to do and he was allowing God to have full reign of him
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  and to flow through him and to have his way in him, David was victorious.
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  When we look back over in the New Testament and we begin to read that it says
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  in Philippians chapter 4, it tells us that we can do all things through Christ
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  which strengthens us. We can see that evidenced in David's life.
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  David was before Christ had died on the cross, but he was not before Christ.
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  And I want you to get that in your heads and in your hearts and in your minds.
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  Before there ever was, there was God and God is carnate. He is God the Father,
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  God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
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  And though our finite minds cannot quite grasp that infinite concept, it remains to be true.
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  So the things that you read in the Bible when you see in the Old Testament that
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  Abraham walked with God by a friend, you can walk with God.
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  And if you're a child of God, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and he'll
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  never leave you nor forsake you.
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  When you see that Isaac and Abraham were taken to a place and Abraham was going to sacrifice his son.
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  And we see that God provided the lamb in the New Testament. We see that Jesus is the lamb.
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  And that provision buys our right for heaven and pays our penalty for sin.
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  I want you to understand that we live in a world where from Genesis to Revelations
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  is relevant, it's important, it's necessary, and it is the truth from the first
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  verse and to the very last verse.
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  And you can't take pieces of it and decide which ones you want to trust and
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  which ones you want to adhere to and which ones tickle your ears.
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  No, you have to take the whole Bible and take it for what it's worth.
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  And it's worth eternal salvation.
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  It's priceless. It's invaluable. it's not optional and it is absolutely the
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  recipe for living your life to abundance.
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  And understanding it and understanding Jesus Christ as Savior and allowing the
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  word which was made flesh and dwelt among us to live inside of us is your ticket
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  out of hell and your entrance to heaven.
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  And so as we begin to look at 2 Samuel chapter 22, I want you to get a really
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  good idea that this is relevant for today and this is your life sitting in front
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  of Christ if you are living in the will of God.
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  So throughout the entire chapter, he's giving praise for what the Lord has done.
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  In verse 14, he says, the Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered his voice.
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  In verse 29, he says, for thou art my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness.
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  In Romans chapter 6 and verse 23, he says, for the wages of sin is death,
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  but to get the God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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  You see darkness represents sin
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  and sin produces death but jesus
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  christ just as he's spoken in second
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  samuel just as david speaks
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  of christ bringing light to
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  his darkness he brings light to
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  our darkness and he produces life where there was once death by
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  realizing that he is the gift of eternal life and that
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  he is the payment for sin and that he is our
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  savior and that in Luke chapter 2 and verse 11
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  when he said for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which
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  is Christ the Lord he was speaking about a real God and a real savior who is
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  personal to you who knows you by name who understands the number of hairs that
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  are on your head who even knows the color of your hair when you don't even remember what it is anymore,
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  he's a real being and he's a real God and I think it's time that even us Christians.
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  Began to really grasp that concept and you said well kim i know he's real he's
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  my savior well then start living like you've been revived.
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  You say, Kim, I know he's real life trusted in him. Then stop worrying about
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  tomorrow because you know who holds tomorrow.
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  And you trust him because you know that all good gifts come from him.
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  Because you know that he wants what's best for you.
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  Because you know that he said, I have plans for you to give you a hope and a future.
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  Stop living as if you don't understand he's God.
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  And stop taking away his rightful place in your heart and in your life.
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  And stop leading your life. But lean on him and not on your own understanding.
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  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
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  And what does it mean that he will direct our paths?
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  If you look back again in 2 Samuel chapter 22, he says in verse 37,
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  Thou hast enlarged my steps under me so that my feet did not slip.
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  You ever seen the Lord make a way when there wasn't any way?
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  That's what he's saying. when the road got
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  rocky and the place was narrow and it needed more
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  stable foundation in the rock of jesus christ
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  in the rock of god i could place my faith i could
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  live my life assured unto his promises and
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  my feet were steady and they didn't slip
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  out from under me you see he says thou
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  also has delivered me from the strivings of my people that's
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  what he says are you facing your
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  battles in your own strength and in
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  your own way even as children of
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  god we're guilty of that so many times not waiting upon the lord even though
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  he told us in isaiah that those that wait upon the lord shall mount up as eagle's
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  wings they shall run and not be weary yet we do it in our strength and we wonder
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  how come we're tired and we can't get done the things that we need to get done.
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  It's because we're not going to him for our agenda. We're not looking to him for our fuel.
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  We're not feasting on the word of God and spending time in prayer.
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  We're just going willy-nilly deciding we can do it our way.
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  2 Samuel chapter 22 and verse 40, he says, For thou hast girded me with strength to battle.
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  I want you to remember that when David was getting ready for battle,
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  and Saul gave him all of the world's armor and all of the world's equipment.
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  It nearly toddled him over and he couldn't even walk.
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  And he had to rid himself of the world's answers,
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  of the world's ideas, of the
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  world's concept of how he should fight and
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  he had to submit himself under the mighty hand of god so that
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  god could exalt him in due time and he
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  had to allow god to protect
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  him and to give him strength you see
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  i think these battles that you face every day are real
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  i'm not at all trivializing the
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  fact that you may have a difficult life what i'm
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  saying is i think for many of us we compound our
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  problems and we make our battles harder than
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  they should be and we become wearier than we
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  are meant to be because greater is he that is in us
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  than he that is in the world and he has equipped us for battle but we don't
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  use what he's given us we come to more conventional ideas we modernize our things
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  we read the latest self-help books we do the latest self-help stuff We figure
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  out what the world can give us.
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  We grab some bottles of medicine and we try to do it every which way except
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  going to the Lord and allowing him to be our strength in our life.
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  He has girded us for battle. Verse 31 says, As for God, his way is perfect.
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  The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
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  It's proven. It's tried.
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  You can't give me any other method other than that based in the word of God
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  and based in faith in Jesus Christ that will work every single time.
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  Anything that's from man or anything that's from around
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  us or anything that has self in it anything that's devoid
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  of god and his will will surely fail see the battle is the lord's when we give
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  it to him and he has girded us for battle he's equipped us so maybe it's time
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  we set down some of those man-made ideas and begin to look at the word of god
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  in second timothy chapter 2 and verse Verse 15,
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  he says, study to show thyself approved unto God,
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  a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
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  It's time we got down, opened up the word of God, let it be a lamp unto our
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  feet and a light unto our path.
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  It's time that we fed on the word of God. He said, man cannot live on bread
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  alone, but by every word that precedes out of the mouth of God.
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  Some of us are spiritually anorexic and we don't even notice it because we're
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  not even looking to the word of
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  God to let it be a lamp and a light and a mirror as to how we should live.
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  We don't go to God in prayer and allow him to seek out our heart and allow him
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  to look inside and to convict us of our sins.
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  No, we want a tickle, feel-good religion.
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  Well, a tickle, feel-good religion will go straight to hell right with you because
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  it's not about religion. It's about salvation.
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  And the Bible says that we have to confess our sins and that we have to believe
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  with our mouth and we have to believe in our heart.
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  We have to understand that God raised him from the dead.
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  We have to confess him and we have to believe unto righteousness.
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  The Bible says that old things are passed away and all things are become new.
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  The Bible says that we have to trust in him.
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  Religion means nothing. It's about old-fashioned conviction and old-fashioned salvation.
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  The kind you don't have to buy. The kind you don't have to do a bunch of stuff
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  to get. You see, because it's not about our works, it's about his works.
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  It is a gift. It's free.
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  So anybody that comes with you with any other thing other than getting to heaven
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  through and by Jesus Christ, he says, for I am the way, the truth,
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  and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Anything else is
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  false and will send you to hell.
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  It won't send you there. It'll just go there with you.
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  You're only going to get to hell because you've rejected Jesus Christ.
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  And you do that every time you do not accept his free gift of salvation.
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  You see, once you receive it, I believe in all of my heart, it's good for eternity.
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  Because you see, old things are passed away and all things have become new.
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  And you're a new creature.
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  And your want to has changed. The old things are no longer what you want to
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  do. You no longer live for self.
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  The Bible says in Romans chapter 6 that sin hath no more dominion over you.
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  You see, you now got a new citizenship.
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  And you've placed your trust in Jesus who cannot fail. And he's going to hold
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  you and keep you. Build you and receive you.
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  And so when we begin to battle every day, we need to remember that Jesus Christ is there with us.
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  That he knows the way. he has a plan he's
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  equipped us and guarded us just as he's david
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  tells us in second samuel chapter 22 and that his way is perfect the lord watches
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  over us in verse 36 he says thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation
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  and thy gentleness hath made me great god is a.
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  Gentle God when he deals with you. He's a gentleman.
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  He pleads on your heart's door and he knocks. And unless you open it, he doesn't come in.
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  He's forgiving and merciful. He says if we confess our sins,
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  he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  He's a God of many chances. But you've got to yield to him.
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  And his constant persistent knock, you have to answer.
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  And if you yield yourself to him, he will gently but surely mold you to where you need to be.
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  But there's coming a day, the Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die,
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  after this the judgment.
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  There's coming a day when his gentleness will cease
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  this side of your eternity you have the opportunity to open up that door and
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  to receive him as savior and to allow him to gently mold you as the potter does
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  the clay putting just the right much amount of pressure on you so he doesn't break Thank you,
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  but producing a fine vessel unto honor, he tells us in Timothy.
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  Or you have the opportunity to neglect him yet again. Not allow him to come
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  into your heart and not allow him to have full reign.
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  And when you step out into eternity, which you either do so in death or he will come.
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  The gentleness of God will no longer be something that you are partaker of.
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  You will know the wrath of God. And in judgment, he will say,
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  depart from me, worker of iniquity. I never knew you.
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  So if you have no inclination in your heart whatsoever to go to God in prayer,
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  to go to God and in his word and to look at what he would have you to do in your situations,
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  if you're not looking at all to him and you have no faith that he can direct
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  your paths and that he can lift your feet and put them in the right place and
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  make your feet big in narrow places.
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  Then I question whether you know who Christ is as Savior.
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  You see, it's simple, but you do have to repent, which means to turn away from your sins.
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  You do have to take that step of faith and place it in Jesus Christ,
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  who paid your sin, as opposed to thinking that you can do it on your own,
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  as opposed to thinking that you have all the answers, as opposed to thinking
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  that you are all that in a bag of chips.
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  You've got to lay it down and pick up his cross.
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  The Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
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  according to my cleanliness in his eye sight is
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  what david says the bible tells us that
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  when he looks upon the heart of a believer he sees the
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  blood of christ and that christ imputes his
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  righteousness in us so as believers and
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  as christians we are covered by the blood and when he sees us he sees the blood
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  and so he sees righteousness and and we have access to the father through jesus
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  the son and we have a home not made with hands eternal into the heavens all because of christ.
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  My friends, it's time that you exercised your faith to the point that your everyday
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  battles, your everyday trials, your everyday circumstances are bathed in prayer and covered in his word.
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  Where you spend your entire life feasting upon him and following where he leads.
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  For some of you, you may think that's an incredibly difficult thing to do.
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  But let me tell you, being responsible for everything is the hardest job in the world.
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  You can't do it and you're destined to fail and
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  you probably fail every day but when
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  you place your faith in God and you put it in his hands and
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  he's the one in control and he's the one's got to make it
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  happen and he's the one that's got to provide and he's
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  the one that's protecting you my friend there's a burden that's
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  lifted and burdens are lifted at Calvary and the effectual fervent
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  prayer of a righteous man availeth much and when you kneel your
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  heart in prayer at the cross of calvary you will
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  receive salvation and when you kneel your heart in prayer at
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  the cross of calvary and you cast your burdens upon
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  him because he cares for you my friend there
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  is a freedom there is a peace that passes understanding there's
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  a joy unspeakable and full of glory there is
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  a life of abundance that he came that you might have it
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  is a grace that is unbelievable and it is mercy
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  unmerited and it is a life that you were meant
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  to have and my friend through Jesus Christ you
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  can have it and come what may let the storms
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  rage let the waves rise let darkness fall around you you will still have the
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  light of Christ in your life and your feet will be absolutely directed by him
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  and though the rain may fall he's the umbrella because all things are under his feet.
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  David said, For thou hast girded me with strength to battle.
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  The book of Ephesians in the sixth chapter says that we battle with principalities
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  and darkness and things not of this world.
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  You don't have what it takes to do that unless you put on the whole armor of
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  God that he tells us about, including through that chapter.
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  Friends, today's a new day. Should the Lord tarry in the sunrise tomorrow,
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  it's a brand new opportunity to be more for him than you've ever been before.
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  But it's all going to start.
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  Placing your faith in him first and foremost for salvation quickly followed
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  by allowing him to have full reign of your life that you may be the light of
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  the world his witness and that you might have life more abundantly friends there's
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  nothing going to come through your life today that hasn't passed,
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  through his nail scarred hands if you're his child of god he has already shed
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  his blood for you and You've already received that.
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  You can be assured that he has equipped you for the battle.
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  It's time you stopped telling the Lord you can do it on your own.
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  And it's time you stopped praising the storm, but started telling the storm
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  how big your God is and resting in the arms of God, for he has given you the strength.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
• 22:21
  references from this episode in the show notes.
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  We pray today's message has been a blessing.
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  If it has, please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast platform.
• 22:32
  Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's Word.
• 22:36
  You can connect with Women at the Well Ministries through our app at watwm.org
• 22:42
  and on Facebook and Instagram.
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  While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits. Kim's daily devotional delivered
• 22:48
  Monday through Friday by text message and the Bible bit podcast.
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  Thank you for your prayers and support.
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  Remember, Jesus loves you. You are loved.