Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 376 | Throwback - Following His Example: Embracing the Christian Journey

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376 | Throwback - Following His Example: Embracing the Christian Journey · 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 well in John chapter 4.
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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 a 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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  He never said it would be easy to serve him. He just said he would always be
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  there for you. He never said the way would be smooth.
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  He just said he would lead the way.
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  Your walk just may cause you to take some punches from Satan.
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  It might cause you to stand in the face of ridicule for what you know to be
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  right, But you won't have to go to Calvary because he has already done that and paid the price.
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  Join us in this program following his example as Kim Miller of Woman at the
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  Well Ministries takes us through 1 Peter 2, 19-21,
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  which says, For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure
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  grief, suffering wrongfully.
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  For what glory is it if, when ye be buffeted for your faults,
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  ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well and suffer for it,
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  ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
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  For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us,
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  leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.
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  Hello and welcome to this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries. Let us pray.
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  Our kind and most gracious, dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I want to thank you for your love.
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  I want to thank you lord for genesis to revelations and the amazing way that
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  you've written Everything we need to know that we might be the christian that
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  you would have us to be And lord, I thank you that you give us grace and mercy,
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  And that you instill within us the holy spirit to teach us and to guide us and
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  to comfort us And lord, I ask that you would just speak through these lips of
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  clay for the next few moments,
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  And I pray lord that hearts would be changed and minds would be filled with
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  your knowledge and that we would come away from our time together, Lord.
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  With an understanding of the scripture that would motivate us and inspire us
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  to be more of what you'd have us to be.
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  Lord, I thank you and I praise you and I love you. In Jesus name and all of
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  God's people said, amen.
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  You know, it's an interesting thing when we think about being a Christian.
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  Most of us think about all the positive things.
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  Because there's nothing negative about being a Christian. But there are some
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  consequences of being a person that does not fit into this world.
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  We think about heaven and its splendor and
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  its glory we think about jesus and
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  his love and his mercy and his grace we think
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  about him being a present help in time of trouble we think about him giving
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  us joy unspeakable and full of glory we've come so accustomed to him forgiving
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  us that i think sometimes we're not even thankful for first john 1 9 that says
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  if we confess our sins He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us
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  from all unrighteousness.
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  But what we often become bewildered about is when we're walking through this
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  world who hated him and we run into problems.
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  Or when we are very consciously aware that Satan's attacking us and we somehow
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  seem to think that's odd.
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  When the Bible says that we are to take up our cross and follow him.
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  When the Bible tells us that they hated him and therefore they'll hate us.
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  When it clearly reveals to us that we don't belong in this world and that we
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  are peculiar and that we're to be zealous of good works.
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  And so we're going to stick out like a sore thumb here.
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  And for some of us, that can make us feel uncomfortable. But this passage of
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  scripture in 1 Peter says, for this is thankworthy.
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  And let's think about that for a moment.
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  It's not a big deal if you get caught and punished for something you've done.
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  It is an amazing thing to me that Jesus gave his life for crimes he didn't commit.
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  And he stayed on the cross without rebuttaling and saying, look, do you know who I am?
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  Listen to what I can do. he did say if i
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  wanted to i could call 10 000
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  angels to destroy the world but he
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  took what they said to him he took the beating he took the vinegar to drink
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  when at any time he could have smoked the very ones who were smiting him he
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  patiently endured the cross and,
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  for the love he had for us and because of
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  the need you had and i had
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  and he was focused on his love for
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  us and the greater good of finishing
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  the work on calvary instead of getting revenge or striking back yet we as christians
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  find it so interesting when we find ourselves in a situation And many of us are quick to respond,
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  quick to smack back.
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  Quick to defend ourselves when perhaps we should step back and be like little
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  David and realize that the battle is not ours.
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  It belongs to the Lord and realize that God has actually picked out this situation,
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  allowing it to come through nail scarred hands to either glorify him or help
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  you be what you need to be.
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  Sometimes you're in the situation you're in so that somebody else can get the
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  blessing. Somebody else can see the glory of God.
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  Somebody else may come to repentance and you may not think you signed up for that.
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  But he says, for this is thankworthy. Because if a man for conscious to where
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  God endure grief and suffering wrongfully, that is an opportunity for God to shine through you.
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  That's an opportunity for you to be used of God. That's an opportunity for you
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  to allow the Holy Spirit to temper you. I laugh sometimes.
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  I'm a very competitive person. And I'm very, very interested in sports and have
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  been my whole life. and you put me out on a tennis court or out in a sports.
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  Arena and I am going to do everything I can to win.
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  I won't cheat. I won't do anything dirty, but I'm going to play with everything
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  I have. I'm going to leave everything on the court.
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  And people will sometimes laugh about the fierceness at which I will go after something.
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  Yet in the same token, it may be a situation and the Lord, the love of God has constrained me.
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  And I won't pursue it with that same pit bull doggedness,
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  not because I'm perfect, but through a few years and some wrong choices,
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  occasionally of striking back, I have learned that he can do a much better job
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  taking care of me than I'll ever take care of myself.
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  But the Holy Spirit inside of us tells us when we should do something and when we shouldn't.
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  Or sometimes we'll quickly respond and
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  we've ignored the what the Holy Spirit has said and we find the Holy Spirit
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  tugging at our heart telling us that we need to go and apologize to someone
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  else and you may find yourself apologizing to somebody who actually did something
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  to you and it was unfounded.
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  They may have even said something about you, and it was an outright lie.
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  But the Holy Spirit inside of you has worked in your heart and in your mind,
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  and you've got to say, listen, I didn't handle that correctly.
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  What you said wasn't correct, but it was no right for me to act ungodly and
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  respond without the love of God.
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  You see, when he says it's thankworthy if
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  a man for conscious to where God and your grief suffering and
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  wrongfully that means we need to let the
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  lord work in us and he will be glorified because
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  carnal man is not going to respond in
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  a godly way but a carnal man
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  who has had their heart transformed by
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  the renewing of god's blood and it has
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  made our sins that they were scarlet white as snow that
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  person will be able to speak with
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  the godly reverence that the holy spirit places
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  inside of them and everybody around is going
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  to know that's got to be something different there's something
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  greater working in them and god becomes glorified because he says what glory
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  is it if when we be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently if
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  you do something wrong own it you shouldn't it's not a big deal when you take your punishment you.
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  That's what he's saying. But if when you do well and suffer for it,
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  you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
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  And God shows us that time and time and time again.
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  When the crowd would mock him, it didn't detour him.
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  When the crowd would threaten him, it didn't stop him.
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  When nobody understood he
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  went on anyway when everybody
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  else was doing wrong he stood
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  firm and did right that's
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  what he's telling you he's telling you to
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  trust in the lord and lean not on your own understanding in
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  all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct
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  thy paths and he will never lead you to do
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  sin and you can guarantee that if
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  your actions have resulted in sin you definitely did
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  not follow what god was telling you to do but we
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  have an opportunity each and every
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  day to allow god to be glorified in us in how we interact with the people around
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  us god showed us love and mercy on the cross of calvary god gave his life his
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  only begotten son jesus gave his life for crimes he didn't commit, all because of love.
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  And he tells us in his scriptures in many, many different places that we are to love one another.
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  Loving one another doesn't mean you just love those who are nice to you.
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  It doesn't mean you just love those you understand. It doesn't mean you just
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  love those who follow after the same things you follow. He said love one another.
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  As Christ has loved you, we're to love others.
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  Christ looks beyond our faults.
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  And he sees our need and he delivers. We as Christians need to stop looking
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  at the faults of others and realize that we are all created in his image.
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  And that if we're like little David and we allow the Lord to fight our battles
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  for us, that he'll take care of us.
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  It's a matter of trust. Do you trust that the Lord will take care of you?
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  If you do, you can take the things that come your way.
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  For you understand that God's allowing it there.
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  You understand he has a plan for you you
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  understand that you are victorious in jesus
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  that you are more than conquerors through christ jesus that
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  all things work together for the good to them that love the lord and
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  that are called according to his purpose if you trust him you can allow the
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  holy spirit to work through you and it is my prayer for me and all of you that
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  each and every day you humble yourselves before an almighty god and say cleanse me and use me Thank you.
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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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  You can find our app by searching for Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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  store or through our website at watwm.org.
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  We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash watwm. If you visit our website,
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  you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits, a daily devotion written by Kim and
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  delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Woman at the Well Ministries is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
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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, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you, you, you.
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  Music.