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350 | Hope During Difficult Days · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living her life for Christ, she's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries, which is part six of a series
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  on discovering the hope that is found in the Bible, we are going to learn how
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  to find hope in difficult days.
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  Join us as Kim Miller takes us on a journey through God's Word,
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  revealing where we should go when the difficult days come.
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  Oh, hope is an amazing thing.
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  It's what motivates us. It's what inspires us.
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  It's what gives us a peace that passes understanding and a joy unspeakable and
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  full of glory because my hope is in nothing less than Jesus Christ and his righteousness.
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  My hope has a name and his name is Jesus.
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  In our foundational search for hope in the scriptures, we have used Romans 15,
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  13 as our foundational verse.
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  And it reads like this. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
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  in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
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  We have to believe, folks.
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  You've heard it many times from me. Mark 9, 23 3 says, if thou canst believe,
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  all things are possible to him that believes.
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  He also says that nothing is impossible with God.
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  Jesus loves me, this I know. Can you say that?
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  Do you understand the breadth and depth of the love that Jesus Christ has for you?
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  It goes beyond the incomprehensible possible truth that he gave his life for
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  you, that he paid a sin that he didn't owe so that you could go free.
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  No, he never leaves you nor forsakes you, and he gives you the Holy Spirit to
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  live and dwell in you because he never wants to be apart from you.
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  So while he sits at the right hand of the Father, he is still part of you as
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  he dwells in you in the form of the Holy Holy Spirit, he's with you.
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  He's with you in the good times. He's with you in the bad times.
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  He's sovereign and he loves you. He gives you joy and he gives you peace.
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  When you understand and place your faith in him, you get that he is God and
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  with him, you have everything.
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  God's sovereignty and his love is so deep, that it has no end, and he has no enemy.
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  Oh, the devil tries to fight him, but he's no match.
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  All things are under his feet.
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  And when we have our hope in Jesus Christ, and we understand who he is,
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  and we follow after his ways, and we draw close to him, and he's closer to us
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  than a brother, brother,
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  then what happens is, is that we
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  lose our earthly senses of fear because perfect love casts out all fear.
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  And Psalms 118.6 says this, he says, the Lord is on my side. I will not fear.
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  What can man do unto me? See, we get our eyes on the wrong thing.
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  We forget the prize of being a born again believer, part of the family of God.
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  And instead of living with the privileges of being able to ask and receive,
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  seek and find and knock and it be open unto you.
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  We live in doubt and we live in fear, but the Bible says that we have no fear.
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  He says that you might have trouble in this world, but hey, be of good cheer.
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  I've overcome the world.
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  It's my hope that through this series of discovering hope through the scriptures,
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  hope in God's deliverance, his sovereignty, his love, his presence,
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  his goodness, his grace, and his presence during difficult times,
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  which is what we're going to focus on in this final installment of our series.
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  It's my prayer that you
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  have understood that you are more
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  than a conqueror because you have more than just
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  what you can do you have the almighty God
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  in the form of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you and his power is available for
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  you to tap and to use as a resource if you would just believe leave and you'll
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  just have faith in him and you allow him to lead God direct and to flow through you,
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  then you have hope because he's in you,
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  he's around you, and he's all about you.
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  Jesus loves me. This I know.
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  Do you know it? Do you remember that he said in Romans 5a, but God committeth
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  his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us?
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  Do you forget that he told us that he set us aside, a peculiar people,
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  zealous of good works, that we might be his, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.
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  Did you forget that God said that when we are his children born again through
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  the blood of Jesus Christ, that we are joint heirs with Jesus?
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  I don't know about you, but if we stopped right now, that's enough to make you
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  shout, out and it's all truth.
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  But so often we don't thirst for God in trouble.
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  We seek our own way out. We usually dig our pit deeper and deeper.
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  But the psalmist David penned for us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
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  Psalms 42, which is a picture of David thirsting for God in time And here's how it goes.
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  As the heart paneth after the water brooks, so paneth my soul after thee, O God.
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  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
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  My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
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  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude.
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  I went with them to the house of God, with a voice of joy and praise,
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  with a multitude that kept holy day why art
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  thou cast down on my soul and why art thou this quiet in me hope thou in god
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  for i shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance oh my god my soul
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  cast down within me therefore will i remember thee from the land of jordan and
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  of the hermeneuts from the hill of mizar.
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  Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water spouts.
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  All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his
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  loving kindness in the daytime.
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  And in the night his song shall be with me. And my prayer unto the God of my life.
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  I will say unto God my rock, why hast thou forgotten me?
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  Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
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  As with a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me. while they say daily unto me, where is thy God?
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  Why art thou cast down on my soul?
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  And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise
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  him who is the health of my countenance and my God.
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  Why, why art thou cast down on my soul?
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  Why am I anxious and troubled inside? Because my hope should be in God.
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  I have hope in God. Why am I still struggling?
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  You see, he says in this psalm, in verse 4, he says he's lonely and he feels abandoned.
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  He tells us in verse 10 that he's physically, he's in pain.
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  And he tells us in verse 3, he's emotionally distressed. Now,
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  I imagine that many of you within the sound of my voice can relate,
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  if not to every one of those conditions and the difficulties that he's facing
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  as he's writing this psalm, but at least to some of them.
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  And in verse 5 through 6, he tells us he's spiritually downcast.
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  But I want you to see what he does when he's down and he's out.
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  When he's in trouble, when he doesn't feel the closeness of God,
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  when he's not walking perfectly in the joy of the Lord, this is what David does.
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  When he is depleted, he runs to the source of spiritual water and renewal.
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  When he's depleted and cast down, he repeatedly goes to the Savior.
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  See, hope isn't just for the good times of thanksgiving and praise.
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  Hope is also expressed when we turn towards God during our difficult times and not away from him.
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  When we run to him, who is the source of our help?
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  When we go and we ask and we are not careful for anything, but with prayer and
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  thanksgiving, we let a request be made known unto God and the peace of God keeps
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  our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
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  When we feel what we are told in Isaiah 26, 3, when he says,
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  thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee.
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  When we have faith, we open all of the resources of heaven. When we trust in
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  Jesus Christ and we lean not into our own understanding, it is then and only
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  then that he directs our paths.
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  He directs our paths. We live the abundant life he promises in John 10.10.
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  See, there's a way that seemed right unto man, but the end thereof is death.
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  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
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  And David, though he was experiencing downtroddenness, depression, oppression.
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  Sadness. He knew even in the midst of all of this, he says, why art thou cast down on my soul?
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  And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God.
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  He says that in verse 11, but he said it previously, just like that in verse
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  five, where he says, why art thou cast down on my soul?
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  And why art thou disquieted in me?
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  Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
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  When you're in the presence of God, you will find help.
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  You won't leave the same way that you entered when you come into the throne.
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  Room of God and you do business with God.
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  You will be forever changed.
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  You can't come to the Lord and leave the same way.
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  In Romans 12, 1 and And two, he says, I beseech you, therefore,
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  brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
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  wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service,
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  and be not conformed to this world.
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  But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is
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  that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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  What the psalmist David is telling us in Psalms chapter 42 is,
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  why is my mind, why is my soul that cast down?
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  It's because I've forgotten that my hope is in God.
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  So often we just neglect so great a salvation, forgetting that he didn't just
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  give us fire insurance, but he saves us from the perils of this life if we just trust in God.
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  In Psalms 40, he says, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and he heard my cry.
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  He's not deaf to our prayers. We need to know who he is and to love him.
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  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul.
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  I'd gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God with a voice
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  of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy day.
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  We can't be despondent when we are living in his presence.
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  When we think about all that he has done, in verses 5 and 11,
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  he just keeps repeating this about his turmoil and his trust in God.
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  Maybe we should try that in our deepest, darkest day to just talk about the
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  great, marvelous, wonderful blessings of God.
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  David was habitually, speaking of who God was, convinced of what God could do.
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  And he was renewing his mind, as we're told in Romans 12, 2,
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  so that he was thinking about things that were of God and not things of the world.
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  I bring to your attention Peter when he was walking on the water,
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  when he took his eyes off of God and started looking around and using his own
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  logic, understanding that he couldn't walk on water, seeing the storm instead
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  of the good bigness of God, he fell.
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  But when Peter said, Lord, save me.
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  Jesus just swooped him up and he took him to safety. And that's what he's doing
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  for us each and every day. But we've got to recognize who God is.
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  In the deep despair, in the storms of life, we need to look across the storm
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  and see Jesus with his arms wide open, wanting to help us, wanting to save us,
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  choosing us when we can't even recognize who he is.
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  In verse 42, 6, he says, My soul is downcast within me.
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  Therefore, will I remember you. See, the devil tries to distract you.
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  He tries to feed you a bunch of lies.
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  In fact, we're told in 1 Peter 5 that the devil walketh about as a roaring lion,
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  seeking whom he may devour.
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  But we're told in 1 John 4, 4, the greater is he that is in us than he that
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  is in the world. and we're told in 1 Peter 5 also to cast our cares upon him
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  for he cares for us. But we don't think about those things.
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  We somehow don't realize that the devil is a liar.
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  Find yourself in trouble and you start talking to people and you'll be in more
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  trouble than you were before.
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  They'll tell you things you don't want to hear, shouldn't hear,
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  don't need to hear, and certainly don't encourage you.
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  They'll give you information to feed your fears.
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  But when you go to the one true living God, who says, I am the way.
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  And he says, come follow me.
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  When you see him as the fourth man in the fire, when you pray to him,
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  like he is the fourth man in the fire.
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  I want to bring to your attention something that many people overlook in the
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  story of the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
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  They were thrown into the fiery furnace and the two people that threw them in,
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  they died because of the heat. And we don't overlook that part.
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  And Nebuchadnezzar looks into the fire and he says, didn't I send three boys in there?
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  And they say, yes. And he says, but I see the fourth man, and he's likened to the Son of God.
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  Now, we rarely ever miss the fact that we are never alone, that we never go
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  through something without him, that in him and through him, he'll take us through.
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  But what often gets overlooked in this account in Daniel is that the three Hebrew
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  children weren't spared the fiery furnace,
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  but when they returned from the fiery furnace,
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  they were not only alive, they were unharmed, and they didn't even smell of smoke.
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  This trial, this trouble, this difficulty that you're going through,
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  you may not understand it, you may not understand why it is,
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  but all things work together for the good to them that love the Lord,
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  to them that are called according to his purpose.
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  And he's the fourth man in the fire.
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  And if you can believe and you trust, he's going to deliver you.
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  And based upon the power that you allow to work through you and based upon his
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  will for your life, he's going to completely deliver you.
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  And though the four Hebrew children were not spared from the fiery furnace,
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  us, they felt no harm, and there was no residual effect.
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  Friend, let go and let God.
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  Don't try to understand the how, the whens, and the whys. Just believe.
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  And in your deepest, most difficult times, keep repeating to yourself,
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  my soul is downcast within me, therefore will I remember you.
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  I'll remember who you are, God.
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  I'm going to think about how you parted the Red Sea. That's miraculous.
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  You'll make a way where there is no way. You did it.
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  I'm going to remember where you shut the mouths of lions so that person who
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  is bad-mouthing me and telling lies on me, you're going to stop that and you're
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  going to make sure it doesn't hurt me.
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  When I'm overwhelmed and troubles
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  are overflowing and I'm completely buried within the trials the temptations
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  and the problems of this world I'm gonna remember what you did for Noah he followed
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  you he did you did what he did what you told him he was safe and so was those that he brought with him.
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  I'm going to remember how you promoted Daniel when the whole world was against him.
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  When I'm downcast, downtrodden, and depressed, I'm going to keep quoting Psalms
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  42, 6, that my soul is downcast within me.
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  Therefore, I will remember you. I'm going to remember the verses in Psalms 42,
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  5, and 11 that David kept repeating that That talked about how he couldn't understand
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  why he was so depressed because his hope was in God.
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  I'm going to remember how Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers.
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  Yet you fed him and made him king.
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  Gave him all kinds of stuff. How he was the one now helping them.
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  I'm going to remember how Sarah and Abraham wanted a child. And you gave them their greatest desire.
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  I'm going to remember Peter had fished all night long.
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  You told him to go back out again, and he obeyed because you spoke.
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  Didn't make a bit of sense to him, but you said to do it, so he did.
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  And when he did, he did what he had done all night long, except he fished on
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  the other side, and there was too much fish for his boat to even handle.
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  I'm going to remember that you told me you'd never leave me nor forsake me.
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  When my soul was downcast within me, therefore, for I will remember you.
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  I'm going to remember that you said in my father's house are many mansions.
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  And if it were not so, I would have told you. And I go to prepare a place for you.
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  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself.
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  I'm going to remember that this is not my home. I'm just a pilgrim passing through.
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  I'm going to remember that you told me that you would supply all of my needs.
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  I'm going to remember that you told me that I could do all things through your strength.
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  I'm going to remember that you told me nothing could separate me from your love.
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  I'm going to remember that you died for me, that you met a need I had before I even knew I had it.
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  I'm going to remember that you said you loved me, and then you proved it,
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  and you prove it day after day after day.
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  The times when everything thing is going wrong, those are the exact times to run to God.
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  This, my friend, is your most profound expression of your hope being found in Jesus Christ.
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  Search the scriptures far and wide.
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  Learn of them. Walk in them. Believe them. Try them.
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  Trust them. And you will find hope. Hope. Hope you can trust. Hope you can use.
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  And the only hope you will ever need. Remember, Jesus loves you. You are loved.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
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  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
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  Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song,
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  Happy Girl. We greatly appreciate your prayers.
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  We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You.
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  Music.