Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / May 21 - Grace for the Unplanned Road

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May 21 - Grace for the Unplanned Road · Bible Chat Devotional

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  Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
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  rooted in scripture and relevant for.
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  Today, May 21st, plans, promises, and peace.
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  Have you ever had a plan you were genuinely excited about
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  completely fall apart? You mapped everything out, you
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  did your part, you thought you had it figured out, and then
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  life went a completely different direction.
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  Maybe it was a friendship that didn't work out the way you
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  hoped, or a goal you worked towards that didn't come
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  through. That feeling of watching your
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  carefully built plan unravel is one of the most unsettling
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  things we experience. Proverbs chapter 16, verse 9
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  speaks right into that moment. The heart of man plans his way,
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  but the Lord establishes his steps.
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  There's something both humbling and deeply comforting about that
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  verse. Humbling because it reminds us
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  we are not the ones ultimately in control.
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  Comforting because it means the one who is in control actually
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  knows where you're going, even when you don't.
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  Your detours are not surprises to God.
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  Your setbacks are not miscalculations on His end.
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  He is establishing your steps, even the ones that feel like
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  they're going backward. Psalm 57, verse 11 breaks out
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  into worship in the middle of everything.
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  Be exalted. Oh, God above the heavens, let
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  your glory be over all the earth.
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  And here's what's worth noticing.
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  The psalmist wrote this from a place of real danger and
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  uncertainty. He wasn't sitting comfortably
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  when he penned these words. He was in the middle of
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  difficulty, choosing to lift God higher than his circumstances.
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  That's a powerful posture. When your plans fall apart, the
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  natural instinct is to panic, to scramble, to try to regain
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  control. But the psalmist shows us a
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  different response. Exalt God.
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  Put Him above the chaos. Let His glory be bigger in your
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  mind than your current problem. That's not denial, that's faith.
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  And then Second Corinthians chapter 13, verse 5 brings in a
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  different kind of challenge, an inward one.
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  Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith
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  test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about
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  yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?
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  This verse invites you to stop for a moment and actually check
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  in, not just with your circumstances, but with your
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  soul. Are you genuinely walking in
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  faith, or have you been going through the motions?
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  Is your relationship with God something real and alive, or has
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  it become background noise in your busy life?
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  That's not meant to be a guilt trip.
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  It's actually an invitation to something better.
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  Because if Jesus Christ is truly in you, and He is, if you've
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  placed your faith in Him, then you have access to a peace and a
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  steadiness that doesn't depend on your plans working out.
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  You have a foundation that doesn't shift when life does.
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  So here's the honest question for today.
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  Are you trusting God with your actual plans, or are you just
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  hoping He blesses the ones you've already decided on?
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  There's a difference. One is partnership, the other is
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  using God as a good luck charm. Real trust looks like holding
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  your goals and dreams with open hands, bringing them to God,
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  doing your faithful best and releasing the outcome to Him,
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  knowing His version of your story is better than the one
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  you'd write yourself. The peace that comes from that
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  kind of trust is not passive. It's not giving up or not
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  caring. It's an active, daily choice to
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  believe that God's plan, even when you can't see it, is good,
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  and that makes all the difference.
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  Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for
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  guiding my steps even when my plans go sideways.
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  Help me to hold my dreams and goals with open hands, trusting
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  that your direction is better than my own.
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  When I'm tempted to panic or control everything, remind me to
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  lift You above my circumstances and rest in the fact that You
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  are establishing my path. And God help me to be honest
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  when I examine my own heart to not just go through the motions,
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  but to walk with you in real living faith in Jesus name,
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  Amen. What if the battles hitting your
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  family are not random and your home can become a place where
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  darkness loses every right to stay?
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  The Secured Home is a powerful six book prayer series for
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  believers who want to guard their households with biblical
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  authority, peace and confidence in Jesus Christ.
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  Book 1, Guarded Thresholds, fortifies every doorway, room,
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  and entry point with prayerful protection.
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  Book 2, Cleansed Rooms, helps reclaim spaces marked by fear,
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  unrest, and spiritual defilement.
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  Book 3, Closed Breaches, exposes hidden access points and severs
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  every agreement with darkness. Book 4, Broken Assignments,
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  confronts oppression, torment, and attacks against your family.
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  Book 5, Consecrated Walls, dedicates every space and rhythm
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  of the home to God. Book 6, Abiding Peace, shows how
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  to maintain spiritual order, rest, and holy presence every
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  day. Order now on Amazon or visit
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  prayerscripts.org. Now I invite you to spend time
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  with God in today's three-year Bible reading plan.
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  Proverbs Chapter 16 Verse 9 World English Bible A man's
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  heart plans his course, but Yahweh directs his steps.
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  Psalm Chapter 57 World English Bible Be merciful to me, God, be
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  merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you.
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  Yes, in the shadow of your wings.
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  I will take refuge until disaster has passed.
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  I cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes my requests
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  for me. He will send from heaven and
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  save me. He rebukes the one who is
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  pursuing me. God will send out His loving
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  kindness and His truth. My soul is among lions.
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  I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men whose
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  teeth are Spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.
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  Be exalted, God above the heavens.
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  Let your glory be above all the earth.
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  They have prepared a net for my steps.
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  My soul is bowed down. They dig a pit before me.
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  They fall into the middle of it themselves.
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  My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast.
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  I will sing, Yes, I will sing praises.
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  Wake up my glory. Wake up lewd and harp.
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  I will wake up the dawn. I will give thanks to you, Lord,
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  among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among
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  the nations, for your great loving kindness reaches to the
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  heavens, and Your truth to the skies.
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  Be exalted God above the heavens.
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  Let your glory be over all the earth.
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  Second Corinthians chapters 12 to 13 World English Bible.
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  It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast, for I will come
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  to visions and revelations of the Lord.
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  I know a man in Christ 14 years ago, whether in the body I don't
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  know, or whether out of the body I don't know.
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  God knows such a one caught up into the 3rd heaven.
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  I know such a man, whether in the body or outside of the body
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  I don't know. God knows how he was caught up
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  into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is
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  not lawful for a man to utter. On behalf of such a one I will
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  boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast except in my
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  weaknesses. For if I would desire to boast,
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  I will not be foolish, for I will speak the truth, but I
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  refrain, so that no man may think more of me than that which
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  he sees in me or hears from me. By reason of the exceeding
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  greatness of the revelations that I should not be exalted
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  excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a
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  messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted
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  excessively. Concerning this thing I beg the
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  Lord three times that it might depart from me.
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  He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power
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  is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will
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  rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may
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  rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in
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  weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions,
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  and in distresses for Christ's sake.
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  For when I am weak, then am I strong.
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  I have become foolish in boasting.
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  You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you.
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  For I am in no way inferior to the very best apostles, though I
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  am nothing truly. The signs of an apostle were
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  worked among you in all perseverance, in signs and
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  wonders and mighty works. For what is there in which you
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  were made inferior to the rest of the assemblies, Unless it is
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  that I myself was not a burden to you?
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  Forgive me this wrong. Behold, this is the third time I
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  am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you.
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  For I seek not your possessions, but you.
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  For the children ought not to save up for the parents, but the
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  parents for the children I will most gladly spend and be spent
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  for your souls. If I love you more abundantly am
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  I loved the less. Even so, I myself didn't burden
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  you, but being crafty, I caught you with deception.
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  Did I take advantage of you by any one of those whom I have
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  sent to you? I exhorted Titus, and I sent the
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  brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of
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  you? Didn't we walk in the same
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  spirit? Didn't we walk in the same steps
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  again? Do you think that we are
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  excusing ourselves to you in the sight of God?
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  We speak in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for
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  your edifying. For I am afraid that by any
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  means, when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and
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  that I might be found by you, as you don't desire that by any
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  means. There would be strife, jealousy,
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  outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud
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  thoughts or riots, that again, when I come, my God would humble
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  me before you, and I would mourn for many of those who have
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  sinned before now and not repented of the uncleanness,
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  sexual immorality, and lustfulness which they
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  committed. This is the third time I am
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  coming to you. At the mouth of two or three
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  witnesses shall every word be established.
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  I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was
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  present the second time. So now being absent, I write to
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  those who have sinned before now, and to all the rest, that
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  if I come again, I will not spare, seeing that you seek a
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  proof of Christ, who speaks in me, Who toward you is not weak,
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  but is powerful in you. For He was crucified through
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  weakness, yet he lives through the power of God, For we also
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  are weak in Him, but we will live with him through the power
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  of God toward you. Examine your own selves, whether
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  you are in the faith, test your own selves or don't you know
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  about your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless
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  indeed you are disqualified. But I hope that you will know
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  that we aren't disqualified. Now I pray to God that you do no
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  evil, not that we may appear approved, but that you may do
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  that which is honorable, though we are as reprobate.
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  For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
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  For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong.
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  We also pray for this. You're becoming perfect for this
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  'cause I write these things while absent, that I may not
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  deal sharply when present, according to the authority which
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  the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.
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  Finally, brothers, rejoice. Be perfected, be comforted, be
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  of the same mind, Live in peace, and the God of love and peace
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  will be with you. Greet one another with a holy
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  kiss. All the Saints greet you.
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  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's love, and the
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  fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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  Amen. Thanks for.
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  Joining us on Bible Chat, where scripture meets everyday life.
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  If today's devotional encouraged you, share it with a friend and
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  conversation. Until next time, stay rooted in
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  truth, anchored in hope and walking.
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  Daily with Jesus.