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Guided Christian Meditation Anger To Joy - Abide Meditation App · Abide Meditation App

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  Speaker 1: Welcome and thanks for meditating with a Bide. For more
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  Speaker 1: guided Christian meditations, download the Abide app in the iTunes
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  Speaker 1: or Google Play Store.
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  Speaker 2: Have you ever thought maybe you've run too far from
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  Speaker 2: God to ever return to him. Do you ever fear
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  Speaker 2: that something about you, perhaps a haunting part of your past,
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  Speaker 2: makes you unlovable to him? Does that nagging doubt ever
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  Speaker 2: feel like a cancer just eating away at your heart? Well,
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  Speaker 2: to day, I want you to hear a different story.
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  Speaker 2: God has never left you, and there's nothing you've done
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  Speaker 2: or ever will do that could ever change that. God
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  Speaker 2: is in the restoring business. Think about those shows that
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  Speaker 2: we see on television where an old, beat up and
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  Speaker 2: neglected house is completely renovated, it's made new and given
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  Speaker 2: new value. Well, that's a picture of what God does
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  Speaker 2: with us. He doesn't just demolish us. He changes us.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't leave us. He's the carpenter who tenderly restores us.
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  Speaker 2: He changes us, and he shows us that we're more
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  Speaker 2: valuable than we could have ever known. In Neamiah nine seventeen,
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  Speaker 2: Israel's leaders, who were struggling to rebuild their lives prayerfully
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  Speaker 2: reminded themselves that even after their ancestors had rejected God,
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  Speaker 2: he had never stopped loving and restoring them. He'll never
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  Speaker 2: stop loving and restoring you either. When you feel yourself
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  Speaker 2: just sinking back into those destructive thoughts of shame, just
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  Speaker 2: remember God is always there. He's working to bring you healing.
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  Speaker 2: He is for you. Pray for Christ's spirit to help
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  Speaker 2: strengthen you to return to his loving presence without shame.
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  Speaker 2: You're his child. He has so much in store for you.
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  Speaker 2: Just don't give up on yourself. God knows He's never
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  Speaker 2: going to give up on you. Let's take some more
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  Speaker 2: time to soak in the wonder of God's love for us.
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  Speaker 2: Today's meditation time will be guided, but please following the
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  Speaker 2: spirit's leading. Feel free to pause the app as you
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  Speaker 2: need to for your own reflections. Let's begin today with
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  Speaker 2: a moment of prayer. Father, my soul can feel so wounded, sometimes,
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  Speaker 2: so hungry for love, yet too afraid to receive it.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for loving me even when I can't quite
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  Speaker 2: trust you enough to love you back. Thank you for
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  Speaker 2: loving me so much that you chose to die rather
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  Speaker 2: than let me go. Help me to understand what's true
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  Speaker 2: in Jesus' name. Amen, let's pause to meditate more deeply
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  Speaker 2: on how God's love changes everything. As we begin, just
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  Speaker 2: take a few deep breaths in, and as you breathe in,
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  Speaker 2: imagine God's love and life flowing into you, and as
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  Speaker 2: you breathe out, his love flowing through you into the world.
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  Speaker 2: Is something keeping you from experiencing God's love today? Is
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  Speaker 2: it doubt or anger, or maybe you've been making some
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  Speaker 2: destructive choices. Whatever it might be, trust God enough to
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  Speaker 2: honestly confess the truth, and then you'll feel His forgiving
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  Speaker 2: and cleansing love washed through you. Like a good father.
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  Speaker 2: God loves us with tender, unconditional love as Christ Spirit
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  Speaker 2: cleanses and transforms us. Nothing can transform us like God's
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  Speaker 2: word can. So listen closely as I read from Nehemiah
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  Speaker 2: chapter nine, verse seventeen. But you are a God ready
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  Speaker 2: to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding
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  Speaker 2: in steadfast love. Did anything stand out to you as
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  Speaker 2: I read? Listen carefully once more, But you are a
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  Speaker 2: God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
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  Speaker 2: and abounding in steadfast love. Quietly reflect on one word
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  Speaker 2: or phrase that spoke to you and meditate for a
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  Speaker 2: few moments on why God may have drawn you to
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  Speaker 2: those words. Have you ever felt like God is going
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  Speaker 2: to reject you the way other people have? Well, God
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  Speaker 2: longs for us to trust him. Pause and reflect on
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  Speaker 2: what misconceptions sometimes keep you from trusting in the reality
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  Speaker 2: of God's presence. His love is not dependent on you,
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  Speaker 2: but on him. Ask Him to help you trust in
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  Speaker 2: his love. Listen once more, paying attention to how God
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  Speaker 2: is assuring and refreshing you through the words of Nehemiah
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  Speaker 2: nine seventeen. You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful,
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  Speaker 2: slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. So
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  Speaker 2: did anything new stand out this time? Spend some more
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  Speaker 2: time reflecting on how God is speaking to you today.
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  Speaker 2: Today's verse was actually spoken to Israelites, whose ancestors had
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  Speaker 2: descended into such great evil that God allowed them to
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  Speaker 2: be taken into exile. Yet Today's verse assured the returning
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  Speaker 2: exiles that God had never abandoned them even in their disobedience.
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  Speaker 2: Do you ever fear that some things are just too
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  Speaker 2: broken for God to restore? Well? Reflect on how today's
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  Speaker 2: passage reminds us that God is always able to restore.
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  Speaker 2: Is there a particular area in your life that you're
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  Speaker 2: struggling to trust God with? Why don't you spend some
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  Speaker 2: time just lifting this up to God. Let's read the
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  Speaker 2: verse one more time, this time with a bit more context.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll begin a verse seventeen. They Israel's ancestors refused
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  Speaker 2: to obey and did not remember the miracles that you'd
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  Speaker 2: done for them. Instead, they became stubborn. But you are
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  Speaker 2: a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry,
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  Speaker 2: and rich in unfailing love Nehemiah nine seventeen. Now use
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  Speaker 2: your spirit guided imagination to think of yourself in this passage.
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  Speaker 2: You've just returned to Jerusalem, and all you've known is
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  Speaker 2: life in captivity. Your ancestors abandon God completely, and his
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  Speaker 2: law is a distant memory. As your gaze rests on
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  Speaker 2: the crumbling remains of the city walls around you, what
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  Speaker 2: longings and fears fill you with a heavy heart. You
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  Speaker 2: join the others in prayer, and suddenly you hear these words.
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  Speaker 2: But you are a God of forgiveness. You did not
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  Speaker 2: abandon them. What stirs in you? How do those words
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  Speaker 2: make you feel? As you look up. Your eyes fall
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  Speaker 2: once more on the crumbling city walls, but a surge
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  Speaker 2: of hope rushes through you. Is it possible God never
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  Speaker 2: abandoned us? What fills your heart? Now? At this moment?
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  Speaker 2: You begin to feel God's love rushing in, assuring you
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  Speaker 2: that it is true He has never left you. As
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  Speaker 2: wonder fills you, What hopes and fears and dreams do
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  Speaker 2: you lift up to him? Will you join me in
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  Speaker 2: a moment of closing prayer, Loving God, Thank you that
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  Speaker 2: it's never too late to return to you in this
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  Speaker 2: broken and pain filled world. May your work in my
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  Speaker 2: life point others to you. Please help me to trust
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  Speaker 2: you with rebuilding my life. Give me peace and confidence
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  Speaker 2: that the best is yet to come in my life
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  Speaker 2: because of you. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen. Sometime today,
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  Speaker 2: as you're facing your own reasons for despair, why don't
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  Speaker 2: you try to find something that looks broken or lifeless,
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  Speaker 2: maybe even beyond repair, Perhaps a dying flower or a bent,
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  Speaker 2: broken tree with its bark dry and hollow. Gently touch
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  Speaker 2: this object and then imagine God's power fully restoring it
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  Speaker 2: more alive than ever before. And may the peace and
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  Speaker 2: assurance of God's presence in your life no matter what,
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  Speaker 2: give you confidence and assurance today as you rest and
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  Speaker 2: abide in Christ.
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  Speaker 1: We hope this meditation brought you peace. For more Christian meditations,
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  Speaker 1: download The Abide Out in iTunes or the Google Play store.