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616 | Ye are of God · 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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  In this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
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  In today's conversation, we are chatting about what life looks like when we
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  live like we believe the truth found in 1 John 4, 4, that greater is He that
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  is in us than He that is in the world.
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  Well, thank you all for joining us in today's podcast. I am Erica Close,
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  and I am here with Kim Miller.
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  Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to talking about 1 John 4.4.
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  We are talking about 1 John 4.4.
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  And on Monday, our podcast was podcast number 615. And the title of that podcast was Greater Is He.
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  And if you were able to listen to that podcast that came out on Monday,
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  you would have seen so many truths that are found in 1 John 4.4.
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  And what I wanted to do in today's podcast was just sit down and have a conversation
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  about what some of those truths looked like when they were really applied to our lives.
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  So that podcast talked about 1 John 4.4, year of God, little children,
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  and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
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  And Kim, as you were beginning your podcast on Monday, you talked a lot about
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  the phrase year of God, little children.
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  And I wanted to ask you, what does it really mean when you think of yourself as a child of God?
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  Well, it's a very endearing thought for me.
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  Scripture says I am His child if I have been born again. He is Father God.
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  And that means I can count on some very definite things with that relationship.
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  One, He is God, and I'm a child.
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  That means He has authority over me. That means He knows more than I know.
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  And that means he loves me more than I can imagine.
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  I also realize that being his child makes me permanently associated with him.
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  It's not, no man can pluck me out of his hand in John 10, 28.
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  And I know there's a lot of different beliefs on saved and if you're always
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  saved and if you can lose your salvation.
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  And there's a lot to be thought about.
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  But the truth of the matter is if you know him and you love him you're going
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  to resemble him you're a new creature that he's created and he is your father.
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  And in real life you can disassociate your ties with him you can do a lot of
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  different things that makes the world say you're no longer part of that family,
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  but your blood will always say you're part of it,
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  and scripture tells me it is the sinless, precious, perfect blood of Jesus Christ
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  that washes away my sins, and blood leaves a mark that cannot be distorted.
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  And so when you ask me what I feel like when they say you are of God,
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  little children, I feel safe and secure by the one who created me and loves me most.
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  And I am grateful that I am His child.
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  Amen. Amen.
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  When we think of being a child of God, one of the other topics that you brought up.
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  Was that we are from God. And when I think of being from God,
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  I think of Him as my creator.
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  Amen. Beyond, not just, not that there's a just with being my father,
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  but I think of Him as my creator.
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  And I know that God Himself, when He creates, He creates things the way they're supposed to be.
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  And He created you in His image. Exactly. Nothing else has been created in his image.
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  And I'm created as he intended me to be.
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  Amen. Hallelujah. And you were planned.
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  Right. And when I think of those times when I don't speak well of myself or
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  when I think thoughts about myself that I would never say to anybody else.
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  Or I may say something negative to myself, maybe in the mirror, right?
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  Or something like that, that I, again, would never say to somebody else.
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  I'm reminded that God doesn't make a mistake and that he created me just as I am supposed to be.
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  And as you say, in his image and in his likeness. And so we are his children.
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  And you so perfectly explained what that means. But we're also told that we are from him.
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  Because we are of him. And if we're from Him and of Him, we are exactly who we're supposed to be.
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  I believe wholeheartedly that
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  every person has deep within their soul a longing to be reunited with God.
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  That's the of Him part. They don't know what it is,
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  and they seek a lot of things in this world, from alcohol to drugs to illicit
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  sex to gambling to anything they can to get a quick fix and a quick high that always falls away.
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  But John chapter 4 reminds us that there is satisfaction for that place.
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  And it's a personal relationship with Jesus. He said that he will give you living
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  water and you'll never thirst again.
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  And I feel like so many times people are just so close to finding.
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  The remedy for their soul's longing. But they try it and everything else and
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  somehow just won't turn to God.
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  But he said, I'll give you living water.
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  And we are of him.
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  So something deep within every soul wants a connection with Jesus Christ.
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  Some people refer to that as like the God-shaped hole in people's hearts that only he can fill.
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  But I really like what you just said even better than that, that we are from
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  him and we are of him and therefore only he will satisfy. Praise the Lord.
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  So, so it's such a he he's the perfect puzzle piece, right?
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  That only he completes the puzzle. He completes it.
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  You talked in the podcast on Monday also about being held by him.
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  So we've talked about what it has means to be his child what it means that we are from him,
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  and you also talked about being held by him i know that for me there are many times.
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  When it is amazing to me to know that i am held by him or i may be in a situation,
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  and I need to cling so tightly to that truth that I am held by him.
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  What does it mean to you to know that you're held by him?
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  It means I can't fall.
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  I can stumble, but I'm never down for the count.
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  I can't get outside of his love and there's nowhere I can go that he isn't there.
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  And to be held by him, I have this picture, and I don't exactly have a lot of
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  Bible for this, but you asked, so this is what it means to me.
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  I feel like I am in an envelope of God. Okay.
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  I don't feel like he just is holding my hand.
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  I don't feel like he's just holding my foot and I'm hanging on a cliff.
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  I feel like he is
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  fully embracing me and I'm fully engulfed
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  in his embrace and whatever happens in
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  this world first has to penetrate nail-scarred hands to get in my life I believe
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  that each of us live a life similar to Job where Job could not be tested by
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  Satan without first getting permission from God.
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  And I believe every dart that the fiery devil throws at us first is checked.
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  Dulled, and created and modified in such a way that it's for our good and his
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  glory, or it doesn't get in.
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  I like that. I can be in an envelope.
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  That's how I feel about it. When I think about it, I often think about it But
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  kind of like when you see people go tandem jumping, you know,
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  skydiving kind of thing is they're there and they're experiencing it.
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  But the expert is holding them.
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  See, there's a lot of exposure there. I'd rather be in the plane and he's the pilot. Yeah.
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  It would not be my choice to jump out of a plane. I'll pass on that one.
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  All right, so another thing that you talked about in Monday's podcast podcast,
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  that I always just want to say, what does that look like? Was when you talked
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  about unleashing the God in us on our problems.
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  And that was just such a powerful image to me.
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  And I wanted to go a little bit more into that because, you know,
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  when I think of unleashing something, right, literally unleashing.
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  So maybe I've got like a, you know, pack of, you know, dogs or something right on a leash.
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  And at some point I literally let them go. I unleash them.
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  So I have this, I have this strength. I have this power.
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  And at some point I let it go, which makes me think there is a point at which
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  there is a conscious choice.
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  It's how you live your life.
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  Let's talk about that. It's somewhat what you're saying, a conscious,
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  in my mind, a conscious point to unleash, you know, go get them, God, sick them.
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  But it is a moment by moment daily choice to live in the will of God.
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  If you are in the will of God, you're completely in step with the Holy Spirit that lives in you.
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  And the Holy Spirit is the power that's talked about in Ephesians 3.20 that
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  says that you can do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think according
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  to the power that works in us.
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  But we all have electricity coming into our house.
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  Even in the dark rooms, there's electricity. But unless you flip the switch
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  on, it still remains dark. But
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  that doesn't change the fact that there is power in coming to the house.
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  So we all have power in us. But if we have sin and iniquity in our heart, God doesn't hear us.
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  God doesn't bless sin. He doesn't bless lives that are contrary to his work.
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  Now, there's a certain amount of blessing.
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  You're still alive and he's still loving you and he's still trying to draw you in.
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  But you're not going to get the favor of God living unfavorably to the scriptures. Right.
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  So there is this conscious choice. I have decided to follow Jesus and I'm going
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  to place all of my trust in him.
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  So that's a daily way of living. But you get to these certain circumstances
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  in your life where you're in a battle, and the battle is with the devil,
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  and greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
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  The devil is always your opponent. You're always fighting principalities and
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  powers of the dark world if you're a Christian.
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  And unfortunately, people lend themselves to be the tool that the devil uses.
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  Even people professing Christianity and perhaps even people who do know the
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  Lord become obstacles to the work of the Lord and someone else or become an
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  instrument of chaos and hurt.
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  And it's at that moment we can either choose to react in our flesh or.
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  And we can choose to respond and fight it out ourselves.
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  We can choose to be hurt and move away from God's plan. We can choose to do worldly things.
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  Or we can, at that moment, choose to trust fully and wholeheartedly on the Lord.
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  So we cast our care upon him, and we give the battle to him,
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  and we tuck deep into the center of his will, and we allow him to do what he does.
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  That's unleashing the power of the Holy Spirit,
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  getting on board in the center of his will and turning everything over to him
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  so that we are not impeding his work and we are not putting any sinful faults
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  or actions into our life that would then impede his power.
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  Amen. Well, that leads right into the last thing that I wanted to touch on that you said.
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  You just talked about this, was that someone who is an overcomer is someone who is yielded to him.
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  And so often when we think of overcoming something, we see it as ourself being victorious, right?
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  Ourself standing on top of the mountain and having defeated something else.
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  But in truth one who is an overcomer is one who has yielded which sounds a lot
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  less powerful but one who has yielded to him.
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  And watched him overcome. Spiritual strength is often misdefined.
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  Spiritual strength does not rear its head and hoard over someone.
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  Spiritual strength does not battle someone to the death.
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  In fact, spiritual strength never seeks harm for their foe.
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  Spiritual strength is the ability to remain Christ-like in difficult circumstances,
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  to be quiet and say not a word like Jesus did when Pilate was accusing him.
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  Spiritual strength is praying for the person who despitefully uses you as we
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  are commanded to in Scripture.
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  Spiritual strength is quiet
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  but bright it doesn't
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  boast or loudly shout but
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  it's bright in that it shines and it's visible and it's very effective and so
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  when we are unleashing God in us,
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  our footsteps and our words and our character,
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  are going to look like him.
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  And he never.
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  Spoke harsh, negative, mean words.
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  He was direct. Yeah.
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  And he turned those tables in the temple.
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  But he responds from a place of love, rooted and grounded in love,
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  bathed in love, and demonstrating love.
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  And that, my friend, is what we need to do.
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  So spiritual strength is quiet
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  i think that when we think of this verse
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  what we are truly talking
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  about is what you just talked about the verse
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  first john 4 4 ye are of god little children and have overcome them because
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  greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world as little children
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  when we live as God's little children.
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  That's when we truly can develop the spiritual strength that you just talked about.
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  I believe that the writer of my favorite song, Jesus Loves Me, got it right.
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  And he said, I am weak, but he is strong.
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  When we are strong, worldly strong, fleshly strong, when we're the one that's
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  leading the battle, it's not him.
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  And we don't know the way. He's the way, the truth, and the life.
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  So when we yield to Him is when we are strongest.
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  When I was growing up, there was a dear old saint in my church,
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  and when he would pray, he would often refer or testify, he'd often refer to
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  this phrase, I am strongest when I am on my knees.
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  And in a physical battle, on your knees is not a strong position to be in.
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  But in spiritual warfare, it doesn't get any stronger. Amen.
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  Because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world,
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  and prayer unleashes that power. Amen.
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  Well, it is certainly our prayer that you have enjoyed this podcast,
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  but more importantly, that you know who He is.
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  We would ask that if you don't, that you would spend some time considering.
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  It means to know Jesus as your Savior, because when you have Him,
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  and you have Him in your heart and in your life,
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  you have the entire power of God behind you and living in you and through you
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  and walking with you through this world.
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  Thank you for listening today. Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves 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 Woman 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.
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  Remember, Jesus loves you. You are loved.