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July 21 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
13 Plays2 days ago
If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages
In today's reading we will begin the book of Ezra, Chapters 1, 2:64-70, 3:1-3, 7-13, 4:1-5, and the book of Daniel Chapter 10: 1-19. Today we will read about God beginning to fulfill the promise He made to bring the Israelite people home to rebuild the temple after 70 years, by way of a law being made. We will read about King Cyrus of Persia issuing a decree to rebuild the temple! We will also read about Daniel's vision of Jesus coming to him. In the vision Jesus told Daniel not to be afraid and Jesus strengthened Daniel when he was too weak to even talk.
In our discussion for daily application we will review many verses in the Bible that tell us not to be afraid or dismayed, to trust in God because He is always with us and we are made strong in God when we are weak! In the same way that Jesus strengthened Daniel, He also strengthens US! We have no need to EVER be afraid because if God is for us, who can be against us? We are never alone! Jesus and God will never leave us or forsake us! Praise God, who loves us so much that He reassures us of these facts throughout the Bible.
Today we look at many verses: Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Him who strengthens me; Joshua 1:9: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go; Ephesians 6:10: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might; 1:Corinthians 10:13: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it; Isaiah 41:10: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand; Isaiah 40:29-31: He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint; Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you; Exodus 15:2: The Lord is my strength and my song and He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him; and finally, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: (When Paul asked God to remove a thorn in his side God told Paul): But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
May we continually praise our wonderful, mighty, loving God for making us strong IN HIM when we are weak!
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:03
Speaker
Hi there, everybody. Today is July 21st. You are here with Robin at In the Family Way Coaching, and we are here for our daily Bible reading. We are reading the whole Bible this year, getting the whole big picture. And to this this year, we are using the Day by Day Kids Bible, and it's been written by Karen Henley.
00:00:24
Speaker
If you are new to this event, you may be unfamiliar with Karen Henley as an author, but she is known by many mamas and daddies who have kids who started out with their first Bible being the Beginner's Bible.
00:00:38
Speaker
That might be the very first Bible that you took to Sunday school. I think I remember that Bible being passed down from Charlie and Ruby.
Understanding God's Word
00:00:50
Speaker
And I remember one day, Julie, you were looking for that Bible at church. It had been left somewhere, I think.
00:00:57
Speaker
And I think I remember seeing it somewhere and telling you somebody had it or something. But I know that kids all over, I know my daughter, she also had the beginner's Bible as her first Bible for Sunday school too.
00:01:11
Speaker
So I was really thrilled to know that God had put the Bible and in and on her heart that she wants everybody to know and understand God's Word.
00:01:24
Speaker
And so it is very important to me as well that we spread the word about reading God's Word and that we understand what we are reading. And that's what I love about the Day by Day Kids Bible.
00:01:37
Speaker
it is kind of like what we might call a reader's digest condensed version it's not a preschool version so if you are just finding this event don't be discouraged thinking oh this is a kid's bible this is not just for kids god shows us daily application in every single day's reading and i'm very excited to bring you today's daily application as well.
00:02:03
Speaker
Uh, because usually what is the case is that God ah is pointing out how he can use it in my life. And then i am sharing with you uh, ah on different days, how he is using it in my life.
00:02:17
Speaker
So today i was really, really wanting to understand because it was kind of complicated. And the only way I have understanding is is by the Holy Spirit giving me understanding.
00:02:28
Speaker
And I pray and I ask God, is please, please give me understanding. So I don't want anybody to think that this is just you know me and I'm so wise and interpreting God's word and being able to pull this stuff out.
00:02:42
Speaker
When you read the Bible and you want to have understanding, it's important that you ask God's Spirit to give you that understanding because we are taught that God's Holy Spirit is who had is meant to teach us.
00:02:55
Speaker
Jesus said he would send the helper who would teach us all things and he will only teach us what he hears from Jesus and Jesus tells the Holy Spirit what he hears from God.
00:03:06
Speaker
So it's this whole beautiful chain where we are connected ultimately to God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And one of the benefits of that is that he gives us understanding of his word.
00:03:20
Speaker
And you can do that with any Bible, but sometimes it can be complicated when you have so, so many details. And so this version of the Bible gives us the big story.
00:03:31
Speaker
And I love that. So thank you for joining me as we go through the Bible this year. We have been gaining followers for this event, so I wanna say welcome to you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for subscribing or following.
00:03:44
Speaker
Thank you for listening. And I'm so glad that God has drawn you here to hear his word. It is so exciting for me every day to be able to share with you what God is sharing with me.
00:03:56
Speaker
If you are using your commitment calendar, go ahead and get that out and your sticker or however you're marking that off because you are about to hear the Bible today.
Tools for Bible Engagement
00:04:08
Speaker
If you are new and you are not aware yet, I keep a copy of a monthly calendar on my website for you to download. And you think, well, why would I need to do that? Well, it's a little motivational tool.
00:04:21
Speaker
So as you see with mine, ah all of my days are always filled because i I do this every day, but it helps you to to see your your motivation, your dedication that you are, it might seem like it's just a kid's calendar, you know, just getting then a sticker chart for kids.
00:04:40
Speaker
But you know what? I am 48 years old and I love seeing those stickers on there.
00:04:48
Speaker
So it's I I'm also in my ah my alter ego life. I'm a health and wellness coach. And so motivational tools are not just for kids.
00:04:59
Speaker
they They work for us grownups, too. And I see that by our analytics that. and Most of you are ah grownups watching. I know of really only one family um that is watching.
00:05:13
Speaker
And if there are any other kids with or families with kids watching, I'm unaware of you. So if you are watching with your kids, reach out to me because I'm i'm curious to see how your kids are enjoying it. But I am thankful to um hear from my my very favorite family with you, Julie, and Forrest, and Jedi, and Pearl, and Diamond.
00:05:35
Speaker
And I'm so glad that you're here with me. And I i love that you love the little stickers, too. So I have that calendar available on my website and my website link will be in the description below.
00:05:47
Speaker
I always put a description each day. i try to write a description as to what we read as a summary, as well as the daily application. But some days as I do this mostly before I go to work each day, i don't always have time to write a description, but most of the time I do.
00:06:04
Speaker
And I still have a copy and paste that i transfer from each day. ah where you will find the kind the link to the calendar. And that's at inthefamilywaycoaching.com.
00:06:18
Speaker
And then if you click on the drop-down menu for read the Bible in one year, don't go down to the months. it's It's just the main section where it says read the Bible in a year.
00:06:29
Speaker
Every month, I have a calendar there. And it doesn't matter if you're listening to this in 2025 or 2026 or 2028, I've made it my goal to put up a new calendar every single month, at ongoing, so that whatever year you happen to be wanting to read the Bible and keep track with your commitment calendar, you will still have that.
00:06:49
Speaker
It may look a little different based upon the one that I'm showing you on the screen, but it's it's still a calendar. So there we go. That's for those of you who are new and may not know that we have that calendar available for free download and you don't have to enter your email address or anything. There's no clickbait or subscriptions or anything.
00:07:07
Speaker
Even if you just say, hey, one month, I need a calendar for my refrigerator or to post on the wall. Print it out.
00:07:15
Speaker
And then if you do decide at some point that you would like to support the event, I have a link on there on my website under part of the family where you can click that and you can support the event. And if you do decide to do that, then I send you also a copy of the calendar with a set of those stickers for the month.
00:07:34
Speaker
My sheet is almost empty, but ah they will look like this. Those little gold foil crosses. And I just send those to you as my little thank you for supporting the event.
Exploring the Book of Ezra
00:07:46
Speaker
Well, we are going to be heading into the book of Ezra.
00:07:50
Speaker
Ezra, I think that's how we say it. ah Yes, at the book of Ezra. And we are finally going to see what God has promised Daniel.
00:08:03
Speaker
God sent Gabriel, the angel, yesterday to Daniel. And he told Daniel when he came, he said, an answer was ready for you as soon as you began praying.
00:08:14
Speaker
And I was sent to give this answer to you because Daniel was praying that God would would allow the people back into Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and that the exiles would be able to return to Jerusalem.
00:08:29
Speaker
And now we're going to see God fulfilling his promise.
00:08:36
Speaker
So here we go. We are picking up in Ezra and we're going to be reading chapters 1. two, three, and four. And just as a little bit of a preface, the book of Ezra takes place over about an 80 year time period.
00:08:53
Speaker
Since our version here, our day by day kids Bible is written in chronological order. um I want us to just keep in mind a little bit of where we are.
00:09:06
Speaker
So ah this book takes about 80 years worth of span. So by the time we finish the book of Ezra, it will be 80 years that have passed. I know for me that's helpful. I'm always trying to figure out when is it?
00:09:20
Speaker
I really love knowing that.
00:09:23
Speaker
Alrighty. The first section is entitled, Going Back Home.
00:09:30
Speaker
Ezra, oh, sorry, Cyrus became the king of Babylon and the land was now called Persia. The first year Cyrus was king,
00:09:43
Speaker
God worked in his heart. God did this to keep the promise he made in his words to Jeremiah. God got Cyrus to make a law.
00:09:56
Speaker
And Cyrus wrote it down. This is what I, Cyrus, king of Persia, say. God gave me all the kingdoms of the world.
00:10:08
Speaker
He chose me to build a worship house for him. It will be in Jerusalem. in Judah. and Any of God's people here can go back to Jerusalem.
00:10:19
Speaker
They can build God's worship house back up. The other people here will give them silver and they will give gold and cows and other things.
00:10:33
Speaker
Many people chose to go back to Jerusalem. God had worked in their hearts so that they would want to go. They got ready to build God's worship house again.
00:10:45
Speaker
Their neighbors helped them. Their neighbors gave them gold and silver. They gave them cows and other things. Then King Cyrus gave back the gold and silver dishes.
00:11:02
Speaker
These had been taken away from the worship house long ago. There were 42,360 people who went back to Jerusalem and they took their servants.
00:11:15
Speaker
They took their horses, mules, camels, and donkeys, and singers went too. They traveled back to God's worship house in Jerusalem and then they gave gifts for building the worship house again.
00:11:31
Speaker
They started living in their own towns. Seven months passed and the people had moved into the towns. Then they came to meet together at Jerusalem.
00:11:44
Speaker
Zerubbabel and some other men built an altar. They were afraid of the people from the lands around them. But they built the altar anyway, and they offered gifts to God on it.
00:11:57
Speaker
And then they gave money to the builders. They started building the worship house. First, they made the base for the worship house. And when it was finished, they all praised God.
00:12:12
Speaker
They praised God like King David had said to do long ago. They thanked God and they sang. They sang, God is good.
00:12:24
Speaker
His love for his people lasts forever. and then all of the people shouted praise to God. Some of the older people cried.
00:12:36
Speaker
They remembered the worship house from long ago. So some of them cried out loud and some shouted with joy. You couldn't tell the crying from the shouting.
00:12:49
Speaker
There was lots of noise and the sound could be heard from far away.
00:12:56
Speaker
Now the enemies heard about the people coming back. And they heard ah that the worship house was being built again. So they went to Zerubbabel. Let us help you, they said.
00:13:09
Speaker
We are looking for your God too. But Zerubbabel and the people said, this is for us to do. We will do it alone.
00:13:20
Speaker
King Cyrus of Persia has told us to.
00:13:25
Speaker
Then the enemies tried to make God's people give up. They tried to scare them. They even paid people to work against Zerubbabel.
00:13:36
Speaker
And that happened the whole time Cyrus was king.
00:13:42
Speaker
Now we're gonna start in in Daniel today in chapter 10. And this is entitled, A Message and a Dream.
00:13:53
Speaker
Cyrus had been king of Persia for three years, and then God gave Daniel a message about a big war. The meaning of the message came in a special dream.
00:14:05
Speaker
Then I, Daniel, cried for three weeks. All that time I did not eat any rich food. i didn't eat meat.
00:14:16
Speaker
I did not drink wine. i did not put any sweet-smelling cream on my body. It was the first month and I stood by the Tigris River.
00:14:28
Speaker
There, I saw a man in front of me. He wore linen clothes. He had a gold belt on. His body was like a beautiful stone.
00:14:43
Speaker
His face glowed like lightning. His eyes were like fire. His arms and legs shone like shiny brown metal.
00:14:56
Speaker
His voice sounded like a crowd of people.
00:15:01
Speaker
I was the only one who saw this, and there were men with me, but they didn't see what I saw. They got scared anyway, and they ran and hid. So there I was alone.
00:15:13
Speaker
My face lost so much color that I looked as if I had died. Then i heard the man talk. I went to sleep and I slept soundly with my face to the ground.
00:15:30
Speaker
hand touched me. It pulled me up on my hands and knees. I began to shake. Daniel, he said, good things are said about you.
00:15:48
Speaker
Think about what I am going to tell you. Stand up, because I have been sent to you. So I stood up, shaking.
00:15:59
Speaker
Don't be afraid, he said. You chose to try to understand. You chose to make God great instead of yourself. God heard your words from the first day.
00:16:14
Speaker
I came to answer you, but the Prince of Persia stopped me for 21 days. Then Michael, a prince of leaders, came to help me. So now I am here to tell you what will happen.
00:16:29
Speaker
These things will happen in days to come.
00:16:34
Speaker
I put my face down to the ground and I couldn't say anything. Then the man touched my lips. I opened my mouth. I began to talk.
00:16:46
Speaker
I said, sadness has come over me because of the pictures in my mind. There is no one to help. How can I even talk to you?
00:16:57
Speaker
i'm weak and I can hardly breathe.
00:17:03
Speaker
Then the one who looked like a man touched me again. He made me stronger. Don't be afraid, he said. Good things are said about you.
00:17:15
Speaker
Be at peace. Be strong now. Be strong. And when he talked, I felt stronger. So I said, Speak.
00:17:28
Speaker
You have made me stronger.
00:17:33
Speaker
But that's the end of our reading today. And you'll have to join me tomorrow to hear what Jesus told Daniel.
00:17:41
Speaker
So let's talk about what we read. That's right. That was Jesus who was sent. Jesus was sent to talk to Daniel.
00:17:53
Speaker
I love when Jesus is sent. Jesus said that he came to serve, not to be served. Jesus works. He does things. God sends him to go do things.
00:18:07
Speaker
I love that.
00:18:11
Speaker
So let's see. but There are so many things. i want to make sure we understand a little bit about what we're reading before we go into our daily application. So first of all, God was keeping his promise.
00:18:25
Speaker
In the very first year Cyrus was king, God worked in his heart. And God did this to keep the promise he made in his words to Jeremiah.
00:18:36
Speaker
And God got Cyrus to make a law.
00:18:43
Speaker
I like to underline these things, so if you're watching me, that's what I'm doing there. In the very first year, God did not waste any time. God had told Daniel that he would do it.
00:18:55
Speaker
God is so faithful. That could be our daily application every day all by itself, right? God is so faithful. Then we see that God had worked in the people's hearts so that they would want to go.
00:19:10
Speaker
Remember, they were established now. Seventy years had passed. So now these some of these most of these were people who had never been to Jerusalem. They were living their lives.
00:19:21
Speaker
And God had put it upon their hearts to move back to Jerusalem, a place that they had never been to or seen before. They had only heard about. It's tough to get up and move and and go to a new place.
00:19:35
Speaker
They were gonna be moving to a whole nother country. And it was, you know, across the desert, it was a journey. So it was it was not a short trip.
00:19:48
Speaker
And so God was working in their hearts, putting that longing to return to Jerusalem and to go back and build the temple in their hearts. God works in our hearts too.
00:19:59
Speaker
He puts things in our hearts that for us to do. And we can feel very compelled to do these things. and And we know ah sometimes what that feels like. Maybe not everybody.
00:20:11
Speaker
But when God puts something in our hearts, we have a very strong desire to do it. Much like how he put doing this event in my heart. This was something that I had wanted to do for a while. He planted those seeds.
00:20:24
Speaker
So God had been planting seeds and one encouraging them to go back. And that's exactly what they were doing. And not only that, but did you see the similarity between their return from Egypt?
00:20:39
Speaker
When God led them out of Egypt into the promised land, God had the people, ah the people were made to be and They looked favorably upon the Israelite people and they were encouraged to, it says, give them the wealth of Egypt. so And so they plundered Egypt when they left, God said, and in the Exodus.
00:21:05
Speaker
And in the same way, the people were favorably disposed to the Israelites here and God would supply the the means necessary in order for them to rebuild.
00:21:17
Speaker
Now you may be wondering why when the people asked who were already still living there, when the people came and said that they wanted to help rebuild the worship house and Zerubbabel and the leaders told them, no, this was not for them to do.
Facing Challenges and Resistance
00:21:32
Speaker
So the people who were living in Jerusalem, ah if you're new, you may not know that when King Nebuchadnezzar, and it was very common at times during this time that when Nebuchadnezzar,
00:21:43
Speaker
the kings would disperse people. They, when they would take people from the land that they were in and they would send them to other areas and that would cause them to sort of lose their identity because then they would have to become part of of a whole nother society where their customs and cultures and and religious beliefs would not be upheld.
00:22:05
Speaker
And they would have to assimilate into the other culture, which would essentially cause them to lose their identity. And so, King Nebuchadnezzar had uprooted other people and had sent them to colonize in Jerusalem after he had demolished it.
00:22:23
Speaker
And he had told them to worship the God there. There were some priests that were left there and they were told to ah to worship and to teach the people to worship the God of Israel because they wanted to be sure that they appeased that God.
00:22:38
Speaker
They had no trouble believing in many gods and they believed that Jerusalem, Israel, had its own God and that God is the God there and that they needed people there to worship him or he would become angry.
00:22:50
Speaker
So these people were not simply worshiping God, they were also worshiping other idols and it was just one of many gods that they were worshiping. So was really no better than what the Israelites had been doing.
00:23:01
Speaker
And they didn't have a sincerity of heart in order to want to solely worship God. They were simply trying to make sure that they kind of maintained their stake in what they thought was theirs now.
00:23:13
Speaker
Now the Jerusalem people were coming back and it was very threatening to them because now they were being displaced and they were going to be uprooted because they were living in other people's lands and other people's houses.
00:23:25
Speaker
So they were very threatened by the presence of the Israelite people returning back to Jerusalem. And so they did what they did, everything they could to thwart, to scare, to ah keep the progress from happening.
00:23:41
Speaker
And and that's exactly what they did. Progress ended up stopping for a while. So ah now we return to Daniel and his dream.
00:23:53
Speaker
So this was still during the reign of Cyrus and Cyrus had been king of Persia for three years and Jesus came to him in a vision. So our daily application today, I'm gonna give it to you first and then we're gonna walk through it, is that we are never alone.
00:24:12
Speaker
God is always with us and God strengthens us Jesus strengthened Daniel as we saw in his vision today. He was scared. Daniel was scared.
00:24:25
Speaker
And one of the very first things Jesus says to him is, don't be afraid. He said, you chose to try to understand God.
00:24:37
Speaker
God heard your words from the first day. I came to answer you, but the Prince of Persia stopped me for 21 days. I'm going to break for just a moment and give a little bit of insight on that.
00:24:51
Speaker
It says that Daniel had been ah had been crying for three weeks. Three weeks is 21 days. Seven times three is 21. So first from the first day that Daniel began his ah his prayer and his mourning,
00:25:09
Speaker
there's He's not specific. So there are thoughts as to what it was he was upset about, that he was potentially upset over the the people who were returning, that they were not ah making better progress then than he ah had hoped that they would have.
00:25:27
Speaker
But i want to point out that it's so interesting. and when Yesterday's vision, when Gabriel was sent to Daniel, he said that...
00:25:37
Speaker
and
00:25:41
Speaker
He was sent. He says, Daniel, I came to help you understand. An answer was ready for you right when you began praying. So in much the same way, without using those exact words, Jesus is telling him, he says, God heard your words from the first day. And I came to answer you. But the prince of Persia, that is Satan.
00:26:04
Speaker
stopped me for 21 days. Then Michael, a prince of leaders, that's the, Michael is the the angel of the Jewish people of the nation.
00:26:15
Speaker
Michael overlooks Israel. Then Michael, a prince of leaders, came to help me. So now I am here to tell you what will happen. There is so much more going on that what we can see with our eyes.
00:26:31
Speaker
We are fighting not just a physical battle. We are fighting in a spiritual battle. And there are things going on for which we just have no concept.
Embracing God's Strength
00:26:42
Speaker
We just don't have any idea what is going on in the heavenly realms. But Jesus is telling Daniel that he had that he had to ah that the prince of Persia, Satan stopped him for 21 days.
00:26:57
Speaker
Jesus was doing something with him for 21 days, and then Michael came to help him. And it sounds like potentially he took over so that Jesus could go to give the message to Daniel, because Daniel had been waiting or had had been in mourning for three weeks, 21 days.
00:27:17
Speaker
I love it. He wanted Daniel to know. He didn't have to tell him that. He didn't have to let us know that. But he did. God tells us things. And i I just, I really love that.
00:27:32
Speaker
god said Jesus said to Daniel, he said,
00:27:42
Speaker
good things are said about you. So he says that twice to Daniel. And he says to him not to be afraid. And let's see.
00:28:07
Speaker
Be at peace. Be strong now. Be strong. I read ahead, so I'm trying to separate what I read from happens tomorrow from what read today. so I don't want to say what was ah what was said tomorrow.
00:28:22
Speaker
and So Jesus told him to be strong and not to be afraid. Good things are said about you. Be at peace. In our big version, he says, Shalom. Be strong now. Be strong.
00:28:35
Speaker
We are made strong by Jesus. He says, when he talked, Daniel says, when he talked, I felt stronger. So I said, speak, you have made me stronger.
00:28:52
Speaker
So our daily application today is that God is always with us. Jesus is always with us. And we are made strong in him.
00:29:04
Speaker
In our weakness, he makes us strong. So I did a ah search for verses pertaining to that. And we have Philippians 4 verse 13 that says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
00:29:24
Speaker
We have in Joshua 1, 9, God tells us not be is with wherever you go god tells us not to be afraid of anything whatever it is he sends us to do even just throughout life we are not to walk through life with fear and anxiety with a stronger word would be trepidation.
00:29:58
Speaker
We are not to tiptoe.
00:30:01
Speaker
We are to be strong, not to be scared, not to be dismayed, which means not to be saddened. Don't be frustrated. Don't be concerned.
00:30:14
Speaker
Ephesians 6.10 says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. If our God is for us, who can be against us?
00:30:25
Speaker
We just said that the other day. 1 Corinthians 10, 13, you that is not common to man meaning you are not alone. What you are experiencing is not unique.
00:30:42
Speaker
Other people have experienced the same things. And that's why we look for how we identify with the people that we read about in the Bible. is so that we can see that no temptation, no trial, nothing is is not common.
00:30:59
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Everything is common to the man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
00:31:13
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And we talked about that with Job, that God knew Job would be faithful. He did not set Job up to fail. And God does not set you or I up to fail.
00:31:24
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God sets us up to win. God is the winning side. Satan thinks he's on the winning side. And he fights and he fights and we can become dismayed.
00:31:34
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We can become discouraged. We can become frightened. But God says, be strong.
00:31:44
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Second Corinthians. ah First, I'm going to do Isaiah. Isaiah 41 verse 10 says, Fear not, for I am with you.
00:31:56
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Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
00:32:08
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ah We could just stop right there, couldn't we? That is powerful. In the same way that Jesus strengthened Daniel to in our reading today, God strengthens you, God strengthens me every day to do what he calls us to do.
00:32:27
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Isaiah chapter 40 says, he gives power to the faint and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths, which is children, shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.
00:32:43
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But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not not faint.
00:32:58
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Oh, that is beautiful. Way back in the beginning in Deuteronomy and in Exodus, we have in Deuteronomy 31 verse 6, be strong and courageous.
00:33:09
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Do not fear or be dread in them or be dread be in dread of them. So sorry. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you.
00:33:20
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He will not leave you or forsake you. Jesus even tells us, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Jesus is always with us.
00:33:32
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In Exodus 15 verse 2, he says, The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my Father's God, and I will exalt him.
00:33:49
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Let us praise and exalt our Most High God, who is always with us, who strengthens us when we are weak.
00:34:00
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Now we have in 2 Corinthians.
00:34:05
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I was reading this one. This is where God really gave me daily application for myself. In 2 Corinthians, this is Paul talking.
00:34:19
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And Paul says that he needs to go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained on it. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
00:34:30
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I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body. I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise.
00:34:43
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whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. And on behalf of this man, i will boast.
00:34:56
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But on my own behalf, I will not boast, except of my weakness. Paul is bragging about his weakness. Though if I should wish to boast, which means to brag, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth.
00:35:13
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But I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. Now, this is this is my daily application that God really pointed out to me.
00:35:24
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So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
00:35:42
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Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
00:36:00
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I love that. order to become In order to keep from becoming conceited, with all that Paul had been given and knowledge of, he was given a thorn so that he would not be conceited.
00:36:15
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I love that. And i I think God keeps me in check that way too. So there's my daily application for myself as well. We are made strong in God's, we are made perfect in in God's strength with our weaknesses.
00:36:33
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He says, Paul says, therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses. so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, i am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
00:36:53
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For when I am weak, then I am strong. May you celebrate your weaknesses. May you celebrate your hardships and your calamities.
00:37:07
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Even if you receive such as what Job had, when we don't understand what is going on, may we praise God and celebrate in them that we may become strong in our weaknesses in Jesus for the sake of Christ.
00:37:26
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Wow, isn't that an amazing daily application that God gives us today? I just loved it. I really struggled with that one today. i was i was I wanted it so badly and I had to work really hard for it God had to show me all kinds of things today.
00:37:41
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And I was just so excited when he finally gave me the eyes to see and said, here, it all fits together like this. ah I am made perfect in his weakness.
00:37:54
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My weakness. I am, when I am weak, then I am strong. I have to be sure I'm saying it right. I have so many words that we've read today. So may you be strong when you are weak, brothers and sisters.
00:38:08
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So thank you for joining me today. i don't have to wonder, I know God has lit your light today. That was powerful today. God is wonderful. He is so gracious to strengthen us in our weaknesses.
00:38:21
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And i would ask that you click that light button so that other people can also be attracted to God's light and know that they are made strong in their weaknesses through Jesus.
00:38:33
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And by spreading the word about reading God's word, There were so many verses. I love those verses today. God gives us so much reassurance to be strong in him.
00:38:45
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And he is always with us. So I hope you have just an awesome rest of your day today. Whether you are listening at the beginning of your day or whether you are listening at the end of your day, I hope it's fabulous today and that you are made strong in your weaknesses.
00:39:01
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And I will be here for everyone again tomorrow.