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602 | Ridding Your Life of Idols · 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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  What is it that has your attention? Where are you spending your money,
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  your time, and your talent?
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  Most of us would be very quick to say that we don't live in idolatry.
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  Yet a close examination of our lives reveals a very different story.
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  Join Kim Miller in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as she takes
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  us on a journey through the scriptures examining the idols in our lives.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  We're going to take a close look today at how we spend our time,
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  where we put our energy, the things that really reveal what is truly important to us.
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  And we're doing that with the perspective of Exodus 20, verses 1 and 3,
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  that says, And God spake all these words, saying, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
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  It's incredibly important that we
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  understand that whatever takes the
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  place of God in our life that is
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  an idol and he has said that we're
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  not to have any other idols not to have any other gods we're not
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  to have anything that is more important to us than God himself and what happens
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  is is that We let things creep in to our lives that take us away from God and
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  take us away from doing the things that God would have us to do.
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  And many times those things in and of themselves are not bad.
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  It's just that we get so consumed by them, or we put them in a place in our
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  lives that they should never be.
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  And so as a result of that, they become something bad for us.
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  And so hopefully, after a few minutes of looking at this and beginning to think
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  about what the Scripture says about getting rid of idols in our lives,
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  we'll be able to do a self-examination and be closer to living that life that
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  God would have us to live. Let us pray.
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  Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this time that you allow us to be together.
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  We thank you for the time that you allow us to be in your word.
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  But more importantly, Lord, we thank you for the time that you spend with us.
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  And we know, Lord, that that is all the time because you said you would never leave us nor forsake us.
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  And Lord, I pray that you would help each of us as we're listening to what you
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  have given me, Lord, to carefully remove anything that doesn't belong in our life.
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  And Lord, let us draw closer to you. Be in this message, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
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  Let's begin with just a little simple math. We all have 24 hours a day.
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  And we all know people who get a lot of things done, people who don't get anything done.
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  But the truth of the matter is we all have the same amount of time to work with.
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  And when you think about that, that means that a week holds 1,080 minutes for each one of us.
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  So that's 168 hours.
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  And when you think about that, we think about when Romans chapter 12 and verse
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  one says that it is a reasonable service.
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  And what was he talking about when he was talking about reasonable services?
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  It wasn't like going out and doing these monumental things.
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  What we owed him reasonably, or what we owed the Lord reasonably,
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  was things that were fairly simple.
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  And in fact, let's look at what it says in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1.
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  He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
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  that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God,
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  which is your reasonable service.
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  So we're to be available for God to use.
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  And when we look in the scriptures and it talks about tithing and talks about
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  what we're asked to give to God, it's 10%. So 10% of our money and 10% of our time.
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  And That means we owe, so-called, should-be-given Jesus as our reasonable service 16.8 hours a week.
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  Now, I want you to stop for a moment right there. And for many of us,
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  we know that we fall woefully short just on what was our reasonable service,
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  let alone anything above and beyond that would show our love and commitment and dedication to Him.
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  If you think about the time that you go attending church, that's usually somewhere
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  around 2.4 hours a week because many of us.
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  Would find ourselves going to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening
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  and perhaps Sunday night if your church has it or if you're so inclined to go.
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  So we have 24 hours a day. 2.4 hours per day is our reasonable service.
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  And on some days, we might get into church, which would calculate us out some
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  time that we have given to the Lord.
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  But what are we going to do with the other amount of time.
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  And then you say, well, I'm not really much for going to church, and maybe you're not.
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  But Hebrews 10.25 says, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together,
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  as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as
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  you see the day approaching.
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  Now, my friend, I know one thing for sure. We are getting closer and closer
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  to the coming of the Lord.
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  And so if it says that we are to assemble more together as we see the day approaching,
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  I believe now is the time that we need to get together.
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  And it says exhorting one another. That means encouraging one another, lifting one another up.
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  Assisting one another, giving them joy and peace from your existence in their
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  life and from what God has done for you so that you can tell them about it and
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  you're moving other people.
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  So one way that we are able to give back to God, which is our reasonable service, is to attend church.
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  Another way is for us to be involved in a regular study.
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  Of God's word. See, Ecclesiastics chapter 3 and verse 1 says,
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  to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
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  And since the Bible told us, as we read out of Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
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  25, that we're to assemble together, that means church is a good place to do
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  that and a reasonable idea.
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  The second thing he tells us that we're talking about is studying his word.
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  And in 2 Timothy 2.15, he tells us that we are to study to show thyself approved
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  unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
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  And so we need to study the word of God first and foremost to get to understand
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  who God is, to know his character, to understand what he expects of us.
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  When we study his word, we figure out and find out his promises to us,
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  things that we can count on that will give us joy and peace.
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  When we study His Word, we get our instructions for how we're to live our life
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  so that we can be in the center of God's will.
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  When we study His Word, we also learn what it means.
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  And so we need to be sure that we are looking at God's Word within a perspective
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  of what is this saying to me? What does it mean?
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  What can I learn from this? How can I apply this to my life?
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  And then what many of us overlook in this verse in 2 Timothy 2.15,
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  where it says rightly dividing the word of truth.
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  That means there are a ton of verses.
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  There's 66 books in the Bible, and each one of them are packed with chapters,
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  and each chapter is packed with verses.
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  And when we begin to look at these verses, they have absolute meaning and application to our life.
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  And it's kind of like when you go
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  into your kitchen and you open up your silverware drawer
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  most of us will find fork spoon and
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  knife and in fact we will find variations of these things for the most part
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  but let's just take it simply we have a fork so that when we need to eat something
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  that needs to be stabbed and held on to with the utensil then we can we stab
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  it with the fork and we eat it.
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  We have a spoon when something is liquidy and would just fall through the tines
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  of the fork, something that needs to be held together so that we can eat it
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  in one bite, then we use a spoon.
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  When we need to cut something up so that we can digest it and get it in our
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  mouth in a reasonable piece, then we use a knife.
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  But you don't use a knife to eat your soup.
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  You don't use your spoon to cut your steak, and you certainly don't use your
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  fork to try to eat your soup.
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  We have a way of using the correct utensil to get the most benefit from the
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  food we're getting ready to eat and to do it in the most effective way.
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  When you study to show yourself approved unto God.
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  A workman that's not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,
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  you learn the scriptures in such a way to rightly apply them to the pieces of
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  your life and to the situations of your life in such a way as to be most effective in,
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  and to get the most joy out of it and to know God's peace.
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  So rightly dividing word of truth means to know when to use it in what situations,
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  knowing that it will always be the supreme authority.
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  This is important because if you don't understand the word of God,
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  it's hard to incorporate it into your day-to-day life.
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  And so our reasonable service of this 16.8 hours a week needs to be spent with
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  Jesus. That's just reasonable.
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  And so we do that in church and our worship and congregating with our fellow
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  believers and our other people at our church.
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  We can do it in studying his word. We can do it when we witness.
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  But there's going to be a time in your life that God is going to call you to
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  do something for him. It may be swap a smile with a friend.
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  It may be make a dinner for someone that is sick.
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  It could be helping someone build their home. It might be helping someone...
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  Navigate doctor's visits. It could be a vast variety of things,
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  but if you don't allow yourself to be available for God to use,
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  then you are not going to be used in his service, and you will not be doing
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  what God has asked you to do.
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  Now, many of us have a heart that wants to serve, but we have created a life
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  that is not available to do so.
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  Now, I want you to think about that for a minute. He's given you 24 hours a day.
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  We are looking at 16.8 hours a week to try to do our reasonable service for the Lord.
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  And some of us are sitting here thinking right now, I can't do that.
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  I don't have enough time. And if you are saying that, and if that indeed is true,
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  what you have done is you have misappropriated the 24 hours a day that God has
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  given you because in no way, shape, or form anywhere from Genesis to Revelations,
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  and especially if you park in Ecclesiastes,
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  will you ever find that God will ever ask you to do what he hasn't created you an opportunity to do.
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  God will never ask you to do what is contrary to his word, and he said to be
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  still and know that I am God.
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  He said to study.
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  He said in Thessalonians to pray without ceasing.
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  See, some of us are just so busy that we can't ever do what God is asking us.
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  In fact, we're so busy getting up and getting ready and running out the door
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  that we don't even have time for God's holy word.
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  Or perhaps the only time we pray is while we're driving down the road and we're
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  praying that God gets us to work
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  on time. That's not exactly what he means when he says to pray with him.
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  We are to let our requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God will
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  fill our hearts and minds.
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  But we are to have a constant attitude of prayer in our heart that is seeking
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  God's presence in every moment of our life.
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  We are to have a life that is dependent upon the infusion of God's word and
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  God's will for everything we do.
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  It is important, then, that we don't place things in our life that makes us unavailable for God.
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  We have talents and skills that
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  we have to hone, that we often can use to avail ourselves for the Lord.
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  I think immediately of musicians and worship leaders in churches who have spent
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  countless hours learning their music and learning their trade and all of that was necessary,
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  but they have to then turn that skill over to the Lord so that he can use it.
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  If you are never at church to sing for the glory of God, it's very hard for
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  you to convince anyone that you are using your voice for the Lord.
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  If you are a musician who is using it only outside of any bounds that could
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  be used by the Lord, you're not using your skill for Him.
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  And then what happens is it becomes something that you are not using for God.
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  And oftentimes why you're not using it for God is because you've become looking
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  at something other than God and His will for your life and have incorporated
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  that skill set into what you're doing that keeps you from the Lord.
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  For instance, if you're a tremendous athlete, you may find it necessary to train seven days a week.
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  And you may be training and you may be training.
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  While you should be in church. You may be exercising, keeping your body tone,
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  while you should be reading the Word of God.
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  You've become so preoccupied with what you look like or keeping yourself healthy
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  that you've missed the whole point of why you should do that.
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  You are now thinking about what you get out of it or your vainglory.
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  You're not keeping yourself healthy or toning yourself up for God to use you in his service.
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  In fact, we're told in Timothy that bodily exercise profiteth little.
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  Now, yes, we need to keep ourselves ready and available, and we need to be as
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  healthy as we possibly can, but we need to understand that is for the entire
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  purpose and goal of being used and being fit for his service.
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  Not for any vainglory or for what the devil has begun to use it for,
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  which is to turn you away from the purposes of God and just constantly keeping
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  you outside of being able to go to church or to do his will.
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  Now, I just chose exercise. There are so many other things. Many of us are so
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  busy making a living that we forget to live.
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  We take on the extra work, which takes us away from our family,
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  But we say we do that so we can have another car.
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  We say we do that so my kid can have one more lesson that I can pay for.
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  We say that we do that for a whole lot of reasons. But regardless of what your
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  reason is, you are keeping yourself from having yourself available for God to use.
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  Because if he wants to use you, you are busy doing something else you have created today.
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  In your life. It's important that we understand that all of these things are
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  good as long as they are balanced by God, as long as you're allowing Him to manage it.
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  But I know people who are not home a split moment during the week because they
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  work all day, then they go to this sporting event or go to that event.
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  They are busy doing this. They're busy doing that.
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  They come back in, fall in dead dog tired to
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  their bed at nine o'clock at night and they start the
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  same rat race tomorrow and at no time did
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  they pray at no time did they read the word of god at
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  no time did they go visit someone sick in the hospital
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  and all of those things they said if you talk to
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  them they wanted to do they just simply didn't have
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  time let me tell you this that busyness is an effective tool of the devil there
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  is a difference between having a busy life and having a completely full life
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  a full life is filled with jesus it's filled with his presence it's filled with his purpose.
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  And you'll find yourself doing his work and his will. A busy life will keep you tired.
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  It will keep you anxious. It will keep you behind.
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  It will keep you too busy to do things for God.
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  We need to look at our lives and figure out how it is that we are sending it,
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  how we are spending our time, and we need to invest it in things that will return
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  joy and peace and glory to God,
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  not spend it on frivolous wasteful things
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  that eat up our peace that cause us
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  distress that keep us from being in the
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  center of god's will we need to realize
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  that god says we must pray in hebrews 4 16 that we are to come boldly into the
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  throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time and
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  need he's asking us to pray so what are you doing instead of worshiping and
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  praying and studying and witnessing,
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  that is what is going to be your idol.
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  And you might as well go ahead and name it. What are you doing instead of the things of God?
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  And why are you not doing the things of God? I want to leave you with this final thought.
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  If you had $86,400 with the stipulation that it must be spent by midnight or
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  you'd lose it forever, what would you do?
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  It's my thought that you would find yourself at the stroke of midnight with very little money left.
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  And you would know the reasons and the purpose for every one of those dollars spent.
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  Well, I want you to see that today you're given 86,400 seconds.
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  86,400 seconds. And at the stroke of midnight, every second wasted is gone forever.
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  However, how are you going to spend this precious time that you can never regain?
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  The answer is you spend it for God. You invest it in his kingdom.
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  He says in Matthew 6, verse 20, Lay up yourselves treasures in heaven where
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  neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
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  Today, you have a choice. to invest your life in the kingdom of God and allow
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  him to fill you with his presence and to create in you the person that he has plans to create.
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  Or you can resist him, plan your own life, and live a life wasted.
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  The choice is yours.
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  Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you. Thank you.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
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  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.
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  Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's Word.
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  You can connect with Women at the Well Ministries through our app at watwm.org
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  and on Facebook and Instagram.
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  While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits, Kim's daily devotional delivered
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  Monday through Friday by text message and the Bible Bit Podcast.
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  Thank you for your prayers and support.